The Good Doctor Season 1 Episode 8: Apple Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: During a robbery at the grocery mart Dr. Shaun Murphy is shopping at, his communication limitations puts lives at risk. Meanwhile, after Shaun’s traumatic day, Dr. Aaron Glassman worries that he isn’t doing enough to help Shaun. (IMDB)

Writer: David Renaud

Director: Nestor Carbonell

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 41mins

Today was going a tough day but you couldn’t tell based on how the episode started. Today was just like any other day with Murphy and Glassman each getting ready for their days. During Murphy’s morning, his breakfast was interrupted by Lea who barged in to vent about their landlord complaining about her loud music. Murphy attempted to give her some advice before she took a bite out of his last apple. This forced him to go to the store which we see in the many previews for the episode.

Instead of showing us what happened (we get hints), the episode focuses on the aftermath with the doctors helping the injured which did not include Murphy as the preview may have suggested. The other doctors were definitely relieved that Murphy was not injured or worse. They all were wondering if he was okay but being who he was, he did not want to speak about the incident and was more concerned about the injured patients than himself. Despite what happened, Murphy insisted he was okay and that was enough for Melendez.

Melendez, Kalu, and Murphy were working on a gunshot victim who was on the verge of bleeding out. Just hearing the music playing while the others were watching him work during surgery was a good moment. Glassman was worried about Murphy who insisted that it wasn’t his fault. We then got a flashback of what happened which was a man came in with a gun wanting money. He had everyone at gunpoint and it was Murphy’s inability to follow the gunman’s demands that got his patient shot. This was enough of a distraction so the shop owner could subdue the gunman with a baseball bat. Glassman wanted him to take the day off but Murphy was more concerned about his patient.

Glassman confronted Melendez about Murphy who wasn’t concerned about him. Murphy then met the counsellor where he continued to be more concerned about his patient. The counsellor believed that the case was important to Murphy. When talking to Browne, she gave him some advice about being more supportive with women. Then his patient’s kidneys started to fail and her lungs were filling up with liquid.

Since Lea ate his apple and he couldn’t get one at the store, Murphy was looking for another one the whole episode. Glassman tried to get Murphy to open up again but he kept insisting that it wasn’t his fault. He wanted Murphy to believe that his actions may have contributed to what happened. Glassman felt partially responsible for what happened because he wasn’t there for Murphy. He tried to convince Murphy that he needed help, however, Murphy was still more concerned about his patient.

The patient’s boyfriend didn’t know much about her since they were about to go on their first date. He still felt responsible for her because he didn’t want her to die alone. He opened up to Murphy about how he felt responsible for what happened to her but as Murphy was reassuring him, she was getting worse. Murphy and Kalu argued about what the cause was until they had to act. She was bleeding but they didn’t know where to look. Murphy then remembered the trajectory of her bullet and figured out where her bleeding was. He was wrong and gave praise to Kalu for being right. Once she woke up, she thanked her boyfriend for being there and not being the person she thought he was.

The other patient was the shooter with a collapsed trachea who Browne learned was a racist with a swastika tattoo. This patient proved to be challenging to say the least. Being a young doctor, she decided to let her feelings affect how she treated the patient and was called out by Dr. Lim (Christina Chang). Lim forced her to babysit her patient while he recovered from surgery. Of course there was a time when he needed her and she saved him by attempting something that she had never done before. Browne apologized to Lim for disrespecting her.

We also learned that Glassman had a daughter who was friends with Preston whom he felt responsible for her death because he wasn’t there for her which is likely the root cause for his feelings for Murphy. Murphy acted on Browne’s advice with Lea who did not want him to change. She got him an apple and he finally confided in her his true feelings about what happened.

Overall, this was another good, well-acted episode where we got to learn even more about Murphy by subjecting him to a traumatic event. It may not have showed in his demeanour but there were cracks there. Highmore’s performance was great once again at Murphy’s conflict. Browne’s subplot was compelling too with her standing up to the racist was a great moment. The two best characters so far have been Murphy and Glassman and their father-son relationship at the root of the story. We got a little more insight about Glassman and it would be nice to learn more as the season goes on.

Score: 8.5/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.