The Good Doctor – Season 6 Episode 11 “The Good Boy” Recap & Review

The Good Boy

Episode 11 of Good Doctor season 6 starts with Shaun and Lea starting their babymoon. Shaun has them on a schedule and Lea complains that it is not helping her relax. However, their plans change when a dog is hit by a hit-and-run driver and crawls away in pain. They track the dog down and rush it to the vet.

At the vet, they get bad news that the dog is in bad condition and the vet refuses to do the surgery without an upfront payment. Lea spontaneously agrees to pay the bill and suggests they spend the night at a motel to be there for Buddy. (She named the dog Buddy). Shaun wants to make Lea happy because it is her babymoon so he agrees.

The motel room they get into is messy and they get into a minor fight about whether they are ready to be parents. Shaun hates things that make messes that is why he doesn’t like dogs. Lea points out that kids make messes too.  Lea apologizes and says they just might be stressed but Shaun doesn’t think he is stressed.

At the hospital, Park, Allen and Reznick work on a patient who has multiple impalements. His son explains that his dad got into an accident while trimming trees. The patient wakes up, disoriented and pulls out one of the metal shards causing severe bleeding. They rush him to the O.R.

In the O.R., Reznick suggests they start removing the non-threatening shards and Allen, Park and Marcus strategize and move ahead with a plan. The surgery gets complicated when the patient starts coding. They manage to stabilize him and Marcus asks them to resume the surgery in the morning. They still have to remove 11 more shards.

Elsewhere, Powell gets home from the night shift and finds Vince, an old friend from the Navy bleeding at her doorstep. She welcomes him in but he refuses to go to the hospital because he got shot at a party, There was a gang member at the party so it is a parole violation. She tries to reason with him but he implores her to take out the bullet herself.

Powell agrees to help and at the first glance of the wound, she thinks the bullet is close to the surface. She reasons she can take it out herself and asks him to wait while she grabs some stuff from the hospital.  At the hospital, Lim sees her and invites her for dinner the next day. Asher spots her and finds it weird she is back at the hospital after just completing her shift. Powell lies that she is practising how to remove a foreign body and needs supplies.

After starting the mini-surgery on her friend, Powell realizes that the bullet shattered and the rest of it is somewhere in his leg. She needs to cut deeper to find it so she calls Asher for a second opinion. Asher gets suspicious and asks her to tell him the truth.

She puts him on a video call and shows him the gunshot wound. He advises her to leave the bullet in and she closes the wound and sends Vince home. Asher calls her out for lying to him and she promises never to do it again.

The next morning, Powell’s friend comes back, his wound is infected and he is at risk of developing sepsis. He asks her to take the bullet out and Powell agrees to help and calls Asher for backup. Asher stops by her house and Powell promises to take the fall if things go wrong. She asks him to talk her through the surgery.

Lim drops by to check on Powell who called in sick on her shift. Powell lies to her but Lim hears a man grunting in pain and barges in. Powell begs her to finish the surgery and help Vince. She tells her the history she has with Vince and uses her friendship with Lim to convince her to help. Lim decides to help Vince first and then deal with Powell later.

The surgery gets complicated when Vince loses consciousness. Lim calls for an ambulance and they rush Vince to the hospital. Lim and Marcus agree that Powell has a problem following rules and decide to fire her. Lim is saddened by this but she helps Vince to avoid going back to prison. Asher gets probation but he is not holding a grudge against Powell.

Lea and Shaun are also having a dilemma of their own. After the surgery, the vet discovered that Buddy had more damage. He suggests that they euthanise him but Lea is hellbent on saving Buddy. She asks Shaun to come up with a surgery plan that will save the dog. She will work on tracing Buddy’s owners. She tells Shaun if she fails to find the owners, they will adopt Buddy. Upon hearing that, Shaun is motivated to find a surgery plan.

Shaun calls Glassman and explains his dilemma. Glassman tells him to find out the issue with Lea and find out what is stressing her. He also offers to help with Buddy’s case. Shaun talks to Lea and assures her she will be a great mom. He tells her that they will find a way to work as a team and figure parenting out. They both had lousy parents and she fears she might turn out like them. However, Shaun has faith in them and their desire to be different from their parents.

As they talk, Shaun gets an epiphany and comes up with a surgery plan to save Buddy. Glassman stops by the vet and helps with the surgery. Buddy is able to get better and Lea manages to find his owners.

Glasman talks to Lea and tells her that part of parenting is always being worried. However, she should not let it consume her. She asks about his late daughter and Glassman tells her that he is grateful he has her and  Shaun. He assures her that she and Shaun will be fine parents.

At the hospital, Marcus, Park and Reznick also have to come up with a surgery plan for their patient. The main concern is whether to amputate his arm or not. The patient is in an induced coma and they can’t wake him up. Reznick suggests they ask his son what he thinks his father would choose. The son chooses to amputate the arm but Park is against this.

This leads to him and Reznick being on opposite sides and Park tells her if she were a parent she would know that the patient would never choose an amputation. In the end, Park comes up with a surgery plan and saves the patient’s arm.

The patient’s son feels guilty thinking he made the wrong choice but his dad tells him that he is proud of him for being there when he needed someone. Park later apologizes to Reznick for his remarks and she tells him that her implantation failed. He promises to be there for her as a friend.

The Episode Review

It is sad to see Powell leave but she has been ignoring so many rules and barely shows remorse. I think it would have been better if she had taken Vince to the hospital on the first day and convinced Lim to help him not to go to jail.

Understandably, Lea is worried about being a parent. Bringing a human being into this world and taking care of them is scary. It is a big responsibility and a blessing; I am glad that she has a good husband who helps her to navigate her fears. It was also so touching to see her interaction with Glassman.

Lastly, what do you think about Reznick and Park’s new friendship, are they playing with fire