'The Good Doctor' Fans Tear up After Shaun Helps Change a Man's Life

In Monday's episode of The Good Doctor, a patient in a wheelchair asked Dr. Shaun Murphy and the [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

In Monday's episode of The Good Doctor, a patient in a wheelchair asked Dr. Shaun Murphy and the rest of the team at St. Bonaventure Hospital in San Jose to help change his life.

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(Photo: ABC/Jack Rowand)

The patient, Hunter, was particularly interested in Shaun's (Freddie Highmore) opinion on the matter. But Shaun did not completely understand why he would want to have a risky surgery to change his life when he already has a happy one in a wheelchair. Hunter told Shaun that he would still know the lessons he learned while in the chair in his new life.

Hunter learns that he could walk again after he suddenly feels a pain in his legs. Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) told him and his wife that the doctors could remove a mass on his spine. If the procedure is successful, the patient might not need his wheelchair any longer.

Shaun discovers an issue with the mass. He points out that it could be connected to part of the patient's brain stem. It would be easier for them to install a nerve inhibitor to stop the pain. Even though the surgery to remove the mass has a 15 percent chance of killing him, the patient still wants to go though with the procedure. Hunter just wants to take the chance that he could finally walk again.

Hunter had to convince his wife that he would not leave her if he could walk again. After all, he did not marry her just because he needed help after becoming paralyzed.

Later, Shaun asked Claire if she would ever date a person with a disability. She said she would, which confused him. Why would she date an imperfect person?

"Everyone is dealing with something. We just have to love other people for who they are and hope they love us too," Claire said.

Fans really hoped Shaun would ask Claire out.

Hunter's surgery was a success. Fans were in tears during the final moments of the episode. The one-two punch of Hunter's surgery and the death of another patient was too much to take.

The episode, titled "Pain," was the first of three consecutive new episodes for the series. It will finish up its first season on March 26, and has already been renewed for a new season.

The recent episodes have introduced two new residents, each with their own dramatic personalities.

Dr. Morgan Reznik (Fiona Gubelmann) is a headstrong doctor who does not care for making friends. Instead, she is hoping to take advantage of every opportunity she gets to make herself look better in the eyes of the senior doctors. Fans have not exactly loved her, as she has been set up as a villain. She was not even friendly towards Shaun.

In "Pain," Morgan clashed with Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), who she believes has no chance on getting a permanent position at the hospital. Sadly, in the case they were handling, the patient died.

"Heartfelt" introduced Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee), who earned a more positive reaction from viewers. He was a police officer for 15 years and only recently decided to go to medical school. In his first episode, he grappled with the idea of letting a convicted killer donate a liver to a child who needed it.

Alex used his policing skills to investigate Shaun's new neighbor, Kenny (Chris D'Elia). Alex thinks Kenny is using Shaun, since he found out Kenny has a rap sheet. At the end of the episode, Shaun started questioning his relationship with Kenny, but he still sat and played video games with him.

The episode also showed Dr. Claire Browne's (Antonia Thomas) troubled relationship with her mother. When she was younger, her mother used the $1,000 saved for a laptop to spend a weekend in Reno. Claire decided to put the problems from the past aside, but the only thing her mother really wanted was money.

New episodes of The Good Doctor air on ABC Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: ABC

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