For our review of the last episode of The Good Doctor, click here.
Synopsis: Dr. Andrews tries to convince a grieving family to donate their teenage daughters face to another young girl whose face was horribly disfigured in an accident. (IMDB)
Writer: David Hoselton
Director: Allison Liddi-Brown
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 41mins
Airs: Mondays at 10pm on CTV (Canada)/ABC (United States)
Time to put your best face forward.
The episode started with Glassman waking up to Murphy who was taking vacation days to take care of him. Meanwhile, Andrews and Browne were tending to a young patient named Molly (Chloe Csengery) with facial deformities due to a loss of bones in her face from an accident years prior. Coincidentally, another girl named Karen was brought in to the hospital unresponsive after a car accident.
Nearly the entire team was present during Karen’s surgery. The surgery went downhill quickly with Lim insisting that they focus on Karen’s heart instead of her brain as Karen was declared brain-dead soon after. Giving the news to Karen’s single mother Shannon (Lilli Birdsell) did not go over well. It got worse when Andrews asked if she was willing to donate Karen’s face to help Molly who just happened to run into Shannon soon after. That was all it took for her to agree to donate her daughter’s face. This surgery would be quite the undertaking for everyone involved so it pretty much was all hands on deck for this one.
The surgery itself was obviously complicated but it was definitely weird to see someone’s face removed and put it in a tray. Meanwhile, Molly’s parents wanted to know more about Shannon and Karen. Shannon felt she was responsible for her daughter’s accident while Molly’s father felt the same way about her accident. Also, Lim was still reeling from her earlier decision that may have led to Karen’s death.
Glassman was suffering from boredom so he sent Murphy to bring home some. marijuana. They each took some and it was definitely interesting. Their new state led them to embark on a munchie quest. Their Uber driver saw the futility in this endeavor so she helped them to get to the root of what was their real issue which was Glassman’s need to reconnect with an old love from 40 years prior named Robin. The trio would go door-to-door, searching for Robin. Their quest would eventually lead them to Portland, Oregon to a now married Robin. Glassman regretted his past with her and wanted to make up for it somehow. He would eventually had the courage to approach Robin and she would accept his apology.
The facial transplant was a success but Molly would have to learn to get used to her new face. Shannon said goodbye to her daughter’s face. Meanwhile, the earlier incident caused Lim to reevaluate her relationship with Melendez though she didn’t think they should end it. During Murphy and Glassman’s marijuana-filled fooling around, Murphy claimed that he was okay with Lea and Jake. By the end of the episode, Murphy admitted that he wasn’t.
Overall, Faces was a good episode of The Good Doctor that attempted something unique for a medical TV series. When it comes to medical dramas, facial transplants are something that don’t usually come along. Whether or not the one attempted here is medically accurate is unclear but it almost doesn’t matter as the story behind it was a powerful one, however, it would get lost within the buildup to the transplant which was definitely weird to watch. It would also test Melendez and Lim whose relationship was an afterthought. Though the Murphy and Glassman subplot was fun to watch, it didn’t quite fit here as his quasi redemption wasn’t nearly as powerful as it could have been. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see medical dramas do something different and we need more stoned Murphy.
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.