NOTE: this post includes spoilers for The Good Doctor season 6 episode 5, "Growth Opportunities." Catch up with our The Good Doctor season 6 episode 4 recap here.
"Growth Opportunities" opens with Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) looking to help fix things after what happened with Dr. Lim (Christina Chang). He presents a theory that Dr. Lim isn’t paralyzed, but has a deformity of the spine. However, his initial surgery plan is discarded by Dr. Glassman (Richard Schiff) as being too risky. Dr. Andrews (Hill Harper) counters by telling Sean to find a safer option. Dr Lim agrees.
However, when Shaun presents a safer surgical plan to Glassman, he rejects this plan too. Glassman says the plan not only has to be safer, it needs to increase the chances of fixing Dr. Lim’s paralysis. When Sean questions Glassman’s anger toward him, Glassman reveals he’s angry because Sean refuses to apologize to Lim and accept any responsibility for her condition.
After Lea comes to Shaun’s defense, she helps convince Glassman to assure Shaun that no matter how upset he is about Dr. Lim, that he will never stop loving him and that while he still has concerns about the surgery, there is one plan that may have potential.
Working together, Shaun and Glassman come up with a plan that gets the approval of Dr. Andrews, but ultimately the decision is up to Dr. Lim. In a surprise, she opts not to go through with the surgery. Shaun is confused by her not wanting the surgery, but in talking with Lea she assures him that even though it didn’t work out like he had hoped, the important thing is that he tried to help.
Dr. Lim, meanwhile, continues to learn how to live with her paralysis. This includes trying to get ready for a date with her neighbor. While trying to select an outfit with Dr. Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann), she voices her frustration of how her new situation is redefining her life. Reznick says that she should embrace the positive, like having a great guy come into her life (which has a bit of extra weight as she recently lost someone).
The date starts off well when he works with restaurant staff to set up a table in the courtyard after realizing the restaurant is not wheelchair accessible. However, when he pulls back as Lim moves in for a kiss, she realizes that he did not see this as a date. Dr. Danica (Savannah Welch) tells her that she needs to take time to adjust to her new life,
This episode was also Halloween-themed, which brought some unusual cases into the ER. First, a young girl arrives after having fainting spells, however, after running some tests, Dr. Asher (Noah Galvin) realizes that the patient’s dad isn’t her biological father, which he believes neither the father or daughter know. They learn that the biological father is an old friend from college who was also unaware of this relationship; he does not take the news well. When the girl is diagnosed with needing an organ transplant and her biological father is the only match, he at first says no, not wanting to disrupt his own family life. However, when he is shown that his daughter shares some of his musical talent, he agrees to help her. The two meet for the first time after a successful surgery.
Dr. Park (Will Yun Lee) takes on a case involving two brothers. While the younger brother experienced a traumatic brain injury, Dr. Park observes that the older brother was having pains too and orders tests. This reveals that the older brother has Stage 3 pancreatic cancer and that he may only have eight months to live. Dr. Park explains to him the Whipple surgery (removing parts of the bile ducts, gallbladder, pancreas and intestines), but it only has a small chance of success. The older brother wants to do it so he can be there for this younger brother. Unfortunately, they soon learn that the cancer has metastasized.
Worried about his younger brother going to a group home, the intern Daniel (Brandon Larracuente) tells him how he had a brother who suffered from a drug addiction and was cut off by his family (on the advice that it may be the only way to help him). Daniel’s brother pushed through and has been sober for five years, so he believes that the patient’s younger brother can do the same. When the older brother tells his younger brother of his terminal diagnosis, the younger brother shows strength and says he has his brother’s back.
Speaking of Daniel, things are still awkward with Dr. Jordan (Bria Henderson) since their kiss as he declines her invitation to Halloween plans. Daniel thinks it was a mistake kissing her, that it’s a line he can’t cross, but that he wants to be friends. Later, Jordan asks Daniel about the story of his addicted brother, to which Daniel reveals that he was actually speaking about himself and that six months ago he had a setback, buying heroin buy flushing it before he used it. He says that his first priority is staying sober and second is becoming a surgeon, so he doesn’t have time to date. Jordan agrees.
The episode ends with Shaun speaking to the two brothers about his experience losing a brother that he was close to. He admits that he doesn't know if it will help but he's going to try.
Catch up with the latest episodes of The Good Doctor season 6 on Hulu or ABC.com.
