Why is 'The Good Doctor' Season 4 Episode 9 not airing this week? Shaun's potential love interest will have to wait
With Audrey Lim's (Christina Chang) struggles with PTSD hitting the limelight, anticipation builds up for what's next on her arc. Claire Brown's (Anthonia Thomas) situation isn't all that favorable either with the tension between the two at an all-time high in the wake of their common love interest — Nick Melendez's (Nicholas Gonzales) sudden, tragic death.
But before we can find out where their storylines go, the wait for the upcoming Episode 9 of Season 4 will be longer than usual. As you can already tell by now, there's no new episode of 'The Good Doctor' airing tonight: read on to find out why.
According to TV schedules and listings, Episode 9 with the rather elaborate title 'Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices' will air all the way on Monday, February 15, at its usual 10 pm time slot on ABC. The reason? With the pandemic raging, network shows are struggling to produce bulk episodes at once. The Covid-19 rules and guidelines have most likely not permitted the show to film the entire 22 episode season in advance, but it all works out for us.
They get to film and we get to rewatch older episodes like the two-part season premiere that ABC will be airing tonight, and next Monday instead of another new episode.
But for those eager to know what the next episode awaits, SpoilerTV reveals the official synopsis of Episode 9 to be: "Lim is challenged by the unique circumstances surrounding a pregnant patient with an aggressive tumor; after misdiagnosing a patient, Claire makes a disconcerting discovery about certain practices at the hospital."
This follows last week's Episode 8 titled 'Parenting' that saw "The team treat a teenage gymnast who experiences complications from her intensive training. Meanwhile, Shaun meets Lea's parents for the first time." While the episode doesn't necessarily address the developing arc of Lim, it's a given her story isn't over yet.
Claire is offering help but it's beyond difficult to accept that when a lot of her emotional instability results from the death of Nick, who was later involved with Claire. Whether Lim feels apprehensive about it or just feels betrayed is yet to unfold.
Claire's own dilemma is painful too. She is going out of her way to help Lim, but whether she ends up feeling jilted and this affection unreciprocated will be interesting to witness. What else? This episode could also see a new potential romantic interest for Shaun. Will that impact his and Lea's (Paige Spara) already jerky relationship after he accomplished the grand milestone of meeting the parents? More than just a few viewers will be thrilled, we can assure that for sure.
'The Good Doctor' Season 4 airs on Mondays at 10 pm on ABC.