No, it’s not The Good Fight, The Good Place, The Good Wife, or even The Good Life—it’s The Good Doctor, and season six is now streaming on NEON.
If this one has flown under your radar, here’s the deal: it’s House on the autism spectrum. In fact, it’s literally by House creator David Shore. Freddie Highmore, who seems to have successfully transitioned from child roles in stuff like Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to a grown-up career, is the titular sawbones, Dr Shaun Murphy, a gifted surgeon from a small midwestern town who takes up a job at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital in California.
He is also on the autism spectrum, a way of being that for him comes packaged with perfect memory and a host of other unusual talents, but also social difficulties and an acute sensitivity to overstimulation. Still, it does make him an absolute gun in the operating theatre, and the fun comes in seeing this unique character navigate the high-pressure environment of a modern hospital.
The medical drama has been a screen mainstay for ages now—it’s a genre precisely designed to deliver seemingly unsolvable moral dilemmas, high stakes, and even higher emotion. Plus, the hospital setting gives room for—in this case, at least—a stacked roster of supporting acting talent in the ensemble. The West Wing’s Richard Schiff as Shaun’s avuncular mentor, Dr Aaron Glassman; Will Yun Lee as cop-turned-surgeon Dr Alex Park; and Paige Spara as Lea Dilallo-Murphy, Shaun’s love interest and eventual wife as of the climax of season 5.
Interestingly, the series is an adaptation of a Korean medical drama; actor Daniel Dae Kim bought the English language rights and spent years bringing it to the screen, whereupon it became the most popular show in America in its first season. It seems Kim knows when he’s onto a good thing—if you want in, you know what to do.
