‘The Good Doctor’ Shares Hotline After [Spoiler] Gets Killed in Hate Crime

The Good Doctor fans are still reeling from the shocking death in the latest episode. .

During the Tuesday, April 2, episode of the ABC series, Dr. Asher Wolke (Noah Galvin) was beaten to death in an antisemitic attack.

ABC included a message after the episode, which read, “If you or anyone you know has experienced antisemitism, racism, anti-LGBTQ+ related incidents or hate crimes, or if you want to learn more about what you can do to stop hate, please visit splcenter.org.”

The episode started out with Asher attempting to reconnect with his Judaism. He subsequently took part in his patient’s wedding ceremony before driving the rabbi back to his synagogue, which had been desecrated by a pair of vandals.

Asher told the vandals to leave, saying, “I am a Jew. A gay one, in fact, and I’m calling the cops.” After the trespassers initially walked away, they snuck up on Asher and delivered a fatal blow to his head. Asher’s boyfriend, Jerome (Giacomo Baessato), sat at a nearby restaurant, waiting to propose.

Before Asher’s shocking death, viewers watched Asher evolve from an atheist who left the Hasidic community to someone reconsidering religion. Galvin, 29, joined The Good Doctor in season 4.

Fans were quick to react to Asher’s murder, with one person writing via X, “I am rarely shocked by a tv series but #thegooddoctor ending tonight was totally unexpected, and brutal. It actually shook me up a bit.”

Another social media user questioned the decision, writing, “Absolutely no point in killing off Asher this close to the series finale. What was [showrunner David] Shore thinking? I’m not sad, I’m pissed.”

The Good Doctor, which premiered in 2017, follows a group of medical professionals that work at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. The show was renewed for a condensed final season, which premiered earlier this year.

“ABC let us know that this was this was their decision. It wasn’t a complete surprise but I was sad about it. I do definitely feel like there were some more stories we could have done,” coshowrunner Liz Friedman told The Wrap in February. “But I am relieved that they told us when they did so that we could wrap up the show and wrap up Shaun Murphy’s [Freddie Highmore] story — at least as far as the audience will experience it — on our own terms and give him a proper ending.”

Friedman also reflected on the legacy she hoped the show left behind, adding, “I’m gay and when I was younger, everybody used the word tolerance a lot. I think what we’ve come to understand now is tolerance is not all it’s cracked up to be and not what we’re really going for.”

She continued: “What we’re really going for to make progress as a society is acceptance and understanding; that allowing people into your life who are different than you, are different from what you feel is a normal or typical person or outside of your comfort zone, is really beneficial.”

The Good Doctor airs on ABC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.