The Good Doctor Boss Responds to That Stunning Return

The Good Doctor is back.

The beloved ABC medical drama started its fourth season later than planned, and it had a lot of surprises.

While The Good Doctor Season 4 Episode 1 focused on the characters as they came to terms with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clare was still struggling to come to terms with the death of her love interest, Neil, who died following complications of the injuries he sustained following an earthquake.

In a truly wild scene, Nicholas Gonzalez returned to the series to, but is Neil back from the dead?

“Things will be OK,” Neil said as Clare prepared to go through COVID-19 patients' belongings.

Series creator David Shore was interviewed by TV Line, and said that the basis for bringing him back was the pandemic, and how the last few months have affected doctors who have been away from their loved ones.

"Part of these [pandemic] episodes is about the stress — the real-world stress that the last [several months] have put on real doctors out there," he told the outlet.

"We tried to [incorporate] all aspects of it, from dealing with the frustration of not knowing what the answer was, or how to help people to begin with, to the frustration of being separated from loved ones."

He said that Claire's purpose during this episode was to bring peace "to people who have lost somebody [and] doing what you can do."

"Melendez is one those people [for Claire], more so than anybody else in our hospital at that moment, given the way we ended last season," Shore continued.

When The Good Doctor Season 3 was written, COVID-19 did not pose a threat, and many things have been changed as a result.

"Liz Friedman, who cowrote the episode with me, called me up one day and said, 'I think we should see Melendez,' and I went, 'That’s a good idea.'

"We’ve done this before, obviously, with Shaun and his brother, and it seemed like an interesting way for this [grief] to manifest."

Many TV shows bring characters back from the dead, but The Good Doctor boss has confirmed that Melendez is a figment of Clare's imagination during these scenes.

What are your thoughts on the way it all played out?

Hit the comments below.

Remember you can watch The Good Doctor online right here via TV Fanatic.

The series airs Mondays at 10/9c on ABC.