‘The Good Doctor’ Season 2, Episode 2 ‘Middle Ground’ Recap: Honorable Lies & a Cultural Dilemma

The Good Doctor continues to impress me. It’s your typical hospital drama but pairs it with a moral dilemma that seems to be a catch 22. Tonight’s episode, titled “Middle Ground,” sees the surgeons of San Jose Bonaventure Hospital right in the midst of complicated surgeries and clashes with culture and family. It’s arguably one of the strongest episodes of the entire show unless we see something even more compelling in the coming weeks.

“Middle Ground” follows Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) going great lengths to treat hospital janitor Paul’s (Faustino Di Bauda) pancreatic cancer. Paul, on the other hand, doesn’t know that he has it. Meanwhile, Dr. Audrey Lim (Cristina Chang) takes it upon herself to risk a lawsuit (and a possible forfeit of her medical license) to help a teenage girl recover from her vaginal circumcision. Elsewhere, Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) prepares the list of doctors that he wants for his brain tumor operation while Shaun and Lea’s (Paige Spara) relationship suffers a literal complication.

Good Deception

The episode opens with Lea waking up to a note from Shaun that he’s gone to work early. Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) sees Shaun in the hospital and wonders why he’s there before his shift. Shaun says that he just wants to be there early, and that rest can wait. He then asks Melendez about how he can tell a patient that they have pancreatic cancer. Shaun then points to Paul, the hospital janitor, who doesn’t seem to have any kind of disease or condition (except for the random burps).

Jeff Weddell/ABC

At first, Melendez thinks that Shaun is only overreacting, but after Shaun tells him about the difference that Paul had in six months, Melendez decides to assess him covertly. True enough, based on what Melendez saw closely, Paul might have pancreatic cancer. Melendez instructs Shaun to run some tests but is concerned about whether or not Shaun can pull off a reason to get Paul to do it. Shaun sucks at lying (made even more evident by him being there early), so Melendez tells Shaun to take Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) with him.

Claire and Shaun try to talk a clueless Paul into agreeing for the test, and Shaun successfully lies about the board wanting to make sure that no employee is exposed to some disease or sickness. Paul had the flu a few weeks ago, so he wonders why the board wants to do the tests this late. When Claire tries to think of another reason, Shaun tells Paul about his possibility of having pancreatic cancer.

Paul is brought in for a scan. Shaun comments about the complicated concept of lying and tells Claire that Lea is living in his place until she finds a new one. However, Claire notices Shaun’s unenthusiastic demeanor about Lea being with him. The test scan then reveals that Paul does have pancreatic cancer, but it’s worse than what Shaun thought—it’s on stage 3, and Paul only has a year to live.

They bring the result to Melendez, and it looks like it’s going to be another tricky surgery. Shaun suggests performing Whipple surgery, but Melendez thinks it’s not advisable. It could also be the reason for Paul’s death if it doesn’t check out. Claire, however, says that it’s not their call to make. Shaun and Claire find Paul at the cafeteria to break the news. Shaun dives right into his point, so Paul asks to call his family so they can decide about the operation.

The family arrives as Shaun and Claire tell them about the Whipple procedure. Their all iffy about their choice, but one of Paul’s daughters tells her dad to go for it. Paul then asks to have the room for themselves so they can talk about it more. Later, Shaun catches Paul praying in the chapel. He tries to apologize for not sugarcoating his condition, but it’s all good with Paul. “Sometimes, when the truth can’t help someone, you should definitely lie,” Paul said. He then tells Shaun that he’s finally decided to do the surgery. However, he’s only doing this because its what his family wants. If they want it, he wants it too.

David Bukach/ABC

The operation proceeds. Just when the cancer was removed, Shaun notices a leak. The surgeons struggle to close it. Shaun and Claire inform the family about Paul’s operation. Shaun says that it went well, but wasn’t able to finish what he was saying when the family happily hugged themselves. That’s when Claire slowly drags Shaun away to keep him from breaking the unfavorable detail to them. Post-surgical complications are still a major concern, but Claire tells Shaun to let the family have this moment.

Lea then surprises Shaun and asks him if he wants to have lunch with her. “I don’t have time,” Shaun says and walks out. Claire asks what’s wrong, and Shaun reveals that he doesn’t know what to feel towards Lea. He can’t be honest to her if he doesn’t know what he’s feeling.

That night, Paul goes into disseminated intravascular coagulation where blood clots appear, making his blood pressure rise. Despite their tries to control the blood flow, nothing could be done. Paul succumbs to his complications and dies.

David Bukach/ABC

Shaun volunteers to tell his family, but Melendez has Claire take care of it. The family breaks down and blame each other for Paul’s death. Seeing the frantic commotion, Shaun tells them that it’s not their fault that he died because he wanted to do the operation in the first place. Claire knows that he’s lying, and Shaun tells her about what Paul taught him—when the truth can’t help someone, you should lie.

A Cultural Dilemma

Dr. Lim’s patient, Asha (Camille Hyde), asks her for help in vaginal plastic surgery. Lim was weirded out at first but is horrified upon examination—Asha’s vagina was mutilated. Lim asks her who did this, and Asha revealed that she was circumcised when she was two years old. This breaks Lim’s heart and agrees to help her.

Lim has Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) and Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) on board the operation and tells them about the archaic custom of female genital mutilation. It’s a common cultural practice in African and Asian countries, but it’s also low-key rampant in America. Lim then tells them that they’re going to perform labiaplasty on Asha in the morning so she could go home before the day ends. Lim doesn’t want her parents to know that Asha had the procedure. This line of thinking from Dr. Lim is unusual, and both Morgan and Alex express their hesitation about it. Lim could lose her license and be involved in a lawsuit for doing this. To top it all off, Alex sees that Asha is not her real name. Her ID is fake, and they don’t know who she is. Despite that, Lim still wants to push through with the operation.

After Asha’s operation, she wakes up and tells Lim that she needs to go home. But it looks like she won’t be going back home because the pain in her vagina isn’t the normal type of pain after a labiaplasty. Lim calls for backup to sedate Asha. Alex, Morgan, and Lim try to figure out what’s wrong. Morgan says that the pain might be a sign that the nerve endings in Asha’s clitoris might still be active. A clitoral reconstruction could be made if this is the case. It’s a probable thing, but there’s still a catch—Asha’s parents might be looking for her now since she hasn’t come home yet. Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) has to know about this.

In his office, Andrews is surprised at Lim’s judgment. Lim defends herself that it’s all in an effort to help the patient. Andrews tells her to notify Asha’s parents while he deals with the administrative fallout of Lim’s actions. Later, Asha’s parents arrive. They’re visibly upset about their daughter (real name Mara) in pain. Lim tells them about the second surgery to reconstruct Mara’s clitoris, but her parents object. It’s against their custom to do so. This could relieve Mara’s pain, but her parents won’t budge. They want to have a second opinion in another hospital, but it’s cut short when Ellen Vahtra (Jordana Largy) from Child Protective Services stepped in to take over the matter. Mara will not move anywhere until Ellen completes her review. It turns out that Andrews called her in to support Lim.

Bettina Strauss/ABC

The deliberation about Mara’s condition is held in Lim’s office. Her parents’ defense is their culture and customs, but it simply wouldn’t hold up within the laws of the United States. Lim only wants to reconstruct Mara’s clitoris so she can restore sensation and Mara’s sexual pleasure. Lim tells Ellen about the two options that Mara has—undergo clitoral reconstruction or remove the clitoris entirely (something that Mara’s parents want). Lim wants Mara to have a healthy, meaningful sex life, but it seems that culture and tradition are preventing her from doing so. Ellen then decides to wake Asha up and decide for herself.

Bettina Strauss/ABC

Mara wakes up and agrees with what her parents want for her, saying that she can’t turn her back on her culture. Lim goes to Andrews to tell him that she won’t do the operation. Andrews doesn’t care, however. He’ll just assign another surgeon to work on Mara. Morgan suggests having Lim talk to Mara to change her mind. “Every woman deserves the right to make decisions about her sexuality without her parents hanging over her,” Morgan says.

Lim tries her best to convince Mara into going for a clitoral reconstruction. A muscle from her cheek will be used, and she will be able to be like the other normal girls. Mara, however, is strongly held back by her culture, so she stands her ground. During the operation, Lim decides to turn the table and go for the clitoral reconstruction instead, shocking Morgan and Alex. Later, Mara wakes up painless as Lim checks in on her. As Lim gives Mara instructions about her recovery, Mara feels something off with her cheeks. Lim smiles, knowing that it’s what Mara wanted for herself anyway.

Relationship Falling Out

Elsewhere in the episode, Glassman fusses over the list of possible doctors for his brain tumor surgery. They’re either too bad or too smart. He brings it to his oncologist, Dr. Marina Blaize (Lisa Edelstein), who tells him to get over his pride and choose a doctor. If not, Glassman would have to look for another oncologist who’s better than Blaize. That night, Shaun spends some time in Glassman’s house to tell help him decide on a surgeon. Glassman doesn’t want to talk about it, though. Shaun keeps on asking why, so Glassman reveals that he’s afraid of the middle ground of his operation. He’s afraid that it might go wrong and would end up with him losing the ability to walk or be the way that he was before.

Jeff Weddell/ABC

The episode ends with Shaun finally confronting Lea the next day. He returns the baseball that Lea gave him and wants her to leave. Apparently, it hurt Shaun so much when Lea left. Now that she’s back, it hurts Shaun even more because then Lea would have to leave again. Shaun walks out in tears. Meanwhile, Dr. Glassman finally goes under the knife.

‘The Good Doctor: Middle Ground’ Overall Verdict

The second season of The Good Doctor started off strong, and “Middle Ground” banks on that strength. The storyline for this week’s episode is commendable, especially with the aspects of culture, sexuality, and morality. The latter has always been a recurring theme and dilemma for most of the show’s episodes, but “Middle Ground” dials it up to a double. The fallout between Lea and Shaun is surprising, though. We didn’t know that Shaun hurt deeply when Lea left. And now that the cards are on the table, it’s heartbreaking to know that Shaun had to go through that type of pain. On the bright side, Shaun’s personality continues to evolve, making him understand how people without autism go about relationships and how certain situations don’t necessarily have a black and white explanation. It’s good to see his character grow.

The Good Doctor continues next Monday, October 8th, with “36 Hours” at 10/9c on ABC.