If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: As Shaun pushes back against Dr. Melendez in order to treat a gravely ill hospital janitor and deal with the return of Lea, Dr. Lim risks a lawsuit and her career to help a teenage girl repair the damage caused by an archaic custom. Meanwhile, Dr. Glassman exercises demanding oversight with Dr. Blaize in choosing a doctor for his brain surgery. (IMDB)
Writer: David Shore
Director: Steve Robin
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 41mins
Airs: Mondays at 10pm on CTV (Canada)/ABC (United States)
Kalu is gone, another surgeon is on the edge, and Murphy is having a tough time with feelings and telling the truth. Just like last episode, this one had more of a procedural feel with a few lingering subplots sprinkled in. While not as powerful as the premiere, we get to at least see more of Christina Chang’s Dr. Lim as she is given the bigger case for the episode which for whatever reason was not the one featured in the previews for this episode.
The episode started with Murphy and Melendez arguing about the condition of Paul (Faustino Di Bauda), the hospital janitor. Murphy appeared to convince Melendez that Paul may have pancreatic cancer. Melendez wanted to check but he didn’t want to worry Paul for what could be nothing so he instructed Murphy to lie. Murphy wasn’t worried as he had been practicing though he still had some learning to do.
Paul indeed had pancreatic cancer with 1 year to live. He did have a surgical option that could extend his life but it was very risky. As a learning moment, Murphy informed Paul of this. Paul still wanted to consult his family. His family was divided. Paul later gave Murphy a valuable lesson about lying. Paul’s surgery was tricky though a success. However, there would still be potential post-surgery complications to contend with. Browne let Murphy know to let Paul’s family be happy with where they’ve gotten so far. Paul would indeed suffer from post-surgery complications that he would not recover from. Murphy told the family one more lie to help them feel better about what had happened.
Lim was tending to a female minor who was requesting plastic surgery to reverse genital mutilation. She was a minor so her age and thus her parents were an issue. As far as Lim was concerned, she wanted to help her patient. After Lim performed the surgery, there were complications. The girl was in pain but the fact that she was in pain meant that there was still feeling in her clitoris which meant that it may not be dead after all.
Despite the controversy, Andrews was on Lim’s side. The girl’s parents were not on board with a second surgery and the arrival of child protective services complicated things further. The CPS worker ultimately let the girl make the choice about what to do next. The girl ultimately took her parents’ side in order to not disappoint them. Lim did not want to perform the surgery. In a last ditch effort, she woke the girl back up from a medically induced coma to successfully convince her to undergo a more beneficial surgery.
Glassman still had to choose a surgeon for his surgery which was getting on Blaize’s nerves. Murphy was still worried about him which was getting on Glassman’s nerves. Glassman was not afraid of dying, he was afraid of not dying because of how he would be affected after the surgery. Meanwhile, Murphy didn’t know how he felt about Lea coming back. She visited him at the hospital but he did not want anything to do with her.
The episode ended with Murphy wanting Lea to leave his apartment so she couldn’t hurt him again. Also, Glassman was about to undergo brain surgery.
Overall, this was a good episode with some decent cases which albeit treaded familiar ground. Not all patients survive surgeries. There were still a few compelling moments sprinkled throughout with Murphy adjusting to Lea’s return and Glassman being accepting about his own surgery. The season obviously has to have these procedural cases to cover a 20+ episode network season but it would be nice if it found a better balance between its procedural and serialized subplots. Regardless, Freddie Highmore still makes this well worth the watch every week.
Score: 8/10
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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.
