'The Good Doctor' Season 1, Episode 15 'Heartfelt' Recap: The Cure for the Heart and Liver [SPOILERS]

Consider this a truly “Heartfelt” episode. “The Good Doctor” premiered tonight with heaps of emotion and the serious medical drama that we’ve all been following since its pilot episode. Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) encounters another milestone tonight as he tries his best to mingle during St. Bonaventure’s  annual gala night.
Meanwhile, we have another case of abnormal organ growth as a teenage girl undergoes heart surgery. But it’s not just a regular heart operation—the organ is located outside her ribs, and so it would need to be brought back in. Meanwhile, another of Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas), Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) and new resident doctor Alex Park’s (Will Yun Lee) patient is in desperate need of a liver transplant, lest he succumbs to his ailment and dies.
Tonight’s “The Good Doctor” features the usual dose of feelings and catch-22s, but nothing could ever make this episode more special than knowing that none other than Regina King directs it.
“Heartfelt” begins with Shaun riding the bus to work. He’s listening to a song shared by Lea (Paige Spara) on social media. It’s a song that reminds Lea of Shaun and pine trees, and he’s also delighted with the song. As soon as he arrives at St. Bonaventure, he’s surprised to see police officers cordoning off the area for the night’s annual gala party. Inside, Shaun meets with Claire, Jared, and Dr. Morgan Rzeznik (Fiona Gubelmann) in the doctor’s lounge as they wait for the day’s assignments. They talk about how important the party is for residents, but Shaun thinks otherwise, saying he doesn’t like parties. Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) then comes in to introduce the new member of their surgical team, Dr. Alex Park. Shaun asks about his age, to which Dr. Melendez interjects by explaining that Shaun has autism. Morgan then butts in by saying that Alex was a former police officer. After all the pleasantries, Shaun asks if the gala night will have karaoke.

The Cure for the Heart

Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang), Shaun, and Morgan meet with their patient, a young girl named Spirit, who’s due for a heart operation. She’s documenting her surgery on her phone and enthusiastically introduces the doctors in the video. Spirit was born with Ectopia Cordis, a condition where the heart is abnormally located outside the rib cage, making it protrude from her chest. It was impossible to repair it when she was a kid because of her small ribcage, but now that she’s 14, it’s now possible for them to do the operation.

Later, they prep Spirit up for a scan. That’s when she tells Morgan and Shaun about what she’s excited to do after her operation, including going to concerts, hugging her friends and the like. Her condition prevents her from participating in strenuous activities, let alone the act of hugging. In the scanning room, Morgan urges Shaun to buy an expensive suit for the gala. According to her, having this would help Shaun mingle with the prominent doctors during the party. Shaun then discovers that Spirit’s heart is too big for the operation, and it’s nearly impossible to bring it back in. They tell her parents the news, and they’re devastated. Spirit thinks that she’s losing all sense of normalcy because of her condition. All she wants is the feeling of being touched.
Morgan and Shaun go to Dr. Lim to propose using an artificial sternum to attach to Spirit’s rib cage. This method will enable Spirit’s heart to fit inside the ribcage. Shaun is iffy about the procedure but thinks it could be done. Morgan and Shaun then engage in a spat, where Shaun sees how competitive Morgan is. Dr. Lim then agrees to the operation. Meanwhile, Shaun goes to Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) to ask for advice about what suit he should wear, since Shaun considers Dr. Andrews stylish. Andrews tells him to rent a tuxedo and present his best self, but Shaun insists on having one. Andrews then gives Shaun his tailor.
Come operation time, Morgan asks about what suit Shaun is going to wear for the party. Shaun tells her about Andrews’ advice, to which Morgan thinks isn’t enough. Dr. Lim observes the two’s spat and thinks that there might be something going on between them, and she just can’t tell what it is. Later, they successfully apply the artificial sternum, with no further complications arising. That night after the operation, they meet with Spirit and her parents to check up on how she’s doing and for some last minute instructions. Spirit is finally happy and asks for a hug from her mother.

A Not-so Likely Liver Donor

Alex, Claire, and Jared take on a case with Dr. Melendez. A boy named Eric (Nicholas Johnny) is suffering complications from his latest liver transplant. It’s a puzzling situation since he was doing well a few weeks ago. It turns out that his blood type is not compatible with his blood type. Melendez tasks Claire and Alex in finding a donor ASAP.

Jared and Alex prep Eric up for the liver biopsy. He’s afraid of the pain it’s causing, but Jared couldn’t do anything. Alex, on the other hand, encourages the boy by making him listen to music, just like Stephen Curry does before his games. Apparently, Alex found out that Eric is a Stephen Curry fan when he saw the boy’s shoes in his bag. Later, Claire finds the perfect donor for Eric. The donor’s stats all check out, but there’s one catch—he’s a convicted murderer in prison. The inmate tried to donate before but didn’t push through because the patient died. Now that he’s ready, Claire thinks that it could work, much to the dismay of Alex (who is, again, a former cop).
Melendez brings this up to the Hospital Board. Legal Counsel Jessica Preston (Beau Garret) thinks there’s too much at risk in using a convicted murderer for the transplant. Foundation Director Allegra Aoki (Tamlyn Tomita) and Hospital President Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) both think that it might be a way for the murderer to escape, using the donation as a ploy. However, both Melendez and Andrews believe that what the donor is doing is a noble act of repentance and guilt over his crimes. In the end, the board agrees—much to Alex’s dismay. He believes that the donor might escape as well.

They then prepare a room for the donor. The staff removes all things that the donor could use as a weapon, and Alex makes sure that there’s no room for escape. He’s highly doubtful about the donor’s intentions. Later, Jared asks Claire to be his partner for the gala night. That way, they can now make their relationship status official. They then get an alert about Eric. It turns out that Eric found out about the inmate donor, and doesn’t want the organs of a criminal as his new liver. Try as they might, they couldn’t have Eric agree to the operation. Claire and Jared bring it up to Melendez. Seeing no other way, Melendez orders them to sedate and restrain Eric.
The inmate donor finally arrives—fully guarded—and Alex, Jared, and Claire run the necessary preparatory checks before the transplant. During the procedure, the donor’s body has an allergic reaction from the anesthetic, causing them to halt the operation. They’re now back to square one. Later, they inform the inmate donor about his allergic reaction. He then flips out in anger, because he earnestly wants to help the boy live. This act softens Alex up a bit towards the donor, but he still has his guard on high. Jared informs Eric and his parents that they need to find another donor fast because if not, Eric only has a day to live before his liver fails.
Meanwhile, Alex and Claire help escort the donor away. But as soon as the police officers command him to stand up, Alex notices that the donor has something in mind. True enough, the donor lashes out and takes one officer as a hostage. Claire and Alex try to talk him out of it. Alex also reminds him that he won’t be able to escape and that whatever happens from here on is entirely within the donor’s control. The donor panics, saying that he just wants to help. The inmate donor then pushes the cop away and shoots himself in the head—an act of suicide so that Eric can live. As they rush the body to the emergency room, Alex tells Claire to get his organs, since he signed up for it in the first place. Claire, visibly shocked, proceeds to do so. They also prep Eric for the liver transplant. Eric starts to retaliate, but Claire tells him about how the donor died he can live. The boy softens up and finally agrees to the operation.
Finally, the liver transplant turns out a success, and Melendez checks up on Eric and his parents. Eric then asks Melendez about the donor, as he also wants to give the donor’s parents a card that promises to take care of their son’s liver. Melendez knows that the donor’s parents have since disowned him, but just to give Eric hope, he says that it’s a great idea.

The Gala Night

Elsewhere in the episode, Aoki frets to Glassman earlier because they just lost their guest speaker for the night. She then asks Glassman to contact Aidan Coulter (Kelly Blatz), a young and prominent businessman. Glassman hates him, but Aoki forces him to reach Aidan for the night. Later, Aoki meets with Aidan and is smitten by his good looks. Aidan agrees to be the guest speaker, but Aoki is more in it for him that his words. Later that day, Aoki asks Andrews if it’s okay for her to date a possible donor for the hospital foundation. Andrews thinks it’s a bad idea, but it’s clear that Aoki wants to go for it.

During the party night, Aoki comes up to Aidan—after catching him eyeing her—and thanks him for being there. He then asks her to dance, which she gratefully accepts. Shaun also arrives wearing an expensive suit. Jessica tries to encourage him to drink, but Shaun doesn’t like tequila anymore, remembering the drunken incident during the road trip with Lea. Morgan also comes up to Shaun and tells him to mingle, but Shaun still doesn’t want to engage in it. He panics and leaves the party area. Meanwhile, as a slow song plays, Jared asks Claire if she remembers it, to which she doesn’t. Jared takes this as a sign that Claire isn’t really into a relationship with him, and so he leaves her.

Shaun chances upon Spirit, who’s now busy with her friends in her hospital room taking pictures and hugging it out. Shaun takes this scene as a boost, and he comes back to the party. He tries to mingle with some doctors, but there’s a sense of awkwardness. Luckily, Andrews came in to save him, and the group enjoys the party laughing and talking about golf.

‘The Good Doctor: Heartfelt’ Overall Verdict

“Heartfelt” will forever be on of my favorite episodes of “The Good Doctor.” There’s something about healthy competition and a little bit of tough love that can help Shaun break out from his shell. Apart from that, the emotional stakes of the episode made it a little bit harder to bear, what with the inmate organ donor’s noble desire to help the boy live and Spirit’s only wish to hug someone close to her. The show never fails to make on rethink how they treat other people, and I think that’s what makes “The Good Doctor” even more special than the other medical shows out there.
“The Good Doctor” continues Monday, March 12th, with “Pain” at 10/9c on ABC.