Sex and Death

"Sex and Death"

Episode Information

Season 3

Episode 13

Overall 49

Airdate:

January 27, 2020^[1]

Viewers:

5.69^[2] million

Writer:

Doris Egan

Director:

Steven DePaul

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Mutations"	"Influence"

"I would [stop being a doctor]. I'd move from spa to spa, having massages and drinks with little umbrellas. Then I'd throw a party in the penthouse of the Four Seasons. And after everybody left, I'd go into the marble bathroom and painlessly self-euthanize… I'd obviously leave a big tip for housekeeping."

—Morgan to Shaun and Claire on what she do if she only had six months to live

"Sex and Death^[1] is the thirteenth episode of Season 3 of The Good Doctor. It is the forty-ninth episode overall, and aired on January 27, 2020.

Synopsis[]

Dr. Shaun Murphy and Dr. Morgan Reznick grapple with a terminal cancer patient who is determined to live the last few months of his life without inhibition. Meanwhile, Dr. Reznick must confront her relationship with her mother when she comes in for a third opinion from Dr. Glassman; and Shaun and Carly's relationship reaches a new level of intimacy.^[3]

Plot[]

Shaun walks into work feeling much more than lucky after his first physical intimacy with Carly, reporting to Morgan on how fabulous he thought it was. He asks if she thinks most of their coworkers in the hospital are having sex, though Morgan replies that perhaps it’s not as recent for them as it was for Shaun. He also quickly becomes dismayed when she tells him that her experience was not as fulfilling, as she cautions him to not discuss the matter while in his professional setting, or thinking about it for now as they are talking to a dying man; Oliver, who inquires only about medications to ease the symptoms of his chemotherapy which, of course, are debilitating in any measure. His wife Bella encourages him to do whatever possible to have his best life, but he wants to stop with the chemo as it is making him miserable.

Dr. Glassman is working in the clinic with an older woman, Caroline, who has clusters of cerebral cavernous malformations ("cav-mals"), which are killing her. She's asking Glassman for live-extending treatment, though he remarks that there is only a lobectomy which could cut back her life as a painter. He uses his own example of a new vocation and a new marriage to illustrate the possibilities (to no success), while Morgan and Claire make a bet that Shaun will mention sex in front of a patient in the next 24 hours. Caroline also reunites with Morgan; she's actually Morgan's mother, whom Morgan attempts to question about what she's doing at the hospital when Caroline collapses.

Shaun attempts to take Carly to "lunch", really to have sex but Carly implies that he can improve on it. Surgery on Caroline soon happens where they attempt to remove the cav-mals, only for Morgan to get annoyed when they start talking about her family. Dr. Park all the same declares his wild admiration for Caroline's work, as he and Claire try to advise Shaun on having sex with Carly. The three soon visit Caroline as Morgan shows a disdain for her mother, while she and Claire try to get Caroline to listen to the required treatment. Claire sees that Morgan detests her, while Neil sees to Oliver. It appears he's trying to spend his last six months doing great things such as sky-diving and vacationing to tropical countries.

While Morgan finds that Caroline has checked herself out of the hospital, Shaun gets Carly a jelly donut and coffee. He's also proud of himself as he thinks he's reached a breakthrough with his and Carly's sex life, only to realize the opposite. Carly attempts to comfort Shaun, but he still thinks he needs to give her a "parade". Morgan also finds Caroline at her home, but Morgan's attempts to get Caroline to face the fact that she's dying fall on deaf ears as Morgan's brother Ariel comes in. He and Morgan's sister Cassie also know about it and want Caroline to listen, but they didn't talk about it with Morgan as they feel she shut them off due to her claims of being an only child and their parents doing different things after getting tired of hearing of her artistically famous family when Caroline has a seizure and gets hurt.

Claire talks to Shaun about "setting a scene" through sex, including Carly's favorite movies and suggests Outlander when Morgan and Ariel come in with Caroline. She immediately has surgery where Shaun suggests that the cav-mals didn't cause it, but she instead has microbleeds which caused the seizure and they can remove the damaged tissue. Morgan tells them not to, as it means she will still be terminally ill and won't have the lobectomy Glassman tried to advise. Since Caroline could still be a painter in her short life if they do it, Claire goes to talk to Morgan who actually doesn't just want Caroline to live; Morgan is hoping her relationship with Caroline could improve if she could no longer be an artist, their differing careers being why Caroline treats her as she does. As that's who Caroline is, Morgan reluctantly agrees.

Shaun soon sees Carly in a highlander's costume akin to Outlander, while Morgan goes to observe the impact of seizures from the clusters on the brain. She does so through trying to convince Caroline to have the cav-mals removed and recalls how terrible Caroline was as a mother. Shaun comes back after Carly fell asleep while watching Outlander and he and Park see to Oliver, who hit his head while out in a new Ferrari he got. Bella tries to address his outlandish activities, though he just prioritizes them over her and she leaves. Morgan continues to chastise Caroline, who states that she knows how Morgan feels but states that she does love her. However, she ultimately isn't proud of Morgan. They then get results when Morgan retaliates by reminding Caroline of a scathing review an apparent biased art critic once gave her.

After the team don't get the results they were looking for, Caroline laments as being all for nothing. However, she can't leave yet as she has to rest for a day. As Shaun and Morgan compare how they would spend their short time left, Shaun and Claire see that Morgan a lot like Caroline. However, Shaun states that it's because of how they tend to pick things up (secretly due to their arthritis) while Claire points out that Caroline is rather controlling like Morgan who realizes something; she suggests to Glassman a ground-breaking though untested stereotactic laser ablation procedure. Unfortunately, he is reluctant since they don't know it will work and he doesn't want to get involved as it appears his cancer treatment has taken a toll on him.

Claire and Neil discuss Oliver's recent overactive lifestyle, while Claire claims that she too would try a similar lifestyle to him which Neil disbelieves. Glassman also considers the procedure, but Caroline refuses it while Morgan gets annoyed with Ariel for not backing her up. He replies that he just sees she's continuing her sour attitude to their lifestyle. Even Park addresses it, also seeing that they're competitive like she's always been ever since she first came to the hospital. Oliver also feels remorse about Bella not being with him during his dying months, especially since he's been overdoing his life while Shaun likes the simple things in life.

Morgan makes up with Ariel, while getting him on board the surgery with an artwork she has developed to showcase it. Glassman also gets involved in the surgery, as Morgan watches. He succeeds in the precise process of obliterating the clusters. Concurrently, Oliver's tumor that is the cause of his cancer is revealed to not be so aggressive and they can remove it in a few days. The surgery on Caroline is also a success, while she and Morgan make amends.

In the staff lounge some time later, Dr. Lim offers her seasoned counsel when it comes to Shaun's desire to give Carly pleasure. Using the analogy that a frozen pizza takes a microwave, and too many men around Shaun’s age take the pizza out of the microwave too soon. She encourages that Shaun’s “superpower” is his complete commitment and focus, just as during surgery. She instructs him that perhaps he should “work that parade route” until “the band stops playing” and then go “3% more”. Shaun and Carly are boarding the bus after the day, when they find Oliver sitting on the bench, staring blankly. Shaun asks if Oliver is getting on the bus, to which Oliver answers that he isn't. In bed, Carly has a wide smile after sex as Shaun lays sleeping in the bed.