The Good Doctor – Season 6 Episode 1 “Afterparty” Recap & Review

Episode 1 of The Good Doctor Season 6 starts with Shaun spacing out, he is covered in blood and Glassman is trying to get through to him. After this, the scene cuts to the wedding reception of Shaun and Lea before the tragedy. The newly married couple are still in their wedding bliss and everyone is unaware that Lim and Nurse Villanueva have just been stabbed.

Glassman and Andrews are leaving the party and Andrews gets a call from Lim when he is in the elevator but he is unable to hear her. He tries calling her back but he is unable to reach her. A man dressed as a hospital staff gets on the elevator with them and Andrews notices he is bleeding but he doesn’t think much of the man’s explanation. As they get off the elevator, the man is accosted by the hospital’s security guard, there is a struggle and the man stabs the security guard and grabs his gun. Andrews immediately puts the hospital on lockdown.

Asher and Reznick are on their way out when the lockdown is put in place. Reznick gets a call from Park checking if she is okay as he had already left the building. Reznick is mad that he left her behind at the party. As they are walking in the hallway they spot a man (Ezra) who is suffering from severe stomach pains.

Shaun gets a message from Glassman informing them there is an active shooter in the hospital and that Lim and Villanueva could be hurt on the 5th floor. Shaun decides to go to Lim and Lea and Allen follow him. They find Lim and Villanueva passed out from their injuries. Seeing Lim in that state triggers Shaun to remember how his brother died. The three of them immediately start medical intervention.

Andrews and Glassman arrive as well and they start helping Shaun and Allen to treat Lim and Villanueva. They stabilize them enough to get them to the OR. In the OR, they have a shortage of staff because of the lockdown, and Lea is forced to be a circulating nurse.

Shaun, Glassman, and Allen start operating on Lim with Lea helping them as a nurse. Lim suffered a grade 4 liver laceration as well as other injuries. Glassman and Shaun have different opinions on how to treat her injuries. Glassman wants to remove half her liver which will decrease her life expectancy by ten years. Shaun wants to use a different technique but if it goes south she will need a major transfusion which will be hard to do given the lockdown and the hospital is currently low on blood. As they discuss, Glassman is called into the other OR to help Andrews with Villanueva’s case. Before he goes, he orders Shaun to proceed by cutting out half of Lim’s liver.

Upon further inspection, Shaun’s technique was the best viable option. Shaun decides to ignore Glassman’s order and proceed with his technique. Glassman is angry when he comes back and finds that Shaun ignored his order.  There is a slight complication but they are able to complete the surgery successfully.

Meanwhile, Asher and Reznick get Ezra to a room but they realize his bowel is perforated. Asher decides to go look for supplies in case they will need to do emergency surgery in the room. He runs into the shooter who is Villanueva’s former lover. He is taken as a hostage and finds himself caught between flying bullets as the man exchanges fire with SWAT.

They end up back in the room where Reznick and Ezra are and now the gunman has three hostages. Ezra’s condition gets worse and Reznick and Asher video call Park to guide them through the surgery but it is complicated. Reznick convinces the gunman to let Ezra go to the OR  and he agrees but keeps Asher hostage.

Asher and the gunman start talking about their dads and Asher tries to get through to the gunman. In the end, the gunman disarms his gun and heads out of the room. He is not surrendering, he aims his gun at SWAT and they shoot him.

Lim wakes up from surgery and as they are updating her, she develops complications. The doctors find themselves in a dilemma as both Lim and the gunman need a bypass machine and they only have one. Glassman and Andrews decide to give the bypass machine to the gunman but Shaun disagrees. He thinks they should save Lim first but Andrews says they can do her surgery without a bypass machine but it will be harder.

The surgery is indeed harder, a complication arises and Shaun has a panic attack as Lim goes into heart failure. He starts remembering his brother’s accident and Lea escorts him out of the surgery room.  They need Shaun to be able to place the device on Lim’s heart. During his panic attack, Shaun has visions of his brother congratulating him on his wedding day and asking him to save Lim.  He is able to focus and using his expertise the team saves Lim.

After surviving a near-death experience, Reznick decides to pass on the job offer in New York but Park tells her that is a mistake. He can’t look past the fact that she had initially chosen her career over their relationship. Lim wakes up from her second surgery and she is paralyzed.

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The Episode Review

This episode was 41 minutes of intense scenes as an active gunman takes hostages in the hospital. It is not lost on us that this has been the reality for so many, especially in America where gun attacks are rampant.

Although it was not in the ideal circumstances, Shaun was able to get some closure on his brother’s death. Unfortunately, this is how their wedding day ended. It was hard on everyone but I loved how Shaun checked in with Lea in the end. It must have been tough on her because this was supposed to be their first night as a married couple.

I hope Lim can make a full recovery and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Park and Reznick. It seems like the relationship is over… so will she choose New York?