Review of The Good Doctor, Episode 15

Welcome! I hope you enjoyed our little break, and would like to quickly note that next week, we are off air before, hopefully, returning to weekly episodes until the end of the season. We start off with Shaun on a bus, cramped, hugging himself, and listening to a song Lea had sent him. We also meet a new Resident, 45-year-old Alex Park, who was a cop for 15 years.

Shaun and Morgan are put under the care of Dr. Lim, while Jared, Claire and the new resident, Alex Park, work with Melendez. The two cases deal with kids, Lim’s being a young girl born with her heart on the outside of her ribcage, and too big, up until now, to surgically put in the correct place. Melendez has a young by with liver failure, who has hours to live unless they find a donor. The issue? He is type 0. Luckily, Claire finds a match, the problem is he is in jail for killing 7 people. Small tangent here- A few years back, there was a movie called 7 Pounds, which talks about a man donating 7 organs and saving 7 lives. When I heard the number of people he killed, it reminded me of that movie, about making amends through his own flesh.

Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.

Morgan and Shaun are bumping heads, or more like Morgan is questioning his emotional connection with patients, which we all know he has, and Shaun is responding the way he does. Lim watches as they bump heads, probably laughing internally at the blonde trying to undermine Shaun. It’s cute, as we have seen him develop more emotions, and showing his own way. We also know a gala is happening at the hospital, and Allegra Aoki is nervous, asking Glassman to get in touch with an Aiden, successful young man, to be a keynote speaker. The two seem to hit it off, driving Aoki into talking with Dr. Andrews. What I love about this series is the characters grow, adapt, but are genuine human. Andrews was prepping for surgery, but the second Aoki mentions a spark, Andrews is just like a gossip girl, stating the operation can wait, spill the details. He discourages the chance of a relationship, mentioning a Member of the Board dating someone who could make large donations to the hospital would be bad.

Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.

The inmate comes into the hospital, and is quite big, aggressive, and rubs Dr. Park the wrong way. Boris seems to have changed, but Park thinks it’s all a set up, to have the doctors drop their guard. They put him under anesthesia, but he has an allergic reaction. They are able to counter the reaction, but not able to remove the liver. When comes to, and realizes he wasn’t able to help, he becomes agitated. Later, as they transport him, he ends up with a gun, and Alex says he can still change his path. Claire catches the double meaning, and screams no before Boris puts the gun to his own head and pulls the trigger. For those who never saw 7 Pounds, the movie I mentioned earlier, the main character ends up committing suicide to help 7 people. I wonder if the series did a quick nod to the movie, how 7 died and Boris was trying to make amends for their deaths. Claire and Alex talk, and she mentions how people change, but Alex believes it was still just an act, Boris only killed himself because it was his nature. Now, he was a hero to the press, to Claire, to the boy’s parents, and the 5 others he saved with his organ donations. Bittersweet ending.

Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.

With Spirit, Shaun and Morgan’s patient, her heart has grown too big, and they cannot move it into her chest cavity. This causes her to have a tantrum, stating she was tired of being stuck inside, she wanted to experience crowds, to get hit, or punched. Morgan and Shaun fight later, her stating he doesn’t understand the desire, but to Shaun, and us since we know his past, he has experienced the hits and punches of unforgiving people, and if Spirit stays inside, she will never be hurt. Morgan mentions a fake sternum can be added, to increase the chest cavity space. Shaun is against the surgery, because if it doesn’t work, there is no plan be. Lim decides to go with the surgery, and Spirit gets to have her first hug from her Mom.

Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.

It’s Gala time, with Shaun buying a new tux, and looking quite sharp. He runs into Jessica, who is awkward with him, but trying to connect. Shaun is just standing alone, unsure how to interact. A lot happens in the Gala, with Shaun thinking of escaping, but going back when he sees Spirit hugging her friends. He walks up to a random table, and introduces himself, before standing there. Luckily, Andrews comes in, and connects with the 3 doctors Shaun walked up. They talk, and laugh. Claire and Jared go to the Gala together, as a couple, but Jared realizes Claire doesn’t love him the way he loves her, and leaves. Jessica sees Melendez and Glassman comforts her about letting go. She still loves Melendez, but isn’t sure what to do anymore. Aoki asks out the Councilman, and they dance together. Overall, there are a lot of loose strings, and I love it. It makes the series worth watching, knowing the answer isn’t going to magically go away or become fixed next episode. So, I will see you all in two weeks! Till then, Stay Shiny.

Hello, and welcome to the medical side! I haven’t mentioned it lately, but all my medical knowledge comes from high school teaching, personal research, and curiosity. I probably will get things wrong, but I try my hardest not to. I just want to expand on the medical side and explain anything confusing. Lately, they have been explaining it very well in the episode, so might focus on reasoning behind the choice.

Today, we are gonna focus on Spirit’s medical condition, as well as Blood types. With Spirit, she was born with a unique condition where the heart is located either out of the thorax, or chest cavity, completely or partially. It normally protrudes outside the chest through a split sternum. The dangers of this is quite obvious- Your heart is not protected, and any thump, tap or hit could cause the rhythm to change, or stop all together. Your whole body is designed to protect your heart, from placement, to surrounding organ placement, to even your ribcage. It rarely happens, and most of those who have it usually do not live, making the mortality rate high. The fact someone lived to 14 is inconceivable. Luckily, the odds at 8 in 1 million. The reason Shaun is scared for the surgery is because if they cannot create enough space for the heart, Spirit will die. They can’t just put it back.

With our young man who needs a Liver transplant, he has blood type O. There are 4 basic Blood Types- O, A, B, AB. Each type is also positive or negative, but with the episode, it talks about general types. Blood is made of 2 things- Antibodies in Plasma, and Antigens in the red blood cell. The blood types break down like this-

Because of the antibodies in the plasma of O, it makes any blood or organ donation from any other blood type potentially rejected, and would lead to death. Antibodies are exactly what they sound like, and attack the Antigens found in blood. Because O carries no antigens, anyone can receive a blood donation from O,  but O can only receive blood from O.

They mention how the have an A liver donor, but it’s like putting a bandaid on a dam- just a useless attempt as the body would reject the liver, and why they needed an O. In reality, blood has more factors than just A,B, or O, and I think in one study, it had 600 different elements in the blood cell, which is mind boggling, seeing as we all have it flowing through us. In some Asian cultures, it is believed that your personality is based off of blood. For those curious, I am A +.

That’s all I got today, consider donating blood if you can, it’s quite helpful. I’ll see you in two weeks, until then, stay shiny.