The Good Doctor Review: Apple (Season 1 Episode 8)

The Good Doctor Season 1 Episode 8, “Apple,” follows many of the same tropes the rest of the season has so far. However, this episode leans even more heavily on the deeper message of it all.

It opens up with Dr. Sean Murphy and Dr. Glassman both going through their morning routines. We see right off that this episode is going to have something to do with Shaun’s apple, after all, the configurations of his brain show up on the screen when he looks at it in the refrigerator.

I really like that each episode this season uses one little thing from Shaun’s life to focus on for the lesson.

The apple is merely a symbol of Shaun’s limitations because of his autism. He struggles to make connections between his actions and the world around him. Everything to him is black and white; there is no grey.

Sure enough, a whole mess of events happen soon after, and it all stems from Shaun’s apple. While the average person may not think about something as mundane as an apple, Shaun has to because that is just how his limitations in life, i.e. his autism, work.

While the apple is important to Shaun, it’s not directly important to the entirety of the plot. Simply shelve that apple because it will make a return later on.

The whole episode centers on the events of a store robbery turned shooting. Dr. Melendez and Dr. Jared Kalu work with Shaun to save the life of the young woman shot during the robbery. Meanwhile, Dr. Browne and Dr. Allegra Aoki work to save the life of the shooter, who turns out to be a racist with a swastika on his chest.

This is when the story delves beyond the actions being played out. The Good Doctor is all about showing how Dr. Shaun Murphy is breaking down barriers and stereotypes just by being a surgeon. I really like that they also focused on Shaun learning a thing or two about how to be a human.

There is much to be said about how Shaun views the world. He lives in absolutes.

We inherently question everything that is presented to us, because we either don’t trust it or think we know better. Shaun takes everything at face value. When his neighbor comes to him in search of advice he gives it to her not realizing that what she really wanted was support.

In fact, Shaun doesn’t realize this until Dr. Browne directly tells him.

Dr. Browne: Sometimes a girl wants advice. Sometimes she just wants support.

Shaun’s ability to see only what is presented to him, not the in between, really helps him when he is a surgeon. It can also be a hinderance in the same right. It’s his stubborn and one-tracked way of thinking that causes him to miss the bigger picture in crucial moments.

On “Apple” he really learns that head on. When Dr. Melendez asks him and Jared what course of action they should take Shaun refuses to see any way other than his own. This causes a bit of a rift between him and Melendez (something that happens at least once an episode).

When it is shown that Jared’s course of treatment was in fact the correct way to go Shaun does a surprising thing. He admits defeat and, taking what Dr. Browne had told him earlier, congratulates him.

While Shaun’s personal growth and education was a central theme it wasn’t the only education story happening. Dr. Browne was learning a thing or two herself.

Dr. Browne is sometimes the exact opposite of Shaun, which is what makes her a great sounding board for Shaun when human interactions confuse him. She is a bit of a bleeding heart. She sees the soul of the person before her not just the person.

However, she has to learn to put that aside when she is assigned to the man donning a swastika. It goes against everything she is as a female woman of color in a professional field. This really shows up when she takes that entitlement a bit far towards her superior, Dr. Aoki.

She needs to be building up her fellow women healers instead of tearing them down.

The greatest message of this episode is what Dr. Aoki teaches Dr. Browne. In today’s world, women are often torn down because men, or other women even, don’t believe they deserve the position they have.

We need to treat everyone not only equally and fairly but also with respect. We all deserve to be treated fairly, even if we may not respect one another; as was the case with Dr. Browne and her patient.

Remember that apple I mentioned earlier? Well ,now we can take it off the shelf and discuss its importance. Everyone is asking Dr. Murphy how he felt because he had been present at the robbery. The whole time he makes the argument that it wasn’t his fault because his actions didn’t cause the shooting.

Dr. Murphy: It’s not a causal relationship.

He says this over and over again to justify his lack of guilt for the events that transpired. While I can agree with his argument to a point, I don’t agree with it entirely. Sure not all wallets or lies cause shootings, but what he fails to realize is that these things can lead to other things which lead to shootings.

It’s clear that the show really wants us to see Dr. Browne and Dr. Murphy as a symbiotic relationship. Dr. Browne has a huge heart and always sees the depth of the person. Then there is Dr. Murphy who only sees the health problem, not the person.

When they flip their roles, it is always worth noting. “Apple” really shows that with Dr. Browne learning to shelve her feelings about the racist in order to give him fair treatment. Transversely, Dr. Murphy learns that sometimes the health of a person isn’t enough to figure out a solution to what ails them.

On a deeper note, Shaun does make a valid point about guilt in general. Sometimes things are completely out of our control. While we can’t all be Shaun Murphy’s who don’t let things deeply affect us, it wouldn’t hurt to try remembering that not everything is our fault.

Like the apple, sometimes things happen, and we can either let them halt us or we can go down the new path they forge.

Shaun eventually lets the events and lessons of the day change him. He goes to his neighbor and opens up to her for once, a sure sign that even the most in-adaptable people can change.

What did you think of this episode of The Good Doctor? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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The Good Doctor airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.

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