39 Differences
39 DifferencesEpisode 13 of Good Doctor season 6 starts with Shaun putting their unborn child on the waitlist for a nursery. Lea points out that Shaun is thinking too far ahead. The topic moves to Glassman and how sad he has been. Shaun had not noticed before Lea mentioned it but Glassman has been too quiet lately.
At the hospital, a boy called Ricky is brought in with a nail lodged in his foot. The parents ask Shaun to give them a second opinion because they don’t trust Perez and Asher. The dad is controlling and focused on being safe while the mom is more outgoing and wants their child to be allowed to have some fun. Shaun agrees that the nail is can be safely removed by Asher and Perez.
As Perez removes the nail, the parents keep arguing. Shaun realizes that something is wrong with Ricky. He asks to do more tests and they learn that Ricky has tick bites on his back. Asher remarks about the parent’s consistent fights due to their different parenting approach. Perez says that the parents should have discussed this before having a kid. He says his parents never argued because his dad didn’t care.
The parents start blaming each other for the reason Ricky got tick bites. The mom is overwhelmed and says she can’t take anymore. The doctors worry that Ricky’s infection has reached his brain but the parents can’t agree on the way forward.
Shaun decides to make a list of the differences he has with Lea and approach her while at work to discuss the 37 differences. Lea tells him she is busy and can’t talk about the 37 differences. She asks if he has spoken to Glassman and Shaun tells her that he didn’t show up for work but sent him a text saying he is okay. Lea wonders where he is.
Glassman is at his burnt house going through what is left trying to see if there is anything he can salvage. Shaun is more concerned about his differences with Lea and forgets to check up on Glassman. Asher and Perez try to assure him that he and Lea are different from the other couple because they love each other. Asher argues that love is enough.
As they talk, Ricky’s condition gets worse and they discover he has a brain infection that has caused serious cerebral swelling. They inform the parents that they will need to put Ricky in an induced coma and start treatment. The dad is curious how Ricky contracted the disease and Shaun tells him it is normally transmitted through water. The dad realizes he might have given his son the disease when he gave him a nasal rinse from untreated tap water. He starts to blame himself.
Shaun talks to the mom and asks her if they love each other. She tells him that they always knew that they have different views on most things. They worked on their big differences before they had Ricky but after the child was born they started arguing about the little things. She tells him that even though they love each other, she wonders if that is enough.
After this conversation, Shaun goes to Glassman’s burnt house and keeps him company. He shares his worry and Glassman tells him that they won’t know if love is enough until the time comes. He tells Shaun that a baby switches a couple’s dynamic and maybe in their case it will shift for the better.
Glassman opens up about his life and his daughter. He tells Shaun why his first marriage ended and advises him to talk with Lea.
Elsewhere, Lim and Allen are treating a young lady who has cystic fibrosis. She has a blog that updates her fans about her journey. This time she is in the hospital for a lung transplant and has been treated with Lim for the past 11 years. Her new lungs arrive but upon checking, the lungs are not viable as the donor had pneumonia.
They worry about their patient’s time and Allen suggests a procedure to help the lungs heal themselves. Lim decides to try the Hail Mary procedure as their patient has less than a week. They do their best but the lungs don’t heal. They decide to switch their approach to the lung infection but their patient’s condition deteriorates as they wait.
On the other hand, Reznick calls Park to show off her new office. Park admits that she is rocking her new position. She mentions she is running behind schedule with her first patients for the new research program and Park offers to help her. She gives him one patient, Riggs.
Reznick finds Riggs’s symptoms strange and wonders why he wasn’t eliminated during the preliminary screening progress. She argues that with his symptoms he should not have been selected for the research project. She immediately assumes that Riggs lied to get into the research but Park asks her to wait before jumping to any conclusion.
After their shift the doctors head home, Shaun tries to talk to Lea but she is busy trying to finish work. Shaun decides to wait for her to finish work but Lea asks him to allow them to talk later. She says he was good during their babymoon and asks him to channel some of that energy. Shaun tells her that on their babymoon he thought love is enough.
Lea is shocked and asks what brought this up. Shaun says that they need to talk about their dynamic as he doesn’t want it to change. Lea tells him that they will need more time to dive into their dynamics and differences but they can’t have a productive conversation at the moment.
While the rest of the doctors head home, Lim and Allen remain behind to watch the lungs. Allen is ready to call it but Lim is too invested in the case to give up hope. She thinks she failed the patient and continues to try to treat the lungs. She is hoping they will heal and become viable.
The next morning, Park updates Reznick on Riggs. He had a pre-existing condition before getting into the program. Reznick is sure he lied to get into the study and thinks it proves the screeners were incompetent. Park asks her to stop seeing the world in such clear black-and-white terms. He talks to Riggs and he denies knowing about his condition or lying about it. After running more tests, Park learns Riggs was telling the truth. He takes over his treatment and tells Reznick she was wrong, no one was incompetent or lied.
On the other hand, Ricky starts seizing in the O.R. and Shaun and his team are forced to change the surgery plan. He goes to see the parents to ask for their consent for the new surgery plan. Finally, the parents agree and allow Shaun to do the surgery. The surgery goes well and Ricky is about to regain consciousness with his memory intact.
In the meantime. Lim still has hope that the lungs will be viable but the problem is it might be too late by then. Her patient is already dying and most of her organs are shutting down. Allen is already making sure she has a painless death by giving her morphine. In the last moment, the lungs become viable and they rush to the O.R. The patient pulls through and is able to breathe on her own for the first time in a long time.
After finishing her work, Lea visits Glassman in his burnt house and they talk about Glassman’s memories of his family in the house. He advises Lea to talk to Shaun. Shaun also shows up, and as they talk the baby starts kicking. The three of them start having hope for the future and new memories waiting to be made. They decide to go home.
The Episode Review
Differences between a couple are normal but how they handle them is what determines whether they survive or not. Love makes it easier but it is not enough, I hope Shaun and Lea realize this.
Reznick and Park make a great team because they have different views on life. It is also one of the reasons they broke up. Park saw himself being with her long-term and she at the moment, was focused on prioritizing her career. For them, love was not enough. The same thing with Glassman and his first wife. They also loved each other but failed to have honest communication. Luckily, Shaun and Lea are willing to have tough conversations to make it work.
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Episode Rating
(3.5)