The Good Doctor Season 2 Episode 8
The Good Doctor never backs down from hot topics, this week taking a look at honesty in relationships, and bringing awareness to the importance of childhood vaccinations.
Stories
Lots of stories this week, and not all of them are true.
Dawn and her husband, Todd, were in a car accident. Todd is pretty much okay, but Dawn has to have surgery for internal bleeding. Todd begs them to save her, she is “his everything.” While the team are in there, they find a ruptured fallopian tube, and they’re able to save her, but she was pregnant and they couldn’t save the baby. When they tell Todd that Dawn is okay, they also tell him that she lost the baby, which surprises Todd, given that he had a vasectomy 10 years earlier. Hmmm. He asks if maybe the vasectomy could have failed, and Claire tells him it’s not likely after 10 years. Shaun being Shaun tells him it’s more likely that she’s pregnant from someone who isn’t him. Dawn, of course, denies having an affair, but she abruptly kisses Shaun while her husband is away. I was like, “What the heck, lady???” The sperm count comes back and nope, Todd could not have been the father. He also discovers that she has used up all the money in their savings account. Looks like their marriage is over. But Shaun is convinced that Dawn has a brain tumor which is causing her to behave this way. He and Claire do a scan which does not reveal a tumor and leaves poor Shaun devastated. He so wanted to believe Dawn. He tells Claire that “the world is a sad and complicated place” and he wishes it wasn’t. So do I, Shaun. So do I. Later, they discover that Dawn really does have a tumor, it’s in her chest, not in her brain, but it was causing her to lose her inhibitions and do things she normally would not have done. In the end, the tumor is removed, and Todd seems to have forgiven her.
The other patient this week is a teenaged boy named Finn who has pain and stiffness in his neck. Park and Reznick suspect he might have polio because his parents do not believe in vaccines and refused to have him vaccinated. It’s later revealed that he does not have polio, but he was born with two spinal cords and they need to operate in order to save him from becoming parapalegic. Park tries to be nice to the parents, but Reznick isn’t having it. She had a friend who didn’t have her child vaccinated and the child got whooping cough and died. After the polio was ruled out, Park tried to talk to the parents. He shares Reznick’s story as his own, that it was his friend who had a child that died, and urges them to reconsider. They seem to be standing firm, but later (after Park and Reznick make a bet on whether or not the parents will change), the mom comes to Park and says they’ve changed their minds, they want him to start the vaccines immediately. Finn suddenly has complications which are resolved (he had a staph infection), and Park informs the parents that he wants them to know it was nothing to do with the vaccines, which shocks the father because it turns out he did not change his mind, it was only his wife, and she didn’t consult him before she asked Park to vaccinate Finn. Park tries to talk to the husband, shares another story with him about a man whose relationship with is wife was destroyed over dishonesty, but the husband says he doesn’t want to hear anymore of Park’s parables. He wants to know if it was even true, and Park says no, but I’m pretty sure it was true, and it was all about Park.
Steve, Not Sam
You remember that Dr. Glassman has been having some issues with his memory. He denies to Dr. Blaize that he’s having problems, but he asks Shaun to help him test his memory. He comes to Shaun’s apartment, and Shaun begins to ask him questions about things that he should know. Such as where he got his sofa, and his lamp. But then Shaun takes down the picture of him and his brother and he asks Dr. Glassman what his brother’s name was. Glassman freezes. This is something he should definitely know. He grasps for the answer and ends up saying, Sam. Shaun reminds him that it was Steve, and tells a tearful Glassman that he is indeed losing his memory. Poor Glassy. I wonder what the future will hold for him.
This Is Me, Giving You Cover
Claire tells a story, too, this week, to help Melendez. Dr. Andrews has gotten wind that Claire had been looking elsewhere for her residency, since Melendez cut her from his team. He pretty much demands that Melendez take her back, dangling the same old carrot in front of him about the Chief of Surgery position. So when Melendez relents and goes to tell Claire, she apologizes. But she tells him flat out that she doesn’t mean it. She knows he’s being forced to take her back on, so she’s helping him out by giving him cover, so he doesn’t come off as weak in taking her back. Claire is back, baby.
The Good Doctor returns November 26, 10/9 C, on ABC. Have an awesome Thanksgiving everybody!
Before you go:
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