You know why I love The Good Doctor? I mean, I know you hear me rant and rave about this series every single week, but it’s constant. A constant steady climb. Characters develop, and how they act can reflect back to a previous episode. You can watch episowde 1 again, and feel like 5 months have actually passed in the story line. Ok, I am done now! Time to dive right in.
Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.
Gretchen has a blockage to her nerves that make it impossible to show facial emotion. Shaun mentions how dangerous the surgery is, and they bond a bit over the rude nicknames people have given them. She ends up deciding against it, claiming Shaun inspired her, but what happened was she knows her father has to pay for everything. Dr. Andrews approaches the insurance company and guilt trips them into helping the girl, so they proceed with the surgery. Sadly, though, Gretchen does not wake up. Shaun asks Andrews if he is sad, after telling the patient it was almost risk free surgery.
One thing I love is when they bring back characters. I know it’s small, but I wanna know how they are doing. Back in episode 6, Jared treats a woman named Celez with tilapia skins for her burns. It also was a great episode for Jared to learn how to talk with patients better. In the episode, we got to see how easily he can talk with patients, though you can tell there is underlining flirting going on.She seems more confident, and talk about painful situations. Jared mentions perfect life and messing it up. We saw it happen bro, but maybe there are reasons to stay.
On the flipside, Park, who was working with Dr. Andrews and Shaun, realizes Gretchen might not be brain dead- just has a rare condition where her body can’t remove the anesthesia quickly. The test is simple- poke her in the eye, and if she responds, we just have to wait a little longer. Gretchen flinches, and everyone realizes she will be find. Shaun is trying to get Dr. Glassman to date a woman named Debbie, who runs the concession stand. He ends up dragging Glassman to the stand, and they awkwardly have coffee. It’s not until a minor car accident outside reveals they are both into old cars.
Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.
The imposter patient that Claire and Morgan returns, but in worse condition. He body is going into spetic, and she is dying. Morgan tries to bond with Claire, relating to not having a mom, but Claire researches it and calls the blonde out for lying. While treating the imposter, she realizes they know she is not Lucy, but Claire asks with she didn’t get the antibiotics when she got the pain meds. Turns out she never got any perscription, and the real Lucy is an addict. Morgan gets her admitted into rehab, and we see her tough exterior falter as the imposter, who’s name is Beatrice, passes away. Morgan wanted to just have her arrested, but Claire wanted to make sure she was treated as a patient, and didn’t pass alone. I wonder if Morgan will ever realize this isn’t a game, but life.
Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.
On a side storyline, Shaun is walking around smiling at people, to prove Andrews is wrong and smiles are not contagious. Mostly just creeping people out. During this experiment, Shaun and Jared talk. He needs advice on love, and mentions of everyone he wants to talk to but can’t. Shaun casually mentions he is a person too. Jared instantly starts talking, embarassed, but Shaun takes a long time to respond. Jared begins to physically withdraw, but then Shaun tells him to call in sick. Confused, Jared listens as Shaun explains sometimes having a sick day is all you need to gain superior wisdom and knowledge. Later, we watch as Jared steps down as Celez’s doctor, making her look quite let down, until he mentions doctors cannot date their patients.
Of course the series has to ruin all the warm and fuzzies I am feeling by having Dr. Glassman get the word Bill mixed up with Doorstop and now he has cancer but why do they have to do that? WE WERE HAVING FUN! STAY SHINY!
Source: American Broadcasting Company for The Good Doctor.
Hello and welcome to the medical side of the review. Still reeling from the end of the episode. We will discuss more of Glassman’s condition next week.
Let’s start with the biggest word used in the episode- Plasma cholinesterase deficiency. It’s what kept Gretchen under anesthesia longer than expected, and led to the team thinking she was brain dead. Plasma cholinesterase is an enzyme necessary for the breakdown of some medications in the anesthetia. Those with abnormal cholinesterase activity tend to stay under for longer. It’s not life threatening from the looks of it, but doesn’t happen very often.
Septic shock keeps popping up, and is very much a real and dangerous illness. What happens is your body tries to fight off an infection, and causes your blood pressure to drop. When that happens, your body goes into a protective mode, and starts shutting down organs. Once this happens, you die. It’s treatable, but once the organs start shutting down, there really is nothing to do, which is why Claire let her pass instead of trying to restart her heart again.
Moebius syndrome is what Gretchen has, and is the neurological condition that affects the muscles that control facial expression and eye movement, and in infancy, problems with feeding, which is why it is easy to detect, even though it is extremely rare. It affects usually the 6th and 7th nerve, which we saw in the episode, but can affect the 3rd through 7th, 9th, 10th or 12th nerve. Approximately 30% of children with Moebius syndrome are on the autism spectrum. They actually have The Moebius Syndrome Foundation, which is cool, and provides a lot of infortmation about the disorder.
Thats all for now, and I’ll see you all next week for the big finale. Until then, Stay Shiny!
