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Shaun Murphy – the doctor who proved everyone wrong

Natalia Jakubowska



Just yesterday, I finished re-watching all six seasons of The Good Doctor series and, finally, I also had the chance to watch the seventh, final season of the series. I have a tendency to watch certain series over and over again if I find them interesting and amusing, and The Good Doctor is one of them.

The plot is structured around the main character’s life and his career as a rising star of surgery. His name is Shaun Murphy and he is presented as a child prodigy whose surgical and memorizing abilities significantly exceed those of his peers. However, his outstanding capabilities aren’t the only thing which make him special, or should I say, different. Shaun was born with a condition called the autism spectrum disorder, shortened to ASD, and another one referred to as savant syndrome. The latter allows him to memorize complex knowledge at a rate of knots, making him an excellent medicine student, whilst the former, in contrast, has made brought him much pain throughout his life: starting with his unsupportive and abusive parents, through running away from home and accidentally contributing to his brother’s death, to being denied a job at Saint Bonaventure’s Hospital, his dream workplace.

Despite the obstacles life has placed in Shaun’s way, he has been extremely persistent, continued to thrive and always strived for achieving perfection. He managed to make everyone change their minds about him, which I find truly inspiring. As a person who is also neurodivergent and suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), seeing someone achieve so much, even with their supposed inabilities to do so or to express certain things, is truly amazing to me. Shaun Murphy can be an inspiration for many, as he was to me: by making it through the hardships of life, he proved everybody wrong on him being worthy of his job, and also his family, his wife, Lea and his two children. If someone had shown this series to me when I was younger, I would have gladly watched it to learn that even though some people are considered different, they can’t be stopped from living a full, happy life.

This series most certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted, as it discusses a lot of important, controversial or gruesome topics; however, if one is not triggered by that, I would really recommend watching it. The series allows the viewer to expand their knowledge on different mental and physical disabilities and ways of dealing with real-life problems through medical analogies. The Good Doctor pushes you towards self-reflection and motivates you to always aim to be the best version of yourself because if you try, there is always a chance for success.



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