‘The Good Doctor’ Season 2 Premiere: Shaun & Jared Risk Their Careers For A Homeless Man

‘The Good Doctor’ is finally back & before Dr. Jared Kalu leaves San Jose St. Bonaventure, he & Shaun take a risk to help a homeless man.

Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) is now the president of San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital and the surgical residents are anxiously awaiting their reviews. The beloved Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) goes first, and Dr. Andrews explains that while he exceeded his expectations in the operating room, his communication skills are lacking. However, flash-forward to Shaun and Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) attempting to help out at a homeless camp, Shaun doesn’t seem to grasp the “communication skills” part of Dr. Andrews’ review. Kalu, who didn’t go to his review since he’ll be leaving to go to University of Denver Hospital, tells Shaun that their current situation — working in a homeless shelter — tells them exactly how Dr. Andrews feels about them.

Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) questions Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) about her review, to which she responds, “It went well, Andrews said I connected nicely and cared about people.” Of course, the competitive Reznick responds with a backhanded comment, telling Claire she thought Andrews would tell her to “be more aggressive.” It turns out Andrews did that, in a quick flashback to Claire’s review, but she sticks to her story and tells Reznick, “Nope!” Then, Claire goes for Reznick, asking her if Andrews told her to be “less self-centered and realize you’re part of a team.” Turns out, he said just that, but Reznick just replied to her colleague with a slight smile. In comes the dreamy Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) who asks his residents for the diagnosis on their patient, which Dr. Reznick jumps into, revealing the person has pulmonary hypertension and her heart is failing. For a fix, Dr. Melendez says the team will conduct a “piggyback transplant,” putting in a second heart to help pump the patient’s failing heart.

As Shaun tries to work on his communication with patients, Dr. Glassman meets with his oncologist, Dr. Blaize, played by Lisa Edelstein. Demonstrating how difficult is it to treat doctors who know the lay of the land, Glassman comes in to his appointment with a folder of his medical plan, ready to go. It is revealed that Glassman reinstated Blaize, who struggled with addiction, as his last move as president, so she could treat him.

Back at the homeless camp, a manic man runs into the clinic and Shaun and Kalu chase after him. The man starts to take several meds from the cabinet, and Shaun informs him that he’s taking chlamydia medication. The man begins to go off on a tangent, and Shaun tells him he probably has schizophrenia. But, the man then lifts up his lip to show a big ulcer on his gum, which makes Jared plug his nose and Shaun say, “that smells really bad.”

Back at the hospital, Melendez and the residents consult their patient, Melanie — and her son, Elliot, is noticeably nervous. However, he reveals that his mother and Dr. Andrews have been raving about Melendez and his abilities to the press all morning. Alarmed by that, Melendez confronts Andrews about speaking to both his patient and the press about this risky procedure.

Shaun and Kalu are working to help their new patient, and Kalu thinks the abscess may have gone up to the brain and his making his behavior erratic. Kalu wants to take him to the hospital for a lumbar puncture and to test him, but Shaun thinks it’s not that dramatic, and doesn’t want to risk his career. Kalu says if anything happens, he’ll take the blame.

The residents find a problem with Melanie’s heart, which would make it difficult to perform the surgery they would plan. By working together, Reznick, Claire and Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) figure out a way to still do the surgery. In another room, Kalu tries to have a conversation with Shaun about supporting Dr. Glassman, while they’re testing their new patient. Dr. Andrews interrupts them and digs into Kalu, saying if the man doesn’t have bacterial meningitis, then he would make Kalu’s life hell at Denver. It turns out that Kalu was wrong about the patient — he doesn’t have bacterial meningitis, but it turns into a moment of strong communication for Shaun, telling Kalu that he will one day reach his full potential. Kalu says he’ll shut down the clinic himself, and tells Shaun to go do something else with the rest of his day, but Shaun doesn’t want to leave him alone on his last day. Kalu erupts on Shaun, telling him he should be more concerned about leaving Glassman alone to face death. Shaun avoids Kalu’s questioning and goes to read his book.

Shaun takes his book to Glassman’s waiting room, and sits with him as he throws paper at a trashcan. Shaun tells him he realizes he can read his book and sit with Glassman at the same time, but gets annoyed by him crumbling up papers and throwing them. Shaun rips a page out of his own book and goes to throw it, but through his own brilliance, realizes his homeless patient has kaleidoscopic disintegration — a brain tumor — and runs out of the waiting room. Shaun rushes to find Kalu and tells him that he needs to help him find Harry because he can’t do it alone. In the homeless camp, Shaun and Jared run around to find Harry, but the homeless people aren’t receptive to the search and begin to make noises to scare Shaun away, which only makes his head start to spin and make him frantic.

Kalu gives Shaun a scalpel to calm him down, and finds Harry in his tent. Shaun locates Harry’s license, as he fights Kalu to go away. “I have a neurological condition and I will always have it,” Shaun tells Harry. “You have a neurological condition, too, but you can be cured, you just need some surgery and you can be Edward Austin Thomas, again.” At the hospital, Andrews tells Kalu that his career is over, but Kalu stands up to him, and says that Shaun communicated with the patient, and in turn, will save his life. Andrews is impressed and shocked, as Shaun interrupts to show him the tumor in Harry’s brain.

In the midst of surgery on Melanie’s heart, Melendez decides to rebuild the aortic valve, as the original plan didn’t work. They plug in the donor heart, and find their surgery has been successful! Phew. Then, Dr. Browne steps up to close the heart, showing Dr. Andrews her assertiveness. Dr. Andrews then shows off his doctor and the surgery’s success to an applauding crowd.

Harry’s wife and daughter come to his hospital room, and Harry wakes up his real self — Eddie. “You might never fully appreciate what you accomplished today, but I did,” Kalu tells Shaun. “Thank you, Shaun,” he says. “Thank you, Jared.”

Glassman finishes his day of waiting by looking at the crumpled scan of his brain, and Shaun returns to sit with him. “I’ve got a long journey ahead of me, and in the end I have to take it alone,” Glassman tells him. “I’m going with you,” Shaun replies.

Kalu and Claire meet up for the first time that day, to say goodbye. “I’ll miss having you around as a colleague, but I’ll also miss what we had together, I think we made a mistake,” she says to him through tears. “I’d like you to stay.” “No,” he says back, “It’s hard saying goodbye, but it doesn’t mean it’s a mistake.” Kalu with all the lessons this episode. What a incredible final episode for him. “I’ll be okay,” he says, and then quotes what Shaun told him, “I think one day we’re going to be very happy.” Goodbye, Kalu!

Oh boy, when Shaun gets home for that night, his girlfriend Lea (Paige Spara) is there with her bags, and adorable smile!

Come back next Monday at 10 PM ET for another episode of The Good Doctor on ABC!