The Good Doctor – Take My Hand

By starrymag | October 20, 2019

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

 

 

Shaun (Freddie Highmore) and Carly (Jasika Nicole) are watching TV. They get close and kiss. Carly tries holding his hand, but he goes in for the popcorn and remote. Carly finds it odd.

 

Andrews (Hill Harper), Park (Will Yun Lee) and Shaun get a celebrity patient Mitchell Stewart (Joshua Malina), a conspiracy theorist who’s come in for a liver surgery. He’s maintaining top secrecy at the hospital. Park doesn’t get why he’s a celebrity and despises him for his pathetic twists on national events. They meet Stewart who has apparently run background checks on all of them, including Nurse Villanueva (Elfina Luk). He needs information on every fluid that’ll be pumped into him. Shaun gives out the compositions robotically and Stewart immediately understands that he’s the autistic one. Given he’ll be anesthetized and cut open, Shaun wonders if a little trust is needed here. Andrews focuses on the genetic condition, idiopathic portal hypertension that’s troubling the liver but according to Stewart he’s been poisoned. The doctors later find out that it’s indeed the genetic condition. Park asks if retesting is needed given that Stewart would have earned enemies thanks to his conspiracies. Andrews suggests to trust the results and go ahead with the procedure.

 

Claire (Antonia Thomas) is late to work. She and Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) get a patient, Lily Barstow (Jennifer Lafleur), who’s been accompanied by her husband Jonas (Mark Hildreth). Lily’s been off food and has a fever. Suddenly, she vomits with her vitals dropping rapidly. The doctors do an ultrasound and find a ruptured appendix.

 

Shaun and Park go to pathology for lab results. There’s no name as it’s a celebrity track. Carly wonders if the patient’s from politics, art, business or if he’s the president. Park hints that he’s less popular. Carly attempts to hold Shaun’s hand, but he withdraws again. Park notices it and Carly is disappointed.

 

During surgery Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) asks Claire on the protocol to learn about Lily’s brain not receiving any distress signals. She’s lost and doesn’t answer. Morgan fills him in on the FMRI that needs to be done.

 

Shaun goes to Glassman (Richard Schiff) with a question. Glassman’s got news for him though. He and Debbie (Sheila Kelley) are getting married and it’ll be a super low-key wedding. Shaun indifferently asks if holding hands is important. Glassman thinks he should let Carly know why it’s tough for him. Shaun doesn’t get why it’s important when they’re compatible on much bigger things. He lists out a few parameters and Glassman is amused by the checklist dating system. Shaun reveals that he and Carly are still learning about each other unlike Debbie and Glassman who already know everything otherwise they wouldn’t be getting married.

 

Morgan and Claire do the MRI and realize that Lily’s immune to physical pain. Claire tries inflicting emotional pain by talking about Lily’s mother passing away and Jonas’s cancer scare, but they find no action in the brain. Morgan feels maybe the family relations are strained. Claire immediately speaks in Lily’s support that one can’t be completely unaffected from a mother’s demise. If a mother is gone, there is a vacuum created. Morgan finds Claire’s behavior odd. They go check on Lily and find her hand turning septic.

 

Glassman and Debbie are at the City Hall. Debbie notices a snoring groom and wonders if he’s got sleep apnea. Aaron thinks he’s just tired. Debbie wants him to inform the bride that her fiance has a sleeping problem as she wants to save that poor woman from snoring-induced sleep deprivation. She segues into her own sleepless nights in the Merchant Marines. This is new information to Aaron. He soon gets cold feet and rushes out stating that he’s feeling unwell, leaving Debbie alone.

 

Shaun informs Stewart that his surgery was successful. Stewart wonders what if he’s poisoned again. According to Shaun it’s possible as he’s got enemies but wonders if he, himself, believes his own theories. As it turns out he does regret a few statements that he’s made but would never apologize for them. He teaches Shaun that “compromise is scam” and that if only one side wins it’s got to be his own.

 

Lily is informed that an infection needs to be surgically removed and that she’s immune to pain. Later in the OR, Morgan wonders how superhero-like Lily is. Claire appreciates how she can love without the baggage of loss but Morgan doesn’t believe it’s possible. She realizes that something is up with Claire. Finding widespread necrosis, the surgeons decide that they need to amputate a much bigger area.

 

A thoroughly embarrassed Debbie confronts Aaron asking him to stop hiding and give her the explanation that she deserves. He admits to worrying about how little they know about each other and adds that’s he’s a tough guy to live with. She’s a leaper while he’s a toe-dipper. Debbie calms him down saying how they’re different but good for each other and mentions how he’s changed from challenging his own job to proposing to a complete stranger. She leaves, hoping they’ll return to City Hall.

 

Shaun and Carly are watching TV. Shaun tells her how he feels uncomfortable holding hands. He thinks he should win as she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable by not holding hands. Carly explains how the gesture means that they’ve got each others’ backs and admits that she’d feel separated otherwise. Shaun grasps her hand, holds it uncomfortably and lets it go shortly.

 

Morgan and Claire inform Lily about how they amputated a bigger part and that she needs to keep an eye out for any abnormalities. Morgan suggests a treatment that would block her endorphins and help her feel pain. Lily is fine and doesn’t need it. Jonas; however, looks affected. He recollects all the instances in the past like transfers, Lily’s miscarriage, etc. that bothered him but never had a dent on Lily. He feels overwhelmed and decides to take a time out. Lily is devastated.

 

Seeing a kid (Caleb Montgomery) and his mother holding hands, Shaun wonders why the gesture is so important. Park explains that the relationship won’t last long as Carly is not getting what she wants. Shaun is amused. They get lab results and immediately rush to Stewart.

 

The surgery was a success, but Stewart’s liver is still deteriorating. He thinks that he’s being poisoned by someone in the hospital and wishes to be shifted to somewhere else. Andrews cannot approve that. Stewart wishes to constrain some variables and chooses Shaun to be the only doctor who’s going to touch him as he’s autistic and bad at lying. Later, Shaun learns that Stewart’s been avoiding hospital food and is having Chinese herb capsules to feel younger, more energetic and virile.

 

Shaun does research on Stewart’s mother’s case history. Morgan and Claire join in. Morgan shares how Lily finally took the endorphin suppressors after being walked out on by her husband. Shaun reveals how Stewart’s parents were alcoholics with compromised livers. Claire comments that having alcoholic parents gave him the audacity to deny others’ truths. She thinks lying isn’t a habit one can simply grow out of. This gives Shaun an idea and he rushes to Stewart’s room.

 

Noticing Claire behave oddly all day, Morgan feels like she’s torn about keeping her mom with her or throwing her out and it’s upsetting and envious of a patient feeling no pain. Claire gets back at Morgan guessing how she needs a toy, which she can break or a pet that she can torture. Soon both visit Lily in her room and notice the drugs kicking in. She’s showing signs of sadness. They later go to Jonas to inform him of it. Morgan adds how Lily’s just doing it since he walked out on her. Claire, who’s annoyed with him walking out for something his wife has got no control over, blurts out how he’s just trying to pull her down to experience hell with him and it’s got little to do with actually helping her.

 

Shaun explains to Stewart how he’s been poisoning himself with the so-called Chinese herbs. They have no herbs, but do hold dangerous quantities of Sildenafil, an active component in Viagra that promotes blood flow to the penis. It’s bad for liver patients and is still poisoning it.

 

At lunch Shaun visits Dr. Glassman. Glassman asks for advice on whether or not he should marry Debbie, stating the reasons and mentioning his own irritated nature which his first wife made very clear early on could be a rude surprise for Debbie. Shaun thinks it’s a huge new as his happiness depends on it but, sadly, he’s got no advice. He also points out how Glassman mentioned “first” wife as opposed to an “ex wife.” This implies a second wife.

 

After wrapping their shift Morgan catches Claire staring at her car trunk. Sifting through the normal things, she catches hold of a container that has Breeze’s (Sharon Leal) ashes. Claire discloses everything and Morgan decides to get rid of it just like the way Claire’s mom wanted, at the Marine Science Center amidst Sea Lions. They need to dress up as there’s an after party event there. Claire reluctantly agrees.

 

Glassman finally decides to take the leap. Debbie finds him literally jumping and he requests her to give it a second go. This time Shaun and Carly are in attendance, too. As the holy hour arrives, both present the rings to Aaron and Debbie respectively. The minister says the prayers and Shaun gestures to Carly to hold his hand. As their hands intertwine into one, Glassman and Debbie finally seal their marriage with a kiss.

 

Decked out, Morgan and Claire get to the party. After briefly watching the aquatic fashion show being performed there, both go and perch near the viewing railing to watch the Sea Lions playing by the water. Claire is finding it weird to just dump the ashes while Morgan wishes they had a religious tradition. But Claire is not religious and neither was her mom. Morgan argues that not everyone’s got a God, but everyone has a religion and Breeze’s was music. She asks Claire to sing. With great difficulty she does and gracefully pours down her mom’s remains into the waters amidst Sea Lions. Both ladies take the bus home. To unwind after the long emotional day, Claire lets off some steam at a bar sipping alcohol when a guy approaches her to buy a drink. They kiss afterwards.