The Good Doctor Recap 02/24/20: Season 3 Episode 16 “Autopsy”

The Good Doctor Recap 02/24/20: Season 3 Episode 16 "Autopsy"

Tonight on NBC their new medical drama “The Good Doctor” airs with an all-new Monday, February 24, 2020, episode and we have your The Good Doctor recap below. On tonight’s The Good Doctor season 3 episode 16 called, “Autopsy” as per the ABC synopsis, “When Dr. Shaun Murphy makes an emotional confession, the result may not be as desired.

Meanwhile, he becomes obsessed with performing an autopsy on a Jane Doe, which challenges his relationships at the hospital; and Dr. Claire Browne, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Marcus Andrews treat a male college student with a mysterious split personality disorder.

So make sure to tune in between 10 PM and 11 PM ET for our The Good Doctor recap!  While you wait for our recap make sure to check out all our television spoilers, news, recaps, videos & more, right here!

Tonight’s The Good Doctor recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!

The Good Doctor begins tonight with an EMT bringing in a 60-year-old patient, who is having chest pains and broken ribs; she is taken into the hospital by Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) and Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee). She is very disoriented and calls Shaun by a different name, pleading him to help her. They quickly realize she has an aneurysm and page Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) as they head up to the OR.

Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) and Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) are dealing with their own patient who woke up on the campus lawn covered in blood. Aiden is adamant that he wasn’t drinking or doing any sort of drugs. Claire tells him he is quite lucky because had the gash happened in any other direction, he would have bled out.

Meanwhile, Melendez, Shaun, and Park perform surgery on their patient as Shaun blurts out that Dr. Carl Lever (Jasika Nicole) broke up with him. He insists he is fine as Neil tells him he should own the true pain, but before they can continue the discussion their patient crashes as she is bleeding internally; working extremely quick in an attempt to save her life. She flat lines and Dr. Melendez declares the time of death; leaving Shaun standing over Jane Doe’s body, frustrated.

After the surgeons are cleaning up, Shaun tells them there is no reason as to why Jane died; but Neil reminds him that sometimes patients die and it is something they need to “own” as well; informing him that their next patient is waiting in the ER.

Aiden’s surgery went well and he is flirting with both Morgan and Claire. He jokes that this is what must happen when you mix weed with his skateboarding skills. He is clearly confused as he doesn’t remember telling them that in the ER and is confident if he had met them before he would remember.

Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) and Dr. Neil Melendez are in the elevator alone when Shaun rushes in, saying he wants to do an autopsy on Jane, informing Neil that he was asking Lim, not him. She agrees with Neil and refuses the request. He insists again he is fine, wanting to know why it isn’t okay to be okay. Audrey tells him that they shouldn’t be okay when something bad happens, they should feel hurt. They both exit the elevator as Shaun is wished the best of luck when he informs them he will get permission from Jane’s family to perform an autopsy. Drs Lim and Melendez go there separate ways as Lim spots a young girl running down the stairs.

Aiden is informed that he may be having blackouts from head trauma or drugs. He again swears he lives like a monk and doesn’t do any drugs. He lays down so they can perform testing. In the meantime, Shaun finds Alex, telling him that he needs to find Jane’s family, but they know nothing about her. Park goes back to his patient’s scans on the computer, reminding Shaun that even though he used to be a detective, he is a doctor now and they have a patient to take care of. Shaun says this case is boring as the current patient only has gall stones.

Morgan asks Claire if she and Neil are sneaking around again, revealing she was the one who filed the complaint, not Park who was simply trying to get Claire to refocus. She admits that she likes Melendez going back to be a good mentor but doesn’t like that she and Park have become second class residents because of Neil liking her. Claire calls her naive and threw the bomb because she felt slighted. Morgan likes to feel she can easily sway his status quo but then again she is naive. Aiden says he is with Claire on this, who apologizes about the office politics. Claire looks at his testing and says the delta waves on the screen show that Aiden is still asleep, yet he is clearly up and speaking to them.

Shaun is down in the morgue when Alex finds him. Shaun tells him that Jane had a knee replacement, as well as cavities and implants. Alex feels Shaun is just distracting himself and he doesn’t want to let Jane go because he doesn’t want to let Carly go. Shaun spots something that he says Alex won’t find interesting now that he is a doctor. Alex comes over and sees that Jane has a tiny tattoo of a hummingbird and they return to the boardroom to review information they have. Dr. Melendez walks in, demanding to know how George Ginley (Peter Graham-Gaudreau), the patient they are supposed to be working on.

They know he needs to have his gall bladder removed and scheduled it. Shaun tells Neil that it is a case that doesn’t require any work but Neil reminds him with that kind of attitude he could send another patient to the morgue and orders them to focus on the living. Alex agrees, saying they need to bail on this and advises Shaun that he and Carly shared a lot of firsts and it makes it difficult to move on. He says he shared a lot of first with Lea Dilallo (Paige Spara), and he moved on from that; something Alex questions him if he did. Shaun wants to know how people do move on from that? They are interrupted when Alex gets a call, begging Shaun to keep what they are doing on the down-low.

Lim meets with Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper), Claire and Morgan as they discuss Aiden’s case. They are told to interview both sleeping Aiden and awake Aiden so they can get a medical history. Lim glances down and spots the little girl again, saying she needs to go and rushes down the stairs only to find that the little girl isn’t there.

Aiden is interviewed, both the versions of him have varying stories; with him insisting the drunk and drug-using Aiden isn’t really him, causing both Claire and Morgan to glance at each other with concern. Shaun finds his patient is Maribel Ventane; both him and Alex reading up on her in the library and find out she has a son Jules Ventane. Shaun finds the son on the internet and the two of them drive out to see him. Shaun immediately informs him that his mother is dead and he would like to do an autopsy with Alex being a little more tactful. Jules tells them he doesn’t care how she died and slams the door in their faces; causing Alex to remind Shaun about the “moving on” part and that is what they have to do now.

Marcus gets an update from Morgan and Claire; bouncing around different possibilities, even Neil suggesting this could be a mental issue. Claire feels she would know as she has personal experience with it. Neil feels that if she was that close to those symptoms and conditions that she would be more than likely to miss them. She argues that she believes she is subjectable, but he disagrees. She feels he is undermining her and begin to bicker when Marcus overrules them all; ordering various tests for Aiden, including a psych consult.

Lim gets a message from her mother, saying it isn’t a good time as she spots the little girl again. She throws out her coffee as she rushes to find where the little girl is going in the elevator. She introduces herself as Trinity (Ariah Lee), saying her mother is in the maternity ward. She had a baby girl, but Trinity was supposed to go to the cafeteria and get something but she has been lost ever since. Audrey takes her by the hand and brings her back to the maternity ward but before she can find her mother, Trinity takes off, forcing Lim to call security.

Shaun cannot accept Jules’ decision as they begin to drive away. He tells Alex to stop the car but when he doesn’t he jumps out and attacks Jules’ car, saying he needs his permission. Alex grabs hold of Shaun shouting he needs to let Carly go, but Shaun is persistent that this is not about Carly. Jules is in the phone and Shaun gets arrested. He sits in the cell with tears in his eyes.

Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) is at the Sondra Police Department and bails Shaun out. Shaun knows he doesn’t have to go back to jail as Jules is not pressing charges but Shaun is to never be near him again. Aaron escorts him out of the station, confronting him about being upset about Carly. Shaun admits he wishes Carly didn’t break up with him, but now he has to do what she said. Carly had ordered Shaun to tell Lea that he loves her; something that shocks Aaron, who realizes he might be afraid if he told Lea the truth. Shaun worries that if Lea doesn’t love him, he cannot be her boyfriend nor her friend. Aaron questions him on what he will do if Lea were to say that she loved him too, causing Shaun to pause.

Aiden is in getting scans, wondering how he is to handle the two versions of himself; Morgan explains that she likes the other Aiden too but Claire feels the sleeping self is sabotaging him. Claire admits some parts of ourselves really suck as Morgan apologizes for being a rat on her and Melendez. They discover he simply has a cyst in his head and they just need to drain it; he asks if it will kill him if they don’t causing another issue because now he doesn’t need the surgery to stay alive and both versions know. Marcus suggests them asking his sleeping version to see what he wants.

Trinity is escorted into Lim’s office by security where she confronts her about lying that her mother is in the maternity ward and demands information. Trinity says she is there because she wanted to meet Audrey again. Lim finally realizing that someone left a baby girl at the ER about 8 years ago on Trinity Sunday and explains how tiny, sick and helpless she was. It killed Lim that she didn’t take her home, but now she is strong, healthy and fast. Audrey says they need to call her mother to let her know she is okay but Trinity asks Audrey if she can adopt her.

Shaun goes to the clinic where he sees Lea hard at work. She spots him, apologizing about him and Carly and he wants to tell her how he feels. She puts down her headset as Shaun takes a moment. Lea approaches him saying she knows he is hurting and Carly made a huge mistake as he is the most wonderful man she has met. He says her name but then rushes out the door, leaving her vulnerable and confused.

Trinity shows Audrey the newspaper clipping she found in her mother’s drawer, admitting that her mom doesn’t know where she is as long as she is home by 6. She reveals that her mom has a new daughter and it is hard to share her. Trinity feels the baby takes her place but she loves both her parents with all her heart. Lim tells her that hearts are amazing things that somehow have all the room they need to love more than one person.

Aiden wakes up to Claire sitting there, asking her if she is single. Morgan turns on the lights and tells him about the cyst and all the complications that could arise with it. She does admit that it will take away his sleepwalking. He knows the “professor” has rejected treatment so they need the “frat boy” to make the decision. She says that his two parts live both within him and that will not change whatever his decision is.

Carly finds Shaun at her door. He reveals about his patient Maribel who died and needs to do an autopsy, everyone has told him “no” but she is the head of pathology. He then reveals he cannot do what she told him to do until he solves this distraction. She obviously grants him permission as Carly stands with him as he performs an autopsy. Carly knows the breakup has been hard on him, but it is also hard on her. She knows what she saw between him and Lea; now questioning him whether she did see something. He turns to her, with tears in his eyes and tells Carly that he loves her but she was right that he loves Lea more. She tells him tearfully that he needs to tell her yet she knows he is scared. She reminds him how far he had come with her and how scared he was; how brave he was. In the middle of the autopsy, he removes his gloves and says he has to go; thanking her with a hug.

Awake Aiden watches a video made by his sleeping self; saying if he is watching this than the sleeping version is dead and he is waking up to a surgery he thinks he didn’t consent to but he did; showing he signed the papers as Aiden Michael Porter II. One more thing before he leaves is to advise him to chillax a little, as neither of them is perfect but they are okay and they will be okay. He tells him about the girl in front of him in calculus is Staci and she likes him way more than she likes the fratboy, ending with a “Peace out Professor!”

Shaun knocks on Jules’ door, saying he knows why his mother died finding 3 aneurysms inside her liver. He quickly explains that if he has a vast number of cavities he might have inherited the disease from his mother. He doesn’t want to get arrested again as Jules threatens him with the police but continues to tell him that his life could be in danger but the symptoms could be treated. Shaun goes to leave when Jules opens the door, saying all he got from his mother is a potentially deadly disease.

Shaun asks if his mother ever called him “Coley” and he admits she did. It was a short form for a word meaning hummingbird, as he was like that as a child, zooming from one place to another in the house. Shaun reveals she had a hummingbird tattoo on her body and Coley was the last word she said. Shaun says that she loved him, maybe she was just afraid to tell him. Shaun walks away from the house.

Claire arrives at the bowling alley where she meets Neil. She questions it being so hard for them to hide a platonic friendship as he feels it is worth it all. She laces up. Meanwhile, Audrey walks Trinity out the door to her waiting mom. Trinity’s mom looks at Audrey as Trinity runs into her mother’s arms, something that makes Lim tear up. The mother-daughter duo walks away as Trinity looks back one more time to Audrey. Lim calls her own mother.

Lea arrives at Shaun’s place to find him at a table with a candle and two plates. She begs him to talk to her. Shaun looks at her, takes a deep breath and tells her that he loves her and wants to be her boyfriend. Lea tells him that she loves him too but he knows her and she is selfish and so needy; she feels she is a total mess and how is she supposed to lay all of that on him. Shaun wants to know why she thinks he can’t handle it all as he thinks he can. She shakes her head, saying she is a challenge for anyone and he is him. She just knows it would be too hard on him as he needs things done in a certain way. Shaun asks if it is because he has autism that she doesn’t want to be his girlfriend. Lea trembles as they both cry. Lea leaves the apartment as Shaun finally breaks down in tears, just standing there.

THE END!