The WORST Episodes of The Good Doctor
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Jan 15, 2021
Network: ABC (US)
Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, relocates from a quiet country life to join a prestigious hospital surgical unit. Alone in the world and unable to personally connect with those around him, Shaun uses his extraordinary medical gifts to save lives and challenge the skepticism of his colleagues.

#1 - Lim
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired Jan 11, 2021
As Chief of Surgery Dr. Audrey Lim struggles to cope with the residual emotional trauma of COVID-19, she encounters a young war veteran fighting debilitating PTSD. After discussing his case with the team, Dr. Claire Browne suggests a radical treatment to help him. Meanwhile, still reeling from the recent loss of his mentee’s patient, Dr. Shaun Murphy declares he doesn’t want to teach the new residents anymore. And elsewhere, an eccentric patient keeps the team entertained.

#2 - Newbies
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired Nov 16, 2020
With several candidates vying for residency at St. Bonaventure, Chief of Surgery Dr. Audrey Lim tasks Dr. Shaun Murphy, Dr. Claire Browne and Dr. Alex Park with mentoring the top first-year resident contenders. As their mentees shadow them for the day, Shaun and Park meet with Andrews to discuss a difficult surgery scheduled for a minor. Later, Shaun inadvertently insults Lea while discussing the pros and cons of the controversial surgery. And elsewhere, Dr. Morgan Reznick seeks out Claire and Lim's help on a consult.

#3 - Incomplete
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired Nov 25, 2019
Shaun is ready for the next step in his relationship with Carly. However, he continues to struggle as they grow closer and more intimate, and is dealt some troubling news about a deeply personal issue. A young patient must decide on a treatment that could save her life or possibly destroy her marriage.

#4 - Not the Same
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired Nov 23, 2020
Morgan and Shaun's pregnant patient with twins is having pain and they are forced to grapple with a decision no-one wants to make. Shaun asks Lea to move back in despite her reservations.

#5 - Fixation
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired Mar 2, 2020
A patient with a mysterious and undiagnosed illness that has baffled other doctors for years forces Shaun and the team to take some big risks. Claire and Melendez continue to cautiously navigate their feelings for each other as colleagues and friends.

#6 - Aftermath
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired Jan 21, 2019
In the aftermath of the quarantine, the staff tries to return to their normal routines. Meanwhile, as Dr. Lim recovers from the virus, she and Dr. Melendez navigate their new personal and working relationship, while Dr. Murphy and Dr. Glassman visit Lea.

#7 - Take My Hand
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired Oct 14, 2019
As a conspiracy theorist questions Dr. Neil Melendez’s of his liver damage, Dr. Claire Brown treats a woman whose inability to feel pain is threatening both her marriage and her life. Meanwhile, Dr. Shaun Murphy and Dr. Aaron Glassman each face crises in their romantic relationships.

#8 - Heartfelt
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired Feb 26, 2018
Dr. Shaun Murphy's teenage patient has been confined to her home her entire life due to a rare heart condition. Despite her condition, she has cultivated a large group of friends online and hopes that the surgical team can find a way to give her the life she has always dreamed of having. Meanwhile, a young patient's perfectly matched organ donor is causing a moral dilemma for the parents and the patient.

#9 - SFAD
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 11, 2019
Dr. Shaun Murphy’s unique ability to relate to a patient isolated by an immune deficiency yields an unexpected result. Meanwhile, Dr. Claire Browne, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Marcus Andrews treat a 12-year-old patient who is about to become blind, and tension builds between Dr. Neil Melendez and Dr. Audrey Lim.

#10 - Xin
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired Jan 28, 2019
Dr. Shaun Murphy, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Audrey Lim treat a woman with autism and a delicate brain condition while navigating the complicated relationship she has with her roommate, who is also on the spectrum. Meanwhile, Lea and Shaun are still figuring out their friendship and roommate status.

#11 - Pain
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired Mar 12, 2018
When the team treats a patient who has to decide between a dangerous surgery that could change his life or remain the same, he asks Dr. Shaun Murphy what he would if he had that same choice.

#12 - Frontline (1)
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired Nov 2, 2020
Dr. Murphy treats a patient who has an illness that is not only unpredictable in nature, but also unlike anything he or the team has seen before. Dr. Claire Brown continues to work through her grief, still reeling from Dr. Neil Melendez's death.

#13 - Fault
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired Nov 30, 2020
Shaun questions his decision to give the new residents autonomy when an intern's misdiagnosis has dire consequences. A patient has a ruptured cyst affecting key functions of her brain. Morgan and Park bond over failed relationships.

#14 - Frontline (2)
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired Nov 9, 2020
Dr. Shaun Murphy and the team try to get a better understanding of COVID-19; Claire looks for a way to grieve Melendez's death through her patients; Dr. Alex Park and Mia discuss their future together.

#15 - Hubert
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 12, 2018
Dr. Shaun Murphy and Dr. Morgan Reznick must contend with two brothers who are bargaining over life and death. Meanwhile, Dr. Claire Brown’s friend who is dying of cancer asks her for something she doesn’t think she can give her; and Dr. Aaron Glassman is dealing with the effects of his treatment.

#16 - Islands: Part One
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired Jan 8, 2018
Dr. Marcus Andrews enlists Dr. Neil Melendez on a very sensitive kidney transplant between a pair of twins; Dr. Shaun Murphy decides to take an impromptu trip with his friend Lea and leave his problems behind.

#17 - Moonshot
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 18, 2019
Carly’s attempts at increasing her intimacy with Shaun are becoming more of a frustration than either of them expected. Lim and Melendez struggle in their relationship as they work to separate their work from their personal life.

#18 - She
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired Feb 5, 2018
Shaun is surprised to learn that his young cancer patient identifies as a girl while being biologically male. He must quickly learn to understand his patient, her medical needs and how to work with her family, who all feel they know what is best for her.

#19 - Influence
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired Feb 10, 2020
After Shaun treats a patient who is a social influencer, he deals with unwanted attention. The team treats a woman who is in abdominal distress after an at-home faecal transplant Carly's efforts to separate Shaun from Lea are challenged.

#20 - Disaster
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired Sep 23, 2019
Following what he believes was a disastrous first date with Carly, Dr. Shaun Murphy proposes a radical surgery to save a newlywed woman’s life. Meanwhile, after the new chief of surgery, Dr. Audrey Lim, announces that the residents can lead surgeries, Dr. Morgan Reznick and Dr. Alex Park compete for the chance to operate on an elderly patient who has been diagnosed with cancer.

#21 - Seven Reasons
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired Jan 22, 2018
Shaun suspects his patient is lying about the reason for her injury and makes a controversial assumption about her motives. Dr. Melendez’s personal life could be affecting his work and, ultimately, his patients' lives.

#22 - Believe
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired Feb 25, 2019
The new chief of surgery, Dr. Jackson Han, believes Dr. Shaun Murphy is a liability more than an asset and works to keep him out of the operating room permanently.

#23 - Empathy
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired Nov 26, 2018
Dr. Neil Melendez, Dr. Morgan Reznick, and Dr. Claire Brown grapple with a patient's wish to perform an operation that would keep him from acting on his pedophilic urges. Dr. Shaun Murphy learns a lesson in empathy.

#24 - Sex and Death
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired Jan 27, 2020
Shaun and Reznik grapple with a terminal cancer patient who is determined to live the last few months of his life without inhibition. Reznik must confront her relationship with her mother when she comes in for a third opinion from Glassman. Shaun and Carly's relationship reaches a new level of intimacy.

#25 - Fractured
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired Jan 13, 2020
Following his father’s death, Shaun must deal with the effects his intimacy with Lea will have on his relationship with Carly. The team operates on a patient who is refusing all anaesthesia during surgery for fear of relapsing.