Take My Hand

"Take My Hand"

Episode Information

Season 3

Episode 4

Overall 40

Airdate:

October 14, 2019^[1]

Viewers:

5.73^[2] million

Writer:

Doris Egan

Director:

Tara Nicole Weyr

Episode Chronology

Preceded by:	Followed by:
"Claire"	"First Case, Second Base"

"That show we watched the other night, it had a happy ending because they stopped the story in a good place. But in real life, it’s gonna get dark and cold out there. All we have is this. This says we’re in it together, we’ve got each other’s back, and that we’ll hold each other up for as long as we can."

—Carly to Shaun on why it's important for them to hold hands

"Take My Hand"^[1] is the fourth episode of Season 3 of The Good Doctor. It is the fortieth episode overall, and aired on October 14, 2019.

Synopsis[]

As a conspiracy theorist questions Dr. Marcus Andrews of his liver damage, Dr.Claire Browne treats a woman whose inability to feel pain is threatening both her marriage and her life. Meanwhile, Dr. Shaun Murphy and Dr. Aaron Glassman each face crisis in their romantic relationships.^[3]

Plot[]

Carly and Shaun are watching television when they lean for a kiss. They're doing so during all the commercials, but Shaun appears to be averse to holding hands. The next day at the hospital, Dr. Andrews tells Dr. Park and Shaun that they've got an incoming patient that has come through the celebrity track (the loading dock). He warns that they are not to mention his name, even to their own colleagues. The aforementioned celebrity turns out to be Mitchell Stewart, a known conspiracy theorist for wild theories. Park calls him an ass, but Andrews says that Mitchell is an ass who needs liver surgery.

Inside Mitchell's hospital room, they are stopped from proceeding any further by his bodyguard Dex. But Mitchell tells his security detail that it’s okay because they are on the list. He goes on to say that he doesn’t blind turn over his well-being, or anything else, to those in authority, so he also ran background checks on everyone taking care of him. Mitchell suggests that he has been poisoned, but Andrews tells Park and Shaun that the tox-screen came back negative. But the KCNN3 genetic testing confirmed the cause was due to his idiopathic portal hypertension, which he inherited from his mother.

Morgan asks Claire if Breeze kept her up the night before with her singing since she was late to work today, though Claire claims that Breeze has been quiet. They soon work on Lily Barstow, a woman who is with her husband, Jonas, while saying that she's been off food for a few days. After throwing up, it turns out she has a ruptured appendix. Shaun and Park go to pick up lab results for Mitchell, though they can't tell Carly his name (despite her attempts to make guesses) and Shaun still appears to be averse to holding hands.

In the operating room, Neil asks Claire how to help Lily, but she's out of it mentally, and Morgan answers instead. However, both Morgan and Neil notice how off her game Claire is. Shaun goes to visit Dr. Glassman, who tells him that he has cleared his schedule for the rest of the day since he and Debbie are going to City Hall to get married. Shaun asks about Glassman and Debbie holding hands, being quite uncomfortable doing so with Carly. Glassman suggests that Shaun talk this over with Carly, but Shaun just thinks that it's a small thing that doesn't matter. He also states that he and Carly are just finding out about each other, while Glassman and Debbie already know what they want.

Morgan realizes that Lily isn't feeling any pain; instead, what she's feeling is touch. Morgan then guesses that Lily has never felt pain, so she doesn't know what it is. At City Hall, Debbie and Glassman start joking about a man whom Debbie believes has sleep apnea keeping his wife up with his snoring. She then reveals that she was a United States Merchant Marine and starts telling Glassman about her time then. Realizing how little he knows Debbie, Glassman freaks out and says he can't do this.

Claire and Morgan realize Lily doesn't even feel any emotional pain. However, Claire realizes that Lily's hand is turning red and starting to swell so she has an infection. Meanwhile, Shaun reports to Mitchell that he is alright and will be discharged in a few days. When Mitchell questions about possibly being poisoned again, Shaun questions him about his incorrect conspiracy theories. After Mitchell realized he was wrong about one, he didn't do anything to make up for his mistake or everything about him would be questioned. Shaun then tries to suggest that Mitchell admit when he's proven wrong, thus being truthful for once, and then could get people to believe him.

Neil realizes that they have to remove the infected tissue in Lily and this and her appendix are addressed to her and Jonas. As Lily is taken to an OR, Debbie tells Glassman she needs a better explanation than he can't do this. He admits that he's the most irritable person, and has been told this on numerous occasions. He then goes onto tell Debbie that if they were to get divorced down the line, it would hurt him. Debbie thanks Glassman, but tries to tell him that they can get through it.

Claire, Neil and Morgan are performing surgery on Lily when Morgan mentions how she appeared so strong, but only because she couldn't feel pain while Claire attempts to state that Lily does love Jonas. While it appears that Lily could lose her hand because of all the neurotic tissue in it, Shaun addresses his issues about hand-holding. Carly refers to the happy ending the TV show they were watching the previous night and that the story was in a good place then, while not addressing how difficult things will be from that point onwards. She also states that holding hands means that they're there for each other which speaks louder than actually saying it and convinces him to try it.

Claire advises Lily that she regularly check herself for possible injuries, while Morgan offers a leaflet for drugs to make sure Lily can feel pain. As Lily promises to be more careful, Park knows how bothered Carly will be if she and Shaun can't hold hands as they're informed that they need to do imaging on Mitchell if he's alright; his liver's still somehow deteriorating, even though the surgery was successful. Mitchell suspects it was someone in the hospital, but his requests to be moved to another one are denied as Shaun points out Mitchell's beliefs that people "can be gotten to". He then requests Shaun deal with him, Shaun being unable to lie.

Jonas refers to moments that Lily appeared to take well when it appeared to just be because of her inability to feel pain, also fearing that their love was false and Lily wouldn't have cared if he died. Lily tries to state that that love shouldn't be in suffering, but Jonas states that it should ache and he needs to get away for a while when Claire and Lily don't respond. While going over what they will be testing Mitchell for, Shaun realizes that he's not been eating the hospital food when it is delivered by Nurse Villanueva; instead, he's been having proteins he has in his bag when Shaun finds he also has herbs in it to try and keep him young and virile when he leaves.

Lily agrees to take the drugs so as to not lose Jonas, while Mitchell's tests come up negative. However, Shaun considers Claire's statement that there is a lot of lying in the world. Morgan also thinks that Claire is jealous of Lily's inability to feel pain and that Breeze is causing Claire grief again, though Claire denies this. They're then informed that Lily appears to be in a crisis, despite being in no pain. Shaun also works out that Mitchell's liver problems is because he has been poisoned; the "herbs" he's taking, which aren't actually herbs and have sildenafil.

Claire and Morgan come to see Jonas, as the medication she's been taking to feel pain are causing her depression. They state that she's trying to make sure that she doesn't lose him, after years of the two being happily married. He states that he wants her to know how he feels, to which Claire tells him about the pain of the long hours all of the residents and surgeons at the hospital work. Meanwhile, Lily is somewhat vulnerable and may have been getting away with something for so long. Claire gets how Jonas wants them to cure Lily, but wonders how much is to help her or make her feel the same way as the doctors.

Shaun sees Glassman, who is still not married because of his uncertainty with Debbie. Shaun agrees that Glassman can be irritating, while becoming surprised when Glassman is for once asking for his advice. However, Shaun doesn't have any advice as he doesn't see why Glassman would be against getting married if his mind was made up about it; Glassman had just referred to his ex-wife as his first, which implies that he's ready for a second.

Morgan soon finds Claire looking in her car's trunk and questions why, only to come across a light blue hydro flask which contains Breeze's ashes. Debbie also comes to Glassman's office to find him jumping on a mini trampoline, while asking that she leap with him to City Hall and she agrees. Claire confesses about Breeze dying the night before due to getting drunk on the champagne Claire was saving for her successful first lead surgery. Breeze made a request about her ashes, but Claire isn't sure about carrying it out if Breeze wasn't serious, while Morgan pushes for it to be granted.

Breeze requested that her ashes be thrown into the sea lions section (Breeze having loved sea lions) at the marine science center, for which Morgan and Claire dress up for a drag pride party it is holding (to Claire's annoyance). At the same time, Lily is seen by Jonas who makes amends and asks that Lily is left off the drugs as Jonas sees that she doesn't need them. However, Neil states that Claire already realized that and requested it beforehand.

Glassman and Debbie dress up to get married and have Shaun and Carly there for it. At the marine Center, Claire is unsure about what to do in disposing Breeze's ashes when Morgan inspires her to sing "Amazing Grace". Although Claire's voice initially cracks and she starts tearing up, she is able to spread out her mother's ashes, all while Morgan and some drag queens watch and hear her sing off to the side. Back at the City Hall, Debbie and Glassman get married and Shaun is able to hold Carly's hand for a bit. Claire also goes to a bar where she meets a man whom she ends up having sex with.