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The "I am a Surgeon" meme featuring Doctor Murphy and Doctor Han from ABC's The Good Doctor has gone viral on social media. The meme references a scene from season 2 of the series, where an emotional Dr. Murphy asserts to Dr. Han, "I am a surgeon!" over and over again after he is barred from the surgery team.
The Good Doctor is a 2017 medical drama centered around Dr. Murphy, (portrayed by Freddie Highmore) an autistic surgeon with savant syndrome as he navigates his work at the surgical unit at the prestigious San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. It was adapted from a South Korean television series, Good Doctor, by Park Jae-bum.
TikTok is flooded with clips from the show shared by fans. However, they have ironically been taken out of context by non-fans who found the overly dramatic scenes funny. The "I am a surgeon!" clip is one such scene.
Doctor Han is introduced in season 2 and is played by Daniel Day Kim, who is also the producer of the show. He is introduced as the Chief of Surgery who has issues with Shaun's awkward behavior and autism.
His belief that Shaun would be a liability in a tumor-removal surgery leads him to transfer the latter to pathology, where he can help patients without interacting with them, prompting the now-trending scene.
The clip first went viral in 2021 and started trending in early 2023. On April 20, user @hot_elliot shared a screen recording of their For You page featuring the scene.
Soon, TikTokers sharted sharing edits of the intense scene, turning it into an anti-meme. They shared edits with absurd CapCut filters and effects resulting in absurd clips. The trend caught on and spread to other social media platforms.
"I am a surgeon!" and Doctor Han memes take over social media
As the scene went viral, netizens were taken aback by the intensity of Dr. Shaun which contrasted with Doctor Han's stoic reaction. This was a ground for some hilarious edits and comments. Some even commented on Daniel Day Kim's looks. User @G10M5RCH1 stated:
"When autistic doctor bursts into your office screaming about how he's a sturgeon and all you can do is hit him with that Dr. Han stare."
In the show, Doctor Han is an antagonist, however, following the viral trend, to the non-viewers, his calm and composed reaction made him a "cool character."
In one of the absurd takes, cybernauts adapted the word surgeon to a similar-sounding term, sturgeon (fish), prompting a round of "I am a Sturgeon!" memes.
Here are some more reactions and memes that were seen on Twitter:
Daniel Day Kim is also the producer of The Good Doctor
Daniel Day was born in Busan, South Korea, and moved to the United States when he was a year old. He grew up in New York City, Bethlehem, and Pennsylvania.
The South Korean-American actor, director, and producer is best known for his roles as Ho Kelly in Hawaii Five-0, and as Jin-Soo Kwon in Lost. In 2013 he founded his production company, 3AD, which produces The Good Doctor.
In addition to playing Doctor Han, he has lent his voice to the video game series Saint Row and the movie Raya and the Last Dragon. Additionally, he has been on the People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive list twice.
