Friends and Family

## Episode Chronology

"*You think I don't understand what it's like to need to please your mother? No matter how hard you work, you still owe something more, and every good thing that has ever happened to you is pure luck. But every bad decision you make, that's the real you. And you deserve to suffer.*"
—Claire to Art Kalman on what it is to please a mother.

**"Friends and Family** is the tenth episode of Season 3 of *The Good Doctor*. It is the forty-sixth episode overall, and aired on December 2, 2019.

## Synopsis

Dr. Shaun Murphy visits his father on his deathbed and the family reunion reveals unexpected results. Meanwhile, Dr. Neil Melendez, Dr. Alex Park, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Claire Browne treat an injured star NFL player with severe spinal damage; and Claire addresses her mental health.

## Plot

Dr. Aaron Glassman talks to Dr. Shaun Murphy about his parents. His father is dying. Shaun says he will see him hear about what he has to say as long as he can bring Lea Dilallo.

Dr. Neil Melendez and Dr. Claire Browne are at the gym and see a defensive tackle for the NFL push himself too hard with the weights. He collapses to the ground and screams that he can't feel his legs. They call 911.

Lea and Aaron argue a bit about her going. He tells her it's going to be intense and emotional for him but she's up for it.

Back to the hospital, the team looks over the NFL player as he goes into a scan. They discover he has broken in the spinal column. Meanwhile, Aaron tries to talk to Shaun into Carly to tell her that he left town.

The NFL player's entourage comes in with another doctor. They try to talk him into having surgery with somebody else other than Neil.

Outside of his parents house, Shaun sees his mother and becomes very frustrated and upset. He demands they leave now. Aaron pulls the car out of the driveway and they head to the motel.

At the motel, Lea comforts Shaun. He knows who he wants to see. They head to the cemetery where he visits the grave of his brother. Shaun decides he's ready to go see his mother and father. They arrive at the house. Meanwhile, the team is in the OR performing surgery on the NFL player who goes into bradycardia. Neil is forced to stab him with a large-bore needle, returning him to normal sinus rhythm.

Shaun sits with is father who apologizes. He always wanted a son he could play with and fish with. But he is proud of the man that Shaun has become. He tells him he loves him. Shaun becomes angry, yelling at his father for killing his rabbit and his brother. For being a bad person and drinking too much beer and not being nice.

Shaun, Lea, and Aaron end up at a bar. She talks Shaun into going down the street at a lake to do a polar bear plunge. Aaron is annoyed.

The team meets with the NFL player post-surgery. He admits he chose them to perform the surgery because they didn't care if he ever played football again. He admits that he hates football and always has been pressured into the game because it was the best to make money to take care of his family.

At the lake down the street, Lea jumps in. Shaun doesn't want to go in but after she dives in and doesn't come up right away he gets scared. Shaun takes off his shoes ready to dive in. Lea jumps up from under the water laughing. It was a cruel joke, he tells her. Later Aaron comes to Lea to tell her that this whole trip was a bust. He opened old wounds for Shaun and it was a total waste.

Shaun sits at his motel room with mud between his toes thinking about the time that he wouldn't cross the stream while he and his brother and his father were out on a hike. His father picked him up to help them across because he didn't like the mud. He scraped his father's face and his father did nothing.

The next morning at the diner Shaun's mother shows up. They talk. Meanwhile, the team works on the NFL player again, placing rods and screws in his spine.

Shaun's mother tries to explain why she stayed with is father. She loved him but not more than her sons. She wanted them to be a family again. But she was young and didn't understand a lot about what Shaun needed. But she knew what she could give to her husband and it was enough. He lets her hug him. He returns to the table and tells Aaron and Lea that he wants to talk to his dad.

He goes to see his dad. The beginning of the conversation is pleasant until telling his dad explodes in anger. His mother tries to explain that he is delirious from the morphine. Shaun stands there and shakes while Aaron tries to get him out.

Back at the motel, Aaron tells Shaun that his dad has dies 30 minutes ago. Shaun pretends to be tired so he can be alone.

Claire calls somebody to meet up with them later at tonight. Meanwhile, the NFL player finally decides to tells his mother the truth. Claire arrives at the door of a therapist. Lea comes into Shaun's room to find him hurting himself, she hugs him from his back to make him stop and then holds him while he cries.

## 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 (*Credited Only*)
* Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo
* Jasika Nicole as Dr. Carly Lever (*Credited Only*)
* Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews (*Credited Only*)
* Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman
* Michael Trucco as Ethan Murphy
* Joanna Going as Marcie Murphy
* James Earl as Art Kalman
* Peter Bryant as Art's Doctor
* Liza Huget as Art's Mother
* Brittney Wilson as Nurse Julie Fletch
* Winslow Fegley as Pre-teen Shaun

Co-Starring* Kelly-Ruth Mercier as Dr. Donna Malkin
* Patrick Sparling as Trainer
* Logan Pierce as Young Steve
* Benjamin Wilkinson as Ben Hanks

## Trivia

* This episode serves as the winter finale for Season 3.

## Multimedia

### Videos

The Good Doctor 3x10 Promo "Friends and Family" (HD) Winter Finale
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/good-doctor/listings/
2. ↑ https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/monday-final-ratings-december-2-2019/
3. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20191118abc02/