The Good Doctor Season 2 Episode 18: Trampoline Review

For our review of the last episode of The Good Doctor, click here.

Synopsis: As a barroom fight sends Dr. Shaun Murphy to seek treatment at St. Bonaventure’s, Dr. Alex Park and Dr. Audrey Lim disagree over an elderly woman’s post-operative symptoms. (IMDB)

Writers: David Shore, David Hoselton, and Mark Rozeman

Director: David Shore

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 41mins

Airs: Mondays at 10pm on CTV (Canada)/ABC (United States)

Murphy’s on the other side of a case and they all lived happily ever after. But what comes next?

The episode starts with Murphy at a bar antagonizing another patron named Zack Cordell (Greg Calderone). He wouldn’t shut up so he would get in a confrontation, leading Zack to fall and hit his head on the floor. Murphy would ride with him to the hospital, claiming that he found him unconscious, but was reluctant to help due to him being fired. Meanwhile, Melendez and Lim opened up about their relationship (their random make-out session early on was weird though). Park and Reznick (the synopsis is wrong), disagreed about the post-surgical symptoms of an elderly patient named Ida (June Squibb).

Andrews confronted Han about his handling of the Murphy situation. While Andrews defended Murphy, Han claimed that he was the only one who was challenging him. Browne tried to cheer Murphy up but he would turn the tables on her. All he wanted was to be a surgeon though he thought he’d also be a good father. He just didn’t know how to fall in love. The next day, Browne gave Murphy more advice/reassurance about asking someone out (presumably Lea but it seemed like Murphy was asking Browne).

Glassman proposed to Debbie in an elaborate way but it was much too bold for her. The truth about Murphy’s encounter with the Zack would become clearer and he couldn’t handle being caught in a lie. His condition after his earlier altercation was also worse than it appeared. Murphy tried to have a test run on himself, pretending it was for another patient thought Carly could tell that it really was for him. She continued playing along, writing him a prescription. Murphy visited Zack to vent his frustration about not wanting to move on and wanting to be sad an angry. Meanwhile, he would come up with a diagnosis for Zack’s condition which sounded like trampoline. All the stress and emotion from the situation would cause him to succumb to his injuries and pass out.

Andrews wanted Han to rehire Murphy and was regretting hiring Han but firing him would create an impossible situation for Andrews and the hospital. The other doctors tried to decipher what Murphy meant by trampoline though seemed to be getting nowhere. They debated whether to revive Murphy, however, they did not want to risk his life and they were adamant that they could figure it out without him. Browne would try to put herself in Murphy’s shoes and would have a “Murphy moment” and figure out what was wrong. Lea and Glassman were in Murphy’s hospital room. When he woke up, he was worried about Zack. Zack misheard Murphy when he said trampoline but Browne was able to figure it out and they managed to cure him. Andrews visited Murphy in his hospital room and Murphy told him that he wasn’t ready to move on (Murphy had missed a job interview that Andrews got him at another hospital because he was at that bar).

Ida’s condition seemed to be getting worse. Reznick wanted to run more tests but Park believed that she was better and just wanted attention. Ida admitted that she was exaggerating her condition. Though she would explain that there was more to it than that because of past bad experiences with doctors. This wouldn’t work as Park found evidence that Ida was making herself look more sick. 

Add a hospital board meeting, Glassman defended Murphy as did Andrews. They did not have the votes to bring him back but Andrews decided to fire Han. The newly re-opened chief of surgery position would make Melendez and Lim’s relationship more complicated (Melendez put her name in for chief of surgery). Lea returned home to Murphy with a bouquet of flowers. He got his job back and asked her if he looked good. Glassman went to Debbie’s house again, his latest speech worked as she agreed to marry him. Murphy went to Carly’s house to ask her out on a date and she said yes. He was ecstatic.

Overall, Trampoline was a good season finale of The Good Doctor that wrapped up the season’s storylines nicely though probably not in the way you would think. It was clear that Murphy was coming back to the hospital but it was surprising to see that it would come at the expense of Han, however, the scene where Andrews and Glassman stood up for Murphy was powerful. He was a great character and foil so it’s sad to see him go. This episode also saw Murphy on the other side of a case which was interesting to see and it would give Browne a “Murphy moment”. Although the relationship drama was fine, it will be interesting to see if Glassman and Debbie ride out into the sunset and/or if the writers try to put a wedge between Melendez and Lim. The one surprising relationship subplot was Murphy ending up with Carly when it looked like he’d end up with Browne. That was probably the better choice since Murphy and Browne work better as a brother-sister relationship. Next season can’t come soon enough.

Score: 8.5/10

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