Disaster

"Disaster"

Episode Information

Season 3

Episode 1

Overall 37

Airdate:

September 23, 2019^[2]

Viewers:

6.26^[1] million

Writer:

David Shore^[2]

Director:

Mike Listo^[2]

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Trampoline"	"Debts"

“	It was exhausting. Everything was always out of control. Anything could happen at any time. Anything did. There was too much to remember to do, too much to remember not to do, and none of it made sense. It was hard, uncomfortable, unpleasant. I spent the whole evening doing unnatural things to make her happy and I have no idea if she WAS happy, and I know I wasn't happy! It was all a disaster.	„
	― Shaun to his coworkers about his date with Carly

"Disaster"^[3] is the first episode of Season 3 of The Good Doctor. It is the thirty-seventh episode overall, and aired on September 23, 2019.

Synopsis[]

Following what he believes was a disastrous first date with Carly, Dr. Shaun Murphy proposes a radical surgery to save a newlywed woman’s life. Meanwhile, after the new chief of surgery, Dr. Audrey Lim, announces that the residents can lead surgeries, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Alex Park compete for the chance to operate on an elderly patient who has been diagnosed with cancer.

Plot[]

Shaun and Carly have their first date. Carly is smiling since everything is OK. Shaun looks at an index card that has a list of possible topics to talk about and settles on movies, but then the food arrives and his order had pickles which he gets upset at as he asked for no pickles and causes a bottle of wine to launch into the air. In the present, Shaun is recounting his date at the hospital to Neil, Claire, Morgan and Park as Shaun tells them the date was a disaster.

They're then found by Lim, whom Park informs about Shaun's date with Carly being a disaster as she asks them why they aren’t working. Morgan congratulates her, Lim having become Chief of Surgery and is the first female one. Eventually everyone goes to do their job, but Lim stops Neil, saying how they need to go to HR and "break up". Later, Shaun and Claire are helping get patients into the hospital when a white limo pulls up and a groom comes out asking for someone to help his wife, whose wedding dress is covered in blood.

Morgan and Park are tending to Harvey, an elderly man in pain and is there with his wife Ruby. He's thought to have kidney stones, but Morgan believes it to be dementia and she and Park get into childish arguments over who should deal with it. At the HR office, the person in charge writes down Lim and Neil's explanation for their break up but says she doesn't believe it. She thinks they have just gone back to dating in secret, while explaining that she doesn't really care or want to find out. However, she does warn them that love doesn’t conquer all, and that things will only get more complicated with Lim's promotion.

Shaun finds that the bride, Suzanne, has a uterine fibroid that has bled and needs surgery to be removed, though she can still have children. At a staff meeting, Nurse Petringa tells Lim that Andrews and Glassman never authorized overtime, so Lim does so. She also decides that instead of doing so in their fourth year, the residents can start leading the own surgeries in their third. Park and Morgan still continue to be competitive, only to find that Harvey has cancer.

Surgery on Suzanne begins when Claire attempts to question Shaun concerning his date with Carly, only for Shaun to reveal that Suzanne has cancer which has metastasised everywhere. Aoki comes to visit Glassman who is sitting outside his backyard reading a book. She offers for him to be president of the hospital again, the position open after Andrews gave it up to rehire Shaun. She tells Glassman to think about it and also jokingly tells him to put on sunscreen. Shaun, Neil and Claire try to figure out how to help Suzanne, but Neil sees that they can only refer her to an oncologist and chemotherapy while having Shaun break the news.

While Park and Morgan are still arguing, Ruby questions Harvey's state. Park and Morgan tell Harvey that he's got cancer on his left kidney, which they can remove (although he panics about it). Despite what Neil told him to, Shaun hasn't told Suzanne the news as Lim has said they have new responsibilities and will choose when to tell her upon doing more research. However, Claire sees that Shaun's stalling because of how upset he is concerning his date with Carly. Claire attempts to question it, when Shaun reveals that he caught the bottle.

Claire ignores a phone call from Breeze who has been calling a lot, though Claire has been avoiding her. Claire admits that Breeze wasn't to blame for her bipolar disorder, but she still wasn't a good mother and Claire doesn't want her in her life. Shaun asks Claire if she'd like guidance and if she sees him as a role model, which she admits he is on some issues. Shaun confesses that he doesn't usually think about the past because he says it doesn't help. Nonetheless, he agrees to telling Claire about the rest of his date.

Shaun thought to tell Carly a joke, despite Lea attempting to advise against it. Carly was telling Shaun how she took a gap year before college, which she now realizes might have been a mistake when he told a joke to her. She found it funny, though Shaun didn't know what to make of it. He then tries to continue his research on Suzanne while Park and Morgan won't give up on who gets to treat Harvey. Petringa again comes up to Lim about how overtime isn’t an issue of the hospital, but rather they're understaffed. Lim interrupts her and apologizes, as she says they don’t have the budget to hire anyone else. All the same, Petringa gives Lim attitude about how she has no interest in doing anything.

As Shaun continues to try and figure out how to help Suzanne, Neil forces him to break the news to her and her husband Alex. When Suzanne is upset, Shaun offers hope with surgery. He suggests to Neil (who is furious) that they take out Suzanne's organs to deal with the cancer and then put them back, a surgery that hasn't had much success but Suzanne's alternative is death. Frustrated and overwhelmed, Lim goes to see Andrews at his home to ask him how he said no to a person, thinking she isn’t doing correctly. He shows her how by closing the door in her face, but then invites her in to show her how.

Morgan and Park go to Harvey and Ruby about how they can treat the cancer, only to pull Ruby aside. Andrews tells Lim that the problem isn't how she said no, but rather how she said yes instead. He continues to tell her how its her job now to figure out what she can give them, convinced that is what they need, and make them feel like they owe her. Park and Morgan suggest to Ruby that they don't treat Harvey so as to not let him suffer with his dementia, but Ruby just tells them to go to hell. Shaun also informs Suzanne and Alex about the surgery and it's complications, but the only alternative is a year to live.

Shaun finds Glassman at Stevens Creek Health Center, stating that they're supposed to be meeting for lunch but Glassman "needs meaning in [his] life" while checking over a patient. While Shaun thinks that Glassman's patient, Marco Higgens, just has boring symptoms which are meaningless as opposed to being a brain surgeon, Glassman says otherwise as he has got to know Marco and he shouldn't want exciting symptoms, all the while trying to get Shaun to tell him about the rest of his "disaster" of a date. Shaun and Carly were leaving and Shaun was trying to be a gentleman, he opened the door for her when he accidently knocked into another woman while Shaun knew she was in a serious condition. He then tells Glassman to take off Marco's boots, knowing that Marco is diabetic and could have an infection on his foot. Marco removes his boots to reveal his right foot is maggot-infested, which isn't boring.

Park feels remorse for his and Morgan's childish attitudes and apologizes to her, but they're still at opposite ends concerning whether to treat Harvey but still leave him in pain because of his dementia. Lim successfully pulls off Andrews' advice by convincing Petringa that they are getting better technology instead for which Petringa thanks Lim for listening to her. Morgan also talks to Ruby who talks about how her sister also had cancer and had a lot of treatment, which Morgan empathizes her with but that it's worse on Harvey who doesn't even know why he's in pain and the hospital can do little to help him. Although devastated, Ruby accepts the situation.

Shaun and Claire go to see Suzanne and Alex concerning their decision. Although they aren't sure, Shaun questions why and becomes brutally honest about the truth they're dealing with. This leads to Suzanne revealing that she's worried about being a burden on Alex but he states that she won't be. She thinks he should find someone healthy, but he refuses and the surgery goes ahead. After Shaun knocked into the woman, it turns out that her shoulder had been dislocated and he had to help her. She was very good about it and Shaun was applauded for his efforts. Claire still doesn't understand how Shaun saw the date as a disaster as they help Suzanne.

Lim goes back to Andrews who intends to go to other job interviews, only he won't be met with good responses once they find out about how he wasn't president of the hospital for long and why. She supports what he did, while stating that he has to support the fact that he doesn't hold a grudge against Shaun and come back to the hospital. When Andrews refuses due to his arrogance, Lim points out that that was always his greatest strength and weakness and to not let it be the latter. Park and Morgan are later with Ruby and Harvey, while Ruby lies to Harvey for once for his own good.

Shaun walked Carly home and she said that she had a nice time before kissing him, leaving Claire, Neil, Morgan and Park confused as to how he thought of that as a disaster. Shaun states that that was how he felt, having had an unpleasant time since there was so much to do and remember, he couldn't control it, felt it was hard and uncomfortable and did all of that to make Carly happy but is oblivious to how she felt as he wasn't and he doesn't want to do it again. Lim then reintroduces them all to Andrews as the new attending. Glassman soon attempts to treat another patient only to find Aoki who again offers for him to come back as president. She even offers to reopen the clinic if he would like to run it.

Suzanne's surgery is a success, though she has to have an ileostomy bag for the rest of her life due to complications. Alex still upholds his love for Suzanne by promising help her through it all. While Ruby and Harvey are seen leaving the hospital, Claire states that this is why they do it; it could be a disaster and out of control, but he can have a relationship if he sticks by it and be with someone who will stick with him through it. However, he doesn't think it's worth it while Claire answers a phone call from Breeze, Park goes to pick up Kellan to see him and Morgan visits her grandfather in a nursing home. Shaun soon sees Carly working, only for her to see him as he's walking away.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki^[2]
Karin Konoval as Nurse Deena Petringa^[2]
Jenny O'Hara as Ruby
Jill Morrison as Jenny Waring
John Innes as Harvey
Sophia Lauchlin Hirt as Suzanne Martin
Aren Buchholz as Alex Martin

Co-Starring[]

Soppo Gomez as Marco Higgins
Armin Karame as Waiter
Frances Flanagan as Stephanie

Trivia[]

This is Tamlyn Tomita's (Allegra Aoki) first episode as guest cast since the pilot episode, "Burnt Food". It is also her only appearance in Season 3 and her last appearance.
According to Andrews saying that it's been 72 hours since he lost his job at the hospital, this took place about three days after the events of Trampoline.
This is the second time when a patient is shown to be dying of cancer and the surgery that can stop it could kill them, following Middle Ground. However, Suzanne actually survived her surgery (unlike Paul) but with complications she has to live the rest of her life with.