‘The Good Doctor’: Can Lim Take Down Salen? Plus, an Update on Shaun & Lea’s Wedding (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Good Doctor Season 5, Episode 8 “Rebellion.”]

When The Good Doctor left off in November, Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) seemingly canceled his and Lea Dilallo’s (Paige Spara) wedding, a baby died due to expired meds in the pharmacy, and Salen Morrison’s (Rachel Bay Jones) changes to the hospital were not going over well.

When “Rebellion” begins, no one’s happy. And when it ends, well, unfortunately, the same is true. But is Shaun and Lea’s wedding at least still on? Can Dr. Audrey Lim (Christina Chang) get rid of Salen?

Shaun … vs. Lea?

Lea tries to talk to Shaun after he told her he didn’t want to marry her, but he just reiterates that statement. It was three incidents, in his mind: the lie about her trip to Montana, falsifying his performance rating, and refusing to make it right by correcting his scores or telling Salen.

Lea then tries to see if Dr. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff) can talk to Shaun, but he doesn’t have any luck either. Shaun recalls how Lea told him they could never be more than friends because of his ASD and thinks she wanted Glassman to come back from Montana because she didn’t want to be “burdened” with him on her own. He doesn’t want to marry someone settling for him. Lea loves him, Glassman tries to explain.

After witnessing Dr. Alex Park (Will Yun Lee) lie to a patient – maybe his friend, who’s out of his league, will see him as more eventually, he suggests — Shaun wonders if Glassman was lying to him. He remembers a classmate he let copy off his test told him he was cute, but her friend said she made fun of him behind his back. Everyone feels weird, stupid, old, ugly, etc., Glassman offers, but that doesn’t help.

ABC/Jeff Weddell

At the end of the day, Park tells their patient that he needs to change his own mind about himself. Shaun agrees, and when he gets home, he tells Lea he doesn’t want to cancel their wedding. “We love each other, and we’re good for each other and I forgive you for lying about your trip to Montana and changing my scores,” he says. “I know you were just trying to help me.” When he asks about the reason she wanted Glassman to come back, she tells him she knows they care about each other.

And yes, she once said she couldn’t be in a relationship with him because of his ASD, but that was a long time ago. She’s grown. Their relationship has grown, she argues. Now, she’s the one upset, and she’s thinking they shouldn’t get married or be living together. And with that, she walks out, planning to look for a new place to live the next day.

Lim vs. Salen

In the aftermath of the baby’s death, Salen announces an extensive review of the pharmacy inventory policy and tells the doctors that anything they need (counseling, paid time off) is available. With a lawsuit a possibility, they need to use professional discretion in their communication with the mother, Alma.

ABC/Jeff Weddell

Glassman knows Lim wants to react and tries to talk her into taking a day off or letting Salen make the first move. She’s still owner of the hospital, after all, and if Lim goes up against her in a fit of rage, she will face consequences. “I’m taking her down,” Lim says. Her first move: have Lea gather all documents related to Salen’s takeover (over 4000 pages).

Salen, meanwhile, speaks with Alma first, offering her condolences, an explanation for what happened (the pharmacist has resigned, she says, over the mistake, which didn’t have any effect on her child), coverage of all medical expenses, and an immediate payment of $200,000 for her pain and suffering. As for the pharmacist, he argues that Salen should be the one who’s fired, considering he warned her and kept the proof. She simply points out that she has multiple lawyers on retainer and leaves him no choice but to take his severance and sign an NDA.

As Lim discovers, Salen doesn’t quite own the hospital yet; acquisitions take time, and something that can keep this from going through is that it adversely affects serving the community interest. Lim gets the pharmacist to agree to come forward, wondering what exactly he plans to tell his kids (the truth or a lie?) about what happened. But Glassman doesn’t think the AG will take this on. And, it turns out, he’s right.

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First, the pharmacist backs down. Then the AG does listen to Lim but ultimately decides not to do anything. (After all, does Lim have any evidence of fraud or criminal activity by Salen?) And then when Lim returns to the hospital after that bad news, Salen reveals she knew all about what she was doing. She’s always been open with her, tried to help her understand what it is she’s trying to accomplish, Salen claims, but now she went behind her back and tried to destroy it all. She’ll never forget it. Uh-oh. It looks like this is just the beginning of Lim vs. Salen, and right now, it’s Salen 1, Lim 0.

The Good Doctor, Mondays, 10/9c, ABC