The Good Doctor Season 2 Episode 16 Review: Believe
Paul Dailly
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Is it bad that I agree with Dr. Han?
The Good Doctor Season 2 Episode 16 picked up with Shaun taking on a new role in pathology, and he made a lot of strides.
Han has been introduced as an adversary for Shaun, but I'm starting to get the impression Shaun was moved to the new field because Han had faith the former surgical resident would excel more in that role.
Shaun has proven to pay a lot of attention to detail, and I loved that he managed to figure out that Sadie's diagnosis was not as clean cut as everyone first thought.
Shaun's train of thought being on display has always been the show's strong point, so going into his mind to find out that a worm was taking up residence in Sadie's brain was a real twist.
The most surprising part of it was that Dr. Lim was against doing the biopsy because she felt like she was right. In medicine, it's not always about one diagnosis.
It's not uncommon for there to be a misdiagnosis. It's far more common than one would think, so these doctors should really be entertaining that thought.
Shaun wanted Aaron to be the one to save the day. That highlighted that Shaun still relies on his mentor as a crutch when he's having a tough day. I appreciated Aaron coming down on Shaun like a ton of bricks.
Shaun had to stand up for himself, or he ran the risk of having his opinion diminished at every turn. Now that we know Shaun can stand up for himself, he needs to continue to do it.
He may not be a surgical resident, but he's going to save a lot of lives. He's a gifted individual and is better served well away from the O.R. Whether the creative forces feel the same way, I don't know.
From a storytelling standpoint, Shaun could consult on the two cases of the week from here on out. Yes, he's getting minimal input with the patients, but working in pathology, he can assist a lot more than being assigned to just one case a week.
Related: The Good Doctor Renewed for Season 3
At the top of "Believe," I figured that the Clarins storyline was going to be the weak link, but I could not have been more wrong.
The sparring between Claire and Clarins over whether God was making Clarins ill because he killed someone was made for a great debate.
Clarins was an interesting character. He had strong views and wasn't going to let anyone change his mind about them.
The case presented Neil, Morgan, and Claire with a variety of issues, but the thing I expected the least was for the cancer to go away on its own. Where the heck did that come from?
Having already spread to the lymph nodes, I can't begin to stress enough how uncommon that is. But something was working, and I liked the ambiguity of it all.
Claire has been struggling with faith, and this allowed her to see that miracles do happen, whether you believe in God or not.
For Clarins, he thought there absolutely had to be a medical reason for his cancer going away, and that was because he thought he was condemned to a life of despair because he thinks he played a part in someone's death.
Related: Young Sheldon Renewed for Seasons 2 and 3 at CBS
This also helped bring Morgan and Claire closer together. They hated each other when they first met, and that's because of Morgan's icy demeanor.
Morgan is evolving into one of the better characters on the show. I didn't think that was possible, but the show is really starting to surprise me on this front.
I didn't care at all for the subplot with Debbie and Aaron. I get the need for Aaron to want to share the good news with someone, but there doesn't appear to be a convincing attraction between these two.
There's no chemistry, and their scenes are somewhat awkward. Debbie is visibly worried that she puts her heart on the line for Aaron and that the cancer gets too much and he dies.
It didn't help matters that the last time they were together, their night of passion was ruined by Aaron being unwell. Aside from that, Debbie hasn't been around that much.
Aaron's recovery has been a big storyline on The Good Doctor Season 2, and it's difficult to get on board with a relationship when we know a lot about one of the people involved, but nothing about the other.
The most jarring thing about Aaron's recovery is that none of his friends from the hospital thought to step in to check on him. He's been mostly away from all the action, and I hope that's resolved during The Good Doctor Season 3.
"Believe" was a decent episode. We're learning more about these characters, and the cases were interesting.
What are your thoughts on all of this?
Hit the comments.
Remember you can watch The Good Doctor online right here via TV Fanatic.
The Good Doctor airs Mondays on ABC.
Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
