The show has finally dealt with its biggest controversy.
The Good Doctor, a medical drama with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s star Freddie Highmore in the leading role, has recently concluded its 7-year-old television run with seven seasons in total.
Despite numerous complaints about the finale as a whole, the show has nonetheless ended it all on a relatively good note concerning one specific matter the representation of which many found extremely offensive.
The plot initially follows young autistic surgeon Shaun Murphy who ends up getting a job in a prestigious hospital in California after moving there from a small town where he had not the best time. The Good Doctor gradually shows Shaun’s personal evolution and big developments in his career when he eventually becomes the one to teach young doctors instead of just being one of them.
The final season captures Shaun in his new job position when a new medical student, Charlie portrayed by Kayla Cromer, comes up on stage. The relationships between her and Shaun demonstrate a big tension since the very beginning while Shaun doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he can’t stand Charlie.
Perhaps this little dramatical plot twist wouldn’t be that much of a real drama if Charlie wasn’t autistic too — just like her idol Shaun.
The show came quite close to a point of an absolute hatred towards it from the fans, but found a right moment to reverse. Charlie’s appearance in The Good Doctor wasn’t very welcome at first considering her weird behavior which was seemingly confirming and even reinforcing all the stereotypes about autistic people.
Despite looking at Shaun as her role model, Charlie would constantly prove some kind of disrespect towards him by ignoring his directions and interrupting him all the time. On top of that, she wasn’t even aware of the fact that her behavior is her entire responsibility rather than something that the others had to put up with.
The show eventually moves Charlie away from a status of the most annoying character letting her debunk all the stereotypes when the hospital is hit by a crisis.
Even after having adjusted to all the hardships of his professional path, Shaun still struggled with overwhelming feelings that would come back every time he needed to take it all in his hands.
Charlie’s figure here didn’t keep exasperating him, but instead gave him a helping hand by consoling and encouraging Shaun to go on thus making him calm down enough to take it all under his control.
