Media Review #1 The Good Doctor Rashae Stoute
The Good Doctor was not what I expected it to be. The compassion, creativity, grace, honesty, and empathy which makes this medical drama worth wild watching. I can go weeks without watching the episodes so I can watch everything at once and be happy.
The jaw-dropping series The Good Doctor premiered on ABC Fall 2017. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Bates Motel Freddie Highmore play a surgical resident who has autism and savant syndrome. Highmore's character, Dr. Shawn Murphy is sharp-witted socially awkward and clever. His personality helps him solve medical issues of the week at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Shaun finds himself in a facility where others think he isn't capable or belongs because of his disability. He has to continually prove himself to Dr. Neil Melendez, Dr. Marcus Andrews, and the entire staff that he is more than able to become a surgeon. Just because he has a disability it does not mean he is incapable of doing what others can do.
This show offers creative yet outrageous medical cases that leave you wanting more. The first few episodes have taken operating on a little boy in an airport, healing a patient's burn wounds with fish skin, helping a boy who suffers from autism and operating on a liver on a freeway overpass. It's interesting how all the main characters are surgeons, so throughout the episodes, there is an essential amount of bloody images that help makes The Good Doctor.
You might think to yourself why would they cast Freddie Highmore, but he is the best choice for the casting of Dr. Shaun Murphy. Highmore is extremely delicate and compassionate filming this medical drama. He does so by keeping the viewers at a distance emotionally throughout the show by not knowing whether his encounter may cause tears or frustration.
Although the characters in The Good Doctor each have a unique role, the expectations of having a precise image for disabled people weighed heavily on viewers and critics minds. It can be tricky portraying an individual with autism and savant syndrome because everything can end up backlashing if there is no proper knowledge of people who suffer from autism.
Lauren Appelbaum stated, “People who are neuro-typical, without a disability, are allowed to follow their dreams, so why shouldn't people who have disabilities also allowed following their dreams?”
Even though that may be true, The Good Doctor not only shown what it is like for an individual who has autism but they also opened doors for individuals who have autism to get jobs. The director uses what it's like on a day to day basis for someone who suffers from autism.
The Good Doctor showcases different crisis that is happening, and when Murphy is trying to solve he in a soft focus and his photographic memory of bodily images appears on the screen. This photographic memory is an example of his savant syndrome provides him with a perfect memory, sharp intuition and he can see things that his colleagues do not see.
It is extremely interesting how the visual effects are created at that moment in time throughout the show. Andrew Duncan struggles from autism and ADHD but it helps him with his work at Exceptional Minds. Although The Good Doctor may not have a lead actor with autism they make everything realistic instead of stereotypical.
The visual images that are used throughout the show when a tough situation arises are how Andrew sees things daily. Instead of doing things falsely the crew of The Good Doctor captures exactly what it's like for a person with autism.
The creator of The Good Doctor does a fantastic job of capturing what it is like to work with someone who is autistic and not opting out to use stereotypical views on autism. Who wouldn't want to encourage positive viewings for what it’s like to work with someone who has autism? But let's be honest from a rate of one through ten, the first season of The Good Doctor gets a ten. Looking at this you might wonder why such a high rate? Looking beyond harsh expectations and criticisms The Good Doctor is one of a few shows that follows exactly what it's like dealing with a disability although the actor may not have one themselves.