YMMV / Code Black

• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Jeff Hephner, as CEO Ed Harbert, made a splash in Season 1 since his character was the only one who could go toe-to-toe with Rorish and not get completely steamrollered. Unfortunately, Harbert couldn't appear in Season 2 as Jeff Hephner was reprising his other Ensemble Dark Horse role on Chicago Med.
  • Tommy Dewey, as Mike Leighton, quickly became a fan favorite and everyone, including showrunner Michael Seitzman, wanted him to become a regular. But, because of Dewey's commitments to Casual, Mike had to remain a recurring character.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: The ridiculous amounts of Ho Yay between Angus Leighton and Mario Savetti rather puts paid to the fandom shipping them with anyone but each other. And it's not like Harry Ford and Ben Hollingsworth are going out of their way to discourage this, if the constant stream of affectionate tweets and "#TeamMangus" shout-outs are anything to go by....
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The boardroom scenes of "Diagnosis of Exclusion", dealing with Gina Perello's murder, become much more painful very quickly after the revelation that CEO Ed Harbert, who was in charge of said boardroom, was romantically involved with Gina.
• He Really Can Act: Penn Jillette, known for being very loud and energetic, makes a guest appearance where he plays a very nuanced and dramatic role as a magician facing a potentially life-threatening diagnosis. While the character is certainly verbose, Penn doesn't raise his voice once and plays the character as someone who is tired and worn down, yet relentlessly optimistic.
• Les Yay:
  • It took all of one episode for viewers to start shipping Leanne Rorish and Christa Lorenson, as Rorish opens up to Christa in a way that's implied to be extremely unusual for her. The second episode did nothing to discourage this.
  • Season 2 has Dr. Pineda (who is canonically a lesbian) interacting with a new resident, Dr. Charlotte Piel, and there is quite a bit of chemistry between them.
• Like You Would Really Do It: In a non-fatal example, the 1x14 promo implied that Leanne Rorish would leave her job at Angels Memorial. The fandom's response was a resounding "Yeah right." She did, but got dragooned to serve as temporary ER director through the end of the season before she got so much as one foot out the door. A combination of circumstances puts her back in the Residency Director slot before the first episode of season 2 is even over.
• Mis-blamed: Much vitriol was directed at showrunner Michael Seitzman regarding the departures of Bonnie Somerville and Raza Jaffrey after season 1, when in fact Seitzman was no happier about it than the fans and had done his very best to keep them. In fact, a lot of things that make the fans angry are blamed on Seitzman when in fact it's the CBS execs who are responsible.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Gina Perello was not warmly welcomed by the fans, who were upset that the hilarious(ly awesome) Dr Taylor was Put on a Bus. To make it worse, Gina initially appeared to be an Obstructive Bureaucrat in a Tyrant Takes the Helm scenario against much-beloved lead Leanne Rorish. Within a few episodes, however, Gina was established as ruthless but also incredibly competent, and willing to do the right thing in spite of the rules when it truly mattered. Though always bossy and somewhat abrasive, she had many sympathetic moments mixed in, and the fanbase (and the characters in-universe) really warmed to her. When she was killed by Malaya's stalker toward the end of the first season, she was genuinely mourned by both the characters and the audience.
  • Dr. Campbell was originally a jerkass antagonist who clashed against the main cast and rubbed viewers the wrong way. Then Season 2 explored his background and softened his character quite a bit, making him more sympathetic. Also, with the introduction of Ethan Willis, Campbell gained an adversary he could butt heads with in an entertaining way.
• The Woobie:
  • As of 1x15, Dr. Pineda could certainly count as one. Over the course of the last three episodes, her pregnant ex-girlfriend died, she was stalked and assaulted by a patient who had earlier stabbed Gina. To top it off, she blames herself for Gina's death.
  • Leanne Rorish lost her entire family to a drunk driver, leading to a massive case of Survivor Guilt.
  • Ariel's mother died when she was very young, her father died in "Pilot," she couldn't get along with the aunt who took her in and ended up a runaway in foster care, she nearly died from hemorrhagic fever, her first boyfriend Max died of cancer while awaiting a lung transplant, and then she ran away again and fell in with a group of homeless, drug-using juvenile burglars.