A plastic surgeon asks Major Case to find his missing wife, with Goren considering him the prime suspect. Dr. Peter Kelmer(Robert Knepper) is a real control freak, with a quick temper, excessively ordered and demanding when it comes to having everything a specified way. It's believed that Kelmer murdered his wife, Valerie(the gorgeous Judie Aronson of Friday THE 13TH:THE FINAL CHAPTER), an adulteress and drug user, dispersing her body parts while taking up a rented plane. With little real evidence to link Kelmer to the crime, it will be a heavy task for Eames and Goren to implicate the surgeon, whose knowledge of the human anatomy is substantial. The detectives notice after obtaining a search warrant that Kelmer's bathroom has walls painted anew, not mention a new rug, and there's a presence of chemicals which can eliminate any sort of blood essential for linking Valerie's death to this specific area. So Goren will have a go at Kelmer's ego, hoping that the doctor will condemn himself, expose to a jury his temper. What makes this particular episode so haunting is the fact that Valerie is nowhere to be found, completely disposed of and to catch her killer, Goren will have to use his methods of luring the one responsible through psychology. Knepper's performance is key to this episode's power, how he can not stand being challenged, lured by Goren into taking the stand in the conclusion, changing the entire landscape of the trial when ADA Carver is able to(thanks in part to Goren's own questionable testimony which belittles the doctor, instigating his anger)fuel his rage. It's realized that Kelmer had his own lover and that she was to be his next wife after a divorce. Kelmer never admits to Valerie's death and yet because of his cold personality and temperament, despite the lack of evidence pointing towards his guilt, this man still damns himself.
Review of The Good Doctor
