Good Doctor ep 11: Dramatic Recap-it

Another week, another set of brand spankin' new episodes of Good Doctor.

This episode made me happy.  Why?  Because I liked it.  I wasn't bored.  That's the second week in a row - I think we're on a spree here and I am thrilled!  I won't lie, this drama had me worried for a week or so there, but either they have stepped up their game or I have just changed my perspective.  Either way, I'm relieved and happy and excited to chat about what all has been going on with our hospital pals here.  Ready?  Sweet, let's go!

Dongsaeng's Drama Doctoring of episode 11

1.  Check of the Charts


Let's get a quick update on some of what is happening with our patients.  Last week we left off with a very preggo daughter-in-law arguing with her horrible mother-in-law and consequently going into distress.  She has, thanks to the stress from her fanfreakingtastic MIL, developed a heart issue that is now threatening to further complicate an already complicated situation.  Remember how Shi On had asked the question about who would be the priority if it came down to them having to choose to save either the mother or the baby?  Yeah, that's what we call foreshadowing.  Very subtle, right?  More to come on this one later. Except not here because I won't have enough bullet points to come back to her.  The episode ends with this once hypothetical question suddenly becoming a real issue that the doctors are faced with.

Our puppy girl, Eun Ok, gets a happy ending when singer boy's family decides to adopt her (her evil aunt had previously given up guardian rights leaving the child officially an orphan).

Our third patient that needs an update is one of our "regulars" - the young teen girl who acts as Shi On's love adviser.  It turns out that her problems stem from a hit and run accident years ago that left her without small intestines.  She needs a transplant. Enter big sis.  Not only is big sis the object of cutie patootie resident, Dr Han Jin Wook's, affections and sole provider and caregiver of her little sister, but she's also preparing to be the donor that her sister so desperately needs.  Only this is being kept as a secret from little sis and the rest of the hospital staff.  Big sis is going forward despite the risks to her own health.  Remember that whole foreshadowing thing?  I predict that there's more to come with this story.

2.  You are NOT Going to Believe This...
...but I'm actually going to talk about what's going on on the hospital politics front.  We finally have some definitive information!  Yay!!!  No more mystery!  Long story short, the Vice President guy's plans for the hospital include not only turning it into a children's hospital, but setting it up to eventually become a "for-profit" institution once the laws allow.  The Director knew of this plan which is why he was so vehemently against it.  Turns out the Hot Doc didn't know the full of it and is shocked to hear it.  His part in this all was to gather up a list of top doctors in the field of pediatrics for them to bring on board.  So yup, that's what has been going on.  I'm sure we'll find there's a lot more to the story, but at least we have this to run with for now.  Hallelujah.

3.  Happy Birthday there Buddy

It's Hot Doc's birthday.  He "celebrates" by telling his fiance that he wants to take a break because things are a little sensitive between them at the moment.  He's not happy about her involvement with all the stuff happening on the business side of the hospital.  So they kinda sorta but not officially break up just a little.  Things go a little better at work when his department sings to him and gives him a cake and present.  Shi On, having had been excluded from the group gift, takes it upon himself to give the doctor a birthday gift in gratitude for him not hating him.  It's a child's stethoscope which of course triggers a memory of Hot Doc's own brother.  The birthday celebration is topped off by him dragging Yoon Seo out on a pseudo date.  Okay, he doesn't call it a date, but c'mon, we can see what's happening here.  The guy just kinda sorta broke up with his fiance and now is going out with Yoon Seo, even going as far as to bring up her past near-confession.  She's kind of oblivious to it, but oh yeah, he's totally coming on to her whether he's aware of it yet or not.  This could get messy.  Let me rephrase that... this WILL get messy.  And our dear Shi On will most certainly be caught up in the crossfire.

4.  Why Me?

Shi On's memories of the day his brother died have been coming back to him in his dreams.  Details long forgotten are coming back.  Once they have returned, he goes to visit the Director to ask him some tough questions, namely, why did you save me and not my brother?  He accuses him of saving him because of his special abilities.  He thinks that the doctor wanted to see him put his talents to use and become a doctor.  This upsets Shi On to no end - he emphatically declares that the wrong brother was saved that day.  The real reason why it was Shi On though and not Yi On?  Shi On simply had the better chance of survival in that moment.  Yi On's chances were slimmer, so, the doctor being a doctor, made that judgement call and saved the one he could.  This of course doesn't do much in assuaging Shi On's survivor's guilt.  His evening ends with him in tears and being comforted by Yoon Seo who has just come home from her "date" with her boss.

5.  Can You Blame a Fella?

It's easy to see why poor Shi On would fall so hard for Yoon Seo.  I know she's oblivious to the effect she is having on him, but she not only is the person who is the kindest to him, but she's always all over him.  Talk about skinship.  She's hanging on him, hugging him, showing up at his place, and touching him all the time.  He may have some disabilities, but the guy is still a man and she's a pretty woman being nice to him and being pretty darn physical with him.  Watching his reactions are both endearing and heartbreaking at the same time.  Obviously we don't want to see him hurt, but it sure is looking that that could be a possibility.  His love coach tells him that he should confess.  She tells him to dress up and go to her with a single rose and let her know how he feels.  With a Herculean effort of will, Shi On does just that.  Or at least everything but actually saying the words.  He carefully preps a suit and shows up at her apartment, rose in hand, but then can't get the words out.  And she doesn't pick up on it, at least not right away, though it would appear that as the episode continues, she starts to wonder a bit when she looks at the rose.  She's an intelligent gal, this shouldn't take her too long to figure out you know.  I'm sure it's coming soon.

6.  The Task
Hot Doc has given Shi On this incredibly challenging task.  He's been assigned to memorize a ton of past case reports, but not just memorize, he has to be able to take the information gleaned and apply them to a series of problems Hot Doc will question him with at a later time.  This is a homework assignment that is sure to be difficult even for our savant.  It may seem kind of extreme and cruel, but I think it's brilliant.  Plus it's fun to see Shi On get challenged intellectually like this and stretch his already genius mind.  It's going to be sweet when he shows that he can do it.  I think Hot Doc is doing him a favor by giving him this chance to grow and really show off his talent.

7.  Looks Like I Was Mistaken
Remember how I mentioned way back up there in #1 how I didn't have enough bullet points to spare to come back and talk about the patient and what happened at the end of the episode?  Well, is my face red now because here I am, two whole bullet points left and nothing more to say about the episode.  Talk about egg on the face.  So now what?  Two entire points that need something.  It's not like there isn't anything else to talk about, I know I could come up with something, but I decided instead to just put up some pretty.  It's been a long week and I don't know about you, but I could use some extra pretty right about now.

8. Oops
Uh oh, I said pretty, didn't I and then I delivered goofy.  I love those screenshots that catch someone mid-blink and makes them look funny.  Normally they get discarded and are never seen, but since I had space to fill, I decided to trot a few of them out for a little bit of comic relief.  However, a promise is still a promise, so, before I sign out, here's some of the real pretty from this episode.

Did you like the pretty?  Did I cover all the main points about the episode that you wanted to see?  I sure hope so on both counts.  If not, well, then, I guess I'll just try to make up for it with ep 12, which is coming up next!