'The Good Doctor' Season 1 Finale Recap & Review: A Life Hangs In The Balance in 'More'

The season 1 finale of ABC’s “The Good Doctor” finally gives us the pain of a lifetime. Two major lives are battling it out this episode—Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richards Schiff) and a young patient named Caden. However, the former’s battle to live greatly affects Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) himself. Tonight’s season finale, titled “More” gives us plenty of things to think about—and a massive cliffhanger that would leave you speechless.

‘More’ Brief Episode Recap

“More” opens with Shaun entering Dr. Glassman’s office to ask if he could be Shaun’s friend again. He needs a friend and a mentor, now more than ever. However, Glassman drops the bomb—he’s dying, and only has 12 to 18 months to live. Shaun takes this hard and begins to evaluate ways that the diagnosis could be wrong. He convinces Glassman to get a second opinion albeit forcefully.

But that’s not the only dilemma that Shaun faces. The entire team also has to deal with young Caden’s case—the first one being complications from eating Tide pods (I could be wrong, but the second they revealed that he ate detergent for an initiation made me remember it), and the second due to Shaun’s error. Dr. Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) and his team made up of Alex, Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas), and Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann), then try to see if they’re going to report Shaun or not. It’s a tricky situation because aside from Dr. Glassman’s death and Caden’s complication, Shaun also lost his most prized possession—his toy scalpel.

So with these problems in Shaun’s mind, I could already see him committing the very mistake that Glassman promised the board Shaun wouldn’t make from the get-go. But despite what Shaun faces, he manages to clear up everything. He comes up with a genius way to reverse Caden’s aneurysm (which Shaun caused) by inserting an endovascular graft through Caden’s leg. It was a crazy idea, but it worked in the end. And as for Dr. Glassman, Shaun’s desperate search for a way to help his mentor live when Glassman followed Shaun’s advice (well, it’s more like a forceful advice) of getting a biopsy. It turns out that Glassman’s tumor is treatable after all. It might take a while for him to recover, but at least he’s not dying on Shaun. On top of that, Shaun also found his toy scalpel, making things easy for him once again.

Of the notable things that happened on tonight’s episode of “The Good Doctor,” the amazing teamwork that Melendez encourages within his surgical team proves that it goes well beyond each other’s experience. It’s deeply rooted in the belief that together, they can accomplish greater things—even if they have a surgeon living with autism.

A tremendous success for inclusion and breaking the stigma

“The Good Doctor’s” premise is as simple as it is: a person living in the spectrum struggles with his everyday life so he can prove to himself and his colleagues that he’s just the same as a surgeon without disabilities. But it’s this very premise that reaches within the core of our emotions and makes us understand the importance of knowing how it is to live with autism and what misconceptions the disability commonly ingrained in people. “More” is the episode that wraps up Shaun’s story in a bafflingly glorious manner.

One highlight of the season finale is the amazing exchange between Dr. Glassman and Shaun, especially the scene where Glassman loses it and throws stuff around while Shaun drones on with his theories in an effort to save his dear mentor’s life. In one powerful moment, we see how deep their relationship goes, even beyond the mentor-mentee relationship. You can see how Glassman really feels about Shaun—basically, his son. But nothing could ever prepare for the last scene which shows the two going to Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) office so Shaun could “turn himself in” and own up to his error. It’s the cliffhanger that would make you think whether or not Shaun gets to keep his job and Glassman relinquishes his position to Dr. Andrews.

Episode Director Mike Listo established an appropriate ending to a show that’s widely educational. Props also go to the amazing direction and exceptional writing by series developer David Shore Jae-Beom Park, who did a very compelling finale that completes the entire first season with a cherry on top.

‘The Good Doctor: More’ Overall Verdict

It’s going to be a hard Monday night habit to kick off, but here’s to hoping that when ABC’s “The Good Doctor” returns, we’ll be able to see more of what Shaun can offer, and the impressive teamwork of Dr. Melendez’s surgical team at the San Jose Bonaventure Hospital.
Parting ways with a show (even for a short period of time) can be hard, especially if you’ve learned to love it’s various sub-plots and significant character developments (as with the case for Shaun). In any case, “More” is the finale that gives you mixed feelings of sadness and triumph, as “The Good Doctor” moves on to the next season. It’s a well-thought-out ending to an amazing show that’s out there to make us understand that it pays to listen and accept people for who they are. It’s going to be a long wait for Season 2, but it’s definitely worth it.
After all, Shaun always finds a way to come through.