"Parenting" is the eighth episode of Season 4 of The Good Doctor. It is also the sixty-fourth episode overall and aired on January 25, 2021.
Synopsis[]
The team treats a teenage gymnast who experiences complications from her intensive training. Meanwhile, Shaun meets Lea's parents for the first time.
Plot[]
Lea is panicking as her parents are coming to visit and she’s worried about what they’ll think of Shaun; they’ve never liked her previous boyfriends and she’s afraid that Glassman (whom she calls Shaun’s “grumpy second dad”) doesn’t like her and texts Shaun topics to not talk about when he meets them. Meanwhile, he and Claire are working on Darya, a 14-year-old gymnast who is at the hospital with her father/coach Anton following an injury she sustained from her work. After she confesses to eating Konjac noodles which were banned in Australia for being hard to digest, Shaun and Claire take her to imaging.
Olivia and Andrews soon meet in an attempt for him to help her, to which she tries to get him to not give her special attention. Andrews refers to how Olivia has had her problems at the hospital, but he thinks she has her talents including a painted rock she apparently once did at her Aunt Tilly’s barbecue and gave to him. Claire sees the indigestible noodles in Darya that they need to remove, while Shaun sees that she has to quit gymnastics as her spine has become fractured. Shaun and Claire inform Darya and Anton about this, but Darya’s mother is gone and Anton leaves the decision to Darya who refuses to have it.
Claire attempts to talk to Lim about how Anton is allowing Darya to risk her own life which she sees as a form of abuse, though Lim just tells Claire to try and convince Anton to be responsible for Darya and let them fix Darya’s spine. Claire retorts that she has already tried doing so with Lim, who has been avoiding her while recovering from her motorbike accident which she lied about though Lim tries to deny she can’t deal with her PTSD.
Anton is also being checked over for heartburn that it turns out he’s got. Jordan tries to address how this is caused by being stressed from working with Darya, but Anton just states that the doctors are just the same with their own long shifts. However, he starts having problems with his airway which Park and Jordan try to help with. He’s found to have fluid in his chest and has surgery, during which fears are pointed out about him suffering an infection and dying from it. Jordan tries to suggest that they divert the oesophagus which Park points out will lead to him needing to be fed from a tube for the rest of his life, but he can’t think of another option. In response, Andrews orders that Anton be put on broad spectrum antibiotics and drains to clear the infection and give them time to think of something else.
While Darya is in surgery, farther comments are made concerning how she and Anton act more like work colleagues than father and daughter. After she starts having cardiac arrests which Shaun tries to figure out, Andrews tries to encourage Olivia to be better considering how well Jordan is doing and sets her to work on how to help Anton. As Shaun and Claire are trying to think of how to help Darya, Claire tells Shaun that Lea’s scared about him meeting her parents as much as he is. He considers doing a practice dinner meeting for it, with Morgan and Glassman playing the roles of Lea’s parents Pam and Mike. Unfortunately, Shaun gets somewhat stressed out while trying to do what Lea tells him and informs Glassman about how Lea thinks he doesn’t like her (to Glassman’s shock).
Olivia ends up pulling an all-nighter, which Morgan comments on and tries to advise her on how to better herself to compete with Jordan. Meanwhile, Lim is at a hotel where Glassman is arranging a fundraiser and is joined by Claire who still tries to help Lim. Enrique and Asher inform Darya that they believe that the cardiac arrests are from taking drugs for her gymnastics. She denies any knowledge, only to admit that she is taking hormones to have a more womanly figure. Anton is informed of this and isn’t happy, so he tries to be her father and orders that her spine be fixed. He claims to be trying to take responsibility, only for Darya to call him out for how this is when he’s choosing to do so as they don’t talk as father and daughter (not even about her mother) and states that she’s calling the team lawyer to have herself emancipated.
As Andrews, Park, Jordan and Olivia try to figure out what they’re going to do, Olivia suggests an idea which Andrews thinks is good and they go along with it. Shaun and Lea soon have dinner with Lea’s parents which appears to go well at first, only for them to bring up the subject of the belief that vaccines cause autism which Shaun has. Shaun then attempts to break the ice by referring to a hemorrhoid surgery he once did on a terminally ill man whom Shaun was able to make comfortable and he suggests that they “treat this evening like hemorrhoid surgery” which makes Mike laugh and he and Pam appear to approve of Shaun.
Claire and Lim are at a bar where Lim admits to having gone to a psychiatrist, but is refusing to go back as she was recommended medication. Lim tries to state that she is dealing with her PTSD by herself on her own terms as Claire did and calls her out for not allowing her this, to which Claire states that Lim’s actions are self-destructive which leads to Lim accusing Claire of lecturing her. Lim even lashes out at Claire for not leaving her alone.
The next day, surgery is being performed on Anton but they are having difficulties as Shaun tells Lea that he thinks he has found a steakhouse for Mike. However, Lea tells Shaun that he doesn’t need to be nice to her parents whom they won’t be seeing again; they actually don’t like Lea being with Shaun (not believing her to be mature enough) and have sent her insulting texts about him. When Shaun initially doesn’t react to this, he states that Pam and Mike don’t love Lea the most anymore. He then states about how awkward people get when they meet him and he has tried to deal with it by being patient, as Lea comments on how mature Shaun is but isn’t sure if this will work for her.
Enrique informs Lim that the team lawyer is trying to order Darya’s release, but Lim refuses to allow it as Jordan reports Anton’s complications. Lim informs Darya about how Anton will either need a feeding tube or be at risk of death and asks her as his next of kin, while refusing to mince her words in deciding to treat Darya as an adult as she already made an adult decision (much to Claire’s chagrin).
Claire is not happy with Lim’s current attitude and compares how she was the night before to Breeze who also refused help, but Lim brushes off these comments. Meanwhile, Shaun confronts Mike and Pam concerning their feelings about him. Although Pam apologizes for the texts and states that it was nice meeting Shaun, she and Mike state that they think he’s another of Lea’s boyfriends whom she’s using to spite them. When he can’t convince them he’s different, he points out how they were never good parents to Lea which they know for a fact which is why they are the way they are now. He also tells them about the challenges he and Lea face together (Lea in getting Shaun to try new things and Shaun in getting Lea to be patient with him) and suggests that this could be a challenge that could strengthen Pam and Mike’s relationship.
Darya agrees with Anton’s decision, while he apologetically states that he didn’t know how to talk to her much after her mother died as they reconcile over her love of gymnastics. Dr. Glassman also makes nice with Lea, although they keep sniping at each other. He ultimately states he is just afraid of her hurting Shaun which is rarely intentionally done. When Lea tells him that he is to her Shaun’s father and doesn’t want him to have issues with her similar to her own parents’ issues with Shaun, Glassman states that he is always going to be there for Shaun while Lea extends the hand by offering to clean a stain off Glassman’s tie.
Andrews apologizes to Olivia for how she didn’t get to do the surgery she suggested, but then she admits that the surgery wasn’t her idea and she didn’t paint the stone. She states how much she wants to be a doctor, but can’t have him compare her to be more like Jordan who is bold and much easier to brag about than the quiet, though still brilliant, Olivia. Andrews replies with how he’s still proud of Olivia who appreciates this. That night, Shaun and Lea are having dinner when they get a knock on their door; it’s Pam and Mike who wish to take them to dinner and they make amends with Lea after Shaun convinced them to. Meanwhile, Claire decides to report her and Lim’s PTSD to Glassman.
Cast[]
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Guest Starring[]
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Trivia[]
- Claire is shown to be on a first name basis with Lim who is still avoiding getting treatment for her PTSD.
- The events of Lim and The Uncertainty Principle are referred to.
- This is the 50th appearance of Park.
- Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader and Celebration by Kool & the Gang are heard playing in the bar Claire and Lim are in.
- Lea’s text to Shaun concerning the list of topics not to talk about while having dinner with Pam and Mike includes “drummers”. This is probably referencing to her ex-boyfriends, several of which she stated in Carrots were drummers.
- Lea believes that Glassman doesn’t like her while he states that he’s afraid of her hurting Shaun. He previously stated in Aftermath that he didn’t like her, albeit he only tolerated being around her as opposed to not wanting Shaun to be associated with her, while also stating fears that she would hurt Shaun in Quarantine: Part Two.
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