‘The Good Doctor’: A New Resident Joins The Team & Shaun Opens His Mind To A Trans Patient

A new doctor is introduced to San Jose St. Bonaventure hospital, but her competitive edge adds tension to the team.

The Good Doctor starts off with Dr. Shaun Murphy‘s new neighbor Kenny, played by Chris D’Elia, storming in through his back door and asking about Shaun’s cable TV. Shaun reveals he doesn’t have satellite TV and just uses regular antenna television — even though it’s only 10 channels — but even so, Kenny wants in and connects his TV to the same antenna until his own gets set up.

In the hospital, Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas), Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) & Shaun (Freddie Highmore) are introduced to the fourth resident, a blonde, intelligent woman named Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann). Dr. Melendez  (Nicholas Gonzalez) and Dr. Lim (Christina Chang) choose their residents, and place a bet on whose “team” will cure their patients first. Lim pairs up with Shaun and Jared, while Melendez takes Claire and Morgan. Both cases have similarities, with stomach pain bringing them into the hospital, but this being The Good Doctor, it’s obviously much more than you’re everyday stomach ache.

Dr. Lim’s patient is a young girl named Quinn. As Dr. Lim feels her stomach, she lifts up her gown and is surprised to see a penis — as are Dr. Kalu and Shaun who look on over her shoulder. “She’s not a girl, he’s a boy. Science says he’s male!” Shaun exclaims, while Dr. Kalu corrects him and says, she has gender dysmorphia. Shaun still doesn’t understand and swears by the “Science” of it all.

In the other room, a history teacher passed out during class reveals he has stomach pain and has been sick with a number of small colds and viruses over the last few weeks, telling the doctors he has taken a few different medications that were all leftover in his medicine cabinet from last sicknesses. The teacher also tells the doctors that he has two twins at home and is a single dad. An ultra-sound reveals that the patient’s appendix had burst, but he wants to find someone to take care of his kids before going into the operating room. Dr. Reznick offers up Claire to make the arrangements for the patient’s children, while she wheels him into surgery. Then, in surgery, Reznick continues to try to one-up Browne. When Browne compliments her knowledge and preparation, Reznick fires back, claiming that every time Browne wins, she loses, and so they will never be friends.

Shaun continues to grapple with accepting his patient as transgender, and they discover that she has testicular cancer. The doctors caught the cancer before it spread, but also found that Quinn has low bone density — a side effect of taking hormones that reduced her testosterone. Quinn’s grandmother, who was taking care of her while her parents were away, completely rejects Quinn as a girl, calling it a “phase” from the beginning, and is even more in shock when she finds out about the hormones. With Quinn’s parents on the way, her grandmother continues to reject her gender dysmorphia.

In a separate recovery room, Claire and Morgan’s patient reveals his wife died of ovarian cancer the year before and he hates hospitals and being away from his kids. Claire speaks up and offers him the ability to Skype his kids and even get them toy bears to bring home. Morgan found her sincerity competitive and promises to get on her level, telling Dr. Browne, “You have game, everyone has an agenda.” The two residents don’t have much time for cat-fighting, though, because they find out that their patient is allergic to every antibiotic and pain med he has been taking and they need to perform emergency surgery and implant a permanent colostomy bag for irreparable damage.

Back in Quinn’s room, Dr. Lim tells her and her parents that she will have to discontinue the hormones and get one of the testicles removed. Quinn is heartbroken she’ll start to look like a boy again, and Shaun interrupts, saying that they could do a bilateral testicular removal, which would permanently take Quinn’s testosterone down to the level of a girls — naturally. Dr. Lim hurries Kalu and Shaun out, furious that Shaun went on about the bilateral surgery that isn’t a medical necessity. In return, the men are given scut work, which infuriates Kalu, who is concerned his review will be negative and he’s already on thin ice.

While Quinn’s parents are contemplating Shaun’s suggestion of removing both testicles, as Quinn wants, her grandmother fils a complaint, claiming the parents are abusing their child into making her think she should be a girl. Dr. Andrews, Dr. Lim and Dr. Glassman sit with the family in a board room to make the final surgical decision. While Quinn’s parents reveal that she had tried to commit suicide when she wasn’t allowed to be her true self in public, Quinn reveals to Shaun what it felt like to finally be the person she always felt she was. “When my parents let me be me, I felt like I didn’t have to pretend anymore. I felt free, like when you’re in a pool and you just let go and float,” she told Shaun, who had never swam before, so he couldn’t relate, but was still interested. Quinn’s testicles began to twist, cutting off her blood supply, which called for her parents to make a quick decision. They tell the doctors to do what is “medically necessary” — meaning just to take out one, giving Quinn the option to have her own children, in case she does decide to one day. In surgery, she starts to hemorrhage, but the doctors can’t find the bleed, until Dr. Kalu realizes it could be in her stomach, where the original problem began. Dr. Andrews finds the bleed in Quinn’s stomach and allows Kalu to assist.

Following her surgery, Quinn wakes up and asks Dr. Andrews if they took out both testicles, and he takes the blame for not removing a healthy organ. “You all are so obsessed with biological kids. If you want kids so much, you adopt,” Quinn said to Andrews, who was struggling with his own fertility issues with his wife. Whoa.

While both teams’ surgeries were major successes and learning experiences, Dr Melendez’s ladies took home the prize for the best patient care survey. Dr. Morgan surprised their patient with his twins, while Dr. Browne looked on, upset that her own kindness was being used against her in competition. Obviously frustrated, Dr. Browne leaves the hospital, not wanting anything to do with the new resident. Still, Melendez stops her on the way out and tells her, “You’re smart, special. Rise up.” Wait — is some sort of romance brewing here?

Another resident/mentor relationship is explored, with Glassman making an effort to rekindle his friendship with Shaun. Still, Shaun turns down Glassman’s dinner invite, telling him, “you said you can’t be my friend, so no thanks.” Instead, Shaun goes home to knock on his pick-locking neighbor’s door and ask for his assistance in breaking into the pool. As Kenny looks on, Shaun floats in the pool, telling his new friend he is “Understanding.”

HollywoodLifers, what did you think of this episode of The Good Doctor? NOTE: Because of the Olympics, the show will not return until Feb. 26!