The Good Doctor – Autopsy

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

The EMTs wheel in an elderly homeless woman that they are calling “Jane Doe” who was found lying on the sidewalk. Park (Will Yun Lee) and Shaun (Freddie Highmore) take over. She is disoriented and keeps calling Shaun by the name of “Coley.” The residents confirm descending thoracic aneurysm and page Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) for surgery. Claire (Antonia Thomas) and Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) attend to Aiden (Cameron Gellman) who had a skateboarding accident. Aiden is confused as he doesn’t even know skating. While preparing him for surgery, the residents ask him if he was inebriated or stoned to which Aiden says that he practices abstinence.

Jane’s surgery is underway. The team sews up her torn aortic wall and are checking if the sutures would hold. Shaun reveals about his breakup. Park and Melendez feel sorry for him, but Shaun claims to be okay. Melendez suggests owning up to the pain. Shaun notices Jane having epistaxis from carotid aneurysm rupture. They clip off her carotids, but she ends up bleeding more and simultaneously hemorrhages. Jane dies. Seeing Shaun struggle with her demise, Melendez reminds him that they can’t save everyone and suggests focusing on the next case. Claire and Morgan check on Aiden after his surgery. He is grateful to be alive in the company of two gorgeous residents in spite of the doped up skateboarding incident. The residents are amused as he claimed to be the opposite just a few hours ago but Aiden has no recollection of meeting them before.

Shaun approaches Lim (Christina Chang) and Melendez to seek permission to perform an autopsy on Jane. Melendez finds it unnecessary and so does Lim. Both ask Shaun to allow himself to grieve the loss of his breakup, but Shaun insists that he’s okay and decides to get consent from Jane’s family. Lim wishes him luck as Jane never revealed her true identity. Lim suddenly spots a young girl peeking at her and running away. Morgan and Claire prepare Aiden for EEG as they suspect him suffering from regular blackouts due to underlying head trauma or drug abuse. Aiden now claims to be living a monkish life that revolves around sleep, class and studies. Shaun wishes to seek Park’s help in tracking down Jane as he is an ex-cop but Park isn’t keen to cling on to Jane’s case. Shaun decides to do it himself. Morgan and Claire check Aiden’s EEG while he’s asleep. Morgan is pissed that her complaint changed nothing between Claire and Melendez. Claire is shocked to know that it was her and not Park. Morgan confesses that she was sick of her receiving special treatment while the rest looked like second class residents. Claire argues that her complaint made Melendez doubt himself and resent every single resident, including her. Aiden supports Claire. She apologizes for waking him up. Suddenly, she notices that Aiden’s EEG shows that he’s asleep even though he’s completely awake.

Park finds Shaun examining Jane’s body. Shaun found out that Jane underwent knee replacement surgery thirty years ago and that she had an abnormal number of teeth cavities. Park feels that Shaun is distracting himself from the Carly situation. Shaun shows him a hummingbird tattooed on Jane’s ankle hoping to excite the ex-cop in him. Park does some research but finds no records of homeless Jane in the police database. Melendez finds them investigating Jane and suggests the duo to focus on the living. Park realizes that it must be hard for Shaun to move on as he had his many firsts with Carly (Jasika Nicole). Shaun remembers sharing many firsts with Lea, too. He does not know how one moves on. Park pities him and arranges an undercover investigation for Jane. Lim, Andrews (Hill Harper), Claire and Morgan discuss Aiden’s split personality. They decide to seek Aiden’s medical history by interviewing both of his personalities. While “asleep” Aiden is a self-proclaimed selfish casanova who oscillates between micro and macro-dosing, his “awake” self is a disciplined scholar who finds a drink and small party enough to unwind. Lim again spots the young girl wandering in the hospital. Park and Shaun investigate further and learn that Jane’s real name is Maribel Ventane (Jessica Van Der Veen) who is now survived by her son Jules Ventane (Luke Camilleri). The residents make a visit to see him. Upon reaching Jules’ house, Shaun jumps into getting consent for the autopsy while Park pays his condolences. Jules; however, is least interested about his mother’s death. Park feels that it’s high time that Shaun moves on.

Andrews, Morgan, Claire and Melendez brainstorm over Aiden. While Claire thinks it is Paraneoplastic syndrome, Melendez feels it could be a psychotic case. Claire rules it out as she’s confident that she’d have picked it up earlier thanks to her own personal experiences, but Melendez finds it ineffective and a subjective approach. Claire feels undermined. Andrews stops the banter and authorizes tests and imaging for all of their diagnoses. Lim spots the girl once again; she simultaneously receives a call from her mom which she misses on purpose and follows the girl. Lim finally catches up to her on the elevator. It turns out that her name is Trinity (Ariah Lee) and that she got lost on her way to the cafeteria to get snacks for her mum who just delivered a baby girl in the maternity ward. Lim arranges to locate her mother but Trinity escapes again. Lim notifies security. Shaun is upset as they drive off Jules’ property. He stares at the house from the rear mirror and finds Jules coming out of his house. Shaun jumps out of the car rushing towards Jules, screaming at him to grant permission for the autopsy but the man escapes into his car making a phone call. Shaun bangs his window. Park tries calming Shaun down, asking him to let Carly go and stop with the banging or else he’ll end up in jail. Unfortunately, both of them end up in jail.

Glassman (Richard Schiff) bails them out. Shaun is petrified. He learns that Jules hasn’t pressed charges but has put a restraining order on him. Glassman asks him about being upset over the breakup but Shaun denies feeling that way. He is rather worried about how he’ll confess to Lea (Paige Spara) as advised by Carly. He’s scared that if Lea rejects him that he might end up losing her as a friend, too. Glassman gives him hope that she might reciprocate positively as well. Aiden’s “awake” self is active during his MRI. He is worried that his darker, adorable side expresses traits that he unconsciously suppresses. Morgan asks him not to feel sorry as she believes that everyone has traits they’re not entirely proud of. She apologizes to Claire for ratting out against Melendez. The residents soon find out that Aiden has an arachnoid cyst which needs to be drained out. “Awake” Aiden does not want to do the surgery and potentially lose his darker self forever. Morgan and Claire take it to Andrews. Morgan wants to try and seek consent from “asleep” Aiden. Though Claire is against it, Andrews allows Morgan to go with her idea.

Trinity is brought to Lim’s office. As they found no records of her mom being admitted into their maternity ward, Lim asks for her full name and parents’ contacts. Trinity remains silent and soon reveals that she wanted to meet her again. Lim remembers how someone left a tiny, sick baby girl at the ER nearly eight years ago on Trinity Sunday and is elated to see she has grown into this healthy girl. Trinity wants Lim to adopt her. Shaun gathers his courage and approaches Lea. She feels sorry for him. Shaun is about to confess his feelings, but shies away. Trinity shares how her mom had another daughter and no one cares about her anymore. Lim realizes that Trinity is feeling left out and explains how a single heart has enough room to let a mom love all her children unconditionally.

Morgan informs “asleep” Aiden about the surgery and how retaining the cyst can lead to complications. He realises that his “professor” self denied treatment which is why the “frat boy” has been approached. Morgan; however, feels that he is capable of making sacrifices in spite of his shady nature. Shaun meets Carly at her home. He thinks that Maribel had polycystic kidney disease, but he can only rule it out via autopsy which would need prior authorization from an HOD. As Carly heads the Pathology department, he wants her to grant him authorization. Shaun adds that he needs to get past this distraction in order to confess to Lea. She gives Shaun authorization. He finds no sign of polycystic kidney disease and then examines Maribel’s liver closely. Carly realizes how hard it must be for Shaun, but she cannot deny what she witnessed between him and Lea either. Shaun too realizes that he loves Lea more than Carly but is scared to confess. Carly asks him to remain strong and look back at how much he grew as a person when they were together. Shaun gives her a hug. Aiden gets out of anesthesia after his surgery and is now in his “professor”’ self. Morgan and Claire show him a video that “asleep” Aiden left for him. He confesses to having given consent to the procedure and advises the professor to lead a more relaxed life. He also reveals how Staci from Advanced Calculus really likes him. The frat boy signs off saying that they were and will continue to be okay.

Shaun revisits Jules to inform him about his mother’s cause of death. Although Jules threatens to call the police, Shaun goes on to share how Maribel’s liver showed three aneurysms in the hepatic artery which confirmed the rare hereditary and fatal Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, something that Jules might’ve inherited as well. Shaun wonders if he has multiple cavities too. Jules is appalled to know that the only thing he got from his mom was a potentially deadly disease. Shaun asks him if Maribel ever called him “Coley.” It turns out that it was short for “Colibri” or hummingbird and that she called Jules with that name as he used to flit around the house. Shaun reveals that Maribel had a hummingbird tattooed on her body and her last word was “Colibri.” according to him, Maribel loved him but might’ve been afraid to tell him. Claire and Melendez meet for bowling after work. Melendez hopes that Morgan bought their fight earlier in the day. Claire finds it amusing how much caution is needed to navigate a simple platonic friendship at work. Trinity’s mother (Patrice Jefferson) comes to collect her daughter. Lim walks Trinity outside the hospital door and she rushes to her mom. She smiles at Lim before going home. Lim smiles back at her and gives a call to her own mother.

Lea visits Shaun. He has decorated the apartment and has a candlelight dinner ready. She wonders what’s going on. Shaun says that he loves her and wants to be her boyfriend. Lea is taken aback. She confesses her love for him, too. However, she’s selfish, needy and messy and is aware that it’s a challenge for anyone to be with her. Shaun thinks he’s capable enough, but Lea stresses that he’s different. She points out how he needs things a certain way, how he functions in a certain way, and that it won’t be easy. Shaun wells up upon realizing that she doesn’t want to be with him because he has Autism. He asks her whether that is true. Lea is overcome with emotion and cannot get herself to answer his question. She leaves his place quietly.

Heartbroken and emotionally drained, Shaun stands all alone in his candlelit apartment unable to contain his tears any longer.