"Frontline Part One" is the first episode of Season 4 of The Good Doctor. It is the fifty-seventh episode overall, and aired on November 2, 2020. It is the first part of a two-hour season premiere.
Synopsis[]
In part one of the two-part season premiere of ABC's "The Good Doctor," Dr. Shaun Murphy treats a patient with an illness that is not only unpredictable in nature, but also unlike anything he or the team at San Jose St. Bonaventure has ever seen before. As safety protocols and quarantines increase due to the global pandemic, Lea and Shaun's new relationship will become tested; and Dr. Alex Park gets ready to move back to Phoenix, Arizona, to be closer to his family. Meanwhile, Dr. Morgan Reznick navigates her way around the clinic following her departure from the surgery team and unknowingly puts herself and several members of the staff in danger. Finally, Dr. Claire Brown continues to work through her grief, still reeling from the sudden death of Dr. Neil Melendez.[2]
Plot[]
- February 26, 2020: 1 week before California declares State of Emergency
At a coffee shop in San Jose, California, a woman coughs shortly before handing the cashier her the money owed for her drink. She then deposits some of the leftover change into the tip jar and leaves.
Shaun is pouring himself some orange juice to start his day. There is a knock on the door and he goes quickly to open it. Lea barges in and asks if he has seen her badge. She says that she had last night, but thinks that maybe it fell out of her bag when she paid for pizza they had. Shaun reminds her that this wouldn't be happening if she just stayed over, which Lea counters by saying that even when they lived together, she still had an affinity for misplacing her things. While looking for her ID badge, Lea tells Shaun that it is simply too soon for her to move back in. She jokes that if she had stayed over the two of them would have not slept as much as they did apart. She eventually finds her badge in between two cushions of Shaun's sofa, and agrees to staying over on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Claire and Lim are sitting on a bench as they continue to mourn Neil's death. Claire confides in Lim that she hopes they don’t stop coming. Lim is perplexed asks why, to which Claire answers that it's usually how it works; people mourn for a while and then they forget. Lim sighs and tells Claire that it's not forgetting, but rather people begin to move on. In that moment, Claire vows to never stop coming nor forgetting about Neil.
At the hospital, Morgan takes the temperature of the woman who had been at the coffee shop, Mildred, and the thermometer says that her temperature is at 101 °F. When Morgan asks if she is presenting any other symptoms, Mildred in a hoarse voice states that at first it was a sore throat, then her body started aching and now she has a really bad cough. She has had her flu shot, though Morgan states that unfortunately influenza is always mutating, but she hopes that woman will recover fast. The woman then mentions how her daughter is worried she might have the coronavirus. Morgan in turn asks her if she has been to China, on a cruise or been in contact with someone who was in China. When the woman says she has not, Morgan tells her that having a sore throat is not one of the symptoms of the coronavirus. As a result, she sends the woman home and tells her that it is just a bad case of the flu. So she should go home and rest and drink plenty of fluids.
Two weeks later, Mildred is back in the hospital now in worse condition, and Dr. Lim tells Mildred's daughter Lashelle that the virus has damaged her mother’s lungs. Moreover, her blood oxygen levels continue to drop as her lungs work harder and harder to breathe. At another part of the hospital, Shaun tells another patient, Martin, that he has Covid-19. Martin reminds Shaun that he hasn't been tested, but Shaun states that the patient's chest x-rays suggest ground glass opacities. He then goes on to say that the hospital currently has no Covid-19 tests. Martin then tells Shawn how he can't smell, and that he has been reading about the virus, and that is not a symptom. Martin asks what happens now, to which Shaun replies that there is no treatment, and he should just go home but to come back if he has trouble breathing.
Meanwhile, a frustrated Lim is on the phone with the county health department trying to get more tests available at the hospital. Morgan and Park work on a pregnant woman, Ambar, who tells them that she has been experiencing some of the symptoms. Worried, she asks them if she is infected, if her baby is too. Dr. Park replies that from what they know so far about the coronavirus, it does not seem to affect children in the same way as adults. He asks Morgan if they should admit Ambar, whom Morgan sees is probably safer at home. Park gets a call from Mia and he informs her that he won't be making it out to Phoenix anytime soon. Mia reminds him that there are hospitals in Phoenix too, but Park reminds her that it would not be practical to share a living space with them after working in a hospital for 12 hours with Covid-19 patients. Mia brings up how how Kellan will be really upset because he was looking forward to Park being closer to them. Park then mentions how the pandemic will be over by June, just in time for Kellan's graduation.
Lim meanwhile finds herself at a conference through Zoom and asks if anyone has any connections. Jessica reminds her that everyone does, but right now all of them are getting nowhere. Debbie interrupts the meeting with the board Dr. Glassman is on by asking him if he wants nuts or no nuts on his banana bread. He instead vents his frustration with her, stating how he'd rather be working at the hospital because working from home is making him feel useless. Debbie reminds him that he is 65 years old and with a history of cancer, so working on the frontlines of the hospital is not what is best for his health.
It is now week three of California's State of Emergency, and Park wakes up to his phone ringing. It's Kellan facetiming him. Park goes out into the kitchen and Shaun hands over some orange juice while he talks with Lea. Kellan recites the number of deaths thus far from Santa Clara County, and asks his father if he has been tested for it. However, Park remains blasé and tells him he is not presenting any symptoms. Kellan reminds him that people can have Covid and still be asymptomatic as Shaun talks to Lea. He soon works on Martin and admits him to the Covid floor as Claire works on Mildred and Park on Ambar.
Lim still tries to get more Covid tests, to no success as Claire asks for permission to put Mildred on ECMO and Shaun and Andrews work on Martin. Later that night, Park, Morgan, Claire and Shaun all are in the break room. A stressed out Claire mentions how she feels terrible right now, having spent 18 hours watching people get sicker and sicker. Not helping anyone, but rather postponing death a while longer which Park tries to calm her over. Andrews arrives home, but stays in the garage to keep Isabel as safe as possible.
Week four of the state of emergency, a tired Lim is stopped from getting on the elevator, when an older woman asks if she is a hospital worker. When Lim says that she is, to which the woman asks for her to take the next one. Shaun gets upset when Park begins to fill up what would now be Lea’s cabinet, to which Park sees that Shaun misses Lea and admits to missing Mia and Kellan too (though Shaun denies such feelings). Lashelle soon asks about her mother, but Claire states that she's still sick while Lashelle gets upset that she can't tell Mildred that she loves her as Shaun tries to help Martin and Morgan and Park work on Ambar.
Glassman gets frustrated with Debbie going out to get food and her doing dinner while he's in a meeting. Unfortunately, Mildred's ECMO isn't working and she starts flatlining, despite Lim and Claire's attempts to help and she dies. While Shaun and Park continue with their respective Zoom calls with Lea and Kellan, Debbie tries to get Glassman to go on a walk with her when she annoyingly finds him playing Online Poker. Martin has heart problems due to an abscess which they hope to deal with, only for a patient to be revealed to be going home while Martin and Ambar need to be ventilated.
Lea tries to introduce Shaun to phone sex, though he gets frustrated at not being with her and she sees that he really does miss her. Lashelle soon asks for Claire as Mildred had a cross and was wondering if she can have it back, which Claire agrees to. Lim soon gets on the elevator and tells the older woman from earlier to wear her damn mask. While Lily fears for Martin's survival, Park delivers Ambar's baby while she is in a coma as he decides to take responsibility for putting Ambar through an intensive treatment.
Unfortunately, while treating a Walter (a man with symptoms of diverticulitis), Morgan discovers that he has COVID and both she and Nurse Petringa have been exposed. Ultimately, Shaun and Lea spend time with each other by having a door between them as Glassman and Debbie make up. While looking at the personal belongings of the hospital's COVID patients in search of Mildred's cross, Claire sees Neil. He tells her that things will be okay.
Cast[]
Starring[]
Special Guest Star[] |
Guest Starring[]
Co-Starring[]
|
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode not to feature Nicholas Gonzalez (Neil Melendez) as a series regular.
- However, he makes a cameo appearance at the end of the episode and is credited as a special guest star.
- This episode begins on February 26, 2020 and is a few weeks since I Love You and then has time-skips that takes place over the course of several weeks.
- The episode has a title card stating that the events are a fictional story about a real battle still being fought, telling the audience to honor the heroes of the fight such as doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, many of whom have given their lives, and ends with an order to "do your part. Wear a mask."
- Park has delayed his move back to Phoenix due to the pandemic and moved in with Shaun while Dr. Glassman is forced to work from home and Dr. Andrews is sleeping in his garage to protect his wife.
- Jessica makes her first physical appearance since Season 1 (aside from archival footage in Hello and a brief mention in Tough Titmouse) as part of Glassman and Lim's video conference call.
- It is also her final appearance in the series.
- After the airing of this episode, lots of viewers took to social media to to voice how the episode had left them 'crying their eyes out' as COVID-19 was tackled in the season 4 premiere.[3]
- On November 3, 2020, it was reported that viewership for this episode had the lowest live ratings to date for the show.[4]
- Due to the U.S. election coverage, a repeat of the premiere was shuffled around on Friday November 6, 2020, for U.S. East Coast viewers.[5]
- On November 17, 2020, it was revealed that thanks to delayed viewing, the premiere received an additional 4.5 million viewers, bringing its number of viewers to a total of 9.3 million, thus beating all other competition.[6]
Multimedia[]
Promotional Images[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ The Good Doctor S4 E 1 Frontline Part 1 ratings - Showbuzz Daily
- ↑ "The Good Doctor - Episode 4.01 - Frontline, Part 1 - Promo, 3 Sneak Peeks, Promotional Photos + Press Release"
- ↑ SAD DIAGNOSIS The Good Doctor fans left ‘crying their eyes out’ as Covid-19 strikes and beloved character makes ‘heartbreaking’ return - The Sun
- ↑ ‘The Good Doctor’ Season 4 Premiere Doesn’t Do So Great in Ratings - The Wrap
- ↑ NBC, ABC & CBS Tweak Thursday Schedules For More Election Coverage; ‘Dateline’ & ‘The Good Doctor’ Repeats Plus ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Pushed On East Coast - Deadline
- ↑ Live+7 Ratings for Week of Nov. 2: ‘The Good Doctor’ Premiere Adds 4.5 Million Viewers - Variety
