Asher’s death shocked and angered fans as much as it did the characters who loved him.
The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 6 opened with his funeral. Soon, everyone had to rush off to deal with a mass casualty situation, not even allowing Jordan to finish her eulogy.
As the doctors got to work, Asher was gone but not forgotten, but it wasn’t the tribute he deserved.
The hour opened with a large photo of Asher at a memorial service in the hospital chapel. I was dreading this moment almost as much as I had in real life when I had to go to a funeral for someone I loved who died suddenly.
If the entire hour had been devoted to the funeral, it would have been depressing and not in line with The Good Doctor’s brand. Still, Asher Wolke was a beloved character who deserved something more than what he got.
The service was in the hospital chapel so doctors and staff could pay their respects, but it bothered me that it wasn’t a Jewish service.
Asher struggled with his religious identity, but he embraced his Judaism right before his death, and he was killed because he asserted his identity as a Jewish gay man.
Hospital chapels are always non-denominational, but it seemed doubly disrespectful not to have a rabbi officiating and for Jordan to speak on a stage adorned with crosses when you consider the reason Asher was dead.
Asher was one of the most courageous people I knew. He had the courage to leave everyone he loved behind to be who he really was.
Jordan
Jordan’s speech encapsulated who Asher was. Their friendship was exceptional, and she was the perfect person to eulogize him. They were platonic soulmates — people who had no romantic interest in each other but otherwise were as close as a married couple.
It sucked that she didn’t get to finish it because of the crisis.
Jordan’s Reaction to Her Patient Was The Best Part of the Hour
The idea of a doctor struggling with keeping their oath to do no harm when their patient has hurt others is somewhat of a tired TV trope on medical dramas, but in this case, it worked.
Jordan’s anger was more than justified, especially since Riley had committed an act of violence that was as senseless as Asher’s murder had been.
We never discovered his motive for driving his car into a crowd of people having fun at a festival. His mother said something about mental illness and being different, and I wish she hadn’t.
I’m tired of the myth that mental illness makes people violent or that people who have mental health issues can’t control their behavior.
It’s nonsense that harms real people who have mental health conditions, and The Good Doctor used to know better. The series’ premise centers around including neurodivergent people like Shaun in mainstream settings.
The Good Doctor used to provide some of the most moving mental health stories on TV, but now it’s falling into pernicious stereotypes, and it needs to stop.
However, Jordan’s lack of sympathy for Riley was the strongest part of the hour. She didn’t get to finish memorializing her best friend because Riley hurt a bunch of other people for no damn reason, and then she was expected not only to save his life but to ensure he had as little pain as possible.
She had every right to be pissed off about that, even if her idea were way off base that making the perpetrators of these crimes hurt would change anything.
Lim’s PTSD Seemed LIke a Rerun
Lim’s reaction was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Her patient looked vaguely like Asher, triggering her grief over Asher’s death.
It makes sense that she would react this way since she had similar PTSD reactions after dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the scenes were so similar that it felt like deja vu.
Then, as now, Lim’s world moved in slow motion, and voices sounded far away. And I get that that’s how PTSD affects many people and that this is the best way to depict that on TV, but it didn’t do anything for me.
It needed something, anything, to differentiate it from her last experience with PTSD. Even confiding in someone that she was having the same symptoms would show growth and awareness for Audrey Lim despite the way grief was triggering her.
In real life, people may have the same symptoms repeatedly without making much progress, but on TV, we need more than that so that the story doesn’t feel redundant.
Shaun Realizes Charlie’s Worth
Charlie helped Shaun through a near meltdown, and just like that, they don’t hate each other anymore.
He admitted she might be able to be an “adequate” surgeon, and she withdrew her complaint—that’s the end of the story.
That was as predictable as it was pointless. There was no reason for Charlie to take legal action against Shaun if she would drop the whole thing the second he was semi-nice to her.
Fan chatter on social media suggests that Charlie is not a popular character. Many people don’t understand why she was brought on when the series is ending and find her annoying. This resolution didn’t help that.
I want to love Charlie.
I love that an autistic actress plays her; we need that representation.
However, we don’t need an autistic person who acts like a clone of Shaun circa The Good Doctor Season 1 and who is so desperate for his approval she’ll take whatever crumbs of kindness she can get from him.
Everyone but Shaun sees something in her, and it would have been fun for her to work with Glassman a while longer. Glassman was Shaun’s mentor, and Shaun likely wouldn’t like him taking Charlie under his wing now.
Despite the predictability of the Shaun/Charlie storyline, there were a few emotional moments.
Shaun: Get Asher.Nurse: Get Asher?Shaun: Oh. He’s dead.
Shaun forgetting that Asher was not there to assist with the emergency was an effective way of demonstrating how needed and missed Asher was. I loved when Charlie talked him through his overwhelm, showing she could be helpful.
Everyone Was There For Jerome
Jerome didn’t get enough screen time. He was planning to propose the night Asher was killed, so his grief should have taken a more central role in the episode.
What he did get was moving. His difficulty going home to an empty apartment or cleaning out Asher’s locker was realistic and emotional, and it sucked that he couldn’t even visit Asher’s grave because Asher’s family had buried him out of state.
Asher’s family didn’t respect his gay identity or his relationship in the end, bringing him back to the community after his death, even though that’s not what he would have wanted.
It was beautiful that everyone at the hospital was there for Jerome, even if none of this ever should have happened this way.
What did you think, The Good Doctor fanatics?
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The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Tuesdays at 10/9c. The next new episode airs on April 30, 2024.
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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
