'The Good Doctor' Season 1, Episode 7 '22 Steps' Recap: Prejudice, Limitations and Deep Emotional Connections [SPOILERS]

“The Good Doctor” never fails to tug at your heart, no matter which episode you see. Tonight’s latest, titled “22 Steps,” we see how Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) deal with another patient with autism. It’s another first for the episode because Shaun has never encountered a person like him before. Personalities clash, but in the end, it’s Shaun’s extraordinary abilities that make him the good doctor that he is. On the other hand, we have both Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu) and Dr. Claire Brown (Antonia Thomas) struggle emotionally with their patients, both current and past. Glen, Jared’s patient in need of a new pacer, loses interest in his life and wants to die. Jared does his best to convince him to choose life but fails—albeit beautifully. Meanwhile, Claire reels from the death of her previous patient because of a mistake she did.
“22 Steps” opens with Shaun eyeing a super HD TV that he likes. Judging by the resolution and the pixels on the thing, it’s one hella expensive TV. Later in the St. Bonaventure Hospital, Claire tries to distract herself by working more, but she’s obviously failing, with her concentration faltering. Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) recommends her to see a psychologist in order to evaluate if she’s fit to work—given the trauma that she’s obviously trying to hide.
Meanwhile, 73-year-old Glen is unconscious while Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) figure out a way to treat his heart problem. Jared suggests installing a pacer, to which Dr. Melendez agrees. Glen’s heart rate drops, he instructs Claire to install the pacer in his jugular and Shaun to get his hands on a pacer. Claire shakes as she does the incision, and she covers it up by telling them that she had too much coffee.

Shaun becomes a role model

A new patient is rolled in the emergency room and Shaun happens upon him. It’s a teenage boy who’s in a physical struggle with the EMTs. As Shaun observes, he figures out that the boy has autism and he has a huge wound on his head. He tells the EMTs to let go of him because they’re scaring him. One of the people who brought him in calls the boy psychotic, which irks Shaun and informs them that the boy has autism. The boy’s name is actually Liam (Coby Bird), and he also figures out that Shaun has autism. Liam’s parents arrive, and Shaun tells them that he’s had a bus accident. Liam tells them that he was at the wrong stop and he got lost. His parents then ask if they can take him home, but Shaun refuses. Apparently, there’s something wrong with Liam as he is jaundiced, and winces in pain every time he clenches his stomach.
Shaun brings up his findings to Dr. Melendez and he has Shaun do an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography) to find out what could be causing Liam’s abdominal pain. Shaun asks Claire’s help in dealing with the situation because he thinks that Claire is good with autistic people. While prepping Liam up for the test, Claire struggles to concentrate as the boy thrashes. She has Shaun hold him down so she could administer a sedative. As Liam starts to calm down, his breathing hardens, indicating that there’s a reaction with the sedative. As they probe him for gallstones, they find out that the walls of his abdomen are thick with scarring, making it impossible for them to find out what Liam’s condition is. Shaun suggests doing an MRI.
Meanwhile, Shaun paces in a room while counting. Dr. Glassman happens to him and he asks what’s up. He asks for a raise, specifically $1643 for a television. Dr. Glassman is surprised as Shaun insists that he wants that expensive TV. He has other things to consider like rent and food, but the appeal of the new TV is stronger for Shaun.

During the MRI, Liam thrashes uncomfortably and Shaun tries to calm him down by counting the distance between things as a diversion. But as the MRI nears completion, Liam is once again agitated by the sounds of the machine, causing him to bolt up and re-open his wound. They stop the scan and tries to figure out another way. Dr. Melendez meets with Liam’s parents and tells them that an exploratory laparoscopy would need to be done so they could examine his abdomen to see what’s wrong. It’s a risky operation, but Liam’s parents agree to do it.
That night, Shaun examines the quality of a TV set in the hospital. It’s too standard for him, but Claire comes in to shut it off and asks him why he suddenly bolted when the MRI failed. Shaun admits that he’s not comfortable with Liam and that he doesn’t know how to interact with someone like him. Claire tells him that he has to loosen up a bit because Liam looks up to Shaun. They go back to Liam’s room and proceed to do an incision in his stomach so they could prep him up for the laparoscopy. Liam thrashes again, and Shaun tries to calm him down by warming up to him. Liam slowly eases up, just as Shaun notices that Liam’s eyes are red. Apparently, it’s caused by an immune flare-up that scars his digestive system. They would then need to remove the damaged parts of his intestines. liam’s parents agree with the operation, but there’s a catch—Shaun must not perform the surgery. This takes Melendez by surprise, and he later tells them that just because Shaun is autistic, doesn’t mean that he can’t do his job excellently. Either they go through with Shaun as the surgeon, or they will be transferred to another hospital for the operation. As they prepare to leave, Liam speaks up and says that he wants Shaun.
The next day, Shaun comes in to check on Liam before the operation. But before he does, Liam’s blood pressure drops, indicating that he’s going into septic shock. The operation needs to be done right away. In the operating room, Dr. Melendez finally gives Shaun the honor of doing the initial incision. This makes Shaun extremely happy. They finally find the anomaly in Liam’s abdomen, and successfully removes it. Shaun and Dr. Melendez inform Liam’s parents that he’s finally going to be okay.
While Liam recovers, Shaun goes back to check on him. As he leaves, Liam finds strength in Shaun and tells his dad the lights don’t bother him anymore.

Jared connects with his patiently in a deeply emotional way

Glen isn’t the usual receptive patient that Jared is used to. As he begins to care for him, he’s treated with outright hostility from Glen. He asks Jared how old he is, and when he finds out that he’s only 28, Glen scoffs and thinks that he can’t do anything to help him. Jared leaves to prep him for his surgery. As he returns, he finds that Glen has escaped. He sounds the alarms and asks to see the security cameras to find out where he ran off to. Finally, he finds Glen hiding in the hospital’s basement.
Jared sees him lying down and panics. But it turns out that Glen is okay, and he doesn’t want help from anybody, especially from Jared. Glen is actually an embittered old man; and after going through so much pain and rejection in his life, and with no other family members left, he finds no sense in living. That’s why he doesn’t want to have a pacer with him. He wants to die. Jared then sits down beside him to wait. And as he does, he also opens up about his personal life.
Jared tells Glen about his rough childhood. Even though he was born rich, his parents never really cared for him. When he finally decided to go to his parents and personally disown them, he finds out that his parents left without even telling him. This softens Glen up and finally agrees to be brought back to his room.

With Glen safely on the hospital bed, he tells Jared that his parents didn’t know how lucky they were to have him. He also reveals that his wife didn’t actually die, but left him for someone else. This was the beginning of Glen’s downward spiral and distaste for life. As Jared preps him up again for the surgery, he holds Glen’s hand as they now have an emotional connection.
Meanwhile, Claire finally sees a therapist, where she finds out that Claire is suppressing her feelings about her former patient. The therapist tells her that she is a strong woman and very fit to work—the only thing missing, however, is someone to share her suppressed feelings with. If she doesn’t bring them out, it’s going to break her soon.
Later, Jared comes back to Glen’s room to finally bring him to surgery but again finds him gone. He looks everywhere, and it leads him to the rooftop, where Glen is psyching himself to jump. He tells Jared that he doesn’t want to live anymore. Clearly, there’s nothing that Jared could do for an old man who just wants to finally rest. In a last attempt to help Glen, Jared signs a Do Not Resuscitate order, so Glen could finally die. But Jared goes beyond that by sitting beside Glen as he turns of the pacer. As Glen dies a slow but peaceful death, Jared holds his hand and weeps.
Now that both Claire’s and Jared’s shifts have ended, they meet in the locker room. Jared tells her that he just lost a patient, and Claire finally opens up about her dead patient. The episode ends with Dr. Glassman and Shaun happily watching a football game in the store where Shaun wants to buy the TV.

‘The Good Doctor: 22 Steps’ Overall Verdict

“22 Steps” is yet another emotionally-charged episode of ABC’s “The Good Doctor.” Jared is one of tonight’s star actors, and we finally see a little bit of backstory about him. His character is more of a lost soul looking to find his place in the hospital, and one couldn’t help but identify closely with how he feels and what he’s been through. The episode also shows us a unique exchange of two people with autism, where both are actually sensitive to each other’s needs. It’s a beautiful exchange of genuine love and concern, with Liam acting as the perfect person to complete Shaun’s extraordinary character.
“The Good Doctor” continues next Monday with “Apple” at 10/9c on ABC.