I don’t relish the idea of watching medical dramas. The thought of all the blood and slicing and focus on gore-covered organs is nauseating and instantly off-putting. Nobody is literally beautiful on the inside, in my opinion. This is the main reason I chose to stay ignorant rather than submit to the mass hysteria that spread like the plague with series like House and Grey’s Anatomy. Medical dramas were not for me, thank you very much. I would happily go through life without watching a single one, without willingly inflicting such suffering upon myself.
Well, that’s what I thought until I saw the promo for The Good Doctor.
It looked very interesting, as most trailers do, but what caught my attention was the lead actor. There was something so familiar about him. Freddie Highmore.
I get very excited on unexpectedly seeing someone familiar onscreen. The excitement is directly proportional to how much I like someone and, often, the amount of time and energy spent in finding out who that someone is and where I've seen him/her before.
So, I figured that since they were airing the first two episodes of what seemed like an interesting show which happened to star someone I knew when he was "yea high", I had to check it out. Since it would be on TV, they’d probably censor some of the gory stuff with the careful precision of doctors cutting open patients. (I’m kidding, I know TV doesn’t care to be subtle about censoring)
Well, they did not edit out gory bits. But apart from that, the series is lovely. I'm not sure how different it is from other medical dramas - a gifted doctor who isn’t quite understood by most people shows up at a hospital and makes you wonder how many people who died there could have been saved if he'd been there before. There are some surgical procedures that are shown in excruciatingly graphic detail, but everything else is quite pleasant to watch, although it's often quite emotionally heavy.
There are lots of lovely characters, including gentle, kind Dr Glassman and sweet, spunky Dr Brown, but Shaun Murphy is quite possibly the most beautiful character I've seen on TV in a long time (or, quite possibly, ever). I may be a little biased since I already love Freddie Highmore, but he makes Murphy instantly likeable, and everything about him feels authentic. He reminds me of a high-functioning autistic student I had - the incredible elephant memory, the visualisation of places as maps, the attention to detail, the discomfort with physical contact, the repetition of words and phrases when upset, and so on.
Murphy is so adorable and simple he'll make you laugh and cry, often at the same time. I love that part in the pilot where he talks about wanting to make lots of money so he can buy a TV (and his TV is, in itself, pretty darn adorable). One of my favourite moments on the show so far is when he says he likes Hershey because "Lea is there". Hits you right in the feels.
The Good Doctor is moving but not depressing, and I love it (/him) enough to watch every single episode despite all the blood and gore. Kudos to the writers and everyone involved in making this. And thank you, Freddie Highmore. You're awesome. Here's to many more wonderful characters. Happy birthday.