‘The Good Doctor’ Returns & The Doctors Struggle With Accepting An Organ From A Convicted Killer

Courtesy of ABC

The doctors get excited for the hospital’s gala, but not before going through a full day’s work, filled with two difficult cases.

San Jose St. Bonaventure is gearing up for their annual donor gala, and all of the residents are expected to attend, much to the dismay of Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), who only really wants to go if there is karaoke (thanks, Lea). Dr. Alex Park is newly assigned to the team, and Shaun is shocked to find out that he’s 45 years old. However, Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) used to work with Park and chimes in that he worked as a cop for 14 years before going to med school. Reznick and Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) pick their patients for the week, with Shaun accompanying Reznick to fix an enlarged and misplaced heart, and Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) with Browne to help a young boy with a liver transplant.

Reznick and Shaun’s patient is Spirit, a young girl who was born with her heart in her rib cage. Her condition has left her confined to the four walls of her home, unable to have contact with the outside world because of her fragile state. Spirit is incredibly outgoing and interested in the world, so she had no problem making friends via social media, but is now ready to be in crowds, hug her parents, go to concerts, and be a normal teen. Now, since her rib cage has grown, there is room for her heart to be put back where it belongs. While conducting an MRI before surgery, Reznick and Shaun notice that Spirit’s heart has grown 53% in the last three months, and won’t fit. Dr. Lim breaks the news, telling Spirit they won’t be able to do the surgery until she’s 18, and her response is not pretty. She throws her phone against the wall in anger and demands the surgery be done, although Dr. Lim says there is nothing they can do. Reznick suggests an artificial sternum to be put in place to create room for the heart, while also dissing Shaun for not “understanding because he’s autistic.” While Dr. Lim tells her not to make things personal, she does think they can attempt her idea of surgery.

Eric (Nicholas Johnny) is rejecting his liver transplant and will die without one quickly, but his O blood type makes it difficult to find someone easily, being so rare. Dr. Browne finds a liver, however it’s coming from a convicted murderer. Nicholas refuses to let them operate, not wanting the “evil” from the liver in his body, while the hospital continues to prepare for the convict to possibly try to escape while in their custody. Dr. Park is absolutely against the idea of having a convicted killer in the hospital, especially as an ex-cop, he believes there is always an ulterior motive. Still, the doctors sedate Eric for the surgery, while keeping a close eye on the convict, named Boris. As he starts to be given anesthesia, the convict begins to have an allergic reaction, and the doctors fight to keep him alive.

When he’s awake, he’s incredibly angry, and screams through tears he wants the doctors to try again, but they send him back to prison, instead.

Dr. Reznick continues to stir the pot, while performing Spirit’s surgery, pushing Shaun to buy a tuxedo, and also claiming she doesn’t respect him. Dr. Lim listens in, telling her, “You care a lot about what he wears to a gala, for not having respect for him.” Still, her idea of an artificial septum works!

Boris is being taken back to the prison and wets himself on the way. Dr. Park thinks his stitches could have opened, while the police officers believe it’s a trap. Then, Dr. Park sees Boris’s hand is free, but it’s too late, and Boris grabs the officers gun and puts it to his head. While Dr. Browne tries to talk Boris down, Dr. Park has the opposite effect, telling the convict not to listen to her. Boris puts the gun to his own head and shoots himself, as Browne screams. However, Park has different plans. He takes Boris’s body right to Melendez and gets his organs prepped for donation. Browne tells Eric that the criminal gave his life because he wanted Eric to live, more than he wanted to live. Eric agrees to take the liver. After his surgery, he wants to send a card to Boris’s parents to thank them, and tell them he will take good care of their son’s liver.

Shaun attends the gala in a new tux, that cost him over $2,000, but everyone says he looks like a million bucks! Dr. Kalu and Dr. Browne go public with their relationship and attend the gala together. In the meantime, Shaun stands uncomfortably in the corner with his plastic scalpel. Jessica Preston looks on as Melendez moves out with someone else at the gala, and Dr. Glassman saves her from her misery by dancing.

Shaun escapes the gala and looks on at Spirit, who is hanging out with her friends and hugging them from her hospital bed. At the same time, Kalu hears the song he and Browne had their first kiss to, but she doesn’t remember. He leaves her in the middle of the dance floor, telling her she’d never love him like he loves her.

Shaun returns to the gala and begins to mingle with fellow doctors, and Dr. Andrews comes to the rescue to help him move along conversations. Ugh, we missed this show! Sadly, the docs won’t be back until March 12th!