The Good Doctor – Season 6 Episode 14 “Hard Heart” Recap & Review

Hard Heart

Episode 14 of Good Doctor season 6 starts with Lea and Shaun in bed. Lea is having trouble sleeping as she has to pee every time. Shaun asks to discuss baby names but doesn’t like the ones Lea suggests.

The next morning, they wake up to Glassman making pancakes for breakfast and he brings up the couple’s conversation about baby names. Lea is not pleased that Shaun tells Glassman about their pillow talks and reminds him they should be private discussions between them.

Later, her patience with having Glassman as a guest is pushed to its limit after he baby proofs the house. He is excited about the baby and using it as a distraction from the fact that he lost his house and is currently homeless.

After Lea complains to Shaun, he talks to Glassman and tells him that he sees him as the baby’s grandfather. Glassman is touched as he never thought that would happen to him. He agrees to move out and ends up renting the house down the hallway from Shaun and Lea’s place. Once Lea finds out she is too stunned to speak.

Elsewhere, Allen is asked by Marcus to give a series of online talks to young high-school girls of colour about medicine. Allen refuses his offer and asks him to choose another doctor but Marcus points out she is perfect for the job. He reminds her that only 2% of surgeons in the US are black. He asks her to stop being afraid of the spotlight and tries to convince her but she turns him down.

She believes it is not her responsibility to encourage other women of colour to join medicine. She leaves and meets with Asher and complains about Marcus’ request. Asher fails to understand what is holding her back and thinks she should say yes. As they talk, Allen gets a message from her grandmother informing her she is at the hospital. She turns out to be their first patient of the day and Allen explains to her that she can’t take over her case. Asher examines her but she passes out during the examination so they rush her to the O.R.

In the O.R. they learn that Allen’s grandmother has severe constrictive pericarditis. They close her up and go back to find a surgery plan to fix it. Allen advocates for the complete removal of the calcified wall around her grandma’s heart. Lim thinks that it is a bad idea since it is too risky and offers to do a partial removal which gives her grandma a better survival chance. She asks Allen to focus on being a granddaughter and let them come up with a surgery plan.

Allen visits her grandma’s room and finds her chatting with Marcus. Marcus mentions that Allen has turned down his offer to inspire young women of colour to join medicine. Her grandma thinks it is weird she turned down the offer. Allen distracts her by talking about what she thinks is best for her. She tells her that she is leaning toward full removal but Lim wants partial removal.

Her grandma decides to choose her approach and Lim confronts Allen and asks her to change her grandma’s mind. Allen talks to her grandma and admits she went overboard because she wanted to please her and get validation.

Her grandma tells her that going the extra step is what is expected from people of colour so they can earn their place in life. Allen gets frustrated that her grandma is not hearing her main concern. She complains to Asher, he reminds her that she is confident and has already made it.  Allen goes back and talks to her grandma again but her condition deteriorates and they rush her back to the O.R.

They didn’t have enough time to practice for her surgery so they get stuck. Luckily, Allen comes up with an approach to save her life. After the surgery, her grandma tells her that she has always been proud of her and she is a good doctor. Allen decides to do the online talks and though she is nervous she manages to do a fine job.

On the other hand, Shaun is also working Perez hard. Perez keeps running late by one minute and Shaun thinks his tardiness is because he is using again. He asks Perez to take a drug test but it comes back negative. After the second day of running late, Perez confesses that he has been going to an N.A. meeting (Narcotics Anonymous) every morning. The problem is that the meetings are a bit far from the hospital and he ends up being caught in morning traffic. After a talk with Allen’s Grandma, he decides to start his own N.A meeting group in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Park and Shaun are tasked with treating a young boy named Nathan. His mom thinks Nathan hurt his head after hitting his head on a trampoline. Nathan gets worse and Park believes he is having a stroke.  The dad is away saving lives in Alabama after a tornado hit the town. Park assures him that they can handle Nathan’s crisis and tells him there is no need to come.

However, after opening Nathan’s brain in the O.R. they realize the problem is bigger than they anticipated. Nathan has Primary CNS vasculitis, a rare disorder causing inflammation in his blood vessels in the brain. Park suggests they start Nathan on chemotherapy and calls the dad to ask him to fly back home. After the first round of chemotherapy, they do a test to check if the medicine is working and discover they misdiagnosed him.

Shaun notices that Nathan has Moyamoya disease, a rare blood vessel (vascular) disorder. They talk to the parents and try to get their trust and consent to do another brain surgery. Park assures the dad that he will treat Nathan like his own son. Unfortunately, the dad is unable to get back before the first surgery but they manage to perform it successfully and save Nathan’s life.

Throughout the process of treating Nathan, Park reminds Shaun of the importance of seeing someone else’s point of view, especially as a doctor. Shaun takes his advice and tries to see Nathan’s point of view. This helps Nathan feel better after his surgery.

The Episode Review

Shaun can sometimes be stuck in doing things logically which makes it hard for him to see other people’s problems or fears. He is about to be a dad and as Park said, he will need to understand that sometimes kids are not logical. They don’t want to hear the truth in such a direct manner. He will need to put logic aside once in a while to be able to be a good parent.

It was touching to see his conversation with Glassman. Glassman will make one of the sweetest grandfathers any kid can have. It is also not such a bad thing that he moved across the hallway from Shaun and Lea. They will need all the help they can get once the baby is born. Lea might feel different after realizing firsthand how tiring it will be to take care of a newborn.

I am glad that the hospital is supportive of Perez in his recovery journey. Marcus did him a solid by giving him room for the N.A. meetings.

As for Allen, she did not need her grandma’s validation but I am glad she got it. She is a confident black woman making medical history and she should be proud of herself. Asher was right, she needs to take time and enjoy her present and how far along she has come.