There was always a chance Steve would be autistic, but can The Good Doctor do this story justice?
The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 8 bounced everywhere with this storyline.
Shaun fretted about Steve and had flashbacks of his father’s mistreatment, while Lea’s good reasons for not wanting to do a brain study were dismissed in favor of her having some unaddressed fear of having an autistic child.
This isn’t the best way to tell the story. The Good Doctor should have done a time jump at the beginning of the season like Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 1.
That would have given the series enough time to develop a story about STeve’s potential autism instead of waiting until almost the last minute and rushing things.
Steve’s Autism Story Could Be a Powerful Addition to The Good Doctor’s Legacy… Or Not.
The Good Doctor has always intended to change how autistic characters are depicted on television, even if it didn’t always hit the mark.
A story about Shaun and Lea learning their son is autistic and supporting him better than Shaun’s parents had supported him could be a strong aspect of the series finale. However, that requires the story to be told properly.
It’s essential to showcase the conflicting emotions Shaun and Lea might have about this without falling into the tired TV trope about autism being a tragedy for parents.
Shaun: I think we should consult a pediatric neurologist.
Lea: No. No matter what the pediatric neurologist says you’re still going to be looking for what’s wrong with him.
Shaun: Not wrong. Different.
Shaun pointing out that Steve’s autism would make him different rather than it being something wrong with him was a good start. And it did seem like Lea had some internalized negativity about autistic people when she passionately denied Steve could be neurodivergent.
Still, she had some important points about why having Steve tested at this early age was not a good idea. Among other things, sedating a baby can be risky, and if there’s no clear medical evidence that an fMRI is needed, parents probably don’t want to take that risk.
Sure, her fear of having an autistic child or of not being able to parent one effectively was playing into things, and those feelings needed to be addressed. But shouldn’t her legitimate concerns about putting her son through a risky procedure for no reason also be taken into account?
Charlie’s Two Cents — And Was She Right About Shaun?
I loved that Shaun and Charlie are getting along now and Shaun turned to her for advice about getting Steve tested.
Charlie seemed to think that Shaun wanted Steve to be autistic and would be disappointed if he wasn’t. I wondered how true that was.
This is another reason shoving this story into the last three episodes sucks. There isn’t enough time to explore the issue fully or stick in interesting plot twists when we have little time remaining.
I especially wish they’d done a time jump to Steve being old enough for testing to be reasonable because it would be interesting if Steve were diagnosed with a different neurodivergent condition.
There is a lot of overlap between ADHD and autism, and sometimes, children are mistakenly diagnosed with the wrong one. That would have been an interesting story to tackle, especially if Shaun was convinced his child was autistic and the doctor said otherwise.
Sadly, that story can’t happen now, not with two episodes left in the series. I wouldn’t mind a spinoff about Lea and Shaun raising their son a few years from now, though, even though I never enjoyed Shaun and Lea as a couple until now.
Shaun and Glassman Were Both Driven By Past Trauma
Shaun’s concern seemed to spring partially from the horrible way his father treated him. I knew his dad had been abusive, but these flashbacks painted him in an even worse light, apparently thinking he could punish the autism out of Shaun.
Oddly, Shaun’s mother seemed to want to be more supportive of her son — that didn’t seem to be the case when she was dying and Shaun didn’t want to see her.
Meanwhile, Glassman’s getting caught up in Hannah’s drama because he sees her as the way to redeem himself after Maddie’s death.
I knew that Glassman would invite her to stay with him as soon as she said that she no longer had her car to sleep in, and I also predicted she’d overdose sooner or later.
I didn’t expect it to be so soon, but there’s a time crunch now.
In case you need a refresher, Glassman explores his daughter’s death in detail during The Good Doctor Season 2.
The short version of that tragic story is that he was frustrated with her addiction-fueled behavior and locked her out of the house. That night, she fatally overdosed, and he was unable to forgive himself for it.
Given that history, it’s unsurprising that Glassman is so determined to rescue Hannah from her addiction. He can’t, of course — only she can decide she wants to be sober enough to do something about her problem.
