State of the Shea Pt. 51: A Day in “The Family” Life
I’m trying for a shorter post this week for a few reasons…
I’ve been watching World Figure Skating Championships all week (as my Twitter followers are probably well aware) and writing/promoting the other side of this website known as State of the SkateMUSIC
I anticipate writing a longer, more detailed post for next week’s offering… which I’m not going to speculate on in this post, but if you’d like to do so in the comments, go for it :)
I might actually get this out to you on SUNDAY (as opposed to the wee wee hours of Monday) if I keep it brief.
I’ve tried to be relatively before; I wasn’t very successful. Let’s see how this goes.
The House That St. Bon’s Built
From the it’s-a-first-day-in-our-lives-without-Salen montage (to Black Pumas’ “Colors”), where the members of the restored trifecta of power each were seen alone at their real homes… to Andrews’ inaugural speech to the masses on the hospital steps… to the party of three that tumbled into the ER just a few minutes later to kick off this LONG day (did you notice that as with “Waiting” from S4 and a few others, this episode of TGD only covered the span of a single day?)... the reason for the episode title was a no-brainer. But rather than try and look at the different family roles played by the cast, I’ll break their “house” into rooms:
THE LIVING ROOM
The base of that long flight of stairs; the place where Andrews addressed the troops. I’m thinking of him as Mike Brady, motivating his brood. (Do not ask me who’s who in said brood.)
This also served as the re-set point for everything from Glassman’s Clinic (guess what– it’s the first thing on Andrews’ chopping block), to Lim as Chief of Surgery, to Glassman’s neurosurgeon career (it’s the second thing on Andrews’ reinstatement list), to Morgan’s career post-admission of guilt… yeah, that was a lot!
And we can’t forget Shaun and Lea handing out “unsave the date” cards, which clarified that a) they ARE still engaged, and yet b) whatever the date was, it is no longer. (It also allows the show to re-set the whole wedding timetable, which is important considering Shaun was previously concerned the Save The Date cards were going out later than they should.)
THE FAMILY/GAME ROOM
I know some might say “kitchen” for this, the space of candid group conversations and passive-aggressive confrontations, but something about calling a place with lots of tools for cutting into humans the kitchen just doesn’t sit well with me…
Anyway, something else unique about this episode was the singular Patient of the Week…because the Mom and Dad were POTW’s 2 & 3, but they were really just there as excuses for Lim, Glassman, and Andrews to vent their season-long frustrations with each other. (And yes, eventually work together as a unit to do the best work they could… but of course it was the venting we were there for the most.)
Lim was the first one to vent, and rightly so…Lim’s got double the venting to do, and little need to defend herself (other than the “suicide mission” comment Andrews made). Andrews, on the other hand, did some blaming on Glassman, but spent much of the hour defending himself (with just enough accountability of his blinded-by-Salen’s-light state of mind to tame the tempers of the other two). Glassman DID need to defend himself– or at the very least, explain himself!-- but he hid behind Shaun yet again (“If you’re asking me to apologize for my commitment Shaun, it’s not going to happen”) and still didn’t apologize to Lim on her followup “I would never ask you to do that… I just didn’t realize how little the rest of us matter to you.”
So that’s two big, BIG fumbles that Glassman has yet to own… one for Shaun, and one for all the other St. Bonavites. The fact that both of these have been allowed to slide for now is, I can only hope, indicative of a deeper explanation/apology on Glassman’s part later in the season. If not, well… we know people who are like that. (Many of us are related to people who are like that!) But I’d definitely be disappointed if Glassman’s lack of action verifies that kind of character flaw.
NOTE: Something that they didn’t revisit that I guess would’ve made things TOO dramatic, given Shaun’s meltdown: Lim’s PTSD flaring in the midst of the Salen stuff. But it’d have been interesting (and kind of simple?) for Lim to have mentioned it to these two as something that made their actions/inactions even harder to deal with.
THE OFFICE/STUDY
Here is where the passive/aggressive comments get a lot more direct– and yep, between Andrews and Lim especially, they did– but it’s also a place to wind down. (At least when the “home” is a hospital, and an office is a step up from the Residents’ Lounge.)
Surely there will continue to be spats here and there between this renewed trifecta of St. Bon’s leadership– we may not hear Salen’s name again, but there’s plenty more trouble to go around– but for now, the testament to this revolving door of leadership was nicely resolved with Glassy and Lim both hunting down their respective beverages in what is now (again) Andrews’ office… then sitting around the table, eyeing each other warily. (Ah, so maybe we’re in the kitchen now? No, wait, that’s the Nurses Station…)
THE KITCHEN
Since the Nurses’ Station is usually the place for hospital gossip, and the kitchen is often the most bustling room in the house.. I’m just putting two and two together here. Examples from this episode included lighter versions of ongoing conversations between Park/Morgan, Shaun/Lea, Shaun/Park, and even Shaun/Jordan. (and young Isla, for her “pickle” moment at least…)
THE PANTRY
This one might take a little more explaining…
You know how, just adjunct to the kitchen in some houses, there’s a narrow food storage area (a.k.a. pantry) where a brief, very private, one-on-one conversation might be had? I’m thinking of multiple “pantries” within the hospital– could be the scanning room (Park and Reznick had a very good one in there), could be the locker room (not seen in this episode), could even be the Residents’ Lounge under certain circumstances.
But for my money, the pantry took its best form in “The Family” anywhere Shaun and Isla had a private conversation.
Two of their exchanges were particularly emotional… not counting Shaun’s initial effort (Is she crying? Yes? OK, I handed her a tissue. Time to move on.) But obviously, they weren’t going to have a chat in the scanning room… oh wait yeah they did that too (Isla: “I’m bored.” Shaun: Oh no, I have to keep a close watch on her so I can’t just send her to her room— now what do I do?)
But their two biggest and best efforts were by themselves– once when Shaun administered the anesthetic, and later when they talked about fault, and parents, and oxytocin. As people do.
The anesthetic scene came soon after Isla met Lea (back to that shortly), so not only could Isla keep planting inadvertent seeds of advice that served Shaun better than anything the adults were telling him… but she could also bring us to another round of tears as Shaun found himself talking about his and Lea’s baby for the first time since “Vamos” last season. (By the way, I’m glad Lea was not brought into this conversation… it was important for us to stay focused on Shaun; to catch that almost imperceptible wave of grief that we knew he felt.)
Their discussion about the sharing of fault and blame was everything we’ve come to expect from connective moments to Shaun’s past (with both his brother and his parents). What touched me the most, for some reason, was watching Shaun undo the button on his lab coat so he could sit on the stool comfortably and just talk to her for a while. It’s what Jordan and Lea were encouraging him to do, so we knew it would come, but it was a fascinating wall to watch crumble nonetheless.
And as for the heart-melting hug they shared at the end of the episode, I had to think about what was different there… we’ve seen patients hug him before, sometimes with an intensity that made us wince on his behalf. What was different here was the silent invitation on her part, the open arms. He had to hug her in this case… and with that awkwardness we’ve come to appreciate, he did exactly that.
FULL DISCLOSURE before move into the #Shea scenes… I don’t know what to call the room in the “house” where Morgan takes up meditation.
This wasn’t the first time we’ve seen her do it; back in S2 we saw her practicing a little yoga and meditation as everyone recovered from the “Quarantine” episodes. But attempting it in the break room at St. Bon’s? Morgan, who used to keep her softer side tucked away at work? No wonder Shaun was confused.
Which is not to say I take issue with Morgan’s attempts to reinvent herself– for however long it lasts, I’m on board. But if “Cheat Day’ felt like a big catch-up episode for her and Park, “The Family” seemed an equally large resolution, and redemption effort on Morgan’s part. As long as TGD doesn’t stuff the two of them into a corner for the next three episodes- with zero story progression– I’m okay with it.
THE DINING ROOM— duh.
This particular dining area has borne witness to more #Shea discussions than we’ve seen at their actual dining space at home– and this time, they had a special guest in Isla. Of course Shaun establishes his boundaries quickly (“She’s not my friend, she’s my patient”) and cautions Lea against the thing that already irritates him, allegedly (“She talks a lot”), but wouldn’t you know, Lea takes to Isla instantly. And just when we’re all coming to terms with this new, KINDA SORTA engagement declared by the two of them at the start of the episode…Isla cuts to the chase better than anyone (No ring, no date, no dress? No way this is an engagement) and gets Shaun thinking, thinking, thinking…
Until he takes the advice no one has given… follows Isla’s lead… and finishes this “reset” episode with a handmade ring (though sorry, it looked way too good for something that was supposed to be fashioned from a gum wrapper)...
And the semi-traditional proposal to Lea Dilallo (I swear that’s the first time Shaun has ever said Lea’s last name out loud!) that we weren’t sure we’d ever see…
All in the exact same location where Shaun first stood and told Lea he loved her, two years ago…with a much, MUCH better end result this time.
I didn’t give this room a specific name because, of course, it’s not at the hospital like the other “rooms” in the house… but I’m also never sure what to call it anyway. Is it a patio? A terrace? A sun room? Whatever it is, they did a marvelous job of framing #Shea with the fairy lights as they basked in a celebratory kiss.
And as for the one room– outside of the bathroom– that I’ve yet to discuss…? Well as I said at the top… I suspect that room will get more than its share of attention in the next episode.
