or How We Watched Chris Growing Up
….. by Sisterdebmac
The Plot
For most people, Strong Medicine is the story of two committed doctors from very different socio-economic backgrounds working together to create a free clinic for the women of a poor Philadelphia neighborhood. For us, it’s the story of a precocious teen growing up with his single mother, struggling along with her as she tries to do right by him and the community that depends on her. We watch Marc Delgado grow from a rather bratty 13-year-old to a fine, handsome young man of 18 during the course of the show. In his last appearance, we swell with pride as he gives his mother’s hand in marriage to wonderful man, towering over her, smiling down at her, now all grown up himself. And happy.
The Character
Energetic, witty, kind-hearted, like most only-children of single parents, pretty self-sufficient and wise for his years, but also prone to bouts of moodiness. He grows into a decent, responsible, sensitive guy. One any mother would be proud to have raised.
The Chris Episodes
Chris was a recurring guest on this show and wasn’t featured in every episode. Especially in seasons five and six he was seen a lot less, mainly because he started shooting Joan of Arcadia around that time.
This is a list of Strong Medicine episodes that Chris appeared in as Marc Delgado:
1×03 Misconceptions
1×04 Second Look
1×05 Performance Axiety
1×10 BRCA1
1×12 Brainchild
1×15 Blessed Events
1×16 Fix
1×18 Complications
1×21 Wednesday Night Fever
2×04 History
2×08 Rebirth
2×11 Systemic
2×12 Accidents
2×16 Black ‘n’ Flu
2×17 Precautions
2×20 Rape Kit
2×21 Trauma
2×22 Recovery Time
3×01 Positive
3×04 Heartbeat
3×09 Family History
3×17 Orders
3×22 Risk
4×01 Hero Hearts
4×03 Heartbeats and Deadbeats
4×15 Coming Clean
4×19 Weights And Measures
5×06 Goodbye Slash Rest In Peace
5×13 Body Mass Increase
6×09 Gunshot Wedding
The Moments
His confusion while telling Peter about his first wet dream (episode 1×04).
Attacking Gregory Harrison in the hospital hallway (episode 2×21).
“Define first moment.” (episode 5×13)
The Trivia
In season two there was a storyline where Lu was raped by one of her doctor colleagues (played by Gregory Harrison) and Marc finds out about it. There is a rather spectacular and intense scene where he jumps him in the hallway in a fit of rage. Interestingly, Chris would work closely with Gregory again in the Miracles episode Chris did in 2003. This time Gregory played his abusive father, also a character you love to hate.
Sean Marquette guest-starred in one episode that Chris was also in. In episode 2×04 Sean played the younger Marc Delgado.
Also, in an interview we did with him in October 2006, Chris talked a little about the show. We asked him about coming back to the show every now and then, even when he was working on Joan of Arcadia:
“I always worked it out. Those people are like family to me, all those people, so you know eventually, it’s like whatever I was doing, Strong Medicine would call and they’d say, “Look, you know in December, we want to do an episode or two.” And so if I’d ever booked anything else, then we’d say, well, he’s busy for these two weeks, but somehow we’d always kinda work it out. There was a few times where we couldn’t, which kinda sucked. And then I kinda disappeared from that show for a while.”