Believe

"Believe"

Episode Information

Season 2

Episode 16

Overall 34

Airdate:

February 25, 2019^[1]

Writer:

Sal Calleros & Karen Struck

Director:

Alrick Riley

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Risk and Reward"	"Breakdown"

"Believe"^[1] is the sixteenth episode of Season 2 of The Good Doctor. It is the thirty-fourth episode overall, and aired on February 25, 2019.

Synopsis[]

The new chief of surgery, Dr. Jackson Han, believes Dr. Shaun Murphy is a liability more than an asset and works to keep him out of the operating room permanently.^[2]

Plot[]

Shaun is getting ready for his first day in pathology. Lea tries to help him, making him "fresh start" pancakes, but Shaun doesn't want a fresh start and walks off. Meanwhile, Claire, Morgan and Neil are taking care of Clarence, a pastor who has cancer that has spread to his lymph nodes, so he has to follow up with chemo. He is in pain caused by the tumor, which Neil says spinal fusion should fix. However, Clarence wants the pain as he sees it as his punishment since he did something unforgivable; he apparently killed someone. Dr. Glassman also successfully finishes his cancer treatment.

Drs. Park and Lim are dealing with their own patient, Sadie Barns. She and her sister Jess were climbing Mt. Whitney, when Sadie started experiencing numbness in her head, hands and then feet. She also had a weird sensation before leaving the mountain like dread, and insists that it was a premonition, for which Lim says that they will run a brain scan, all the while Sadie is scared. In the locker room, Shaun puts his items in his locker, but doesn't put in his toy scalpel like usual and leaves it in his backpack. In the pathology room, he is welcomed to pathology by Carly Lever. She gives him a tour, and Shaun notices that they are researching antibiotic resistance while becoming fascinated with a bioprinter they have.

Claire reveals that the man Clarence "murdered" was one of his parishioners who committed suicide, though Claire wants to override his wishes and relieve the pain; she argues that he is mentally impaired and they know that the surgery would be more dangerous the way Clarence wants, which Neil agrees with. Meanwhile, Park sees that they're doing an MRI for anxiety which he thinks is ridiculous. Lim tells him about a former patient she had, and that the patient kept coming back for her anxiety until she gave her an MRI. The MRI shows a high grade meningioma, which they can do a symptom control over but can't actually treat.

Claire talks to Clarence and tries to convince him to remove his tumor. He tells her about the man who committed suicide, named Michael, and that the wife found his body. He also laments that he didn't pick up Michael's call because he was having a drink. In pathology, Park asks Shaun to run a peak phenytoin level for Sadie. He also attempts to ask Shaun how he is, but he doesn't answer Park questioning him if he's happy while Park tells him to tell Dr. Han how he feels. Lim attempts to argue with Han that Shaun shouldn't be in pathology, but he doesn't agree. He believes Shaun will never be a good surgeon and won't be able to handle things alone without someone looking over his shoulder. When Lim says that they know Shaun better than Han, Han sees that is the problem and that it's distorting their view.

Neil is supervising Clarence's surgery, but it's complicated because they can't see the tumor properly. Afterwards, Clarence wakes up panicked because he's not in pain. Claire calms him down, saying it's the anesthesia. She tells him they stopped the surgery because his body went into shock and they can't try the surgery again because there's no expectation that things would change, despite Clarence begging her. Carly tries to talk to Shaun, but he is unresponsive and lost in thought. He tells her that Park's patient doesn't have cancer based on the test that was run and tries to get up to tell Lim about the patient, but Carly stops him. She tells him that once a test is done in pathology, they move onto the next one. She also asks Shaun if he will be able to do that, and he says that he doesn't know, but will try... next time and leaves.

Claire goes to Han's office to try and get him to return Shaun to his former position while providing him with cases that Shaun has contributed to. Unfortunately, Han still insists that he doesn't think Shaun can be a surgeon because of his autism. Nonetheless, Claire leaves the cases on Han's table when she exits his office. Glassman also goes to see Debbie and orders a chocolate chip muffin, while telling her that he's done with chemotherapy and invites her to go out with him. However, Debbie admits that she's seeing someone new, and Glassman pretends not to be hurt. Claire, Morgan and Neil are performing surgery on Clarence again and they work to remove the tumor. Neil notices that the tumor they have is much smaller than expected, and it is 4.5 centimeters instead of the eight on the scan.

Shaun tells Lim that he disagrees with the diagnosis on Sadie. Lim says that the diagnosis was agreed upon by two radiologists, but Shaun argues for his view. He asks if he should approach Han, and Lim tells him not to, but says that she will bring up Shaun's concern to the radiology department. She admits that it is because he makes incorrect decisions in communicating, but still stands by her position considering his new placement. Meanwhile, Clarence's lymph nodes have all suddenly shrunk and Neil isn't sure what to do next given that his immune system seems to be beating the cancer. At home, Shaun has been alphabetizing their canned goods for two hours. When Glassman comes over, Lea lets him in and Shaun expresses his anxiousness about Sadie whom he thinks was misdiagnosed. He asks for Glassman's help, but he says that he can't. He also states that Shaun needs to stand up for himself and if he can't, then Han is right about him not being a surgical resident.

Shaun goes to see Sadie, who is asleep which Shaun sees is perfect. He also asks for Jess, but Nurse Villanueva hasn't seen her. Shaun enters Sadie's room and goes through her purse, but Han catches him which gets Shaun into trouble. In Han's office, he warns Shaun that he will be fired if Shaun continues with his behavior. Shaun responds with that Sadie's social media showed that she is a food critic. One of the Japanese restaurants that she went to had a bad food safety rating, and Sadie could have worms. Normally, the digestive system would break down fish parasites, but Sadie is on an acid blocker and he saw a bottle in her purse. Han considers this and says that he will tell Sadie.

Morgan breaks the news to Clarence, saying that the surgery went well. Clarence asks when he will start chemotherapy, and Morgan says that the surgery went so well that they might have to. Meanwhile, Glassman is at home and opens his door to Debbie; she wasn't seeing anyone and had only gone on one date, but it wasn't serious. She wanted to tell him that she doesn't see them as a good match. Glassman disbelieves this, to which she admits that she was bothered when Glassman fell and pushed her away when she tried to help him. She says that she likes it when things are fun, but when things are bad he reacts badly to them, which makes them not good together. She apologizes and says that she's happy for him and walks back to her car while Glassman closes the door.

The tests return normal and Clarence is apparently cancer-free, of which there is no scientific explanation. Clarence is shocked and doesn't believe it, while Claire tells him that he isn't listening to God if he isn't accepting his cure, and that he has to forgive himself. Clarence finally accepts and does the spinal fusion, with surgery being performed on Clarence again. In pathology, Han, Carly and Shaun view the test. Shaun's theory was correct, and Han breaks the good news with Shaun and Park. While Sadie and Jess are overjoyed, Han introduces Shaun as the pathologist that noticed the error which Sadie is grateful for. Lim says that they'll be good to go as soon as they remove the worm.

Outside the room, Shaun privately tells Han he wants to be a surgeon and not a pathologist. Han says that he appreciates being told that, and wondered if Shaun would advocate for himself, but he believes that Shaun has proved Han right that he would become a good pathologist, while Lim looks at him sadly from across the room. Clarence's surgery also goes well and his spine is stable. He then admits that he's worried that he disobeyed God, but Claire says that he had a miracle that confirms that he didn't. Shaun then watches his former colleagues performing surgery while he watches from outside and takes out his toy scalpel.