'The Good Doctor' Features Heartbreaking Death in Claire-Centric Episode

The very end of this week's The Good Doctor featured a heartbreaking scene after so much success for Dr. Claire Brown. One moment, she is celebrating completing her first surgery as the lead surgeon, the next minute she is seeing her mother dead in a car. Just before the credits rolled, Claire (Antonia Thomas) stood speechless as she saw her mother Breeze (Sharon Leal) inside a totalled car, with blood on the dashboard and a cracked windshield.

At the end of "Doubts" last week, Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) picked Claire as the first resident to lead a surgery. That set the stage for this week's episode, appropriately titled "Claire."

It was already a difficult roller-coaster of emotions for Claire before the end. She was sure her first surgery would be removing the gallbladder of Michelle Reynolds (Kyla-Drew) who Claire felt an instant bond with. Like Claire, Michelle had a strained relationship with her mother. The circumstances were very different, as Michelle was angry with her mother for taking in three foster children, and Claire discovered Michelle was hurting herself.

Claire brought in a psychiatrist against Michelle's mother's wishes. This forced Lim to take Claire off the case and assigned Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez). However, Michelle refused to go through with the surgery unless Claire was the lead surgeon.

While the surgery was a little bumpy, it went perfectly in the end.

Claire was also closely tied to Dr. Shaun Murphy's (Freddie Highmore) story. She told Shaun that women do not like to be asked deeply personal questions on dates early in the relationship. So Shaun asked her to speak with Dr. Carly Lever (Jasika Nicole) to smooth things over. When Claire did that, Carly told her to keep out of their relationship. After her successful surgery, Claire saw Shaun and Carly in the lounge, having a good time as Shaun peppered her with questions.

Claire also succeeded in diagnosing Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) and Dr. Morgan Reznick's (Fiona Gubelmann) patient Shamus (Robert Sean Leaonard) with cancer. Shamus came in with a marlin stuck in his leg, and the accident helped the doctors make a life-saving discovery for him.

As she left the hospital, Claire noticed she received a voicemail from her mother. She then got a call from her mom's phone, but it was not her mother on the other line.

Claire went to the crash scene, where she hoped the worst did not happen. Unfortunately it did. Claire noticed the bottle of champagne she tried to hide in her apartment in her mother's car. As she surveyed the scene, the voicemail her mother left played. Her mother was proud of her accomplishment and hoped to celebrate with Claire.

Claire had a troubled past with her mother, who abused alcohol and drugs. Their relationship appeared to be on the upswing, with Claire allowing Breeze to stay at her apartment while she looked for a new home. Now, Claire will have to deal with the impact of her mother's death just after making a big step in her career.

The Good Doctor airs Mondays on ABC at 10 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: ABC/David Bukach