The end of Asher’s story was one of the most disturbing moments in The Good Doctor’s history.
The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 5 devoted a lot of time to Asher’s struggle with his Jewish identity in a way that it hadn’t done since his father’s death.
The rug was pulled out from under him just as he finally became comfortable with himself, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.
Throughout the hour, Asher struggled with his Jewish identity and whether he wanted to get married.
It was a realistic and relatable conflict, although Asher’s cynicism grated on my nerves as much as it did Jerome’s.
I’m not a fan of conflating 21st-century customs with the beliefs of ancient times. The fact that in Biblical times, women were given to husbands as property was particularly irrelevant to the question of whether Asher wanted to marry another man, and it felt more like a self-sabotaging excuse.
I got the sense that Asher had some fear of commitment, perhaps left over from the way he was brought up or some internalized homophobia.
Asher: Last weekend, I found a ring box.
Jordan: Isn’t that what you want?
Asher: It is, but I’m just not comfortable with the antiquated ritual.
Jordan: Antiquated ritual? You’re marrying the man you love, not sacrificing a goat.
Asher has always been influenced by his pain regarding other people’s attitudes. He couldn’t understand why Scott would want to convert to Judaism because he had a poor experience in his Hasidic community. Thus, he assumed that Scott wanted to convert to please his fiancee.
That makes as much sense as when people think transgender people transition because of peer pressure. Why would someone go to all that trouble for something that didn’t mean anything to them?
Asher eventually came around after his argument with Jerome and discussion with Jordan, but he was close to insufferable during the first half of the episode.
Asher Finally Came Around, Only To Be Killed
I wasn’t a huge fan of the rabbi pressuring Asher to embrace his religion. There are many ways to be Jewish, and you don’t have to practice Orthodox Judaism if you don’t want to.
You’re a Jew, Asher, whether you like it or not. Anti-semites won’t give you a pass because you don’t have a mezuzah on the door so you might as well get something positive out of it.
Rabbi
But it sucked that just as Asher was coming around to standing up for who he was, some guy struck a fatal blow to the back of his head.
It was a shocking and upsetting moment, and even after the promo for The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 6 showed his funeral, I wasn’t sure he was dead rather than in a coma and presumed dead until I looked it up.
The senselessness was the point. Anti-semitic violence is on the rise in the US and elsewhere in the world, and the people who are being targeted by these pointless crimes are someone’s boyfriend, friend, or lover.
That’s always the case when someone is murdered for any reason. There’s a reason a Jewish proverb says that when you kill someone, you take away not only their life but the life of the children and grandchildren they may have someday.
I appreciated The Good Doctor’s highlighting of this type of violence. Ever since the latest war in Israel began, there’s been too much anger directed at people who happen to be Jewish and who have nothing to do with the conflict.
Yet, at the same time, I felt like Asher deserved a better ending than the tired TV trope of killing the only main LGBTQ+ character, even if it was to make a point about anti-semitism.
TV has a bad habit of using violence to stop gay characters from getting their happy ending. It’s better than it used to be, but we’re not at the point where killing a man off just as his boyfriend is about to propose to him is purely dramatic and doesn’t have ugly implications.
It’s also not that helpful in combatting anti-semitism, especially not the way this story was written. Asher had a lot of anger about his Jewish upbringing and was afraid to be who he was, and as soon as he finally stood up for himself and declared that he was gay and Jewish, he was killed.
This sends the wrong message. It suggests that being visible is dangerous, and people should stay quiet in order not to get killed. That’s not the solution to any of this.
In addition, while there has been more violence directed toward Jews than in the past, the more insidious type of bigotry is covert. It’s important to shed light on atrocities, but it’s also important to show the everyday kind of prejudice that can grow into violence if not nipped in the bud.
People often think that the only problems marginalized groups face involve violence and that if they do not wish death on people who aren’t like them, they don’t have any growing to do in terms of accepting and supporting others. That’s just not true.
I grew up as the only Jewish child in my class, and most of the negativity I experienced was people making jokes like saying someone who picked up a dropped penny on the floor “must be Jewish” and thinking I was oversensitive for not liking it.
Or having to participate in a holiday concert with 99% Christmas songs and 1% Christmas songs with the words changed to make them into Chanukah songs because it was assumed everyone celebrated Christmas.
Those are the kinds of things that are rarely addressed on TV in favor of big, splashy, disturbing scenes of people getting beaten to death.
I’m not saying that had to be Asher’s story. Still, I’d rather he experienced negativity from his peers now that he was openly Jewish than quickly ending his story with a senseless act of violence minutes after he embraced his Jewish roots.
Charlie Finally Stopped the Hero Worship
Elsewhere in the hospital, Shaun Murphy did his usual Shaun Murphy thing, but Charlie finally had enough.
Charlie was always better off with a different mentor. When she worked with Parok on The Good Doctor Season 7 Episode 4, she seemed like a different person.
She wasn’t under pressure to be perfect because she wasn’t trying to impress Shaun, which gave her a chance to shine.
Unfortunately, when Lim and Glassman forced Shaun to take her on as a student again, she made a serious error because she wanted to impress him, and Shaun responded by kicking her out of the OR again.
Good for Charlie for filing a complaint.
I’m surprised that when Shaun brought up that Charlie never listens to him and does things that are dangerous for patients, Glassman didn’t point out that that’s precisely how he felt when Shaun refused to listen to his directions during Lim’s surgery on The Good Doctor Season 6 Episode 1.
Shaun’s constant insistence that Charlie is nothing like him is getting on my last nerve.
I have issues with The Good Doctor writing it as if all autistic people are exactly alike, but since they’re going that way, making Shaun insist that when he acts that way, it’s right, and when Charlie does, it’s wrong is aggravating.
Perspective-taking isn’t Shaun’s strong point, but that doesn’t mean he can’t make more of an effort.
It would help if his mentors pointed out to him all the times he’s refused to listen to directions and driven them up the wall, though he didn’t listen last time Glassman tried it, so maybe that’s a waste of breath.
Forcing Shaun to work with Charlie could only end in disaster for both of them. I’m relieved that the paper Glassman handed Shaun was a formal complaint, not Charlie’s resignation letter.
Charlie’s Speech About ASD Was a High Point
I loved Charlie relating to the patient’s fear by discussing her experience with ASD. It was especially fitting because this episode aired on April 2, which is World Autism Day.
Charlie normalized the idea that a child needing an aide doesn’t mean there’s something wrong or shameful about them. She also dismantled the myth that autistic people have no empathy.
I wondered how she got diagnosed so young, though. Autistic girls often don’t get diagnosed until late childhood or adulthood because they usually aren’t disruptive.
Lim and Glassman’s Rivalry Is Still Not Worth Writing About
Lim spent too much time being upset that Aaron Glassman was dating her mother. She was disparaging and condescending about her mother’s status as a homemaker, and it wasn’t clear what her issue was with either Glassman or her mother.
This rivalry between her and Glassman is the new Morgan/Park. Their banter was always obnoxious, and so was this. Enough said.
Your turn, The Good Doctor fanatics.
What did you think about this Asher-centric storyline and the shocking ending?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know.
The Good Doctor airs on ABC on Mondays at 10/9c.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.