Empathy

## Episode Chronology

**"Empathy"** is the ninth episode of Season 2 of *The Good Doctor*. It is the twenty-seventh episode overall, and aired on November 26, 2018.

## Synopsis

Dr. Neil Melendez, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Claire Browne grapple with a patient's wish to perform an operation that would keep him from acting on his pedophilic urges; and Dr. Shaun Murphy learns a lesson in empathy.

## Summary

It begins with Dr. Shaun Murphy finds Dr. Aaron Glassman in the hospital asking for his license as he has a memory deficient and Dr. Marina Blaize agrees and he will notify the DMV if he doesn't give it to him right now. Dr. Claire Browne and Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Neil Melendez walk with their patient, George Reynolds who has an embolism and only noticed his symptoms a few hours earlier; It seems like he is having a stroke from the medications and they are taking them to the OR.

Dr. Alex Park watches as Shaun works on Billy Cayman, about to inflate his lung. He was made fun of his whole life for having a dent in his forehead. Shaun says he's ordering an MRI for his lung, then they will fix his fractured eye orbit; Alex wants to repair his forehead, but Shaun says it is a pre-existing condition and shouldn't be approved.

While doing the procedure, they realize George doesn't have an embolism and could be taking the meds because he is transitioning; Melendez wants to focus on what they know and hope that their patient has other options because if he keeps taking them he will keep having strokes. Morgan and Claire confront George about not having hyperplasia and they need to know the truth. He admits he is not transitioning, nor hyperplasia. He has problems with his sex drive and can't have a life; only those meds are making life remotely tolerable.

Shaun talks to Alex, saying the forehead operation is cosmetic and expensive. Alex argues that it would save his life but his life is the guard's job. Alex realizes Shaun has no empathy, but Shaun believe having empathy is a bad feeling to have.

Allegra Aoki meets with Dr. Marcus Andrews, telling him to spend more time with his attendings and scheduled his announcement in 2 days to reveal who he is making Chief of Surgery.

Claire learns from Morgan that George has checked himself out, she did come research and realized the medication he is on, is only prescribed to deviants and they both worry they might have released a child molester. They watch as George leaves on the bus, but cannot cell the police because they have no evidence of a crime.

Alex is in the lunch area, as they all bet on who is going to be Chief of Surgery. Shaun wants to know if you need empathy to be a good doctor. Morgan thinks empathy is of the utmost importance when dealing with patients; Shaun explains his condition and makes it very difficult to switch places with people he is treating, Claire reassures him that not having it doesn't mean he'll be a bad doctor.

George is brought back into the ER, where he is severely bleeding from the scrotum; EMTs believe it is a hate crime but Claire knows he did this to himself. George says he is not a monster and never touched a child. He explains that his sister was his best friend and now she has children; if he can't keep taking the drugs, this was his only option. Morgan says he did a lot of damage but his testicles are unscathed. He begs them to finish the job.

Morgan and Claire meet with Melendez and Marcus. Morgan wants to castrate him but Claire feels he should be put on medications and have a psych evaluation. Melendez tells him to patch him up and set his referrals.

Dr. Park talks to Billy about his time in juvenile corrections. Alex is demonstrating how talking to the patient is keeping him calm. Billy talks about his family as Alex feels Billy is just scared; Shaun shows him he is short of breath because his diaphragm is now in his stomach and Billy needs emergency surgery. Dr. Audrey Lim joins them in the OR, where they all know it took some serious footwear to cause this damage. Alex argues his case to fix Billy's forehead, she sides with Shaun. He asks if that is because he has no empathy, but empathy is a good thing to have.

George tells Morgan that he hates himself for having these thoughts but he cannot stop them and he is afraid what he could do. Claire promises they will start the process immediately. He refuses treatment, telling them to let them rot.

Shaun sits beside Aaron, saying them both being unable to drive is something in common. Aaron is pissed that it was taken away from him, especially by a friend. Shaun is actively listening, so he can enhance his self-worth. Aaron talks about how he bought his car the day after he got his license with every penny he made at a gas station. It made him feel amazing because that gave him independence and that is what they took from him; he doesn't expect Shaun to understand so he doesn't need to pretend.

Lim is bothered by Andrews "stalking" them and suggests to Melendez they tell him to back off. He says the last thing he is going to do is confront Marcus when he is the front runner; she says not according to Vegas where she is in the lead 3-2. He says that's because they don't know she has double the mortality rate. She says that is like comparing apples to asshats; he jokes that he resents to being called an apple.

Billy is awake from surgery, and when Alex tells him that they cannot fix his forehead; Billy says he is okay as he didn't expect it. Billy says his dad taught him to be tough and would hit him in the forehead; Billy explains how his dad was a huge baseball fan and lost in the 12th inning and that's what happened. George continues to refuse any medication as Morgan and Claire both hate the situation.

Shaun is in the driver's seat with Lea Dilallo, as he passed the written test. She tells him to close his eyes and take some nice deep breaths, telling him to visualize the parking lot and cars around them. Once she knows he is comfortable with their surroundings, he puts the car into drive and advises him to open his eyes and light on the gas. Shaun keeps talking about the rules of the road while driving but he is driving slow and now the drivers behind him are annoying. he stops in the middle of the road and panic.

Melendez asks Andrews for some privacy, saying he is infringing on his autonomy and inhibiting the free flow of ideas, both which affect his ability to deliver the best patient care; Andrews smirks and leaves the room. Claire wants to sign off on the documentation and do the castration, but Melendez says until his testicles are completely beyond repair they cannot remove them. He orders them to put him somewhere else if he is keeping other patients awake.

During the second surgery for Billy, Alex talks to Lim again about his forehead. She wonders if him sending some kids to juvvie when he was a police officer, and that is why he feels guilty. Shaun suggests they implant a breast implant in his forehead and if they do it now, it won't require any additional surgery and very economical; Lim agrees.

Morgan and Claire watch George pass out in the morgue; Claire checks on him and tells him to book an OR. Dr. Melendez comes into the OR, where they reveal they have a strong case for castration now. Dr. Lim walks in and accuses Melendez of using her argument, word for word. Lim says this is one reason she will never want to work under him because he wants it for the pretty title. She reminds him there is along dusty trail of people who have underestimated her. Just before they start George's surgery, his stats drop and they realize he is septic; worried if he starts bleeding he will die.

Lim, Alex, and Shaun work on Billy's forehead, where they tell her the odds are in her favor 6-1; she tells him to put $100 on her. Billy's pulse is gone with Lim starting CPR.

Marcus tells Aoki that Melendez stood up to him in front of a group of his residents, which reminded him of something he has done. Lim has the focus that took him years to develop and Cooperberg reminds him of himself. Aoki says one of his weaknesses was decision making and she has hoped he got past that when she made him President.

They are able to bring Billy back as Lim is determined to get back to the "main event". Alex takes a moment of reflection. George also stabilizes, leaving the ball in Dr. Melendez' court; he tells them if they want to save his life, they need to save his testicles as his body can't handle anymore loss of testosterone right now.

Lea returns home, telling Shaun she knows how to teach him to drive. She tells him to work with her and focus. She talks about things that could happen while he's driving, like someone falling off the sidewalk into his car's path and compares it to when he performs surgery. He is also able to use the analogies as she encourages him. He tells Albert the Fish he has got this and chases after he back to the car.

George wakes up as Claire and Morgan reveal they did the surgery, but his testicles has to stay or he would die. Claire gently tells him they set him up with a psychologist and urologists, and once they get him cleared they can do this the right way. George gets it that if he doesn't do it their way it won't happen.

Shaun is nervous, but Lea tells him this Shaun has a plan for this intersection and he is going to dissect it and do it. He turns into the bike lane and fully turns the corner. Lea is very impressed with him, but someone runs into the street, chasing a soccer ball. Shaun hits garbage cans to avoid hitting the person, gets out of the car saying he cannot drive. Lea tells him becoming a surgeon is way more than operating; he insists he is very bad at communicating but she says just because something is hard doesn't mean he can't do it. He hit trash can instead of a pedestrian and he did a great job. Shaun talks about how the ball was like dropping an instrument in the OR and needs to get back up. He says he can drive and gets back in the car.

Andrews has the meeting, where he shares his pride in the surgical unit; there were many worthy candidates but has decided to maintain the title himself. Everyone is shocked except for Shaun who won the Vegas pot.

Billy tears up as he sees his face; Alex reveals it was Shaun's idea. Billy laughs that they used a breast implant to save his life. Shaun tells him that he almost died and it was a mistake. Shaun walks out. Claire goes to see George's room and finds he is gone; Morgan and Claire go outside just in time to find him walk in front of a bus.

Lim joins Melendez at the bar, admitting she was playing him over Andrews; but Melendez says Andrews pitted them against each other and she was right that they need to stand together. She asks where that wisdom was two days ago, and he says in the bottle.

Alex realizes that Shaun empathized with Billy, that is how he came up with the idea; Shaun feels like he almost killed him. Alex reveals a stash of pain meds Billy was keeping and he wasn't lying when he said Shaun saved his life.

Morgan and Claire sit at a table, where Morgan feels this shouldn't have ended this way but she isn't so sure the world is a worse place than it was a couple hours ago. Meanwhile, Shaun enjoys the car, but still nervous. He honks outside Aaron's hose, saying his next radiation appointment is in 45 minutes and gets Aaron into the back seat. Aaron thanks Shaun, who is more nervous than Shaun who initially goes in reverse.

## Cast

* Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr. Neil Melendez
* Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne
* Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki
* Will Yun Lee as Dr. Alex Park
* Fiona Gubelmann as Dr. Morgan Reznick
* Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim
* Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo
* Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews
* Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman
* Mason Gooding as Billy Cayman
* Elfina Luk as Nurse Dalisay Villanueva

Co-Starring* Juliana Wimbles as EMT
* Teryl Rothery as JL
* Zahf Paroo as Dr. Ashique Selim  (credited as "Anesthesiologist")
* Madeleine Kelders as Radiology Tech

## Multimedia

### Videos

The Good Doctor 2x09 Promo "Empathy" (HD)
## References

1. ↑ "TV Ratings Monday: ‘9-1-1’ and ‘The Voice’ climb back up, ‘Manifest’ stays steady" - TV By The Numbers
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 2.09 - Empathy - Press Release" - SpoilerTV