'The Good Doctor' Season 3 Episode 18 Review: Shaun acts out and we absolutely hate him for that
Remember when there was a time when we couldn’t stop ourselves from ranting about Dr Morgan Reznick? Her obnoxious behavior towards her colleagues would make us (and even her fans) cringe at times.
That's exactly what Shaun did to us today, in the episode 'Heartbreak'. While many might argue that he is hurt from being rejected by his best friend for being autistic, it doesn’t seem to justify his behavior that followed. Just like Dr Aaron Glassman explained, Shaun is not the first man to be dumped by a girl they love. That doesn't ratify his acting out. Yes, he might have limitations of emotional expressions or even expressing himself lucidly, for that matter. But taking out his frustration on the very people who have stood by him, or his patients, is outright annoying and pitiful — something that we are not used to feeling for this incredible doctor.
It is quite disappointing when you realize that a character you so adore does something so despicable that you don’t want to feel good about them anymore. Everyone around Shaun tried to be empathetic towards his pain and did their best to help him through the situation like friends usually do. But he continued to act out and behave like a jerk.
He not only ignored the efforts of his colleagues to make him feel better but also embarrassed his senior in front of a patient. This was difficult for us to adapt to. We have seen quite a bit of up and down with Shaun's character but this crossed a few lines. Dr Shaun Murphy, as we all know him, is anything but a doctor who couldn’t care less. He loves his job, is passionate about all possible treatment solutions and would go any length to help his patients. But one heartbreak, and he throws it all away and goes down the path of "don’t care".
It was a relief that Dr Neil Melendez showed some tough love and made Shaun introspect. So far in the story, we were still trying to feel compassionate for Shaun. But in the next half of the episode, he pushed us to the edge. He got influenced by a patient’s girlfriend, who smashes his car after the patient cheated on her. Although Shaun's situation is nothing like the woman's, he decides to vent out in a similar manner.
We still can't come to terms with him going to a bar, gulping down a few shots, and landing at Lea’s place with a baseball bat, ready to smash her Gran Torino. But of course, he couldn’t go ahead with it. Why? Because that’s not who Shaun Murphy is. That’s exactly why we hate him right now for pulling that stunt, like any other man would do. Shaun is special and he is more evolved than many, in many ways. When he couldn't go ahead with the physical expression, he resorted to harsh words for Lea. Not that we have any special place in our hearts for Lea, but those are not the things you want to hear from an old friend.
While we do understand the concept of "offense is the best defense", the question remains as to why Shaun’s character needs to take the offensive side. This changing character arc of Shaun also makes us question why the writers are heading towards a despicable version of the character.
The pre-finale episode turned out to be way more dramatic than expected, but not all of it was positive. Feeling what we feel about Shaun now, we wonder where his journey is going to head to after this episode since there’s room for only two episodes before the season bids goodbye.
'The Good Doctor' Season 3 finale will air in two parts on March 23 and March 30 respectively, at 10pm/9c, only on ABC.