State of the Shea, Pt. 72: “39 Differences” That Didn’t Quite Add Up
It’s kind of fitting, to me, that TGD’s promotional staff never sent out a set of promotional pics for this episode. And that the only preview they gave us was the very brief scene of Shaun coming to see Glassman while the latter was “looking for his life… just his life.”
As for what I was looking for— I guess the best answer is considerably more than TGD offered this time. Maybe there were new writers to blame? No, “39 DIfferences” was penned by David Hoselton and Tristan Thai; Hoselton has been around since the show’s earliest days and Thai has contributed since S5. New director? Yes, but that wasn’t the problem. (I actually found Cayman Grant’s work quite praise-worthy, as I’ll explain later.) Offputting Patients Of The Week? No, Brecka (lung transplant teen) and Ricky (brain surgery kid) were as compelling as any POTW— maybe more, considering the backstory of Brecka’s portrayer Elspeth Arbow.
Nope, the problem was that it felt somewhere between a “kick-the-can” episode and a lost episode from an earlier season.
It was as if David Shore and/or Liz Friedman told the writers Look…this is gonna be a mid-season episode hanging somewhere between our big winter finale return and the start of the season’s back arc– and let’s be honest, we’ve got two extra episodes this season and we’re not really sure what we want to do with them. So how about if you create some conflict that’s easily resolved — or even better, resolved OFF CAMERA, less work for you that way—because some of our viewers are sure to be watching college basketball or NCIS Hawaii this particular week, and will forget to follow up on Hulu. Oh, and if you can add just ONE brief, lovely development in there for Shaun and Lea, I think everyone will be happy.
I’ll run through some details of the episode in (mostly) chronological order; if I’m not making sense to you yet, maybe I will by the end of this post. (Many of you will likely end up disagreeing with me anyway, but at least you’ll better understand where I’m coming from.)
ACT 1
We were off to a promising start with Shaun being Shaun (Our son is genetically pre-disposed for brilliance; better tee him up for Stanford ASAP) and Lea being Lea (Hold up, he might be ready to bail on the academic jungle before he ever gets to college). Shaun handily wins that particular battle of “differences” by reminding Lea that they’re still in charge of his earliest years, and they move on…
…To the first mention of Glassman, and boy did I get this wrong! In the previous post, I presumed He With The Destroyed House would insist on stuffing himself into a mediocre hotel room somewhere near St. Bon’s til further notice for fear of overstaying his welcome at Chez Shea (and also because the writers had already had their fun with Glassman-as-houseguest).
But to be fair, the scenario I envisioned was probably better-suited for Glassman circa late 2021 (first half S5). His head’s in a better place now, sharing unreservedly in Shaun and Lea’s joys and life lessons. There’s probably no better roof for him to live under as he deals with the ashes and aftermath of his “previous” roof.
And how noteworthy that throughout the episode, and even when Lea was under the gun with her work deadlines, her concern for Glassman is steadfast. She asked of his whereabouts in the first scene. Then as she exited her meeting and entered the elevator— having just put off Shaun’s concerns— she still remembered to ask if he’d heard from Glassman yet. When Shaun later came into their bedroom for his futile conversation attempt, the first thing out of Lea’s mouth was “How’s Glassy?” All of which made it easy to believe that when she finally got the EMR (Electronic Medical Records) testing done… and she was still feeling frustrated with Shaun’s words from the night before… she went to check on Glassy rather than head home.
More “promise” was found in the ongoing #Parnick saga as we got acquainted with Morgan’s new professional digs (complete with designer office furniture and a full cappuccino bar… if that’s what you call it?
She hit the ground running with her new job— no surprise there— and Park happened to have a light schedule of his own, and was available to assist. What would this new dynamic do for the ever-more-friendly exes?
ACT 2
Shaun’s concern about his and Lea’s differences wasn’t really a concern until he became more acquainted with young Ricky’s parents, Victor and Shelley. He spied a direct parallel to him and Lea when he heard the couple verbalize their priorities for their son– safety first and foremost for Victor; “fun, self-esteem, self-expression” for Shelley.…
Taking precautions (e.g. getting “peanut” into the right pre-school) vs. more of a free-spirited attitude (letting “peanut” be a peanut– er, I mean boy), anyone?
Out came that notebook of Shaun’s as Shelley stalked out of Ricky’s room in a huff…
…And considering there was only one scene between that one and the one where he caught up with Lea with 37 differences already in hand, Shaun either wrote like his pen was on fire OR he started jotting down stuff back when he, Asher and Perez initially discussed child-rearing issues in Act 1. (I vote for the former- entirely possible!)
It’s worth noting that there wasn’t a heated discussion at this point, just a hurried one as Lea informed Shaun that her next 24 hours were sure to be preoccupied with a rush assignment from Andrews.
MEANWHILE, AT THE REMAINS OF THE GLASSMAN ABODE…
He found, pondered, and pocketed a bottle of nail polish presumably belonging to the long-deceased Maddie… and I have a problem with this.
Wouldn’t the nail polish bottle have exploded in the fire? The stuff is highly flammable, and even when it’s encased in a glass bottle it’s dangerous when exposed to open flame and/or extremely high heat. I understand its sentimental value to Glassy, and of course it made a precious little story for him to share with Lea later in the episode. But with the entire, massive house burning to the ground, I guess we’re supposed to believe it miraculously stayed intact? Hmmmm.
(Please leave your nail polish fire survival stories in the comments)
This is as good a place as any for me to say something very positive about “39 Differences”, and it’s this:
Terrific directing effort by Cayman Grant!
I imagine it can be challenging for directors to leave a distinguishing fingerprint on a TGD episode of “average” action/excitement, but without much effort I can think of three such “fingerprints”:
1) The sequence where Lim explained to Brecka and her mother how they would try to make the pneumonia-tainted donor lungs viable…
(The video overlay while Lim was talking was probably scripted as such by the writers, but up to the director to string the right shots together to make it work)
2) This shot of Lim looking into Brecka’s room just before breaking the news that the viability efforts weren’t working. Note the way the camera caught Brecka’s reflection in the glass in the lower third of the screen. Very poignant and cool.
3) It’s blurry because the camera started panning right almost as soon as the bedroom scene between Shaun and Lea started, but Lea was framed perfectly in this mirror shot. Probably not as tricky to get as the Brecka reflection I mentioned a minute ago, but still a very nice detail.
(Incidentally, I didn’t recall that this hanging rack had a mirror… but the more I look at it, the more I want one )
ACT 3
SPEAKING OF MIRRORS…
One of the biggest issues I had with the “39 Differences” episode was the paint-by-numbers feel to Shaun’s thought process; a very deliberate stacking of info that gave me regressive, season 2 vibes:
He draws the parallel between his relationship with Lea and that of Victor and Shelley, and it quickly bursts into something that will take “a serious chunk of time” to sort out (Lea’s words, later on)
He gathers encouragement from Asher and Perez, buoyed by Asher’s wistful comment about love being enough to weather the tough stuff (according to the Hallmark Channel)
He loses that encouragement when a later conversation with Shelley evokes her personal opinion that “I’m not sure love is enough anymore…”
And then, without context, delivers a similar statement to his wife in the midst of her work deadline challenges. (Not that there would be a GOOD time to say that…)
The Shea situation remains in limbo until a little later, when Shaun happened to pick up on the kinder, gentler verbal cues dropped by Victor (during the “his skull is open” conversation) and especially Shelley’s pinky grab of unity as Shaun exited the room.
Which, of course, leads to Shaun doing the exact same pinky grab once Lea gives the green light for discussion.
Obviously there’s a certain history we have with Shaun that bears this if/then flowchart mentality. But it felt more predictable and deliberate than usual, and I guess that’s why I thought of it as Shaun from 5 years ago (setting the S2 status of his relationship with Lea aside). I suppose it can be argued that the guy who famously declared “I don’t want love” back in S1 is still in the early stages of love’s learning curve– especially when his son is coming to rock his world in a few short months. What I’m saying, though, is that Shaun seems closer to the point where he’d offer unsolicited relationship tips (“Have you ever gone to a karaoke bar with Victor?”) than he does spinning his wheels about love’s many progressions.
ACT 4
A much smaller issue I had came with Shaun and Glassman’s conversation about Shaun’s concerns and the shifting dynamics of parenthood. Glassman said “Well, Lea had some doubts a while ago, right? You got over that…” while Shaun responded, “Yes, because I was very supportive.” But what do we think they were speaking of here– the “differences” that were bantered about in the “Good Boy” episode while they cared for the dog? Last year’s temporary separation? The time in Guatemala when Lea considered taking a break and returning to Hershey?
I know that’s further back than “a while ago,” but that’s my point– none of the Shea skirmishes really seem to fit the lines that were said in this scene. It almost feels like the conflict described is intentionally vague, flexible enough to kind of fit anywhere the viewer’s mind goes. That may be commonplace for some shows, but attention to detail is what we ADORE about TGD when they get it right. To me, this didn’t feel like one of those times.
And while we’re near the subject– back in the “Good Boy” episode we had a lovely conversation between Glassman and Lea where SHE was voicing concerns about their future as parents, and he was nothing but reassuring that their love would pull them through anything. Several weeks later he’s talking to Shaun, and HE is sharing similar types of concerns. Glassman was hardly discouraging this time, but he was much more pragmatic in his advice. Was that because he simply relates to the two people differently? Or because he’d spent the day searching for buried treasures within the charred remains of his home and had zero warm fuzzies to give? The mind boggles…
Here’s an even smaller issue: I was hoping, for all the Lim/Jordan alone time we got in this episode, we’d get a little bit of “girl talk.” It’s unclear if Lim has any awareness of Jordan’s thing w/Perez, but even if Jordan had wanted to keep that to herself, I wouldn’t have minded a scenario that led to Jordan asking some “hypotheticals” of Lim. Or– if they wanted to leave the whole Jordan/Perez thing alone, as they seemed to-- Jordan simply sharing some story about herself that tied into the case with Brecka and brought some bonding for these two. When Jordan returned to the scene with coffee and cronuts, I was hopeful…
But while there was some bonding, it mostly came from Lim’s sharing her long-ranging history with the patient. Which made sense. I guess this was one of those times I was hoping they’d drift off subject for a spell. Where’s a good OR gab session when you need it?
OK, back to a big gripe…
Call this complaint counter-intuitive if you like, but whether Shaun and Lea’s bedroom scene was a major argument that played up their “39 Differences,” or a minor disagreement that was sure to resolve itself once Lea was available… it just didn’t work for me. It wasn’t nearly enough of one. It was too much of another. Let’s see if I can explain it better:
Shaun claimed to be “very patient;” nonetheless, after seeking Glassman’s advice he seemed determined to get his answers when he wanted them (the “we need to talk” when she was clearly still working; the sitting quietly in her line of sight rather than going elsewhere and checking in exactly 2 hours later- which would have been as typical as it would be hilarious).
On the other hand, Shaun gave up much sooner than I expected. Is that me thinking of S2 Shaun again, and how he didn’t really know when to quit? Maybe… but instead of hounding Lea, he came in and metaphorically vomited all his worries onto her side of the bed in about six seconds. Next thing we knew, the question of “will love be enough?” had taken the whole 39 Differences to a new level that oozed all over their comforter. (No wonder she got up and went to work at the dining table.)
Then there is the missed opportunity of barely articulating ANY of the titular differences between Shaun and Lea. No, I didn’t expect them to be discussed in detail. And no, I didn’t expect even half of them to be articulated (though Lord knows Shaun/Freddie Highmore could probably speed-speak through half the list in under a minute). But I feel we missed a perfect chance to learn even more about the couple that now serves as the tentpole for the entire series. Remember how thrilled we were when Shaun was trying to plan a date for him and Lea in S4 and, when asked “what does she like?” he proceeded to rattle off about 7 Lea “likes” that endeared us all the more to her? Sure, she’s had a lot more screen time since then (as has Shaun himself, of course). But much as some of us insist that we’d watch entire eps of “just” Shea, we know it’s not likely to happen and happily settle for some tidbits whenever they come our way. When we ended up hearing of only one “difference” near the very end of the episode– a pretty generic statement about feeding babies dairy products, one that Lea agreed with anyway– I felt more deflated than if they’d had a real argument.
Speaking of which— from the moment Glassy started talking about “things shifting” once a child enters the family dynamic, I wondered if Shaun would be reaching for that cowbell (wherever it is) and ringing it, much to their mutual displeasure, simply to symbolize his grave concerns about drifting apart. Wouldn’t this have been a great time for it? Wouldn’t it have pissed Lea off like nobody’s business and really ramped up the discussion? After all, this seemed far more of a “cowbell” moment than when Lea used it last season during the “Dry Spell” episode. But instead, the inability for them to hash it out was “the argument.”
Maybe it’s a weird reason to feel misled and disappointed, but it’s that’s where it left me… feeling like TGD was teasing at the nitty-gritty, but not bothering to deliver.
No, I’m not going to rant about Lea and Glassy’s scene TOO much. On the surface I liked it just fine. The Maddie stories he shared were sweet (I missed that he’d painted a couple of his own fingernails until the 2nd viewing), and there was something profound in Lea asking him–while sitting in the remains of his house– “Don’t you think it’s time to come home?”and mean HER home.
HOWEVER… what if Lea had come over and painted another fingernail for Glassman? Would that have crossed a boundary between them? (Wouldn’t it be interesting to find out?)
Perhaps they want to maintain that Maddie is too irreplaceable for him to consider that action, no matter how close he and Lea become. But I think, again, that this smacks of another missed opportunity with this episode.
As does the entire house fire aftermath? Maybe?
I’ll get back to this in a minute.
But first, back to Park and Morgan…
So independent of everyone else in “39 Differences,” Park and Morgan found THEIR essential differences reflected in Hemochromatosis Guy. Long story short- Morgan thought he was a lowlife who knew his condition and participated in the hospital study for the cash; Park wasn’t so sure– and eventually proved Morgan wrong. If it sounds familiar, that’s because these are situations (and conversations) that they’ve had almost as long as we’ve “known” them. There was a pre-relationship edition…a during-the-relationship edition… and now we have the post-relationship edition (with a “maternal instinct” bonus):
P: That’s gotta take a toll, expecting the worst of everybody.
M: I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than bitterly disappointed.
P: And that’s the worldview you want to impart to your future child- “Assume the worst of everyone?” (SHAKES HIS HEAD AND BACKS OUT OF HER OFFICE)
Yes, he got her to say “maybe my worldview does need a little adjustment” before the episode was over… and that little wink he gave her at the end of their last scene was freakin’ adorable. But rather than take their post-relationship to new places, it became a case of same crap, different location. We know what he’s like; we know what she’s like. They CERTAINLY know what each other is like in this regard. Why were they forced to tread water?
ACT 5
PEANUT’S FIRST KICK! You loved it, I loved it, and the mutual joy felt by Lea AND Shaun AND Glassman in those last moments of the episode was palpable. If writers Hosleton and Thai were directed to end the show with a “brief, lovely development for Shaun and Lea,” they did a splendid job.
AND YET… (sorry, final rant here)
In “365 Degrees,” Glassman was very deliberate in explaining the importance of his house to Shaun and Lea. Obviously, that was to underscore the shock and despair we presume he felt when, in the same episode, his house was ravaged by fire and utterly unsalvageable.
Yet here he was, a week or two later, looking for “his life” and coming up with a miracle bottle of nail polish and the eye of a stuffed animal…and he was FINE?
I mean, we hear that all the time and know it’s a cover for someone’s rage, frustration, fear, etc. But when Lea expressed her concern, Glassman said “I’m fine”... and I almost believed him.
I say “almost” because I’d like to think there were bigger moments of closure to come for him rather than this feeling that they’ve somehow already passed. “Think of all the new memories waiting to be made” was a wonderful thing for Lea to tell her surrogate father-in-law in that moment. Wouldn’t it mean even more if we can really feel Glassman’s loss along with him?
But TGD has had its share of maddening gloss-overs, and I’m afraid I won’t be surprised if this is another one.
***
If you haven’t heard by now, this guy (SPOILER ALERT!!) will be returning to St. Bon’s soon after a looong time away. And, of course, we have the backdoor pilot The Good Lawyer coming in March. So “39 Differences” will be relatively forgotten by TGD fans in no time.
But it didn’t have to be that way. That’s the infuriating part.
(Whether you think I’m on to something, vehemently disagree, or something in between… let’s talk about it! The comments await!)
