State of the Shea, Pt. 57: It WAS called “The Lea Show,” right??
I’ve conducted a number of Twitter polls about The Good Doctor and/or #Shea over the past few years, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one that a) attracted so many votes, and b) netted so close a race.
I worded B, C, and D very carefully on purpose, and I think the results reflect a collection of viewers with very mixed emotions. Some wrote to me, telling me they’d clicked on one option when they meant to click another. Or that they’d changed their mind once they voted. Or that it was a toss-up between two options.
If you were one of the 23% who summarized the 3-episode reality show arc as “a great addition,” I apologize in advance if you find this week’s analysis of “The Lea Show” to be an annoying laundry list of complaints. But more than half of the votes characterized the arc as something less than “an uneven bit of fun”. And that’s a problem, no matter when it happens.
I’m just going to knock through episode 5x17 act by act, pointing out some “PROS” in an effort to counterbalance all the “CONS”.
ACT 1: “52 Hours…!”
It OPENS with Claire being interviewed by Sophie about Shaun… and there’s our first clue. Shouldn’t the question Claire was answering be starting with “When I first met Lea…?” But instead, the focus was immediately on Claire and Shaun… Not even Claire, Shaun, and Lea. It could’ve been Claire saying how she knew from the start that they were going to get together… because in her case, unlike the others that might be claiming it… It was probably true. But she never got the chance to answer that, because the only soundbite we know of for Claire in the reality show is one that kicked off “The Lea Show.”
Speaking of which…
CON: It was a misleading episode title (duh). Claire’s return was well-publicized; why try to be cutesy with the title when it was almost as much an episode about Claire as it was Shaun and Lea’s wedding/reality show stuff? It turns out the truth hurt; ABC’s Lea-free promo of “The Lea Show” was accurate. This was more “The Claire Show.”
(And unfortunately the high expectations not met for Lea left me a little resentful of Claire’s presence. That’s just silly, I know. I was looking forward to her return too, and I still appreciated seeing her there. But it turned into an epilogue on Claire’s evolution as a doctor that I’m not sure we needed.)
PRO: As for the whole notion that the reality show wedding plan was turning Shaun and Lea into a different kind of bride/groomzilla… one who is reaching so hard for something unnatural, in the name of pleasing the other, that they almost lose themselves along the way… Yeah, I get it, and I agree with those who indicated #Shea’s final scenes in this episode “saved” it– sparing us from the disappointment brought by much of the episode.
Anyway, it started here, when Lea was about to be whisked off in the limobus and Shaun tugged at the serving plate as if to say Hey, wait, I just made all these pancakes with 11 chocolate chips apiece and you’re leaving?!
(Lea caught the look and made sure to take some pancakes with her on the journey, kissing her “soon-to-be-husband” in the process. Awww.)
CON: It went by very quickly… but after Lim clarified for Shaun that Lucho was Claire’s patient, not her boyfriend, we saw Claire telling Lim “Sophie told me I could bring a ‘plus one,’ so I decided to go for it… apparently I have some leverage” as an explanation for Lucho’s presence. Really, guys? When “Andrews cleared the way for me to bring a patient up to St. Bon’s, so I went for it” would do just fine?
Because if the implication was that Sophie was getting Hulu to pick up the tab on Lucho’s medical bills in addition to flying Claire in for the wedding… hah! No. Not buying it.
PRO: They didn’t waste any time getting back to Villanueva’s story (OK I looked it up; apparently her first name is Dalisay, but I swear I’ve never heard it used on the show…?)
And it’s ramping up too, as this time Villanueva’s lackluster efforts put a patient’s life in jeopardy. This definitely looks to be going somewhere.
(It also provided an undercurrent for the Lim/Claire tension that emerged, which was interesting… and perhaps prompted Lim’s decision to invite the nurse to stay with her… but for me, the undercurrent was unwelcome. Again, it became The Claire Show rather than The Lea Show. But I digress…)
PRO: It’s always good to see where #Parnick is in their relationship, and the Great Breadmaker Debate was an interesting pathway… especially if you circle back to the “Potluck” episode, which ended with Morgan staying mum on Park’s we’re-too-opposite-to-sustain-this-relationship talk (made while he was tripping). On the surface, the breadmaker purchase was a cute debate/power struggle easily resolved.
But could it be a precursor to something bigger? Or did that “marriage counseling” bit at the end of their church interview just hit me the wrong way?
CON: Let’s just get this out of the way… What might the Lea-specific segments of the reality show in our mind’s eye have included?
Interview clips from Shaun, Claire, Morgan, and/or Glassman on “When I first met Lea…” (the Glassman edition of this would’ve been epic!)
Lea being asked about her brother, and why he (apparently) wasn’t invited to the wedding.
Lea talking about last year’s pregnancy (or at least trying to).
Lea talking about her feelings when Shaun was trapped in the brewpub after the earthquake.
Lea sharing whatever feelings she had when Shaun was dating Carly.
Lea sharing (what many of us feel to be) The Night That Changed Everything (episode 3x10 “Friends & Family”)
Lea talking about how she was inspired to propose to Shaun in Guatemala.
Lea’s parents talking about Lea and/or Shaun.
(Or for a REAL curveball… Lea’s brother Donnie talking about Lea, with Lea not finding out he was interviewed until the show aired on Hulu)
CON: I think another frustrating aspect of this is the notion that #Shea Nation has been somewhat robbed of this wedding buildup. Yes, much has happened since Lea’s proposal… a rollercoaster’s worth, to be more precise, and yet in many ways it feels like it adds up to a whole lotta nothing. I’ll get into more detail about this after the season finale airs.
ACT 2 (yeah, we’re only on ACT 2!)
PRO: I enjoyed the idea of almost every doctor being involved in Lucho’s various surgeries (save for Jordan ‘playing hooky’ as Lea’s MOH, because sure, she’d be perfectly fine missing all that hospital excitement…! NOT!)
CON:... I just didn’t enjoy it happening as much in THIS particular episode because every Claire or Lucho scene had me growling in the distance this should be Lea time.
COULD’VE BEEN A “PRO” IF ONLY THEY’D BEEN A PART OF THE REALITY SHOW THAT WE COULD SEE: Lea’s parents getting mentioned as on their way in, getting greeted by cameras at the airport, etc. (Let’s hope the writers don’t forget any of this when we DO see Pam and Mike again… Pam complaining about the reality show thing (and Lea’s encouragement of it) could be a legit bone of contention in the future.)
BIG, BIG CON: Sophie not knowing anything about Shaun’s family situation until Lea mentioned it. Not only did that leave me saying HOW COULD THAT BE??? (for any producer searching for “their story” as much as Sophie was would’ve known all that)... it killed any possibility of Sophie getting a hold of Shaun’s mom as a last-minute surprise guest. Which would have been in abominable taste, I know, and potentially destructive to the wedding day itself, which Sophie surely wouldn’t condone.
But the point of the conversation, in part, was for Sophie to discuss having “seat fillers” to make Shaun’s side of the church more on par with Lea’s side… introducing a layer of artifice we’d see later, literally, with Lea’s hair extensions.
PRO and CON: You know how there will be an OR scene on TGD, and you’re much more interested in the staff’s conversation than what’s happening on the table? Such was the case twice in this episode– once when Shaun got his first look at “The Gosling”-- as in RYAN Gosling– and again later, when #Parnick did their passive-aggressive bickering about the breadmaker gift. Anyway, the “pro/con” here is for the two conversation threads resulting from those scenes:
Gosling-chat: CON. We had Shaun at a sort of crossroads… does he tell Lea he doesn’t think the look & fit will work for him, or does he suck it up because he’s trying to please her above all else? Claire promptly hops on his shoulder (figuratively, of course) to assure him Lea would want his honest opinion, while Glassy starts reflecting on– what else– his 2 failed marriages. Next thing we know, Shaun is coming away with the impression that one must literally “wear the suit” in order to ensure marital success, and I’m thinking couldn’t Claire jump in at this point and say “Shaun, Dr. Glassman is talking in metaphors again. Please don’t take him too seriously.”
Because, honestly, there are times on this show when we are just one misunderstanding away from a standard-issue Three’s Company plot. And that’s no damn good.
(If you don’t get that reference, please look up Three’s Company right after you look up The Graduate… which I’ll explain later for those who don’t follow me on Twitter.)
(And no, there has not been a single mention yet of the tux that Shaun owns outright; the one he purchased in S1 at Andrews’ suggestion. And I suppose the one seen in the season finale isn’t going to be that tux either? Ugh. Big sigh.)
Breadmaker-debate continued: PRO. If you take away the possible serious overtones of the #Parnick breadmaker debate, You get some fun banter from a couple that definitely knows how to do that… And you get it in the OR setting, which doesn’t usually happen anymore because of Morgan’s limitations in that particular arena. As for the CON in this… It just struck me as more laughable than usual when Claire brought a halt to the crisis at hand, which led to everything stabilizing, which then prompted Andrews to jump back into the bread maker conversation with “ Myself, I’m a sucker for an ‘everything' bagel…” Just struck me as extra weird in this case.
ACT 3: “… This is what the occasion calls for”
CON: So we’re finally to Lea trying on dresses, and if they were going to go frothy with this episode and light on the confessionals… As they chose to do… The one thing I really would have enjoyed was it perfectly clichéd montage of Lea trying on all kinds of gowns, all kinds of hats and veils, shoes, accessories, you name it. What we got instead was Lea seeming to settle on “the one” quickly… perhaps because of her now-distorted idea of what the wedding should look like, but also because they simply didn’t have time… in the reality show or the real one.
(One saving grace… Jordan pointed out a dress that looked “more like Lea” and based on the promos, it does look as if that’s the dress Lea will be wearing in the finale.)
CON: Lim and Claire’s tense discussion post-op on whether or not Claire can cut it as Chief of Surgery in Guatemala… did it need to be like this for her return? The tension; these two at odds rather than discussing the battered woman thing like friends?
(If you needed drama, guys, again… Lea’s miscarriage, her brother, her tough times with Shaun…)
ACT 4: “It is repulsive, but it’s your favorite”
The Huevos Rancheros (with salsa verde) scene
PRO and CON: I will never turn down the opportunity to see these two and a scene together… Any scene… Having said that, the huevos rancheros felt itself like a missed opportunity. Obviously it was Shaun trying hard to accommodate her, and Lea overselling her dress, which prompted Shaun to double down on his commitment to trying (by way of the suit)… it was a scene faithful enough to what TGD was trying to sell in this episode, but to be honest it would have made more sense if they had NOT had time to spend here, sitting down for a meal it would seem they’d have no time for anyway. (Were we not at 28 hours and counting at this point?)
CON: The suit fitting in the resident’s lounge. As big a deal as the right fit and feel is for Shaun… to have a stereotypical tailor on hand bitching in so many words about Shaun being difficult made me wonder… are we back to Sophie and the show exploiting Shaun?
Claire’s presence was helpful; I appreciated her trying to be the voice of reason in this case. Too bad Shaun was too much in his head at that point to hear her.
ACT 5 — “What shows you care more than trying to do something that isn’t easy?”
(The following ALL pertains to what was supposed to be Shaun’s bachelor party”Stag Night”)
PRO: Shaun & Claire’s mood about Lucho while in the Limo… on point.
CON: They were on their way to a strip club. (OK, “Gentlemen’s Club”... which is a fancy and hella ironic name for a strip club).
CON: Shaun was spiraling about how his failure to save Lucho meant he’d also be a failure as a husband… If he’d just said “failure as a groom” it would have been more believable.
CON: THEY were on their way TO A STRIP. CLUB.
PRO: Glassy, thank the Lord, spoke for all of us when he said “You’re kidding, right"?”
CON: But why didn’t everyone take one look and say WTF? (And, um, why was Claire at “Stag Night” at all??
PRO: ShaunVision sparks by way of the neon sign visible upon entry, so we quickly see the bachelor party ritual isn’t gonna happen anyway.
… And if they went through all that nonsense just for Shaun to get a vision from neon, I’d have taken them to a diner that serves pancakes all night. With an obnoxious neon sign in the window. Problem solved.
P.S. So where was Lea during all this… was there a bachelorette party on ‘The Lea Show’? Why not? We’ll never know…
And wasn’t that little surprise gathering at the end of “The Shaun Show” supposed to be a dual bachelor/bachelorette party anyway?? UGH… the more things with this arc that don’t add up, the more frustrated I get. And we’ve still got another act and a half to go…
(Ah, Shaun, much of the #Shea fandom was asking themselves the same question after this episode…)
PRO: Shaun and Claire’s scene at the nurses station (it’s overnight/early morning)... without a doubt it was a nice scene; many pointed to it as the best of the episode except for maybe the final few minutes. Claire was there at the beginning and saw Shaun through a whole lotta growth until she moved to Guatemala. And there was a very nice symmetry to Shaun “saving that little boy when no one else knew how” in the pilot episode, and saving another little boy under somewhat similar circumstances 5 years later.
CON: But all the more reason it’s bizarre that Claire was brought in for a wedding she didn’t even get to see. I guess this scene is supposed to take the place of an actual wedding “moment” for them, which also means it supplants anything meaningful that could’ve happened between Claire and Lea. This might not be such a big deal if not for the fact that the last time they had a real conversation (not counting the group scene at the start of the episode), Lea was still mourning her unborn baby something fierce. I get that an acknowledgment from Claire on how far BOTH of them have come, in their own way, was not high on the priority list… all the more reason for annoying little bloggers like me to point it out. Hah!
ACT 6— “Hell of a twist”
JUST A NOTE HERE: when I saw the CTV promo last week, in which we got a peek at Lea and her wedding hair extensions, I had a thought: What if she’s grudgingly going along with the increased artifice of the event– the seat fillers, the dress with the train (which she stated earlier in the season she did not want), the fussiness over Shaun’s suit, hair extensions… but then she sees Shaun just ahead of the ceremony, and the only thing he immediately notes are the hair extensions? In other words, pointing out quickly and bluntly (as Shaun does at times) that she looks fake? Could that be the tipping point for her to say “OK, that does it–” then yanked off the veil and extensions, took Shaun by the hand, and marched up to the front of the church to tell everyone there’d be no wedding?
But as it was instead laid out, the artifice was basically being accepted by both of them– for the sake of the other– until they had their much-more-subdued cancellation of the day’s plans “backstage.” He never even batted an eye at those extensions! (But to be fair, his primary focus had shifted to getting through the ceremony with that cummerbund on.)
CON: The #Jasher stuff. Calling out #Shea (which read on my closed captioning as “Hashtag She-ah”) was indeed adorable, and the matching suit debate was fine; but they got a full 45 seconds in front of the reality show cameras with their bantering when I was lamenting the lack of Lea stuff in a big bad way. (There were also some lines in there that simply made no sense, but maybe one of you will be more than happy to point that out in the comments!)
So call me nitpicky here, but I say that should’ve been shortened to 15 or 20 seconds and the rest could’ve been at least a tiny montage of shots alluding to that bachelorette party I mentioned earlier… (Hashtag “sorry not sorry.”)
PRO: Glassman and Shaun’s little boutonniere-pinning scene…for Shaun strategizing between the wedding ceremony rituals and his need to shed his jacket and cumberbund ASAP was total Shaun, and Glassman’s responses, in turn, were total Glassman.
One problem, though…
CON: Shaun and Claire got back on the limobus, went straight to St. Bons, and (by themselves??) worked through the night to perform whatever that was Shaun blurted out in the parking lot and save young Lucho. When we got to Shaun and Claire’s sweet scene, Shaun’s watch looked to read about 6:00 AM. Even if you don’t take into account how fricking exhausted Shaun had to be at that point (I know insane hours go with the territory, but on your wedding day…?), the Glassman scene that follows makes no sense in that Shaun says– about practice-wearing that dang Gosling suit– “Last night, I wore it for 2 minutes, and then 5, and then 10… I got up to 44 minutes.”
OK first of all, the obvious… Claire asked Shaun as he was running off at 6AM “What are you going to wear?” and he responded “I don’t know!” clearly does not jibe with the idea that he’d been working with that Gosling suit the night before.
But just as important a question: W H E N, exactly, did he do all that…???
When he was at St. Bon’s trying not to conclude Lucho would die? When he was back at St. Bon’s pulling an overnight miracle? Or was it in that brief window of time in the morning, when he should’ve been trying to get some sleep, and he was so tired he didn’t even realize “last night” was THAT MORNING?
In other words, I’ll repeat: It makes no sense.
(I’d say it made as much sense as Glassman’s comment “Let’s hope the flower girl keeps up the pace”-- um, there’s a flower girl???-- except that I suppose Sophie brought one in at the same time she hired “seat fillers.”)
PRO: The “Gosling and Markle… but not Shaun and Lea” scene. It wasn’t perfect, but it was sweet… they looked lovely in a way we’ll likely never see again… and it finally crystallized what was going so wrong with their big day (in mostly Lea’s words; at least it was her show in THAT regard).
CON: Breaking the news to Sophie.
I mean, Shaun and Lea did the best they could with that, and Sophie was exceedingly kind to do little more than shake her head, cluck her tongue, and send them on their way…
And that’s the problem that TGD couldn’t really solve with this scenario. Had this kind of thing happened on a “real” reality show, there could have been lawsuits… a wealth of hurt feelings… and a whole mess of drama. But obviously the show is as ready to move past the 3-episode reality detour as the fans are, so the only solution was to make Sophie the most understanding producer in the universe. It’s a wrap. Send the seat fillers home, donate all the food to charity.
(But more importantly, say the rest of us, NO MORE STALLING. The REAL wedding day is just about here!)
PRO: That back-of-the-bus shot
It would seem that, somewhere along the way, “The Lea Show” writers The Davids (Hoselton and Renaud) had a vision of Shaun and Lea riding off to parts unknown in the back of a bus while Lea was still visibly dressed as a bride– just as Ben and Elaine did in the final moments of the 1967 classic The Graduate. I can’t help but love any nods to that iconic film, so even though #Shea’s story is nothing like Ben and Elaine’s, I can embrace the idea of a highly unique couple breaking from the traditional pageantry of a high-budget wedding at the very last minute.
Where were they headed, though?
Most of y’all think they simply headed home on that bus… and we’ll know soon enough if they did. But the bus itself didn’t look like a typical metropolitan bus, so I couldn’t help but wonder if it might be chartered… or some kind of shuttle bus… en route to the airport. Or a train station. Or some other means to lead to Shaun and Lea eloping… possibly at the top of the “Sons” episode.
But of course they probably didn’t want us to overthink the bus, or where it was headed.
I’m sorry, everyone, but the thinking and challenging will continue. For just as Lea didn’t want Shaun to be represented on the reality show as “just someone with a lot of quirks”... I don’t want #Shea to be represented on TGD simply as a collection of precious moments and/or homages. They’re so much more than that.
And the writers should know that better than any of us.
(A REMINDER TO EVERYONE…
WE MAY GET A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS IN THE SEASON FINALE… AND MUCH AS WAS THE CASE WITH THE SEASON OPENER… REPRESENTATION MAY BE STRONG, BUT AS FOR SATISFYING OUTCOMES? WE’LL SEE.)
