If you would like to read my review of the last episode of The Good Doctor, click here.
Synopsis: A patient is forced to reveal a secret to her husband after treatment causes a complication; a patient’s parents don’t believe in vaccinations. (TV Guide)
Writer: Sal Calleros
Director: Michael Patrick Jann
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 41mins
Airs: Mondays at 10pm on CTV (Canada)/ABC (United States)
Some uncomfortable moments, an old debate, and a few new character developments await in this new episode.
The episode started with Lim, Browne, and Murphy taking in emergency room patients who just happen to be a man and wife. The husband had a dislocated hip and the wife was suffering from massive internal bleeding and needed surgery. The wife’s bleeding came from a ruptured fallopian tube where the doctors discovered an early stage pregnancy which was impossible considering that the husband had a vasectomy. Meanwhile, Park and Reznick had a sick boy who had never been vaccinated.
The wife denied having an affair. While Murphy was studying her, she leaned in and kissed him which obviously made him uncomfortable. After being confronted by her husband, the wife more or less admitted to an affair. Murphy later noticed a spasm for which he connected to the pregnancy and the kiss. He just couldn’t believe that it was all human nature. He then made the realization that the world was simply sad an complicated. There was nothing wrong with the wife’s brain until one of Browne’s hunches proved otherwise. She had a tumour in her chest that was sending enzymes to her brain which was causing the mental problems. The husband still couldn’t handle the truth. The doctors removed the tumor so Browne helped to convince the husband to forgive his wife.
Reznick and Park’s disagreement in front of the parents ruined Park’s plan of getting their trust and convincing them to change their minds so he used a story she had told him about another child who died after not getting vaccinated. His plan didn’t work. After an MRI, the doctors discovered that the boy had two spinal chords or a chord split in two. Their only choice was to untangle the chords surgically. Meanwhile, the parents decided to vaccinate their boy. After a few vaccinations, the boy became paralyzed. The spinal cord surgery appeared successful until he succumb to a staff infection. The mother went around the father’s back as he was not on board with having his son vaccinated. The boy got upset with Park for causing a rift between his parents. Park gave the father another story but he didn’t want any of it. To decompress, he and Reznick went to a gun range.
Browne is being courted by other hospitals who she was approaching herself. Andrews tried to push Browne to make up with Melendez but she wasn’t interested. He next went to Melendez to subtly threaten him about the chief of surgery position if he didn’t make up with Browne. They made up, however, Browne still believed that she was right and only apologized to protect Melendez. Meanwhile, Glassman claimed he was doing fine but his memory slips proved otherwise. He confided in Murphy to help him run some tests.
At Murphy’s apartment, Glassman was getting frustrated by Murphy’s questions. He couldn’t remember the name of Murphy’s brother Steve.
Overall, this was another good episode with a pair of compelling cases and some more character development. A mystery pregnancy and an uncomfortable kiss made for an interesting time for Murphy. The kid with the two spines was something new, however, it could have gone further with the vaccine debate as it had nothing to do with the case. In other news, Browne and Melendez are finally back together and Glassman is suffering from memory loss. This has been truly tragic to behold and Richard Schiff has played it so beautifully. It will be interesting to see where he goes as a character as it would be a shame to lose Schiff and Glassman.
Score: 8.5/10
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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.