Hello and Welcome, The Good Doctor Fans to my review and breakdown of Season 1 of The Show, this review is an in-depth look at the show and also give my thoughts and opinions on the show. And the review is an extended version of my reactions and thoughts on Twitter as well. (#ad). I hope you enjoy my review of the good doctor season 1, wherever you are located in the world and that you are safe and healthy during this time.
Season 1 Review of The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor (2017) is based on an award-winning South Korean television show of the same name, the Good Doctor (2017) is an American medical drama that is developed further by the man who made House, David Shore and Co. With that being said, let's dive into the overview of the show
The Good Doctor (2017), is a story that follows Shaun Murphy, a young autistic surgeon with savant syndrome from the mid-size city of Casper, Wyoming, where he had a troubled past. He relocates to San Jose, California, to work at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. ( Wikipedia, 2020).
Throughout Season 1, we are introduced to a number of characters and relationships that are developed, so let's jump into the character and relationship development of the show.
1. Shaun Murphy, who is played by the wonderful actor of Freddie Highmore, is a young autistic surgeon in training at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, where he faced with many challenges along the way of dealing with becoming a surgeon and also functioning in a world where the odds ever stacked against him. Throughout season 1, we get to see Shaun in a number of situations where he is starting to develop into himself and also making long relationships in his colleagues and also in the president of the hospital, throughout season 1, we also get to see some of the backgrounds that were eluded to in the pilot episode as well.
Freddie Highmore as Dr Shaun Murphy, an autistic surgical resident. His savant abilities include near-photographic recall and the ability to note minute details and changes.
2. Nicholas Gonzalez as Dr Neil Melendez, an attending cardiothoracic surgeon in charge of the surgical residents.
a) Season 1 the first half of the season, Neil is portrayed as a person who can not stand Shaun as he one of the people, that does not believe that he can be a surgeon and as the season moves throughout the storyline, we get to see how Neil works with Shaun to become a better person and teaches him to become a great surgeon within the limitations that Shaun has, makes sure to push through them
3. Antonia Thomas as Dr Claire Brown, a surgical resident who forms a close friendship with Shaun. Claire is known for her empathy and emotional maturity and is usually very patient and understanding when communicating with Shaun.
a) In Season 1, of the good doctor, we get to see this character go through major changes in her character development, with a loss of a patient and the development of the relationships that she has created with Dr Melendez and others such as Dr Jared Kalu
4. Chuku Modu as Dr Jared Kalu, a surgical resident from a wealthy family.
a) In Season 1, we got to see this character go through major development within the show and how he will protect himself and others, but does not think of the actions that he is willing to do to get his job back, which inturns created some tensions with characters on the show. But towards the end of the season 1, we are shown that he gets an offer to work at another hospital in Denver and later find out that he has taken the offer to work there, as the tensions with the hospital are becoming more and more apparent
5. Beau Garrett as Jessica Preston, the hospital in-house attorney and Vice President of Risk Management. She is the granddaughter of the hospital founder and a friend of Dr Glassman.
a) This character, was underdeveloped in a sense as we only got her story via Dr Glassman or Dr, Melendez, which does not allow for her own storyline, as she leaves the show in the season 1 winter finale
6. Hill Harper as Dr Marcus Andrews, an attending surgeon specializing in plastic surgery, former president and former Chief of Surgery. After being fired as hospital president, he accepts an offer return as attending surgeon.
a) In Season 1, we get to see this character’s opinion about Shaun Murphy early on in the show, and so we get over the course of the season we get to see how the opinion changes towards Shaun and in the season 1 finale, we get to see how the changes in the hospital as Shaun has become not the person that he was not the best at the time.
7. Richard Schiff as Dr Aaron Glassman, President of the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital and former attending neurosurgeon, who has been a mentor and good friend of Shaun since he was 14.
a) Season 1, we get to see how this character is developed and the season 1 we also get to see a mentor and mentoree relationship turn into a father figure relationship
8. Tamlyn Tomita as Allegra Aoki, Chairwoman of the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital Board and Vice President of the foundation that controls the hospital's funding,
a) In Season 1 we only got a small dose of this character, as she has become the minor character as she is a recurring character, I hope to see her more in seasons to come.
9. Will Yun Lee as Dr Alex Park, a surgical resident and a former police officer from Phoenix, Arizona who decided to become a doctor.
a) Dr Park in season 1, as an audience, we only got a small dose of development of the character, so I believe that are going to get more in the seasons to come.
10. Fiona Gubelmann as Dr Morgan Reznick, a competitive and self-centred surgical resident. She has a subtle rivalry with Claire as they have opposite personalities and work ethics
a) In Season 1, the character development that this character has gone few a small development but is underdeveloped in the sense when It comes to the relationships that this character has, but I believe that we are going to see more of this in season 2 and beyond.
11. Christina Chang as Dr. Audrey Lim, an attending trauma surgeon in charge of the ER and surgical residents and later the Chief of Surgery.
a) This character is developed as a caring and ruthless surgeon but has an empathic side to the character towards Shaun and her other residents in her OR or on her service. I believe that the relationship between, Dr Melendez is going to develop further in the seasons to come as a romantic relationship as I believe are a great couple to together and you can tell that they have known each other for a number of years.
12. Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo, Shaun's love interest until she left to pursue her dream. Later after she returned, they decided to be platonic friends and roommates
a) In Season 1, we get to see this character’s development in the sense of the relationship to Shaun and we also get a small amount of background-origin of the character development, I hope to see more of the relationship development in the seasons to come
13. Jasika Nicole as Dr Carly Lever, the hospital's head pathologist introduced in season 1
a) In Season 1, we only development in the sense of the basic character as I believe that season 2 is going to bring more to this character.
In the relationship section of the show, we get to how Shaun interacts with the patients and the doctors on the hospital front. In Season 1, we got to see development in the relationships in other characters as well. But overall the relationships are pretty much established in a sense when it comes to all of the characters but I believe that there is going to more development in the seasons to come, let's get into the best and emotional moments and the not so great moments on the show for season 1
Best Moments
1. Shaun coming to save the day on multiple times
2. The chemistry between Dr Melendez and Dr Lim is there and ( I hope to see it developed further in seasons to come)
3. The Moment when Shaun first steps in the OR in the pilot episode
4. The ending of season 1 of where Dr Glassman and Shaun are working into Dr Andrews’ Office to report a mistake that Shaun has done and he wants to reflect the solutions
5. Shaun’s honesty in conversations played throughout season 1 of the show
The Emotional Moments of Season 1
1. Dr Glassman talking to Shaun about his cancer diagnosis and the changes that he has to make in the future
2. Claire realising that she has killed a patient unintentionally
3. Some of the surgery patients that the hospital
4. The flashbacks with Shaun’s back story with his brother
5. The development of the changes in the opinions of Shaun in other characters on the show
6. The relationship between Shaun and Lea, how the challenges of their relationship come into effect in a small amount of time.
The Not So Great Moments of Season 1
1. Dr Jared and the storyline with the way he gets his job back
2. The Relationship between Dr Melendez and Jessica and also the development of Claire having a crush on her teacher in charge is not the best idea for the show
3. The ending of Season 1 as it leaves on a Cliffhanger and we don’t know what is going to happen next
The above moments of Season 1 of The Good Doctor are only a snippet for my overall thoughts and opinions of season 1 of The Good Doctor, in the next section of the review is my thoughts and opinions of the show so let's dive into that now,
Season 1 of The Good Doctor, is a feel-good medical drama that tackles the norm of what is possible for people who have the limitations to survive in a society that does not always support these people in this way, and the show gives light to that and also it opens a conversation that is going to be hard for some people and how we can live in a world of acceptance and trust when it comes to people. Freddie Highmore plays the character of Shaun Murphy, does an exceptional job of playing the role, and showcasing his acting ability and leads the cast with grace and empathy, other actors who are on the show are brilliant in their own way when it comes to the storylines and the material that has been presented to them, Season 1 of The Good Doctor, also shows the side of humanity that we don’t often see in medical dramas anymore, except for Grey’s anatomy in some storylines but not all the time. the topics that come up in the show have a common theme in society with the ability to have the conversation that is needed to bridge the gap in society. The Show is shown from the point of view of Shaun and the other characters are there to help Shaun realized his dream of becoming a world-class doctor/ surgeon. But the other characters also play a major part as well.
Season 1 of The Good Doctor has the solid foundation and background that is needed to sustain the story for the seasons to come for the show, I hope the writers for the coming seasons can execute the plans that are started at the end of the season
This Concludes my review of Season 1 of The Good Doctor, If I have missed anything from the season, in particular, let me know in the comment section down, below and we can have a further discussion about the topics.
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