The Good Doctor would really like to make you feel good. And that’s not always a good thing.
ABC’s new medical drama (Monday, 10 ET/PT, ** out of four) follows Dr. Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel), a young surgeon who has autism and savant syndrome. His autism makes him a hard sell to join the surgical staff at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, where the board is wary of hiring him, but hospital president Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) is determined to have him on staff.
Created by David Shore (House) The Good Doctor has all the typical beats of the medical procedural, including heart-tugging emotional moments, life-and-death drama and the miraculous save. The premiere episode also plants the seeds of sexual and romantic drama among the overly attractive surgical staff.
Like Netflix’s Atypical, another recent series focusing on a lead with autism, The Good Doctor struggles to balance its tone. In an effort to prevent Shaun from being the butt of its jokes, the series leans too far in the other direction, venturing into mawkishness when it comes to his interactions with others. It also does not paint a particularly clear picture of what autism is. A moment late in the pilot verges on finding people with disabilities inspiring only because of their disability.
The series’ tonal issues are complicated by the genre in which Shore has chosen to put his protagonist. The doctor who’s good at medicine but bad with people is a trope that was worn out by Shore before on Fox’s House: Making that doctor a person with autism verges on gimmickry, the latest spin on the standoffish Dr. House.
Still, there are the seeds of a engaging procedural in the pilot, which sets up how Shaun comes to prestigious St. Bonaventure. Highmore remains an appealing young actor, and his interpretation of Shaun gives him room to grow. Schiff has no trouble playing Dr. Glassman, an exasperated elder statesman trying to do the right thing for both Shaun and his hospital, given his prickly turn in a similar role on The West Wing. Rounding out the cast are Hill Harper, Nicholas Gonzalez and Antonia Thomas as other doctors at the hospital. Thomas, in particular, is a charming addition (she does great work on Netflix’s British import Lovesick), but none of them are fleshed out enough in the pilot to really stand out.
Overall, The Good Doctor needs to be more. It needs to be more than a medical drama with a gimmick. It needs more from its supporting characters and stories. It needs to show other sides of its protagonist. And it needs to be more of itself, considering the first episode spent so much time setting up Shaun’s new life and his backstory that it’s impossible to tell what the series will look like week to week.
The series has a chance to iron out its tone and expand its world just enough to prevent it from being overly maudlin. If it can, The Good Doctor wouldn’t be the first series to heal itself.
