The following contains spoilers from Chicago Med Season 8, Episode 1, "How Do You Count the Losses," which debuted Wednesday, Sept. 20 on NBC.

Chicago Med fans got an incredible surprise in the Season 8 premiere when Yaya DaCosta reappeared as April Sexton. April had left the series at the end of Season 6 when DaCosta chose not to renew her contract -- but just over a season later, there she was again. She met ex-fiancé Dr. Ethan Choi (Brian Tee) after his father's funeral, and the two shared a quiet but beautiful moment. Viewers got an update on April's career, the characters established that they both hadn't dated since their latest breakup and they parted on good terms. It felt like the perfect way to end their story.

Except that it wasn't. In a postmortem interview with TVLine, co-showrunner Diane Frolov revealed that Chicago Med was actually starting a new Chexton plotline. Frolov said April will return in "a couple more episodes," starting with Episode 5, and will "have a big storyline." While it's understandable that the show would want to revisit the pairing since it doesn't have a lead couple, the Ethan and April scene didn't need to go back to a ship that sailed. It worked perfectly well as a stand-alone moment, too.

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Yaya DaCosta Chicago Med

Ethan and April's relationship was as turbulent as any other Chicago Med couple. While she didn't kill his dad, April and Choi broke up more than once, and their storyline got more frustrating as it went on. Season 5 saw April develop a quick attraction to Dr. Crockett Marcel and kiss him while engaged to Choi -- then only reveal her infidelity once she fell ill. Then in Season 6, Episode 5, "When Your Heart Rules Your Head," April pressured Choi to get her brother Noah out of trouble, expecting that he would simply because of his feelings for her. And in DaCosta's last episode, the duo didn't even get to say goodbye. April's last scene was her rushing to get to an interview for the hospital's nurse practitioner program.

In contrast, their meeting in Season 8, Episode 1, "How Do You Count the Losses" was peaceful and good for both characters. Choi -- and the audience -- got to literally see that April was doing well. She explained that she had successfully finished her program and was working as a nurse practitioner, moving her career forward the way she wanted. It was very sweet of her to make a gesture by showing up in Choi's hour of need. It was clear from their interaction that they still cared for one another. But their asking whether or not the other was single was a natural question given their history, and could have simply played as a bittersweet note rather than being used to pull out a whole new subplot.

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Chicago Med Season 8 Ethan

Chicago Med is already doing the "will they, won't they again" tease with Dr. Will Halstead and his returned ex-girlfriend Dr. Hannah Asher. Bringing back April in any kind of romantic capacity would just be exploring the same themes that Will and Hannah have -- and are frankly better suited to tell, since Yaya DaCosta is not returning on a regular basis. And when the whole point of April's departure was to move her forward, why take her and Ethan back into their past? One more scene was important to give Ethan and April closure and give DaCosta the proper goodbye that Chicago Med doesn't always have. Beyond that, it's returning to an old story instead of finding a new one.

It's possible that April is back for a non-romantic reason, but unlikely given Chicago Med's emphasis on its characters' personal lives. Chexton went through a lot of grief in their time as a couple -- and April particularly experienced a lot, both in that relationship and outside of it. She suffered a miscarriage and ended one engagement before dating Ethan, with whom she had a pregnancy scare on top of the chaos that was Season 5.

While they were good together when they were happy, the series gave them tremendous stress both personally and professionally. It would be more creative to have April in Ethan's life as a friend, and show that a love affair can end amicably with both parties having grown from it. If nothing else, at least April and Ethan finally got the moment they deserved.

Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. on NBC and streams on Peacock.