A brief synopsis: Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), an autistic surgeon who has savant syndrome, is assigned to work at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital alongside fellow surgeons who are trying to figure him out while he is trying to find his place as well.
The show premiered this past Monday night and we tuned in to see what this was all about. We needed to know: was it going to be another Grey’s Anatomy or maybe another repetitive doctor show we’ve seen millions of times?
As with any new show, what you see is what you get in the pilot episode since they jam- packed everything they could into the trailer. We start with Dr. Murphy packing up his things to arrive in San Jose for his new position. You may remember while in the airport, he witnessed a kid become severely injured due to a glass sign that fell from the ceiling. Cue Freddie’s character going into action (not quite right away but at his own pace) to help save the kid.
Meanwhile in the San Jose facility, we’re taken to the official boardroom of the hospital with all the top head officials to decide whether or not Dr. Murphy is even fit to be a surgeon. Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) stands before the panel defending every reason why Shan deserves to be there. Of course, they have no idea what’s going on on the other side of town where Shaun is literally saving a kid’s life, MacGyver style. Throughout both scenarios, we see flashbacks of Shaun’s life with his older brother, Steve, and how he even became associated with Glassman in the first place.
I guess I should also mention the other key players in the show who will soon be part of Shaun’s new life: the arrogant surgeon Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez), who doesn’t like to be questioned, Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), who is having an affair with another character, Dr. Claire Brown (Antonia Thomas), but will always seem to follow the lead of Melendez despite hearing everyone’s different opinions.
From here on out, we’re seeing how all these worlds eventually collide back at the San Jose facility where the deciding panel sees for themselves how good of a surgeon Shaun really is, all while the current staff is questioning every decision and statement he makes during the injured boy’s procedure. When that is all said and done, we find Shaun standing before the board to answer one important question: why does he want to become a surgeon in the first place?
Alas, the final flashback appears and through the different flashbacks, we see how close he was to his older brother and his family relations were so bad they had to run away. During a game of hide and seek, Shaun’s older brother literally slipped his way to death. And with the death of Shaun’s pet bunny too, he realized he couldn’t help anyone. He couldn’t help people get to live out their lives so he wants to give that chance to those who can.
It’s a lot to take in and it’s only the first episode. Did you catch all that? Right off the bat, it seems like a TV show ABC would be likely to pick up. With shows such as Speechless spotlighting members of the cerebral palsy community, it’s only right for ABC to tap into this field. Sure, it’s questionable why they didn’t cast someone who actually has autism but I strongly believe Freddie will do well in this role.
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A show like this has a lot of potential because one, autism does not get a lot of spotlight in primetime television so it would be interesting to see how far this show will be able to go and shed light on Shaun’s disabilities. Two, it’s not your typical hospital drama like ER where it’s drama on drama running throughout every second of the show. Instead, we’re working to learn more about the central main character and seeing how his team learns to adapt to someone different from them. Someone who sees things in a different way and learning to accept change.
My only wish is that ABC won’t axe this show before the first season even ends. It’s true – I’m still bitter about Forever being cut so early, but The Good Doctor has so much potential. Freddie Highmore has so much to show the world. This is not your typical medical show, so give this show a chance when you can.
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