The Good Doctor – Oliver

By starrymag | October 15, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

As a young man (Ken Do) is hit by a car while distracted on a motorcycle, Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) observes a cat standing on the porch of his apartment.  He answers a knock at the door, and Lea (Paige Spara) asks to borrow some batteries for her video game controller.  She introduces herself as his neighbor and he says hello before she asks again for the batteries.  Shaun gets her the batteries and she warns him not to feed the cat before thanking him.

 

At the hospital, Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) gets a call and rushes to inform Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez), Dr.  Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), and Shaun that a liver for Chuck (Tim Russ) is ready for pickup.  Melendez sends Claire and Shaun to pick up the liver despite Claire’s protests.

 

Allegra Aoki (Tamlyn Tomita) approaches Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) as he prepares for surgery and tells him that his patient, John Wannamaker (Michael St. John Smith) is close to making a big donation to the hospital.  She tells him that she wants everything perfect and that she wants both a fail-safe option and for him to use Melendez as his second.  He reminds her that he’s the chief of surgery and believes she is questioning his abilites.  She reiterates that everything needs to be perfect.

 

Shaun observes the helicoptor as Claire tries to talk to him over the noise.  He declares that he likes helicoptors and tells her that he’s never been in one before.  With over seven hours left of viability on the organ, Shaun and Claire board the helipcoptor.  As they take off, Shaun stares out the windows as Claire tries to talk to him.  She complains about doing scut work and Shaun studies the spinning helicoptor propellers.  Claire questions how to talk to Shaun as he continues to ignore her.

 

Jared asks Chuck some questions about his health, and he is excited about having a second chance with his new liver.  Shaun and Claire arrive at the hospital and a surgeon asks them to sign for the liver.  Claire finds out that they lost three hours of their viability as Shaun inspects the liver.  She asks him what he is looking for, but he refuses to answer as he remembers a diagram of the liver from his textbook memories.  He confirms that there are no problems and Claire signs off on the liver.  Melendez explains the surgery to Chuck and his family and Chuck’s daughter, Katt (Angela Palmer) thanks him for saving her father’s life.

 

Claire calls Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) and asks how to communicate with Shaun.  He suggests that Shaun is struggling with his new surroundings and recommends that she allow him to focus on his thoughts.  Glassman tells her that she has to find his own way to communicate with him.  Shaun declares that they are not leaving, and Claire is confused.  The pilot approaches them and tells them that they cannot leave as a storm is coming.

 

Claire tries to get a quicker ride back to the hospital, but the hospital refuses to give her an ambulance.  She asks about a police escort and the nurse tells her that they can arranage that.  Andrews asks to speak to Wannamaker alone, and the room clears out.  He checks out his wound and Wannamaker complains that it’s hard to drink scotch with a hole in his mouth.  Andrews reminds him to take it easy and warns him that continuing to smoke will slow down the healing process, before explaining the procedure to him.

 

With a little over four hours of viability left, Shaun and Claire wait for the police escort.  As Claire reports their progress, Shaun gets her attention and asks her to have them inform Glassman that he will be late for their lunch.  Claire asks him how he knew about the weather, but Shaun doesn’t answer.  She suggests that he is Zeus, and Shaun replies that he watches the weather channel.  An SFPD Cop (Blair Penner) pulls up but Shaun freezes as the flashing light triggers a memory of his younger self (Graham Verchere) freaking out in the back of a police car.

 

Claire tells him they need to move and asks the cop to turn off the flasher.  Shaun moves once it is off, and asks Claire what the patient’s name, clarifying that he’s referring to the donor of the liver.  She comes up with a name, telling him that his name was Oliver.  Melendez asks Andrews about Wannamaker’s surgery, but he tells him to focus on the liver transplant.  Melendez tells him that he can help, and understands the stakes involved with Wannamaker’s surgery.  Despite Melendez stating that it’s not a coup, Andrews makes sure he knows that he is in charge.

 

Jared declares to Carly (Jasika Nicole) that Chuck’s test results can’t be correct.  She looks over the results and determines that there is alcohol in Chuck’s system.  Unconvinced, Jared asks her to run the test again.  With three and a half hours of viability left, Shaun looks over the donor’s scans again.  Claire asks what he’s looking for, but he tells her that he has a girl neighbor.  He ignores her questions as he continues studying the scan.  She sees that the temperature of the organ case is going up, and tells the cop that they need ice.

 

Jared tells Chuck that he found alcohol in his system and that he violated the six-month rule.  He tells him that he had a glass of champagne at Katt’s college graduation.  Claire and Shaun go to a convenience store and are disappointed to find that the store doesn’t have ice.  She decides to improvise by filling the container with bags of frozen peas.  Shaun stares at the slushie machine and flashes back to an officer handing him his first slushie.  In the present, Shaun tells Claire that the peas aren’t going to work, but she can’t get him to elaborate.

 

After telling Melendez about Chuck’s test results, Jared asks if he should inform the registry.  Melendez asks how long ago Chuck had the drink and asks Jared for the alcohol level of champagne.  Shaun suggests that the liver be submerged in cool liquid and Claire brings over the case to pour slushie into the case.  She asks why he didn’t answer her last time but he doesn’t answer her questions.  Claire declares that this better work and Shaun assures her it will.  She realizes that he doesn’t answer her questions because he doesn’t like questions and is glad to see that the slushie lowers the temperature of the liver.

 

With the exact number of the alcohol level, Melendez does some calculations to determine that Chuck told the truth about the one glass of champagne.  However, Melendez is worried that it won’t be enough to argue in Chuck’s favor.  In the cafeteria, Andrews criticizes Glassman for not eating the food of his own hospital.  Glassman asks what he wants, and Andrews wants advice.  Though Andrews is hesitant, he tells Glassman that he’s bothered by Aoki demanding he work with Melendez.  Glassman reminds him that Melendez is the future of the hospital and tells him to act more presidential if he wants to be president of the hospital.

 

Jared informs Chuck that his liver transplant is in doubt, but Melendez plans to argue in his favor.  Chuck asks if he thinks he deserves it, and Jared tells him that it’s not relevant.  As Chuck reflects on his life, he passes out and Jared calls for a Code Blue.  Jared looks at Chuck’s organs and determines that he has blood in his esophagus.  Melendez manages to stabalize Chuck and tells Jared later that Chuck has three months to live without the transplant.

 

With over two hours of viability left, the cop makes a comment about the roads.  Shaun uses his memories of the map to realize that there is something wrong with the liver and studies the scans again.  In a flashback, Shaun looks at a biology textbook as a social worker (Shiren Van Cooten) explains to an officer that Shaun is autistic.  Glassman arrives and responds to the officer that Shaun doesn’t need to be in a hospital.  In the present, Shaun puts on gloves and Claire asks what he’s doing.  He doesn’t answer and she tells him that she needs to know what he’s looking for.  He tells her that there is a clot in the liver, but that the scan doesn’t show one.

 

Claire looks at the scans and determined that they were taken before the liver was harvested.  Shaun determines that they need to remove the clot before they can make it back to the hospital and asks the cop to pull over.  The cop holds up highway traffic as Shaun and Claire operate on the liver on the hood of the car.  They work together to successfully remove the clot.  Shaun asks for a straw, and the cop tells them that there’s a straw in the car.  Claire pulls it out of a cup and Shaun uses it to seal up the incision.

 

Andrews assures Wannamaker that he’s going to be fine as he is prepared for surgery.  Melendez informs Chuck and his family that he has two to three months left.  Katt is confused and Melendez explains that the glass of champagne disqualifies him from getting the liver.  He explains that he will try to fight for Chuck, but the decision is out of his hands.  Katt follows him outside and declares that it’s her fault that he drank and that if he doesn’t get the liver, his death will be her responsibility.

 

Jessica Preston (Beau Garrett) holds Melendez’s hand in encouragement before he argues in favor of Chuck in the board meeting.  Andrews tells him that rules are rules, but Melendez argues that the rules should be bent in this case.  However, Andrews believes that they can’t play god and other people also need the liver who didn’t break the rules.  Jessica lays out the legal risks of ignoring the rules and Aoki asks Glassman for his opinion.  Glassman tells them that he sees both sides, but argues that helping patients is more important than the rules.  Andrews questions if it’s worth the risk, but Melendez tells him that he has one patient to worry about.

 

During Wannamaker’s surgery, Andrews finds a hematoba on his body.  As they look for the source, Wannamaker’s blood pressure starts dropping.  Andrews realizes that they need to move quickly and asks for Melendez.  With fifty-seven minutes to spare, Shaun and Claire arrive at the hospital.  Claire calls to inform the hospital, but he receives word that the liver is being transferred to another patient and hospital.  Melendez arrives in the operating room and he and Andrews work together to save Wannamaker.

 

An ambulance arrives to pick up the liver and Claire hands it over.  The collector thanks them, and Shaun tells him that the donor’s name is Oliver.  The ambulance drives away and Shaun declares that it was a good day.  He explains that they still saved a life, even it it wasn’t Chuck’s.  Melendez watches as Chuck leaves with his family and assures Katt that it’s not her fault.  Wannamaker comes out of surgery and immediately smokes another cigarette.

 

Shaun decides to visit his neighbor, and asks for his batteries back.  She returns with them and he asks what her name is.  They introduce themselves and Shaun goes to his apartment.  Shaun decides to leave out some food for the cat and waits for it to show up.  In a flashback, Shaun stares at a plate of pancakes and Glassman places his textbook next to him before asking him to stay with him that night.  In the present, Shaun meets Glassman in the hospital cafeteria for a pancake lunch.