Sex and Death

## Episode Chronology

"*I would [stop being a doctor]. I'd move from spa to spa, having massages and drinks with little umbrellas. Then I'd throw a party in the penthouse of the Four Seasons. And after everybody left, I'd go into the marble bathroom and painlessly self-euthanize… I'd obviously leave a big tip for housekeeping.*"
—Morgan to Shaun and Claire on what she do if she only had six months to live

**"Sex and Death** is the thirteenth episode of Season 3 of *The Good Doctor*. It is the forty-ninth episode overall, and aired on January 27, 2020.

## Synopsis

Dr. Shaun Murphy and Dr. Morgan Reznick grapple with a terminal cancer patient who is determined to live the last few months of his life without inhibition. Meanwhile, Dr. Reznick must confront her relationship with her mother when she comes in for a third opinion from Dr. Glassman; and Shaun and Carly's relationship reaches a new level of intimacy.

## Plot

Shaun walks into work at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital feeling much more than lucky after his first physical intimacy with Carly but quickly becomes dismayed when she tells him that her experience was not as fulfilling.

Dr. Murphy reports to Dr. Reznick on his fabulous first intimate moment with Carly, from his perspective at least. He asks if she thinks most of their coworkers in the hospital are having physical relations, and if so, why they aren't much happier. Morgan replies that perhaps it’s not as recent for them as it was for Shaun.

Morgan does caution him that he should not discuss the three-letter word starting with “s” while in his professional setting, and he should definitely not be thinking of sex and smiling about while they are talking to a dying man.

Initially, Oliver inquires only about medications to ease the symptoms of his chemotherapy which, of course, are debilitating in any measure. His wife encourages him to do whatever possible to have his best life. But he wants to stop with the chemo as it is making him miserable.

Later, Morgan and Claire make a bet that Shaun will mention sex in front of a patient in the next 24 hours.

What Morgan didn’t know was that her mother, the famed artist, Caroline Reznick had a consultation with Dr.Glassman. She is once again informed that she has 10 locations of malignant caverns, or “mal-cavs” in clusters throughout her brain. He knows she is craving for his third opinion to be “the one” that will spare her life, for the sake of her art, which is her life’s passion. He cannot give that answer she desperately craves, but he does propose an alternative procedure that will allow her to be fully present in the lives of her family members, and live for many more years, despite sacrificing some of her creative abilities. He uses his own example of a new vocation and a new marriage to illustrate the possibilities. Unfortunately, she refuses to surrender her life's work.

Caroline and Morgan reunite in the hospital, and almost at the same moment when Dr. Reznick announces her as “Mom” and Caroline asks if Claire is a friend, her mother drops to the floor.

Dr. Park declares his wild admiration for the work of Caroline Reznick, and the family conflict is on the surface for all to see. Her mother, brother, and sister all adopted the arts as their calling. Morgan went full-throttle into science and medicine, which her mother may have found admirable, but not acceptable.

Elsewhere in the hospital Shaun is still delighted that he had the “parade” experience amidst their passion, and he wants to ensure that he can create the same for Carly. Dr. Park and Dr. Browne advises Shaun that becoming knowledgeable on intimacy with a partner is much more about looking, listening, and feeling than it is about study. Still, just as he does for surgery, Shaun commits himself to preparedness.

Shaun soon discovers the delight of a 22-minute “quickie” encounter, including a two-way bus ride, which doesn't allure Carly. Before walking out of the pathology lab, he pledges to keep pursuing positive approaches with his partner.

When the team has to observe the impact of seizures from the clusters on the brain, Morgan steps in for duty. She at first is a bit too happy to dredge through her mother's failings and slights over decades, and Caroline is truly a no state to fight, although she tries.

Sure enough, a massive seizure comes, and Morgan braces her mother in a “therapeutic hug”. Which eventually leads Morgan to make a desperate plea to Dr. Glassman to perform a groundbreaking, though somewhat untested stereo lactic ablation procedure. He initially declines, but then, sees the details drawn out by Morgan herself and reconsiders.

While her mother is in surgery, Morgan can't help but raise the decibel level when it comes to observing her mother's procedure. Her comments and “guidance”are blasted from above.

Dr. Glassman succeeds in the precise process of obliterating the clusters. In the interim before surgery, Morgan shares with her brother the beautiful, marvelous, and medical creation of neurons in the brain, and he comes to understand the gift of her mind as being as divine as art. The next time we see Caroline Reznick, she is taking steps on a walker and has emblazoned her signature on the bathroom door of her room, to the delight of Dr. Park.

Shaun is still seeking to please Carly, to the fullest measure, while taking Claire's counsel, he hopes to pique her interest in passion by donning the full kilt, ala “*Outlander*,” and turning up at her doorstep. The effort sparked a binge-watch of six episodes but nothing in the bedroom.

In the staff lounge some time later, Dr. Lim offers her seasoned counsel when it comes to Shaun's desire to give Carly pleasure. Using the analogy that a frozen pizza takes a microwave, and too many men around Shaun’s age take the pizza out of the microwave too soon. She encourages that Shaun’s “superpower” is his complete commitment and focus, just as during surgery. She instructs him that perhaps he should “work that parade route” until “the band stops playing” and then go “3% more”.

On another front, every time his team revisits Oliver, he is in different clothes, talking about magical adventures, the latest being an odyssey into Costa Rica. His wife just wants her husband for as many days as she can have him. He tries to persuade her to join him on the trip, but she quickly grows dismayed and mentions how she thought she was enough for him and telling her husband to go alone to Costa Rica.

Adventures can happen throughout life, some are grand, and some are made more memorable than a million-dollar cruise just because of who is there to share them. Adventures as instant fulfillment, however, seldom have lasting significance.

Oliver’s bubble of embracing life to its fullest soon bursts. He asks Dr. Murphy what makes him happy in life. Of course, Shaun is deferred from relating his most recent joy by Dr. Park, but he has no trouble in coming up with alternatives, such as “a crisp apple” the sunlight shining on his bedsheets “in a perfect square,” and the surety that the circumference of a circle is always the same formula, no matter the numbers. Shaun calls Oliver's options "too loud" for his tastes.

When Shaun and Carly are boarding the bus after the day, they find Oliver sitting on the bench, staring blankly. He asks Oliver if he is getting on the bus, to which the former patient bound for parts unknown just hours before answers no.

In bed, Carly has a wide smile after sex as Shaun lays sleeping in the bed.

## Cast

* Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr. Neil Melendez
* Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne
* Fiona Gubelmann as Dr. Morgan Reznick
* Will Yun Lee as Dr. Alex Park
* Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim
* Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo (*Credited Only*)
* Jasika Nicole as Dr. Carly Lever
* Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews (*Credited Only*)
* Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman
* Bonita Friedericy as Bella Thomas
* Annette O'Toole as Caroline Reznick
* Allen Leech as Ariel Reznick

Co-Starring* Angela Moore as Nurse Jones

## Multimedia

### Videos

The Good Doctor 3x13 Sneak Peek "Sex and Death" (HD)The Good Doctor 3x13 Promo "Sex and Death" (HD)Morgan Induces a Seizure In Her Mother - The Good DoctorShaun Tells a Terminal Patient What Makes Him Happy - The Good DoctorShaun Gets Sex Advice from the Team - The Good Doctor
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/good-doctor/listings/
2. ↑ https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/monday-final-ratings-jan-27-2020/
3. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20200113abc01/