‘The Good Doctor’: Shaun Delivers a Baby for the First Time

Extreme situations often bring out the best in people, and Dr. Shaun Murphy was no different during Monday’s episode of The Good Doctor. Once put in a highly stressful situation, he managed to take control and delivered a baby for the first time in his medical career.

“Quarantine Part 2” picked up right where the first part left off in early December, with Shaun (Freddie Highmore) stuck in the St. Bonaventure Hospital emergency room under quarantine. Shaun, along with Drs. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) and Audrey Lim (Christina Chang), were on emergency room duty when two patients died from a rare airborne illness.

Patients were forced to stay in the ER as well, including Viola (Camille Guaty), a pregnant woman whose husband (Rell Battle) was stuck in the waiting room. While Shaun and Morgan were trying to save another patient’s life, Viola’s water broke, and Shaun was convinced the baby would not come for another day.

However, there was a complication and Viola went into labor. This forced Shaun to step up and perform an emergency cesarean section for the first time in his life. A gynecologist (Alison Arava) tried to talk him through the process, but he became stressed as everyone started asking questions. Shaun suddenly stopped and surprisingly yelled at everyone to be quiet so he could finally concentrate.

Shaun pulled out the baby boy, but he was not breathing. While the baby needed CPR, Viola started bleeding out. The gynecologist reminded Shaun that he should save the mother, but he hatched a plan to save both of them.

He called on Dr. Alex Park’s (Will Yun Lee) son Kellan (Ricky He) to perform CPR on the baby while he saved Viola. Even after Viola was saved, they still weren’t out of the woods yet, since the baby’s lungs were full of fluid. But Shaun worked his magic and saved Viola’s baby boy.

Also in “Quarantine Part 2,” Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) told Lea (Paige Spara) that his cancer has not really returned, despite what he thought at the end of “Quarantine Part 1.” Lea thought this was great news, but Glassman said he still has meningitis from a leak in his brain, which would explain his memory loss. He will also need another surgery.

Throughout most of the episode, Lea and Glassman debated how to tell Shaun this. Initially, Glassman did not want to scare him, but Lea insisted he is a grownup who deserves to know.

After the baby’s delivery and when the quarantine was finally lifted, Glassman decided to tell Shaun what was going on with him. Shaun surprisingly took the news well.

“That’s good,” Shaun said. “Meningitis is definitely not as bad as cancer. It also explains your memory loss. Now you can get your license back.”

“Shaun, would you mind if ‘Glassy’ gave you a hug?” Lea asked.

“I think that would be nice,” Shaun said.

The two hugged it out to end the episode, with Glassman telling him, “I’m very proud of you.”

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

Photo credit: ABC