The Good Doctor: Season 5/ Episode 9 “Yippee Ki-Yay” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

Anti-Salen sentiment grows as she punishes Dr. Lim and implements another change many, especially Shaun, doesn’t think is good for the hospital.

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Aired	3/7/2022
Network	ABC
Directed By	Dinh Thai
Written By	David Hoselton, Adam Scott Weissman
Introduced This Episode
Nelly	AJ Michalka
Lexi	Aly Michalka
Cody	Matthew Horner
Joe	David Marciano

Recap

How About A Ragtag Group? – Salen, Dr. Lim, Dr. Park, Dr. Allen, Shaun, Dr. Andrews

Dr. Lim desires war. However, with being demoted and Dr. Andrews promoted to chief of surgery, she sees the writing on the wall. Because of that, she is tempted to leave after 17 years, but rather than run after Salen lands the first blow, she decides it is time for another fight.

This time though, she is seeking more reliable allies, and she already has a nurse and anesthesiologist, but she knows that won’t be enough. So she tries to recruit the residents, and while Dr. Allen is a straight-up no, Shaun goes from being against it to changing his mind after seeing how Dr. Andrews being with Salen has made him a worse doctor.

As for Dr. Park? With four months left in his residency, he originally wasn’t for open rebellion. However, he does make it clear to Morgan, who still supports Salen, that he sees Salen as a baby killer whose methods are terrible. So, he changed his mind.

Desperate Times Call ForDesperate Measures – Cody, Joe, Morgan, Dr. Park

Cody has Kabuki syndrome, and with his mom passing, it meant his father, Joe, was tasked with taking care of him, for the alternative would be his son being institutionalized. But, thanks to taking a fall helping his son, an old issue for Joe gets exacerbated, and when he attempts to fix it, he ends up a paraplegic.

As you can imagine, this is devastating for Dr. Park, and especially Morgan, who gave both Cody and Joe hope. So with noticing Cody having double vision, she bets on a missed diagnosis that could allow Cody to walk, and luckily, she was right. So while Joe is a paraplegic, his son seems to be able to take care of his dad now, as his dad did him.

It’s Personal, So It’s Difficult – Nelly, Lexi, Dr. Allen, Lea, Shaun, Dr. Andrews, Dr. Glassman, Salen

Shaun and Lea’s breakup leads Lea to Dr. Allen’s door, and while surprised, she welcomes her in. However, you can bet the following day, when paired with Shaun, she brings up Lea in her household, which gets used against him when it comes to his patient. This agitates Shaun, but what also doesn’t help is that with Dr. Andrews getting one step closer to his former position as president, he wants to make waves.

So, he decides for Nelly, one half of the Dunn Sisters, who have been waiting 5 years for a surgery to return her voice, to be “innovative.” However, in Shaun’s mind, reckless would be a better term. In fact, Nelly nearly dies on the operating table, and Shaun goes ballistic when that happens. But luckily for Dr. Andrews, Nelly has an amazing ability to clot her blood, so while she does bleed a worrisome amount, she survives.

Which brings her sister Lexi into play. With Lexi causing Nelly to lose her voice and career, you can see the two at odds. Yet, in Dr. Allen explaining how messy and complicated their relationship is, Shaun sees how much they love each other, which leads to him and Lea reconciling. But, before you get too excited, both see it as a complicated road that will not be easy to navigate.

And what surely will make it harder is Shaun quitting his job. Yup, because of Dr. Andrews’ actions, influenced by Salen, he quits and is ready to join Dr. Lim’s team. In fact, Dr. Glassman decides he will join her as well, which makes it, so a majority of the cast now have Salen in their crosshairs.

Things To Note

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. If Alex has 4 months left on his residency, should we consider that being how long Shaun and the rest have?
2. Where was Asher this episode?

What Could Happen Next

1. You and I both know Shaun will get his job back. It is just a question of how long will it take?
2. Claire is reportedly going to return, per Deadline!
3. Morgan being a more open and vocal supporter of Salen until Salen screws her over
4. Lim and Dr. Andrews having a conversation about how he has changed under Salen’s influence

Collected Quote(s)

You’re attributing an expired motive to her current actions.
— Dr. Allen

Review

Highlights

The Supporting Characters

Alongside Nelly and Lexi, Cody and Joe had storylines that hit the sweet spot. They were definitely made to make you tear up and cry, yet weren’t so sappy you felt like your emotions were being played with. I’d even say, as much as you could submit Nelly and Lexi’s storyline was meant to add fuel to Shaun’s, like in the last episode, I wholly feel this show is trying to make it so everything doesn’t revolve around Shaun.

Rather, it wants to maybe tap into what we got in far earlier seasons where guest stars were notable and got an emotional reaction out of you. The kind that made you hope they’d come back and we’d get some sort of follow-up on them, rather than them being episodic characters here today and gone tomorrow.

Which is all to say, I’m still hoping for the kid who played Shaun’s brother coming back.

Dr. Andrews Struggles To Get Ahead

One thing that isn’t lost on me is how far Dr. Andrews has fallen since becoming president of the hospital. He got divorced, lost his job, got a new one, and has had to rely on Salen to claw his way back to where he was. So, as much as you do have to see Shaun’s point of view, regarding Dr. Andrews becoming a worst doctor, at the same time, what choice does he have?

Salen is the only means he’d get promoted since Dr. Glassman has not forgotten who Dr. Andrews was when we met him in season 1. Then, when it comes to Dr. Lim, while an excellent doctor, she doesn’t know how to work the politics of the job. So while she has enough clout to get Dr. Andrews a job, she isn’t someone who he can use, or work with, to fully embrace his ambition.

And this episode perhaps showed, more than what we’ve seen in a long time, how ambitious Dr. Andrews is, and that he wants to prove that he got this job because he deserves it, not because he is sleeping with Salen. His wanting to do a risky, aka “Innovative” surgery, was about doing something showy that would impress Salen, even be in line with her goals, while showing everyone he still has it.

Yet, as we saw many times, Dr. Andrews is often blinded by his ambition and, like Salen, will make sacrifices, including people, to reach his end goal. Which does lead me to wonder, as Salen is attacked repeatedly, will Dr. Andrews take the hits, even a fall for her, or will he eventually turn on her?

Low Points

That Last-Minute Save For Nelly

I understand that losing a baby was already shocking for a show that consistently has last-minute ideas that save a patient’s life. However, Nelly being dead on the table for minutes, then coming back to life due to how her blood clots? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

Now, let it be known, I’m someone who thinks these doctors should lose far more patients than they do, but it’s one thing when you get a thorough medical reason that explains how someone gets cured. It’s a whole other thing when they decide to just throw care to the wind and say someone survived because of luck.

I hope they don’t do that again for suspending disbelief is already hard enough with this show sometimes, but that really pushed me to the edge.

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