‘The Good Doctor’: How Glassman’s Daughter Died Finally Revealed

The Good Doctor finally revealed how Dr. Aaron Glassman’s daughter Maddie died in the emotional rollercoaster episode “Tough Titmouse.”

We learned that Maddie died after Glassman refused to let her go to rehab for drug abuse because he thought he could “fix” her himself.

At the end of last week’s episode, “36 Hours,” Glassman (Richard Schiff) began hallucinating while he was recovering from his successful brain surgery. He saw Maddie (Holly Taylor) and started talking to her, as if she was really in the room with her.

In “Tough Titmouse,” Glassman and Maddie took apart their relationship and pieced it back together, trying to figure out where everything went wrong. Glassman was dealing with incredible guilt, as Maddie reminded him how he was rarely around for her, jetting off to Europe for medical conferences.

Over time, Maddie developed a drug habit, we learn. On the day of her death, Glassman found her high for the last time. He threw her out of the house and locked her out. He thought she would go to a friend’s house, but she did not.

Later in the episode, we also learn that Maddie’s mother believed she needed to go to rehab, but Glassman thought he could “fix” her himself.

“Your mother wanted to send you to rehab and I said no. I said no! I can fix it,” Glassman said through tears. “This is my little girl. She’ll listen to me! I wanted to be the hero. I wanted to earn you back. I wanted you to love me again, like you did once upon a time. It was stupid. I don’t know what to say, except I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“I know you loved me, Daddy,” Maddie told him, holding his hand. “I loved you, too.”

After a long, lingering moment, the camera pulled back as Maddie slid out of the frame. Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) watched that entire scene, before Glassman finally fell asleep.

Between Glassman’s heartbreaking scenes with Maddie, Shaun and Glassman’s doctor tried to get him to take an Ambien, but he refused. He wanted to keep his discussion with Maddie going. When Glassman woke up after 13 hours of sleep, Shaun was by his side.

“Was seeing Maddie therapeutic?” Shaun asked his mentor.

“She said she loved me,” Glassman replied.

“That’s very good,” Shaun said.

“Or maybe it was just me telling myself that,” Glassman said.

“You always tell the truth,” Shaun told Glassman.

“Thank you Shaun,” Glassman said, before the camera pulled back.

While Glassman has survived this part of his cancer treatment, Richard Schiff told Deadline that showrunner David Shore told him before filming season one that Glassman was going to die.

“It’s not something that he even explored until towards the end of the [first] season. So, it became a much more urgent issue that he was gonna be dying sooner than he thought,” Schiff said.

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