Heartbreak

"Heartbreak"

Episode Information

Season 3

Episode 18

Overall 54

Airdate:

March 9, 2020

Viewers:

5.75^[1] million

Writer:

Thomas L. Moran & David Renaud

Director:

Steven DePaul

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Fixation"	"Hurt"

“	You were born with those hands. What are you gonna do, practice surgery for a few more years and then spend the rest of your life not being able to pick up a pencil? You can pursue another specialty. You can practice for the rest of your life.	„
	― Aaron Glassman to Morgan on the decision she needs to make sooner rather than later.

"Heartbreak" is the eighteenth episode of Season 3 of The Good Doctor. It is the fifty-fourth episode overall, and aired on March 9, 2020.

Synopsis[]

Dr. Claire Browne and Dr. Shaun Murphy treat a patient with a rare form of dwarfism. Meanwhile, Dr. Morgan Reznick, Dr. Audrey Lim and Dr. Alex Park treat a young man who had both arms torn off in a previous farming accident; and Shaun reacts to an emotional situation.^[2]

Plot[]

Devastated by Lea's refusal to be with him, Shaun has taken to not coming into work or cleaning up after himself. He's visited by Claire who tries to offer comfort, while trying to get him to come into work by stating that he will feel better while taking care of his patients. Unfortunately, Shaun just starts acting rude while he, Claire and Neil are working on Finn, a business man with dwarfism that needs a surgery which puts him at risk of an unstable spine and a speech impediment. Finn is reluctant to have it, but is convinced otherwise by his devoted girlfriend, Natalie.

Park, Lim and Andrews are seeing to Tyson, a farmer who has had constant surgery on his arms which got torn off while working a harvester. He can barely work them, which Lim tries to suggest a lot of surgeries for but Andrews tries to push for another option; Tyson's arms be amputated and replaced by robotic ones, though he refuses it. Meanwhile, Morgan comes to Dr. Glassman for treatment for her rheumatoid arthritis. The medication isn't working, so Morgan considers removing the joint linings in her fingers. She thinks she can still be a surgeon, but is warned by Glassman about how her hands would end up deformed and advises she do a less dangerous field (to no success).

Shaun and Claire are checking over Finn before he goes into surgery when he works out Shaun's situation, only for a woman to come in worried sick about Finn; Kate, another girlfriend of his. He sees that he cannot be tied down in a relationship and has been with multiple women, none of whom know the truth and Claire gets annoyed when he tries to get them to not tell Natalie. While Tyson is in surgery, Lim and Andrews end up in an argument while disagreeing over whether Lim's surgical idea will work or give him the prosthetic option. Neil makes comments about Finn's situation which Shaun sees is because of how "weird" Finn is, which Claire tries to dispute.

It turns out that when Finn's neck is flexed, he can't breathe and his surgery is put on hold until they can figure out why. Unfortunately, Shaun's attitude from being upset worsens while he, Claire and Neil are trying to figure it out which Neil berates him over and has them work overnight to deal with it. As Shaun is still upset, Park and Morgan try to offer advice but he won't stop pointing out problems with Claire considering that they do a surgery through Finn's neck.

Morgan and Park agree with Lim about Tyson's surgery and try to figure out how to help him, despite what Andrews is trying to push for and accuses Lim of not wanting that surgery as Andrews thought of it. Lim admits that she has a competitive drive, but respects Tyson who was able to call for help despite being injured as he was. Andrews believes Lim, but he still stands by his idea and sees that Lim will realize he's right too. Claire also presents her idea to Neil, who thinks Shaun was right to dispute it when Claire receives flowers from Dash. They have yet to kiss, Claire not knowing when's the right time but is encouraged by Neil to go after Dash if she likes him.

Shaun informs Finn that he will be checked on by nurses throughout the night, while Finn tries to advise Shaun that he try to find someone for himself (although Shaun doesn't want to). Finn then collapses and Shaun calls a Code Blue. Finn is at high risk of pneumonia as Claire still tries to find something, but she can't as Neil sends her home before ordering that they do the original surgery the next day. Meanwhile, Morgan informs Tyson of the surgery they plan to do which will still leave him in pain which he claims he can handle, but he then starts coughing up blood.

Dash has taken Claire to a punk rock show, which they enjoy while reminiscing about going to one in college and then they kiss. Neil also considers Claire's idea, but they go through his back as opposed to his neck. However, Shaun ends up contradicting Neil and storms off while declaring that this isn't helping him. Neil tells off Shaun for what he did, while trying to get Shaun back to work while referring to his own heartbreaks. When this doesn't work, he forces Shaun back inside or he won't be at the hospital for any longer.

Lim has to concede with Andrews about giving Tyson the prosthetic arms, which he is reluctant about. However, Lim convinces him by stating how tough Tyson is. Meanwhile, Shaun and Claire are preparing Finn for surgery when he stands by what he said about Shaun finding someone to date and tries to set him up with one of the nurses, Julie Fletch (despite Claire trying to tell him otherwise). However, Finn then gets a text and (despite Claire's attempts to stop him) rushes outside to find Natalie next to his Porsche with a baseball bat; she found out about Kate and proceeds to smash his car in revenge, while Finn has to be taken inside for surgery.

Before Tyson's surgery, Morgan waits in the OR to think about it while confessing the truth about her rheumatoid arthritis to Lim and that the surgery “will be [her] last”. Natalie's hand got injured while wrecking Finn's car and Shaun helps her to heal. He admires her vengeance, even though it scares him and states that he likes her. She took great pleasure in ending the relationship “on [her] own terms.” As a result, Shaun takes her example as a lesson to emulate in his own life.

Finn's surgery soon happens with Claire's approach, but modified slightly by Neil. Tyson's also happens, with Lim asking that Morgan give Tyson his new arms. Finn's surgery is successful, with some inserted screws to help, and no certainty that Finn wasn't paralyzed. All the same, Shaun compliments Claire on how it was a good idea. Glassman also relates having gone through a similar heartbreak, but he states that he's proud of how Shaun dealt with it. Tyson soon awakens and tries out his arms, which he is pleased with while Lim reluctantly agrees that Andrews was right.

Finn also recovers and is alright, but he hoped that he could say goodbye to Natalie. Nonetheless, he still tries to get Shaun to date. Although Claire is unsure about whether the surgery was worth it, Neil compliments Claire that she makes him a better doctor as they say good night. Glassman also talks to Morgan about her giving up surgery, only for her to state that she isn't and will be having the surgery to remove her joints (despite Glassman's protests).

While Shaun appears to agree with Finn and talks to Nurse Fletch at a bar, Claire has another date with Dash that night but it's clear that she is not feeling him anymore and leaves. Inspired by Natalie, Shaun considers smashing Lea's striped tomato car when Lea sees him. She tries to talk him out of it and apologize for how she was, but he ultimately can't do it. Instead, he yells at Lea about her flaws and calls her a "superficial, selfish and prejudice person", leaving them both in tears. After leaving her date earlier than expected, Claire goes to see Dr. Malkin to whom she fearfully admits that she thinks she's in love with Neil.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy
Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr. Neil Melendez
Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne
Fiona Gubelmann as Dr. Morgan Reznick
Will Yun Lee as Dr. Alex Park
Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim
Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo
Jasika Nicole as Dr. Carly Lever (credit only)
Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews
Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman

Guest Starring[]

Teryl Rothery as Dr. Jan Lancaster
Brittney Wilson as Nurse Julie Fletch
John Patrick Amedori as Dash Snyder
Nic Novicki as Finn Michaels
Tom Stevens as Tyson
Meghan Heffern as Nathalie Beauchemin

Co-Starring[]

Kelly-Ruth Mercier as Dr. Donna Malkin
Paula Burrows as Kate Spotts
Rebecca Wass as Nurse #1
Cäsar Jacobson as Bartender

Trivia[]

Freddie Highmore (Shaun Murphy) and Brittney Wilson (Nurse Julie Fletch) have appeared on-screen together in the psychological drama series Bates Motel.
This is the last apperance of Dash Snyder.
There were several differences between the American version and the Turkish version of this episode:
- Shaun refused to go to work as he was depressed over Lea rejecting him twice, but Claire convinced him to come back. However, Shaun ended up taking his anger out on her and Neil, especially due to their obvious attraction to each other. On the other hand, Ali (Shaun's counterpart) was depressed over his breakup with Nazli (Claire's counterpart) and Ferman (Neil's counterpart) was the one who forced him to come back to work, although in an angry tone after seeing his trashed apartment through a videocall. Due to the Neil-Claire ship being completely omitted from the Turkish version, Ali never took his anger out on Nazli and Ferman.
- Finn's case was assigned to Shaun, Claire and Neil, while in the Turkish version it was assigned to Acelya (Morgan's counterpart) and Doruk.
- Natalie - Finn's girlfriend - furiously smashed his car with a bat after finding out about his other girlfriend Kate. However, the only time Kate ever appeared was when she came to check on Finn and her interaction with Natalie happened off-screen. Thus, Natalie never told her about dating Finn as well. Claire even refused to help Finn cover up his cheating scheme. The Turkish version's episode went exactly the same, except that the conversation between the counterparts of Natalie and Kate was actually shown when Natalie found Kate crying and, unlike the American adaptation, they slowly deduced that Finn's counterpart had been dating them at the same time and both of them smashed his car in retaliation. Like Claire, Acelya also refused to help Finn out.
- Shaun, following Natalie's misguided advice on how to deal with a heartbreak, attempted to smash Lea's car just as she showed up and Shaun bluntly told her he was going to do that in order to make her suffer as he suffered when she turned him down. Shaun was ultimately unable to go through with it, and lashed out at Lea for her flaws, leaving her in tears. In the Turkish version, Ali attempted to do the same to Doruk's motorcycle as he wouldn't quit bullying him. Doruk begged him not to smash his motorcycle and promised to not bother him anymore while even trying to comfort him. Lea didn't do this in the American adaptation, although she was visibly scared about it, nor did Ali work on Finn's case. That incident happened in the Turkish version of Take My Hand.
- Finn openly flirted with Nurse Fletch who smiled in response, while encouraging Shaun to date women or even her when he brought up his situation with Lea. But in the Turkish, Finn's counterpart hit on Acelya who got annoyed by his womanizing behavior. In addition, Finn's counterpart deduced that Acelya was heartbroken over Demir (Jared's counterpart) as he broke up with her, and encouraged her to date other men and even made a joke about her and Doruk being attracted to each other, which annoyed her.