The Good Doctor is finally back, but spoilers suggest a silly story as the series enters the final season's home stretch.
Shaun and Jordan treat a woman with renal failure... and a potential donor who may have a serious mental condition.
The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 7 spoilers point to an episode that could be great but is more likely to be ridiculous. Considering how close we are to the end of the series' run, this is not great news!
ABC hasn't released much info yet, but the spoiler video and description suggest that the episode will center around a man who thinks he is Jesus.
This is one tired TV trope I could do without. Television is full of pseudo-Jesuses who may or may not be the real thing and skeptical people who realize that they've come in contact with the Messiah Himself by the end of the hour.
This idea was more popular in the 1980s and 1990s, with shows like Highway to Heaven and Touched by an Angel regularly offering supernatural support to characters.
It doesn't belong on a medical drama like The Good Doctor, even if it does allow Asher's best friend, Jordan Allen, to grieve some more for his loss.
Fans have waited three weeks for the next new episode, and this one begins the countdown to the finale. Is a tale about a potential Second Coming of Jesus the best way to go?
A Quick Recap of Where The Good Doctor Left Off
The Good Doctor shocked the audience with the sudden death of Asher Wolke, thanks to some hateful people who disliked Asher standing up to them as a proud gay Jew while they attempted to vandalize a local temple.
After Asher's murder, the other doctors didn't get much of a chance to mourn him on The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 6, as his memorial was disrupted by a mass casualty event caused by a man with mental health issues deliberately running over pedestrians at a street festival.
The purpose of this story seemed to be to get Shaun to finally stop judging newcomer Charlie so harshly; the highlight of the hour was Charlie talking Shaun through a meltdown when the number of emergencies he had to deal with overwhelmed him.
Charlie abruptly dropped her lawsuit against Shaun, while elsewhere, Lim's mother left town, putting an end to her relationship with Glassman.
These stories were wrapped up overly quickly, suggesting the writers wanted to make room for whatever they needed to do to wrap up the series. But how does this man who thinks he's Jesus relate to that?
One Direction The Good Doctor Could Take This New Story
Shaun will be working with a patient with renal failure, and unsurprisingly, Mr. Jesus is a perfect match, but is he competent enough to consent to the donation?
This raises a potentially interesting ethical dilemma. If this were Chicago Med, the doctors would seek guidance from the board about what to do in this situation.
The man's delusion that he is Jesus Christ doesn't necessarily make him incompetent to consent to the procedure. If it can be proven that he understands the risks and benefits, his beliefs about his identity might not be relevant.
If so, this would be a golden opportunity for The Good Doctor to create a moving mental health story involving the way people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are often dismissed as incompetent in all areas of their lives.
This focus would make up for the silly premise. Ethical questions make for compelling medical drama, especially if they include controversial ideas, such as a person with delusions about his identity is still competent to make some medical decisions for himself.
This Is Not The Way to Keep Asher's Memory Alive
The patient somehow knows that Jordan is grieving Asher, which leads her to question whether he is who he says he is.
Asher's death was likely well publicized. The murder of a local Jewish doctor by anti-Semitic vandals should be front-page news. Thus, it wouldn't be hard for a patient to intuit that Jordan's sadness is related to this senseless death.
It's odd that Jordan assumes this guy is crazy because she's a devout Christian whose faith has been important to her in other episodes. In fact, she talked about her faith and her relationship with Asher, an Orthodox Jew, during her eulogy.
You'd think Shaun would be the one to be skeptical, while Jordan was open to the possibility.
In any case, using a Jesus figure, real or otherwise, seems like a weird choice to help Jordan mourn the death of a man who struggled with his Jewish faith his entire life.
Insular Jewish communities like the one Asher grew up in sprung up partially in response to violent anti-Semitism in the past.
For many in these communities, the name Jesus Christ is forbidden not only because the religion does not believe Jesus was the Messiah but because so many Jews were killed by people claiming to be doing it in Jesus' name.
For this reason, using a Jesus figure to help Jordan grieve Asher is a risky choice. It has the potential to offend religious Jews, who may question whether Asher's death was written to shine a light on anti-Semitism or to use Jewish pain as entertainment.
Is This Story Compelling Enough After a Long Break?
This story could be silly, so it might not be compelling. The part about the woman who needs a transplant ASAP could be moving, but if it's resolved in a ridiculous way, fans will feel disappointed.
This could cause people to reach for their remotes to change the channel, not bothering to return for the last three episodes.
If done well, however, it could be the story everyone's talking about -- it really could go either way, and we'll have to tune in to find out whether it's worthwhile.
Your turn, The Good Doctor fanatics.
What do you think about this story, especially considering the three-week hiatus before it aired?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!
The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Tuesdays at 10/9c. The next new episode airs on April 30, 2024.