The Good Doctor – Claire

By starrymag | October 13, 2019

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

 

It’s 5:00 a.m. Claire (Antonia Thomas) wakes up and goes for a run. She’s excited for her first solo surgery. After freshening up she discards all the alcohol that’s there in the house, saving one last bottle of champagne to celebrate at the end of the day. As she gets dressed her mom (Sharon Leal) asks her where to keep her urine sample, which Claire regularly runs by the pathology department at the hospital. She asks Breeze to keep it in her bag.

 

After reaching the hospital Claire and Shaun (Freddie Highmore) see their patient, Michelle Reynolds (Kyla-Drew), who is complaining of nausea and stomach ache after every meal. As they ask about her symptoms, they also meet Michelle’s foster sister Tisha (Karee Ducharme). Claire notices that Michelle isn’t close to Tisha, but the young girl is really worried about Michelle. Both doctors concur that Michelle needs a cholecystectomy.

 

Dr. Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez), Dr. Lim (Christina Chang), Shaun and Claire discuss the imaging and upon locating scars Melendez feels that it’d be complicated and maybe Claire shouldn’t lead this one. Lim asks Claire for her opinion, but Melendez interrupts mentioning how it should be the attending surgeon’s call. Lim overrules him and Claire ends up supporting her boss. Shaun suggests that an open procedure would provide clearer view as opposed to laparoscopic. Everyone in the room agrees.

 

Shaun tells Claire about his date with Carly (Jasika Nicole) and reveals how he asked her eighty-three curated questions, even going up to the topics of having kids. Claire asks him to tread lightly in these regards. As the two walk up to the gallery to watch Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper) perform surgery, Shaun continues to question as to why his questioning was wrong and isn’t the sole purpose of dating finding out compatibility. Claire, who’s trying to concentrate on the surgery below as well as solve Shaun’s doubts, asks him to go step by step on dates and that people peel the onion as opposed to cutting it in half directly. That’s because people tend to get uncomfortable with such straight-up personal questions at the very beginning. She asks about his plans for the next date. Shaun worries that not only did they not decide on a next date but he might’ve indeed split the onion into half. Claire promises to speak to Carly after surgery. Shaun is relieved while also informing her that her cholecystectomy has been postponed due to an available OR.

 

As Claire walks by the ER she stumbles upon Park (Will Yun Lee) and Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) who’re trying to convince their fisherman patient, Shamus (Robert Sean Leonard), to allow them to disengage a marlin that’s staked his thigh with his bill. He’s named the fish after his dead father, Mr. Franklin, and after having pursued it for forty years he can’t imagine Morgan’s suggestion of decapitating the fish or abandoning it to go get an MRI done just because both won’t fit on the bed.

 

Michelle’s mother (Tracie Thoms) has come and wants to know how soon can her daughter be discharged. Claire gives nearly a week’s time and the mom is annoyed. She can’t let Michelle skip school and not take care of the three foster kids. Claire explains that it’s a serious condition, which has persisted for quite some time. Suddenly, Michelle goes into tachycardia and is sent in for surgery immediately.

 

After the surgery Claire and Melendez ask Michelle why she hid her use of birth control pills as it had caused her pulmonary embolism. Michelle reveals that she couldn’t speak about it in front of Tisha and that she has been using those for a year. While inserting catheter, Claire notices cut marks on her inner thighs and inquires about it. Michelle says that it was from climbing a fence. Claire later explains that kids doing self harm are sad and hurting. She wants Michelle to tell the truth. Reluctantly, Michelle discloses how she takes care of the three foster kids and how her life sucks.

 

Later, Claire and Melendez speak to the mom explaining how Michelle feels overburdened with responsibilities. The mom’s angry and goes to have a word with Michelle. Melendez asks Claire to stick to Michelle’s gallbladder and not get distracted by her home life.

 

Shaun visits Claire who is practicing at the surgical simulator and is checking up if she spoke to Carly. He asks her to take a break to keep balance as Dr. Lim had once advised. However, she says that she needs practice. He keeps talking repeatedly and Claire decides to speak to Carly immediately to get it over with.

 

On her way Claire gets summoned by Morgan into the MRI room. Judging by the questioning Claire wonders why Morgan’s sucking up to her. Also, how did Shamus get in there in the MRI with Mr. Franklin? Morgan admits that she’s simply sucking up to the front runner for Chief Resident’s position. The two doctors jump upon hearing a thud. Franklin has blasted open splashing blood and tissue all over the place. Park thinks there was a metal piece inside the fish, but Shamus is happier that the fish can still be mounted if cleaned up. Franklin falls off exposing the huge hole from which the blood fountains out. Claire plugs it with her finger and they wheel him into the OR.

 

Lim takes over the procedure and releases Claire. She later shares how she’s nervous about her first surgery. Lim asks her not to complain and encourages by reminding how their colored women status has forced them to always be twice as good. Claire continues to practice on the simulator. On the D-day, Claire is prepping at home when Breeze walks in asking about Michelle. Claire shares how she’s already sexually active at fourteen. While Breeze had the misconception that her daughter too was sexually active at fourteen years old, Claire reveals that it wasn’t until her sophomore year of college that she lost her virginity. Breeze recollects how serious and restrained Claire was back in the day. It turns out the behavior was a byproduct of constantly needing to worry about your own mom. Breeze reminds Claire of their therapy session with Dr. Donovan (Iris Quinn) scheduled that afternoon.

 

Claire asks Michelle’s mom regarding the cutting. The mom tells her that it had resulted from peer pressure. When Claire asks more she advises her to stick to the decisions related to the surgery. Claire goes to Michelle and asks why she lied to her mom. According to her,  the truth wasn’t entertained. Claire gives an example of her own past and shares how taking care of her mentally unstable mother whilst holding the house together and maintaining good grades forced her to see a psychiatrist. Seeing Claire be the surgeon she is today, Michelle says yes to a session before surgery. Claire goes for lunch and is studying. Morgan and Park come to her table and start discussing Shamus’s case and are worried that he’s not responding to any antibiotics. They suspect an autoimmune disorder or some infection caused during the initial stab. Claire goes to another table but gets paged by Dr. Lim.

 

It seems that Mrs. Reynolds is angry with Claire’s decision of arranging a psych consult for her daughter without her consent and wants to complain to the medical board. Lim is forced to remove Claire from the surgery and substitute her with Neil.

 

At the therapy session Dr. Donovan asks Claire about her surgery. She nearly breaks down from the embarrassment, insult and setback that she received. She reveals that she’s feeling relieved and that makes her feel like a fraud. Breeze lifts her daughter’s spirits up by mentioning how things that matter are scary and she continues to remain her inspiration on the worst of days as well. They share a hug.

 

First thing in the morning Claire goes to Carly, but she’s preoccupied with testing Shamus’s mass for cancer and needs to reschedule their talk. Claire immediately goes to Morgan and Park to inform them of the cancer. That’s why the antibiotics were ineffective. Morgan and Park rush to send a tissue sample from the ulcerated area for biopsy. Meanwhile, Melendez asks Claire to accompany him to see what’s going down between Michelle and her mom.

 

Michelle doesn’t want anyone to operate on her except Claire as she cares for her. Claire tries calming her down saying that she’ll be at the gallery watching from above the whole time. Later, at the nurse’s station, Lim apologizes to Claire for unceremoniously removing her because otherwise the mom would’ve gone to court. Just then Melendez comes in informing Claire that she’ll be leading the surgery while he’ll be looking over. He got the mom to agree. Claire is overjoyed.

 

Claire and Carly have the talk. Carly crisply asks her to keep herself out of her and Shaun’s relationship and that, moreover, she loved Shaun’s questionnaire as opposed to the boring small talks. Claire takes it in her stride and gets ready for the surgery. She takes a “victory” selfie in front of the OR display, which shows her name as the lead surgeon. She sends this picture to Breeze and enters the OR where the entire team is ready for her. Dr. Melendez is Claire’s attending, Shaun’s her assisting and nurses are in position.

 

The surgery starts off to a smooth beginning. After the incision and placement of retractor Claire can now see the liver. She notices way more scarring than what was visible in the imaging. Seeing her get slightly nervous Melendez asks her to talk them through her approach. She does and successfully removes the gallbladder. Suddenly, Michelle starts to hemorrhage. Melendez asks what could’ve gone wrong. Claire calmly answers that her scissor tips could’ve nicked the hepatic artery and caused the bleed. Melendez concurs and says that it’s common. She clamps the common hepatic artery and runs sutures along the nick arresting the bleed. After the surgery is done Claire walks out and jumps in relief. She informs the mom that it’s been successful. Mrs. Reynolds thanks Claire for the psych consult and asks for the therapist’s card.

 

Morgan thanks Claire for her diagnosis as Shamus indeed had angiosarcoma and they had to amputate his leg down from the knee. Thankfully, the margins were clean. Shamus is elated and shouts in excitement when Mr. Franklin is brought back to him in one piece, all cleaned up. Claire has a huge smile on her face and continues to wear it as she walks down the hospital stairs spotting Shaun and Carly seated near the entrance continuing with their chips and questions.

 

Claire finds a new voicemail from her mom and soon gets a call from her. It’s a man. In a matter of few minutes she walks through an accident scene, shell-shocked upon finding a familiar car smashed onto a pole. The front glass is cracked and there’s blood smeared on it. On the driver’s seat is her mom, cold and still. Her voicemail gets delivered to Claire and she can listen to her mom rejoicing and wanting to celebrate after receiving her successful surgery text, saying that they shall celebrate, she made dinner and is on her way to get some dessert. Claire looks around the car and notices an open bottle of champagne – the very bottle she’d kept aside for celebrating her victory. Sadly, it caused the most unimaginable loss that she could even dream of. Her mom is dead.