State of the Shea, Pt. 42: The Salen Solution (“Piece of Cake”)
I felt compelled to do some research. That’s not unusual, as you probably know if you’ve read a post or two of mine. But this time I got serious-- and will be citing FOUR different articles as I take stabs at each TGD character’s cake flavor of preference.
So let’s start by giving each character’s cake while simultaneously recapping their INITIAL impressions of Salen Please-stop-smiling Morrison (Curious, creative, highly motivated, a FRIUTCAKE-- no, seriously, it says so right here...
Shaun (Creative, ambitious, passionate, a CHOCOLATE): Sounds like he’s okay, but when talking to Lea, and he suddenly jumped to talking about picking a wedding cake… when I first watched that clip, I thought it had been preceded by at least a few lines about wedding planning from one or both of them. But I’ve seen a number of viewers call Shaun’s behavior (please correct me if I’m wrong, ASD readers) a form of autistic masking.
Or in layman’s terms, Shaun compensated for his discomfort with Salen’s changes by spending all his free time fixating on the wedding cake question.
Lea (initially a YELLOW-- sassy/fun but not very grounded-- but now more of an ICE CREAM cake--loves variety, a go-getter): eyeroll-inducing frustration over things that looked to be made worse by the Ethicure Era.
Lim (balanced, quick decision-maker, honest, a PINEAPPLE cake): Sideye-inducing frustration over being judged “by an algorithm.”
Andrews (Smooth, articulate w/hands, bit of a diva, a LEMON): cautious optimism; he seemed more impressed with the SurgiMatch system than others.
Morgan (Intense, dynamic, enjoys fighting the odds, a STRAWBERRY, and before you ask I couldn’t find a cake representing a “cold-hearted bitch”): She was all “just tell me where to kiss up the most and I’m in.”
Park (Private, low-profile, but daring, a RED VELVET since he just didn’t fit the ANGEL FOOD profile): Highly skeptical.
Jordan (Fun-loving and quirky with many friends; a CARROT): impressed with the technology behind the change, at least.
Wolke (Kind-hearted, patient, bold choices, a VANILLA): Put off by the technology behind the change.
Mateo (Reliable, trustworthy, proactive, a BROWNIE): Disappointed on his first day on the job, a little sarcastic.
Glassman (Advisory, compassionate from the inside out, a MOCHA): Didn’t even show for the first meeting.
Since each character’s personal interaction(s) with Salen comprised the backbone of “Piece of Cake,” I’m going to roll this out act-by-act. (I might have a couple scenes under the wrong act. Feel free to correct me!)
Acts 1 & 2
(Before and after opening credits)
I already mentioned this exchange, but… when Lea tells Shaun “take a good look,” and he does, I think you see that momentary flash of “Oooh I get to study my woman from head to toe-- at work!” from Shaun. It’s important work; so much so that he doesn’t even hear his beeper going off until Lea points him to it. No wonder she whispered “Love you” as she walked away.
In the OR gallery was where Salen had her first pardon-the-interruption of the episode, and there was a difference between this and her similar efforts among the higher-ups of St. B’s-- the attempt to join in the conversation at hand. “I’d eat dog poop with (cream cheese frosting) on it” might have elicited some chuckles, were it not coming from this enigma of a new boss. Instead, she got a lot of awkward glances.
She got more than that from Park, as she shared new company policy about discharging patients immediately after delivering their babies… and from Morgan, when Salen instantly disregarded her suck-up efforts. Both Park and Morgan adjusted course and moved onward (with no other Salen interaction) via Antifreeze Mom, but they kind of got a pass this episode, with Salen giving more attention to the other Case of the Week (track star Madeliene). We’ll see what goes down in future episodes.
Act 3: Salen and Glassman’s first second encounter
Part of what puts us on edge about Salen is how at least in SOME respects, she resembles every bigwig who has taken over a company without knowing/caring what it’s really about. Glassman has surely seen this kind of thing a time or two in his career, but there’s a twist this time: he’s all out of f—- to give, as they say.
So she’s there to play a game with Glassman, or feels she must because he’s out-of-the-box resistant yet crucial to her success… and her timing couldn’t be worse. Or better, depending on your perspective.
Act 4: No cake for you
Cake survey part 1!
Fun fact-- the Kemeny-Young Method that Shaun mentions early in the scene is, of course, a real thing… but at a glance, it’s as confusing as Shaun said. Here’s what it’s about if you’re curious!
Anyway, here’s another place where Salen’s pardon-the-interruption among the doctors attempted to be more friendly than intimidating (“I have been thinking about cake all day!”)… but any efforts at diplomacy are sure to crumble when you JUST REACH IN AND HELP YOURSELF TO A TRAY OF CAKE SAMPLES like a monster. Then she throws her question about Shaun being on the spectrum with toddler-like tact…? I like how Shaun didn’t answer; it’s like he was saying I don’t like your tone, therefore you don’t get the privilege of an answer.
Of course, the cake survey (and his “treatment” of Salen w/it) was hilarious, but at the scene’s core, Shaun felt violated enough by Salen’s intrusion to shut the survey down. It was for his friends & colleagues who WILL be at the wedding, after all… and I think the whole taste test thing (and the shutdown) was an indicator of how much he treasures them… something he may never really verbalize.
Also, did you notice how Shaun’s “Okay” towards Salen was inflected differently than his standard “Okay”? It came right after Salen tried to find common ground with Shaun when he declined to answer her spectrum question: “I’m neuroatypical myself; I have ADHD…” It was like Shaun was using the “Okay” that NT’s say when they’re wrapping up an uncomfortable situation. Which he was. (Yeah, fine, you have ADHD; we are NOT going to bond over that fact.)
Part 2 of the cake survey was in Glassman’s office; not surprisingly, there was the superficial level of what was being discussed (the cake, and to some extent Glassman sharing his need to get away) and then there were the things Glassman was doing (drinking scotch with his cake? BLEH) and saying (“I’ve got no wife, I’ve got no kid”) that Shaun surely took note of.
Because someone raised in an alcoholic home has heightened awareness of an out-of-the-ordinary situation with alcohol, especially when it involves a loved one… and even though Shaun has never overtly referred to Glassman as a surrogate father, he must have felt “I’ve got no kid” as some sort of blow, right?
(Oh, and if you thought an apology was due of Glassy in this episode, or figured his toasted engagement party toast would get nary a mention (yet?)… they went with the latter option. Bummer.)
BTW, I took the line as an extension of what I think Glassman was indicating in his “taking off” toast in 5x1: Now that Shaun is getting married, he’s preparing for a life without him… at least, not in the way he’s needed him in the past. How about you?
Meanwhile, Salen had floated into what amounted to be a helluva Lim/Mateo/Andrews argument. Oh, how I wish that when Salen came in and said “Please continue your discussion,” Lim had said “Very well” and the three of them all left the office at once and talked down the hallway, leaving Salen alone on Lim’s sofa. I’m pretty sure something like that happened on an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati once. It was top-notch funny. But, of course, this is a drama-- and Salen needed to drop in so she could use the situation against MatLim later in the episode. Grrr.
The scene in Lea’s office was surprisingly compelling with its solution vs. venting ping pong match. Shaun has solutions for Lea but not for himself; Lea can dial herself into vent mode but Shaun doesn’t want to vent (I thought it was pretty funny that Lea’s “Oh, I get it” was, to him, an instant cue for vent-speak), Meanwhile Lea did want to vent, but Shaun’s vent-ee skills leave something to be desired… and while she is capable of solutioning in Shaun’s direction, today wasn’t that day. (Or, as she put it, “The solution well is dry.”)
Then, in the first of two times in this episode, Shaun says something that inadvertently becomes the solution for someone else in the room. The only thing I didn’t like was the idea of Lea telling Shaun to “use his words” to express what he’s feeling since that’s a term we usually reserve for toddlers. (People who still insist Lea doesn’t treat Shaun as an equal probably had a field day with that.)
But the bottom line was it made sense, and it got Lea where she needed to be-- squeezing Shaun’s shoulder and on her way to find Salen, while Shaun sat there thinking that’s not fair; I helped her and I don’t even get to find out how.
Act 5
Somewhere between the awkward photo session and the itchy scrubs (which Shaun and Park had changed into once the truth serum was administered) is where Shaun’s feelings about the changes start to surface. And it’s not long after that when he arrives at his multi-tiered/flavored solution to the cake question. Good news for the wedding, not so much for Shaun (as he anxiously rubs his neck where the scrub seams cause the most irritation).
Meanwhile, we’d also witnessed perhaps the most unexpected part of “Piece of Cake,” which was Lea’s roundabout talk w/Salen… so do you think Ms. Morrison pulled up Lea’s file while they were circling the Nurses Station, or had she done her homework on all of St.B’s finest well ahead of that? I think the latter-- even though her initial few seconds with Lea were chilly ones (Honestly, woman, how do you expect these people to treat you after the “fake patient” introduction? At least Glassman and Lea weren’t afraid to call her on it!), Lea won her over in two ways:
In the short-term, with Lea’s trifecta of honesty, praise, and an honest proposition (what I’m being asked to do is not in line with your best improvements. I can turn that around.)
In the long-term, for Lea’s background and track record are their own reward to those paying attention. And Salen definitely is.
Quick note here: I’m really glad they have Lea graduation from U Pitt (Univerity of Pittsburgh) rather than Pitt State, as the latter is actually in Pittsburgh, Kansas. (I only know that because it’s where my Mom studied to be a teacher back in the 1960s.) And for those wondering, a traditional Bachelor’s degree program in the U.S. is completed in four years, not three-- another testament to Lea’s intelligence and strong work ethic. As for what program her degree comes from, well, they left that ambiguous. Some on social media did a little digging and reported that U Pitt doesn’t have an automotive engineering program, but Salen never said that was Lea’s major. What she did say was that Lea had built “cars, desktops, and complete coding systems from the ground up”-- and of course also noted Lea’s efforts in last season’s “Decrypt” episode.
I think we got a taste of kindred spirit bonding here; Salen has a couple of doctorates that don’t necessarily jibe with medicine OR hospital management, yet there she is, gettin’ it done in some decidedly unconventional ways. No wonder she’s glad Lea “doesn’t come from IT theory.”
But what’s to come from all this? Will Salen be mentoring Lea in some fashion? And if she does, how will that impact both Lea AND Shaun? I’m definitely intrigued, though I remain confident that #Shea will work through such an obstacle if it truly becomes one.
Act 6
While I don’t have any pics of Salen sitting near the light-donut of calm as she “negotiated” with Glassman in their final scene of the episode… this passive-aggressive thing they’re forging will evaporate shortly, don’t you think? He stuck around to ensure his clinic got the funding boost it needed, but now…? It’ll be pretty easy to “nod and smile and say nary a negative word” if he’s nowhere near the hospital most of the time. (As I know the upcoming promotional photos hint at anyway)
But over in Lim’s office I’d say Salen’s tone was a little more on the aggressive side of things. I really like when TGD “feels” real in its depictions, so when Salen trotted out example after example of “clients” (or in some cases, lost “clients”) that weren’t getting their best St. B experience in the wake of Mateo’s decision to devote more time to track star Madeleine, I nodded approval (especially as it helped underscore the quantity-over-quality mindset of Ethicare). Of course, that nod turned into a shake of the head when she dropped that sly “Your license is provisional, right?” line at Mateo. Look out, Lim-- he’s an easy target, which makes her one as well.
Cool shot
As we recall Shaun’s hand dryer meltdown that concluded the episode, Let’s mark where each of the characters are in their Salen journey by the end of “Piece of Cake”:
Shaun: It was no sooner after he presented his solution to the cake quandary that he went to the sink to wash his hands, and everything little change caught up with him. Stop it, indeed!
Lea: After her conversation-in-the-round with Salen, she’s much more amenable than the medical staff.
Lim: Considering Salen was essentially threatening her boyfriend in the final scenes, I’m thinking she’s not feeling much better about everything.
Andrews: Guarded. He remained a class act in front of Salen in the aftermath of “losing” to Mateo; I wonder if he’s biding his time, waiting to see what become of Lim and Mateo in this new era before making a big move.
Morgan: She was visibly disappointed when her OR gallery time with Salen failed to net her any brownie points… but I suspect she won’t be deterred for long. (Hearing Morgan apologize to Antifreeze Mom Abby was a treasured moment… and though his reaction in the moment was muted, you could tell he treasured it too.)
Park: He got to bending Salen’s new policies almost immediately… not only did he get away with it (this time), it ultimately will spare his patient of a lifetime of wrongful imprisonment. Don’t expect him to start going by the (new) book anytime soon... unless Salen shows up in the doctors’ lounge with a list of questions for him.
Mateo: Considering he’s the newest doc on the block-- and perhaps has the most at stake, giving up his role in the Guatemala program to remove gallbladders in San Jose-- I think “concerned’ is a fair description by the end of the hour, no matter how many times a day he gets to see his “guapa” (good-looking) Lim.
Jordan/Wolke: While their input was not heavy in “Piece of Cake,” that notes-comparing scene they shared near the episode’s end was a fun reveal-- Wolke was already finding ways around the “system” (via the fitness tracker that he was wary of from the start), and it didn’t take half a minute for Jordan to see his side of it, and “join” him. Vive le revolution!
Glassman: After having perhaps the most acerbic one-on-one with Salen, the two of them seemed to reach an understanding regarding what they needed from each other. For now.
My “official” take on Salen as of right now? She’s the knows-just-enough-about-things-to-be-dangerous type, but I think her efforts towards Lea and the doctors in general— while definitely stilted— hint at her dimensions. Definitely eager to see more of her!
How about you?
