‘The Good Doctor’ Producer Breaks Down Double-Twist Winter Finale

One major twist wasn’t enough for The Good Doctor‘s winter finale. The episode “Sacrifice” had two mouth-dropping twists that will keep fans talking for weeks until the show comes back. Showrunner David Shore, who also created House, broke down the episode and talked about Shaun’s future.

“Sacrifice” ran on two tracks. First, Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) and Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) dealt with a patient, gamer Bobby (Manny Jacinto). The patient inspired Shaun to be more proactive, telling Shuan not to let anyone tell him what to do.

Shaun confronted Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) and told him to stop trying to help him. While repeating Bobby’s mantra, Shaun kept hitting himself in the head. As Glassman tried to stop him from hurting himself, Shaun hit Glassman. He ran off, leaving the hospital and his apartment behind. Glassman told Jessica (Beau Garrett) that he doesn’t think Shaun is coming back.

“He is gone and hasn’t just rented another apartment. He is gone and not sure what he wants to do. He has to find those answers and he will go on a little journey,” Shore told Entertainment Weekly.

In an interview with Indiewire, Shore said he and the writers talked about what a “boiling point” would look like in Shaun’s relationship with Glassman.

“Actions have consequences, and we don’t want anything to be simple,” Shore said. “He and Glassman, it certainly is a wonderful relationship, but that doesn’t mean it always resolves itself neatly. There are people who love and care about each other but also have different opinions on some pretty fundamental things.”

When the show resumes in the spring, the action will pick up from where Shaun is. This will take the two tracks – what’s going on in the hospital and what’s going on with Shaun – even further apart.

“We are going to see both sides to this,” Shore told Indiewire. “We’re going to see our hospital, but we’re going to see Shaun’s journey to figure out where he wants to be, and where he should be. I think it’s important that we continue to explore his life outside the job, but I think it’s also important to continue to explore the job: saving lives.”

The other big story was Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) getting fired. After Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) tells Jared about Dr. Matt Coyle’s (Eric Winter) sexual misconduct, Jared confronts Coyle himself.

Shore told EW that he came up with the story was written before the Harvey Weinstein scandal. They did do some rewrites though.

“We knew we were dealing with something important, but it became a much more sensitive issue. A different eye was brought to it,” he said.

Shore said the story isn’t finished yet, and Jared will try to find a way to get back to work.

“We will find out what happens to Coyle,” Shore told Indiewire. “[This will be followed-up] not necessarily in a great way, but we will recognize that these are terrible things that are challenging to deal with.”

Photo credit: Eike Schroter/ABC