‘The Good Doctor’ Season 3, Episode 7 ‘SFAD’ Review: Hope And Doubt

Claire (Antonia Thomas) and Morgan (Fiona Gubelmann) have really switched roles. And in this week’s episode of The Good Doctor, Morgan is really getting into her new Claire-ness. I’m not complaining though because her combination of sass and niceness has really started to grow on me. After their 12-year-old patient Charlie (Keifer O’Reilly) escapes the hospital, Morgan’s the first one to understand him. And as they spend the day fulfilling the kid’s wishes, their dynamic grows to be one of the sweetest and most fun I’ve seen in weeks on The Good Doctor. 

On the other half of the episode, Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) stands under a new light as he reels from his patient’s death last episode. Each season of The Good Doctor, he has always been a rock of confidence. And now, we see one of St. Bonaventure’s best suffering from the loss of a patient. It’s refreshing to see him exude such vulnerability. And I’m truly interested to see how he handles it. Elsewhere on the episode, Shaun (Freddie Highmore) learns how texting goes in a relationship while Glassman (Richard Schiff) learns to work with his wife.

Charlie’s Day Out With Morgan and Claire

Morgan and Claire’s new patient is Charlie, a kid who’s about to get his last cancer-infected eye removed. For someone who’s about to go blind, Charlie’s chirpy and his parents wonder about it too. To make sure that the kid’s really dealing with his impending blindness as well as he acts, Andrews (Hill Harper) sends Claire to talk to him. She skips on it though and later on, she and Morgan find Charlie missing.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Morgan snoops around the kid’s iPad and they follow him to a baseball game. There, Morgan notices that Charlie has bought himself a few too many slushies and realizes that he has a crush on the slushie girl. Admitting to it, Charlie says he just wanted to see her one last time even though he hasn’t ever said anything to her other than “Can I have a slushie?” So, Morgan urges him to say hi and tell her how he feels about her. At the last second though, Charlie chickens out. But, at least the act of trying itself made him feel better. And despite Claire’s protests, Morgan agrees to grant some of Charlie’s wishes while he can still see.

One of Charlie’s wishes apparently is to drive ala race car driver. After he’s had his fun with that, he tells Claire and Morgan that his parents used to take him on SFADs (Spontaneous Family Adventure Days). They’d let him skip school and take him to baseball games, let him stay up past midnight, and such. But, after his illness, he’s been under lock and key. With that, Charlie begs Morgan to take him to one last stop.

Charlie’s Last Stop

Apparently, Charlie’s last stop is a bar to see naked women. Sadly, the bouncer doesn’t allow it. Charlie tries to beg for one more stop but, this time, Claire has had it. She snaps and pours some pretty harsh and hurtful words over the kid. And because of this, Charlie refuses to do the surgery.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

A while later, Claire remedies her mistake and apologizes to Charlie. She confesses that she wrongly took out her pain on him. Then, she convinces him to take the surgery again. Claire somehow connects with Charlie and it seems like we have the old Claire back again on The Good Doctor. But, back at the hospital, as Charlie takes one last long look at his parent’s faces, Claire heads out of the room ahead of everyone else. Morgan, on the other hand, struggles to hold back her own tears. Just before they take him to surgery, Morgan tells Andrews to go ahead and draws the curtains around Charlie’s bed. Then, she shows him her boobs.

After the surgery, Charlie thanks Morgan for everything she’s done for him. He also wants to tell Claire something but, sadly, she’s not even there. Later on, Morgan finds her at a bar with a drink in hand. And with Claire’s antagonism and pessimism, Morgan leaves her with a well-meaning warning “Get your shit together before this is who you really become.”

Bubble Girl

On the other hand, Shaun, Melendez, and Park (Will Yun Lee) work on Tara (Haley Ramm), a young woman with SCID (Serve Combined Immunideficiencry) disease aka Bubble Boy Disease. She has infected tissue on her right lung which would need to be removed with surgery. When the topic of visitors arrive, Tara reveals that she won’t have any as she has inadvertently cut herself off from everyone in her life.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

On the operating table, Melendez encounters difficulty with the procedure. So, they decide to change procedures. And the only option they have then is to bring Tara out of her bubble and open her up. During the new procedure, Melendez hesitates to make the first cut. And Lim (Christina Chang) doesn’t fail to notice from where she’s watching on the gallery.

After the operation, Lim confronts Melendez about it. And she suggests he talk to someone about processing his loss. But, Melendez firmly refuses. Later on, Lim enlists Glassman’s help to help her convince Melendez to seek help. Meanwhile, Shaun takes care of Tara post-op. And she doesn’t fail to notice the continuous messages Shaun keeps receiving. Since Carly is at a conference, she’s been sending Shaun updates. Lea has been telling him to reply to them but, Shaun doesn’t completely understand the logic of it. So, Tara tells Shaun to bring out his phone and she’ll help him sext with Carly. But, Shaun refuses. Suddenly, Tara feels dizzy and when Shaun checks, he discovers she has an infection.

The Cost or Win of Hesitation

Upon knowing of Tara’s infection, Melendez orders a traditional round of treatments. Park suggests gene replacement therapy but, for the first time in The Good Doctor, Melendez doesn’t even consider it. He insists on the safe way. But, later on, Lim convinces him to let Park present the option to Tara.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Tara’s immediate answer is no. A cure has always been so far-fetched in her life and the risks of gene replacement therapy are too great. Park tries his best to convince her. But, it’s Shaun she responds to. Somehow, despite his problems with communication, he connected with her. Drawing on their similar pasts of being alone, Shaun manages to change Tara’s mind. After her transfusion, Tara asks Shaun to sit with her for a while. With fear evident in her eyes, Tara admits she wanted someone there just in case she dies.

After a few hours of no toxic reaction, Melendez confirms that the treatment is working. Though it’s too early to call Tara cured, she’s showing good signs. Park suggests Tara tells her parents the good news. And Shaun adds that they could just be at her side. But, Tara refuses. After they leave, Tara walks out of her bubble for the first time to gaze at the world beyond her.

When Relationship and Work are Put Together

Heeding Lim’s request, Glassman talks to Melendez. And what the old geezer said seems to do the trick as Melendez admits to Lim that he’s not fine. In a quick turn of events, however, he suddenly puts the blame on Lim for his patient’s death. He thinks that because of their relationship, she hasn’t been looking at him objectively and she agreed to the dangerous procedure because she overestimated him.

Lim makes it plainly clear that her approval had nothing to do with their relationship. However, in his refusal to face the truth, Melendez insists that the responsibility is both on them. In his exact words, he said, “If we weren’t dating, that woman might still be alive. And we both have to live with that.” Later that night, he comes home to an empty house and realizes that he might have just broken their relationship.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Elsewhere in the episode, Glassman is also experiencing work and relationship trouble. Debbie (Sheila Kelley) has been firmly bossing him around with the best intentions to keep him on time and not overwork himself. But, at one point, Glassman loses it and snaps. Upset, Debbie keeps her promise in taking up the job and quits.

Later at home, Glassman relents and brings Debbie a gift. But, she apologizes before anything for overstepping her boundaries. When she opens the box, she discovers a pair of nurse’s shoes as Glassman’s silent plea for her to come back. Debbie initially refuses. But, as Glassman tells her that he loves her more than his job and that he’ll allow her to boss him around a bit, Debbie changes her mind. And everything is well again.

Overall, this week’s episode of The Good Doctor was sweet. It brought some light-hearted tones back and some much-needed reprieve. And it might not be one of the show’s strongest but, it’s enough for a passing episode. It definitely gets me intrigued on how the show will tackle the new conflicts that have arisen.

The Good Doctor continues Monday, November 18th, with “Moonshot” at 10/9c on ABC.