Paging The Good Doctor Stat!

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

ABC’s hit medical drama The Good Doctor has its sSeason 2 premiere tonight and we are officially unable to keep our excitement canned anymore (well, obviously!). Ergo, why not have a quick recap of Season 1 and have our Season 2 wish-list ready?

Last season we were introduced to the brilliant young surgeon Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), who moved from his simple countryside life in Wyoming to the bustling city of San José to pursue his career as a surgical resident at St. Bonaventure Hospital. He is autistic and has Savant syndrome. The former condition deters his people skills, causing hindrances in his day-to-day social interactions, while the latter manifests itself in the form of his photographic memory and unbeatable perfection – definitely a plus for surgeons! He considers hospital president, Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) as his mentor who was instrumental in giving Shaun a chance at the hospital putting his own position in jeopardy.

When Shaun was being considered for the resident position at the hospital, Chief of Surgery Dr. Marcus Andrew (Hill Harper) agreed only on one condition that was suggested by the hospital president himself, “If Shaun doesn’t live up to everything I know he can do, he will be immediately released. And I will resign my position as President of this hospital.”

Shaun, being an optimistic individual, has always looked at the fuller half of the glass. Intellectually sharp, hardworking and dedicated, he has often been misunderstood as blunt because of his unabashed honesty at any given situation. Before penning down Season 1’s recap, I feel it is only fit to give a round of e-applause to Freddie Highmore – the talented actor who made us tear up every next minute with his exceptionally moving performance as Dr. Shaun Murphy. He perfectly embodies the autistic Savant surgeon and that, too, in such an adorable nuanced way that we cannot help but root for him at every step. The way Highmore has maintained the character’s physicality (clasped palms), tonal qualities (a slightly high-pitched nasal voice) and general traits (not looking in the eye), it definitely deserves a long loud applause. Also, did I mention the brilliantly deceiving American accent the blue-eyed Brit maintains while churning out pages and pages of medical jargon? I could keep going on and on and on… but honestly, keep up the outstanding work Freddie!

Coming from the maiden season we have been shown that Murphy has had to overcome prejudices, both on professional as well as personal fronts, and it is these interactions that teach him who to trust, how to befriend and how to tackle issues successfully. He has found caring friends in his colleagues – Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) and Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), an aggressive competitor in new resident Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann), a diplomatic leader in HOD-Surgery, Dr. Marcus Andrew and an appreciative taskmaster in his reporting, Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez). On the personal front, Shaun found a caring companion in his adorable ex-neighbour Lea Dilallo (Paige Spara) who, in many ways, was shown to have the exact opposite demeanour to his introverted nature.

Dr. Claire Browne, a resident at the hospital, has always had a beautiful relationship with Shaun. She was the first one to peel the onions, managing to communicate effectively with him. Supporting him through thick and thin, she stood by his side and over the initial season the rather reserved Shaun Murphy started opening up to her – something that is an extremely difficult act for people in the spectrum to do. Dr. Browne had a rather tough upbringing with her money-minded single mom and the rough childhood molded her into an independent self-made individual who would stand up against any wrongdoing. What could have been a budding relationship between her and fellow resident Dr. Jared Kalu never came to a full circle, as she didn’t have the reciprocated feelings for him and didn’t want him to feel betrayed at the end of the journey. Towards the season finale Claire’s mom makes a surprise visit at the hospital, giving her hope that the mother-daughter relationship could still be worked out; but it was heart-breaking to see how Claire (once again) got the short end of the stick, realizing that even after all these years her mom still loved dollars more than her own daughter and the visit was just a ruse in order to extract money from her!

We now come to Dr. Neil Melendez, Shaun’s boss, whom he reports to directly. Initially through the first season we saw that Dr. Melendez actually despised the idea of having a socially challenged individual being part of his team, as a result of whic, he criticized and insulted Dr. Murphy at every possible occasion. However, only after realizing his excellent skill sets as a surgeon, case after case, shift after shift, did he start giving Shaun his due credit and appreciation. Outside of the hospital, Dr. Melendez was shown to be engaged to co-worker Jessica Preston ([Beau Garrett), the hospital in-house attorney. However, they eventually split up over the idea of having kids one day.

Being on the spectrum, more often than not, makes you a permanent member at the receiving end of any social dialogue. People do offer sympathy, but very few have genuine affection. As was shown in Season 1, the case was no different for Shaun as he once had a disagreement with the building super over utility-repair matters. A new neighbor, Kenny (Chris D’Elia), mingled with him alright but took pure advantage of him when it came to shelling out money. The only person who genuinely understood and really loved Shaun (and vice versa, gradually!), was his ex-neighbor, Lea. Neither did she cut him any slack for being an autistic, nor did she sugar-coat realities for him. Murphy felt like a real person when he would be with her; someone who has a voice and that voice is being heard! Sadly, right after the mid-season finale, Lea moved away from San José and moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania in order to shape up her career as an auto mechanic.

Dr. Aaron Glassman, President of St. Bonaventure Hospital, has had the biggest influence on Shaun. Having looked out for him since he was aged fourteen, Glassman couldn’t help but present the more father-figure side of himself to Shaun, who was craving for freedom and independence. Last year, along these very lines, (also during the mid-season finale) we saw a spat between these two which somewhat severed their bond. However, eventually, Shaun started missing Dr. Glassman’s company and wanted to be friends with him again; only this time it was a little late because his pal and confidant had just been diagnosed with cancer…

The emotional rollercoaster of a season ended with Dr. Glassman’s devastating diagnosis and Shaun putting his as well as his mentor’s future at St. Bonaventure in jeopardy because of a human error he committed in the OR. Therefore, finally, tis’ time we share our Season 2 wish-list…

Shaun and Lea:
Shaun will sure have a lot on his plate at the beginning of this season: A) Autistic or not, he will surely have worries about Dr. Glassman’s cancer treatment and will want to contribute in all ways possible. B) He shall have to deal with the repercussions from his surgical screw-up of last season. C) We know how Murphy works himself up – there’s a good chance he’ll be burning both ends of the candle and stretching himself a little too much, trying to keep up with hospital commitments and being a substitute son to Glassman at this crucial hour of need. At this time point, I believe what Shaun needs is a friend with whom he can have a light chat at the end of the day and maybe not a serious relationship right away. I want Lea to be back and be in a platonic relationship with Shaun for now. They should be each other’s support systems and sounding boards. Not only will it be cute and a treat to watch, it shall also be therapeutic for the characters themselves.

Detailed cancer treatment for Dr. Glassman:
It would be nice to see a detailed coverage on the treatment path for Dr. Glassman’s low-grade glioma. The Good Doctor has always shown the treatment procedures with jaw-dropping intricacies and nail-biting moments. We are hoping to see similar trends continue this season as well; it shall be exciting to see the recovery path for Dr. Glassman and, to be honest, who would want Richard Schiff to be MIA any time soon, right?

Melendez and Lim:
Melendez wants to be a dad, but Jessica doesn’t want kids. He was the ideal partner and was able to maintain his professional and personal lives separately. The guy clearly deserves another shot in life, even if it’s not with the same person. Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) and Melendez seemed have great friendship in Season 1. What if the show explores a stronger friendship or companionship between the two?

Goodbye Jared, hopefully not forever:
It is known that Chuku Modu was exiting the show as a series regular and would be guest credited in one or more episodes. We need a proper closure for all things Dr. Kalu. We loved him as a friendly physician and really rooted for him when he got rejected by Claire. He is a good human being, a genuine friend to Shaun and, most importantly, one hell of a doctor. Hopefully, we shall get to see him scrub in again in the future. Fingers crossed!

The Good Doctor Season 2 returns with its premiere episode titled “Hello” written by none other than Freddie Highmore and directed by Mike Lesto on Monday, Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.