‘The Good Doctor’ Season 3, Episode 16 ‘Autopsy’ Review: Confession

Shaun’s (Freddie Highmore) confession to Lea (Paige Spara) has been so long overdue! But, now that it’s here, my heart just broke a little more. I certainly did not expect it to end with such a horrible truth. Leave it to The Good Doctor to come up with such heartbreak, really.

Anyhow, ‘Autopsy’ might just be Highmore’s best in terms of both directing in the show. No one can deny that he’s a talented actor. But, seeing him onscreen and knowing that he’s also working behind the camera is just a different kind of amazing. The man is brilliant! He knows just how to bring out what made people fall in love with The Good Doctor. It’s been a while since I’ve really enjoyed and been invested in an episode. But, this one really got me. Without further ado, here’s what went down in this week’s episode of The Good Doctor.

Sleepwalking Alter Ego

Before delving into the main event, let’s dive into this week’s cases. Don’t worry. They’re actually pretty interesting. Claire (Antonia Thomas) and Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) land with Aiden (Cameron Gellman), a college kid with a part of a skateboard sticking out of him. When he wakes up after a successful operation though, he’s a completely new person.

Claire and Morgan later find out that his personality is split between awakeness and sleepwalking. Awake Aiden is all straight and serious. Sleepwalking alter ego Aiden, on the other hand, is a frat boy galore. After some tests, they find out that Aiden’s unique case of dissociative disorder is caused by a cyst in his brain.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

On the side, Morgan’s still being her bitchy self. All that good, supportive, friend of Claire Morgan is all gone. And she finally admits to Claire that she’s the one who filed the complaint. Surprisingly, after witnessing Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) and Claire arguing, Morgan actually apologizes to Claire for ratting on them. And for all her pettiness, she’s the one who manages to convince Aiden to take the surgery to drain his cyst.

Afraid to lose the more easygoing version of himself, awake Aiden refuses the surgery. But, with Morgan’s help, alter-ego Aiden takes the fall and consents to the surgery. He also leaves behind a little video message for his all too serious other-self. My favorite bit is when alter-ego Aiden says, “Neither of us is perfect. But, we’re ok…We are going to be ok.”

It might be strange, but a man watching his alter-ego talk to him has got me all emotional. As I said, only The Good Doctor. We get all these reassurances from people around us that we’re going to be ok. But, it hits differently when it’s you telling yourself that with complete trust.

Trinity

Elsewhere, Lim (Christina Chang) finds herself in a strange situation. And by strange, I mean weird kind of strange. Early on in the episode, Lim spots a kid seemingly following her around. At first, I thought it was Lim’s hallucination or even a ghost. But, she’s real. And after a several catch and runs, Lim finally gets her.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

The first time the little girl introduced herself, she lied to Lim’s face. Now with no chance to run, the little girl named Trinity (Ariah Lee) admits that she’s there to see Lim. As it turns out, she was the baby the chief of surgery saved eight years ago. As Lim recalls the memory, she says “It killed me not to take you home.” And I swear, there was regret on her face when she said that. Now, Trinity wants Lim to adopt her.

Apparently, Trinity’s mom had another daughter. And Trinity feels left out. So, Lim gently explains that hearts have so much room for love. Then, she convinces the child to call her mom. After reuniting them, Lim calls up her own mom.

I’m not entirely sure what this whole storyline meant for Lim’s future on The Good Doctor. Is there going to be a child in the picture for her soon? Or is it going to be another parental issue? I’m excited to see another side of Lim though.

Autopsy Obsession

Now to the good doctor himself. Post-Carly, Shaun’s acting quite unbothered. Everybody keeps telling him that it’s ok to feel hurt. But, he keeps pushing back that he is not hurting at all. When a patient dies on the operating table, however, Shaun gets obsessed with doing an autopsy on her to find the true cause of her death. However, Lim won’t allow him. So, he seeks the family’s permission. Unfortunately, the woman was registered as a Jane Doe.

Liane Hentscher/ ABC

Enlisting Park’s (Will Yun Lee) help, Shaun sets out to find his Jane Doe’s family. Using the hummingbird tattoo on her ankle, the pair find that the woman is actually named Maribel Ventane. And her only remaining family is her son, Jules. When Park and Shaun meet Jules, however, he shows no interest in any sort about his mother. Park tells Shaun to let it go. But, when Jules heads out, Shaun chases him into his car demanding the autopsy and basically loses it making Jules calling the police on him.

Later on, Glassman (Richard Schiff) picks up Shaun from the precinct. At first, he thinks this is all about Carly. But, Shaun reveals its more about what Carly told him to do: tell Lea he loves her. I’m all for the confession, really. But this telling Shaun how to feel and what to do thing is getting infuriating. As Glassman said, “What do you mean you have to do what she said? She doesn’t get to dictate you.” Shaun is his own person. He may have trouble with emotion. But, that doesn’t mean he’s incapable of thinking about what to do with it.

Anyhow, back at the hospital, Shaun tries to finally tell Lea how he feels about her. But, at the last minute, he backpedals.

Closure

After that, Shaun heads straight to Carly (Jasika Nicole) and asks her permission to do the autopsy. She is head of the pathology department after all. While Shaun performs the autopsy, the two finally talk about their break-up and find their closure.

“You were right,” Shaun admits. “I love you but, I love Lea more.” Hearing this might’ve been tearing Carly apart inside. But, instead of breaking down or lashing out, she supports Shaun. She helps him conquer his fears. As one last goodbye, Shaun hugs Carly. At that moment, my heart also broke a little bit for her. I was never on board the Carly-Shaun relationship since it felt forced to me. But, this woman has a heart of gold.

Kailey Schwerman/ ABC

After leaving Carly, Shaun heads over to Jules’ house again. And before the man could call the cops again, Shauns spews out that his mother died of a very rare disease that Jules could’ve inherited. Having done what he has come to do, Shaun then turns to leave. But, Jules opens the door. It seems that he and his mom didn’t stay in touch in the latter years of her life. And Jules might’ve resented her a little.

Shaun then mentions the name Collie. Apparently, it was Maribel’s nickname to Jules which meant hummingbird. As Shaun tells him that Collie was her last word and that she had a hummingbird tattoo, Jules’ eyes grow misty. “She loved you,” Shaun tells him. “Maybe she was just afraid to tell you.”

A Horrible Truth

After all that, Shaun is finally ready to tell Lea about his feelings. So, he prepares a lovely dinner for two and invites Lea over. When she gets there, it’s silence. Then, Shaun says, “I love you, Lea.”

Lea says I love you back. But, there’s no joy in it. Lea is painfully aware of how immature and challenging she is. And she knows it’s not right to dump it all on Shaun. But, you know what’s more hurtful, it’s just not that. Lea starts babbling, unable to get the right words out, but it all boils down to one thing: Shaun.

Kailey Schwerman/ ABC

“You don’t want to be my girlfriend because I have autism.”

After Shaun says the words out loud, Lea couldn’t bring herself to respond. She leaves as Shaun sheds a single tear.

This was one of the most heartbreaking moments in The Good Doctor. As Highmore said in his interview, Lea isn’t prejudiced. It goes deeper. And she obviously has so many issues with herself. But, it doesn’t make it hurt any less for Shaun to discover that there might be something to his words. This is definitely worse than the breakup. And although Carly seems like the better option right now, Shaun is his own person. He is finally facing his feelings for Lea. And now, he has to face the aftermath.

The Good Doctor continues next Monday, March 2nd, with “Fixation” at 10/9c on ABC.