Tonight on NBC their new medical drama “The Good Doctor” airs with an all-new Monday, October 7, 2019, episode and we have your The Good Doctor recap below. On tonight’s The Good Doctor season 3 episode 3 called, “Claire” as per the ABC synopsis, “Dr. Claire Brown faces complications at home and work as she prepares to lead her first surgery.
Meanwhile, a sports fishing accident challenges the rest of the staff as they look to treat the fisherman’s injuries without damaging his prize catch.”
So make sure to tune in between 10 PM and 11 PM ET for our The Good Doctor recap! While you wait for our recap make sure to check out all our television spoilers, news, recaps, videos & more, right here!
Tonight’s The Good Doctor recap begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
The Good Doctor begins tonight with Dr. Claire Browne (Antonia Thomas) waking up to her alarm, running and practicing for introductions for her first surgery. She dumps all her alcohol down the sink as she recites that it was a successful surgery, keeping the sealed bottle of champagne for later, hiding it in her cupboard. She keeps practicing her words when her mother gives her a urine sample to run at the lab.
Once at the hospital, Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) is excited that this patient could be the one for her, as they go to talk to Michelle Reynolds (Kyla-Drew), who is having abdominal pain; getting Shaun excited as he believes her gall bladder needs to be removed and blurts out that Claire must be excited as this is her first procedure; making the patient look funny at her. Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) is excited for Claire, but Dr. Neil Melendez (Nicholas Gonzalez) feels it isn’t such a straight forward and simple case. Melendez says he is the attending but Lim wants to know what Claire thinks. Shaun says they need to do something else because of the distension.
They leave the room and Shaun reveals him and Dr. Carly Lever (Jasika Nicole) went on their second date, walking 12 minutes to the deli, where the chatted while eating. Claire informs Shaun they are going to check on Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) who just started a procedure. Shaun admits that Carly answered all of his 83 questions he asked her, even though they were really intense; she informs him early on people stick to simple questions like music and bands, not religion and children. He is confused but she explains people want to reveal their layers gradually opposed to being sliced down the middle.
Andrews acknowledges that Claire has been chosen to run lead for the next surgery, she asks questions about how Andrews would do it but Shaun has more important questions about the dates, wondering if it was significant that they didn’t book another date; but she needs to focus on the surgery at hand while Shaun berates himself for “slicing” instead of “peeling.” Claire starts to fret about the surgery, but she tells Shaun to simply go explain to Carly, but when he panics she says she will talk to Carly after Michelle’s surgery. He informs her that she can talk to Carly soon as he just got a page that OR 2 is available and she is booked to perform in 45 minutes. Claire wanders down the hallway reciting what she needs to say to Michelle’s foster parents when she gets distracted by another patient’s dilemma.
Claire opens the curtains to reveal patient, Shamus O’Malley (Robert Sean Leonard) with a marlin on his leg. Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) and Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) want to cut him in half but the patient wants them to pull him out slowly as he has worked 40 plus years to catch a marlin. Morgan congratulates Claire on her surgery. The fish starts moving, but he explains that “Franklin” is dead and he thought they were doctors as they should know this.
Claire arrives at Michelle’s bed to find her reading to her foster sister while their mother is on the phone, promising to be back as soon as she can. She learns Michelle will be in hospital for 3 days to a week; causing her to complain she watches the kids after school and her recovery will take a while. She grabs her chest and needs to be put on oxygen immediately; her mother confused why she never told her she was in pain. They learn that she lied about being on the birth control pill, and that is where she got the blood clots and now the surgery will have to wait until tomorrow. Claire is about to put in the catheter and she finds scars on her legs, which Michelle says she cut herself climbing a fence.
Once back in her room, Michelle is confronted about her scars, but she doesn’t care about what Claire believes. Claire asks if cutting makes her feel better but she still refuses to talk about it. Claire sits in the corner, just observing until Michelle admits her life sucks but anything she says won’t change anything; although Claire says talking may feel better. Michelle says she lives in a fosterhome but she is not a foster kid. She never leaves the house without a child attached to her. Claire and Melendez sit with Michelle’s mom who refuses to listen to what they have to say. Melendez reminds Claire she is there to fix her gallbladder and not her life.
Claire practices the surgery, when Shaun walks in asking if she spoke to Carly. She corrects her issue and he says she can go do it now but she insists she needs to practice. He reminds her that Dr. Lim says getting away from things gives them some balance. She confesses that she is nervous about the surgery so practice will help improve her surgery. He tells her that she needs to practice not getting a liver bleed, but he irritates her to the point that she walks out to talk to Carly.
Morgan stops her as she walks the halls, quizzing her on the surgery as they attempt to get Shamus into the MRI with the fish still inside his leg. Claire questions why she is helping her and she admits she is sucking up as Claire was chosen over her. Suddenly there is fish matter all over the windows as it appears the fish exploded but Shamus is calm when he discovers only one side of the fish exploded, figuring there must have been metal inside the fish; joking that he saw a license plate fly by him. The fish suddenly falls out and his main aertoery starts bleeding and they bring him immediately into surgery as Claire has her finger deed inside his leg. Lim is able to finish the surgery as Claire is concerned about his blood work.
Lim tells her she is fine for surgery and to never say she was nervous again. They are women, not white and do not have the luxury of insecurity, because every step of the way they had to be twice as good as everyone else so she needs to suck it up because she has this. Claire returns to the practice lab where she continues to struggle with a safe procedure.
Claire is busy studying her surgery when her mother reminds her about their session with their counsellor later that day. Claire talks about her patient, revealing how sad her patient is as her mother comments on how the patient isn’t stuck with her at least. Claire confesses to her mother that she never slept with her boyfriend Wayne when she was that age; admitting she didn’t lose her virginity until sophomore year of college as she wanted it to be special. Her mother felt she was so strange but Claire said she was like that because she never knew when her mother was going to fall apart. She quickly excuses herself to head to work.
Claire confronts Michelle’s mother, who says she isn’t unhappy, she is just under a lot of peer pressure. She says that Michelle promises to stop cutting and Dr. Browne needs to just give her the surgery and get her out of the hospital. Claire confronts Michelle, who admits that she tried to tell her mother, who just didn’t want to hear it. Claire sits on her bed, explaining how she had to take care of her bipolar mother who was also an addict. She was the one who had to be responsible all the time, so Claire thought if she made her life easy enough she would get better, but she never did so Claire felt it was her fault until she finally saw a psychiatrist who told her Claire was fine. Michelle is surprised because Claire is a fancy surgeon. Claire offers for her to see one before her surgery and she agrees.
Claire is sitting alone in the cafeteria, when Alex and Morgan sit down; she reminds them she is trying to study, but they don’t care. She packs up her stuff only to run into Shaun who asks about Carly,; Claire says she got side tracked by a marlin. She is paged and meets with Dr. Lim who is there with Ms. Reynolds who is upset that Claire spoke to Michelle about seeing a psychiatrist against her wishes. Claire tells Lim that she feels Michelle is a danger to herself and in that case the consult is required but Claire is off the case and Melendez is now performing the surgery; startling Claire.
Claire sits in the appointment with her mother, who asks about her procedure that was booked for this afternoon, but Claire reveals she arranged a psych consult without the mother’s permission and she got thrown off the case. It is a big disappointment. She admits she is upset and humiliated and mad at the patient’s mother for not taking care of the daughter. She is relieved for having the weight off her that she feels like a fraud. Her mother tells her not to talk like that because the hardest things in life are scary and talking about them is scary, she reminds her self to be like Claire because nothing stops her, she sees what she wants and goes after it with everything she has. She is her mother’s inspiration. Claire hugs her mother with everything she’s got.
Claire rushes after Carly, who is willing to meet her after she does some testing. She barges into where Alex and Morgan are announcing that the Marlin guy has cancer. It has to be in his leg, Morgan saying when she is chief r4esident she will remember this. Michelle is panicking towards her mother causing Claire to walk into the room, she is fanatic about it and only wants Claire to perform her surgery. She tells her about Dr. Melendez is a fantastic surgeon and he is going to do the surgery. Michelle blurts out to her mother that she doesn’t want to get better. Claire says she needs the surgery, no matter who does it and she will be there the whole time watching from the gallery.
Outside at the nurses’ station, Lim reminds her that she had to pull her because any misstep and Ms. Reynolds would sue the hospital. Melendez joins them and says she is not allowed to watch from the gallery because she cannot remove the gall bladder from there. She is back as the first lead and he will be watching. She thanks him for fighting for her and he reminds her that is what bosses do. Claire finds Carly who thought it was cool the questionnaire Shaun had for her since small talk bores the hell out of her. Carly tells Claire she likes her but this is not her business and she is completely wrong. Her and Shaun do not need anyone to run interference in their relationship and they all need to butt out!
Claire is all prepped for surgery, takes a selfie of herself in front of her name and the OR just before she walks in, saying, “It’s happening!”
Everyone announces their positions for Michelle Reynolds’ surgery and everyone is in agreement with what will happen during and after surgery. Shaun hands Claire the blade and Claire takes her first cut as lead surgeon with confidence. Melendez gives her a boost telling her “nice work” as she proceeds. He reminds her to talk through her approach, which she does and the procedure is a success as Shaun tells her it was “elegant use of the kelly clamp.” She smiles at Shaun but suddenly the patient is hemorrhaging and she can’t spot the bleeder. Melendez calms her down, reminding her this happens to him and she reviews what she should do and is able to repair what needs to be done.
Claire leaves the OR, taking a moment to celebrate this exciting moment in her life, catching her breathe before she goes to see Ms. Reynolds. She tells her surgery was a success and they expect a full recovery. The foster kids wants to see her and Claire allows it. Claire is told Michelle wants to be a doctor and even gives her the therapist’s card to her mom for her. Claire is finally able to smile until she spots Morgan and Alex moving their “Marlin” patient. Morgan says she was right he had cancer in his leg. They had to amputate part of his leg, but his friends bring in the marlin mounted on a wall piece. He hugs the fish, thanking him for saving his life. Claire laughs.
Claire walks down the stairs and spots Shaun and Carly together, finding a new voicemail from her mom. She calls back to find out it was someone else calling from her mom’s phone. Claire has flashing lights all around her, police and firefighters, when she finds her mother dead in the front seat of her car; smashed against a concrete pole. The message was from her mother saying she got her text and she knew it was only a temporary setback and they are going to celebrate. She made dinner and was going to get some dessert. Lying on the floor in the front seat of the car is the open bottle of champagne.
THE END!
