The Good Doctor – I Love You

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) regains consciousness in an ambulance. Claire (Antonia Thomas) is by his side who’s way more worried about the abdominal bruise and head trauma than Melendez himself. Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) performs the surgery with Nurse Patringa (Karin Konoval) risking her own hands. While operating on Casey (Bentley Green), Lim (Christina Chang) and Park (Will Yun Lee) realize that the bars  have shifted his heart which is why a new surgical site is needed. Foot deep in water, Shaun (Freddie Highmore) calls for help on his walkie talkie and Lea (Paige Spara) picks up. Apparently, the rescue team has turned off the mains and is now busy reinforcing the collapsed walls. Vera (Marin Ireland) is scared of drowning soon, but Shaun is confident that they have an hour. He starts cutting the rebar using a saw. To keep her mind off the painful procedure, he asks Vera how she dealt with heartache. She reveals that her ex lied to her though she remained truthful. Now, she is ready to move on.

Claire is running Melendez’s head CT. There seems to be no head trauma but with him soon flubbing with words and his blood clot visibly expanding, Claire begins to worry. Andrews (Hill Harper) finds Morgan in surgery and is appalled at how she disobeyed Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff). When Morgan defends herself by stating the gravity of the ruptured tubes and absence of surgeons, Andrews calls her out for trying to be a hero and asks her to return to her room offering to finish the procedure. Lim and Park realize that clamping Casey’s aorta any further would result in brain death. With nothing left to do, Park asks Lim to go back to the hospital and offers to stay by Casey’s side. Lim returns to the ER and gets caught up with triage when Claire approaches her with Melendez’s grim report. Casey is curious to know how his procedure went. Park says sorry for being unsuccessful and asks him to brace himself for death. Casey cannot believe what he heard. He wishes to connect with his dad.

Shaun is confused if “moving on” is just a euphemism for giving up? Vera argues that acceptance makes people stronger and that not moving on keeps people from achieving better things. Shaun; however, prefers not to accept failure and keep trying to succeed eventually. Lim and Claire inform Melendez about his probable pancreatic bleeding. He has two options – either undergoing major resections with chances of life long ostomy and diabetes or take the conventional angio for embolization route. Melendez sides with the latter but Claire is apprehensive to circle down on the pancreas this early, as if proving it wrong could force them to poke around more making things worse. Melendez realizes that she’s right but still consents to embolization.

The first responders manage to connect to Casey’s dad. There’s a poor network. Casey repeatedly apologizes but the call gets disconnected early. Park asks them to reconnect. While operating on Melendez we see Lim and Claire are relieved to find the hemorrhagic source to be an SME branch instead of the pancreas. Their relief is short-lived as a leak from the microbium-rich small bowel is found. Realizing that sawing the rebar is getting time-consuming, Shaun arrests the water flow by relating the pipes to bleeding vessels. Vera is impressed by his quick-thinking and is glad that he succeeded at his goal of saving her. Similarly, she wants him to chase his real goal of finding love, as opposed to winning Lea. Soon they are faced with another aftershock which flings open the whole pipe gushing in more water, flooding the area rapidly. Upon regaining consciousness, Melendez peers at his sutures through his dressing when Lim and Claire inform him about his ischemic bowel and 4.0 lactate level. Melendez realizes that there’s already been some failure of the bowel wall and further bacterial leakage will cause irreparable and fatal septic shock. Claire is confident that the numbers will go down for the better but Lim and Melendez look grim.

Lea learns from the First Responders that Shaun needs to get out on his own as things aren’t stable enough for rescue equipment to be taken in. Park asks Casey to keep talking and asks him about the real reason for apology. Casey reveals that he killed his mom. Meanwhile, Lea begs Shaun to get out. Shaun won’t abandon Vera under any circumstances. Lea tries lying about help arriving but fails miserably. Vera asks Shaun to go as they’ll both die if he’s stuck there. Shaun gets an idea of amputating Vera’s leg as opposed to sawing through the rebar. He decides to employ a three-minute amputation technique used in the civil war days. Vera gives her consent only on one condition – that Shaun will have to promise her to move on if she fails to make it out alive. Fighting apprehension, Shaun gives his promise.

Looking lost, Melendez reminisces about his life before med school and how he once backpacked through southeast Asia for a week. He sees Claire and inquires about his lactate levels. It is 8.1. Melendez realizes that his death is near. Casey reveals to Park how his mom had fallen prey to prescription pills and in spite of learning about it he didn’t share it with his dad or even warn mom. Soon, Casey lost her to an OD and to this day he feels responsible for all of it. He wants his dad to know before it’s too late. Andrews checks Morgan’s wrists and reminisces about how he too went up against his senior during his Resident days and ended up learning the hard way at the very next M&M. He calls at Morgan for being disrespectful to her seniors but appreciates her selflessness when it comes to saving lives. Unfortunately, it cost her a career as a surgeon as she has now traumatized her joint capsule incisions. Morgan looks devastated.

Claire is there with Melendez. He shares how he isn’t afraid of death and that he had been raised a good Catholic who religiously wore his silver crucifix. However, his beliefs shifted in college. Claire gathers courage while fighting tears and wants to confess her love to him but Melendez stops her and asks her to attend to the ER instead. In spite of Park administering epi, Casey’s body is starting to get cold as the boy gradually slips into delirium. Casey is now wondering if the man sitting next to him is his dad. Tearing up and caressing Casey’s head, Park says yes. Shaun preps for the amputation by administering morphine and asking Lea to count from one to a hundred and eighty for a three-minute count. Amidst rising water, Shaun starts with the amputation and Lea begins her count trying to unhear Vera’s blood curdling screams. Lim approaches Glassman to discuss alternative risky surgeries for Melendez, but both know that it’s too late. Glassman suggests being more of a friend than a doctor at this point. Lim looks helpless.

Casey looks at “dad” and apologizes for causing mom’s death. Park consoles him letting him know that sometimes there is nothing left to do and being adults they should’ve taken responsibility, not him. Lea continues counting as Shaun saws through the bone. Lim sits by Melendez’s side and apologizes for not having done more. He asks her to not find blame or a reason to make things easier. Both look back at how they wasted their time together. Lim breaks down. The water has now risen to Vera’s nose-level. Lea is nearing the end of her count and Shaun, who’s almost done with the amputation, is shocked to find Vera completely submerged. He gives underwater mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while Lea panics upon not getting a reply from Shaun. Casey complains of feeling ice cold. He wants to go snowboarding with dad but is afraid to cause a fracture and make his mom mad. He says, ” love you” and Park reciprocates back. Casey dies. Park breaks down after losing the boy. The first responders finally connect to Casey’s dad. Park collects himself to share the devastating news with the worried dad.

Afraid to have lost Shaun forever, Lea disobeys safety protocols and rushes inside the wreckage. Glassman goes to meet Melendez. Their conversation about baseball soon shifts to Theresa Adams who was once operated upon by Melendez. Glassman lets him know that he was one of the best. Melendez bets a bottle of Macallan on the A’s winning the division. Glassman says he looks forward to the drink. He shakes Melendez’s hand and leaves the room as Claire walks in. She hands a silver crucifix to him. Lea looks for Shaun everywhere and is relieved to find Vera, alive and conscious, being pulled out by First Responders and Shaun standing beneath her, safe and sound.

Claire is crying. She cannot imagine that the person who saved her life is abandoning her. Melendez gives her credit for having emerged out strong and asks her to remain that way. He knows that she will be okay. He calls at her for being a terrible bowler and Claire shoots back at his awful tattoo. They smile through their tears and soon confess their love for one another. Melendez comforts Claire as she weeps away resting her head on his chest. It’s morning. Vera is being wheeled into the ambulance. Park gets a call from Mia. He lets her know that he’s okay but tired. After all this, he has now decided to move back in with them. He needs his family. Park asks her to give the phone to Kellan. Upon hearing his son’s voice, Park cannot control his tears anymore. Claire leaves Melendez’s room and breaks down in Lim’s arms. Lim consoles the young emotionally drained resident and offers to have a drink later. Claire agrees to the much-needed bonding time.

Shaun helps Vera get into the ambulance and finds Lea waiting for him. Before he can complete his sentence about having made a promise to Vera, Lea plants a kiss on him. Shaun is confused if it was a practice kiss, a pity kiss or a goodbye kiss. It turns out that it was an “I’m such a stupid idiot for not seeing it, but I love you with all my heart” kiss. Lea soon gives him another kiss. Shaun realizes that Vera didn’t die which makes the promises non-existent. Lea lets him know that he does make her more. Exhausted but happy, Shaun grabs Lea by her arms and kisses her passionately amidst the aftermath of a disastrous night and a promising dawn.