DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Doctor Season 2

 

++++Warning, this will contain season-one spoilers, but no major season-two giveaways++++

The 18-episode second season aired during the 2018/2019 TV season. It picks up shortly after the events of the first season, with Glassman having resigned as president of the hospital because of his brain cancer diagnosis and Dr. Andrews taking over. Shaun is obsessively "helping" Glassman through his treatment and continues his struggle to fit in as a surgeon and as a member of the surgical team.

There are some cast shake-ups this season, with some characters leaving and others getting a more expanded role or upped to series regulars. Most of the main cast members, including Freddie Highmore, Antonia Brown, Paige Spara, Richard Schiff, Hill Harper, and Nicholas Gonzalez, all return. Chuku Modu's character is written out, and Fiona Gubelmann, Chistina Chang, and Will Yun Lee all have expanded roles.  Daniel Dae Kim, who is an executive producer of the show, has a guest-starring arc about 2/3 of the way through the season, which shakes up things for everyone at the hospital. The show does a good job of providing the large ensemble cast with good material to work with and providing depth and development to the characters. We learn more about the backstories of Dr. Park, Dr. Lim, and, to a lesser extent, Dr. Reznick and Dr. Melendez. The season ends not so much on any cliffhangers for the characters but more as a set-up for big season-three storylines.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. The extras include deleted or extended scenes for most episodes, which are included as special features on each disc. Then, there is a gag reel and a handful of short behind-the-scenes features on the final disc. Excluding the deleted scenes, there are about 20 minutes of material and 45 minutes, give or take, if you include the deleted scenes. So, it has a decent amount of extras compared to what is being put out with the ever-fewer series that get physical media releases. One thing to keep in mind if you are in the United States is that only seasons 1-3 received a Region 1 release on DVD. The remaining seasons are available in Region 2 releases, so you need a Region 2 or Region-free DVD or Blu-Ray player to watch those (and likely pay a higher price for the DVD sets). 

DVD/TV Series Review: The Good Doctor: Season 1

 

Every few years (seemingly), a new medical drama comes along. The 18-episode first season of The Good Doctor aired in the 2017/2018 TV season. It starred Freddy Highmore, Antonia Thomas, Paige Spara, Richard Schiff, Hill Harper, Nicholas Gonzalez, and Chuku Modu. Tamlyn Tomita, Christina Chang, and Will Yun Lee had recurring roles during the first season. The show is a procedural drama centered around the character of Doctor Shaun Murphy, played by Freddie Highmore (best known for his role as a young Norman Bates in Bates Motel). Murphy is a surgical resident at the fictional St. Bonaventure Hospital in San Jose, California. Without giving away too much, he is an autistic savant and longtime friend (with an almost father-son relationship) of the hospital's president, Dr. Glassman (played by Richard Schiff). The hospital's board and head of the surgical team are against bringing Shaun in as a surgical resident. Glassman makes a deal with the hospital board to bring Shaun on, saying he will resign if Shaun does not excel. While Shaun is the main character, because he is a lower-level character in the hospital, he is often the background in the hospital scenes, not having much of a say in things. 

The show was created by the creative team behind the medical drama House. Like that show, this has an ensemble cast, but it is not as centered around Murphy as House was around its titular character. The remaining cast is rounded out with a mix of recognizable character actors and relatively unknown actors and actresses. Hill Harper plays the head of surgery, Nicholas Gonzalez plays the surgical attending who is assigned to be Shaun's immediate boss, Antonia Thomas is another one of the surgical residents, and Tamlyn Tomita, who played the female lead in Karate Kid Part 2, plays one of the board members of the hospital. It is a case-of-the-week procedural drama mixed with serial storylines like many prime-time dramas. Unlike House, the focus is not always on one medical case in each episode. Some episodes are like that, and others focus on things like the personal lives of the various characters with the medical cases in the background. There are definitely themes that run throughout the season, with prejudice against Shaun because of his autism being front and center. Given the cast's ensemble nature, I think the show does a good job of providing all the characters with good storylines to generate interest in them. Although some characters get more material than others. There is at least some and for some characters a lot, of character development for pretty much all the characters over the course of the 18 episodes.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. The extras include deleted scenes for most episodes, a gag reel, and a couple of behind-the-scenes features. Good for what is there, but not a ton. So if you only get DVDs or Blu Rays (which this is not available on) when there are a lot of extras, you may just want to stream this. Overall, though, it is a very good, but not necessarily great (although that is subjective) medical drama. The season ends with more than one character's storyline up in the air going into the second season, and if it continues to be well-written and acted, it can be even stronger in season two. Ultimately, it is definitely worth checking out.

DVD Review: The Good Doctor Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains a major spoiler from season three, but no major season four giveaways. +++

Season four of The Good Doctor is definitely a transition year for the show. The first two episodes were geared toward dealing with the pandemic, with, as you would expect, a focus on how it affects the medical professionals. The characters on the show were also dealing with the loss of Doctor Melendez after his death at the end of season three. Nicholas Gonzalez did make a couple of appearances early in the season, but I have a feeling that storyline was cut back quite a bit because of the pandemic-specific episodes. From there, the show then pretty much went back to its format of a combination procedural/serial medical drama. It was mostly a case-of-the-week format with story arcs that wove through the season. There was also more cast turnover this year, mainly through additions to the cast with Noah Galvin and Bria Henderson essentially becoming series regulars as first-year residents. The season is full of emotional ups and downs for many of the characters with almost everyone facing some kind of crisis, or relationship issue at some point during the season. I will not give anything away, but there is a lot of drama pretty much all the way through the season. The show continues to be well-written and acted with all of the characters getting a chance to have good arcs and development. Freddie Highmore continues to do a great job in the lead role, but Paige Spara and Fiona Gublemann were also standouts this season, with very different story arcs. 

For those who get the DVDs, it does have a few extras including about 13 minutes of deleted scenes, a short gag reel, and a goodbye package to one of the characters/actors who left the show this season. Most fans of the show likely know who that is, but again I will not spoil it. 

Overall, I would say if you have been a fan of the show you will probably like this season. If you have not liked the prior seasons then this one is not likely to do much for you. Like most medical dramas, it can get a bit soap operaish, but for the most part, it focuses on the medical cases, so the soap opera-like elements do not distract from the show or dominate it. It is definitely a good season and worth watching.