'The Good Doctor' Season 3 Episode 6 will see Dr Shaun Murphy face his most challenging times
After Episode 5 of Season 3, 'The Good Doctor' will not be back with the next episode till November 4. In the meantime, let's look at the past events and glimpses of the future ones, which suggest that our beloved Dr. Shaun Murphy could be landing in troubled waters.
Here's a quick recap of what went down last week: Shaun was finally assigned his first lead surgery, which would have been the biggest moment of his life!
A young chef with esophageal cancer will need to undergo resection so she can live on cancer-free and without a feeding tube. But upon deeper diagnosis and tests, the doctors found a scar tissue that will make the feeding tube necessary for the patient to survive.
From giving hopes to breaking them, it is a tough call to take for any doctor, especially when we talk about someone like Shaun. However, he has always found the right kind of support and mentorship from Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang).
She realized how sensitive this issue could be for the patient, as well as for Shaun to handle. Such medical information needs to be handled with care so that it doesn’t stress the patient out.
And Shaun is anything but discreet or the kind to sugarcoat hard facts. Knowing how he feels about truth and the patient's probable disappointment, Audrey saves him from breaking the bad news to his patient.
Being as understanding as she is, she asked Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) to do the tough job. Alex was not happy with this decision and so was Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper).
Marcus convinced Shaun to tell the truth to the patient, which, of course, he does in his abrupt and brusque (but natural) way. As expected, this upset the patient and she refused to get the surgery done by him.
Eventually, things get turned around and Shaun was at the operation room about to work on his first lead surgery. That was when it all came crashing down for Shaun. This became a turning point in his journey, as well as for the show, which will define a lot of future events that we would soon see.
Shaun started the surgery well enough but halfway through, he has a meltdown. Surprisingly, it is not because he loses his confidence but because he discovers that the patient's tumor is more complex than he imagined and he realized that he can’t do it.
He flipped out and leaves the room leaving the patient lying on the operating table. This is perhaps the most expected scenario for us. We know Shaun's shortcomings when it comes to interpersonal relationships, but he is incredibly talented and good at what he does.
We have even seen his iron-clad confidence and determination in situations when the best-experienced professionals have lost theirs. And yet, when he was given the responsibility of leading a surgery, something that he had been looking forward to, Shaun failed.
Though not a failure technically, he couldn't follow through with his commitment as a doctor. Although we know that Audrey forgave this unexpected behavior, we cannot but base our speculations on what this could lead to.
Knowing how Shaun's mind works, he is a perfectionist. An iota of misgivings about his ability can shatter his confidence. He gave up his first case because he was unsure of his abilities.
It is highly likely that the failure of his first lead could cause some changes in his mental approach to things, not necessarily in his performance as a doctor, but in his attempt of trying to get along with people.
As the synopsis of the next episode suggests, Shaun will be given another chance to lead a surgery and he would most likely create another scene.
When we take a sneak-peek at the next episode and see Audrey reprimanding Shaun for his behavior, we can only assume that history is repeating. But will Audrey be ever forgiving to Shaun?
No matter how much she cares about her junior and understands him, there are patients at stake and the hospital that she has devoted her life to.
As we also see from the promo, Shaun is all set to have a tough road ahead when Audrey threatens to get him off the residency if his behavior continues. His past events may be defining his future.
While we expect him to come out of the storm in the best possible way, we also know that Shaun Murphy is evolving in myriad ways which he is unable to comprehend.
Will we be surprised if the "good doctor" starts showing negative traces? Guess, we will figure that out soon. After all, there's no light without a hint of darkness, isn't it?
If you cannot hold your breath to watch episode six, watch the promo that ABC has just released here:
Episode six of 'The Good Doctor' will air on November 4, at 10 pm ET / 9 pm. Catch season three every Monday same time on ABC.
