The season finale of The Good Doctor kicked off with Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddy Highmore) trying to make amends with Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff). “I think you may need a new mentor… I’m dying”, Dr. Glassman reluctantly told Shaun before saying he has 12-18 months to live because of his inoperable brain tumor. Of course, Shaun started racking his brain for every possible solution on how to save Dr. Glassman, telling him he needs to get a second opinion stat!
Dr. Kalu (Chuku Modu) and Dr. Lim (Christina Chang) met with a drunk frat boy named Kaiden who had a leg fracture and some serious clotting. “Blood flow is restricted, his foot is dying!” said Dr. Kalu. They were able to set his leg back into place. Dr. Park (Will Yun Lee) asked the student’s friend how this happened, and the friend reacted in a strange way, clearly not telling the truth about the incident. They took Kaiden into surgery and he ended up going into cardiac arrest mid-way through the operation. Dr. Kalu calmly talked to the friend, explaining that he needs to tell them what happened to his friend or he could die. “We were pledging… there’s these torture things you have to do for initiation.” Oh boy… we can only imagine! The friend went on to say, “He ate those laundry things… maybe six of them”. WHAT!? He ate Tide Pods!? Millennials and their Tide Pods… we definitely don’t think this is good news!
During the end of the operation, Dr. Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) got called into an emergency surgery and left Shaun in charge! They began to close up the patient and Shaun said, “I lost something”. Oh no! He lost the toy scalpel his deceased brother gave him… upon realizing he misplaced his scalpel, it seemed as though he came to a realization about Dr. Glassman’s prognosis. Distracted, Shaun nicked Kaiden’s aortic wall and ran to Dr. Glassman’s office. Shaun couldn’t keep his secret and told Jessica (Beau Garrett) about Dr. Glassman’s condition. He insisted Dr. Glassman needed a DTI and asked Jessica to manipulate him into doing this procedure, because she’s a lawyer! Back in the recovery room, Kaiden wasn’t doing well. The doctors were blaming it on Shaun, and his distraction when closing up the patient. Dr. Melendez confronted Dr. Glassman about Shaun’s error, and Dr. Glassman told him the news about his inoperable glioma… awkward!
Kaiden’s blood was clotting and hemorrhaging at the same time, and the doctors needed to find out what was causing it. They thought it could be the drugs, the Tide Pods, or Shaun’s mistake. Dr. Browne was certain that it’s not Shaun, and Dr. Park confronted the friend about whether or not he was on drugs. The friend admitted that Kaiden was on the drug Molly. Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper) was totally on to Dr. Melendez and Dr. Browne, and said that Dr. Melendez shouldn’t have let inexperienced doctors (Shaun) be alone in the OR. Upon confronting Dr. Browne, she stated that the drugs didn’t seem to be the issue, and that Shaun did a textbook closing, so it couldn’t be him… Apparently Dr. Andrews didn’t realize Shaun did the closing.
Back to Dr. Glassman’s situation. Jessica confronted Dr. Glassman about his prognosis and he got very emotional. She insisted he should get the DTI, but not for him… for Shaun. She stated that Shaun needs him, and we totally agree! Dr. Glassman can’t give up just yet! Thankfully, Dr. Glassman agreed to the DTI, and got a quick appointment! Upon testing, there seemed to be a mistake about Dr. Glassman’s original diagnosis, and he actually has Glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive form of a brain tumor, and only has 3 month to live — oh no! Shaun continued to come up with answers for Dr. Glassman’s unfortunate condition. Dr. Glassman was getting increasingly upset about Shaun trying to help him. He wanted Shaun to stop, and all he wanted to do was have fun during his last months alive. Dr. Glassman told Shaun he can keep fighting this, which is stupid, or he can come with Dr. Glassman and enjoy his last few months with him and learn everything he can from his mentor.
Shaun and Dr. Glassman then went to the carousel together. We were glad to see Shaun enjoying what time he had left with his mentor. Dr. Glassman recalled the time he spent with his daughter before she passed, and how she loved coming to the carousel with him after they went dancing. “I remember thinking, this is the moment that I know will be in my mind when I close my eyes to die” — SO SAD! Dr. Glassman wished she was there by his side when he crosses over. Cutting their emotional moment short, Shaun got a text, and in true Shaun fashion, said, “Do you need me to listen to you anymore?” — LOL! Dr. Glassman told Shaun he should get back to the hospital.
Back to Kaiden’s case. His cultures came back, and the doctors were still stumped. Dr. Melendez asked Shaun if he had any thoughts, since it’s his ass on the line. He admitted his mistake to the doctors and then told them he needed to make a bowel movement and abruptly left the room… um WHAT? He actually ran to Dr. Glassman’s office with the cure for his diagnosis! Of course Dr. Glassman didn’t want to hear it, but he eventually listened. Shaun explained that if they did a biopsy through Dr. Glassman’s nose, they could avoid an aneurism and get the dangerous part of the tumor out.
Back in the deliberation room, the doctors were still trying to figure out Kaiden’s case. Shaun tried to fix his mistake and proposed they try to fix Kaiden from the inside out to dissect the aneurism — to the operating room they went! During the last step of Kaiden’s procedure, Shaun asked Dr. Melendez if he could deflate the balloon inside Kaiden, because if it’s unsuccessful, he didn’t want Dr. Melendez to live with the guilt of killing the patient. Dr. Melendez said that they will do it together because he’s responsible for everything that goes on in the operating room. Thankfully, they were successful, and they all went out to celebrate afterwards!
Dr. Glassman decided to do the biopsy, which was successful, and now he has a lower grade tumor. It’s still cancer, however, but with a brain operation and chemo therapy, his chances of living are a lot higher. Shaun was ecstatic, and he gave Dr. Glassman a hug! Shaun was also ecstatic because he found his toy scalpel, woo hoo! Shaun decided he needs to report his incident during Kaiden’s case, but Jessica told him he can’t, or else Dr. Andrews would use this against him, and it could affect Dr. Glassman’s pledge upon hiring Shaun and cause both of them to lose their jobs. Dr. Glassman told Jessica that Shaun can’t protect his job, and that he can come clean if he wants. The show closed with Shaun and Dr. Glassman entering Dr. Andrews’ office. Talk about a cliffhanger!