After Dr. Shaun Murphy’s girlfriend Carly broke up with him at the end of The Good Doctor season 3 episode 15, fans were anxious to see if Shaun would actually end up telling Lea how he really feels about her. But when he finally did just that at the end of episode 16 on Monday, the conversation didn’t quite go as some fans might have hoped.
In the final scene of the episode, titled “Autopsy,” Shaun told Lea that he loves her and wants to be her boyfriend. And at first, it seemed like that might be something Lea wanted as well — but then things took a sudden turn.
“I love you too,” Lea started her response to Shaun. “But you know me. I am selfish, and I am so, so needy. I’m — I mean, listen to me right now. I can’t even put a complete sentence together. I’m a total mess. How? How am I supposed to lay all of that on you?”
She continued: “I am a challenge for anyone, and you’re you. And I just know it would be too hard for you. You need things a certain way, you work in a certain way.”
Ultimately, Shaun asked if Lea didn’t want to be with him because he has autism. And even though the question made her tear up, she wasn’t able to give him an answer before she walked away and left him seemingly heartbroken.
Many fans took to Twitter after the emotional scene to express their frustration at the way Lea hurt Shaun. But others actually came out to defend her:
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“I liked how Lea was honest with her feelings, even though it would break Shaun’s heart,” another fan wrote. “Ppl are hating Lea as usual, but IDT things are as simple as she doesn’t want to be w/ Shaun cuz he’s autistic. She knows she’s messy & a lot to handle. I doubt she wants to be his gf immediately after he broke up w/ his gf & risk her bff. They both need to breathe,” tweeted a third.
It certainly was hard to see Shaun so hurt at the end of the episode, but maybe these fans have a point: Lea probably did do the right thing by being upfront about her concerns instead of trying to make a relationship with Shaun work when she wasn’t ready. As another fan eloquently said on Twitter: While Shaun and Lea’s conversation was initially upsetting, she now thinks “it seems Shaun & Lea can’t truly be together” without talking through some of their issues first.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of drama that needs to be resolved in the four remaining episodes of The Good Doctor season 3. Fingers crossed Lea and Shaun are able to at least salvage their friendship before the season finale!
