The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 6 Review: M.C.E.

The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 6, “M.C.E,” proves to be the most intense of the season and maintains an appropriate tone in the wake of Dr. Asher Wolke’s shocking passing in the previous episode.

“M.C.E” opens with the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital doctors attending Dr. Wolke’s funeral. However, they are forced to return to the hospital during the ceremony when a mass casualty event occurs in the hospital’s vicinity.

Between the victims of the horrific event and the grief over Dr. Wolke, the episode is deeply intense, emotional, and difficult to look away from.

It may be overwhelming for some viewers to go straight from the last episode’s shocking tragedy to a mass casualty event.

However, it proves to be the right choice for the show, as it simply wouldn’t have been appropriate to immediately return to the various feuds and silly antics of the doctors during a typical working day.

Meanwhile, the episode also sets up parallels between Dr. Wolke’s passing and the mass casualty event. In both cases, lives are taken or fundamentally altered because of a single person’s senseless act of violence.

The Good Doctor had a difficult task of proving it wasn’t utilizing a negative trope with the last episode’s death. Fortunately, continuing the conversation on senseless violence and the unpredictability of life, “M.C.E” proves the show had a message behind the tragedy.

The most crucial point it drives home is that trying to get revenge by spreading more hatred and hurt isn’t the answer to violence.

Dr. Jordan Allen especially struggles with her anger over Dr. Wolke’s death, which she then extends to the injured perpetrator in the mass casualty event.

However, as the casualties and number of severely injured and grieving people pile up, it’s impossible for her to want to inflict any more pain on anyone.

Hence, she and her fellow doctors are seen receiving some closure as they make the choice to leave the murderers in the hands of the law and focus solely on celebrating and remembering Dr. Wolke.

In addition to continuing the important conversation raised in the past episode, “M.C.E” gives Dr. Sean Murphy and Charlie a small breakthrough.

It wouldn’t have been forgivable if the pair were continuing their feud in the midst of so much tragedy. Although they do have some moments that border on intense, the pair ultimately learn to work together.

So, while it is satisfying to see them getting along and excelling in their work, there really isn’t any other choice for them in the episode.

Viewers won’t know if things have fully healed between them until they see how the pair interact in a non-emergency situation.

What the episode does best is prove that The Good Doctor is, above all, a medical drama. Sometimes, with these shows, it’s easy to get carried away with the absolute rarest or most improbable cases and medical miracles.

However, “M.C.E.” actually gets into the realities of working as a doctor. As harrowing as it is to watch, it is just a brief glimpse of what an emergency room looks like in a mass casualty event.

There are days when real-life doctors are forced to make seemingly impossible decisions in a split second or have to break the news to countless families that their loved ones passed in a single day.

Dr. Audrey Lim’s struggles add more realism to the fact that even the most experienced professionals can be rattled and impacted by trauma.

For viewers who watch the show for its depiction of the medical profession, this episode is as raw, real, intense, and gory as it gets.

Ultimately, The Good Doctor skillfully deals with two unimaginable tragedies, using both instances for a purpose deeper than the shock factor while also raising awareness for the difficult lives medical professionals lead.

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

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

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