Moderator: Chief Couch Potato Kylie

THE SPECS:

Who: “The Good Doctor” is a medical drama series that airs on ABC, currently fall to spring Mondays at 10:00 PM.

What: Based on the 2013 South Korean series of the same name, the series stars Freddie Highmore as Shaun Murphy, a young autistic savant surgical resident at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. In Season 3, Hill Harper, Christina Chang, Richard Schiff, Nicholas Gonzalez, Antonia Thomas, Will Yun Lee, Fiona Gubelmann, Paige Spara, and Jasika Nicole are also part of the regular cast.

SYNOPSIS

The series follows Shaun Murphy (Highmore), a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome from the small city of Casper, Wyoming, where he had a troubled past. He relocates to San Jose, California, to work at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital.

When: Season 3 aired on ABC from September 23, 2019, to March 30, 2020, with a total of 20 episodes.

Where: The action in Season 3 primarily occurs in San Jose, California, with one trip to Casper, Wyoming.

Why: To find out why individual podcast panelists started watching this show, listen to the podcast episode covering Season 1 via the link below!

How – as in How Was It? – THOUGHTS

This is Episode Three of our “Catching Up on The Good Doctor” series.  You can listen to Episodes One and Two here and at our audio feeds (Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Castbox, and Amazon Music):

Season 1

Season 2

Frequent CPU! contributors and panelists often suggest shows for CPU! to cover in our podcast episodes – loyal listeners should have picked up on this particular trend by now. As the podcast has been underway for several years now, many of our long-yearning (surgical) resident Couch Potatoes surprisingly suggested The Good Doctor, a previously passed series for show coverage at CPU!, and subsequently encouraged meticulous season-by-season coverage of the whole shebang in short order. It was surprising because medical shows are very much hit and miss here at CPU!, but our roster has grown, and it is possible that so too has the appetite for medical shows and the willingness to discuss them. Ch-ch-ch-changes! Thus, herein we offer our Season 3 recap and review of The Good Doctor, in which our panel – consisting of Eddy, Micah, Jessica, and Jared – remarks upon the success or lack thereof of the series as we catch up, season by season.

As such, tonight’s episode is the third episode of a four-episode series in which CPU! gets caught up on this show, which premiered on ABC in 2017.  In this chapter, our panel reflects upon and recaps Season 3 of The Good Doctor, in which we follow Shaun’s continuing adjustments to his job, to the cast of supporting characters, and to the rotating parties in charge of surgery and the hospital itself, which leads to some lessons in what not to do, particularly in love and in life. The panelists’ Season 3 reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with few qualms to dissect, which we do thoroughly in tonight’s episode – though, notably, our panel universally regarded Season 3 as the best of the seasons so far.

This episode was recorded in September 2021, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points of the second season. Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!

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Remember, new episodes and blog posts are published weekly!  Next Wednesday, a new, one-time CPU! panel convenes upon our virtual couches to lovingly Look Back at one of our collective panelists’ all-time favorite comedies and, really, shows of all time – we are finally sitting around our Water Cooler, er, our kitchen table, enjoying a slice of cheesecake, and reminiscing about the high and lasting value of The Golden Girls. Picture it – and stay tuned!

RECOMMENDATION

The Good Doctor is (more or less) recommended by our latest CPU! panel but not necessarily to those who enjoy other medical dramas, as the panel largely agrees that, medical drama though it is, it does not quite fit the mold of similar ilk, such as Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and others. Conversely, the panel does cautiously recommend this series to those who like and are looking for something different; to fans of Freddie Highmore, whose resume continues to expand at an impressive rate; and to fans of other David Shore properties, like House, as the tone of the show is not dissimilar to that auspicious predecessor, even if the subject matter and main character of both greatly differ.

Ultimately, the panelists’ opinions about this show vary widely. Some panelists, such as Micah and Jared, see the show as accessible and entertaining without requiring one’s full attention while simultaneously rewarding those who do devote their full engagement to the viewing proceeding. Panelists Eddy and Chief Couch Potato Kylie are more tepidly interested in the show, enjoying its quirky aspects and its lofty goal of depicting a surgeon on the spectrum and how he copes with such a high-intensity profession but also struggling with some of the more manipulative aspects of the story, including the series’ almost slavish devotion to the discussion of whether or not Shaun is capable of acquiring the technical skills required to be a surgeon when his skill is demonstrated fully in the pilot, even if not to rest of the characters’ particular satisfactions. The panel especially praises Highmore’s performance, deeming him the biggest draw and the most satisfying reason to watch. The panel also proffers some love for the supporting cast, particularly Thomas as Claire and Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman, whose father/son dynamic with Shaun provides much of the series’ heart.

Contrary to the panelists’ opinions about the first two seasons, the panel, in tonight’s episode and in a rare show of overall consensus, opines that the writing of The Good Doctor vastly improves in Season 3. The panelists note that not only do the medical situations in which Shaun and the other residents and attendings at St. Bonaventure find themselves oftentimes seem to be more nuanced and more thoughtful than the situations depicted in Season 1 and even in Season 2 episodes, but the drama central to Shaun’s life, his (multiple) romances, the interconnections and dynamics between characters, and, most of all, the shocking two-part season finale, left our panelists with an altogether rosier view of the show than had been previously described, even by the hitherto less impressed moderator, Chief Couch Potato Kylie.

To that end, the panel continues to regard The Good Doctor as an easy, pleasant, and now, as of Season 3, more frequently riveting watch that offers interesting and more holistically engaging, if not necessarily awe-inspiring, characters and situations by which to be entertained. Though there might not be a consensus as to whether The Good Doctor constitutes “great” television, there is still plenty to entice even the most skeptical of our panelists (still the Chief CP on this panel), though the median of the panel’s collective reaction to the third season leans further toward vociferous enthusiasm than in the discussions of the first two seasons. The panelists remain committed to the universal belief that there is an audience for this show, so long as the potential viewer in question walks into the experience with an open mind and a willingness to watch a hospital drama with a new and different spin on what is typically understood as the medical drama motif. To wit, all of our panelists remain steadfastly open-minded enough and more than willing to continue catching up on Season 4, which we will discuss in Episode Four of our “Catching Up” Good Doctor Series very soon!

THE FUTURE OF THE SHOW

The Good Doctor, Season 5, premiered on September 27, 2021. CPU! will next visit The Good Doctor for the final episode, Episode 4, of this “Catching Up” Series in December 2021 (or January 2022), during which our The Good Doctor panel will focus upon Season 4.  Like, follow, and/or subscribe to the website, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Amazon Music, or our social media accounts to stay abreast of new episodes regarding The Good Doctor as well as new episodes for all of our podcast panels! And, if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Thank you!