‘The Good Doctor’ Season 3, Episode 8 ‘Moonshot’ Review: Choices of Fear

As far as relationships go on The Good Doctor, tonight’s episode titled ‘Moonshot’ is quite bittersweet. While Shaun (Freddie Highmore) and Carly (Jasika Nicole) face intimacy problems, Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) and Lim (Christina Chang) come to a head on their work and personal relationship issues. It’s an interesting exploration of both aspects of relationships. Unfortunately, while one of these relationships grow, the other tanks despite all odds.

On the other hand, one notable character for tonight is Will Yun Lee’s Alex Park. So far along this season of The Good Doctor, he’s been on the sidelines. But seeing him step forward a little bit more this episode was quite refreshing. Same goes with Fiona Gubelmann’s Morgan who’s been a few steps ahead of Park the past couple of episodes. It’s just that in her case, we might be facing a major shift in her story arc soon enough. Without further ado, here’s what happened on tonight’s episode of The Good Doctor. 

Intimacy Troubles

After a fun night at the carnival, Carly and Shaun head back to Carly’s apartment. At this point, Shaun seems to be more comfortable with Carly touching and kissing him. However, when she invites him to lie down with him, Shaun freaks out and leaves a disappointed Carly behind.

Jeff Weddell/ ABC

The next day, Shaun, Andrews, and Park tend to Dr. Rosalind Elion (Kathleen Duborg) who was behind a revolutionary advancement on Leukemia treatment. She came in for chest pains. But suddenly, in the midst of Andrews’ examination, she suffers a heart attack. Andrews and Shaun immediately wheel her to the OR for a triple bypass while Park contacts her immediate family.

On the operating table, Andrews and Shaun find out that the entire left portion of her heart has been compromised. There’s no choice left but to replace her entire heart. In addition to that, Park finds out that Rosalind listed her ex-husband Leo (Paul McGillion) as her medical proxy. The problem is, she hasn’t spoken to him in two years. When she wakes up, she delves right back into work despite her dire condition.

8 Seconds

Afterward, Shaun drops some tests in the lab where Carly catches him. When she brings up last night’s little glitch, Shaun outright says that he wants to have sex with her. But, obviously, some factors of his autism creates a unique issue. So, Carly did her research and came upon exposure therapy. And Shaun’s game to try it.

Jeff Weddell/ ABC

After his shift, Shaun and Carly try the therapy. The basic rules are that they spend 15 seconds lying down on the bed together, fully clothed and not touching. Then, they’ll take a 3-minute break and repeat. Over time, they’ll lengthen the intervals and start getting closer to each other. Shaun tries but, at the 8-second mark, he freaks out again saying “I can’t do this!”

Understandably, Carly’s very upset. She’s done everything to make Shaun comfortable including buying new sheets, pillows, lights, and doing all that research. And Shaun’s flaking on her without even trying again. So, for the first time in The Good Doctor, she simply tells him to go.

Fear of Being Alone

The next day, while examining Rosalind’s heart, Shaun confides in Park. Hilariously, at first, he’s a little bit baffled by the 8 seconds but, when Shaun explains about the therapy, he visibly relaxes. And like a good friend, he tries to lift Shaun’s spirit by telling him to rely on his strengths and do his own research. The discussion is interrupted by Andrews’ arrival. Sadly, he couldn’t find a donor for Rosalind. And with her present condition, she has now only one day left to live.

All they can do at this point is to make sure that Rosalind’s as comfortable as she can be in her last few hours. Park encourages Rosalind to call Leo. He even draws on his own experience with his ex-wife. But, Rosalind thinks it’s too late. In their marriage, Leo always made her feel pressured to choose between him and her job until the time came that Rosalind realized he was right. So, she went where she was needed the most. And calling now would be hypocritical and most of all unfair. With Park speechless, Shaun commends Rosalind’s work. And to him, she made a good choice.

From Rosalind’s situation, Shaun gathers that he can’t be good both at his work and his relationship. So, now, he’s choosing to stick to the thing he’s better at. But, Park disagrees. Contrary to Rosalind’s reasons, Park thinks she’s simply afraid to lose Leo much like how she lost her mother to Leukemia when she was young. And Park thinks Shaun’s the same. Soon, Park realizes that Rosalind’s not calling Leo because she’s afraid he won’t come.

One Day Left To Live

Without Rosalind knowing, Park visits Leo at work. He tries to convince him to be there for Rosalind’s last few hours. However, Leo’s still wounded by the fact that he’s never on the top of Rosalind’s list even now on her deathbed.

Later on, when Park gets back to the hospital, Rosalind’s having trouble breathing. And Park realizes that it’s fear. Park does his best to comfort her and to assure her that he’ll be there with her as long as she needs him. Suddenly, Leo arrives. And as he approaches, Rosalind calms down.

Jeff Weddell/ ABC

Leo stays late into the night beside Rosalind until her very last minutes. And she dies peacefully with his face to be the last thing she sees. As Park enters the room to pronounce her death, Leo thanks him with tears in his eyes.

After their shift, Shaun heads back to Carly’s. He took Park’s advice and did his own research. But, he found nothing. So, he wants to try exposure therapy again. This time though, Shaun’s calmer. Once the 15-second mark is up, he doesn’t even stand. As Carly reminds him, Shaun realizes that as frightening as it is, it’s also nice. And just like that, they end up lying down together while touching hands.

Checks and Balances

On the other hand, Melendez’s next case is just as complicated as his last one. His patient Wren Braxton (Donna Benedicto) has a tumor in her lung. And she wants it out without compromising her whole lung so she can continue her dream of flying to the moon. But, this time, Melendez wants to run his procedures through Glassman (Richard Schiff) rather than Lim. But, Lim won’t allow it.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Unfortunately, the tumor has grown far into Wren’s lung. Melendez won’t be able to get it out without decreasing Wren’s lung volume. However, this isn’t good enough for Wren as this will deem her unfit for space travel. Later on, Lim comes to Melendez surprised that he didn’t offer another solution, using a surgical robot. And she thinks he’s overestimating the risks once again while he thinks she’s also overestimating him. So, Lim decides to do the surgery herself.

After that, Melendez visits Wren. She tries to talk him into doing her surgery quoting facing the fear just like her. But, Melendez doesn’t give. As he says, it’s also fear that keeps them alive. And if he does the surgery, there’s a 60% chance Wren dies on the table. This leads to a heated argument between Lim and Melendez in the hospital’s hallway. Before it could get any worse, Glassman steps in.

Work and Personal Support

Glassman has always been the voice of reason in The Good Doctor for St. Bonaventure. And with Lim and Melendez, he’s busting out President Glassman. Scolding them, Glassman tells the pair to get their stuff together or else he’ll have to lose one of them at least. When Melendez tries to run the procedure by him, Glassman doesn’t even open the folder. If his chief of surgery thinks it’s a good idea, Glassman’s confident about it as well.

Later on, Lim continues with the operation using the surgical robot. Right as it’s about to begin, Melendez steps in to offer his help. In the middle of the operation, Lim discovers that the tumor has grown around Wren’s lung much more complicated than the scans showed. And if Lim continues, she might end up with a bleed she can’t control. So, she decides to take the lung out.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

Before they could switch procedures, Melendez figures out that there’s another way to save Wren. They could use a prostatectomy kit which would get the tumor out without damaging Wren’s arteries. Trusting his judgment, Lim proceeds with his call and successfully removes the tumor without compromising Wren’s lung. She can still go to the moon. After Wren wakes up, Lim and Melendez hand her a piece of equipment they used to save her. And she tells them to sign it because she’s going to leave it on the moon.

Later that night, Lim visits Melendez. And both of them admit that they were both right about each other’s assumptions. Melendez was holding back and Lim wasn’t objective with Melendez. However, they still managed to work together successfully. Unfortunately, Lim doesn’t think they’d be able to hold it for long. She realizes that she can’t give her full unconditional support as his partner as well as be objective as his chief. More than that, she doesn’t want to give up on her dream. As she tells Melendez, “I love you. But, it’s not enough.” And just like that, Lim and Melendez are over.

Morgan’s Secret

Elsewhere in the episode, Morgan finally gets her first lead surgery. And Andrews has given her the most complicated first lead surgery out of everybody. While practicing, however, Morgan couldn’t keep a steady hand. Because of this, she drowns some questionable pills down.

Later on, she surprisingly tells Andrews that the procedure is too complicated for a third-year student like her. But, as Andrews tells her, that is exactly the reason why he picked her. She has the aggressiveness, the work ethic, and the talent to be a leader. He’s not setting her up to fail as she thinks. He’s setting her up to shine. With renewed confidence, Morgan decides to continue with the surgery.

Jack Rowand/ ABC

A few hours before surgery, however, Morgan visits Glassman’s clinic asking for cortisone shots for her joint and wrist pains. No matter how much she tries to hide the real reason for it though, Glassman catches on that she’s hiding something. Busted, Morgan admits that she has rheumatoid arthritis.

Glassman advises her to postpone her lead surgery and take a breather to see how she responds to her meds. But, Morgan doesn’t want to tell Andrews or anyone about her condition because she’s afraid of people’s assumptions and prejudices. That’s why she confided in Glassman. She’s hoping he’ll give her a chance much as he did to Shaun. Somehow, she manages to convince him to proceed with the operation. And she does remarkably well on it.

Afterward, Glassman checks on Morgan. And despite his doubts, she insists she’s fine. When she gets home, however, she dunks her hands in a base filled with ice. It seems that the only thing that’s gotten better is how she hides her pain.

The Good Doctor continues Monday, November 25th, with “Incomplete” at 10/9c on ABC.