‘The Good Doctor’ Season 3 Episode 9 hints at Shaun having to face some emotionally troubling times ahead
The young resident doctor is surely the star of St. Bonaventure Hospital. As far as his work is concerned, there’s no other as talented and as intuitive as he is. Call it his condition of being a Savant or he being a natural at medical diagnosis, Shaun Murphy has made a mark for himself as a surgeon. However, when it comes to his personal life, things are not great as Shaun would want them to be. Although officially, he is dating Carly for quite some time now, he has not reached third base with his girlfriend, which is typically unlikely in a normal relationship. However, Shaun does not give up. He cares for Carly and wants to take the relationship to the next level. He even talks to his mentor, Dr. Glassman about what’s holding him back from making a move with Carly.
Shaun’s precision of thinking and observation is perhaps proving to be a roadblock. He notices a tattoo on Carly’s heart and gets disturbed. Dr. Glassman assures him that his mental block is only because he is not being able to see past the visible things and Shaun needs to see Carly for the woman she is. This scares Shaun in different ways. He loves Carly and he is scared to be alone. He feels that not being able to get intimate with Carly could ruin their relationship and he will end up being on his own.
Now, this is a big revelation for Shaun as well as for us. So far, we have never seen Shaun feel so strongly about anything, especially about how he feels. Perhaps his relationship has caused some of his repressed emotions to get triggered. He has hardly managed to get over this disturbing thought, that he is faced with another personal issue. Shaun’s mother reaches out to him to inform that his father is dying from cancer. We have seen earlier, in flashbacks, that Shaun shares a strained relationship with his father. However, if his emotions are slowly and gradually taking significance in his consciousness, it is most likely that this news will affect him in ways, he himself is not aware of. And when that happens, the young autistic doctor is going to undergo severe emotional turmoil, which, we are afraid, might break him.
Discover Shaun’s journey through the troubled waters on ‘The Good Doctor’, every Monday, at 10.30 pm only on ABC.