The Good Doctor Review: Two Potential Exits Before Season’s End

The Good Doctor is prepared for a lot of things, but Shaun Murphy is not prepared for what is coming. He faces new obstacles everyday as he tries to learn to be a surgeon. His biggest hurdle has been connecting with people, but when he does, he learns something that he presumed the had real foreknowledge of. Shaun makes assumptions all the time, usually to no serious consequence. But the most dangerous assumption of them all is complacency in time, the feeling that things are going to stay the same. Most of the time, these doctors don’t wait for that. They want to go out there and make things happen, but time doesn’t bend to our schedules.

Shaun faces a very interesting encounter with his patient this week, a girl who physically can’t express her emotions. People believe that Shaun can’t express himself, but it’s actually the opposite. Shaun can express his emotions, sometimes a little too bluntly, but only when he feels comfortable. Gretchen literally cannot move the facial muscles required to show what she is feeling. If she makes a joke, no one could tell. Shaun gets a little too descriptive about the side effects of an elective surgery, and talks her out of it. Dr. Andrews thinks it is because Shaun scared her, but in actuality, he told her that the surgery was elective, and therefore wouldn’t be covered by the insurance company.

Gretchen is scared of her father putting himself into debt for the sake of a smile, even one that looks like her mother’s. So Dr. Andrews appeals to the insurance company personally, and quite forcefully. I don’t often say this, but Dr. Andrews was a hero the way he advocated for this girl. So imagine his anger when after all of that, convincing the insurance company, convincing Gretchen herself, she ends up brain dead from the anesthesia. Or does she? Dr. Park realizes that the girl simply has a plasma deficiency that kept her under anesthesia longer. This surgery was meant to have a happy ending.

Like that of Dr. Kalu’s patient, a burn victim who came in a few months ago. The two make a connection while on the edge of some big changes. Having spent the last few months covered in fish scales, this woman is at her most vulnerable, so she needs something to distract her. He pours his heart out to this woman, because he no longer has the strength to keep his sadness in. He also isn’t getting any respect at St. Bonaventure, so is considering a move to Denver. But Shaun proves to be a great friend (unlike his despicable neighbor Kenny, who I don’t have enough expletives to describe). Shaun tells Kalu to take the day off before making any major life decisions. Kalu takes this advice all the way, and asks Shaun to be his patient’s doctor so that he himself can date her. It’s time for Kalu to move on, one way or another.

Dr. Browne and Dr. Reznik are shocked and disgusted to learn that a patient has been getting her pain medication by posing as another patient for over a year. This means that the real patient can’t get the medication she needs because the pharmacy only sees what is on paper. The paper says ‘Junkie’. When the first patient shows up again, she reveals that while she stole the name, she never filled the prescriptions. So the Junkie description for the second patient is actually apt. But it’s not exactly a happy ending. The junkie gets into rehab, but the woman impersonating her dies of organ failure for not getting proper antibiotics. Did we mention she stole an insurance card because she couldn’t pay for healthcare and her son’s college tuition at the same time?

I have to admit, even though Shaun learned something today, watching him force a smile is very disconcerting. But he gets genuinely excited about setting Dr. Glassman up with the nice lady who works the coffee counter. It would have been amazing if she had been introduced earlier, because not only does Dr. Glassman deserve that happiness, they have an amazing connection. But it’s a connection that is going to be cut short. Midway through an amazing date, a flaw in Glassman’s speech tells him that something is terribly, terribly wrong. We have to take a moment to acknowledge Richard Schiff’s tremendous acting in this moment, as the fear of not being in control of himself took over Glassman. That’s what sets this show apart.

Will both Dr. Glassman and Dr. Kalu be out next season, or will they be able to stay and fight?