The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 9 Review: Broken or Not

Surprise! (NOT). Lea is pregnant.

After the promo video promised a “shocking” surprise involving her being scared, what else could it be?

The aftermath might be interesting, but The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 9 offered a far less predictable cliffhanger when Perez relapsed and overdosed on heroin.

Perez seemed to have his addiction under control. He was sober, working on his medical residency, and thinking about dating Jordan.

But that’s the thing about substance abuse. Once someone crosses the line into using drugs, there’s no guarantee they’ll stay sober. Relapses are often part of the recovery process.

Still, TV tends to fall into the trope of someone going from long-term sobriety to relapse in the blink of an eye. That can happen, but once sobriety becomes a habit, people tend to white-knuckle it for a while until they can’t resist the temptation anymore.

In Perez’s case, the only signs he might use were that he kept saying he felt guilty about inviting Simon to pick Teddy up from the hospital and his decision to ask Powell to take over the surgery.

Had he been using for a while without viewers knowing? He said his hands were unsteady after being up late, which could suggest he was coming down from a binge.

He’d initially wanted to avoid dating because he felt like his residency and sobriety were a lot to handle, so kissing Jordan might have created additional pressure he wasn’t equipped to deal with.

Let’s hope that Jordan doesn’t blame herself!

Addicts are often secretive when actively using. There’s a lot of shame around their inability to resist temptation, and what they do is often highly illegal.

In Perez’s case, he could lose his job and risk jail time if caught using, and he wouldn’t want Jordan to judge him, either.

Simon: I thought we were finally close again. But he was hurting. How do I fix this?
Perez: Sometimes trying to fix the problem is the problem. I went through tough times too, and everyone had ideas about how to fix me. I didn’t need that. I just needed them to love me, broken or not.

Dealing with Teddy’s bulimia, Shaun’s insistence that Teddy be discharged without addressing it, and the fight between Simon and Teddy all contributed to Perez’s sense of powerlessness. That could have driven him to start using again.

The Good Doctor got quite a bit right in that last scene.

The chain on the door triggered my memories of living with an addict who became paranoid when high. Perez might also have chained the door so he didn’t get caught.

In addition, people who have been sober for a while often don’t realize their tolerance has decreased; if a relapsing addict takes the same amount of the drug he used to before sobering up, it could be fatal.

I was confused about two things, though. First, if Perez planned to use, why didn’t he cancel his date with Jordan first? He’d likely not want her to know what he was up to, so it would have made more sense for her to go over there anyway after he said he was too tired to see her.

He probably didn’t plan on overdosing, so it’s good that she did come over, but still. Maybe he was so focused on getting high that he forgot about their plans, but that seemed strange.

More importantly, why didn’t Jordan use Narcan when she found him on the floor? It’s great she called 911, but Narcan is made for situations like this, and nowadays, most doctors are trained in administering it.

If Perez survives, Jordan will stand by him no matter what, but what’ll happen to his job?

Someone who is actively using can’t be in a job where they have access to controlled substances. Not only is it a bad idea, but it’s a liability for the hospital. At the least, Perez will probably have to go through rehab before returning to work.

Also a liability: Shaun sending Teddy home without treating his eating disorder.

The bulimia story was mainly well-done; I was all set to congratulate The Good Doctor for offering a realistic case that involved a male patient. Many people don’t know that eating disorders can also affect men. This story could also help male viewers who may be suffering feel less alone and less ashamed.

However, Shaun’s attitude was wrong. While Teddy had recovered from his surgery, he had a mental health issue that was so serious that it was causing life-threatening physical symptoms.

Shaun wouldn’t discharge him without a consult if they’d found a mass on one of his organs while operating on him; this was no less severe a condition than that was.

At the very least, Shaun should have had a psychiatrist sign off on the discharge so that the hospital would be covered. A psychiatrist could determine whether Teddy was enough of a danger to himself to require continued hospitalization.

And considering that Teddy ruptured his esophagus purging immediately after his discharge, Shaun’s failure to do this was reckless.

It should not have been up to a first-year resident to try to get Teddy the help he needed, nor should Perez have been penalized in Shaun’s ridiculous performance-rating system for doing so.

Shaun did say something about a psych consult, so maybe he did take this bare minimum step. But if so, it was off-screen, and it wasn’t apparent he did it at all.

Park’s story left me confused. Are he and Lily still dating or not? She implied she was done because of her fear that Park and Morgan were still into each other, but Morgan thought they were still together, and Park didn’t correct her.

The best I can say about this story is that it wasn’t as obnoxious as it could have been, which isn’t saying much. I wish Morgan would go to New York after all; this will-they-won’t-they with her and Park is not entertaining.

Finally, I’m glad Clay told Lim that it wouldn’t change anything for them as a couple if she regained her ability to walk. They had a mature conversation that helped her make her decision.

But it was far too soon for a marriage proposal. It’s great that he is committed to her, but can’t he give her a promise ring or a pin? Sheesh.

How did you find the winter finale? Which cliffhangers excited you the most? What could you have done without?

Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know. And don’t forget you can watch The Good Doctor online while waiting for the series to return.

The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Mondays at 10 PM EST / PST. It returns with new episodes on January 23, 2023.

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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 Twitter.

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