The Good Doctor season three ended on the devastating death of Dr Neil Melendez (played by Nicholas Gonzalez) following a dramatic earthquake. Fans were disappointed by the twist, especially after Dr Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) finally told him she loved him in the final scene. However, there were apparently some scenes cut between the pair – why was this?
Why were scenes between Claire and Melendez cut?
The final episode of The Good Doctor season three saw one of the major characters killed in the aftermath of an earthquake.
Dr Melendez suffered internal bleeding after he was hit by falling rubble in the penultimate episode.
Then he suffered from sepsis and was not able to recover in the finale, much to the disappointment of fans.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking was the one between Claire and Melendez after the pair had been growing closer over the season.
In their final goodbye, the pair admitted they were in love with each other after months of avoiding the subject.
Some fans were shocked by the revelation as many thought their romance was one-sided on Claire’s part.
However, following his exit Melendez star Nicholas Gonzalez spoke to TV Line about the storyline, revealing some moments were cut, which might have offered more context.
He told the publication: “There were also so many little [deleted] scenes.
“The storylines are all there, but the little scenes that we’re missing really changed the dynamic.
“There were a lot of scenes with Antonia Thomas [who plays Claire], [and] there were probably an equal number of scenes with Christina Chang [who plays Lim] — these different kinds of moments [that went beyond] watching people fall in love…
“Those were on the cutting room floor because we don’t have the time for those.”
Therefore it seems like there were some moments between Claire and Melendez which did show the characters beginning to fall in love.
The star also agreed he thought the relationship between the pair was more of a long burn rather than something which was about to happen.
According to Gonzalez, this was partly due to the fact Melendez was Claire’s boss so he thought he would have struggled with this moral dilemma.
He added to TV Line: “In life we have certain attractions, but it doesn’t always mean that’s somebody that you pursue romantically.
“For me, I always felt like maybe that was a long burn that could always kind of be there.
“There are two people that respect each other, have grown to love each other as human beings, as people and as friends.
“But the idea of going after [that] was never something I was totally comfortable with because I felt like we had created this very morally upstanding character in Melendez.”
