‘The Good Doctor’ Boss on the Timely Sexual Harassment Story, and What’s Next for Shaun
On “The Good Doctor,” Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), who has autism and savant syndrome, has been figuring out how to work at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, but he’s also had a couple allies. Fellow resident Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) has been one of Shaun’s newer friends whom he’s relied on to demystify the female point of view. While Claire has had a troubled arc throughout the season so far — ranging from losing a patient to dealing with prejudice — her latest trial has cost someone their job.
When she first has concerns about working with Dr. Coyle (Eric Winter) after he inappropriately rubs her back, she tells her colleague and lover Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), who dismisses the actions as Coyle merely trying to establish rapport. But the behaviors escalate, and when Claire rebuffs Coyle’s far more explicit invitation to sleep with him, Kalu is upset. He physically threatens Coyle while in the locker room, which leads to Kalu being fired from the hospital.
[Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers from “The Good Doctor,” Episode 10, “Sacrifice.”]
On “The Good Doctor,” Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore), who has autism and savant syndrome, has been figuring out how to work at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, but he’s also had a couple allies. Fellow resident Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) has been one of Shaun’s newer friends whom he’s relied on to demystify the female point of view. While Claire has had a troubled arc throughout the season so far — ranging from losing a patient to dealing with prejudice — her latest trial has cost someone their job.
When she first has concerns about working with Dr. Coyle (Eric Winter) after he inappropriately rubs her back, she tells her colleague and lover Dr. Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu), who dismisses the actions as Coyle merely trying to establish rapport. But the behaviors escalate, and when Claire rebuffs Coyle’s far more explicit invitation to sleep with him, Kalu is upset. He physically threatens Coyle while in the locker room, which leads to Kalu being fired from the hospital.
The Academy and ABC Set the 2025 Oscars Date
Although the sexual harassment story is timely, showrunner and executive producer David Shore revealed that it was already in place before the daily misconduct reports made headlines.
“By the time we were shooting, we were well aware of what was going on and just how timely this has turned out to be,” said Shore. “But it’s not like it didn’t exist before everything. The shit was hitting the fan long before it was daily headlines, and we wanted to explore that. And we wanted to explore the difficult position that women are put in, especially in the more subtle forms where it is predatory and terrible, but not easily identified and dealt with where there’s deniability available to the perpetrator. Just the insidious everyday sexism, which she rises above in the sense that it certainly goes to a place that’s insidious, but a little more than every day.”
Although the show didn’t tweak its storyline in light of recent news, the show was more aware of how certain aspects of Claire’s story had an impact.
“I think internally our perceptions became slightly different,” Shore said. “Even though we were obviously dealing with the issue, it wasn’t changed dramatically, but we became more aware of the fact that it is not cool, for lack of a better word, for an institution to not take this very very seriously.
“We will find out what happens to Coyle,” he promised. “[This will be followed-up] not necessarily in a great way, but we will recognize that these are terrible things that are challenging to deal with.”
Shaun’s Extreme Measures
Meanwhile, Shaun had his own issues to address. Usually, he abides by a certain set of self-imposed rules to give himself order, but on Monday’s midseason finale of “The Good Doctor,” he broke all of them. After his mentor Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) pushed the issue of Shaun hiring an aide/therapist one time too many, Shaun became distraught, hit himself and Glassman in the process, and then abandoned his apartment, leaving no word of his whereabouts.
