Chicago Med Season 10: Who Was Dean Archer's Ex-Wife Leanne?

Contains spoilers for "Chicago Med" Season 10, Episode 17 — "The Book of Archer"

Dr. Dean Archer (Steven Weber) suffers through one heck of a terrible day in "The Book of Archer." He learns from his son Sean (Luigi Sottile) that his ex-wife, Leanne (Paula Marshall), has passed away. Terrible details surrounding her passing soon leak out — Dean learns that long-term alcoholic Leanne went on one more bender and died due to a brain bleed after striking her head on their kitchen counter. Dean offers to fly out and help Sean plan his mom's funeral, but Sean tells Dean there's nothing to be done — Leanne wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered with no ceremony. 

Fans of "Chicago Med" only got to meet Leanne once — she appears in Season 9 of "Chicago Med," during Episode 2, "This Town ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us." She intervenes specifically to stop Sean from donating a kidney to Dean, who needs the organ due to end stage renal disease. She's a bitter, cynical woman who blames Dean for abandoning her and Sean and suspects an ulterior motive in her ex's request. Dean nearly steps aside, endangering his own life to keep the peace between mother and son by canceling the surgery.

It takes the involvement of Maggie Lockhart (Marlyne Barrett) to cause Leanne to change her mind about the operation. She sticks around Chicago Gaffney Medical Center just long enough to find out if both men made it through, then leaves. Sean is later written off "Chicago Med" to live with her in Florida. Unfortunately, it's a move that doesn't work out for either mother or son in the long run.

Sadly, Leanne's alcoholism never improves, in spite of the fact that Sean has installed himself in her life to smooth things over. While Sean copes with the detritus of his mother's life, Dean spends his entire shift — where he ends up having to run the Emergency Department — trying to cope with this loss and his mild estrangement from Sean. His shift up, he takes time out to brood over his problems, which leads him to confess to recent redemption arc recipient Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram) what happened to estrange him from Leanne and Sean.

Dean says that he blames himself for the addiction issues both mother and son have been coping with. Since it all began when Dean was in the service, and he reacted to it by walking away when he returned home, who else should shoulder the burden? Not Dean, Hannah insists. She reminds him that Sean and Leanne made their own choices. She tells him to stop blaming himself, which causes them to fight and endangers their long-percolating possible coupling. 

She comes by his place to apologize later — after Sean and Dean have managed to talk out their feelings about Leanne's death. It goes to show that in spite of Leanne's death, Sean and Dean still have each other. And Paula Marshall, who played Leanne, still has a booming career as an actress.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Paula Marshall has been in the acting game since 1989. She's been in everything from playing a cavewoman in Disney's "Dinosaurs" to portraying Iris West in the 1990 CBS version of "The Flash." She appeared in the films "A Family Thing" and the 2003 version of "Cheaper by the Dozen," and was a regular on TV shows "Chicago Sons," "Gary Unmarried," "Cupid," "Out of Practice," "Snoops" and "Hidden Hills."

Marshall previously worked with Steven Weber on "The Weber Show," and had arcs on "Nip/Tuck" and "Californication." More recently, she played Gale Davidson in 10 episodes of "Walker" and Marsha in nine episodes of "Euphoria." She has also recurred as Eddie Diaz' (Ryan Guzman) mom Helena on "9-1-1" since the show's second season.

Marshall is also something of a B-movie scream queen, having appeared in "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" and "Warlock: The Armageddon." She also guest starred on "Seinfeld" as Sharon in "The Outing." That's one heck of a well-balanced career, and Marshall has definitely managed to make herself an unforgettable name, the same way Leanne will never be forgotten by Dean or Sean.