'The Good Doctor' Season 1, Episode 15 'Heartfelt': What To Expect [SPOILERS]

After a massive cliffhanger to end the fall season, “The Good Doctor” comes back with answers but with a lot more things to ponder. The residents’ blood, sweat, and tears go beyond their patients and the hospital, and it’s more intense than ever.

‘The Good Doctor’ takes lessons: What they’ve learned so far

During “Islands Part One,” Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) graduated to new milestones with his neighbor, Lea’s (Paige Spara) help. Together, they went through a spontaneous road trip which also became their first date of sorts. Shaun gave Lea his trust, and in return, Lea opened his eyes and ears to music and a few lessons on how to stop living in fear. However, in exchange for all this, Shaun involuntarily lost his chance with Lea. She was already dead set on leaving San Jose to follow her dreams of restoring old cars.
Back in St. Bonaventure Hospital, Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper), Dr. Melendez (Anthony Gonzalez) and Dr. Claire Brown (Antonia Thomas) faced a dilemma after performing a separation surgery on twins Katie and Jenny Klunker. Shaun came back in time to help, though not to the delight of Melendez whom Shaun lied to about his whereabouts.
In “Islands Part Two,” The twins alternated on having life or death complications to which the doctors scampered to solve and yet always went back to square one. In their last attempt to save both twins, Jenny unexpectedly died. Katie survived well but has to carry the grief with her all her life.

The good doctors went through their dilemmas as well. Shaun abandoned his plan to follow Lea to Pennsylvania and consecutively lost Dr. Glassman’s constant concern and attention. Shaun’s father figure agreed to back off if Shaun stayed. Like Shaun, Dr. Melendez lost the love of his life. His fiancée, Jessica decided to part ways. She wanted Dr. Melendez to be a father, just as he wished, but not with her. Only Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) found a bit of positive success. His stubborn refusal in accepting the settlement sum the hospital was offering him for wrongfully kicking him out paid off. St. Bonaventure took him back.
Dr. Andrews assigned the seemingly ordinary case of Naja (Hina Abdullah) and her burnt hands to Shaun and Jared, both of them feeling punished. Andrews purposely ignored Jared and made it apparent that he didn’t want him there. Melendez echoed Andrews when he came to help Shaun and Jared on Naja’s bronchoscopy.  Shaun’s questions about Jessica, however, unsettled Melendez, leading him to rip Naja’s bronchial wall. This accident haunted Melendez and almost compromised his career. It also made things more complicated for Shaun, Jared, and their patient.

Surprisingly, religious prejudice came to Shaun in “Seven Reasons.” Naja’s lying led Shaun to think her symptoms were from being exposed to chemicals used in making bombs for terrorists. No one believed him so to prove his point, Shaun confronted Naja which led to a real heart attack. It was Jared who found what was wrong and saved Naja’s life. Shaun eagerly rubbed this onto Melendez’ face. Melendez reluctantly thanked Jared and left. This evened out the playing field between both doctors.
Meanwhile, Dr. Claire and Dr. Lim dealt with their case of lies. Their patient’s wife, Tessa, was a victim of domestic violence. That’s the reason why she kept lying and refused to have him operated for his aneurysm which could permanently damage his brain and kill him. She was afraid of facing it all over again. Claire managed to convince her that she still had a choice. Tessa agreed to the operation but was nowhere to be found the next morning. Claire narrowly evaded working with Dr. Coyle in this case. If they hadn’t seen the truth about Tessa, Claire would’ve been forced to work with the man who sexually harassed her and got away with it. However, she and a fellow victim are actively building up a case against him. On top of that, Claire had to keep up with the new doctor in town, Dr. Morgan, who was trying to one-up her in the episode titled “She.”

Shaun had to learn a few more lessons about understanding people though. He took time in accepting that his new patient identified himself firmly as a woman. Dr. Andrews also stepped in the case and helped solve the fertility dilemma of the patient’s family. He believed that the child might want to have children one day. Apparently, he was haunted by old regrets. He and his wife have been trying to conceive, but they later found out that Andrews has a fertility problem. Quinn, the patient, stunned Andrews when she told him that if he badly wanted kids, he could adopt. As she said, kids are yours, biological or not.

Don’t break my heart.

In the next episode, titled “Heartfelt,” Dr. Shaun Murphy will be facing a patient who’s been confined home her whole life due to a rare heart condition. She only asks them one thing—to set her free and give her the chance to live out her dream life, to share her big heart beyond the online friends. But will Shaun and the team be able to grant this heartfelt wish? And how about their heartfelt dreams? Meanwhile, the other doctors are about to be tested by an organ donor who’s graciously giving them not only his organs but also an oversized serving of moral dilemma. What is the right call when it comes to a moral dilemma? It’s probably not just a yes or no.
“The Good Doctor” continues Monday, February 26th with “Heartfelt” at 10/9c on ABC.