Mount Rushmore

## Episode Chronology

**"Mount Rushmore"** is the second episode of Season 1 of *The Good Doctor*. It aired on October 2, 2017.

## Synopsis

Dr. Shaun Murphy's attention to detail complicates his first day at St. Bonaventure Hospital. Meanwhile, Dr. Claire Browne learns a valuable lesson about honesty when confronted with a difficult diagnosis for her patient.

## Summary

Shaun is sleeping the night away when an alarm wakes him up and he does various exercises; his life is planned through various alarms from his phone, reminding him to shower and even brush his teeth. He gets on the elevator and proudly announces to the other patron there that he’s taking the bus to the hospital for his first full day. Meanwhile, Jared and Claire are the interns working with Neil. When their patient asks if he will ever walk again, Shaun enters the room late and says there is no chance he will walk, but then is told he wasn't talking about "walking". Neil chastises him from being late but he says it was the bus that was late; and fails to convince Shaun that he was wrong, they’re interrupted be an emergency consult in the ER.

They look at the woman's CT scan and Shaun says it's very big, as the others review what it could possibly be Shaun realizes it's a malignant tumor; she asks if it’s killing her and he quickly says "yes" as Claire says not necessarily and they are speculating right now. Outside of the room, Jared tells Shaun he scared the woman and there was no need to be so blunt. Shaun asks them why since it is terminal if not treated and questions whether that’s scary. Jared is excited that they are finally going to dissect a real tumor and says it's okay since this manner outside the door is different than bedside manner. Shaun says it is exciting because they will be saving a life and learning too. While Jared is disappointed when Neil chooses Claire to be his second, Neil also tells Shaun he’ll be doing the scut work (everything that Neil’s surgeons hate doing). Shaun questions if he's being punished, to which Neil tells him no and Shaun accepts; Shaun again points out Neil’s arrogance again and people like him don't see a need to lie, so this must be a teaching tool and happily accepts it and leaves to do it all. Unfortunately, Shaun does his work a little too thoroughly and won't discharge patients without checking them over himself; refusing to let a patient go who came in with an ear infection, ordering an MRI and other tests.

Dr. Glassman sees Shaun sitting with a patient and when he asks what is he doing, Shaun says he's waiting for her to "fart" and chose that word to make it more casual. Glassman is upset that Neil feels this is the most useful thing Shaun could be doing but doesn't say anything else other than welcoming Shaun to surgical residency. The patient insists she farted but Shaun doesn't think so and will wait a little longer. Claire explains the procedure to their patient, but she asks if the surgery can be held off for a while because her son is getting married soon. Claire says recovery is fairly easy and she will be at the wedding, looking beautiful, to which Jared tells her that she can’t make promises like that, while also not understanding how she can be so caring for patients but he can't get her to care for him. Unfortunately, Dr. Andrews soon finds out about the MRI scan Shaun did and tells Neil off about it (despite Neil attempting to partially blame Andrews).

Shaun is checking over Martine, a young girl whose parents think she only has a tummy ache. However, Shaun suspects otherwise and attempts to order some tests which causes the patents to bicker. However, Neil comes in and speaks with Shaun in the hallway. He lectures Shaun on running apparently unnecessary tests, while also lecturing Nurse Fryday who is supervising him for not stopping Shaun and states that she’s now Shaun's boss and he needs to listen to her. During their lunch break, Glassman tells Neil him that Shaun is there to be a surgeon and not a glorified orderly. He also reminds Neil that Shaun earned every right to be there and had to deal with people like Neil and their prejudices while attempting to encourage Neil to teach Shaun, to which Neil states that he is; he’s teaching Glassman and Shaun that Shaun doesn’t belong at the hospital while also saying it's his team and Glassman can't tell him how to run it. Shaun approaches Claire and asks her about the point of sarcasm is, as he feels it's just like lying which he isn't good at. He then remembers that his brother lied in order for them to have money for food while they were homeless. Claire encourages Shaun to not talk to Glassman and their job is basically to do what Neil orders, while also paged to the OR and begins the surgery on the mother who has the malignant tumor.

Shaun continues to try do tests on patients but Fryday keeps stopping him. Every patient he sees, he isn't allowed to do tests and says he's sending them home. However, one asks if he’s okay and Shaun pauses and tells him according to all hospital rules and guidelines, technically yes. During surgery, Neil is struggling with getting to the tumor as it's so massive and she cannot find the woman’s aorta. Shaun is looking over his tests from Martine which Nurse Fryday is surprised with since she thought they sent her home four hours ago. Another nurse then runs in and tells Shaun Neil needs him in the OR, which makes him smile and rushes in. However, instead of allowing him to scrub in, Neil tells Shaun to get to the lab and move along the biopsy results. A woman working there Dr. Carly Lever tells him to wait his turn for the results. Shaun remembers when he and his brother attempted to get money from a stranger and when the man called Shaun a moron, his brother threw a rock through the man’s window and told Shaun to never be afraid. Shaun then tells Carly if she doesn't give him the results, he'll throw a rock through the lab. She then tells him that isn't necessary and the results will be up in 15 minutes.

Jessica goes to talk to Neil, who states that he doesn't have a problem hiring an autistic doctor; instead she forces him to acknowledge that he just doesn't want one working for him. He is upset that she is accusing him of prejudice, while asking him about who Neil doesn’t respect and if it bothers him that it looks like he’s on the wrong team. Shaun returns to the OR with the results; they apparently can’t perform the surgery, which Jared is annoyed at, while Claire goes to wake her up and let her know that she has 3 months to live and then palliative care. However, Shaun begins to visualize everything, stating surgery isn't impossible but just difficult. They can remove her healthy left kidney, which is in the way of removing the tumor. He says it's quite possible that she will die anyway but rushes off saying he has a boil to lance. Claire says it’s brilliant but a terrible idea, while Neil feels the idea is insane when Jared suggests it without mentioning Shaun came up with it. However, Jared tells Claire that it's all about her telling the woman she will survive and be at her son's wedding. Neil says Claire is compromised and can't say objective now, as well as that they are doing the surgery and Jared will now be his second. During the procedure, Claire is commenting about them clamping the life out of a perfectly good kidney and Neil isn't pleased with her.

Shaun walks with Glassman who introduces him to Trevor, the patient he sent home despite questioning Shaun. Trevor had come to see the President of the Hospital after Shaun sent him home, even though he believed he was sick; both men want an explanation. Glassman says he reviewed Trevor's chart and with all certainty he can say in peak health. Trevor leaves as Glassman reveals to Shaun that he lied and tries to teach him how to gauge people's reactions. Shaun then has doubts about whether Martine does just have a tummy ache and sends her blood work to Carly to run, though she says those are a lot of tests and he could get into trouble. Neil removes the kidney, and they are able to see the tumor as Shaun gets the blood work and Carly says everything looks to be in normal range. However, he says normal should be lower for Martine, figures out what she has and rushes off while saying thank you. Shaun takes a taxi to Martine's house but panics when he reaches the door and is afraid to knock, remembering how he couldn't knock when he was young. He begins to pound on the door, when her father answers. Shaun tells him what he thinks Martine has, but her father orders for him to call in the morning. When Shaun says Martine may not be alive in the morning, her father slams the door while saying he will be calling his boss in the morning. Shaun knocks again, asking if he was sarcastic, and then states that he will continue knocking until he knows Martine is okay. Her parents comply while finding that they can’t wake her and there is vomit all over her bed.

Shaun goes with the parents to the hospital. He remembers running down the street, Glassman finding him and revealing the condition his brother was in before he died. Shaun begins chest compressions on Martine and begs her father to hurry to the hospital. Once there, Shaun continues to ride the gurney and give her compressions, and calls for an ultrasound. Jared takes praise for Shaun's idea about removing the kidney to remove the tumor. Shaun does the ultrasound and visualizes the organs, revealing where the problem is. He says she needs surgery right away, but Nurse Fryday says he cannot make these kinds of calls on his own. Shaun says a part of Martine’s bowel is shutting down and killing her and since it's after midnight, it‘s tomorrow and she's no longer his boss. Shaun calls and prepares an OR for surgery. While there, Shaun calls for the scalpel but before he can cut, Neil comes in and says he could take over. Shaun asks about his other patient and he says about what Jared had supposedly thought of and she will be all right. Neil says this surgery is basic and Shaun can go home and get some sleep but Dr. Andrews orders him to let him stay, and says he'll treat him like any other resident. Neil says he's back on suction and congratulates him when Andrews leaves.

Claire refuses to go for a drink with Jared. He suggests she could learn something from him, to which she questions if he means stealing someone else's credit to appear as a hero with Shaun's idea. Jared replies that she would have let him take the fall if it had failed and questions whether it’s fair if it was his idea if it failed or Shaun's if it succeeded. He dares to her to tell the truth about what happened with the woman and see how she reacts. Glassman comments on what Andrews did for Shaun, while Andrews refers to how Glassman had previously tried to do so. Glassman then confronts Andrews about his plan to screw up Shaun who will handle anything Andrews throws at him. Andrews doesn't care because if Shaun succeeds, Andrews was the one who just backed him and if he fails, Andrews becomes President. Claire, Neil and Jared’s patient wakes up, learning there were complications and she doesn't care how she did it; they saved her and that's all that matters. Claire says she's going to be a beautiful mother of the groom. Glassman finds Shaun watching Martine and her parents; he tells Shaun to go take a bow but he doesn't understand why it matters who gets the credit. Glassman replies it matters because those who get the credit don’t have to do scut work. He walks in and her parents hug him, very thankful. Shaun returns home and crawls on his mattress in the middle of the floor of his apartment and sleeps peacefully.

## Credits

### Cast

* Starring
* Guest Starring
* Co-Starring
* Uncredited

* Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy
* 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
* Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews
* Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman

* Graham Verchere as Young Shaun Murphy
* Dylan Kingwell as Steve Murphy
* Jasika Nicole as Carly Lever
* Eve Gordon as Nurse Fryday
* Nancy Stone as Stephanie Willis
* Darrin Baker as Trevor

* John Murphy as Jerry
* Meghan Gardiner as Cecile
* Britt Loder as Martine
* Rocky Anderson as Mitchell Brand
* Benjamin Watson as Matthew
* Lucia Walters as Dr. Park
* Rebecca Garcia as Carole
* Aadila Dosani as Nurse #1
* Hannah Pederson as Nurse #2
* Vaughn Clements as Friendly Neighbor
* Peter Hall as Farmhouse Owner #1
* Gaalen Engen as Farmhouse Owner #2
* Robert Corness as Old Man
* Zahf Paroo as Anesthesiologist

* Yasmin Abidi as E.R. Doctor
* Peter Brown as Control Room Tech
* Edwin Rodriguez as Orderly

### Crew

* David Shore (writer)
* Mike Listo (director)

## Trivia

* Shaun officially begins his residency at San Jose Saint Bonaventure.
* It is revealed that Dr. Glassman rushed Steve to the hospital after he fell from the train.
* This is the second episode to feature flashbacks of Shaun's backstory.
* Shaun has his first meltdown in this episode when he breaks down in front of Martine's parents.
* Irene Keng is no longer a series regular.
* Tamlyn Tomita is promoted to a series regular.
* This episode is named after the monument of the same name which is a sculpture of four former presidents which is located in South Dakota.
* This is Carly’s first appearance in the show.

## Multimedia

### Videos

The Good Doctor 1x02 Promo "Mount Rushmore" (HD) This Season On
## References

1. ↑ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/monday-final-ratings-oct-2-2017/

## External Links

* "Mount Rushmore" at the **Internet Movie Database**