The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 20 Review: Blessed

In what world is Glassman unable to do surgery anymore?

Glassman might have occasionally forgotten a word on The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 20, but he came through when it counted. Shaun repeatedly noted that Glassman noticed symptoms no one else did and devised an innovative surgical option when the patient suffered a hemorrhage during a complicated procedure.

Yet Lim immediately jumped to the conclusion that Glassman could no longer do surgery based on Glassman’s brain scan and Shaun’s explanation that Glassman could no longer do well under pressure. Something doesn’t add up here.

Shaun may be right that Glassman suffered a mini-stroke, but so what? His symptoms are no different than normal age-related blips in short-term memory, and no one would have been concerned if Shaun hadn’t obsessively searched for a diagnosis.

Lim’s conclusion wasn’t based on any evidence of incompetence. The facts suggest the opposite conclusion — Glassman is very competent despite some holes in his short-term memory.

All she needs to do is watch the video of Glassman’s recent surgery to realize that. Glassman performed fine under pressure and successfully led his team through a complicated, risky surgery that nobody else thought was a good idea.

Afterward, he had an animated conversation with the patient about baseball.

That should have made Shaun realize he was wrong to worry about Glassman’s executive function. Instead, it made him decide that Glassman had permanent brain damage that impeded his ability to practice. What?

The best doctors look not only at scans and tests but at how symptoms affect patients. Since Glassman has no ill effects from this alleged mini-stroke, there is little reason to think he is a danger to anyone if he continues to do surgery.

Glassman’s hesitation during the operation he performed may have been thanks to Shaun causing unnecessary stress. 

Shaun was the classic example of the hammer seeing nails everywhere; he kept finding signs of problems that weren’t there, doubting Glassman at every turn, and not letting him finish his sentences most of the time.

With Shaun in the operating room waiting to catch Glassman making an error, how could Glassman not feel extra pressure? It’s a testimony to his brilliance as a doctor that he could perform as well as he did with Shaun breathing down his neck.

Shut out the noise. People are going to have opinions whether you hit 300 or you get off the base. Whatever decision you make will be the right decision.

Glassman

Glassman’s advice to his patient reflected this. When he recommended shutting out others’ opinions and doing what you know is right for yourself,  it felt like he was talking to himself.

Glassman has had to ignore others’ opinions throughout his life, but the person making the most noise recently is Shaun. Glassman will not retire or undergo tests just because Shaun says so.

And if Lim thinks she will easily take away Glassman’s scalpel, she’s in for a rude awakening. Unsurprisingly, the spoiler video for The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 21 suggests that Glassman is ready to go to war over this nonsense, as well he should.

Lim’s decision was almost as annoying as Asher’s attitude toward religion. I was disappointed that Jerome’s problem with Asher was that Asher’s opinions, in general, are too strong for him rather than being annoyed about Asher’s broad-brush view of religion.

Asher, like many people who have been burned by religious extremism, decided all religion is evil.

His comments about the LGBTQIA community were ridiculous, considering that many people in the community believe in God, and some churches and temples are proud to be LGBT-inclusive,

Jerome said that he felt like Asher called him a moron but never once pushed back on Asher’s beliefs about religion being useless. Asher didn’t even notice that Jerome was upset after he made those comments.

Talk about being self-centered!

Eddie’s faith had gotten him through a lot of difficult times. Asher didn’t need to share it, but he didn’t need to denigrate it either.

I’d have liked more character growth in that area instead of Asher realizing he took Jerome for granted and apologizing.

Eddie’s death saddened everyone but also conformed to the trope of death waking people up to how short life is.

Asher decided he needed to be more open about his gratitude for Jerome’s presence. Andrews and Villanueva agreed to try again, and Jordan and Danny decided to move forward even though they weren’t sure what that looked like.

Was anyone else surprised that Jared didn’t come in while Jordan and Danny were hugging?

The best news of the hour was Morgan’s decision to take baby Eden. I’ve been waiting since the two crossed paths for her to decide this.

Morgan isn’t usually my favorite character, but baby Eden brings out a softness in her that was never there before.

She was focused on caring for that baby, yet willing to let her go if another couple wanted to give Eden a good life.

Morgan didn’t manipulate or try to discourage the other couple from taking Eden; she did the opposite, reassuring them that they could care for Eden’s special needs. It wasn’t until they refused to do so that she realized she needed to be this baby’s mother.

Social worker: I don’t have anyone else lined up. Can you give a me a few days?
Morgan: No. I know the perfect foster mother for Eden. Me.

It was a predictable moment but also a sweet payoff for viewers waiting for Morgan to wake up and realize that she loved baby Eden and wanted to adopt her.

Your turn, The Good Doctor fanatics. Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts about the Glassman situation, Asher and Jerome’s conflict, and Morgan deciding to adopt Eden.

Don’t forget you can watch The Good Doctor online whenever you’d like.

The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Mondays at 10 PM EST / PST.

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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.