Tonight on NBC their new medical drama “The Good Doctor” airs with an all-new Monday, October 4, 2021, episode and we have you The Good Doctor recap below. On tonight’s The Good Doctor season 5 episode, 2 called, “Piece Of Cake,” as per the ABC synopsis, “Dr. Shaun Murphy and the team race to save a pregnant woman’s baby and find her current situation as a convicted felon complicates it even more than they realize.
Meanwhile, the hospital takes on some unexpected changes that the staff is not prepared for.”
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 Salen Morrison (Rachel Bay Jones) giving the staff of the hospital a presentation of the Ethicure system she wants to make their hospital into; divided into 3 pillars. Some of the doctors seem impressed while others are not enthused at all; they are informed they will not be seeing patients anymore but serving their clients and seeking their feedback as every happy client is a referring client.
Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) complains to Dr. Morgan Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) that their jobs went from saving lives to how many smiley faces get punched. Morgan says she can’t fake saving lives but she can definitely fake being nice. Dr. Jordan Allen (Bria Henderson) and Dr. Asher Wolke (Noah Galvin) are testing out their new fitness watches. Lea Dilallo (Paige Spara) wonders how Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) is doing with all this change, but he feels the changes are reasonable and they should focus on the cake, where she jokes there is no such thing as bad cake and tells him to take a good look at her as she is going to be extremely busy for a while. He gets extremely focused until he realizes his pager is sounding and runs off as she whispers that she loves him.
Shaun rushes into the room where Alex already is, Morgan is using the ultrasound and it reveals that their patient needs to have an immediate c-section; the prison guard informs them that she cannot let her out of her sight as she is serving life for murdering her first baby.
Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) and Dr. Mateo Rendon Osma (Osvaldo Benavides) are looking at the Surgimatch board, where he complains that he is like a kid in the candy store and upset that he is a full-fledged doctor; but she reminds him that she wouldn’t have even put him on rotation until he at least knew where the bathrooms were, reprimanding him for calling her pet name while at work. Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) learns that Audrey is not a fan of algorithms telling them what to do. He welcomes Mateo, who asks if he can tag along on his morning rounds and he agrees.
Alex looked up Abby Clemmis’s (Lyndon Smith) case and learned that she had poisoned her first baby with antifreeze; plead not guilty but got pregnant before the trial. She was convicted and by then everyone, including her boyfriend stopped believing her. Morgan reminds them about the timing and they are now being watched by their watches. Shaun is told by Alex to forget the timer as it takes as long as it takes; Shaun says he likes the timer. Alex feels it could have been postpartum as Morgan feels it doesn’t make the baby any less dead. Alex and Morgan begin to bicker about it so Shaun asks Alex what his favorite cake is and he says angel food cake, Morgan feels packing foam has more flavor and suddenly Salen chimes in saying anything with cream cheese frosting, she’d eat anything, including dog poop with it on it. She tells them not to let her distract them, as Morgan praises her for her work, but the baby crying interrupts them as Salen says that is a beautiful sound telling Alex to discharge them. He reminds her that they have 48 hours as a policy, she says they have a new policy, as soon as they are stable they are to be discharged to make way for other clients in need.
Madeline Cross (Blessing Adedijo) is a cross-track meet athlete, who feels heat exhaustion and dehydration. She is on the scanner and suddenly starts vomiting blood. Marcus works to clear her airways. Meanwhile, Alex informs Abby that her baby is fine and has the lungs of an opera singer, she is told she is not allowed to see her baby, but Alex says maybe after a few more tests and if she suffers from postpartum depression then she needs to seek help. She informs them she didn’t have them with Troy as those were the most wonderful days of her life, so that means she was either the victim or a terrible monster and tells them to pick aside.
Marcus informs Madeline that they stopped the bleeding but there is a lesion in her lung, but they need to do a biopsy. Mateo and Marcus ask if they can contact her family, but just as she is about to explain that they cannot contact them, Jordan walks in saying her mother is there. Madeline says that isn’t her mother, as they died two years ago. She explains her mother gave her up for adoption when she was a toddler; her mother says she was deported and she left her in America for a better life. Mateo asks if it is okay for them to get a medical history from Esther (Constance Ejuma) and they agree. Esther covers her legs, saying in Cameroon you don’t show off your “goodies” and her parents did not teach her respect; Madeline rolls her eyes.
Alex is checking the baby as Morgan confronts Alex about delaying sending Abby back to the hospital. He shows her how the baby is not taking in formula and her limbs are just falling. He is sending her for an ultrasound as Morgan tries to rush her discharge.
Salen comes to Dr. Aaron Glassman’s (Richard Schiff) office, as he is working on making some fishing flies. She feels his absence at the meeting is a lack of support. He is very sarcastic with her, reminding her that when she arrived she was a hostile patient and now she is a hostile corporate raider. He immediately resigns and says he hates her new logo. She feels he has a huge following and he needs to stay on and that he has decent leverage; she feels no incentives will work, suggesting she will just keep his clinic open, asking him to think about it.
Alex brings the baby in to see Abby, hidden under wraps so the guard couldn’t see. He feels the baby could be needing her mother’s milk and carries her over the Abby who is smiling brightly.
Madeline learns the mass on her lung is in fact cancer, stage 4, also in her neck, abdomen, and pelvis. She brushes off any comfort her mother tries to provide. Marcus says the prognosis isn’t good and is unlikely to live longer than 12 months. Madeline is in denial as her mother tells her to pray. Madeline says she can’t be dying as she is going to nationals. She demands that Esther stop praying as she left her and her real mother loved and protected her. Esther is completely rejected and told to leave; causing all three doctors to get emotional.
The baby’s stats drop and they are forced to intubate the baby when walking out of the NICU Alex tells Morgan the truth, that he didn’t switch the formula but let Abby breastfeed her baby and now they both think that it’s possible Abby poisoned this baby too.
Shaun has Asher, Mateo, and Jordan cake taste as they work on a possible solution for Madeline. Salen finds them, saying she has been thinking about cake all day, saying for her not to let her interrupt them. Shaun says she already has but since she isn’t being invited to their wedding, she doesn’t get a vote nor does she get cake and takes the cake tray back from her. She asks him if he is on the autism spectrum because of his behavior, but instead of responding to her he takes the cake trays and tells the team to look at engineering t-cell therapy and walks out of the room as Salen looks at him intrigued.
Shaun sits in Aaron’s office, as he tastes the cakes. Aaron tells him that he is thinking of taking a break and moving on and admits he is sad about Debbie but this is probably for the best and needs some time to himself. He needs to be around different people. Shaun won’t tell him how he is coping, only that he needs him to pick a cake. Aaron tells him to be selfish and pick the cake he wants as he is going to take time off and do the same with his own life. Shaun is frustrated he didn’t help him with the cake and leaves.
Madeline learns from Dr. Andrews that they are going to do surgery then do an aggressive therapy, but then Mateo walks in with Shaun’s idea and how her own body could cure itself. Marcus takes him into Dr. Lim’s office and tells him he is off the case as he was there to observe, not diagnose. They are in the middle of a discussion when Salen comes in, looking for better wi-fi, and tells them to continue their discussion. They stop yelling, both presenting their sides to Audrey’s side, who wants to know what the patient wants. Marcus says that it was presented in a magical way and Salen says she likes magic. Audrey says give the client what she wants, but Marcus says this is his case as Audrey reminds him that it doesn’t have to be.
Alex learns that Abby’s tox screen is clean, but Morgan still doesn’t buy it. She said the baby didn’t get it at least accidentally. Shaun confirms there are traces of antifreeze in the baby’s blood, which rattles Alex. Esther finds Mateo in the cafe, asking how Madeline is and he assures her that she is in the best of hands and doesn’t think she is ready to see her mother. Esther never felt Madeline would be so ungrateful nor that the people would turn them against her culture and her. Mateo says don’t let that hatred blind her from seeing how wonderful her daughter is and to remember all the sacrifices they made for Madeline. Jordan talks to Madeline, both sharing similar backgrounds and parental issues. Jordan asks her if her mother would want her to go through this alone.
Shaun barges into Lea’s office, saying he is there for another look. When she says she is frustrated, she says she just wants to vent and have a solution; something he is doing about the cake. She apologizes, realizing what he was trying to do. She says he has just solved her problem and thanks to him as she vanishes from her office.
Alex comes to see Abby, informing her that the baby is still in critical condition, as they are treating her for poisoning and he has to report her to the authorities. She pleads with them to not allow this to happen again; suddenly her stats drop and they call for a crash cart.
The staff is forced to have photos taken as Morgan, Shaun and Alex talk about Abby’s case. They are going to have to give her a hysterectomy, which Morgan feels is a win-win. She tells Park that she knows Abby is guilty and she is going to prove it by simply asking her. Meanwhile, Lea finds Salen, introduces herself, explaining how she can make another program for the hospital. Salen is able to read off her entire resume and loves that she doesn’t have an IT degree and wants to hear more.
Morgan and Alex with Shaun in tow, walk into Abby’s room, where she calls Morgan a stone-cold bitch. She tells Alex that what happened to her babies is because she is a bad mother, but she could never hurt her babies because she is their mommy. Shaun complains about the rough seams in the scrubs.
Marcus watches from observation over Madeline’s surgery; Salen walks in, questioning him on whether Audrey picked Mateo because he is her boyfriend and Salen was in the room and her opinion is important. He says Audrey is of high principle and would not do that. Salen says she likes him, causing him to smile at her as she walks away.
Morgan finds that they re-ran all the baby’s tests because if it is antifreeze why isn’t the baby getting any better. Shaun says he solved it, but he is talking about the cake problem, causing Morgan to think and look at the differences; it was Abby’s breastmilk and she is innocent. It was the acidic reaction in both the babies to her milk that made them sick and the one die.
Aaron finds Salen sitting outside one of the scanners, she finds the “big donut” very calming. She knows he is accepting her offer. He thought he was a good poker player but she says he has developed a tell as she learns that she is increasing the clinic budget by double. He plans on taking his role as a puppet as double and he will give his support for her money. He says he is not the only one with a tale as she welcomes him with a smile.
Jordan informs Madeline that they got all of the tumor and Mateo says based on her responses to the therapy, they are very optimistic. Her mother comes to the door and the doctors excuse themselves. Esther sits, talking about the day she gave her away, staring at her trying to memorize everything about her at that moment. She started to cry, but she wiped the tears from her face and told her mother not to cry. She admits she gave away her heart that day and she grew to hate the people who took her, but without their love and sacrifice she wouldn’t be the amazing girl she is today and she loves them for that. Madeline says maybe a little bit of where she comes from is part of how great she is too. She hopes they can be friends as Esther asks her to tell her about her momma.
Abby learns from Morgan that it wasn’t antifreeze that was making the baby sick but a disorder that they are treating her for now. She promises that Maggie is going to be just fine. Alex brings Maggie over to Abby again who holds her daughter, saying they believe Troy had the same thing and that Abby was a victim; they let the authorities know that too. Morgan apologizes to her as Abby basks in holding her baby.
Salen is in Audrey’s office when Mateo and Audrey walk in. She congratulates Mateo on his procedure success, saying they make quite a team. Audrey asks if she has an office, Salen thinks she does but continues on with the conversation, asking Mateo is he knows what happened to his surgeries from yesterday. He said he rescheduled them when he took over Madeline’s case. Salen says Derek took his case to St Jose General. She is comparing scheduling issues all to saving a life and she says all their clients’ issues matter. She knows his license is provisional, causing the two to look worried.
Asher wonders who Jordan is writing the article with as the therapy is a big deal. He brags about the 5 surgeries he did in the day. Both have figured out how to cheat on the watch’s rhythmic system. Mateo is not worried about Andrews nor any other doctor at the hospital as he gets to see her every day and that makes everything wonderful in his eyes.
Shaun shows Lea that he has solved their cake problem. She calls him brilliant as they serve them all. Lea explains how her suggestion worked too. Shaun is concerned that the soap is different and he doesn’t like the itchy scrubs and the soap doesn’t come off his hands. There are no paper towels for sanitary reasons and when he tries to use the hand dryers he panics and can’t get them to shut off and the noise terrorizes him. He clenches his fists and just screams, “Stop it!”
THE END
