‘The Good Doctor’ Season 3, Episode 11 ‘Fractured’ Review: Drugs And Dilemmas

After that heartbreaking fall finale, The Good Doctor seems to be trying to pick up everybody’s spirits because this comeback episode is hella sweet in so many ways! On one hand, you’ve got Shaun (Freddie Highmore) willingly giving out hugs and comforting touches. And on the other hand, you’ve got some pretty amazing wonder women doing some pretty amazing things. There are rough patches of emotions of course, but it all ties up well in the end. So, even if it’s leaning a little towards predictable, The Good Doctor is still doing a great job giving us some feels. And boy, there seems to be a lot to look forward to this second half of the season. So, here’s everything that happened in tonight’s episode.

Anti-Narcotic

Shaun’s trip back home is quite uneventful. However, he doesn’t pass up the chance to tell Glassman (Richard Schiff) about his and Lea’s (Paige Spara) little sleepover. Now, don’t get me wrong. I like that they’re discussing this issue, however, it feels that the show has put the death of Shaun’s father and that parting fallout between them on the backburner a little too quickly. It’s unsurprising though given that Shaun’s also coming back to a bevy of other personal problems.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Going back, Shaun heads straight back to work and is paired with Morgan to work on a patient with a horrible leg fracture. The challenge is that their patient, Kerri, wouldn’t allow them to give her any kind of narcotics because of her history with opioid addiction. Her fear of relapsing also extends to not allowing them to put her under any kind of operation where they’d have to use anesthesia on her.

So, instead of figuring out what other drugs they can use for her pain, Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann), Andrews (Hill Harper), and Shaun decide to go with another procedure. Instead of operating on the inside of her leg, they decide to go with an external procedure that is less painful. Kerri gets through the surgery and the pain somehow. However, she still continues to hide the truth about her past from her husband.

First Fight

On the other hand, while Shaun’s being the good doctor, he’s not faring too well in his relationship with Carly (Jasika Nicole). His radio silence on his trip hurt Carly. And as she confronts him with it, Shaun couldn’t say anything that could make her feel better. As Morgan puts it, however, Carly’s cold shoulder response means Shaun actually got off easy. And her advice to him is to stick with Carly because as she sees it, Lea’s a flake despite Shaun’s protests.

Later on, Carly breaks her silence and tries to figure out where she really stands with Shaun. As he explains, she and Lea are different in the way that with Carly, he feels the need to impress her and with Lea, he doesn’t. Before Carly could process it, however, Shaun heads off quite in a hurry.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Later that night, under the guise of keeping tabs on Kerri to avoid Lea, Shaun makes a list of the pros and cons of the two women. Andrews interrupts his thoughts and much to his surprise, Shaun asks for love advice. Apparently, if there’s one thing Shaun thinks Andrews is better at than Glassman, it’s keeping a great love life.

So, Andrews tells Shaun that he knew that his wife was the one because as cliche as it seems, her presence makes him excited and she still continues to make his heart beat faster up until now. Taking a cue from this, Shaun tests out the heart beating faster thing with Lea. But, he finds that his heart is beating just as it normally is, nothing special.

Dealer Dilemma

Elsewhere on the episode, Claire (Antonia Thomas) and Park (Will Yun Lee) also find themselves in a drug-related patient dilemma. Their patient, Luca, came in with an intestinal blockage. However, he’s refusing any kind of tests and only wants the medicine because he doesn’t have a job to be able to pay the bills. After getting what he wants, he tries to run off and that’s when Park figures out that he’s actually transporting drugs. It’s just that something has gone terribly wrong and now he needs surgery to clear the blockage in his intestine.

Eike Schroter/ ABC

Taken by Luca’s story that he only did it because he’s in desperate need of a job, Claire advocates for him. She tries to convince Park and Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) not to call the cops but, in cases like that, it’s hospital policy. At that point, Luca’s still trying to get out. But, Claire manages to convince him to stay one more hour to allow her to figure out a way to help him and avoid getting him in jail.

Appealing once more to Park and Melendez, Claire reveals that she’s also done her fair share of stealing when she was stuck in a situation like Luca’s. And she believes that he deserves another chance to work out his life as she did. Given her persistence, they come up with a solution to give Luca one more chance by the end of the hour. The plan is to get the blockage aka the drugs out, send it to the lab, and discharge Luca before the results come out at which point, the doctors would be obligated to call the police. Feeling a little more assured, Luca finally agrees to the operation.

Crushing Disappointment

In the operation, Claire and the team manage to get at least a kilo of drugs out of Luca. When he wakes up, he offers Claire his sincere gratitude with what seems to be hope and a successful change of heart. Unfortunately, it takes quite a disappointing turn.

Eike Schroter/ ABC

The last episode on The Good Doctor, Claire finally sought out help. But, she still refuses to confront her memories with her mom. And now, her doctor thinks she has PTSD. If you can remember, these memories have also caused Claire to be wary of believing people could change. This time is no different because just as she thinks she helped changed Luca’s life for the better, Luca goes ahead and steals the drugs back just as soon as he can stand. When Claire gets back to the hospital, Luca’s gone and the police have no way of tracking him down.

Fortunately for Claire, Melendez is there to comfort her. In fact, he’s been there beside her, guiding her, and giving her superb advice ever since she broke down in front of him. Honestly, it’s been one of the best mentor-trainee relationships of the show.

Wonder Woman

On the other hand, back on Shaun’s case, Kerri’s condition is taking a turn for the worse. The external procedure they did wasn’t working and if they don’t do the internal operation, Kerri risks amputation. Kerri agrees to do it, however, she still refuses to have any narcotics near her body. No matter what Andrews or Morgan tell her, she wouldn’t budge. And the thing is, they couldn’t tell Kerri’s husband the truth because of the patient-doctor confidentiality.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

To his credit, Andrews uses this catch to their disadvantage and gets Kerri’s husband to confront her. Kerri finally gives up her secret. But, even with her husband’s support and assurance that he’ll still be there whatever happens after, Kerri still refuses to allow the doctors to inject her with anything. So, in an incredible feat, Kerri goes through the surgery without any anesthetic. While in surgery, her hand shoots up and grabs Shaun’s. And in another incredible feat, Shaun allows the woman to grab him tight in an effort to get her through the surgery. Later on, as Morgan, Andres, and Shaun watch Kerri reunite with her family, they finally gain a little bit more understanding of her fierce determination to stay clean and sober.

The Good Doctor Moves Out

Elsewhere on the episode, Shaun finally tells Carly about what happened between him and Lea. And Carly ends up understandably very upset. After all, it took weeks for her and Shaun to work on lying down in bed together and Lea and Shaun only managed it in one night. In turn, Shaun also gets very upset at himself.

Shaun storms into Glassman’s office. And there, all his fears and worries come crashing down on him. In his mind, Shaun thinks everyone’s going to leave him. His father didn’t want him. His mother chose his father over him. And now, Carly’s upset at him. He also thinks Lea’s going to get tired of him. Before Shaun could spiral into a full meltdown, Glassman snaps him out of it with one of the sweetest and most heartwarming lines ever.  With full sincerity and conviction, Glassman tells Shaun, “I could not be more proud of you…I could never get sick of you.” And in pure relief, love, and joy, Shaun launches himself into a tight embrace with Glassman.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

For a few good seconds, the pair pours out their love for each in that embrace. In a way, they give each other what they’ve both been missing in each other’s lives as a father and as a child. And that moment right there is simply one of my favorites in The Good Doctor. 

Later that night, Shaun and Carly finally go over their issues. Carly was hurt, yes, but she also doesn’t want to throw away what she has with Shaun. And Shaun feels the exact same way. However, Carly doesn’t think she’ll have peace of mind as long as Shaun still lives with Lea. So, she asks him to move out. Carly doesn’t rush him to make a decision, but just as she’s leaving, Shaun grabs her hand and tells her he loves her. Without hesitation, he tells her he’ll move out to be with her.

The Good Doctor continues Monday, January 20th, with “Mutations” at 10/9c on ABC.