The Good Doctor Review: Trampoline (Season 2 Episode 18)
The Good Doctor Season 2 Episode 18, “Trampoline,” begins the morning after Shaun demanded an adamant Dr. Han reinstate him as a surgeon at San Jose St. Bonaventure.
It’s ten o’clock the next morning and Shaun is at a bar, which is quite the departure as far as the character is concerned, really. The beauty of his interaction with Han, in fact, has been that it is totally in Shaun’s character to bang his head against a wall to get his way, which Freddie Highmore has deftly shown as more stubbornness than it is autism. It’s a quality this character would have, Autistic or not.
GREG CALDERONE, FREDDIE HIGHMORE
Shaun attempts small talk with another morning drinker named Zack, only to be ignored. But this is Shaun after all (remember the banging the head line one paragraph back?), so he pushes until the drunk gets up and literally pushes Shaun. Shaun — in his oh-so-endearing way — tells the man, “I do not like to be touched.”
Drunkard that the guy is, he falls backward, bangs his head on the tile floor and begins bleeding out. Shaun brings him to the hospital.
The fact that the series makes Shaun’s return to the hospital a legitimate one shows just how stable this stable of writers is; they could have just as easily made it an “and one more thing,” but are better than that.
After Claire assists Melendez with the drunk, she asks what other things in life Shaun might want, guardian angel of all that she has proven to be.
ANTONIA THOMAS
“I think I’d be a good father, but I don’t know how to fall in love,” is his reply. He practices asking someone out with Claire, revealing his ultimate fear is rejection. But, really, who’s isn’t?
Meanwhile, Glassman is celebrating his first day being cancer-free by proposing to Debbi. One could see this coming from a mile away, although apparently Debbi is not that one, calling him crazy. Her character may be the most flawed of the lot; the man just got a new lease on life and you deem his marriage proposal the stuff of teasing?
In the meantime, Zack’s toxicology report comes back clean, but Shaun is sure that there is something wrong with him, telling Claire he witnessed behavior he believes to be erratic. Shaun then ducks into the bathroom, and pulls up his shirt to reveal a bruise down his side, plus promptly begins to cough up blood. He brings a vile of said blood to Carly in pathology to be tested.
Carly finds that the “patient” (a.k.a. Shaun) shows possible signs of pneumonia. She writes a script for treatment and tells Shaun that it’s very important for his “patient” to get help. However, Shaun goes to visit Zack the Drunk instead of checking himself in. Which, truth be told, is exactly what we fans of the series have come to expect Shaun to do.
Shaun: I think I’d be a good father.
While all this is swirling ’round, Han finally admits to something that, again, is a testament to the writers: he had someone close to him with autism who ended up dying. It’s an episode-ending moment, yet the episode is not over. This “reveal” is so left field many a fan must have smacked their head.
Glassman speaks to the board the next day to persuade them to rehire Shaun as a surgical resident, saying Shaun made almost everyone there a better doctor. Dr. Han says that his issues with Shaun don’t stem from his autism, but from his lashing out, and if Han can’t “control his staff,” he doesn’t want to work there anymore.
Not a problem: Han is fired on the spot.
This obviously means they need a new Chief of Surgery, and Melendez nominates his girlfriend Dr. Lim. Now this is season finale territory!
FREDDIE HIGHMORE, JASIKA NICOLE
But it’s the final scene that throws perhaps the biggest curveball. Lea comes home to Shaun sporting a suit, armed with a bouquet of flowers and the requisite chocolates. Thinking something major looming, he stuns her by instead simply asking her if he looks okay. He then heads out to ask Carly, not her, to dinner.
Carly accepts. Shaun walks away with the flowers and chocolate still in hand, his exuberance palpable, a fan-base already anxious to know how the first date will go (while well aware Shaun’s illness looms).
It is the type of ending indicative of a show-runner certain that a next season is guaranteed. Because, of course, one is.
What did you think of this episode of The Good Doctor? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
The Good Doctor airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Vinnie Penn
A morning radio host by day, and writer...well, the rest of the day, Penn's work has appeared everywhere from Maxim to Cracked and Parent, with him being Head TV writer/recapper for six years for MSN.com. He also did a season of VH1’s popular Best Week Ever and has appeared on Showbiz Tonight, That's What He Said (YourTango), and Fox & Friends. His latest book, "Route One Food Run," was released June 2018.