The Good Doctor – Pipes

By starrymag | October 22, 2017

By: Jessica Wolff

 

 

Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) lies awake listening to the leaky faucet.  After looking around the house, he calls Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff), scared that he can’t find his screwdriver.  Glassman is not happy to be called in the middle of the night and tells him that he can buy a new one.  However, Shaun insists that he only wants his screwdriver.  Glassman snaps at him and then apologizes.  He suggests wrapping the faucet with a cloth, but Shaun insists that he can’t stay there, listing all of the things broken in the apartment.  Glassman finds his screwdriver, and tells him that there’s someone in the building that can fix everything.  Shaun starts to make a list, but Glassman tells him to go to bed.

 

Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) fills Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) and Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) in on their latest patient.  Shaun runs in with suggestions, and Melendez questions why he is both tired and late.  Claire defends him, and tells Melendez that they are all on the same team when he asks why.  Jared runs an ultrasound on the patient, Barb Allen (Crystal Balint), and shows them that the tumor on the fetus has grown.  Melendez suggests terminating the pregnancy, but Barb insists that they try to save the baby despite the high risks.  Mark Allen (Niall Matter) tries to disuade her, and Shaun makes a suggestion.  Outside, Melendez criticizes Shaun for contradicting him in front of the patient.  Shaun tells him that they are not in front of the patient now, and Claire likes Shaun’s suggestion.

 

At the team prepares for the surgery, Melendez gets a call that Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) needs help.  Melendez sends Shaun and Claire down, and Claire is angry about being punished.  He tells her that he’s punishing Shaun, and that he’ll send her down because she likes defending him.  They examine the patient, Olivia Hartman (Sara Waisglass), and Shaun asks where the boil is.  She responds that it’s down there and Claire explains that down there means the vagina.  Claire takes a look at it and Shaun suggests that she has flesh-eating bacteria.  Andrews advises Melendez not to go through with the surgery, but Melendez tells him that Barb is adamant about saving the fetus and he wants to do the surgery as well.

 

As Claire assures Olivia, Shaun goes through his textbook memories to determine that they needs to examine the boil from a different angle.  Shaun asks if he can take a look, but Claire thinks it’s better if she does it.  After Olivia cries out in pain again, Claire lets Shaun take over.  Claire asks her if she should call her parents, but Olivia refuses.  Claire tells her that an STD is nothing to be embarrassed about, and Olivia tells her that she gets tested every thirty days.  Shaun informs her that he was wrong about the flesh-eating bacteria and she is relieved.  Claire asks why she needs to be tested so often, and Olivia reveals that she works as a porn star.  As Melendez addresses his team, Jessica Preston (Beau Garrett) asks to speak to him.  She takes him to his office, where Mark tells him that he doesn’t want to go through with the surgery.  Melendez tells him that he can’t veto his wife’s wishes, but Jessica argues that he can veto for his child.

 

Jared is curious about Olivia’s porn career, and Shaun makes a comment about porn.  Jared is surprised, but Claire argues that all guys watch porn.  Claire informs Melendez that they need to operate on Olivia tomorrow, and he tells them to go home since Barb’s surgery is on hold as well.  In the boardroom, Melendez and Glassman are in favor of doing the surgery while Andrews and Jessica are worried about the liabilities and risks.  Allegra Aoki (Tamlyn Tomita) tells them that they need to make a decision, as waiting will cause both mother and fetus to die.  She argues that the surgery provides a chance for both to survive.

 

Melendez tells Barb that the board has approved the surgery.  Mark tries to disuade her again and explains that he wants to protect her.  She tells him that she needs his support, not his protection.  Claire remarks to Jared that Olivia doesn’t seem the type to do porn.  When he questions how she would know, she explains that she volunteered at a shelter for runaway teens in high school.  Jared can’t believe that she’s finally opening up to him, but she says it’s not a big deal.  Jessica questions whether Barb is in sound mind, but Melendez believes that she is just desperate to have a child.  He reminds her that they both agreed that they will have kids, and she questions what will happen if she can’t of decides not to get pregnant the traditional way before telling him not to call her ideas ridiculous in board meetings.

 

As he rides the bus, Shaun flashes back to his younger self (Graham Verchere) finding Steve Murphy (Dylan Kingwell) looking at a magazine.  Steve refuses to show him the magazine, but gives in after Shaun keeps asking him why.  Looking through the porn magazine, Shaun remarks that the girl is pretty.  Steve quickly hides it before Marcie Murphy (Rebecca Husain) comes in to say goodnight.  In the present, Shaun realizes that he missed his stop and yells at the Bus Driver (Bruce Blain) to stop.  The driver refuses to go back to his stop and tells him to get off.  He stands at the bus stop, not knowing how to get home.

 

A car pulls up and Lea (Paige Spara) asks Shaun if he’s okay.  After she asks if he’s waiting for someone, she gives Shaun a ride to their apartment.  As Lea talks, Shaun comments that she smells.  She laughs it off and counters that he is a horrible neighbor.  He explains why there was so much banging from his apartment the previous night, and Lea tells him she finds his brutal honesty refreshing.  Later, Shaun knocks on Armen Demajin’s (Darcy Laurie) door and gives him a list of everything he wants fixed.  He is angry about being woken up in the middle of the night, and Shaun explains that Glassman told him that he was available anytime.  Demajin tells him that he only works during the day and grabs the list from him.

 

The next day, Glassman blames himself for Shaun taking his instructions literally.  He then changes course and tells him that it’s his responsibility to use his common sense.  Glassman suggests that he hire support to help him, but Shaun insists that he doesn’t need an aide.  Despite Glassman’s attempts to convince him, Shaun loudly exclaims that he doesn’t need an aide.  Melendez talks to Mark about Barb’s surgery, and tells him that they’re going through with it.  Mark asks why he is so desperate to go through with it, and Melendez warns him that he might drive a wedge between him and his wife if he keeps fighting her.  He explains that he’s not desperate, but confident.

 

Andrews operates on Olivia with the help of Shaun and Claire, and compliments Shaun.  Andrews asks how a guy who struggles with shaking hands can perform a pelvic exam, and Shaun remarks that people squeeze too hard.  Shaun clarifies that he doesn’t like to be squeezed, and Andrews asks him if he’s ever had a girlfriend.  He responds that he almost kissed a girl once, and Andrews makes a comment that he should try again.  Shaun asks if he is mocking him or encouraging him, and Andrew responds that he’s getting to know him so he knows when to mock and when to encourage.  Shaun asks when the right time to mock him is, and Andrews notices that there’s a mass below the abcess.

 

Olivia remarks that she already feels better, and Shaun explains that it’s only because she is on pain meds.  Shaun and Claire explain that they found a tumor, but Claire explains that it’s not cancerous.  She tells her that in order to remove the tumor, they will have to sever the nerve which will cause her to lose all feeling in her genitals.  Olivia believes that God is punishing her, and Shaun asks if she is religious.  She talks about how she used to be, and Claire asks if she wants them to call her parents.  Olivia refuses, not wanting to see the looks on their faces.  Melendez and his team begins surgery, but Barb has a heart attack and they quickly work to revive her.  Barb wakes up, and Melendez fills her in on what happened.  Melendez suggests terminating the pregnancy, but Mark insists that they try the surgery again.  Though Melendez reminds him that he was against the surgery, Mark tells him that he can’t fight Barb’s wishes anymore.

 

The board discusses the legal ramifications of not going through with the surgery.  Melendez suggests terminating the pregnancy during surgery so that Barb and Mark would never know.  Andrews, Jessica, and Glassman all believe that it’s unethical.  Aoki tells Melendez that he has no choice but to attempt the surgery again, and Jared comes in and tells them he has an idea.  He suggests stopping Barb’s heart during the surgery to prevent her from having another heart attack.  Melendez presents the idea to Barb and Mark, and they decide to go through with it.

 

Shaun returns home to find everything in his apartment fixed.  He goes to Demajin and tells him that the faucet wasn’t on the list.  Demajin isn’t happy about being woken up in the middle of the night, but Shaun tells him that he already fixed the sink.  When Demajin points out that it was dripping, Shaun replies that he needed it to drip.  Furious, Demajin tells him to move if he doesn’t like his work and warns him never to come to him again.  Mark, Melendez, Jared, and Shaun all struggle to sleep that night and find themselves doing work in the middle of the night.  Shaun comes to a realization while looking at his pipes, and Mark kisses Barb before Melendez takes her into surgery.

 

Shaun bursts into Olivia’s room and exclaims that nerves are like pipes before suggesting an alternate way to remove her tumor.  He explains his reasoning and then asks Olivia if she’d rather lose feeling in her genitals or thigh.  She picks thigh, and Andrews believes that it could work.  After surgery, Shaun is thrilled that his idea worked.  Andrews compliments his and Claire’s work and tells them that they are welcome to talk to him if they need anything.  Jared stops Barb’s heart, and Melendez begins the surgery.

 

Andrews informs Olivia that the surgery worked, and Olivia questions why she can’t feel anything.  Shaun explains that it will take several months to regain feeling, and Olivia thanks them before asking Claire to call her parents.  Melendez and Jared complete the surgery, and Glassman looks into autism support resources.  Barb wakes up and Mark admits that she was right.  Melendez tells her that she’ll need to stay in bed for the next few months, but that her and her son are healthy.

 

Claire and Jared decide they need to celebrate and invite Shaun to join them.  He is hesitant, but they talk him into it.  At the bar, Jared gets them drinks and Shaun wants to leave.  He locks eyes with a girl across the bar, and flashes back to Colleen Myers (Yasmeene Ball) approaching him.  She talks to him about the magazine that Steve stole from her father and questions whether he liked it.  Colleen tells him that she thinks he’s cute, and asks him to follow her into the bushes.  She asks him to take his pants off, but he doesn’t want to.  She promises to take off hers as well, and Shaun asks for a kiss.  She promises him one after he takes off his pants.  He tries to leave and a group of kids laugh at him.  Colleen tells him that she would never kiss a creepy weirdo, and Steve comes to pull Shaun away.  In the present, Jared toasts to their success, but Shaun doesn’t drink.