22 Steps

## Episode Chronology

**"22 Steps"** is the seventh episode of Season 1 of *The Good Doctor*. It aired on November 13, 2017.

## Synopsis

Dr. Shaun Murphy has to confront prejudice from an unlikely source when he takes on the case of a patient with autism, and Dr. Jared Kalu has to learn to accept his limitations as a surgeon.

## Plot

The episode begins with Dr. Shaun Murphy staring at some brand new TVs through the electronics store window. Dr. Aaron Glassman comes by to see Dr. Claire Browne to see how she is doing after her patient died during her first trauma. She says she is dealing by getting back to work and putting it behind her; he sits down and wants to know how she is doing that and says he is making an appointment for her grief counseling; and only if Dr. Mohan says she is okay will she be able to go back to surgery. He tells Claire to be patient. Dr. Neil Melendez arrives at the ER with Dr. Audrey Lim where they meet a patient, who has a broken pacemaker and probably need his coronary arteries cleared; Claire looks at the tablet but Shaun take it from her. Shaun says he is 73 years old, and cannot have a transplant, so he is dying; Melendez says he isn't dead yet. Dr. Jared Kalu suggests cardiac synchronization, which can make him feel better for a few months he has left. His alarms go off, Claire is ordered to cut is jugular but hesitates, when Melendez asks what's wrong she says she drank too much coffee and does it; but as Shaun goes to find out there is an in-house pacemaker and is ordered to get the ultrasound in the ER. He notices the EMS bringing in a young patient who is wounded and they strap him down.

Shaun walks towards them and tells them they are scaring him, as they say he is psychotic. Shaun says he doesn't like people touching him, as he calms down he says he's not psychotic he's autistic. Shaun cleans him up, and when he says he is done, the patient looks at Shaun and says he is the same as him. He wants his hands released, so when his parents arrive they release him hands. All he can say to them is "wrong stop!". When they ask what happen, he says Liam had a laceration to his head, probably a fall, he explains how he cleaned it. Liam says he "got lost!" and his mother is shocked that Shaun was his doctor. His father says the bright lights make him anxious and asks if they can take him home, Shaun says he is jaundice and tender when touching his and shouldn't go home. Jared talks to his patient, explaining how he got there. When asked asked how old Jared is he says 28, and that a pacemaker is being flown in later this afternoon and they will rep him for surgery then. Shaun explains to Melendez what is going on with Liam. He tells him to do an RCP to clear him, after that a few weeks of broad-spectrum antibiotics should take care of things. It's obvious by Shaun's face that he disagrees. Claire is at the Nurses' Station doing work and checks out a psych questionnaire and Shaun interrupts her, asking if she will help him with the RCP saying she is good with autistic people.

Jared returns to Glen's room without him on the bed, so he knocks to the bathroom door, realizes he is gone and calls a code green. Claire gives Liam the sedative, and he has a respiratory reaction to it, Shaun is able to have the CO2 come down and asks Claire to continue. As she proceeds with the test, she thinks it's nice for him to finally interact with someone else who has autism; he doesn't understand what she is sating but they are interrupted when they realize his problem has nothing to do with gallstones, there is so much scarring inside, they cannot even get the camera down. Shaun talks to Dr. Melendez about the possibility of scarring as being primary sclerosing cholangitis, liver failure, secondary primary biliary cirrhosis. Melendez tells Shaun they can add cancers to that list as well, as it is a long and ugly one and tells him to find another way to figure it out. Shaun says there is no way to do an MRI and Claire says he can't have a sedative because he could die from it and they wouldn't know if while he was inside the machine. Shaun says they will do it and leaves the room.

Dr. Glassman finds Shaun pacing the floor of Liam's room, he explains that he wants to but a $1600 television; he reminds a child and the one he wants a $1643 and he doesn't want one that is $1000; insisting he wants his own budget. Jared sits with security who says Glen got onto fright elevator, but they don't have cameras in the elevators and a couple of floors that the fright elevator goes to, he feels they are dealing with an abduction and leaves the room. Claire is on the elevator when she gets a text from Glassman saying her appointment is set for 12 noon. She is about the respond when Jared gets on the elevator, he presses the basement button, he tells her he is looking for a pediatric patient's blanket, she smiles and tells him while he's up there he should find his code green. Liam is placed in the MRI, where Shaun begins to talk to him; his dad tells Claire to turn down the lights and Liam responds to Shaun as they attempt to start the test. He listens to Shaun, responds to him and they are getting great images, Liam's father, says its amazing how accomplished Shaun is for ASD. Liam suddenly begins to panic and before they could finish Liam hits his head. His father runs in the room with Claire to pull him out of the MRI as Shaun and his mother look on.

Jared searches the basement for Glen, but when he finds him, Glen reveals he broke his pacemaker on purpose because he wants to die. He knows he will just keep getting worse and has no family that will nag him into what Jared wants him to do. He says he is in pain all the time, announcing he knows his rights and he can refuse treatment if he wants and the minute he catches his breath he'll leave. He tells Jared to leave, but he decides to sit and wait for him since he's got all day. Dr. Melendez informs Liam's parents they cannot treat him until they know the underlying cause; they sign the papers for surgery as there is no other option. Meanwhile, Jessica Preston sits with Glassman, talking about how Shaun is getting a 70" TV. She wants to know why he is so worried about Shaun and reveals that Shaun has been late for work, he calls him at 2 in the morning because he can't find a screwdriver and his super wants to kick him out of the building. She reminds him how hard he fought for Shaun to be a resident at the hospital because he know Shaun can learn, but is he willing to let him learn? Claire finds Shaun watching TV in one of the waiting rooms in the hospital; he exclaims that he can see the pixelation and that is not great because an eye with 20/20 vision cannot detect the pixels. She turns off the TV and wants to know why he left after the MRI. He said that he failed, but she says it's not that, she thinks there is something more going on and questions, whether he doesn't like him because he has the same condition Shaun has, sating its too bad because she thinks Liam likes him and looks up to him and he probably understands him more than she does.

Jared is waiting for Glen to pass out, so he can get him upstairs before he dies. Glen says he has already lived, married and loves for 20 years, he is now alone, with no roof over his head and is in severe pain, so it feels like the end of the story. He scoffs that Jared claims to understand. He calls Jared an ass because he suffered because he was rich and only saw his parents at Christmas. He talks bout boarding school and when he became a man and ready to tell them he was done with them, he want to their home, and they were gone, they had sold the house and hadn't told him. Claire tries to calm Liam down, his mother holds down his flailing arms and Shaun begins to talk to him. He says it is okay to make mistake and should make more of them. He notices Liam's red eyes and asks about herbal supplements; Shaun discovers they don't need to to the scope and that the supplements caused the scarring in his bowels and they now have to go in surgically and removes piece by piece to fix it; Liam's mother thanks Shaun for diagnosing their son, but there is no way he is allowed to be involved in the surgery.

Melendez speaks to Glassman, who asks if he agrees with them; but if he thinks that Shaun can handle surgery then he needs to tell the parents to go screw themselves and he as part of the team; and if they continue to disagree, then he can offer to find them another hospital to bring Liam for surgery. Jared continues to talk to Glen about how his life changed but when he gets no response, he checks his pulse but Glen says he's still alive and wants to know what happened with Jared's parents. He admits the speaks to them now but wants them to got him here; it was the ex-Marine at the shelter and this crazy artist girl who convinced him to go after everything he wanted and tells Glen that he isn't alone, even if he thinks so. Glen agrees for Jared to help him. Claire goes to her counseling session but seems to be lying about all her emotions and state of mind. Dr. Melendez meets with Liam's parents who fear that Dr. Murphy won't be able to help Liam while he is on the operating table. Melendez says they know their son, but he knows surgeons and after working with Dr. Murphy, and challenging him in surgery and everywhere else, he has complete confidence in Shaun. The parents still refuse for his phone and the mother look for the bad with his medications; suddenly Liam says he wants Dr. Shaun.

Jared tells Glen his pacemaker is there and will return when he is ready to put it in. Glen admits his wife didn't die, she left him and have her a good reason but Jared didn't get what he deserved like good parents who loved him; they were lucky to have him. Jared smiles and holds his hand briefly. Claire seems remarkably well adjusted, which concerns Dr. Mohan. She doesn't reach the requirement to be grounded from work, saying she is a strong woman but is she has suppressed feelings about this incident, she will needs to share them with someone, or they will eat her up. Jared returns to Glen's room with the gurney for surgery only to find his bed empty again. He does on the hunt for him again. Shaun arrives in Liam's room, but as soon as he says he is glad to be participating, Liam's pressure is bottoming out and he is going into septic shock. In the OR, Melendez quizzes the team, and they are told to to a full-length middle incision of the bowel to find where it is perforated. Melendez offers the scalpel to Shaun, who takes it, remembering when his brother gave him his toy scalpel. He does the incision and gives the time.

Jared gets a call while the code green is announced over the intercom; Jared rushed off. Meanwhile, Shaun cannot move as he found the perforated spot, he has his hands wrapped around it, Melendez says he cannot move or the boy dies; Shaun says he already knows that. Melendez orders Claire slowly cut it open and he will suck out the septic contents and flush it with antibiotics. The pressure is tanking and J.L. says they need to finish what they're doing right now. Jared finds Glen on the roof. who says he just doesn't want to do this. Once he has his strength back, he's gonna climb over the railing and jump. Jared once again sits beside him and tells him how slowly he will die if he just sits there. Glen, calls Jared "28" again, tells him to give it a rest, give him a DNR and a cab, saying he cannot help him. Jared refuses to give up. Shaun and Melendez come to see Liam's parent's, saying they removed 2 feet of the bowel, and he will be okay. His mother hugs him, she quickly apologizes for touching him. He says don't feel bad, as they love him and did what was best for him, and Shaun didn't have that from his parents. Melendez smiles when Shaun says because his parents didn't care about him he didn't have to take the herbal supplement that caused such damage in the first place and walks out.

Jared sits with Glen, who signed a DNR. Glen shuts off the temporary pacemaker and Jared shuts off the alarms. He sits and asks Glen is he feels any anxiety, he says no but feels a little pain. Jared gives him some morphine to offset the pain. Glen puts his hand on Jared's shoulder and thanks him as he takes his last breath and Jared tears up. In the locker room, Jared walks in and tells Claire that his patient didn't want the pacer, that he was a good guy. Claire finally admits to him that she also lost a patient and agrees to talk to him about it; She rests her head on his shoulder. Liam's father watches over his son, Liam West, who wakes up with his mother by his side. Shaun says his surgery went well and will be able to walk around in 2 weeks when the antibiotics have cleared his infection. His father quickly wants to dim the lights but suddenly stops and asks Liam if the lights are okay and he says they are. Shaun smiles as he sees Liam and his parents together. Aaron and Shaun are watching football, while Aaron is trying to teach Shaun about online banking and budgeting. They are cheering for the game when suddenly Shaun wants to go to the Superbowl; Aaron says that is something he needs to remember when he is budgeting, then says they should both go. Suddenly, the salesperson from the store informs them that is it almost closing time and they need to go. Shaun says he would like to buy the TV, to which the salesperson says they could stay as long as they want; they recline their chairs and chill out.

## Cast

* Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr. Neil Melendez
* Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne
* Chuku Modu as Dr. Jared Kalu
* Beau Garrett as Jessica Preston
* Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki (credit only)
* Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews (credit only)
* Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman

Guest Starring* Paul Dooley as Glen
* Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim
* Coby Bird as Liam West
* Catherine Lough Haggquist as Dr. Mohan
* Kari Matchett as Mrs. West
* Tim Beckmann as Mr. West
* Luvia Petersen as Lisa-Jane
* Angela Moore as Nurse Jones
* Shaughnessy Redden as Psychiatrist
* Lucia Walters as Dr. Park
* Parveen Dosanjh as Nurse
* Michael Antonakos as Nurse
* Devon Sandhu as Salesman
* Adil Zaidi as Nurse Dhanoa

## Gallery

### Behind the Scenes

1/3
### Videos

The Good Doctor 1x07 Promo "22 Steps" (HD)
## References

1. ↑ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/monday-final-ratings-nov-13-2017/

## External Links

* "22 Steps" at the **Internet Movie Database**