The Good Doctor – Apple

By starrymag | November 26, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) and Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) wake up and prepare for their respective days.  Glassman goes to a high school and sits on the bleachers while Shaun grabs an apple and yogurt for breakfast.  Shaun answers the door and Lea (Paige Spara) bursts in ranting about their landlord cutting off her power.  She eats his apple and then apologizes, explaining that she stress-eats.  After explaining that their landlord complained about her music, Shaun replies that he wears headphones to drown out her music.  He recommends that she get headphones, and she storms out, slamming the door behind her.

 

Shaun goes to the store to get a new apple and a couple, Brandon (Zachary Gordon) and Avery (Kacey Rohl) walk in to get water.  A robber (Jesse James) comes in and demands that everyone in the store hand over their wallets while simultaneously telling them keep their hands where he can see them.  Shaun holds his hands up as the robber points his gun at him.  Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas), Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez), Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), and Dr. Lim (Christina Chang) rush to the ambulance, hearing that Shaun was at the scene of a shooting.  After Avery is wheeled in, Claire is relieved when Shaun steps out of the ambulance unharmed.  He explains the robber’s condition as he is wheeled into the hospital.

 

As Melendez and Jared tend to Avery, Brandon spots Shaun and questions why he is there when the shooting was his fault.  Melendez talks to a Policeman (Brendan Zub), and tells Shaun that they want to talk to him, suggesting that he take the rest of the day off.  Shaun refuses, focusing on tending to Avery.  Melendez tells him to come with him, and Shaun follows his instructions.  In the middle of tending to the robber, Claire sees a Swastika tatttoo and hesitates.  She announces that he will be fine and tries to go help Avery.  However, Lim sees that he can’t breathe and informs Claire that she will be working with her.  Lim and Claire operate on the robber, and he starts breathing normally.  She warns Claire that she can’t put her personal feelings in front of her medical judgment.  Despite Claire’s denial and attempts to argue, Lim tells her to leave the operating room.

 

In surgery, Shaun assesses Avery’s condition and Jared asks him why Brandon thinks the shooting is his fault.  Shaun doesn’t answer and works quickly to stabalize Avery when the pressure starts dropping.  As Shaun washes his hands, Glassman is relieved that he is okay and asks what happened.  Shaun flashes back to the store, where the robber demands that he hand over his wallet.  He refuses to put his hands down, since the robber instructed him to keep his hands where he can see them.  The robber asks if he’s trying to be a hero, and Shaun starts pacing.  Brandon and Avery tell Shaun to do what he says, and the robber shoots Shaun.  The bullet misses him and hits Avery, and the Store Clerk (David Soo) knocks the robber out from behind.

 

In the present, Glassman tells Shaun to take the rest of the day off.  Shaun questions why, and Glassman tells him that he witnessed a traumatic event.  However, Shaun insists that the shooting was not his fault and leaves to check on Avery.  Claire tries to apologize to Lim, but Lim is clearly still angry with her.  She tells Claire to watch the robber overnight despite her protests, and warns her that he better be breathing in the morning.  Glassman asks Melendez why Shaun is working, and Melendez replies that he cleared Shaun to work.  After Glassman questions his assessment abilities, Melendez replies that Shaun doesn’t let anything distract from his work.

 

The hospital’s psychologist (Catherine Lough Haggquist) asks Shaun if he knows why he’s there.  Shaun understands, and remarks that she doesn’t have any apples on her table when she asks how he’s feeling.  She asks if he regrets anything from this morning, and Shaun explains that he can’t change things in the past.  Shaun becomes silent and then explains that he’s thinking of a medical procedure when asked.  Melendez tells Brandon that the surgery went well, and asks to him to get in touch with Avery’s parents.  He admits that he doesn’t know her last name, as they just met for the first time through a dating app.  Melendez tells him he can leave, but Brandon inists that he wants to be there for her.

 

Claire checks on the robber, who demands she get him pain medicine.  She sees that she is a drug addict and refuses.  He believes that she is punishing him because of his tattoo.  Despite her denial, the robber throws his tray at her and is restrained by the policeman.  Glassman expresses his concerns about Shaun to the psychologist, but she suggests that Shaun’s autism is a blessing in allowing him maintain focus on the patient.  She suggests alternatively that Shaun’s obsession is bad for him, and Glassman is frustrated with her inability to properly assess him.

 

As they walk, Claire complains to Melendez about Lim’s lack of empathy towards her.  He asks her what she wants from him, and she asks him to tell Lim to back off.  Melendez refuses, and tells Clarie to do what Lim tells her to do when she tries to argue.  Later, Claire suggests to Shaun that they switch patients, but Shaun refuses.  She tries to talk to him about what happened, but he focuses on his fight with Lea.  After explaining what happened, she tells him that sometimes a woman wants support instead of advice.  Shaun asks how to tell which is needed, and she tells him to generally choose support.

 

Claire is summoned by the robber, who tends to him.  The robber assumes that she is not competent because of her race, and she replies that the father of modern medicine was Egyptian before pointing out that he is a criminal.  After replying that she doesn’t like thieves, racists, and violent punks, he makes racist assumptions about her life, such including that her mother is a drug addict and she got where she is because of affirmative action.  Claire tells him that he knows nothing about her, and forces the needle into his arm, causing him to comment that they’re all violent punks.

 

Shaun checks on Avery, and Brandon comments that he could have given the robber his wallet.  He sees that something is wrong, and rips off her blanket.  Brandon tries to pull Shaun away, but a nurse stops him.  They see that Avery’s legs have swelled, and Shaun states that her kidneys are failing.  Melendez and Shaun assess her, and work to stabalize her.  Brandon tries to argue about Shaun’s presence, but Melendez tells him to shut up.  Their operation works and Melendez tells Brandon to go home as he doesn’t know Avery or Shaun.

 

Claire bursts in as Lim tends to a patient, and calls the robber a spiteful bully.  Lim sarcastically tells her that they’ll find a patient more to her liking.  Claire attempts to argue that she doesn’t deserve this treatment, and believes that Lim can’t see past her ego.  Lim angrily points out that Claire is criticizing her in front of a room of people and asks if she would do the same in front of Melendez.  She argues that she’s dealt with enough men underming her authority that she doesn’t need if from women too.

 

Glassman asks to speak to Shaun and asks him why people think that the shooting was his fault.  Shaun argues that he is not responsible for the shooting and that pacing doesn’t cause shootings.  Glassman argues that Shaun worsened the situation, and stops Shaun from walking away.  After Glassman suggests that it’s also his fault, Shaun reminds him that he wasn’t there.  Glassman sits Shaun down, and tells him that he needs guidance.  Shaun replies that he’s supposed to be watching his patient and walks away.

 

As Shaun watches Avery’s monitor, Brandon admits that the shooting is his fault.  He explains that he was trying to ditch Avery that morning and suggested they go to into the store in an attempt to end the date.  Shaun tells him that it’s not his fault, as lying doesn’t cause shootings.  The monitor starts beeping, and Shaun determines that Avery is dying.  Claire checks on the robber and sees that he’s having trouble breathing.  She pulls off his neck bandage to reveal that his neck is swollen.  Shaun diagnoses Avery and suggests a procedure, but Jared suggests an alternative diagnosis and procedure.  Shaun argues that his idea is simpler, but Jared argues that he is right.  As Avery starts crashing, Melendez decides to go with Jared’s suggestion.

 

In the operating room, Melendez, Jared, and Shaun try to figure out where the internal bleeding is coming from.  Shaun uses his textbook memories to determine the spot of the bleeding.  He gives instructions to Melendez and Jared, explaining that he followed the injuries.  Claire operates on the robber, and Lim criticizes her for not doing the operation in the operating room.  Melendez examines Avery and determines that Shaun is right about the spot of the bleeding.  After Melendez stabalizes Avery, Shaun admits that he was wrong and Jared was right.

 

Claire tends to the robber and tells him that he was right about her mother.  However, she worked incredibly hard to get to the place where she could save his life.  Avery wakes up to find her parents (Elizabeth McCallum and Terence Hayman) standing over her.  Brandon turns to leave, but Avery argues that she needs to thank him and apologizing for misjudging him.  She explains that she thought that he was trying to ditch her on their date and that she was hoping he was.  Brandon asks for a second chance at their date when she recovers, and she agrees.

 

As Lim works on a patient, Claire apologizes and explains that she should make up for publicly criticizing her by publically supporting her.  Lim is glad that she saved a patient, but wishes that it wasn’t a Nazi.  Jessica Preston (Beau Garrett) meets Glassman at the high school and talk about the death of Glassman’s daughter.  Glassman feels responsible, but Jessica assures that he did his best.

 

Shaun answers the door, and finds Lea on the other side.  He apologizes for not supporting her even though he feels she was wrong.  Lea apologizes for overreacting and tells him that he is the most honest guy she knows.  She tells him not to start lying to make her feel better, and gives him an apple to replace the one she took.  Shaun approaches her door, knocks, and tells Lea that he made a mistake that day and someone got hurt.  She hugs him, and he leans in and allows her to embrace him.