Skin in The Game
Episode 2 of Good Doctor season 7 starts with Shaun and Lea at the clinic. The doctor informs them that Steve is not gaining weight as he should and suggests they supplement him with formula. She gives them a sample of the best formula, which takes Lea off guard.
At the same time, Glassman and Lim struggle to find a balance as the new co-presidents. Lim feels Glassman’s choices have led to more work for him. Point in case, is the deal that Glassman made with San Jose Med school. The hospital is now forced to teach a few medical students. The students in question are Charlene and Dominick. Throughout the episode, Lim and Glassman struggle to outdo each other until they finally call a truce and agree to share the workload fairly.
Back to the new students, Charlene is autistic and idolises Shaun. From the moment she meets him, she talks about him being her hero and tries to get on his good side. On the other hand, Dominick is a former football player hoping to change lives in his new career path. This remains to be seen, given that he faints at the sight of blood.
In this episode, Shaun is dealing with a case of a man who was brought in by his daughter. Charlene, Allen and Kalu join him. The man is in town to visit his daughter, who he believes is doing big things in the tech business. Unfortunately, his visit was cut short after he started coughing until he fell and hit his head. Shaun asks Charlene to dress the head wound, and she pulls out her phone and starts watching a tutorial. Of course, the patient’s daughter is not pleased by this, and Kalu tries to bring the issue up with Shaun. However, Shaun couldn’t care less since her actions didn’t affect the patient, and she did a fairly good job.
As the case progresses, they realise their patient has silicosis and will need new lungs. The dad is hesitant to accept the surgery as he will need full-time care, and he worries he will derail his daughter’s career. She, however, has no issues taking care of her dad and convinces him to go ahead with the surgery. Unfortunately, Charlene puts the patient’s life in danger when she accidentally reveals that his daughter is not in the tech industry, but she is a sex worker. The dad refuses to have the surgery and insists on flying back to Florida.
After going back and forth, Shaun talks to the patient and advises him to accept his daughter. He tells the dad that he raised his daughter well because she is kind and never hurts anyone. As a human being, she is exemplary, and her work doesn’t define who she is. After this talk, the dad agrees to the surgery. He is happy to wake up and find his daughter by his side. He asks to stay with her, and they make up.
On the other hand, Charlene finds herself on Shaun’s wrong side and struggles to redeem herself. Shaun kicks her out of the surgery when she accidentally contaminates the surgical area. He also blames her for failing to keep the daughter’s secret and endangering their patient. For these reasons, Shaun gives her simple tasks but still finds faults in her work.
In the meantime, Parker, Asher and Dominick are handling the case of a gambler who has a brain tumour. The tumour is interwoven on his brain stem and cranial nerves. Parker is unsure if he can save his patient, given the location of his tumour. Dominick suggests a random trial surgery in front of the patient. His suggestion is a dangerous surgery that is unlikely to work. However, the patient insists on taking the chance as he believes he is about to get lucky.
Parker tries talking to Lim about the surgery, but she asks him to decide independently. He is now an attendee and must make all the hard decisions alone. Parker keeps practising for the surgery but keeps failing, which stresses him more. Ultimately, he talks with the patient and asks if he is willing to change his life if given a second chance. The man promises to quit gambling and make amends with his family.
Although Parker is worried about the possibility of the surgery succeeding, he decides to take a chance, and Reznick shows up to support him. The surgery is a success, but the patient doesn’t keep his promise and continues gambling.
On the home front, Lea admits she is struggling with giving Steve formula instead of breast milk. She fails like she is failing at being a mom, but Shaun doesn’t understand her concern. He thinks she is a great mom, and the formula is still as good. Reznick comes to his aid before Lea chews his head off. Later, Reznick admits that she is struggling too. If not for Parker’s help, she would be overwhelmed. She feels guilty for not hearing her baby crying during the night, and Parker always does the night feeds. They bond over their struggles and realise motherhood can be challenging but worth it.
Meanwhile, Shaun hints that he is still angry with Glassman and refuses to attend Reznick’s party for her child since there is a possibility of Glassman attending. Glassman tries to apologise, and Shaun says he is angry that the former didn’t meet Steve on the first day. However, after seeing his patient struggle with his daughter’s life decisions. Shaun has a change of heart. He makes up with Glassman at the party. He says he still wants them to be family, even when they fight.
At the end of the day, Dominick tries to cheer up Charlene after the shitty shift she had. They listen to Taylor Swift and shake off the bad vibes. However, they will be fine since Kalu, Asher, and Allen have decided to take care of them moving forward. They have been there in the past and know humans make mistakes.
The Episode Review
While Shaun has made great steps as a doctor, husband and son, he needs to be a better teacher. He has made mistakes before, but Glassman and many others were there to protect and show him the way. He was unnecessarily harsh on Charlene, and that is not teaching. Charlene is there to learn, and if he doesn’t tell or show her the way, how does he expect her to know everything? It is one thing to learn from a book, but it is a whole different game when it comes to doing things practically in a hospital. Moving forward, Shaun needs to have more patience with the medical students.
It was nice to see Reznick and Lea bond over motherhood. It is not easy, and the guilt makes it worse. As a mom, it would be easier if we stopped being so hard on ourselves, but that is easier said than done. Nonetheless, these two are rocking motherhood and should be proud of themselves. They also have amazing men by their side, which is a beautiful thing to witness.
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