Written by Katie Wolf
While last week’s episode started off with a bang, and tons of excitement, this week was more of a slow burn for sure. However, this is probably setting up for the rest of the season to be a bit slower paced as well.
We start off with Shaun (Freddie Highmore) being ridiculed for being late by his attending surgeon, Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez). This gives the audience a good indication of the type of person that Dr. Melendez is—arrogant, somewhat entitled, and doubtful of Shaun’s ability. This is further shown throughout the rest of the episode as he does not let Shaun do anything of importance, moving him to scut work. Essentially Shaun’s day is spent discharging patients and things of that nature.
It is during this scut work that we really get a glimpse of the issues Shaun has in communicating and reading other people. At first he won’t discharge people without ordering numerous unnecessary tests for them, which prompts Dr. Melendez to further point out his flaws and place a nurse in charge of Shaun for the day.
After that happens he makes numerous patients feel as if they are not actually well enough to go home when discharging them. He is not good at making them feel reassured, something that Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) tells him he needs to work on when he catches wind that Shaun has been placed on scut work.
So we can see that Shaun has trouble communicating and he doesn’t really get people or how they communicate something such as sarcasm. It sometimes feels cringey throughout the episode as at times it is pretty uncomfortable to watch. It is a great way to show what interactions with someone who is autistic can be like, however, hopefully we will be able to see Shaun make improvements in this area because as shown in this episode it is really limiting his opportunities right now.
The big drama of the show taking place in the O.R. is the fact that a woman is undergoing surgery to remove a tumour that is so big, the surgical team can not see any of the major arteries making it practically impossible to remove. Shaun is sent to bring tests results back to the O.R. and mentions to Dr. Browne (Antonia Thomas) and Dr. Kalu (Chuku Modu) that the surgery would be easier if they removed the patient’s left kidney—a perfectly healthy kidney.
When Dr. Browne and Dr. Kalu are telling Dr. Melendez about the developments with the patient. Dr. Browne has the opinion that they should stitch the patient back up, tell her that there was nothing they could do, and send her home with 3 months to live. Dr. Kalu brings up the idea of removing the left kidney to get a better view during surgery. Dr. Browne lets him take credit for this idea thinking it will fail. It is only after they remove the kidney, and it saves the patient’s life, that she thinks Dr. Kalu should tell the truth about it being Shaun’s idea. Something that causes even more drama between the two former lovers.
In the midst of all this, Shaun has left the hospital to check on a young girl he discharged earlier. He thinks there may be something more wrong with her causing her upset stomach than stress, and luckily he does because she is in a very critical condition. He parents rush her to the hospital while Shaun has to start compressions on her.
Ultimately Shaun ends up saving this girl’s life, much to everyone’s surprise. He is even allowed to stay in the surgery the young girl undergoes, which was decided not by Dr. Melendez, but his boss Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper). This turns out to be more of a political move for him which he explains to Dr. Glassman because if Shaun ends up succeeding then he looks good for backing him, but if he fails then he will get to be president of the hospital.
So there you have it! The second episode of The Good Doctor was a little rockier than the first but still worth the watch.
What did you think? Let us know in the comments below!
