Tonight on NBC their new medical drama “The Good Doctor” airs with an all-new Monday, December 4, 2017, episode and we have your The Good Doctor recap below. On tonight’s The Good Doctor season 1 episode 10 Winter finale as per the ABC synopsis, “Members of the hospital’s surgical team are initially impressed with a charming young doctor, but his true character puts one of them in an awkward position at work. Meanwhile, Glassman feels Shaun needs a little more support with his personal life and suggests he meet with a therapist. However, Shaun is determined to show him that he can do it on his own”
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The Good Doctor begins tonight with Dr. Marcus Andrews (hill Harper) informing the interns that he has a VIP who needs surgery on his elbow and he has room for a couple of interns to assist him and Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez); Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) acknowledges there is three interns – himself, Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) and Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas), so Dr. Melendez says the intern who doesn’t go with them will perform surgery with Dr. Matt Coyle (Eric Winter) who will be doing a fasciotomy.
They draw names, Shaun and Jared are doing with them as Claire is stuck with Coyle. As they are talking about the patient, Dr. Murphy wants to know if he is considered a VIP because he is an athlete or because he has a lot of money; Dr. Melendez says it is both. Before he can join them on the elevator, Shaun is called away by Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) who introduces him to Melissa Bourne (Erin Matthews), the therapist he was telling Shaun about. He admits he is not comfortable with the meeting as Glassman insists he will be fine if he would only give her a chance; Shaun nods his head but rushes out the door to the elevators as Glassman says he is proud of him, but Shaun begins to grab his hair and shake angrily.
Dr. Melendez is talking to their patient, Bobby (Manny Jacinto) about the procedure as Jared is taking notes when a rattled Dr. Murphy comes in. He reassures everyone he is fine, sits down and asks the patient to squeeze his hands, visualizes what is happening inside and says there could be several things wrong. Dr. Melendez cuts him off, saying the anesthesiologist will be up soon to prep him but as Shaun leaves he wants to know what is wrong with him.
He knows he about the autism and savant syndrome but wants to know why he would let Melendez “shut him down” like that. He tells Shaun they don’t respect him and they should listen to him the first time and that is how the game is played. He says sometimes the stakes in the game are high and this time it is his arm and he feels Dr. Murphy needs to voice his concerns and be sure he is heard.
Dr. Coyle asks Claire to tell him about their patient and when she proves to be efficient and thorough, he tells her she can take lead on the case; it seems that Dr. Coyle likes Claire and smiles at her as she exams their patient before surgery.
In surgery, Dr. Murphy tells Dr. Melendez he has beautiful hair then suggests they do a nerve test to make sure their patient doesn’t have any nerve damage, but he refuses. Dr. Andrews asks Melendez to step back so Dr. Kalu can show them what he can do, Jared thanks him and takes over the procedure as Shaun silently looks on.
While Claire is performing the surgery, Dr. Coyle asks the “Ladies” what they are doing tonight; when Claire remains quiet he tells her that he doesn’t know what she does with Dr. Melendez but under his guidance, they like to have fun because when it is less tense, people make less mistakes. He offers for her to do their patient’s other leg.
Shaun leaves the hospital but just as he is going to step on the bus, he returns to the hospital and creeps into a cleaning closet where he curls up and reads a book, deleting messages from Dr. Glassman, saying Melissa is waiting for him at his place. He holds his pen tightly and lies on the mattress he has made in the closet.
The following morning, Dr. Glassman sees Shaun in the hallways as Shaun lies saying Melissa was very helpful but he catches the lie, saying Shaun is wearing the same clothes as yesterday. On the elevator, Aaron says they are at an impasse, and tells Shaun all he has to do is say “No”; and he does. He says that Shaun is a grown man and doesn’t have to see Melissa, but if he agrees to see her 3 times, he will buy him the surround sound system he wants, admitting he is bribing him. Shaun agrees saying he will meet with her that night.
Claire teaches Coyle a new trick on removing gauze from a surgical wound, he is impressed but when he rubs her back saying “very nice work Dr. Browne”, it is clear that Claire feels uncomfortable with it. She finds Jared in the hall and begs him to switch cases, saying that Coyle is too friendly, but Jared feels maybe he is just building up a rapport. She turns to Shaun, who flat out refuses saying he likes Bobby, as he gives good advice.
When the doctors come to see Bobby, he wants to know what Dr. Murphy did and he says he didn’t do anything but he is showing early signs of multiple sclerosis (MS) and they should order an MRI. Outside the room, Dr. Melendez says they are not ordering an MRI and at the moment he doesn’t respect Shaun, but Jared stands behind Shaun and then Dr. Andrews says Bobby is a pro-athlete and they should make sure he leaves there 100%.
Dr. Melendez orders Dr. Murphy to do the MRI and Bobby praises Shaun with the “nice score” for getting him to listen; Shaun says it was Jared that got him to do it. Bobby tells him he needs to be fierce if he wants the glory, and Shaun says he doesn’t want the glory, he just wants to be a good surgeon. Bobby shares that he scored his first PS2 by seeing a therapist, reminding him that doing whatever he wants to do, is always an option!
Jessica Preston (Beau Garrett) comes to see Dr. Melendez and reminds him they have dinner with her father that night. He shares that Shaun is “off” about something and Andrews is being too friendly and when Jared is kissing his butt, suddenly he takes over surgery. After she leaves, Jared and Shaun return with the results, showing that Bobby does not have MS but there is clearly something higher up on his bicep. When Dr. Melendez goes to speak to one of the oncologists, he learns that Bobby had cancer 3 years prior and this is definitely cancer again, and it is massive.
Dr. Melendez and his team confront Bobby, who admits the cancer was in his lower leg and how would it have changed how he dealt with his elbow. He says he would have noticed the symptoms that Dr. Murphy noticed; Bobby brings up that he didn’t listen to Dr. Murphy because he doesn’t respect him because he is different. As he continues to berate Dr. Melendez, Shaun cuts him off wanting to know why he would have hid the previous cancer diagnosis as it is not shameful. Bobby admits it messed with his gaming and chose to block cancer and negativity out along with all other weaknesses and just like that, he became the best in the world. Shaun says they need to do a full body scan and Bobby agrees.
Claire tells her patient that her leg looks great, the swelling is beginning to reduce and they can tighten toe sutures. She reveals that she saw how Dr. Coyle was with Claire and it was okay not to hide how it bothered her because it was the same feeling that caused her to end up like this; a boss who loved her idea but her “cankles” were too distracting! As she talks about how she has to put up with it, or be called names at work, her heart rate drastically rises and Hazel suddenly can’t get air.
Dr. Claire Browne calls a Code Blue and needs to intubate; Dr. Coyle arrives and tells her she did strong work when she assures Grace (Kayla Wallace) that Hazel will be okay. Meanwhile, during the full body scan, Shaun and Jared are disappointed to find more cancer next to Bobby’s brain stem.
Dr. Melendez sits with Dr. Glassman, talking about Bobby’s case. Glassman feels he might be like Bobby and shut down those voices of doom and spend his days living, instead of dying whereas Melendez feels he would be scared of the diagnosis, but listen. Glassman says short of making Bobby a vegetable, he isn’t sure there is anything they can do for him. Melendez asks if Shaun is okay and when asked if his work is okay, Aaron offers nothing more.
Dr. Melendez, Dr. Kalu and Dr. Murphy return to Bobby’s room who learns they found another mass, but this one is on his brain stem, and is inoperable. Bobby smiles, saying he had a good run, wishes it was longer but he would like to go out on top. He asks Melendez if he went out today, could he say the same?
Claire thanks Dr. Coyle for being there, to help her save Hazel’s life. She again refuses to go for a drink with him. He says he gives great massages and a killer omelet in the morning. She says that is inappropriate, he leans towards her and she repeats NO. He asks where that is coming from, since she was clearly giving him signals. She denies it but he says he knows about her “banging” Kalu in the call room and when she calls him an ass, he says she is approaching insubordination but he won’t report her suggesting she shouldn’t have a stick so far up her butt next time she is asked out.
Jessica and Neil meet with her father for dinner; its clear Neil is having a rough day. He informs them he will foot the bill for their entire wedding, when Jessica says they don’t need it as they both make great money. He reminds them it won’t always be that way when she starts having kids of their own.
One of the janitors finds, Dr. Shaun Murphy in the cleaning closet and he tells him he is hiding from his therapist and although he may not get his surround system, he is doing whatever he feels like doing. Shaun asks him if he is satisfied with what he has done with his life and would he be happy if he died tomorrow? He tells Shaun he married the love of his life, raised 3 beautiful kids and he believes he was good to people. Shaun says that is a very good answer but refuses to see pictures of his kids.
Jessica’s father talks about her staying home to raise her kids, saying he is old fashioned and thought she was smarter than to think that “pushing papers” was helping anyone; Neil calls him a parasite who would rather live off a trust fund than contribute to society. He gets up, saying he will pay on his way out and Jessica chases after her father, angry at Neil.
Aaron finds Shaun in the closet, saying he tried everything and suddenly gets an idea about him staying in a broom closet simply to avoid the therapist. Dr. Glassman rushes off. Jared tells Claire she needs to take a stand, as this situation is exactly what HR is for. He admits it won’t be easy, but it is the right thing to do. Claire feels it is pointless and they will shift the blame onto her, just like he did when she first approached him about it. She is sleeping with him, and he wouldn’t even believe her, how will three strangers feel about it?
Dr. Glassman, with the team meet with Bobby, saying him and Dr. Melendez had a talk, believing they can remove the tumor, if he is willing to make a sacrifice. Bobby feels that would be better than death but Glassman explains if they remove it, he will be paralyzed on his left side. Bobby agrees to it, even when he is told it could result in speech difficulties and eating problems. He is about to sign the papers when Dr. Andrews tells him this is a very risky surgery and he could die on the table and if all goes well, he will be severely disabled. He says he was listening and he is in, even when Andrews insists that his career is over.
Jared walks into the locker room and attacks Dr. Matt Coyle, telling him if he ever takes a disrespectful tone with Claire or even looks at her the wrong way again, he will do a hell of a lot more than throw him up against a wall.
Claire removes the tubing from Hazel, saying overall, she is in good shape. Hazel tells her she wasn’t sleeping and heard how she handled Dr. Coyle, saying she wished she had done that, as she was brave. Claire doesn’t think she was brave.
During surgery, Dr. Glassman talks about Rick Allen, the one-armed drummer for Def Leppard and Richie Parker, the Nascar driver, who was born without arms. He says that Bobby may never be able to tie his own shoes again but he would never bet against him not competing again. Suddenly his heart rate is rising, and they realize its hyperthermia from the anesthesia, and are able to fix the issue quickly.
Claire comes up to Dr. Andrews’ office, saying she needs to talk to him about Dr. Coyle. He asks her to close the door as he needs to talk to her about the same thing. Dr. Glassman says Bobby’s surgery was a success and the outcome might be better than expected. Dr. Melendez talks about the lack of function on his left side but not as much as they anticipated. He is able to talk back and thanks them.
Shaun stays behind telling Bobby to stay patient, as he attempts to move his left fingers. Shaun asks him if patience is a bad thing when he refuses to listen; Bobby says acceptance is a bad thing, telling him about his childhood and never giving up until he found his “thing.” He advises Shaun to never let anyone tell him what he can and cannot do. Shaun ponders what he says, before he leaves Bobby’s room.
Dr. Melendez comes to Jessica’s office and apologizes, saying it was a rough day and her relationship with her father is her business. She tells him, he doesn’t need to say sorry. He suggests calling her dad, but she blurts out that she doesn’t want to have children. Aaron meets Shaun in the lobby, saying he will drive him home and if he doesn’t want to meet with Melissa, she will leave, but there is no more running away. Shaun feels he is doing this because he is stubborn; Aaron laughs saying he is doing this so Shaun can have a better and happier life. Shaun wants to know what if this doesn’t make him happy and only makes Aaron happy? Aaron says he is not happy but he is done talking and explaining; he grabs Shaun, who pulls back and yells out NO.
He wants to make his own decisions and tells Aaron he cannot keep ordering him around as he isn’t his father. Shaun starts to hit himself in the head, harder and harder, saying he wants to make his own decisions; he suddenly punches Aaron in the face and runs out of the hospital.
Claire finds Jared in the locker room, confronting him on what he had done, saying she never asked him to fight her battles and if he really respected her, he wouldn’t treat her like some damsel who needed rescuing and would treat her with the respect he would automatically give to a man. Jared informs her that Dr. Andrews apparently agrees with her because he has just been fired for physically assaulting another employee. Claire looks at him in total shock.
Aaron opens the door to Shaun’s apartment, he isn’t there. Melissa and Aaron are concerned as there was a photo of him and his brother on the table and it is missing as well. All his clothing is gone, meaning Shaun is not coming back.
END
