The Good Doctor 'I am a surgeon' meme explained

Viral trends are nothing if not unpredictable, so we shouldn’t be surprised that a six-year-old hospital drama has suddenly been thrust into the limelight.

The Good Doctor – which stars Feddie Highmore as an autistic medic with savant syndrome – has been running since 2017, but it’s taken until now for it to really catch the attention of social media.

A scene from season two of the ABC series is taking the likes of TikTok and Twitter by storm. It shows our protagonist, Dr Shaun Murphy (Highmore), passionately shouting: “I am a surgeon!”

And of course, the beauty of viral memes is their total separation from any context, enabling us to apply them to the scenario of our choice.

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But it’s still interesting to know the source of these snippets.

In this case, Dr Murphy’s outburst comes from an episode titled ‘Breakdown’ in which he confronts his boss, the hospital’s chief of surgery, Dr Jackson Han.

Earlier in the series, Han had relegated Murphy to lab work. But, after successfully saving the life of a patient, the younger doc wants his job back. After all, he is a surgeon.

Since going viral, the scene has undergone a series of extreme edits, featuring SpongeBob, laser eyes, and catchy remixes.

And whilst Dr Han (played by Daniel Dae Kim), is basically the show’s heartless baddie, he’s also become the internet’s favourite heartthrob.

Still, the show isn’t without its critics, with many condemning the simplistic portrayal of autism as a kind of adorably awkward superpower.

Another clip that’s been doing the rounds, taken from a season one episode titled ‘She’, shows Murphy confounded while treating a trans patient.

The implication that his ignorant tactlessness is a result of his autism hasn’t sat well with viewers, and was called out well before ‘The Good Doctor’ became a darling of the meme circuit.

Still, most people are just enjoying the random beauty of the show’s sudden virality.

Thanks to these mystifying algorithms, anything can blow up on your timeline: good (doctor) or bad.

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