The Good Doctor Season 1 Episode 4 Recap: What A Drip!

On Monday, The Good Doctor plot was pretty much wrapped around a drip. Yes, you read that right: a drip!

Cleverly called “Pipes”, the fourth episode of this promising ABC medical drama saw Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) involved in two cases: one involving a pregnant lady insisting on dangerous surgery, and another leading to the end of a young girl’s satisfactory sex life.

Woven into these distinctive storylines was a deeper look into the young pediatric resident’s home life. Plumbing issues had the autistic doctor raging late at night because he couldn’t find his screw driver.

He went berserk, trashing his apartment to look for the lost tool and waking up his across-the-hall neighbor, as well as his super, who lives below him. He was so distressed that he called mentor Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) to assist in this lost-and-found expedition.

After going through all this, and after giving his super a long list of demands, Shaun was not amused when the dripping was silenced. It seems The Good Doctor used this plumbing flaw to figure out his cases–particularly the one revolving around the young female’s plumbing issues.

Back at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, the 26-week pregnant woman who had suffered multiple, soul-crushing miscarriages, was diagnosed with severe complications: Her heart was faulty and the fetus was afflicted by a massive tumor.

The medical consensus? Abort the baby and save the mother. The mother wasn’t having that–and didn’t need to because, in the end, an unconventional way of solving the issue resulted in a healthy baby still thriving in his mom’s womb.

As for the other case? Shaun and Claire (Antonia Thomas) assisted Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) by addressing a labia boil hurting a young porn star.

Shaun diagnosed the boil as an abscess which needed to go, along with any feeling in her genitals. Obviously, this didn’t thrill the patient so Shaun thought of a better solution as he worked on his pipes to make his drip return.

While under his sink with all the interconnecting parts, he realized that by using a nerve from the woman’s thigh, he could save her ability to feel and also take care of the problematic growth. The inventive gynecological surgery was successful.

Happily, The Good Doctor was no longer concerned about the drip and Shaun wasn’t considered a drip, either, thanks to his ingenious medical practices. By the end of the episode, his colleagues finally started accepting him and his unique way of thinking to save lives. Progress!

The Good Doctor airs on ABC at 10 p.m., ET.