“Good Doctor” fans have seen this high-stakes scenario before, with very different results. In the Season 1 finale, Shaun went on a mission to find a cure for Glassman’s terminal brain cancer diagnosis. Glassman was ready to give up, taking Shaun on the carousel he frequented with his daughter to talk about dying.
“But Shaun couldn’t stop obsessing about the medicine in that case, and in Season 1 he was right,” says Friedman. “Shaun found a way that (Glassman) could be saved.”
In the finale, Shaun ponders a medical solution for Glassman and Browne, who returned from her doctor’s post in Guatemala to be treated for a tumor that turned out to be breast cancer.
This time, Shaun realizes there won’t be a miracle solution for Glassman. However, the surgeon is adamant about administering untested treatment to Claire, even though the Food and Drug Administration denied the emergency use of the potential cure his team developed.
“I’m going to give it to her anyway, And I won’t be a doctor anymore. And that’s OK,” Shaun tells his wife Lea (Paige Spara) and Glassman, knowing he’ll lose his medical license. “I don’t need to save everyone; I just need to save Claire.”
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The location of Shaun’s speech is crucial: It’s the same hospital conference room where Glassman passionately pounded the table and carried the day advocating for Shaun’s hiring in the September 2017 pilot episode. In that premiere, Shaun spoke poignantly in the same boardroom about wanting to be a surgeon to save lives. “And I want to make a lot of money, so I can have a television” he added.
The boardroom set had to be rebuilt for the finale, where the dying Glassman makes one more bold stand: He agrees to administer the unapproved procedure to Browne, protecting Shaun right to the end.
