State of the Shea, Pt. 93: Season 7 Readers Choice
Times have certainly changed since the last time I did a Best/Worst post for The Good Doctor.
It was about a year ago, while we continued to wait and wonder when TGD and other favorite programs would get back into production… and the fact of TGD becoming a half-season, a final season, had yet to be made public.
We’re now just a couple weeks from the start of the 2024-25 network TV season, and it’s hard to say how much of the TGD fandom is still interested in talking about the show. I recently gathered some input from several that still share and post on TwiXter, or have left thoughts about the season in the comments of an earlier post of mine…and it’s a decidedly smaller field of contributors than I’ve had in the past.
That’s what I get for taking so long with my TGD posts, I know! But it also fits the fact that the season was half as long as most seasons, and thus had much less time to create the scenes and stories that stick with us for better or worse. There’s still plenty of “best” and “worst” feelings to go around, and some topics and arcs managed to straddle both categories and stir up a mess of feelings. What do I mean? I’m so glad you asked…
Here’s THE BEST of Season 7, according to several interested parties (including myself):
BEST: SHEA PARENTHOOD
Since this blog was created (years ago) with #Shea Nation in mind, it’s fitting that this final edition of #Shea-dom brought a lot of joy to readers. In 6 years we were treated to so many rungs of the ladder… as neighbors, as roommates, as best friends-turned-lovers, as roommates 2.0, as fiances, as husband and wife, as expectant parents. And there was much we yearned to see with Shaun and Lea in parenting mode– the milestones, the frustrations, the unique neurodiverse/neurotypical spin on each– so there’s no denying most of us came away feeling short-changed. Still, in the spirit of appreciating every second we DID get: here’s to timed diaper changes, scheduling apps, breast pumps, botched date nights, anxious pacing in the apartment corridor, and the light of a hundred baby Steve smiles.
BEST: THE PARNICK WEDDING
Once the initial will-they-or-won’t-they relationship of Drs. Alex Park and Morgan Reznick got going, fans went to the next logical question: will-or-won’t-they get married? That was back in S5, followed promptly with increasingly intense hiccups in the journey that left them broken up at the start of S6. Which was followed with a looong journey back to each other. This pace hardly screamed “quickie engagement/quicker marriage” for S7, but TGD managed to pull it off– even squeezing in one more game of cat/mouse between these eternal pranksters before Park finally got down to business in the closing minutes of S7 x 8 (“The Overview Effect”).
BEST: SHAUN AND CHARLIE
I know I’m far from the only TGD fan who grew routinely frustrated with the addition of new doctors season after season, wary of how many minutes they would snatch away from characters I already knew and cared about. This was even more the case with a truncated season 7. But the full-circle scenario provided by med student Charlie Lukaitis proved the exception to the rule:
She was a young woman with ASD who was inspired to pursue medicine because of the viral video in The Good Doctor’s pilot episode that introduced Shaun to the world– and helped cement his medical residency at St. Bons.
She was decidedly different from Shaun, but equally driven… which fueled the friction between them, the “payback” (not sure if that’s the right word but it’s the one I keep landing on) that Shaun sought for his early struggles, and ultimately, the connection that made their teamwork special.
Charlie was portrayed by an actor on the spectrum in real life (Kayla Cromer). Whether that was TGD capitulating to pressure about casting an NT actor as Shaun (as has been suggested by some), or the next natural step for a show that frequently cast differently-abled actors in guest and recurring roles, it’s a move applauded and appreciated by many. Not ALL viewers, based on how often I read complaints that she was “annoying” (something also said about Shaun throughout TGD’s run), but enough to put the future Dr. Lukaitis in the “Asset” column for S7.
BEST: CLAIRE’S ELEVENTH HOUR RETURN
The fact that OG St. Bonnite Dr.Claire Browne would contribute significantly to TGD’s finale was announced months ahead of time. On the other hand, the fact that she would “survive” the finale wasn’t made clear until the last act of “Goodbye.” But in another full-circle moment, Shaun’s efforts to save her life (capped with that gut-wrenching “I don’t need to save everybody, I just need to save Claire” monologue of Shaun’s) amounted to multiple final golden moments for the rest of the medical team. More than that, though… it showed Shaun at a place in his life where the people closest to him mattered more than the medicine. Remembering Claire’s place in Shaun’s journey was a beautiful way to share that discovery.
BEST: LEA AND MORGAN MOM-BONDING
Shaun was far from the only TGD character showing miles of personal growth in S7. Parenthood can make even longtime adults “grow up” in a hurry, and both Lea (once accused by Morgan of treating Shaun like a pet hamster) and Morgan (once called a “beeyotch” by Lea for claiming she was territorial of Shaun while he was with Carly) found themselves new moms just weeks apart from each other. While the two were long removed from their trash-talking days, they weren’t really friends, either– till they found themselves pushing strollers through St. Bons, that is. There was plenty of core Lea & Morgan personality to keep their interactions lively– the “what info is acceptable to keep from your partner?” and “you stole our nanny??” convos were proof of that– but fresh coats of maternal instinct and care hung proudly on them, and it was a fun and welcome look for both women.
BEST: (Most of) THE FINALE
Was it a perfect final hour of TGD? No, IMHO. But in most ways, we considered it wonderful. And I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather see a challenging final season end on a high note than see a stellar one tank the very last episode. I’ve seen that happen, and while I can appreciate a showrunner’s difficulty in trying to end a story in a way that truly satisfies its fans… when they get it wrong, perhaps trying to be “shocking” or carrying out an unpopular vision… everyone knows it (including those who couldn’t care less).
TGD’s ending was bittersweet, and came too soon… but the high note was loud and clear.
BEST: GLASSMAN’S GUEST STARS
Did you realize six of the season’s 10 episodes kept Glassman busy with short-term characters?
First up was Lim’s mom Eileen, who we thought was in town solely to participate in a medical study and keep Lim company/drive her crazy… until she was spotted in Glassman’s bed (!) following an introductory evening together. This led to a few hellauncomfortable Lim moments for the duration of Eileen’s stay in San Jose, but– particularly in retrospect– it was a sweet little fling that brought Glassman some much-needed joy.
Eileen was barely out of town when Glassy found himself thrust into a much less desirable situation, one that evoked the most painful memories of his life.
Young Hannah (played by Richard Schiff’s real-life daughter, Ruby Kelley) and her addictions took him on a dangerous course alongside her– one that put his remaining career at risk– and it felt like TGD was biting off more than it could proverbially chew so close to the series end. But props to Schiff and Freddie Highmore, as always, for making Glassman’s pain as palpable as Shaun’s desire to relieve him of it. As I said when the “Unconditional” episode first aired, I think a lot of artistic license was taken in Shaun’s words guiding Hannah towards rehab within 24 hours. (This is one of many reasons I feel this whole thing would’ve worked better as a six-episode arc rather than three.) I also happen to think this was as close to “closure for Maddie” as Glassman could ever get. Kudos to TGD for prioritizing this, even when time wasn’t on anyone’s side.
Now for a few honorable mention “best of” entries…
A HECKUVA SEASON PREMIERE DILEMMA
The opening episodes for seasons 2 through 6 of TGD each served as a portal to the previous season finale’s burning questions, including
What would become of that fateful visit to Andrews’ office after Shaun made a critical OR mistake?
Hurray, Shaun asked someone (Carly) on a date and she accepted! Now what?
An earthquake finally brought Shaun and Lea together, but also claimed the life of Dr. Melendez. How would these events affect the cast moving forward?
How long would it take for us to see Shaun and Lea’s proposed wedding in S5?
Would Lim survive the attack on her life (that happened shortly after said wedding?
And with Shaun and Lea’s baby Steve brought safely into the TGD world during the S6 finale, the burning question at the top of S7 was How will Shaun and Glassman make amends when the latter was so hurt he refused to celebrate the birth of his “grandson”?
TGD didn’t seem to think that question burned hot enough, so they laid it at the base of the season 7 opener and added a classic “Can Dr. Murphy do it?” challenge on top of it. Or two challenges, for it involved saving the lives of two infants with one heart… all fresh on the heels of Dr. Murphy becoming a father himself!
Still, at the end of the day on “Baby, Baby, Baby,” Superhero Doc Shaun was another exhausted, frustrated new dad trying to get his son to sleep. And the OG Superhero Doc (Glassman) stepped in to assist, even though the two weren’t speaking to each other at the time. It was not the nail-biter that started season 6 (Thank goodness! I wouldn’t want them to try and top that!), but it was a very promising open 7 seasons in– something Shore and Co. should be proud of.
Delivering on those promises was another story (as it often is), but we’ll get to that shortly.
MORE HONORABLE MENTIONS…
From Incorrect St. Bonaventure (@TGDChaos)
BEST- “A very one-off moment of Audrey and Dalisay dancing (at #Parnick’s wedding)”
From Asa Williams (@asavwms)
BEST- Grandpa Glassman, Dom’s one-liner (“That guy’s GOOD!”), Jordan (Bria Samone Henderson) getting another opp to sing (at #Parnick’s wedding)”
From Danielle (@LuvDani_xoxo)
BEST- “Shaun/Glassman’s reconciliation; Shaun becoming a respected surgeon with a loving family and loyal friends”
From Amy Danko (@FebWriter)
BEST- “Glassman meeting Steve”
SheaEndgame (@EndgameShea)
BEST- “Everything about #Shea (especially the finale)”
And now for THE WORST of Season 7, according to those same folks (and myself) who did the “best of” list:
WORST: ASHER’S MURDER
TGD had a major strike against its original S7 vision when ABC presented its eviction notice. Then the solid ratings it generated in the Monday 10PM slot took a hit when the show was moved to Tuesdays in 2024.
So why did showrunners David Shore and Liz Friedman (seemingly) say Hey, here’s an idea… let’s kill off a beloved regular midway through the season– when they are r i g h t on the cusp of pure happiness, no less– and see how loyal our remaining viewers really ARE?
Yes, Dr. Asher Wolke’s portrayer (Noah Galvin) was looking to exit the season early… but they could’ve just as easily gone through with the planned engagement to Jerome and sent them both out in a way that might’ve been bittersweet at worst.
And yes, sudden death (especially death as the result of a hate crime) brings raw drama out of any show… but what if they’d killed off the rabbi in the “Who at Peace” instead of Asher? It wouldn’t have carried the emotional gravitas for the rest of the characters, of course, but it could’ve hit Asher in a poignant way that resulted in his exiting the show still alive. That’s not a fully fleshed-out idea on my part, but rather an example of the many ways they might’ve still touched on the issue of hate crime without alienating much of their remaining base of viewers.
When showrunners decide to make sociopolitical issues a part of their show’s identity, I think they risk feeling the need for a wish list of “important matters to address” that they check off, episode by episode, like ingredients for a cassoulet. Consequently with TGD, I’ve more than once pondered this question:
Is it better to explore a run-of-the-mill topic well, or to explore an important issue in a mediocre fashion? Is it okay to deprive a story of time, depth, and nuance, with the underlying thought being BUT AT LEAST WE COVERED IT?
Unfortunately, that’s how I feel about more than a few TGD storylines. “Who at Peace” and the follow-up “M.C.E.” were well-crafted and beautifully directed, but I find myself saying “SO WHAT?”
With the decision to kill Asher off as they did, I think I speak for many of us in wishing Shore and Friedman had kept their fingers off the hot button. The only saving grace, for me, was that it happened early enough in the 10-episode run to avoid tainting the finale.
WORST: LIM’S “ENDING”
Dr. Audrey Lim spent TGD’s early seasons as a quick-witted, Ducati-driving badass who had worked exceptionally hard as a woman of color to make it as a surgeon, (a chief resident), and (eventually) hospital president.
Since S4 (which kicked off with her mourning Dr. Melendez AND getting stretched way too thin during the 2-episode coverage of the pandemic), Lim wrestled fiercely with PTSD… found an instant connection with a fellow doctor while on a mission trip to Guatemala… got dumped by said doctor soon thereafter… was brutally assaulted, which left her paralyzed for several months… found a new love, but… lost him when she continued to be way more committed to her work than to him. By then, she’d spent an illuminating time with her mother, who revealed that Lim’s beloved father had suffered from clinical depression. She feared Lim now suffers from it as well. Lim seemed to fear it too.
Yet, when the time appeared ripe for Lim to take some truly positive steps towards happiness– including an opportunity to rekindle her latest relationship– we found her packing her bags to join medics in war-torn Ukraine. So she was traveling alone, with unresolved serious mental health issues, to a perilous place that needed her much more than she needed it. With her mother’s blessing, no less.
It left us wondering how many puppies, kittens, and toddlers she ran over with her motorcycle in her early years to deserve so much misery. Especially when almost everyone else in TGDs finale got some variation on the Happy Ending they deserved, and they were seriously teasing the same for Lim with pensive looks at her Ducati and the job offer she revealed to Claire.
It was RIGHT THERE.
I don’t think it’ll ever make sense to me. How about you?
WORST: UNSATISFYING END TO THE SHAUN/GLASSMAN FALLOUT
I’ll use a biggie from S6 as a compare/contrast source…
In the season opener (“Afterparty,” 6 x 1), Shaun made a decision during Lim’s harrowing time in the OR that helped save her life, but also left her paralyzed. In 6 x 2, a three-month time jump revealed that while Lim seemed to be adapting well to her new, wheelchair-bound life, she privately seethed with resentment towards Shaun and his actions. In 6 x 3, she made her feelings known to Shaun and told him they were no longer friends.
In 6 x 4, Shaun began isolating himself (the storage room/office he created in the basement) and thinking of ways to reverse Lim’s condition– ways that Glassman found far too risky, so nothing further came of it. After a few episodes of the Shaun/Lim situation simmering on the back-burner, Shaun came to terms with all that had happened (and what he really needed to do about it), went to Lim directly, and delivered an emotional, heartfelt apology (“Sorry Not Sorry,” 6 x 8) that she accepted. She agreed to try and rebuild the friendship… which, at St. Bons, means things are almost back to normal one episode later (heh heh). But in their case, it took half a season to get to that point.
Now think about Shaun and Glassman’s rift. For starters, it was SHAUN and GLASSMAN– the most important relationship in the entire show. And their issues mounted during the back half of S6– Shaun taking note of uncharacteristic Glassy mistakes, Glassy being pissed he was doing so, Shaun feeling justified when a series of small strokes was proven to have befallen his mentor/surrogate dad, Glassy ultimately having to leave an operation mid-procedure and end his surgical career immediately. But the whole thing became even deeper when Glassman’s anger kept him from attending the arrival of baby Steven Aaron Murphy at the very end of S6! So there was plenty of pain to go around, but not a lot of accountability or forgiveness.
As I said earlier, the S7 premiere was promising with regard to this all-important storyline tentpole: Shaun and Glassman actively avoided speaking or even looking at each other, Lea continued in vain to try and foster the fence-mending (much as she did in the S6 finale), and things stayed the same until Glassman observed Shaun struggling with Steve in the apartment hallway. Though Shaun didn’t ask for help or advice, Glassman offered to take care of Steve while Shaun and Lea got some rest. (Otherwise known as a classic Grandpa move.)
Was it too much of an olive branch extended too soon? I didn’t think so. And for some, those closing scenes of 7 x 1 were among their faves of the entire season.
Soooo, episode 7 x 2 started out building this bridge between them nicely– and yes, by “nicely” I mean Shaun and Glassy trading some unpleasant but necessary words, mostly about Glassman’s absence during Steve’s birth.
But by the end of the same episode, Shaun was attending a party for Morgan’s child that he’d previous planned to avoid (because of Glassman)... and telling Glassman “It is okay for family to disagree... Being a family who argues is more important than not being a family at all.” After which Glassman apologized (by addressing Steve) for not meeting him sooner, and hoping to spend more time with him in the future. Shaun recognizes the apology is actually intended for him, and soon hands his son over to “Grandpa”... and, SCENE.
Episode 7 x 3 began ramping up the difficulties between Shaun and Charlie… at which point Glassman was back to giving advice that Shaun was reluctant to take. In other words… business as usual.
In other other words… the bridge finished its construction just two episodes into S7. That pesky issue of Glassman missing the birth? Resolved with a cute, but not particularly heartfelt, apology (because “being a family who argues is better than not being a family at all”). Oh, and that little matter of Shaun calling out Glassman in his final, humiliating moments as a surgeon? Resolved with NO apology (because… Shaun wouldn’t?? But that’s how he originally felt about the situation with Lim, and yet he managed to dig deep and figure out how necessary it was).
The easiest excuse for the accelerated amends is the shortened season plus the apparent desire to put a period on that story before starting the Shaun/Charlie battle. But while Shaun and Glassman didn’t need to be at complete odds with each other all season, why not find a way to incorporate lingering negative vibes between the men directly into the Charlie storyline? Imagine if the scenes with Lim/Glassman/Shaun discussing Charlie tapped into their under-healed wounds and Lim was able to remind Shaun of the power of a thoughtful apology? Talk about your “full circle” moments–!
I give Shore and Friedman partial credit for working a couple things into the final handful of episodes– most notably, one more surgery (at Shaun’s request) for Glassman in “M.C.E.”-- that provided a bit of delayed damage control. But a deliberate, spoken apology from Shaun in this situation would have carried weight unlike any other, and we all knew that. It’s hard to understand why the ones bringing the TGD characters to life didn’t find a way to make it happen.
WORST: NO MORE TIME HOPS UNTIL THE VERY END? REALLY?
I’ve joked many a time in the past about TGD’s frequent toying with the Time-Space Continuum– the way six months’ time might take a year to play out, yet they still managed to make it appear the residents were going seamlessly through their 1st year, 2nd year, etc. We also know that TGD wasn’t afraid of the occasional leap forward, particularly in later seasons (it was the only way to tell of Shaun and Lea’s pregnancy struggles in S6, for example).
So why, at a point that really could have used some time manipulation, did TGD go completely linear with it until the very last segment of the finale?
Was it to show the literal passage of time till Shaun and Glassman made amends? No, the “amends” happened far too quickly for that.
Was it to show the “slow burn” between Jordan and Kalu? No, the burn was far too slow to matter.
Was it out of a desire to show Steve and Eden as babies (rather than toddlers) as long as possible? Maybe… but why? Because dealing with toddlers is too difficult on a busy TV soundstage, let alone on-screen, and it wasn’t worth the hassle? (Yes, that could legitimately be the reason.)
But I can’t be the only one who would’ve traded at least a few episodes– or, of course, the Asher’s death/Aftermath– for a more cohesive vision of Shaun, his family, and his friends.
Guess it’ll be up to you fan fiction writers out there to fill in the blanks… (I presume it’s already happening!)
WORST: NOT ENOUGH OF LEA’S STRUGGLES AS A NEW MOM
Lea Abigail Dilallo never struck me as the type of woman who spent a lot of time dreaming of motherhood. (Classic cars, yes. Babies, no.) So when she confessed to Glassman in S6 how she feared losing too much of herself once the baby was born, it made a helluva lot of sense.
What a shame, then, that we didn’t get to see Lea on her own personal struggle bus in S7. (OR in that spiffy Striped Tomato 2.0, for that matter!) Yeah, we got some fairly standard new-mom stuff– sleep deprivation, nursing issues– but did Lea really go on maternity leave as the IT director of a hospital and NO ONE tried to contact her with “just a quick question”? Not even when she spent so much time pushing Steve’s stroller around St. Bons? Or… didn’t she ever get a terrible case of mommy-brain and, despite her high level of intelligence, find herself unable to think straight enough to make herself a sandwich? (Can’t you imagine the fun Freddie and Paige would’ve had doing such a scene?) And what about the point at which she put Steve in daycare and returned to full-time work… what sort of emotional tilt-o-whirl was she on during those first days? Sadly, TGD didn’t find the time to explore even one of these highly realistic possibilities.
(Now THAT would have been a decent reason to avoid time-hopping!)
WORST: WAS DOM HUBANK REALLY NECESSARY?
When I think about ways they could have made time for these things-that-should-have-happened, I settle– as is often the case– on that persistent need for TGD to introduce new characters every season. And this time around, with Charlie being as important an addition as she was, I looked squarely at the need for her to have a buddy (fellow med student Dominick Hubank).
It wasn’t about Hubank’s portrayer (Wavyy Jonez) at all; he did great with the material he was given. It was about a) TGD building an as-good-as-regular character primarily around a sight gag (fear of blood), and b) trying to make that character relevant all season long… especially when the “other” new character is as uniquely important as Charlie Lukaitis. To me, Hubank’s “struggle” was the kind that belongs to a resident who tries, unsuccessfully, to get accepted into St. Bon’s program (a la the “Newbies” episode from S4 that introduced us to Asher and Jordan)... and then gone after one or two episodes. Hell, someone we were excited to finally “meet” (Lim’s mother) only got to appear in four episodes.
If TGD was insistent on freshening the character palette, couldn’t they have given us a little story arc with… oh, I don’t know… maybe LEA’S BROTHER DONNIE? Whom she first referenced in season 1 and WE NEVER GOT TO SEE??
WORST: THE MISSED JORDAN/KALU OPPORTUNITY
UGH… this could’ve been sooo interesting!
Not long after Jared Kalu returned to St. Bons in S6, sparks were a-flying between him and Jordan… sort of. He initially came across as a know-it-all rich guy that she yearned to put in his place, but once things settled down, Kalu appeared to be major competition for Jordan’s would-be-but-addiction’s-a-bitch paramour, Danny Perez. Once Perez headed home to Texas, the path to a JordaLu (oh, that’s so cute!) romance appeared paved and easy to drive.
But because (I’m assuming) Shore and Friedman figured out an S7 finale first– and worked their way backward– the plan was for Kalu to end up with Claire (or, back with Claire), and for Jordan to find her way back to Perez. Was the latter simply so Jordan wouldn’t end up alone? We’ll likely never know.
In any case, that still left eight episodes for Kalu and Jordan to explore some already-established feelings, which was plenty of time to plan for them to spar a little, flirt a little, dine together a little more, get a little physical… or a LOT physical… and deal with the tricky aftermath.
I haven’t forgotten Jordan’s reclaimed chastity, nor her desire (stated in S6) to abstain until marriage. That’s what would have made even ONE steamy encounter between her and Kalu so intriguing! But sadly, TGD wrote scenes for these two as if they had no plan at all for them: spar a little, flirt a little, dine together a little, ignore it a while, yet have Jordan appear jealous as Kalu kisses Claire at the #Parnick wedding. Whatever, guys. Play it any way you want; we don’t have the time anymore to do this story arc, so…
But they Did. Have. The. Time.
If only they’d chosen to use it accordingly.
AND FINALLY, ANOTHER ROUND OF HONORABLE MENTIONS…
Asa Williams (@asavwms)
WORST- “Not enough #DilAllen (Lea/Jordan scenes/storylines)… or #DilAllen + Morgan, for that matter… Also #Shea could have used one more escapade, now w/Steven in tow and Lea driving the family-edition Striped Tomato!”
(Please note I had to go back to S6 to get this photo… that’s how hard it was to find these two together in S7)
Danielle (@LuvDani_xoxo)
WORST: “Never getting to see Lea’s brother Donnie”
(SEE?? I was hardly the only one thinking this.)
Daniela Vingiani (@dvingiani)
WORST: “We had been waiting for months to finally have some Grandpa Glassy stuff. Instead, what we got was the Lim-Glassman shenanigans – argh!”
Daniela actually had much more on her “worst” list.
Some of her frustrations were shared by others, and were covered above:
Should have seen more of #Shea’s parenting struggles (as a NT/ND couple); what they DID address was too trivial.
Should have seen more of Lea’s conflict with becoming a mom/staying true to who she is (as per convo w/Glassman in S6); got too many “mom of the year” scenes.
Should have had a time jump after first few eps to cover Steve as a toddler and the challenges that would go with it.
But some ran deeper, including big disagreement with the idea of killing off Glassman altogether. I think they merit deeper discussion accordingly, so look for them in one of my future TGD posts.
Time for you to add your own two cents… or add it again, if you contributed to the commentary thus far! Drop a comment and let me know what you think (or just to say you’re still reading these posts… it’s tough to tell who’s still out there!)
