The episode kicks off with a bang as a family comes in after their son found his father suffering from a stroke. After running some tests and getting the man under control, they figure out this was all caused by an aneurysm. Meanwhile, Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), is confronted with a burn case on a Muslim woman who has severe chest inflammation. She has some burns on her hands, and while she’s getting examined, she starts having intense chest pains. Right as Dr. Melendez (Nicholas Gonzales) is about to give her some more oxygen, her heart rate goes back to normal. The doctors ask if she inhaled any smoke, to which she responds “probably”. Shaun doesn’t seem to believe her though, so they ask her if they can do a further throat examination.
Dr. Melendez is getting over his break up with his former fiancee, Jessica (Beau Garrett), and it looks like Shaun is in the same shoes with his “breakup” with Lea (Paige Spara). While performing a Bronchoscopy on the patient, Shaun asks Dr. Melendez approximately how long it takes to get over a breakup, but Melendez remains quiet, seemingly not wanting to talk about it yet, especially with Shaun. They continue with the test, only to find no smoke damage, but that the patient was rupturing. Shaun then blames this rupture on Dr. Melendez being distracted and then goes to Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) and asks whether or not he should report Dr. Melendez. Shaun sees how Dr. Kalu (Chuku Modu) is being treated upon his return and doesn’t want Melendez to be treated poorly. Word gets around the hospital fast and Jessica approaches Dr. Melendez about the incident suggesting he was distracted due to their break up. “I wasn’t distracted, I didn’t screw up, did you get all that?” he asks her. Ouch.
The tension between Dr. Melendez and Jessica only got worse after she took Shauns’s side as she says she wants to bring in another member of their legal team for the investigation. Further tests show that the patient has chemicals in her system that could be causing the sudden inflammation in her chest, but Dr. Melendez and Dr. Kalu can’t seem to understand why those chemicals would be in her system. This is where Shaun concludes that she’s either a school teacher or a terrorist. Wow!
Shaun informs the patient about his suspicion that she could be making chemical weapons. The woman is totally taken aback and says she didn’t expect this from him, as someone with autism, who is a minority. Shaun explains he isn’t prejudice, but that he has evidence. Shaun thinks that the patient is burning from the inside out, and Dr. Kulu says the issue causing her sudden attacks could be from Dr. Melendez’s puncture. Either way, she needs steroids or antibiotics, but they’re not sure which, because if given the wrong thing she could die.
Dr. Melendez decides on antibiotics, but Dr. Kalu insists she needs steroids — which actually works! Shaun reminds Dr. Melendez he was wrong, yet again, and he should thank Dr. Kalu and be nicer to him despite his strong feelings about how Dr. Kalu got the okay to return to work. The patient eventually admits her brother’s company works with the drugs that are in her system which he gives to her so that she can make perfume. Was Shaun Murphy just wrong!?
Meanwhile, Dr. Lim (Christina Chang) and Dr. Browne (Antonia Thomas) decide the stroke patient needs emergency surgery to fix his aneurysm, but it’s risky. Dr. Browne and Dr. Lim sit down with the wife to explain that it may be her husbands only option, otherwise he will die. The wife surprisingly declines the surgery, saying, “After his first stroke it took him so long to recover… he made it clear he’d never want to live compromised.” Distraught, Dr. Browne sits down with Dr. Murphy at lunch and tells him about her situation. Shaun thinks the wife is lying, which leads Dr. Browne to approach the wife and ask if she was abused by her husband, to which the wife responds “you don’t know what you’re talking about”. Dr. Browne tells the wife about her own experience with abuse from Dr. Coyle (Eric Winter), and the woman says her son can’t know the truth. The wife insists that they let her husband go.
After talking to the wife again, Dr. Browne ends up getting consent to do the surgery. After some problems arise in the operating room, Dr. Browne determines the issue stemmed from the husband not taking his meds. They bring this up to the wife, suggesting she tampered with his meds. The wife denies this, to which Dr. Browne asks, “Is there a chance your son knows more than you think he does?” The wife is shocked, but then realizes this could actually be true, and he could have been trying to kill his father in order to stop his mother’s suffering. Dr. Browne and Dr. Lim successfully complete the surgery, but when they go to notify the family, they are gone.
As the episode wraps up, Dr. Browne meets with a woman named Kristen. She informs Kristen she’s doing some research on Dr. Coyle about the people who worked with him and then quit. She explains that she was harassed by Dr. Coyle, and Kristen breaks down sobbing, so Dr. Browne says they can take him down together. You go, girls!
HollywoodLifers, what are your thoughts on this episode of The Good Doctor? Let us know in the comments below!