Stories

## Episode Chronology

**"Stories"** is the eighth episode of Season 2 of *The Good Doctor*. It is the twenty-sixth episode overall, and aired on November 19, 2018.

## Synopsis

Dr. Shaun Murphy, Dr. Audrey Lim and Dr. Claire Browne's E.R. patient is forced to reveal a secret to her husband after their treatment caused a complication. Meanwhile, Dr. Neil Melendez, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Alex Park struggle with a patient whose parents don't believe in vaccinations.

## Summary

The episode begins with Dr. Claire Browne, Dr. Audrey Lim, and Dr. Shaun Murphy rushing to the ER to meet their car crash victims. The wife seems to have internal bleeding and they need to do an ultrasound, the husband appears to have dislocated his hip and they need to relocate the hip. Claire's ultrasound shows a lot of free fluid and they need to go into the OR, the husband pleads with Dr. Murphy to save her as it is their anniversary and she is his everything.

Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Alex Park talk to their young patient, Finn Tilley about his upcoming surgery, but he has minimal reflexes. They have to run tests to find out why he has pain and fatigue and if everything is okay, they can proceed as planned. Shaun joins Lim and Claire in the OR informing them of what the husband has said. Meanwhile, Morgan and Alex inform Finn's parents that his symptoms suggest he has a viral or bacterial infection; they learns Finn has never been vaccinated. Morgan argues with the parents about how they are endangering other kids, but Park sides with the parents; Morgan speaks to him outside, advising him to send Finn home with his parents but Park reminds her they are to do no harm and he isn't sending them home with a sick child. Morgan tells him about her best friend's sick child who died due to lack of vaccines. Park leaves to test Finn for polio.

Claire informs the husband that his wife had a ruptured fallopian tube and were not able to save the pregnancy. He had no clue she was pregnant as he had a vasectomy right before they got married 10 years prior; he demands to see his wife saying they made a mistake. Shaun tells him it is more likely that his wife got pregnant by someone who isn't him. Allegra Aoki tells Dr. Marcus Andrews that Claire is being courted by other residency programs, but he doesn't believe she is leaving. He didn't know that Claire was the one approaching other hospitals but Aoki isn't happy because she went over to Dr. Neil Melendez' head and he is freezing her out. Marcus doesn't want to get involved but Aoki reminds him it won't look good to lose two diverse residents in a course of a year.

Park speaks to Finn's parents, using Morgan's story reminding them how dangerous these diseases are and begs them to reconsider this. They call over Morgan saying Finn is negative for Polio but they would like to do an MRI. They apologize for Park's friend but their hasn't changed; Alex faces Morgan who is furious. Dr. Aaron Glassman sarcastically answers Dr. Marina Blaize's questions on his recovery; insisting radiation is going fine and only a minor memory lapse when he forgot his wallet. He swears he hasn't had anymore feeling she is blowing it out of proportion that he forgot when he parked his car. She wants to evaluate his mental health, which he refuses; but she says if this is memory loss it means he will have to give up driving and more in-home care. Dr. Blaize opens the door and tells him if anything changes he shouldn't forget to tell her. He returns because he forgot his hat.

Alex says he stole Morgan's story because it is good, but she feels that stories don't change minds and he wants to bet alcohol on it. They look at Finn's parents what is going on with their son, and he has had it since birth. They can go in and untangle it, but he can become paraplegic. The wife insists she couldn't possibly be pregnant as Todd asks if she had an affair. She insists that Todd could have gotten her pregnant; Claire says it is highly unlikely but supposes it could be possible, they can test his sperm count. Finn's mother confirms with Dr. Park that they want to vaccinate Finn, as soon as possible. He says they will start the first round right away. He messages Morgan, who learns that the bottle of whiskey Alex wants is $500. Marcus sits with Claire, who admits that he pushed her to be more assertive and she will not apologize for what she believes is still right. Marcus promises her that Melendez will take her back, but she calls him on it, feeling that he believes she is the path of least resistance, he says he came to her first because she is a resident and is still earning her place in the hospital, and if she cares about her job she will speak to Melendez. She stands firm on her decision.

Park gives Finn his first immunization need but when Finn goes up to use the bathroom, he collapses and can't feel his legs. Park shouts for a backboard as he needs an OR right away. Shaun sits with his patient, who says she loves Todd. She leans out, saying her looks very young for a doctor and kisses him. Shaun runs for the door and she swears she was only thanking him for saving her life. Shaun reveals at the nurses' station that Todd's sperm count is 0 and his wife kissed him on the lips for saving her. Shaun has to think about filling a report and only needs to tell Todd about his test results. Todd storms into the room, demanding to know if his wife is leaving him too as he reveals they only have $400 in the bank. He wants her to look him in the eyes and tells him the truth; something she is unable to do. She apologizes, saying she tried to stop but was unable to help herself. Todd storms out, but Shaun sits down with her wanting to know why she married him. She loves him and the best thing that came into her life and she can't imagine living without him. She doesn't know why she kissed him and she says it was a mistake; he suddenly look closely at her and says he knows why she did it.

Finn's team is busy trying to separate his spinal cords as Morgan bugs Alex about his five hundred dollar bottle of whiskey. Melendez tells them all to stop touching Finn, as they have to figure out another way to remove it without putting pressure on the spinal cord; Morgan finds a solution. Marcus confronts Melendez, feeling her actions were a mistake but he didn't get where he is without breaking some rules. It is like David and Goliath, except David forgot his slingshot and Goliath is beating the crap out of her. Marcus tells him unless this is resolved it will make it very hard to make Melendez Chief of Surgery, and harder for him to go to bat for Neil when bigger issues come up. Shaun barges into a patient's curtain in the ER where Lim is giving a patient staples, saying he won't press charges against their patient as she has a legal defense; the kissing and cheating are caused by a neurological problem, and he figured that out by a muscle spasm. Dr. Lim tells him to go test his theory and goes back to stapling her patient's head.

Finn is out of surgery and is able to feel his legs and feet, but his temperature and heart rate are rising as he has the chills. Shaun and Claire continue to scan their patient, Claire is cynical but Shaun is certain she has no reason to lie. When the brain doesn't have a tumor, Shaun says he is sad as the world is sad and complicated and he wishes it wasn't. They show her the scans and she tells them the past few months with Todd were like their honeymoon and now here she is. Claire wants to review the scans, asking her to draw the face of a clock, proving there is a tumor but they are looking in the wrong place. Aaron runs into Shaun in the hallway, wanting to talk. Aaron sits in down, saying he has memory loss and doesn't want any tests for it in the hospital as he can administer the tests himself but needs help. Shaun tells him to come over to his apartment tonight and they will test if he is losing his memory.

Morgan and Alex reveal Finn has a staph infection at the surgical site; he is stable and resting but need to go back into the surgery to flush it out, when Alex reassures them it has nothing to do with his vaccinations, Finn's father had no idea his mother had approved them. She was worried Finn might have gotten sick and could have gotten their to soon to be newborn baby sick too. Todd sits as Claire and Shaun reveal the tumor is in the chest but forces a protein to travel to the brain, causing mental disorders including lots of inhibitions. Shaun tells Todd to hug and kiss his wife, as she is about to go into a scary surgery. She confirms she had 4 affairs, but she donated it all and couldn't help it; unable to say no. Claire informs him that the surgery will bring back her inhibitions, Todd cannot handle the fact that she enjoyed her affairs, even if it was in the moment. Finn is concerned that his parents are not visiting him at the same time; Alex tries to reassure him but Finn knows that his dad didn't know about the vaccination. Finn is angry that Alex won't get involved, saying his mom is pregnant and now his dad isn't talking to her and it is all is fault. Melendez finds Claire scrubbing in and says he has been asked to speak to her. He tells her she is an excellent doctor and respect her skills. She apologizes for undermining his authority and she was wrong. He appreciates it but she ordered him to take her back and he is in an impossible situation - if he doesn't take her back he is screwed but if he takes her back, he looks weak; so if she says she is sorry, she is giving him cover. He smiles and tells her that he will see her tomorrow.

Claire finds Todd in the chapel, saying they got the tumor and she is fine. She also is glad he didn't leave, but he was afraid she was going to die and can't be sure he can forgive her. Claire wants to know if he was ever attracted to other women; he admits he checks them out but never wanted to jump them. Claire says she acted on every temptation she had but she never left him as she was never tempted to walk away from him because she never stopped loving him. Alex finds Finn's father, telling him a story of a couple where the wife lied and they let it fester between them; eventually they husband moved out and never saw his kid. Finn's dad doesn't want any more of his parables, saying it's his stories that brought him here. Alex reminds him that he chose to be there, and when he asked if the story was true, Alex walks away saying, "No!".

Shaun checks over his patient, who is responsive. Shaun asks if she would like to kiss him, she tells him "a little, but I am not going to", which Shaun says is a good sign. Todd returns to the room, while Claire and Shaun quickly leave, giving them some space. Todd takes his wife's hands as Shaun says that is a very good sign. Morgan finds Alex in the residents' locker room, reminding him that measles kills, broken homes don't. She suggests going to a bar to blow off steam. He says he is going to the range and says he has three guns. She wants to go, which he agrees if she doesn't talk and pays for her own ammo.

Aaron arrives at Shaun's place; he says Lea isn't home because she's out drinking with friends. Aaron brings his tests out but Shaun asks him his own questions instead, like where he got his couch. He is unable to answer where he got his furniture. Shaun brings out a photo of him and his brother and wants to know if Aaron knows his brother's name; Aaron looks at the photo and says his brother's name is Sam, but it is Steve. He tells Aaron he is losing his memory.

## Cast

* Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr. Neil Melendez
* Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne
* Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki
* Fiona Gubelmann as Dr. Morgan Reznick
* Will Yun Lee as Dr. Alex Park
* Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim
* Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo (credit only)
* Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews
* Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman
* Christine Horn as Dawn Williams
* Elliott Sancrant as Finn Tilley
* Reggie Austin as Todd Williams
* Elyse Levesque as Bethany Tilley
* Marc Valera as Noah Tilley

Co-Starring* Juliana Wimbles as EMT #1
* Andrew Coghlan as EMT #2

## Trivia

* This is the first episode where the title is based on a plot that does not involve Shaun.

## Multimedia

### Videos

The Good Doctor 2x08 Promo "Stories" (HD)The Good Doctor 2x08 Sneak Peek "Stories" (HD)
## References

1. ↑ "Final Adjusted TV Ratings for Monday 19th November 2018" - SpoilerTV
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Shows A-Z - good doctor, the on abc" - TheFutonCritic.com
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "The Good Doctor - Episode 2.08 - Stories - Promo + Press Release" - SpoilerTV