[Lea] Previously on The Good Doctor…
[Dr. Andrews] Dalisay!
I know I didn't show you enough respect,
and I didn't make enough effort to see things from your point of view.
But I want to change.
How about dinner?
You pick me up at 7:30, Saturday.
We can try that Filipino place.
I think maybe you and I could be gifts to each other.
And we should be open to that.
I have no idea what it looks like to move forward.
We'll figure it out.
The perfect practice run for when your own comes along.
I'm going off my IVF meds. I'm not doing another cycle.
Eden, she's what I've been waiting for. She's my daughter.
I thought it was Dr. Glassman's cancer returning,
but it is damage to Dr. Glassman's brain as a result of a mini-stroke.
It is permanent.
He shouldn't be doing surgery anymore.
Ah. [gasps]
Two weeks to Peanut Day!
Yes.
So you're making lasagna for breakfast?
It's going in the freezer.
I've packed my hospital bag, written my birth plan,
and soon all I'll have on my list is to do my nails and relax.
73% of births happen before the due date, so you need to start relaxing immediately.
'Cause if there's one thing you can cram, it's relaxation.
Yes.
Have you heard anything from Glassy?
Oh. No.
He might be mad when he finds out you went to Lim with his brain scans.
It was very important for his future, both medically and professionally.
It's not just the information. It's the whole behind-his-back thing.
He wouldn't listen to me, so I had no choice.
I think you did the right thing, but…
Just talk to him?
-Okay. -Yeah.
I've had a stroke.
Yes. A small one.
-I should probably give you some time. -Yeah, you should.
He, uh, hit the brakes instead of the gas
and thumped his head on the steering wheel.
I'm a shoo-in for the Dumbest Patient of the Day. [chuckles]
-It's too early to hand that out. -Wanna hear about a dumb patient?
Doctor says to her he's waiting for her X-ray.
She says, "Well, that's weird. I never dated anybody named Ray."
-[chuckles] -A little too early for that too.
The laceration's superficial. You need a couple stitches.
-Yay! -You sure?
He hit his head pretty hard. Maybe you should run some tests?
There's no sign of fracture, closed head injury, or brain bleed.
[Hailey] Dr. Murphy?
It's not about the accident.
He's been behaving very strangely for the last six months.
Oh. He's alert, responsive, engaging socially--
Which is nothing like him.
His whole life, he's been terrible.
Constantly fired, been through four divorces,
estranged from all of his kids, except me.
He was always just a dick.
Then he changed.
Now he's telling dad jokes, asks about my day.
He gave me a birthday present.
He is a different person.
This does not sound to me like a medical issue.
But I will order a brain MRI
because it would be very interesting if it were.
[theme music playing]
Are you mad at me for going to Dr. Lim with your brain scan?
Yeah, a little bit.
But maybe you saved my life, so…
I didn't think you were, but Lea said you might be,
so we were both right. What are you going to do?
About your job?
I don't know, Shaun. I just found out I had a stroke.
I'm still reeling a little bit.
Maybe when I decide, I'll let you know.
Okay.
-I hear it beating. -[chuckles]
Wow, Dr. Wolke has a heart!
I wasn't sure myself, to be honest.
-I have one too. -Now, that, we all knew.
[Dr. Andrews] Hey, Nico.
The doctors are gonna take Olivia to get some ice cream
and you to get some tests.
Followed, of course, by some ice cream.
-Thanks, Dr. Marcus. -Yeah.
Get some ice cream.
Nico's sarcoma has invaded his thigh and hip, here and here.
But luckily, there's no signs of metastasis,
which means we can debulk the tumor.
How much time would that give him?
Nine months, maybe even a year.
We could take him to Salzburg.
With Nico's illness and all his surgeries, he's never really had a great Christmas.
He found this photo of the Salzburg Christmas Market in Austria.
He talks about it all the time.
This surgery could just get us there.
Not "just." There's always medical advances.
We have to be realistic, Seb.
And you have to keep a positive attitude.
This is good news.
Some final pre-op testing, and Nico can have his surgery tomorrow.
-[Eden crying] -[Dr. Reznick] Be reasonable, please.
You've been fed, changed, swaddled.
I have walked. I have rocked. I have bounced.
I've worn you on my front, on my back, on my hip.
[shushing]
Please, Eden. You have to go to sleep.
[crying continues]
Be reasonable, please. [shushing]
[crying stops]
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
[switches on]
[sighs in relief]
[Eden crying]
[machinery whirring]
-So, you gonna tell me or not? -Hmm?
-Where we going tomorrow? -Oh, it's a surprise.
Hmm.
As in, you have no idea.
[sighs] It's been harder than I thought.
A movie's too predictable, an escape room is too dorky,
and, well, dinner at my place is out.
I'll pick something.
No, I don't want you to deal with this.
It's supposed to be fun, Danny,
which it will be, once we get over this first hump.
So let me do it, okay?
And, yes, I said "hump,"
which I regret saying for multiple reasons.
[mouse clicks]
His daughter was right.
I will take ace inhibitors, aspirin, statins
to help reduce the likelihood of future stroke to near absolute zero.
I will reduce my workload by 25%.
Any operation over six hours, I will have a backup in the OR.
I will even eat more broccoli.
I'm not really comfortable with you doing any surgery right now,
not until we've determined the full extent of any potential impairment.
Do I look impaired to you?
No, but I think we should run a few tests.
Do you see any evidence at all that my work has suffered?
You are a brain surgeon.
The margin of acceptable error is miniscule.
I have a pretty good idea of how precise I need to be.
I'm not comfortable with subjecting any patient to that risk.
Most of the patients that I take on,
other surgeons won't even touch.
Without me, the likelihood that they will die is 100%.
I am not questioning your value.
I'm just asking that you wait until there is no doubt.
[scoffs]
There's no such thing as "no doubt."
Aaron, I… I cannot have you operating right now.
I'm sorry.
Then you will have to fire me.
And I will sue you.
You know, I'm thinking of cooking up
a batch of the world-famous poulet a la Andrews tonight.
-I'm in. -Hmm.
But I want to give you a courtesy heads-up.
The nurses are gonna send out an official e-mail
about a unionization drive.
-I just increased the nursing budget. -More than a year ago.
And it mostly went to temps or traveling nurses.
Not mostly. I can show you the numbers.
Point is, we're underpaid, underappreciated.
A union could protect us.
Sorry to interrupt. Got Nico's pre-op testing back.
His chemo hit his bone marrow hard.
Platelets only 22K?
He can't have the surgery.
You have a large malignant hemangiopericytoma
compressing your frontal lobes.
-Malignant? -Yes. But it's operable.
Which is good, because if left untreated, this would likely kill you within a year.
-Okay. -You were right.
The tumor is probably why your father stopped being a dick a few months ago.
Sorry, Dad.
It's all right.
I knew our relationship had improved. I just didn't know it was because of this.
So, if you remove it, could that change my personality back?
Most likely.
Thank you, Doctor. I'm gonna pass on the surgery.
If you want to bench our top surgeon,
you're gonna need more than one indeterminate scan.
Are you worried about losing our top surgeon or our top earner?
Why does everyone think wanting to keep this hospital solvent
is something to be embarrassed about?
You wanna open up the door to another takeover?
-I just want the agenda to be clear. -Well, then, let me clarify.
Yes, I'm worried about losing our top earner,
but I'm more worried about Theo Singh,
the 27-year-old newlywed with the pilocytic astrocytoma.
We can refer him to Dr. Cachoa at General.
Theo's tumor is compressing his brain stem.
Cachoa probably won't even take him.
I can deal with that. And you're doing it again.
My department, my call.
Once litigation is threatened, it becomes my call.
Glassman refused cognitive testing,
and until I have more information, I'm not letting him into the OR.
So he does all of his surgeries as planned but with a backstop.
You assign another surgeon on all of his cases and not just the OR.
And he'll be happy with that?
It's a compromise. Nobody's ever completely happy.
-I know I'm not. -Neither am I.
The hallmark of a successful negotiation.
-[doorbell rings] -[Eden crying]
I forgot you were coming.
That's odd, given how you read my text ten minutes ago, but…
Beautiful, healthy baby. Beautiful and healthy mom.
-So, it looks like things are going great. -Definitely.
Is she eating well?
-Like a horse. [shushes] -Nice.
-Sleeping? -Like a baby.
I underestimated diaper demand, but everything else is perfect.
-[crying continues] -Shh. It's okay.
When Kellan was fussy,
we'd put his car seat on top of the washing machine.
The vibrations knocked him right out.
Well, this isn't like her.
Okay. [shushing]
You mind?
Ah. All right.
[crying stops]
Oh, I've missed this.
[gasps] What?
[Eden coos]
See? Like a baby.
What? [gasps]
My patient is refusing the hemangiopericytoma resection surgery
that will save his life. I want you to talk him into it.
That's not how this works, Shaun.
It should be. You are more persuasive than I am.
Ask Glassman.
He's removed more anterior fossa tumors than anyone on the West Coast.
But Dr. Glassman should not be doing any surgery until--
I agree, but I was overruled.
If you want someone to change your patient's mind,
Glassman's your best shot.
You are persuasive.
Nico's body isn't making the blood cells and platelets he needs.
There's, uh… There's gotta be a way to get his counts up.
[Dr. Park] With Nico so sick…
it may be time to consider palliative care.
-No. -Let's hear the doctor out.
No, I'm not giving up on him. Neither should you.
And neither should they.
[Talia] Nico's been through so much.
You think I don't know that?
I'm trying to save his life.
Dr. Park will pull the team together
and see if there's a solution that works for everyone.
Thank you so much.
He doesn't want his tumor removed, so I don't know what there is to discuss.
Given the tumor's impact on his frontal lobes,
he might not be competent to make that decision.
And you don't think I'm competent to be a doctor, so…
Oh, no. Just to be a neurosurgeon.
The surgery should give Kurt about 20 more years.
Let's recap, 20 more years as a bad father versus 1 year as a good father.
-There is no medical justification-- -Yes, there is, Shaun.
There's an emotional one! There's an emotional issue!
Your voice is getting louder, and your face is flushed. Are you upset?
You should've come to me with the scan.
You don't go to Lim. You don't show it to Lim.
You said you were only a little mad at me.
You ratted me out to the head of the department
when I specifically asked you not to do that!
Yes, I did that because you did not believe me--
Then you come to me, you try to convince me!
Again and again and again! Don't you think you owe me that?
That's four times. I tried a lot more than that.
What do you want from me? You want me to go see if he's competent?
Okay. Fine. Let's go.
Hey.
Did Dr. Park find anything?
Not yet. I just wanted to see how you guys are doing.
Seb's with the kids.
I, um, needed a little break.
Seb and I used to talk about how every day was a--
A beautiful day.
I remember.
Do you understand what will happen if you don't have the operation?
Yes. I'll be dead within a year.
And why is that preferable to surgery?
Hailey was right about me.
I was a terrible person, a terrible father.
Never played with her. I hardly talked to her.
I can't even remember holding her hand.
The Wizard of Oz.
I was five, terrified of the flying monkeys,
-but when I reached for your hand… -I pulled it away.
I never tried to again.
I don't want to go back.
I don't want to lose this.
I don't want to lose you.
The brain is a funny thing.
It wants to do the things that makes it feel good,
get that dopamine hit.
In fact, it actually can reshape itself
as it continues to try to experience those good feelings.
So, you're saying I might
be able to stay this way?
Maybe.
You work hard to be the best version of the person you want to be.
I've had that fight.
You should listen to Dr. Glassman.
And he has removed more anterior fossa tumors
than anyone on the West Coast.
Hey, I have faith in you, Dad.
You can do the work. You could stay a good man.
Whew.
Well, uh, like the patient said,
"I didn't want brain surgery, but the doctor changed my mind."
[both chuckle]
That was a dad joke?
And a "yes."
If you do the surgery.
I've heard that you, uh, know your way around a fossa tumor.
As you wish.
-So, what are we doing here? -You don't remember?
A bicoronal subfrontal craniotomy.
-And? -Possible orbital osteotomies.
Drill.
We would place a lumbar drain first.
Before incision, yes. I thought I'd focus on the surgery.
-[drill whirring] -Be careful of the sutura coronalis.
Why? Does the patient have one?
All higher primates do. If you don't remember--
That was a joke. In the OR, we call that a joke.
Hmm.
Popping the top.
-And let's get under the lobes. -Wait.
That is not the next step. It's--
Assessing and ligating the anterior third.
I thought I'd do that after I get a better view.
That is an acceptable option.
Wonderful.
But you must remember to--
No more talking during the procedure.
-This is my patient, so-- -Shaun, I'm asking you to leave.
-I will be quiet-- -One of us is going to leave, Shaun.
It's not gonna be the one doing the surgery.
Let's get after it.
We start with blood transfusions,
plus a cocktail of five medications to ramp up production of blood cells.
That should get Nico through the operation.
A few weeks later, we follow up with a stem-cell transplant from one of you.
What could the side effects be?
[Dr. Park] Risk of infection and bleeds from surgery
and possible toxicity from drug interactions.
You know the alternative.
He'd be gone in just a few months.
If you were in our place, what would you do?
[sighs] I'd do the surgery.
-Okay. -Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll prep Nico for surgery.
-[Eden crying] -Okay.
If this works, it'll be a real win-win
because one day I do plan to do laundry again.
-[dryer whirring] -[crying stops]
All right, Eden.
I'm just gonna sit down for one sec.
[sighs]
[snoring]
[dryer rattling]
[gasps] No! No.
[Eden crying]
That'll stay just between us.
I want Shaun off the case.
-It's his patient. -I don't wanna crack a man's skull open
while standing next to someone who's waiting for me to screw up.
I want a team I can trust 100% and who will trust me.
-Shaun's off the case. -Thank you.
And I'll be assisting.
Welcome aboard.
[slow jazz music playing on speakers]
This is nice.
Are you talking about the chicken?
-Not exclusively. -[chuckles softly]
I just hope it doesn't get messed up by things at work.
The unionization drive.
What if I could squeeze the board?
Get them to sign off on some real and meaningful improvements.
You might not even need a union.
Those would have to be some pretty big concessions.
[exhales] Okay.
How about a 5% raise,
one-to-four cap on nurse-to-patient ratios.
Might even be able to get a Chief Nursing Officer on the board.
That's pretty interesting.
I have no idea if anyone else would go for it.
Any chance you could find out?
There's a big difference how hard I can push
for a proposal that might work versus one that will.
I could float it to a couple people.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Dessert?
Yes.
As soon as the surgery's over, the case is yours again.
I will watch from the gallery.
No need. I'll have a much better view from the floor.
The video feed on the monitors is excellent.
And it couldn't hurt to have more backup.
Actually, it could, Shaun.
I was wrong sending you to Glassman.
He's pretty upset right now,
and if you push it, it could really hurt your relationship.
But if a doctor is making mistakes--
You don't have to be the one to catch them,
not when others can.
Not when the doctor is your dad.
-[Eden crying] -There we go. There we go.
Come on. I have a few left.
It's okay. Don't worry.
Okay.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No!
I knew I was running out. I knew it.
What kind of mom runs out of diapers?
-[doorbell rings] -[Dr. Park] Morgan?
[Eden continues crying]
[exhales, sniffles]
Eden, if you're alone, open the door!
-I can't do this. -Yes, you can.
I'm failing at everything.
[Eden cooing]
You know, when Kellan was three months, Mia had to go out of town.
It was my first time alone with him, and he was teething.
It was 4:00 in the morning, and neither of us had slept.
-And suddenly… -[fussing]
Hmm.
…I knew exactly how to fix everything.
One or both of us was going out that window.
No one went out the window.
We both fell asleep.
Of the many times I've heard about your failures,
none has ever made me happier.
You're not failing. You're just, uh, muddling through.
I am not a muddler.
Mmm. Every parent is.
Key is to not lose your mind while you're muddling.
-[Eden coos] -[gasps, speaks indistinctly]
[monitor beeping steadily]
-[Dr. Park] Freed up the lateral aspect. -[Asher] Cauterizing.
We're ready to take out the tumor.
Dr. Kalu, you want the honor?
Thank you, Doctor.
There's mets all over his liver.
[Asher] Can we resect the most involved segments?
It's too widespread.
[Jared] So, what do we do?
We close him up and tell the family.
[Dr. Glassman] Start the timer.
Place the lumbar drain, please.
Hey.
-Tough day? -Yeah, it was.
When I was arguing with the board and fighting with Lim and…
I just found out I gotta tell a kid's parents
that a surgery I recommended failed and their boy has a month to live, so…
That tipped it a bit beyond "tough."
I'll come back later.
No. I'm sorry. I'm okay.
What's up?
-This may not be the time. -No. It's fine.
I floated your idea to a few nurses.
They don't trust perks that can be taken away at will.
They want a union. I'm sorry.
Which nurses?
-Their names? -Yeah.
-You want me to inform on my co-workers? -I need to know how serious this is.
Are we talking influential people or some disgruntled part-timers?
[drill whirring]
[Shaun on intercom] No!
You need to use a Penfield dissector to avoid lacerating the sagittal sinus.
[Dr. Lim] Dr. Murphy.
I'm using the blunt end of the drill bit instead.
[drill whirring]
Okay. Carry on.
[Dr. Glassman] Thank you.
Speak again, Dr. Murphy, and I'll have you removed.
[Jordan clears throat]
I heard you were here, and I said,
"Impossible, because Lea and I talked about
"how this is her very precious and finite me-time."
-Tonight's the big date with Perez, right? -Mmm-hmm.
-What are you gonna do? -I have no idea.
I thought of this Italian place,
but then I remembered they have house wine on the tables
and figured that might trigger a relapse.
And then I thought of indoor skydiving, but what if he gets hurt? So I--
You're really overthinking this.
I thought maybe he wasn't ready to date, but now I'm thinking I'm not.
Maybe you're not,
but you're really gonna regret it if you don't give it a shot.
Take him to the Batumi Grill, order the khachapuri.
Now, my Slanket is waiting.
Khachapuri. Okay.
-You're giving up? -That's not what we--
You can't do this to us, to him.
I'm so sorry, Sebastian.
You can't promise you have a cure for my boy and then abandon us.
-There's nothing we can do. -So find another surgery.
We need to focus on improving the quality of the time Nico has left.
Do not tell me where to focus. He's my son.
I don't… I don't want quality time. All I want is my boy.
-Seb. -I'm talking to him.
You're being selfish.
Forcing any more operations will only cause Nico more pain,
and you and Talia and Olivia will have terrible memories of his last days.
I don't care about memories.
You should.
Because soon they are all you'll have.
[Talia] Hey.
You wouldn't let me give up before.
And you were right.
But now it's time.
Dads are supposed to fight for their kids.
So you fight
to give your son as many beautiful days as you can.
[Dr. Glassman exhales deeply]
[Dr. Lim] You need a rest?
[Dr. Glassman] No. Just stretching.
Okay.
And there is our houseguest.
Having overstayed his welcome.
There's a lot of bleeding.
Vascular clips.
[Dr. Lim] Must be a tear in the anterior cerebrals.
[Dr. Glassman] No, it's from the dural feeders.
Hmm. As expected.
-And there we are. -[Dr. Lim] Hmm.
-[Daniel] Oh, the bleeding's stopped. -[Dr. Lim] Nice.
No.
Dr. Glassman, please tell us what the next step is.
You hesitated. You need to say what comes next in the surgery.
Somebody please call security. Shaun, you are out of line.
[Dr. Lim] Answer.
Please.
[Dr. Glassman] It's, um…
[Dr. Lim] We need to decompress the optic nerve. Rhoton dissectors.
Hey.
The patient's in recovery.
Your surgical plan was flawless.
[scoffs softly]
Alison Borden.
34-year-old mother of two.
My first solo surgery.
Frontal AVM. It was a walk in the park.
I was pumped. I was flying.
And then [clears throat]
her feeding artery tore,
and I couldn't stop the bleeding.
Bipolaring, clipping, suturing.
We thought we were gonna lose her.
And I couldn't get this image out of my mind
of her kids coming home from school
and seeing their father just sitting there, you know?
Finally,
I stuck a neuro pattie on a muscle patch graft.
That did it. It held.
And when I walked out of that OR,
I thought, "I am never going back in there again."
[both chuckle]
Then I saw Alison in recovery.
Husband, kids. All smiles.
She gave me a big hug.
Despite my raging ego…
I've tried… I've always tried
to make it about the patients.
To do what's best for them.
[chuckles]
I never thought that would mean putting down my knife.
[monitor beeping steadily]
[Kurt groans softly]
[Shaun] The surgery went very well.
We were able to completely remove your tumor.
Hey, Dad. How are you feeling?
Well, my head kind of hurts.
I bet.
I gave you that locket.
Yeah.
For my last birthday.
Yeah.
Yeah, that seems like a long time ago.
-[Eden crying] -♪ Rock-a-bye baby on a treetop ♪
[sighs wearily]
Okay. I know. I know.
Okay.
Hey, Siri. Play "Deceptacon" by Le Tigre.
[over speakers] ♪ Who took the bomp? ♪
[crying stops]
You like this?
Do you like dancing with me?
Well, I love dancing with you. [chuckles]
Mommy loves dancing with you.
-[gasps] -♪ Every day and night ♪
♪ Every day and night ♪
♪ I can see your disco, disco ♪
♪ Is sucking my heart out… ♪
-Boo. -[both chuckle]
-You look great. -Thank you.
-So do you. -Thank you.
So, where we heading?
It's a Georgian place. Lea swears by their khachapuri.
Oh, that sounds amazing.
I have no idea what that is.
I had to look it up. It's cheese bread.
-Oh, okay. -Yeah.
[people speaking indistinctly]
Sorry about earlier.
Not your finest moment.
This, on the other hand,
amazing.
Wow!
Hey. Do you think maybe…
We can do dinner another night.
[indistinct conversation]
I like the suit.
Oh! Ho, ho. [laughs whimsically]
No, like, I really like the suit.
Maybe it could, uh, come home tonight?
Ho, ho, ho?
[indistinct conversations]
It's a beautiful day.
[Shaun] Kurt and Hailey held hands.
It must be hard to accept you are compromised,
but you did not hurt a patient, so now you understand why I did it,
and you can't be mad at me.
You didn't have to do it that way, okay?
You were right. You didn't have to do it that way.
-But if I was right, then-- -You humiliated me in public.
In my operating room, in front of my colleagues.
Do you have any idea how much that hurt, coming from you?
I don't know what to do.
You could just leave me alone.
[cell phone vibrating]
[elevator bell dings]
Hello?
-Lea? -The Peanut's coming early.
Oh!
[elevator doors close]
The Peanut is coming!
[closing theme music playing] ly.