In “The Good Doctor” Season 2 finale, two characters have made breakthroughs in how they perceive Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), the surgical resident at St. Bonaventure Hospital who has autism and savant syndrome. Both situations demonstrate that it’s not only the responsibility of the person with autism to try and fit into society, but for neurotypical people to also understand the benefits of perceiving the world through a very specific and less conventional point of view.
In the episode, Shaun gives the rather cryptic diagnosis of “trampoline” to a patient before he himself passes out from a medical condition. Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) insists on standing in the same spot, at the same height in the hospital room as Shaun, hoping to understand what he meant to say. Oddly enough, the strategy works. She notices a symptom she had missed before and comes to the life-saving diagnosis that the patient has tertiary syphilis or “treponema,” for which he receives the proper treatment in time.
[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for “The Good Doctor” Season 2, Episode 18, “Trampoline.”]
In “The Good Doctor” Season 2 finale, two characters have made breakthroughs in how they perceive Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), the surgical resident at St. Bonaventure Hospital who has autism and savant syndrome. Both situations demonstrate that it’s not only the responsibility of the person with autism to try and fit into society, but for neurotypical people to also understand the benefits of perceiving the world through a very specific and less conventional point of view.
In the episode, Shaun gives the rather cryptic diagnosis of “trampoline” to a patient before he himself passes out from a medical condition. Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) insists on standing in the same spot, at the same height in the hospital room as Shaun, hoping to understand what he meant to say. Oddly enough, the strategy works. She notices a symptom she had missed before and comes to the life-saving diagnosis that the patient has tertiary syphilis or “treponema,” for which he receives the proper treatment in time.
“The Good Doctor” showrunner David Shore spoke to IndieWire about Shaun’s evolution, romance, and whether or not Claire’s strategy could help in understanding how another person’s brain works.
“It’s a bit of a metaphor. I don’t think she’s having a Shaun vision in the same way that Shaun does. We can never become somebody else, but we can all recognize the validity of other ways of thinking about things and recognize that good ideas can come from that,” said Shore.
“There’s something to mine from just looking and looking and looking and focusing and focusing and focusing. Absolutely, of course, we all need to look at things differently, we all need to check out assumptions. I think that’s what Claire does there.”
Although Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper) doesn’t go as far as standing in Shaun’s shoes, the hospital president makes a major decision that reveals how his mindset about people with autism has changed. After the new chief of surgery Dr. Han (Daniel Dae Kim) fires Shaun for erratic behavior and lack of control, Andrews fires Han and reinstates Shaun.
“This is truly a heroic move by Dr. Andrews. It shows his change in thinking, his growth, his willingness to be openminded. I don’t think it’s simply he was getting rid of Han,” said Shore. “I think he was saving Shaun and I think he’s going to pay a price for it and he’s aware of that. He’s done a 180 from his way of thinking about Shaun from the pilot episode that takes place in the same room and is basically the same discussion.”
Although Shaun has his old job back, viewers should expect his job to stay secure. “[He’ll face these issues again] in different ways, different manifestations, but I do not want to be treading the same territory over and over again,” said Shore. “The reality is that I don’t think the challenges facing Shaun — the internal and external challenges — are simply going to go away because we like him.”
