The Good Doctor (5×04) Rationality Review

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

Synopsis: Dr. Shaun Murphy and the team treat a young girl whose father’s personal research complicates their treatment plans. Meanwhile, Dr. Park, Dr. Reznick and Dr. Lim’s patient refuses a life-saving lung transplant despite having a family donor. (IMDb)

That billboard was going to cause trouble and in this latest episode of The Good Doctor, it did. Instead of being driven by emotion, Murphy had to learn to approach the issue rationally which is something that hasn’t always come easy to him (hence the episode title). This inner conflict bled over into the episode where he needed to do the same with his latest case. Was the billboard merely exploitative by putting he and his condition in the spotlight for Salen’s personal gain or would it actually impact Murphy in a positive way? While that remains to be seen, it may actually not be such a bad thing after all. Meanwhile, the Murphy story took most of the focus here as it saw Reznick cautiously look to the future.

The cases were actually good in Rationality as the episode started with Murphy and Salen debating the billboard as the latter was pleading he approach the issue with rationally and reason and with less emotion. A patient’s father asked for him directly to treat his sick daughter. He was more knowledgeable than the average father though Murphy quickly dismissed him which may not have necessarily been the right thing. Salen insisting that the father be involved with the case did not rest well with the doctors, especially Murphy. The father’s suggestions may not have been the best but that growing tension led to an outburst that got him kicked off the case. Her father wasn’t taking it very well either. Meanwhile, Glassman was hovering with concern while Salen needed him to participate in interviews on behalf of the hospital (she believed this was for Murphy’s greater good). Murphy’s breakthrough moment came when the daughter told him she actually chose him because she saw the billboard and thought he was different like her. He started to see things from the father’s perspective which took things back to the billboard discourse where he came to accept it much to the surprise of Glassman who stormed into Salen’s office, ready to demand she take it down.

A woman who went on a spiritual journey at the expense of her family who she left behind was suffering from issues with her lungs therefore she needed a transplant within a month or two. Cue her estranged son which made things even more uncomfortable. Once a potential lung transplant donor fell through and her worsening condition making it even more difficult to get another in time, things got even more awkward when her son became another option. His mother was against that as an option out of not wanting to hurt him at her expense but they needed to get to the root of their relationship issues. After being put in a coma, the son was left as power of attorney so the doctors performed the surgery that allowed him to give her part of his lung to save his mother. In the end, he was willing to repair their relationship. Meanwhile, tension grew between Reznick and Park throughout the episode as the former was in the process of freezing her eggs. She was having doubts about motherhood but in the end, Park vowed to make their relationship work as well.

At the end of the day, Murphy is learning to see things from other perspectives and to take care of things on his own which can only be good for him. Wherever that newfound perspective goes remains to be seen but maybe Salen is not a bad person after all? She’s slowly continuing to prove herself though something is going to happen. It’s just a matter of when rather than if but Rachel Bay Jones has definitely been a delight.

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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.