Season 6 of 'The Good Doctor' Brings a Surprising New Face to the Hospital

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for The Good Doctor Season 6, Episode 7.

Every Monday, we love tuning in to our favorite hospital procedural, The Good Doctor, for a completely different social experience of what it’s like to work in a hospital. Of course, the romance plotlines are as wild as ever — we can’t have a hospital series without some love — but in Season 6, Episode 7, titled “Boys Don’t Cry,” one ex-lover comes back in a new way.

Dr. Marcus Andrews (Hill Harper) reunites with his ex-wife, Dr. Isabel Barnes, after quite a few years, and their reconciliation is truly shocking. Part of that is because Dr. Barnes isn’t really who we remember from Season 1. So, what’s going on with Dr. Andrews’ wife on The Good Doctor?

The last time we saw Dr. Barnes was in Season 1, although she remained a large part of Dr. Andrews’ plot throughout the first four seasons of the series. Basically, in Season 1, marriage issues between the couple hit a new high when they had trouble conceiving. A fertility doctor suggested that Dr. Andrews may be the one with fertility issues, and his temper got erratic. However, his caring side took over to hold onto their relationship.

Of course, that isn't enough to keep a marriage intact. By Season 4, Dr. Andrews and Dr. Barnes’s relationship took a turn for the worse, albeit off-screen this time. During the Season 4 finale, titled “Vamos,” we learned that Dr. Barnes moved out of their house and started seeing someone else. So, Dr. Andrews gave up his ring as a way to pay for much-needed medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though his fellow doctors could see that he wanted to save his marriage.

By Season 6, Dr. Andrews has only dated one other woman: hospital beneficiary Salen Morrison. However, when she put money over the safety of the patients and the doctors in Season 5, Dr. Andrews sides with his friends and colleagues and they oust Salen. So, as we get to Season 6, Dr. Andrews is still dealing with the open wound of his off-screen divorce.

Now, in “Boys Don’t Cry,” Dr. Barnes comes back, although she looks a bit different. Yes, she has been recast and is now portrayed by Golden Brooks instead of Marsha Thomason. Marsha, known for her role in White Collar, first played the role in Season 1, but for unknown reasons, her Good Doctor character’s return sees a new actress in the role.

When Dr. Barnes returns, she and Dr. Andrews reminisce about the good parts of their marriage, and after seeing a couple reconcile after drifting apart, they grow hopeful. This means that there could be a chance for reconciliation between the two of them, and the new casting could be a sign that this won’t be Dr. Barnes’s last appearance in The Good Doctor.

Many of us might recognize Golden from her role as Maya Wilkes in Girlfriends throughout the series’ 20-year run, although she has been building up her resume over the last few decades with all sorts of roles. Most recently, she played Vivienne in another doctor-adjacent series, Station 19. She also played Tasha McQueen in Block Party, a BET+ original movie.

Although Golden's IMDb doesn’t reflect her new Good Doctor role yet, we can’t wait to see what she has in store as Dr. Andrews’ returning love interest.

New episodes of The Good Doctor air every Monday at 10 p.m. EST on ABC.