The Good Doctor Season 1 Episode 12: Islands: Part Two Review

Keith NoakesJanuary 15, 20187238 min

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

Synopsis: The twins suffer complications from their surgery forcing the team at San Jose Boneventure Hospital to make a life-changing decision. Meanwhile, Dr. Shaun Murphy returns to the hospital after his trip with Lea and decides he needs a more permanent change and gives Dr. Aaron Glassman his two weeks’ notice. (IMDB)

Writers: Thomas L. Moran and William L. Rotko

Director: Cherie Nowlan

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 41mins

The first part of this two part episode focused on a pair of conjoined sisters named Katie and Jenny Kunkler who were separated at the end of the episode. After their surgery, Jenny woke up while Katie is now in a coma. Luckily for the other doctors, Murphy is back but he would have to answer for his absence. He told the truth about what he did, however, Glassman didn’t. He confronted Murphy about his absence. Murphy told Glassman that his road trip helped and that he wanted to give his two week notice.

Murphy and Browne discussed Murphy’s road trip while they were running tests on Katie. She was in a coma because she was not getting enough blood to her brain. Their first attempt to open up an artery failed. Jenny wasn’t used to being alone so she wanted to see Katie but they had to worry about her heart that was weaker than it appeared. It looked like the only way they could save Jenny was with Katie’s heart. This would mean letting Katie go. Her mother didn’t want Jenny to have any part in it.

Melendez wrote Murphy a letter of recommendation but Glassman still had to sign it. When they removed Katie’s ventilator, her vital signs were intact and stabilizing. To keep Jenny alive, Murphy’s idea was to connect them back together by their femoral arteries. Jenny was against taking Katie’s heart because she still considered her alive despite being in a vegetative state. Browne’s idea was to put them in a room together so Jenny could see what Katie was like. This gave her the perspective she needed to go ahead with the reconnection surgery.

While helping Lea move, Murphy informed her that he would be moving to Hershey as well. Murphy informed Glassman about his plans and Glassman told him that he brought Murphy to the hospital because he thought Murphy needed him and not because of his abilities. He gave Murphy his letter of recommendation before telling him that he believed in him. Browne confronted Murphy about his plans, subtly hinting that there are people there that could make him happy.

Katie unexpectedly woke up from her coma but the sisters weren’t out of the woods just yet. Tests showed that Katie was killing Jenny so they had to be separated in order to save them both. Jenny died before they could be separated. Despite that, Katie did not want to be separated from Jenny even if it might kill her.

Meanwhile, Kalu’s response to being fired was to sue the hospital. He brought up the issue of racism within the hospital. When Pearson confronted Aoki, her response was to settle. Kalu didn’t want the money, simply wanting his job back. He got his job back but Andrews was not impressed by the way he did it. His first act back was to assist in the separation surgery.

After speaking with Browne, Murphy gave back the recommendation letter. Pearson and Melendez broke up because she didn’t want him to resent her for her not wanting kids. Murphy watched Lea leave but he did promise to visit her in Hershey.

Overall, this was a good episode and a satisfying finale of this two-part episode. It was pretty clear that Murphy wasn’t going to leave the hospital and that Kalu was going to get his job back eventually so it was nice to see both happen although it will be interesting what they do with the latter. The sister story was emotional to watch but it was sometimes hard to keep track of what was happening to who. Hopefully they can move on from this and give us some more great cases and some more character development as there is still a lot more that we still haven’t seen with Murphy.

Score: 8/10

If you liked this, please read my other reviews here and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, follow me on Instagram, and also like me on Facebook.

 

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