Tonight on NBC their new medical drama “The Good Doctor” airs with an all-new Monday, September 27, 2021, episode and we have you The Good Doctor recap below. On tonight’s The Good Doctor season 5 episode, 1 called, “New Beginnings,” as per the ABC synopsis, “Shaun and Lea’s upcoming engagement party has everyone in a festive mood after their return from Guatemala.
Meanwhile, a young single mother learns her son may have contracted his cancer from a surprising source, and Mateo finds out if his previous issues in America will be resolved.”
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!
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The Good Doctor begins tonight with the wedding of Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) and Lea Dilallo (Paige Spara), it suddenly clouds over, thunder and Lea tries to reassure Shaun that he is okay and has this. He puts in his headphones and everyone grabs their umbrellas from under their chairs. The minister continues with the ceremony as lightning strikes and tree and startles Paige awake. She walks into the kitchen, kisses Shaun, and says they are not having an outdoor wedding. Meanwhile, Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) is busy getting dressed when the woman he spent the night with offers for them to have breakfast, but he says he needs to get to the hospital as he is a surgeon.
Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) wakes up in an empty bed and extremely messy room as Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) is told she is beautiful by Dr. Mateo Rendon Osma (Osvaldo Benavides). She explains their department is way in the red and she was looking for some excitement this morning, but there is a knock at the door and it turns out to be him, she eagerly pulls him into the door. His lawyer informs him he is no longer a wanted man, at least according to law enforcement.
Later, in the OR, Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) comments on Lim’s good mood, revealing that Mateo is back and Shaun says it is because she had sex and invites Mateo to the engagement party and wedding if he wants. Shaun reveals that all the planning is being done by Lea and all Shaun cares about is marrying her.
In another patient, Saline’s (Rachel Bay Jones) room, Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) deals with her headache and possibly kidney issues. Morgan is not impressed with the patient’s pushiness and dismisses her. Shaun rushes over to Paige wanting to know if she is overwhelmed as park felt she might be; she says everything with me great. Shaun sits down trying to tell her what might be interesting but she tells him to come back when he knows definitely.
Saline finds her way into Richard’s office, where she begins questioning him about his job title or lack thereof; he calls out for Nicole who brings her for her CT. Nicole and Dr. Asher Wolke (Noah Galvin) find that her abdominal scan is clean, but then notice there is a possible mass, causing Nicole to celebrate as the surgery is now hers.
Lim and Shaun inform their patient Riley’s mother that he requires surgery, as there was cancer on his tonsils. He has cervical cancer on his tonsils and they need to test both her sons and her, as they would have gotten it while being born. She suddenly spots “Uncle Nick” coming in to see the boys, insisting he is clean but she orders him to leave. She reminds her children that they did nothing wrong but the doctors need to talk to both boys.
Andrews meets with Morgan and Nicole’s patient, informing her about the mass they found on her kidney. She begins to walk around the room, checking out the equipment, learning that Dr. Allen will be doing the surgery, under Dr. Andrews’ supervision and she is given her pre-op instructions.
Shaun asks why his patient lied to her brother and she said Nick never grew up, he got along great with the kids but he also drank like their dad. She had a job interview and took the kids to the beach, got drunk, chatted up some girl and the boys were gone; the police found the boys about a mile down the beach.
Aaron apologizes to Marcus for what happened between him and Isabel. Marcus insists he is doing great and he plans on bringing another girl to Shaun’s party, not even sure of her name. Aaron looks at him oddly, saying he is thinking of going on a diet.
Paige is walking down the hall, telling Nicole she doesn’t care what she wears. She is on the phone with the caterers. Mateo comes to visit Audrey at her office, even though it is too late for lunch he has news. He informs her that he applied for a temporary California medical license and it has been approved. She is stunned as she didn’t know he was thinking of leaving Guatemala. She admits that it may be fast, but had they met in San Francisco they’d already been on their way; as they kiss Shaun barges in. Shaun says he is glad Mateo is not a fugitive but informs Lim that both the mother and son have cancer.
Nicole brags about doing a biopsy, as Asher smirks seeing her patient bed empty, wondering aloud if she is doing one either?
Paige is in the basement, talking to the florist who cannot deliver the flowers and needs to talk to her fiance; saying he is a lawyer and would enjoy dealing with it. Saline sneaks up behind her and Paige tells her she shouldn’t be down there. Nicole finds her and learns that Saline has been eating food.
Lim informs the mother of surgery and her medical options afterward, but as she asks about her son Jackson; Shaun wants to know when was the last time she had a PAP smear as her uterine cancer is quite advanced. She says she is a single mom and things fall through the cracks. They feel for Jackson his surgery is simple and will cure everything but they hope if all goes well, she can recover in a month. She says there is no way and no one she can ask. Jackson’s recovery won’t be fast either as he will be intubated and have a feeding tube. She demands they do Jackson first.
Paige jumps up in bed again, saying the engagement party is off as chaos follows her everywhere. Shaun asks if the wedding is still on, when she says yes, he turns over and goes back to sleep.
Back in Lim’s office, they know they cannot force the mother to do surgery and have to follow her wishes and do Jackson’s surgery too. Shaun figures out a possible way to make his recovery to days instead of weeks, Lim encourages him and Park to talk to the mother.
Asher and Nicole go to see Saline and inform her that her surgery is rescheduled for 6p, reminding her to not eat nor drink anything but she continues to exercise. She begins questioning them about their business relationship but Nicole cuts her off asking her if she has always had fat ankles, she calls them rude but Asher says it could be, but it could also be a symptom.
Shaun and Park explain the procedure to Jackson and his mother, but she refuses but it is riskier for him and she won’t allow it. Jackson tells his mother he loves her and without the surgery, he can help out more. She turns to Shaun and agrees.
Dr. Marcus Andrews speaks sternly to Nicole and Asher about the swollen ankles and reminds her that second-year residents who allow their patients to wander off to eat sandwiches do not get dibs on performing procedures. He tells them to start her on antibiotics and if it improves they are looking at an infection which is really good news. Meanwhile, Park and Shaun perform their surgery and realize they cannot remove the mass without risking a major bleed and Dr. Lim tells them to abort the procedure.
Nicole walks into Paige’s office and she looks amazing. She tells Paige there is no way she should cancel the party unless she caught Shaun cheating, which she immediately denies. Paige just wants the wedding to be perfect and feels the party was going to be a disaster. Nicole corrects her, so Paige shares about how the first time she was getting married and how everything went wrong just like the marriage so she really needs to get this one right. Nicole advises her if she is not willing to let the little things wrong then she’ll never get the chance to have the big things go right. She says she is doing Paige’s hair and she is to email everyone that the party is back on.
Nicole tells Park and Shaun they need to get dressed as they have a party to attend. She tells Park to talk some sense into Shaun who says they will go as soon as they figure it out as they are both clever. At the party, Paige is anxious as Shaun is still working and the party is in full swing. Park has an idea, telling Shaun to go ahead but Shaun catches him in the lie. Park reminds him that his future is more important than this one case.
Audrey wants to toast the couple, and he shows up just in time. He holds her hand, as she says they have a love that can move mountains – literally! Alex brings in Morgan to help with the case, saying if medical logic was going to work, she would have changed her mind already, Alex kisses her and rushes out the door.
Paige and Shaun are enjoying their perfect party while Alex brings in Nick to see his sick sister. Nick knows she doesn’t want him there but he gives her his 90-day chip. He wants to be the man he knows he can be. He wants to be a brother again. He asks her to keep it. He promises to be there for her and the boys if she will let him. She is glad he is doing better but she is concerned with trusting him. He pleads with Sarah to trust someone and she grasps his hand.
Marcus ended up with two dates to the engagement party, inadvertently inviting 2 Marias to the party. Mateo informs Audrey that the hospital rescinded its offer when they found out the police were after him for assault but she feels confident that another hospital in the Bay area will hire him.
Aaron makes a toast to Shaun, never seeing him as happy as he is with Lea. Everyone laughs that Shaun has managed love so much better than he has, and he doesn’t find that funny. He toasts them, saying at 2 or 3 marriages; Marcus tries to cut him off saying Aaron is married now, but Aaron shocks the room saying Debbie left him a few months ago. Paige can’t help but feel pity for him as everyone stares on. Aaron walks out humiliated and heartbroken.
Paige sits in her room looking at her wedding board as Shaun sits in the living room; both fairly solemn. Aaron removes his tie in his messy room. Marcus lays in bed as yet another nameless woman walks out of his room. Audrey is getting dressed, talking to Mateo about the procedures she needs to get done on the mother and her sons that day; Mateo giving her a great idea in trying to save her. Audrey admits she is also thinking about something else.
Saline’s ankle is still seriously swollen, Marcus suggesting they insert a catheter through her jugular vein to her kidney to remove the mass safely; Dr. Wolke will be doing it under his supervision. She learns Dr Audrey Lim is the Chief of Surgery and wants to meet her. In the meantime, in the OR, Lim, Shaun and Park are performing Sarah’s surgery when Saline Morrison walks onto the observation deck and just starts talking to Dr Lim like it is completely normal. Dr Lim has completely faith in her staff and orders them to get Dr Andrews to get his patient STAT as Saline feels like something is wrong and collapses.
Morgan, Asher, Nicole and Marcus discuss what could all these symptoms be leading to with Saline. Morgan says she is messing with them, as she is taking her medication and then not taking her medication to cause different symptoms.
Sarah wakes up and sees Nick beside him, revealing Jackson is asleep but he is doing well. Shaun and Park come in, but as Shaun explains the procedure, she thanks, Alex. Shaun realizes she is thanking him for bringing her brother so Shaun says that he understands her brother is not perfect but sometimes we need people who are perfect and excuses themselves.
Saline claims she forgot and feels they shouldn’t call their patients liars; Asher says he doesn’t believe she is a liar, he thinks she is insane; explaining that there is a liesion on her kidney and she is preventing them from finding out unless she already knows. She reveals she was diagnosed 7 years ago and went off her meds 3 weeks ago, curious if they would come up with the same conclusion.
Audrey is ready for the board but wants Mateo to be there when she gets home. She suggests if the board gives her the money she is going to offer him a job and even if they don’t, she is going to do it anyway.
Shaun tells Paige the party was a disaster and he feels he screwed up. He blames her but feels when things go wrong for one of them it should go wrong for both of them, so he is going to help her plan the wedding so when it goes terribly wrong, it will be both their faults. Paige says but if it goes right, it will be very right for both of them.
Audrey learns the meeting is over, there was only one item on the agenda – the hospital is being purchased by Saline Morrison; both Audrey and Aaron look confused and very concerned.
THE END
