The Good Doctor – First Case, Second Base

By starrymag | October 27, 2019

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

 

 

 

Shaun (Freddie Highmore) and Carly (Jasika Nicole) are watching a movie. They’re kissing at twelve minute intervals. Carly doesn’t want to wait that long and kisses him spontaneously. He reverts back until she starts to touch him.

 

Lea (Paige Spara) sees Shaun in the morning and hopes that it went well at Carly’s. Shaun reveals how she touches him while kissing but he prefers touching only one thing at a time. Lea asks him if he told her about it. Just then, he gets notified that he’ll be having his first lead surgery. Both spring up in joy. Shaun hurries off to the hospital.

 

Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) asks Claire (Antonia Thomas) how she’s doing. Claire thanks her for helping her through and wishes to keep her mom’s death a secret. Morgan thinks she’s in denial. They finally meet their patient Curtis (Aidan Kahn) who’s suffered leg fractures from trying to fix a chimney without a safety harness. Claire notices his slow pupil reaction and thinks he’s inebriated. Curtis claims to have been sober for more than six years. Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) asks the residents to prep him for the OR and run a BAC.

 

Shaun, Andrews (Hill Harper) and Park (Will Yun Lee) meet their patient, Beth (Stacy Greenwell), who has esophageal cancer. Shaun introduces himself as her surgeon and explains the procedure. She finds him too young. Shaun looks worried. It turns out she believes that younger surgeons are better. Beth gets emotional about how a divorce, career change and opening a cafe three day before her diagnosis has overwhelmed her but is thankful nonetheless. Shaun fills her in on the risks and how she won’t need a permanent feeding tube. Andrews is amused by her geniality. He meets Lim (Christina Chang) who dropped Park from the lead surgeon position for this case and appointed Shaun as in charge. While Lim thinks it’ll test his patient management skills, Andrews thinks it’ll be coddling Murphy. Lim doesn’t want to challenge him, but Andrews thinks he’s too resilient to be affected. Lim promises to challenge him next week.

 

Curtis’s wife, Teal (Nefetari Spencer), comes to meet him. Claire reveals that his blood alcohol level was 0.09 during admission but Teal believes that her husband is sober.

 

Aaron (Richard Schiff) is helping Debbie (Sheila Kelley) unpack her stuff. He finds a gun. Debbie reveals that it’s just for safety. Aaron is visibly disturbed.

 

Shaun and Park are doing Beth’s MRI. Park hates that this lead case was stolen from him, but he’s happy for Shaun and so is he. Shaun notices excessive scarring which confirms that Beth would indeed need a permanent feeding tube. They discuss this with Lim and Andrews. Shaun wants Park to break the news to Beth, but Andrews wants him to do it. Shaun is worried as he may upset her and make her opt for a different surgeon. Lim agrees to let Park break the news.

 

Curtis’s surgery is on and the surgeons notice atrial fibrillation. Claire thinks it’s from binge drinking and hates how Teal would still be in denial. Morgan gives her a look.

 

Park, Andrews and Shaun go to Beth to fill her on the change of plans. Andrews makes Shaun tell her. He struggles but does say it out, upsetting Beth.

 

All the residents gather for lunch and Glassman joins them, too.  He wants to know if any of them own a gun or have had trouble with someone owning it.  Morgan’s ex had trouble, but she insisted that it gave her confidence. Park’s service gun was an issue when Kellan was a child, but the family compromised. Claire’s ex owned one, but she chose the nuclear option of letting him stay or the gun stay. Both left. Glassman is worried.

 

Shaun goes to Carly to deliver sample for pathology. She wonders if he’s nervous. He’s not. She apologizes for being assertive the night before. Shaun says it’s okay as Lea explained it to him. Carly frowns as Lea’s privy to their relationship, too. To her further amusement Shaun tells her that he likes to touch one thing at a time. He next goes to practice for surgery under Dr. Andrews’ supervision. They are interrupted by Lim. She’s annoyed at Andrews for having disobeyed her by coaxing Shaun into breaking the feeding tube news. Beth now wants her surgeon changed. Shaun is devastated as he put a lot into this case. He walks out heading home. Lim catches him at the bus stop and shares how it’s been a learning curve for her too. She’s navigating her ways as the chief just like he’s learning people skills. Shaun is upset that his developmental disorder wouldn’t let him hone. Lim gets an idea and asks Shaun to follow.  She approaches Beth and stresses how she has full confidence over Shaun adding that if she doubts Shaun, she doubts her. She gives Beth an option to reconsider her treatment path or be okay with things as planned. Beth agrees to let Shaun lead the surgery.

 

While performing Curtis’s sonogram Morgan asks Claire to behave normally to keep people from guessing that her mom died. She says acting bitchy is an odd look on her. Claire thinks she’s rather angry, but sarcastically asks Morgan for her opinion. The residents find no cause to Curtis’s A-fib.

 

Aaron has incorporated an intricate alarm system for Debbie at their home. She loves it as it’d be her secondary safety coverage. However, Aaron was hoping it’d be her primary and that she’d give up on the ammunition. Debbie is pissed.

 

Andrews accuses Lim for ruining Shaun by throwing him into the deep end. According to him, Shaun still cannot effectively communicate as leader of the OR and that she should be ready to scrub in immediately if need arises. Lim thinks he’ll be fine. Andrews is sure that she handpicked his surgical team. Lim did indeed!

 

Morgan and Claire want Teal to accept that Curtis’s A-fib is a result of his heavy drinking as other causes have been ruled out. Teal refuses. Having been together since adolescent days and getting through his later drinking issues to making him vow to choose sobriety as basis of their marriage, Teal thinks there’s a loophole somewhere. Claire is disgusted by how much she believes in him. Later the residents go back to her upon finding bleeding ulcers that were definitely related to his drinking. Teal does not move from her belief.

 

While sleeping Shaun dreams of his brother Steve (Dylan Kingwell). He’s nervous about what he’ll do if he loses his cool and botches something up because of that. Steve asks him to blow three candles to curb anxiety. Shaun does so. He looks around and Steve is gone. Shaun goes back to sleep.

 

The next day Dr. Glassman asks Shaun how he is holding up. He’s not nervous, but Glassman thinks everyone is to some degree and, moreover, it shows that the doctor cares. Shaun; however, feels that preparation saves the day, not caring. Glassman gives him an orange surgical cap that a young surgeon once wore at his first lead. He was nervous trying to take care of everything, but soon he took notes from the birth process. Just like the woman focuses on a point to give birth, he chose the color orange to focus on in the OR. He was the young surgeon. Shaun takes it happily.

 

Shaun is watching a Japanese operation technique for Beth’s surgery. Carly comes in and gives him a good luck kiss. Shaun doesn’t believe in luck, but after a second peck he feels luckier. Carly doesn’t want them to touch lips any longer. She takes his hand and places it on her breast. He feels weird but good. He says that she’s got no lumps. Carly has a win-win! Shaun soon scrubs in for surgery wearing the orange cap. He blows three times and starts the surgery. The procedure is going on smoothly. Suddenly, he looks at Beth’s incision and starts to shout “No” and “Can’t do this.” He runs out of the OR panicking. Andrews and Park follow after asking Lim to be paged immediately. Shaun’s sweating profusely. He’s trying to say something. Lim asks Park to take over but he won’t. He doesn’t think Shaun’s having a meltdown and believes that he’s got an approach that either they or he cannot do. He asks Shaun to breathe. Steve appears before Shaun and gestures to him to blow the candles. He does so and stabilizes and shares about the Japanese video that he was watching. A jejunum free flap would save Beth the permanent feeding tube. It’s a very complex surgery for him to lead. As Andrews hasn’t done it before, Lim scrubs in asking Shaun to guide them through.

 

Morgan and Claire examine Curtis’s digestive tract. Claire voices out how much she hates the “Love is enough to pull someone through” concept. They soon spot bleeding that’s originating from a tumor and rush Curtis to the OR.

 

Aaron gets a double coffee from Debbie at the hospital. He needs the coffee as he was treating a girl who got shot by her brother by accident. Debbie realizes the odd coincidence. Aaron wants to know if something happened in the past that forced her to carry a gun for safety. Debbie is pissed that she needs a backstory to justify her gun possession and says that she doesn’t need to give an explanation.

 

As Beth’s surgery goes on, a nurse comes in informing Lim about an OR being ready. She sends Park off. He’s surprised but does as told.

 

After removing Curtis’s benign tumor the surgeons get the smell of alcohol even though he didn’t touch a drop in the last 24 hours. It turns out he has auto brewery syndrome in which the tumor blocks the intestinal tract preventing carbs from being digested and causing them to get trapped and fermented. Curtis is now cured. Later, Claire apologizes to Teal for doubting her belief.

 

As the procedure ends successfully, Lim asks Shaun to close the sutures as a symbol. Shaun sees Steve whilst stitching and is happy.

 

Park and Shaun meet after the surgeries. Though Park was pissed that he had to walk out, he wasn’t aware that his first lead surgery was waiting for him – an appendectomy. He and Shaun both are elated. Andrews believes that Shaun failed this case, but Lim asks him to focus on the individual contributions to the successful outcome and in her books Shaun did not fail.

 

Shaun and Glassman meet and discuss about the newly married impasse over a gun. Shaun feels he shouldn’t worry about anything else if Debbie lets him touch her breast which she does.

 

Claire apologizes to Morgan for her behavior over the day but she’s not in a position to give hope a chance. Curtis’s was an exception, but hope killed her mom.

 

Aaron checks the gun while Debbie’s showering. She comes out and thinks that they need to talk. Aaron touches her breast and promises to work on his compromise. They make out.

 

Shaun goes to Carly’s and rings the doorbell. She opens the door and asks about his first surgery. He shares how it wasn’t his lead and asks if he can check her other breast. Smiling ear to ear, she let’s Shaun in.