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Lim could have taken the easy way out, but she didn’t.
On The Good Doctor Season 5 Episode 9, she turned down the opportunity to work at a different hospital so that she could continue to fight against Salen’s policies. And after another patient almost died thanks to Salen’s misplaced focus and Shaun decided to quit rather than continue to deal with this, it’s obvious she made the right choice.
Glassman’s in now, too. Time to get the popcorn!
Salen’s attempt to stave off trouble by getting Lim a different job almost worked.
Glassman: You did what you had to do. Now you gotta go.
Lim: Should I?
Glassman: Get out while you can.
Lim: And let Salen ruin this place? This is my home. I want to fight for it.
I wasn’t sure how good an idea it was for Lim to bring up her unhappiness with Salen’s policies at her interview, but Novic seemed to acknowledge that she can be problematic. I didn’t trust him, though. Salen was the one who arranged that interview, so why would Novic be so quick to talk behind her back?
God only knows what new nightmare Lim might have found herself in if she’d taken Salen’s offer.
Glassman has been too damn pragmatic during this whole thing.
He’s right that going against Salen is risky. Lim already got demoted, and Salen is likely going to make her miserable now that she’s chosen to stay.
I told you this was a bad surgery. You didn’t listen. You convinced me I was upset about Lea, but you were wrong. [To nurse] Sponges. [To Andrews] Innovation doesn’t matter. What Salen wants does not matter. Our patient is dying because of you. You were wrong!
Shaun
But a patient already died because of Salen cutting corners, and it was only because of a miracle that Andrews didn’t lose another one trying to appease her. Yet Glassman’s advice to Shaun was more or less to do whatever Andrews wanted because Andrews is the boss.
That second loss, plus Shaun’s decision to quit, seemed to have woken Glassman up. Now that he’s committed to helping rid St. Bonaventure of Salen, it’s on!
Shaun’s resignation may get the ball moving in other ways, too. Salen has been using him as the token neurodiverse person in her marketing materials, and she won’t want to lose that.
And now that many of the doctors have finally figured out that Shaun is a valuable member of the team, they won’t be happy either.
Plus, some of Lim’s staff was already considering quitting in protest of Salen’s decision to demote Lim, and Shaun quitting may give others the impetus to walk away too.
Salen isn’t long for this world. But she isn’t going to go down without a fight, either.
Morgan: I heard you joined Lim’s posse.
Park: I live by the credo: people who kill babies shouldn’t run hospitals.
This is going to be epic! Who will be left standing when the dust clears?
Morgan seems to be the only one who is loyal to Salen on principle.
Sure, some others are afraid to stand up to her. For example, Jordan is refraining from joining the fray because she thinks it’ll hurt her career prospects.
But nobody thinks what Salen is doing is RIGHT, except Morgan.
I’m not sure why Morgan thinks that Salen’s changes will be good for the hospital once the kinks are worked out. They’ve caused nothing but problems, as far as I can tell.
But someone has to be on the wrong side, and Morgan often fits the bill.
Morgan’s patient had a miraculous recovery by the end of the hour, but the real shocker here was that she was so empathetic through her interactions with Cody and Joe.
She developed a good rapport with Cody and even came close to helping him through his panic attack.
This was a different, softer side of Morgan’s personality. She’ll never be my favorite, but at least she acted the way a doctor is supposed to instead of being haughty and annoying.
As for Cody and Joe’s storyline, the possibility of father and son being separated by Joe’s new paralysis was one of the most heartbreaking yet.
Joe’s explanation of why Cody had to go to San Francisco and Cody’s emotional reaction brought tears to my eyes.
Of course, it was all resolved by the hour’s end, thanks to a medical miracle.
I know that medical dramas tend to put emotion over realism, but it was hard to suspend disbelief when Cody walked so easily.
While the point of having the surgery was for him to be able to do so, there was no way that someone who had used a wheelchair for a long time could have walked immediately after surgery without as much as one physical therapy session.
That whole sequence was meant to be a feel-good moment, but that detail was so far removed from reality that it was distracting.
Andrews had a medical miracle of his own, but that was acknowledged as such, and in the end, it didn’t do him any favors.
The surgery was bad medicine. She has made you a bad doctor. I need to go before I become a bad doctor too. I quit.
Shaun
It was only by a stroke of luck that Nellie survived. Andrews and Salen get the lion’s share of the blame for this almost tragedy, but they weren’t the only ones who were in the wrong. Nellie insisted on this surgery. She felt that she couldn’t go on without having her voice restored.
And while she trusted Andrews’ assessment that the procedure was safe despite the risk factors, she likely would have demanded the surgery regardless of his opinion.
Shaun: You are bringing up me and Lea. Again.
Andrews: That’s right. We have to understand how our personal dynamic affects our medical decisions.
Shaun: You are dating Salen. Does that – [to Jordan] Why did you just kick me? [to Andrews] Does that affect your medical decisions?
Andrews: I am very aware of my personal situation, and no, it does not affect my medical decisions.
Andrews’ big mistake was his denial of the fact that his relationship with Salen was influencing his decisions.
Shaun was right that Andrews didn’t listen to his concerns, but Andrews’ decisions weren’t 100% based on Salen’s desires either.
Yes, that was a factor, and one he should have grappled with better. But Andrews’ concern about Nellie’s mental health and his belief that she needed this surgery for a better quality of life were also a big part of the equation.
Shaun also correctly pointed out that Glassman told him to go along with Andrews’ decisions. But Shaun ALSO didn’t acknowledge his own mental distress appropriately.
Andrews had a point when he said that usually Shaun is gung-ho about these types of surgeries but was distracted by his distress over the Lea situation.
If Shaun had been fully himself, he would have not only fought harder for his point of view, but if Andrews refused to budge he would have put his mind to work finding a safe way to provide this surgery. Shaun didn’t do any of that, so he is also partially responsible for the almost-disaster in the OR.
I’m not thrilled with the idea that Shaun “needs” Lea in order to be at his best.
Shaun was a great doctor back on The Good Doctor Season 1, when Lea was merely a neighbor living down the hall.
He did not spend four seasons proving that his Autism doesn’t interfere with his ability to provide superior medical care, only to be reduced to someone who needs his girlfriend to be able to function.
Shaun and Lea’s relationship has dragged down the series since they got serious during The Good Doctor Season 4. Putting so much focus on it is an even bigger mistake than getting rid of Carly, who was far more mature and better for Shaun than Lea.
Lim’s war with Salen has helped move the series back toward the right path. Now let’s stop making it the Shaun and Lea Relationship Drama show, please. I’m far more interested in what Shaun’s next move is now that he’s quit, and it better not be Lea trying in vain to convince him to un-quit!
Your turn, The Good Doctor fanatics! Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know who you’re rooting for, what you thought of the medical miracles, and whether you hope for more of Morgan’s empathetic side.
If you missed the episode, you can watch The Good Doctor online right here on TV Fanatic.
The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Mondays at 10 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.