Fans of “The Good Doctor” in Shaun (Freddie Highmore) and Lea’s (Paige Spara) corner lapped up the previews of the couple’s shower scene to start Episode 7 of Season 4 on January 18, “The Uncertainty Principle.” For his part, however, Dr. Murphy didn't endorse the morning change of plans in the full episode. He balked that “such an intelligent person” as his lady love would propose such an unsafe practice in the shower, where the bottles could get “disarranged” and injury could occur.
Naturally, Lea told Shaun that the purpose had nothing to do with cleanliness, but passion instead. Still, she promised to reset the alarm and left the shower.
The demands at the hospital confront “The Good Doctor” and his team with other matters of choices and changes that no one can predict. Choices are one of the few things that mortal human beings have the power to make and the most definitive change in life is unknown. Life deals the unknown to doctors and the rest of us on a constant basis, it's the reaction that matters most.
Brushing off destruction on ‘The Good Doctor’
While Dr. Lim (Christina Chang) dishes out the orders and expectations to her team, she attempts to coyly brush off the bruise on her head and the Subaru in her parking spot. She blames the kitchen cabinet for the contusion on her forehead, and says that her Ducati was “snatched up on craigslist.” She's far from the point of owning up to PTSD, but her journey can add a new level of depth to episodes through the season.
In a January 18 Distractify feature, fans contend that the star is leaving the drama, but no such statement has been confirmed. Chang is one of the standouts and irreplaceable stars on “The Good Doctor.” She decides her status thus far.
Dr. Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) treats a patient for frostbite who believes he can brush off virtually every human ailment if he can only live long enough for technology and medical marvels to take over. Benjamin Ayres is familiar to some viewers for his work on Hallmark network features, which also film in Vancouver, like “The Good Doctor.” He character admits to overstaying in the cryogenic chamber and worries about infection when used stricken with severe abdominal pain.
Dr. Reznick diagnoses a perforated bowel, and he is rushed to surgery. During surgery, Shaun explains that he put the subject of shower intimacy up for a vote in a poll. Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper) frowns on discussions, but one ensues anyway.
The surgical team is perplexed when calcium deposits surrounding the bowel are found, resembling a disease only found in babies and young children. When they questioned the patient, he admitted to ingesting cocktails from Chinese doctors to alter his CRISPR sequences in an effort to extend his life. “The Good Doctor” declared in no uncertain terms that the dangerous experimentation had probably bought him no more time than a good exercise regimen. Dr. Park (Will Yun Lee) quickly brought the focus back to treatment.
The exercise thing and the ex concern ‘The Good Doctor’
Shaun comes home to find Lea taking pictures of an exercise apparatus that he never knew she had. When he questions where she got the machine he never knew about, she tells him that her ex-husband sent it. She was only taking pictures to put it up for sale. Shaun is so taken aback in the moment that he says nothing. Considering the number of suitors in and out of Lea’s life, she gets credit for at least being straight-up with “The Good Doctor” honest here.
At work the next day, Shaun’s worries and emotions come full force when he asks why she never mentions her ex-husband. “He's not important… I hardly think of him,” she responds, which only deepens the doubts of “The Good Doctor.” He describes the dilemma of the change you know ahead of time, the kind you can prepare for, and the changes that just “comes at you.” His detail-oriented mind conjures the San Francisco earthquakes and weather disasters as destroying their relationship.
Lea teases that their love won't end due to natural disaster. Dr. Murphy, however, fears that he will just become another someone who Lea hardly thinks about. He seeks enlightenment from his team about lasting love and change.
Dr. Browne (Antonia Thomas) has a change of routine when one of her residents, Dr. Enrique Guerin (Brian Marc) asks her to have coffee. The junior resident relates that it is probably the most noncommittal of all human exchanges, but Claire conceives it as a date, with a push from Morgan Reznick, who claims to now be a “bestie” in this situation from “The Good Doctor”
Claire is surprisingly at ease when she accepts the meeting at Enrique’s van. He describes that being polyamorous.
Guerin relates how being interested in a human connection above all physical attraction means that he puts a lot more into the relationship, but gets a lot more out of it in return. Dr. Browne doesn't mind the boiled “Turkish coffee,” either. For the woman who threw herself into meaningless, purely physical flings amid her grief after losing her mother, this could be the right next step, the January 19 TV Fanatic review doesn't buy Guerin's explanation, but time will tell. “The Good Doctor” is making strides in real inclusion, in this season more than ever.
Dr. Browne, Dr. Allen (Bria Samone Henderson), and Dr. Jackson (Summer Brown) have the difficult case of Hannah (Ashley Williams) and her husband, Walter (Matthew McCaul).
The wife arrives with a fairly typical looking hematoma from an injury on a trip. After draining the hematoma, results show that cancer has come back for Hannah, and worse, she has a syndrome of recurring tumors. Dr. Allen describes that it's not safe “for her to go out in a rainstorm” to Dr. Browne. Walter seems like a completely self-absorbed, detached venture capitalist much more than a husband. In truth, however, he feels her pain. He even describes how chemotherapy is still “a poison” pushed through his wife that could ultimately kill her. The husband escapes pain by his focus on his job. Dr. Allen even has hopes of getting him interested in her insoles as a business, before Hannah’s full condition is known.
Hannah is consumed with worry that her husband can't take this last blow. Dr. Browne talks with the husband, requesting that he not leave her at the time she needs them the most. She asks that he stay with his wife through her present cancer siege. He does more. When Hannah is discharged, Walter meets her at the hospital doors. He tells her that he sold his part of the business. He can dedicate himself to the needs of his wife. This union on “The Good Doctor” stands.
Bria Samone Henderson gives a powerful performance of compassion as Dr. Allen in a scene with Hannah. She assures that whatever tumors return will be treatable, “and we will be ready.” Hope in the human spirit is a greater healer than anything mere science makes, although both components work best in tandem.
“The Good Doctor,” asks Claire if she worries about losing the ones she loves. Sensing that his real question is about changing, she replies that “not changing” is a worse choice. Shaun asks “How do you know what to do, and when?” Browne comes back with ‘Let me know when you have that answer.”
A ring of change for ‘The Good Doctor’
Togetherness doesn't seem a possibility for the patient who believes in ultimate science to grant forever life. During surgery for a ruptured spleen, Enrique proposes fighting the genetic mutation with another CRISPR variation. “The Good Doctor” researches a workable approach from one of Dr. Glassman's failed treatments, in a touching homage to the recovering Richard Schiff. The team explains that even with treatments, the debilitating repercussions will continue and become even more painful.
The woman he loves implores him to forsake the idea of living forever and simply enjoy the time they have together. The doctors step out of the room while she gives her “ultimatum,” as Park puts it. She leaves the room in tears. She was willing to endure and abstain from so many far-fetched regimens, but not rejection for the sake of forever life.
Dr. Andrews disappointed “The Good Doctor” in his response that he would love his wife for a lifetime, but could not assure forever. “Everybody breaks,” he insists. This may hint at a future storyline. Andrews was so devoted that he housed himself in his garage through the pandemic. It's hard to imagine what challenge is unconquerable.
Shaun greets Lea with the cowbell at home.
“The Good Doctor” asserts that it will be a signal when either of them since is a major change that might be hard for the other. He hopes that it won't be needed often, since the ring is so offensive for him. He also has a plan to make the shower a safer place for romance, and the two of them test it out behind closed doors. It's a good thing when TV Shows leave some aspects of love to the imagination.
The final scene shows Claire in the parking garage. She sees the mangled Ducati belonging to Dr. Lim. She knows from the witness of the wreckage that her friend and boss’s life may be in the balance.