‘The Good Doctor’ Season 3, Episode 15 ‘Unsaid’ Review: Carly’s Decision

Shaun (Freddie Highmore) singing Super Bass in The Good Doctor is the absolute highlight of my week. It makes me so damn happy seeing him sing, dance, and just have fun like nobody’s business. But, my oh my did that throw me off for that last scene. The Shaun and Carly ship is headed somewhere it’s not coming back from. And oddly enough, I don’t have any grievances with it. More on that later.

On the other hand, things are heating up once again between the residents of St. Bonaventure. And it’s hard to tell what to make of it all for the remaining episodes of the season. Morgan’s (Fiona Gubelmann) being meaner than her usual self. But, her RA’s starting to get the better of her. Park (Will Yun Lee), on the other hand, has turned to some backhanded tactics to get himself some spotlight. All in all, this week’s episode of The Good Doctor is a little tense. Here’s why.

Counter Favoritism

In the last episode of The Good Doctor, someone complained about Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) having favoritism. And since Park was receiving the short end of the stick that week, I think almost everybody suspected it was him. Everybody that bet on him is right. He all but admitted it to Claire (Antonia Thomas) claiming he was protecting her from unseemly comments and resentment. But, seriously, who believes that? Park can be quite nice but the guy has a cunning streak meaner than Morgan’s.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

Given the complaint, Melendez has started distancing himself from Claire and even the slightest appraisal of her work. With their new patient Fran (Brittany Willacy), a firefighter whose arm got mangled by a dog, Melendez doesn’t even let Claire work. Instead, he tosses it all to Park. And that is very counterproductive if you ask me. Melendez might’ve eased on favoring Claire, but now he’s favoring Park.

More than that, Melendez is acting like he and Claire were caught in a hotel room or a broom closet doing something inappropriate. As to which Claire reminds him that they weren’t because men and women are permitted to hang out with each other without anything funny happening! Despite this, Melendez maintains it’s all for the sake of professionalism. Then, he tells Claire it’s better if they stop hanging out outside of work.

Snippy Competition

The first operation to repair Fran’s arm is a bust. She comes out of it feeling nothing and not being able to move her arm at all. So, Park, Claire, and Melendez figure out a way to repair what’s wrong. In the middle of the discussion, Claire and Park reach a disagreement. They start snipping at each other and Melendez doesn’t even try to step in. And in the end, he goes with Park’s suggestion. When Claire pokes him about it, Melendez even goes so far as to suggest that she’s overreacting.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

In the operating room, Melendez doesn’t let either Claire or Park help out much. He goes at it almost fully solo. This does nothing to appease Claire though. And, of course, she wouldn’t give up. After all, their friendship was completely sincere. I thought The Good Doctor would start pairing them up romantically. Thankfully it didn’t and hopefully, it wouldn’t.

So, after successful surgery, Claire tracks down Melendez outside of work. She makes him see that he is overcompensating on playing safe. And it is hurting the team. But, stubborn as he is, Melendez opts to bow out. He even manages to get into his car. However, in the end, Claire’s words turn him back right around. And the two enjoy a fantastic dinner as friends.

Things Unsaid

On the other hand, Shaun and Morgan land quite a unique case. Cory (Zade Garcia), a 10-year-old boy, doesn’t have a larynx and his trachea isn’t fully developed. His upper airways are also blocked so he’s been breathing through a tube out of his throat. But now, Lim (Christina Chang) has a solution to that.

Regarding Cory’s condition, Shaun thinks the kid has a hard time communicating. Morgan disagrees. And soon, this conversation segues to a conversation about hidden meanings, particularly in relationships. Though Shaun thinks he and Carly (Jasika Nicole) are pretty open and forthcoming about what they’re feeling, Morgan thinks otherwise. She thinks that Carly might often mean something else from the words she’s speaking out loud. Truly, Morgan is the devil’s advocate in this episode.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

Bothered, Shaun asks Lea’s (Paige Spara) advice over lunch. And even though she’s picking from his plate, he’s pleased when she agrees that Carly isn’t someone to use double meanings as Morgan implies.

Later on, in Cory’s operation, Morgan messes up. Lim entrusts her to do a couple of sutures but her RA prevents her from doing so. Morgan quickly tries to cover it up with a lame excuse about hitting her hand with a hammer. But, Lim isn’t standing for it and orders Shaun to replace her. “You’re a surgeon, not a hockey player,” Lim reminds Morgan. “We don’t play through our injuries.”

Probably in response to her bruised ego, Morgan starts being very spiteful towards Shaun. I swear, she hasn’t been this awful in a while in The Good Doctor. But, she goes ahead and targets Shaun’s relationship saying that even though Carly claims she isn’t jealous of Lea anymore, she should be. Lea eating off of Shaun’s plate is her marking her territory according to Morgan.

Making a Voice

On the other hand, Cory’s surgery goes well. The kid finally is able to breathe normally without the tube’s help. Still, his inability to speak bothers Shaun well into the night and the next day. At breakfast though, he comes up with a brilliant idea to give Cory a voice: make a larynx for him. It’s a risky idea that could undo all the repair they just did.  But, surprisingly, Lim takes up the idea.

When they present it to Cory’s parents though, they immediately disagree. For them, Cory’s already perfectly healthy and he needs nothing more. Shaun doesn’t agree. “He’ll always be limited,” he says. “It’ll be difficult to make friends, to interact with strangers.”

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

Later on though, before they could discharge Cory, Morgan notices that the kid isn’t as upbeat as before. And after a terse conversation with his parents, Cory reveals he wants to do the operation. He admits that he has a hard time talking to other people and making friends at school. And he’s tired of being ignored and being called stupid. Because of this, the parents finally agree to the operation.

Granted there were a few snags but, Lim, Shaun, and Morgan manage to pull off the surgery with amazing teamwork. That creating a larynx idea was just genius. And it’s honestly one of the more interesting operations of the season.

On the other hand, though, Shaun’s stand on the matter is a little hard to swallow. His reasoning was logical but, for once this episode, I agree with Morgan that Shaun was projecting his own difficulties towards the kid. His insistence that only verbal communication could make one heard is disappointing. Although it’s understandable for his case, it’s not the same for everybody. It’s not at all empowering for people with such disabilities. And it sadly doesn’t promote support and care from the people outside that community.

The Good Doctor Does Karaoke

Later that night, Lim confronts Morgan about her strange behavior lately. And she casually lets it slip that Morgan filed a complaint against Melendez’s favoritism. Correct me if I’m wrong but does that mean two in Melendez’s team filed a complaint against him? If that’s true, that’s saying something about Melendez’s leadership. Back to the topic, Lim realizes that Morgan might’ve filed the complaint as a way to safeguard her job. This leads her to think that Morgan thinks she’s in jeopardy. Unfortunately, Morgan couldn’t readily admit that she has a progressive disease that would inevitably render her unfit for surgery. This begs the question if she will be leaving the show in the future.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

Elsewhere in the episode, Shaun and Carly head out to celebrate Cory’s successful surgery. Coincidentally, Lea and her date are there too. It starts off very awkwardly. But, as soon as Lea breaks the ice and Carly rides on, it all goes uphill. Soon enough, the four of them are on stage belting out Super Bass. And surprisingly, Carly and Lea can hit those rap pretty well. Shaun even steals the mic from Carly and has his own rapping moment. And boy was it gloriously hilarious and adorable!

Shaun and Lea get carried away so badly. It seems that everyone around them has disappeared from their minds and they’re the only people in the room. As cute this may be, it was that moment when Carly realized she and Shaun are never going to end up together.

Shaun and Carly No More

The next day after work, Carly makes her decision. Stopping Shaun and his excitement to cook her a special dinner, Carly tells him that they’re over. “Last night at karaoke, when you and Lea were singing together, there was something between you two,” Carly says. “You love her, not me.” Shaun insists that he doesn’t. But, Carly has made up her mind. Before leaving him, she nudges him to tell Lea how he feels. But, Shaun is devastated all the same.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

From the beginning, I never felt good about this relationship. Carly’s been a saint, but they never really matched. Plainly said, it felt forced. And once the Lea insecurity issue came up, it was like a hit that marked the end of the relationship. Heartbroken Shaun was very hard to see though. The guy has been bending over backward and doing backflips to make the relationship work. And he genuinely cared for Carly. But, it’s over as quickly as it began. Let’s see how he deals with his first heartbreak.

The Good Doctor continues Monday, February 24th, with “Autopsy” at 10/9c on ABC.