"Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices" is the ninth episode of Season 4 of The Good Doctor. It is also the sixty-fifth episode overall and aired on February 15, 2021.
Synopsis[]
Lim is challenged by the unique circumstances surrounding a pregnant patient with an aggressive tumor. Elsewhere, after misdiagnosing a patient, Claire makes a disconcerting discovery about certain practices at the hospital.[2]
Plot[]
Morgan and Jordan are checking over Rio, a transgender man who has a tumor and is due to marry another man. Meanwhile, a heavyset black woman, Zara Norton, comes into the E.R. a bit delirious. She’s a Marajuana salesperson and her blood pressure is climbing, her medication for which Claire assumes she isn’t taking and is able to get her blood pressure down. Meanwhile, Glassman visits Lim concerning how she’s been after Claire informed him of her and Lim’s PTSD. However, Lim still tries to deny anything wrong with her but Glassman knows otherwise.
Zara is recovering when Enrique, Claire and Asher check in on her as she offers discounts if they would like to buy some Marujuana and states that she refilled her medication. Meanwhile, Shaun is observed talking to Dr. Cintia D’Souza, a second-year radiologist, about her opinion on some scans when Jordan sees that Shaun has a crush on her which he tries to debunk. As work is being done on Zara, Claire still has her doubts about her which Enrique and Asher try to challenge as Zara’s heart rate begins to climb.
Jordan ends up doing an ultrasound on Rio’s abdomen while his fiance Eliz is with him; he’s pregnant. Meanwhile, Andrews informs Zara that they have put an Impella pump in her to help her heart for a while until they can actually help her. She’ll need surgery to fix her septum, for which they will be performing some tests. Zara is all too happy considering Andrews, Enrique and Claire are doctors of color and will be performing surgery on her.
Lim, Jordan and Shaun soon approach Rio about the tumor and he is six weeks pregnant when Shaun accidentally upsets him and Eliz by questioning about their love life and is told by Lim to leave. Lim then asks about how their intentions to treat Rio depend on whether he wants to keep the pregnancy, which he asks to be terminated as it will be safer for him. Meanwhile, Zara is being tested when Enrique asks Claire why she is doubting Zara whom Claire appears to be unknowingly racially profiling.
That night, Shaun is passing the residents’ lounge when he sees Dr. D’Souza who is watching the Weather Channel with there being no TV in the Radiology Department. She invites Shaun to join her as she turns down the volume and they kiss, which turns out to be a dream that Shaun is having while asleep next to Lea. The next day, Rio opts to keep the pregnancy. Unfortunately, he ends up in a disagreement with Eliz who fears about how dangerous it is but Rio stands by his decision. Claire also gives Zara the options on how to treat her and offers to give her time to make a decision when Zara compares how they’re both black and want to help people. She states that she wants to help people in her Marijuana business as Marijuana was the only thing that could help her great-aunt who died from pancreatic cancer and dealt with some racial discrimination throughout her treatment. Zara then asks to have a Mastectomy Claire recommended since Claire suggested it.
Dr. D’Souza drops off some imagining concerning Rio for Shaun, who looks away from her when she comes. After she’s gone, Shaun confesses to Park and Jordan who are with him about his dream which has left him stressed out; he thinks that his crush on her means that she is the one he should be with, considering when Carly broke-up with him because he liked Lea more. However, Park and Jordan inform Shaun that Lea is the one he likes as Andrews reveals some gossip to Lim; Sarah Pepper - a nephrologist they know of - once broke down in a meeting and was forced into taking leave which she takes offense at as she believes he’s poking fun at her issues.
Shaun comes to see Eliz to apologize after realizing that he accidentally insulted them, as well as how upset Rio is that he doesn’t have Eliz with him. Shaun thinks that he thinks Rio is brave for how he must have gone through a lot alone because of how he is transgender and convinces Eliz to be there for him. Meanwhile, Claire informs Lim about Enrique pointing out that Claire supposedly racially profiled Zara when Lim angrily confronts Claire over telling Glassman about her PTSD while Zara is reluctantly informed about what Claire did.
Shaun soon takes Rio for surgery when Eliz comes by and they make up, only to realize that the tumor is wrecking his vision and they can’t perform the intended surgery. Lim suggests doing the original one, but Rio decides to take the risk. Unfortunately, Zara’s has been cancelled and she asks to be transferred to another hospital in anger because of what Claire did. Shaun soon meets Lea for lunch, during which he shamefully admits to her his crush on Dr. D’Souza. Thankfully, Lea isn’t angry but instead accidentally worsens things when she states that she still gets crushes herself. When he again questions the status of their relationship, Lea tries to calm Shaun since she can see he hates himself for having these feelings when one of her crushes walks by and Shaun leaves to operate on Rio.
Dr. Glassman apologizes to Zara and informs her that out of the nearby hospitals within 100 or so miles, St. Bonaventure shows the least bias. It isn’t lost on Zara that Dr. Glassman isn’t defending the hospital and saying it shows no bias at all, but rather the least. She reluctantly agrees to stay, but only if Claire is not involved in the surgery. Rio’s soon goes ahead as Shaun tries to question what makes a man and refers to when he made Rio uncomfortable, to which Lim states that life is uncomfortable as Rio’s blood pressure drops. Unfortunately, Lim ends up dealing with her PTSD which distracts her but they are still able to help Rio.
As Claire ends up watching Zara’s surgery outside of the OR, Lea follows Dr. D’Souza around the cafeteria, taking notes. When Zara can’t survive being taken off bypass and is at risk of cardiac arrest, Claire suggests inserting a dual chamber pacer which they agree to. After Rio’s successful surgery, Shaun comes to Lea’s office after she informed him that she has news about putting Shaun off his crush of Dr. D’Souza. Lea initially doesn’t help, but then she reveals that Dr. D’Souza uses the cucumber tongs for the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives and pickles which puts Shaun off of her.
As Lim finds that Glassman has paid for medication for her to take, Rio is in full recovery with Eliz by his side as they excitedly think about becoming fathers. Claire soon apologizes to Zara who knows that Claire helped her, but can’t forgive her. Claire talks about how she was treated with racial bias and worked hard to prove them all wrong, only to become exactly like the people she didn’t want to be when Zara arrived. Zara then replies that she used to be the same, until she stopped making black people comfortable.
As Shaun and Lea are leaving, Dr. D’Souza approaches them which Shaun panics over. However, he recovers when he realizes that she has pickles in her food and he and Lea feel pleased about their coping strategies. Andrews also approaches Lim with some alcohol as a “peace offering” for his comments about Pepper when Claire joins them; according to information she got from Lea, it appears they’re not doing so well in treating people of color as Lim talks about her medication for her PTSD. She’s working on it, which Andrews is sympathetic over as Lim thanks Claire who meets with Enrique concerning whether their making white people comfortable was worth it.
Cast[]
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Trivia[]
- This episode has the lowest average user rating on IMDB in the entire series to date, with a rating of only 5.0. It is also the only episode so far to have an average rating lower than a 7. Many of the negative reviews complained that the episode explored too many social justice issues at once, and several viewers expressed offense at Zara telling Dr. Glassman, "That's mighty white of you."
- On February 1, 2021, it was reported that the season would be going on a two week hiatus, and that this episode wouldn't air until February 15, 2021.[3] During this hiatus, repeats of Frontline Part One and Frontline Part Two aired.
- Shaun and Carly's breakup from Unsaid is brought up. It's also the last time Carly is mentioned in the show.
- This is the first episode where Shaun does not appear before the opening titles.
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