The Bad Recap

I watched S2 E17 of The Good Doctor so you don't have to

I had never watched The Good Doctor before, but I had seen this meme a thousand times. I wanted to know why it held such a grip on my imagination. So I watched an episode. The episode. I could not have been prepared for what happened next.

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CW: child protection, strong themes and acting by Freddie Highmore

A frazzled woman wearing a flannel shirt enters The Good Doctor’s apartment, while he pours a cup of orange juice. A lover? A housemate? “Didn’t you get my text? I met with Jake...” Okay so definitely a lover, and clearly in a reluctantly polyamorous relationship. Feels bad, man. I get it. His response? “I don’t want to be a pathologist.” We’re off to a roaring start.

“You’re still a doctor, still saving lives,” she says, trying to comfort him as he looks blankly at her, takes out a toy (?) knife and wraps it gingerly in a huck towel and puts it in his pocket. He walks towards the door. Wait, is this some sort of weapon? If I had to make an educated guess I’d say this is probably a toy scalpel that The Good Doctor has had since he was a child and now carries around as a memento to always follow his dream. Prove me wrong. I can’t help but feel that the way he places it so carefully in that huck towel is a little sinister though and whether he plans to wreak revenge on those who cast him aside to Pathology in this episode. The Teletubby Luigi Mangione?

Wouldst thou like the taste of butter? Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

He moves to the door explaining he’s walking to work today (he’s definitely up to something). As his girlfriend protests that work is a whole four miles away he laments “You don’t understand, you DON’T UNDERSTAND,” quite incensed at her insinuation. Then after a sinister pause, looking into the middle distance, he says in a soft but menacing voice: “And neither does Dr Han.” Chills.