State of the Shea, Pt. 64: 12 Things I and/or We Learned From “Growth Opportunities”

Lea started it.

She seems to name-drop a number of TGD episode titles, and thus she did with “Growth Opportunities” when Shaun lamented the amount of multi-tasking he needed to do in order to perfect a surgery for Lim. And, Shaun being Shaun, he then used the term when saddling Asher and Combat Danni with certain non-surgical duties.

I, in turn, started my notes for this episode with What have we learned? And came up with a few. Okay, twelve. (I’d say one for every 5 minutes of the show, but those pesky commercials… )

Anyway, let’s see how many of our “notes” are in sync this time.

1) Lim is extremely vulnerable these days— which is why declining the surgery was the right decision.

In the previous episode (“Shrapnel”), Lim was away from St. Bon’s, fresh off severing her mentor/friend ties with Shaun, and seemed as close to content as we’ve seen in a while. But just look at her conflicting emotions with the two surgical presentations bookending the “Growth”  episode. She’s curious and, dare we say, hopeful at the outset… but, one rejection later (a rejection of at least two kinds, it’s important to note), she calls a halt to all attempts to get her “out of that chair” and practically leaves Andrews’ office in tears. 

Given all this, it was surely best that she decline the surgery– at least, for now. I can’t imagine that decision will hold all season, but remember Lea’s sage advice from S1 about the wrong times to make big life choices? 

“NEVER make an important decision when you are angry, upset, high… or right before or after sex.” (From “Islands Pt. 1”)

Not that Lea wants to be dragged into any of this, mind you…. But Lim probably doesn’t even want to think about sex after this episode (SIGH), and she’s definitely close friends with “angry” and “upset” these days. The stars in this story arc aren’t aligned yet. Everyone involved needs to breathe. 

2) We love it when Asher sings!

I tried out for a local production of Sweeney Todd over the summer. I didn’t get cast, and unfortunately, I still have not seen the show in any version (the local one sold out quickly!). But it was easy enough for anyone slightly familiar with Stephen Sondheim’s work to recognize Asher’s duet with young Skyler as an excerpt from Sweeney Todd. As you may already know, Asher's portrayer (Noah Galvin) First came to fame taking over the lead in Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen… And of course, we’ve heard Asher sing previously, most notably in his karaoke scene with Jordan last season (“Measure of Intelligence”). It’s cool that they find ways to work it into the show… Much as they did for the musical talents of Antonia Thomas as Claire in earlier seasons.

3) The Halloween theme was delightful and nonsensical all at the same time.

Seeing St. Bon’s on Halloween was alternately adorable, hilarious, and strange. Asher’s Grogu (from The Mandalorian, I’m told) looked fantastic, but when he apparently took Combat Danni’s comment to heart and completely lost the costume at OR time, it made me laugh picturing him in the locker room quickly removing his meticulously applied green makeup. And as an aside – I mentioned this on Twitter at the time– it reminded me of when I was in a production of Wizard of Oz a decade ago and, at least in our version, the characters of Scarecrow/Tin Man/Cowardly Lion were all supposed to return to Dorothy‘s bedside in the final scene as the farmhands that they were at the beginning of the show. Which meant their makeup had to be removed in a hurry! And I was the one in charge of getting that intense silver paint off of Tin Man! Can I just tell you that there are not enough makeup-removing wipes in the world to make that work? 

Anyway, I did very much enjoy the costumes. It did make sense for the most part who wore them and who didn’t… Jordan not wearing hers to work because she is a “professional woman“ is/was a quiet nod to her presumed need, as a black woman, to take her job seriously at all times. Interesting that they did allow CD to briefly show up as a pirate, professional woman or not, but was completely out of that costume by the next time we saw her.

Finally, shout out to the cafeteria scene with Sadie and Asher when they were seriously speaking to Skyler’s biological dad about genetic testing, and all the while a big dude in a yellow and blue superhero costume of some kind was hanging out in the background – scratch that, not just hanging around but sitting on a stool with his back to us. Presumably enjoying a superhero meal. It was a serious scene, but I just couldn’t stop looking at him…

4) When Lea speaks, Glassman listens. (Sometimes. Eventually.)

He may still find Lea’s methods annoying and/or irritating, but her words to Glassman about being the first one to make a move towards healing the divide between them got to him even more than she realized, since the key line in that scene– “he has ASD, and he’s your son “– triggered a bad memory of him and Maddie sparring way before her teenage years.

What he seemed to get out of that flashback was that he hadn’t told Maddi in the tough times that he loved her enough. I tend to think there was more for him to learn than that – something about listening, something about the louder voice not being the “right” voice– but, let’s face it, perhaps it’s just as well he didn’t have any big realizations about that. He is who he is. He’s not going to stop bellowing at Shaun at times when he really needs to get his attention. He’s going to try, but probably not get as good at listening as he should. Which left love at the heart of it all, and that was enough to build the bridge that he and Shaun needed.

5) Lea was the hands-down MVP of the episode.

If you were listening to the post-episode chat on Twitter Spaces after the “Growth Opportunities”– and you might wanna give it a try, as it’s fun to hear and talk about the episode right after it happens, as well as get some cool insights from Natty at The Good Doctor Argentina Twitter account– she mentioned that scriptwriter Peter Blake, who did this particular episode, always write some of the best things for Lea (Other TGD writing credits of Blake’s include “Vamos” in S4, “Teeny Blue Eyes” in S5, and “Afterparty” at the start of S6.). And in his care, Lea got to do a few pretty cool things in “Growth Opportunities:”

A. She was the one to convince Glassman to be the bigger man that Shaun needed him to be (as previously stated).

B. She became the best option for trying to persuade the bio dad to help save the life of Skyler. Had she not been a woman, and a very attractive woman at that, it’s hard to imagine bio dad giving her the time of day, let alone agreeing to “watch something“ which turned out to be his own daughter singing beautifully. 

C. She had a wonderful scene with Shaun near the very end about the success in trying, even if you don’t succeed. Yes, it got Shaun up to visit Park’s terminally ill patient and his impaired brother as requested, but as a bonus, we also got a new mention of Lea‘s brother in that scene. She didn’t call him by name (Donnie), But it did help throw us the seed of hope that the unfinished business within her family of origin could still become a plot within a season 6 TGD episode (or two).

6) Just because Shaun is settling into his “office” a little more doesn’t mean he’s gonna stay there

Obviously in “Growth” there was no talk of Shaun returning to the Shark Bowl (aka the office that he initially shared with Park). In fact, they showed Shaun unpacking books in his scene with Lea, and his desk looked even more furnished than before. Did you notice the mug with a big “S” on it in the far right corner? Or how about the diploma on the wall – was anybody able to tell if it actually lists a school? (It was too blurry when I tried to magnify my screenshot.)

But every indication has been given that Shaun‘s retreat to this “Office“ in the depths of St. Bon’s is connected to his overall denial of responsibility for Lim’s paralysis. When Glassman brought it up in his myriad of concerns in the previous episode, Shaun ultimately kicked him out of said office and actually slammed the door in frustration. When Park asked him the simple question Why are you in this office? Shaun left without providing an answer.

I mean, c’mon… they put Shaun’s name on the glass outside the original office and everything.

7) Whether “Joseph” is his first name or his last name, WE DO NOT LIKE HIM ANYMORE.

Well, that felt unnecessarily harsh! 

We didn’t just have Lim chatting amiably with a man – her neighbor in this case – then ask him out and be turned down. No, we had to have a guy who we all started to like, someone who had literally been there at some of Lim‘s darkest moments of late, Who took her up on an offer to hang out, then apparently was the one in charge of making reservations at a very nice (Villanueva called it “romantic”) restaurant, being complimentary and thoughtful and kind, and even bonded with her over recent releases in the Star Wars franchise…only to suddenly recoil and disappear when it became clear that they somehow weren’t on the same relationship page. The point here was obvious; Lim was on her way to the next big step and accepting her “new body,” until… 

But I’ll be honest. I am mad about the neighbor, but I’m actually more irritated with the way this situation was written.

8) From “You look snazzy” to “Sorry… should I go?” in two scenes was even more ridiculous than the guy in the yellow costume photobombing Asher’s cafeteria scene.

This storyline HAD to be a victim of time constraints to tell it properly. It’s frustrating because they took three episodes to get to this, and absolutely everything in the two episodes and first scene together in “Growth” pointed exactly the way Lim was thinking. It’s not like she had struck up an online relationship with the guy, and had elected not to talk about her paralysis, and he came to town to meet her for the first time, saw her chair, and started backpedaling immediately. “Joseph” saw her in bad days with the chair, in good days with the chair, he saw her looking “snazzy” (his words)... he seemed highly invested in her. We don’t know if he paid for her dinner or not, but he took charge of the dinner plans, made a reservation, etc…yet it was as soon as they sat down side-by-side that I felt the writing went sideways, and the situation suddenly became extremely rushed:

• Lim, hesitant as she is about the situation and her new body, tried to initiate a kiss. That felt odd all by itself. 

• And it’s not like there haven’t been millions of men around the world who seem to lead a woman on only to slam them into the friend zone. And yes, the reverse happens too. But the way he was all the way to that point and didn’t get the picture was jarring and strange. 

• Even worse than all that was the so-called conclusion… no attempt to explain himself, no (highly justified) outburst from Lim– just “Should I go?” “Yes”... and he leaves? Wrong. Just plain wrong.

9) We miss Bitchy Morgan. Hell, we just miss Morgan.

It really felt like one of those times or I didn’t realize how much I missed a character's presence on the show until she gets a chance to really have a presence. Morgan’s kind of been the odd one out on a lot of these first episodes of the season as they integrate “The Dannys” into the fabric of the show. And maybe because of her involvement with Park last season, and a lot of her bitchier moments being reserved for spats with him, I’d forgotten how frank she can be with everyone else. But as soon as she stepped forward in the elevator and started critiquing Lim’s clothing options, I said yes Morgan’s back! We kind of got her in two forms once she was consulting directly at Lim’s house, but I was still happy to see it. Especially since we know that there is more to Morgan than her bitchiness for sure.

10) Handsome Dan’s mixed signals towards Jordan were maddening all the way until Jordan “got it”

I thought we might be 2-for-2 in the needless emotional roughness category thanks to the situation with “Handsome Dan” Perez and Jordan. Dude, you went from almost kissing a woman after flirting with her all day, to working side-by-side with her the next day while continuing to be cagey about the whole thing? (All the while dressed like someone from Monsters, Inc. Goodness gracious.) 

I mean it wasn’t just cagey, it was a deluxe treatment: “we left things kind of weird last night didn’t we “…’ I hope we can still be friends”… “:I can’t see anybody right now”… (But I’m not going to tell you why, and I need you to be okay with that).

I admit though, I did not see a drug-addicted past coming. I really thought it was going to be about him being a widower, or recently divorced, or something involving a woman that wasn’t there that he was still involved with in some way. Arguably, drugs and alcohol abuse is often characterized as the love affair you can’t seem to shake…

Anyway, it sets up an interesting scenario with these two in that it’s been established that they are attracted to each other, and yet it’s also been established that they “can’t“ be together anytime soon. So will he fume silently if she’s getting dolled up for dates at work in the future? Will she allow herself to date others while she’s still got a thing for him? I don’t know, but I think the more interesting challenge will come if he ends up slipping… And Jordan knows about it… And it impacts something he does at work and she has to decide where her loyalties lie. What are the odds they’re going to go in that direction?

11) I’m missing our Jordan & Lea moments more and more this season.

Jordan has thus far been a saint through all this, but she shouldn’t have to go through this solo. Obviously Asher has been her primary confidant with all this thus far. He was busy with another case this week, but even if he wasn’t, would she feel comfortable sharing ALL this with him? As a fellow doctor, I mean? 

Which brings me back to Lea, who somehow hasn’t even shared a scene with Jordan since “Afterparty.” Would Jordan perhaps spill to Lea because she’s not a medical staffer? Or simply because she feels more comfortable telling Lea than Asher? They’ve obviously kept Lea moderately busy so far this year… wouldn’t it be nice if these two could have a reason (even if it’s just something to update us on their business venture) to be moderately busy together?

12) Glassman’s progression with Shaun was profound… ONCE HE GOT OUT OF HIS OWN DAMN WAY.

On the surface, it might look as if Glassman is more often annoyed, irritated, or angered by Shaun than he is any other emotion. At least lately. It still amazes me a little that when Shaun burst into Glassman‘s house in the middle of the night at the end of “Shrapnel” claiming he had found the cure to Lim’s paralysis, Glassy didn’t seem that upset… Especially considering the argument they’d just had in the previous act of the show. But maybe he was just caught off guard enough to be civil in those few moments we witnessed. For when we got to Shaun‘s formal presentation of his plan in Andrews’ office, Glassman not only discouraged Shaun‘s plan but threw shade on his controversial previous surgical effort for Lim. I guess you could argue that Glassman is just trying to be as hard on his “own family” as he is with any other doctor/colleague, except that we know better. He’s still angry, still waiting for Shaun to apologize, seemingly unable to jump that hurdle, even for professional reasons… Until Lea intervenes. Then his “not good enough” rejections turn first into a clear proclamation of love, then a reiteration of his lack of confidence in the ideas, then cracking the door open enough for him and Shaun to try to work together on the idea. That was significant all by itself, but the scene that left Lim exiting Andrew‘s office distraught while Shaun stood there dumbfounded... 

Yeah, Glassman yelled at him to stop demanding an explanation, but that’s because that’s what seems to actually stop Shaun when he’s asking inappropriate things or speaking out of turn. I liked how he immediately switched gears once Shaun started talking about fairness, saying “tell me what you think is not fair, and I’ll try to explain it.” In general terms, feels like it was the start of a new tipping to Shaun‘s processing the bigger picture of what happened to Lim. Is he saying “it’s not fair” because he put all that time and effort into coming up with options for them and she rejected them?

For most doctors, I’d say yes. But here, it felt more like he was recognizing current situation is unfair, perhaps for the first time (as opposed to being maddeningly matter-of-fact about it). Which could be the jumping-off point in the future, although based on promos for the upcoming 100th episode, it’s not clear how much of the storyline will continue to be top of mind. Sounds like there’s an overheating situation on the horizon, and not just with regards to the temperature problems that Glassman and Lea will be trying to resolve. Which by itself, will surely go back into a discussion of their favorite subject. 

Which also happens to be our favorite subject… at least for one hour of the week.