The Good Doctor (3×16) Autopsy Review

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

Synopsis: Dr. Murphy becomes obsessed with performing an autopsy on a Jane Doe, which challenges his relationships at the hospital; a male college student has a mysterious split personality disorder. (IMDb)

In one of the best episodes of The Good Doctor thus far, there were definitely quite a bit of moving parts for episode director Freddie Highmore to deal with but it all works beautifully here as it touches all of the characters in a compelling and fair way while giving Murphy plenty of relationship drama of course, ending with a truly heartbreaking moment.

Autopsy started with Murphy receiving an elderly female homeless patient with an aortic aneurysm. In the operating room, he mentioned the breakup, followed by the obligatory asking if he was okay which he claimed to be (though we know he wasn’t). Meanwhile, the doctors lost control of the patient as she bled out and died on the table. Murphy needed to move on from the patient just as he would have to move on from Carly (there was a lot of obvious messaging in this episode). As we know by now, Murphy wasn’t ready to move on from either and wanted to perform an autopsy on the patient he just lost to determine the cause of death for which everyone rightfully refused. However, since the woman was technically a Jane Doe, there was no information available about her (so Murphy can contact the family to ask for an autopsy) so Murphy had to do some searching while Park tagged along (he could clearly see that it was just a distraction from Carly).

It did not take long for Murphy and Park to find their patient’s estranged son who obviously wanted nothing to do with his mother and her cause of death. Murphy of course would not take no for an answer and it would that determination that got him arrested. After Glassman bailed him out, he told him that he was more afraid of telling Lea that he loved her and that she didn’t say it back (he didn’t think he could be her friend either). Meanwhile, Murphy gave Carly some closure while asking her for approval for the autopsy where he found what he was looking for. He informed her son that he found a rare genetic disease that could be fatal.

The other patient of the episode was a college student named Aiden suffering from multiple personalities. One was more reserved and was focused on his GPA while the other was more adventurous. They were referred to as the professor and the frat boy. Treating him was Browne and Reznick (the two personalities were an obvious parallel to Browne and Reznick). They of course would butt heads about the case and especially after Reznick revealed that she was the one that placed the complaint. He had a cyst pressing against his brain but convincing one of the personalities to go along with the surgery would be easier said than done. Aiden’s eventual acceptance mirrored Reznick’s acceptance of her actions. Frat Boy Aiden consented to the surgery and recorded a thoughtful video message.

In other news, Lim encountered a young girl named Trinity (Ariah Lee) for whom she saved after being left at the hospital when she was a baby (finally some Lim backstory). Here, Trinity had been wandering around on multiple occasions throughout the episode until she was finally caught. She wanted Lim to adopt her but she already had a mother (she was feeling jealous since her mother had another child). She watched Trinity until her mother picked her up (this moment reminded her that she should talk to her own mother). Also, Melendez and Browne continued to hide their platonic relationship.

The episode ended with a powerful scene where Murphy finally told Lea that he loved her but he perhaps didn’t get the response that he wanted. She loved him but she also didn’t think he could handle her and her personality because of his autism. Not being able to handle the situation, Lea stormed out as the camera focused on an emotional Murphy.

The writing may be a little too on the nose but Highmore’s talent in front of and behind the camera more than made up for it, balancing everything in an engaging way.

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

Keith Noakes

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.