SFAD

"SFAD"

Episode Information

Season 3

Episode 7

Overall 43

Airdate:

November 11, 2019^[1]

Viewers:

5.93^[2] million

Writer:

Jessica Grasl^[3]

Director:

Alrick Riley^[3]

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"45-Degree Angle"	"Moonshot"

“	I'm a freak too. People used to call me that too because I am not neurotypical. And for a long time I was alone. And sometimes that felt easier because it is hard to be around people when you are not like them. But now I have Dr. Glassman and a female roommate and a girlfriend who is only annoying some of the time. If you are cured, you can be outdoorsy, or you can stay inside and have phone sex. It's your choice.	„
	― Shaun giving a pep talk to Tara

"SFAD"^[1] is the seventh episode of Season 3 of The Good Doctor. It is the forty-third episode overall, and aired on November 11, 2019.

Synopsis[]

Dr. Shaun Murphy's unique ability to relate to a patient isolated by an immune deficiency yields an unexpected result. Meanwhile, Dr. Claire Browne, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Marcus Andrews treat a 12-year-old patient who is about to become blind, and tension builds between Dr. Neil Melendez and Dr. Audrey Lim.^[3]

Plot[]

Carly is away at a conference this week, which presents a new hurdle for Shaun since Carly keeps text-messaging him. Shaun is encouraged by Lea to answer Carly's texts but he isn't sure about doing so if she doesn’t pose a question. Neil is still reeling from losing Patty. He thinks Lim is making breakfast for him, but she admits that she ordered it and managed to keep it warm. He tells her that she doesn’t have to do this and he is fine, though Lim asks Neil if he got any sleep. She tries to reassure him that what happened to Patty was not his fault, having known the risks and would've made the same choice again.

Claire, Morgan and Andrews are working with Charlie, a 12-year-old boy who had his left eye removed and replaced with a replica due to cancer and is about to lose his right one as well. Meanwhile, Neil, Shaun and Park work on their own patient; Tara, a young woman with no immune system and infected tissue on her right lung. When Charlie appears to be taking his cancer rather well, Claire is told to talk to him. Shaun, Neil and Park check over Tara before sending her to surgery while promising that she'll be alright as they will be taking every precaution for her conditions, but Tara states that she needs to know how they won't kill her and Shaun explains.

Claire is quite reluctant to talk to Charlie, but Morgan states a need for it nonetheless when they find him gone. No-one else saw him leave, while Morgan tells his parents that they'll have him back. Morgan found that he got a ride to somewhere close, while she and Claire go to find him. Meanwhile, Shaun is texted by Carly an eyeroll emoji but he isn't sure of what to make of it. FaceTiming Lea at her work, she figures that Carly misses Shaun and tries to get him to reply that he misses her too.

Claire and Morgan track Charlie down at a San Jose Giants game, where they try to get him to return. Morgan catches him eyeing a ballpark vendor that he's got a crush on and encourages Charlie to talk to her. During Tara's surgery, they're having difficulty partly due to her being in an airtight chamber and Neil sees that they need to take her out of it. Charlie also chickens out of talking to the girl at the very last moment, though Morgan (to Claire's annoyance) agrees to a request from him. Neil tries to lead the team on the new surgery, though he hesitates to make the first cut and Lim takes notice. She encourages him to talk to someone, but he says he'd prefer to focus on his current patient as opposed to his previous one.

While Andrews realizes that Charlie, Claire and Morgan are gone, he calls Claire who is on one of Charlie's last requests; being able to drive in an empty parking lot. Shaun treats Tara after her successful surgery, but she takes note of how he keeps getting texts from Carly. Tara relates as she used to text her boyfriend a lot, which annoyed him while Shaun states that he doesn't know what to say. Tara offers her advice, while connecting with him because of how different they both are to their own parents due to Shaun's autism and Tara's sickness. Unfortunately, she spikes a fever and begins to show early signs of sepsis.

As Neil orders for how to treat Tara, Park thinks they can do more than just treat her infection; he pitches to Neil gene replacement therapy. If it works, she's cured; if it doesn't, she dies. Neil doesn't feel particularly lucky and chooses the safer procedure, despite Park protesting that her other infections will most likely kill her. As Charlie's parents have differing views of how Charlie's feeling about his cancer, he talks about how his parents use to have SFADs (Spontaneous Family Adventure Days) with him that were somewhat lame but also rather good. This all changed when he got cancer and he attempts to make another request.

Lim confronts Neil for rejecting Park's gene therapy idea, saying they can't dismiss a plausible treatment option out of fear. Neil claims that he's trying to be cautious, which Lim doesn't believe and states that the benefit of the cure may be worth the risk while permitting Park to present the option to Tara. She refuses it as she doesn't think it's worth it and everyone will still think she's a freak and sees that she'll never live a "normal" life. Shaun interjects, sharing how he's "a freak, too" as he's not neurotypical and also used to be alone. Sometimes it was easier as he's found it hard to be around people who weren't like him, though he now has Glassman, Lea and Carly, which he thinks is better than being alone, and she changes her mind. Neil gives Shaun and Park the go-ahead to prep Tara for gene replacement, but warns Park about going over his head again.

Morgan and Claire take Charlie to a strip club so he can see a naked woman, but the bouncer refuses to accept a cash bribe from Morgan. As Lim drops off a budget approval and surgical cases for Glassman to review for a board meeting the next night, she informs him about how Neil has been dealing with losing Patty. As she tries to get Glassman to talk to Neil, Debbie approaches Glassman about a patient when she meets Lim. Charlie begs Claire and Morgan to try one more thing before they head back, but Claire tells him that he can't pack a lifetime of things he's going to miss into one day. Ultimately, his situation sucks and it's unfair, but that's how life is and things end before anyone is ready. Charlie then responds by refusing to have the surgery.

The transfusion is ultimately a success, and Tara is given a hopeful prognosis. As Shaun and Park are leaving, Tara asks that Shaun stay with her so she has someone with her. She also advises him that Carly just wants Shaun to know that he's there for her. Meanwhile, Glassman is having trouble with the IT and asks Debbie to call someone. Unfortunately, it turns out that she actually upgraded the software which is more inconvenient for Glassman who already is having trouble. He is also already frustrated because Debbie has been trying to get Glassman to stick to a schedule and interrupting his work, while unfortunately snapping at Debbie.

Realizing she took it too far, Claire apologizes to Charlie. She tells him about losing Breeze which really hurts, while it was unfair that she took it out on Charlie. All the same, she tells him that if he doesn't have this surgery, he'll miss out on a whole lot more than what his vision can offer, including all that he's just done. She also says that it will get "less sucky", and the part that hurts so much right now will start to hurt less. He'll then continue to have both good and bad moments, but they will be during his life and says that he will have a good (or even great) one.

Charlie soon returns to the hospital. Glassman also approaches Neil and makes clear that it was Lim that wanted them to talk, though Glassman offers for him to not talk to him or Lim but just to anyone. He also remarks about how Neil has lost patients before, but never anyone that should've lived and sees that Neil isn't fine "and for no other reason than his boss thinks so". Glassman also says that "the bigger problem is [his] girlfriend doesn't agree with her". Before Charlie can be wheeled into the OR, Morgan claims that she forgot to take his vitals and will wheel him right out. She then closes the curtain and fulfils Charlie's last wish by flashing her breasts. When she wheels him out, Andrews asks about his vitals. Morgan says that his “temp might be a little up, but he's ready now".

Neil goes to see Lim and tells her that she's right; he's not fine, and he does blame himself for Patty's death. He talks about how the blame lies with himself, but that they share the responsibility of her death; Lim is not objective when it comes to him because of the nature of their relationship. He also thinks Lim's personal feelings may have led her to overestimate him and he wouldn't have done the surgery if it were not because of it. Lim argues that it's impossible, given the current dynamic and is unconvinced. She instead says things like this will happen again, and that she will make decisions similar to this one. She goes onto saying Neil will have bad outcomes, but that doesn't mean that either of them were wrong. She finishes by saying that her approval bestowed upon Neil had nothing to do with their relationship. Neil remains unconvinced and tells Lim that perhaps, if they weren't dating, that woman might still be alive, but now they will both have to live with not knowing.

Charlie's procedure ends up being a success. He thanks Morgan and tries to call out to Claire, but she’s not there, having already left. Tara also isn't fully cured yet, as she still needs to stay in the hospital for a few days, but her body's fighting the infection. As she embraces life outside of her bubble, Glassman and Debbie make up for their fight. However, Debbie doesn't think returning to the clinic is a good idea. Glassman responds with how he's been a bit freaked out at times while with her (their wedding and her gun), but took on two jobs at the hospital for her. She then agrees to return to the hospital and for them to go upstairs.

Morgan catches up to Claire at a bar and commends her for what a great job she did with Charlie. Claire says that she said what she had to get him back to the hospital, but Morgan refuses to let her downplay her efforts today and warns her to not let herself go down this path. Neil returns to his apartment without Lim, whom he has probably broken up with. He takes out his phone to call her, but it goes straight to voicemail. Rather than leave a message, he hangs up and finishes his drink. Shaun also takes Tara's advice to just let Carly know that he's there for her.