I Love You

"I Love You"

Episode Information

Season 3

Episode 20

Overall 56

Airdate:

March 30, 2020

Viewers:

7.71^[1] million

Writer:

David Shore & David Hoselton & Adam Scott Weissman

Director:

David Shore

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Hurt"	"Frontline: Part One"

"I’m not afraid to die. I was raised a good Catholic, altar boy, First Communion… Faithfully wore my silver crucifix that Tía Abebe gave me for Confirmation. I was a true believer. Then I went to college, and maybe it’s just now that I’m… staring into the yawning void, I’m hedging my bet, but… It’s coming back to me. Like an old friend with a warm hug. "

—Neil to Claire after he finds out he is dying.

"I Love You" is the twentieth and final episode of Season 3 of The Good Doctor. It is the fifty-sixth episode overall, and aired on March 30, 2020. It is the second part of a two-hour season finale.

Synopsis[]

In the second episode of the two-part finale, our doctors work against time and their own personal safety to save the lives of those around them.^[2]

Plot[]

Claire gets Neil transported back to the hospital to have him checked out concerning his bruise and concussion. Although Neil tries to insist that he's fine, Claire tells him otherwise as she doesn't have his injuries. Meanwhile, Morgan is working on Tamara with Nurse Petringa and Lim and Park try to help Casey (with little success). While Shaun is with Vera, he finds that Lea has the other end of the walkie talkie as she wants to help. Shaun and Vera's area is still flooding, but Vera is still trapped and so Shaun cuts through the rebar to help her. Vera states that she was honest with her ex-boyfriend, having opened up a lot to him but he wasn't so open. She does want to move on from him, which Shaun questions as he thinks this implies she didn't love her ex.

After a CT scan, Claire finds nothing wrong with Neil's head. However, he accidentally says "winery" as opposed to "brewery" when he sees that they should get back to work; he's bleeding internally. Morgan is almost done on Tamara when Andrews walks in on the surgery and forces her to leave while stating that he will finish. Lim and Park still try to help Casey, but no surgery they can do on him can work without him dying and Park tells Lim to return to the hospital while he stays with Casey. Lim obliges and starts to get to work at the hospital when Claire shows her a scan of Neil.

Park confesses the truth to Casey, who is devastated while Shaun and Vera disagree about whether "moving on" is good or bad as Neil is informed that he's still bleeding. He is due to have abdominal surgery, even though he's at risk at having an ostomy bag or diabetes which he knows. Although Lim thinks an angio-embolization would be easier, Claire suggests otherwise and he has the surgery. Park finally gets a hold of Casey’s father on the radio. Casey immediately starts apologizing to his father, sobbing and saying that "it's [his] fault". Unfortunately, the signal immediately cuts out.

Neil's surgery goes ahead, but it appears that there are problems. Shaun also tries to slow down the water, but his efforts are in vain as Neil awakens. His injuries were a lot more complicated than they anticipated and it has already done irreversible damages to his body. They all come to the heart-breaking realization that they can’t do anything for Neil. But in spite of this, they still remain hopeful that he will pull through. Shaun is also in severe danger as the firefighters aren't sure they can get to him in time. Park tries to comfort Casey, who confesses that he was trying to apologize to his father as Casey believes he himself killed his mother.

Lea tries to get Shaun to get out, though he still stays with Vera while knowing that Lea's lying to him when she claims that the firefighters will get to Vera. Unable to cut through the rebar in time, Shaun considers cutting off Vera's leg instead. She's reluctant to have Shaun do so, but only consents if he agrees to move on from Lea if she (Vera) doesn’t survive. He does, while Neil remembers having once backpacked across South East Asia before medical school as Claire sees him. Casey admits that his mother died from an overdose due to being too dependent on pain medication following an accident she had, the bottles of which he discovered when she was taking them while going her purse in an attempt to get money to see a movie. He didn’t say anything to anyone, not knowing what to, and he thinks she could've got help if he told someone.

Andrews is tending to Morgan and talks about a rather arrogant doctor he once worked with, Wilmet Fortingale, who messed up and Andrews disrespectfully called him out over it. Andrews later also messed up a couple of days later, while telling Morgan about how arrogant residents tend to be. When she kept her diagnosis, he thought she showed no respect to anyone (her superiors or patients) and only cared about her career. However, she ended up caring so much for Tamara that he changed his mind. Nonetheless, he regrets how she's still destroyed her career.

As the hours pass, Neil’s condition gets worse as Claire stays with him. Park also still stays with Casey, while going along with pretending to be Casey's father as Shaun starts to cut through Vera's leg and Shaun tries distracting Lea by having her count to 180. Lim desperately tries to find a solution for Neil, but Dr. Glassman soon makes her realize that it’s too late and tells her that “it’s time to stop being a doctor; be a friend.”

Casey apologizes to Park whom he still thinks is his father, to which Park claims to have known about as "When you love someone, you know something's wrong". He wanted to help Casey's mother, having done "what [he] thought [he] could. Sometimes, you can help them. Sometimes, there’s just nothing you can do. It was never your fault." Lim also apologizes to Neil, but he tells her to not blame herself. They both reminisce about the future they could’ve had together. But, in the end, they didn’t need words to tell each other how they felt. As tears drop from Audrey’s eyes, Neil takes her hand in his.

Shaun tries to help Vera, but they're both submerged in the water and Lea becomes concerned. As Casey’s life starts fading away, he tells Park (while still thinking he's Casey's father) that he loves him. Park doesn’t hesitate to say it back. With that, Casey smiles one last time and takes his last breath. As tears stream from Dr. Park’s eyes, he bends and kisses Casey on the forehead. They get Casey's real father back on the line and Park tells him the unfortunate news.

Glassman is next to say goodbye to Neil. Unsure of what to say, Glassman talks about one of their patients in the past and how Neil caught the right diagnosis in time to save her life. With that, Glassman tells Neil that he was the best he ever worked with. Then, Claire walks in. At that, Glassman shakes Neil’s hand one last time and leaves. Although Lea fears for the worst for Shaun, she's pleased when he and Vera are revealed to have been rescued. Claire and Neil aren't sure of what to say to each other, but still laugh over how terrible a bowler Claire is and how she hates Neil's tattoo. She and Neil also confess their feelings for each other as Claire stays with him.

The next day, Vera is taken away in an ambulance as Shaun accompanies her to it when he and Lea see each other. Park calls Mia and tells her that he’ll be moving back home to be closer to them both. When he hears Kellan’s voice, he breaks down. Neil has also unfortunately died by then and Claire emerges from his room, breaks down in Lim’s arms both women comforting each other. As they slowly walk away, Lim suggests that they have a drink sometime and Claire agrees. Meanwhile, Lea heads straight towards Shaun who considers agreeing to Vera's promise when Lea kisses him. Shaun isn’t sure what exactly what to make of it, to which Lea explains that it was an “I’m such a stupid idiot for not seeing it but I love you with all my heart” kiss. She then proceeds to kiss him again as Shaun realizes that he doesn't need to move on as Vera didn't die as they lovingly become a couple.

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[]

Karin Konoval as Nurse Deena Petringa
Elfina Luk as Nurse Dalisay Villanueva
Bentley Green as Casey
Marin Ireland as Vera
April Cameron as Nurse Hawks

Co-Starring[]

Avery Konrad as Tamara Krantz
Christina Lewall as Kelly Smith
Jeremiah Oh as Dan Jackson
Bombyx Du Murier as Casey’s father (voice only)

Trivia[]

This episode marks the final episode to credit Nicholas Gonzalez (Neil Melendez) and Jasika Nicole (Carly Lever) as series regulars, though Nicole did not appear. In season 4, Gonzalez is demoted to a special guest star capacity in the first two episodes, while Nicole is written off the show.
This is the only episode where Neil and Morgan were patients.