(Prelude to The Kiss, Part 1)
“Please hurry!!” was the last thing we’d heard from Dr.
Shaun Murphy in “Hurt” (3.19), a.k.a. part 1 of the earthquake two-parter. But
if the other first-responders had been able to quickly reach the flooding
basement he occupied with impaled earthquake victim Vera… well, we wouldn’t
have had much of a finale, would we?
Here are the things I found most interesting about Shaun’s
earthquake journey.
What
we DIDN’T see at the start of the “I Love You” episode
True story: I came in to the “I
Love You” episode about 2 minutes late, and when I backed up the DVR to catch
it from the beginning, I actually did it twice because I was certain I’d missed
something: OK, there’s Shaun, he’s talking to Lea on the 2-way, but…wait,
when did she make her presence known? How relieved was he to find that she’s
safely out of the structure? Did David Shore delete a scene here?
I really did wonder if there was a
deleted scene—I’m sure there are more of them than we’d ever imagine—but now,
I’m more of the mind that it was a deliberate fast-forward in the action. A
curious move, considering how much of “Hurt” was driven by Shaun’s need to find
Lea and get her to safety. An even more curious move, considering where
we pick up the dialogue…
SHAUN (into radio): Hello?
LEA: Yes. Shaun?
SHAUN: Lea?
LEA: Yeah, it’s me. You okay?
SHAUN: Why is it still you?
LEA: I’m fine. I wanted to say
and help.
SHAUN: I… don’t need you, okay?
I need a rescue worker.
So not only does he seem
unimpressed by Lea’s presence, he actually sounds irritated by it. What’s going
on? Well, several things.
1) Shaun’s
goal shifted from “finding Lea” to “saving Vera” during “Hurt”, and when the
aftershock triggered the flooding, it shifted again to “saving himself AND
Vera.” So Lea was essentially third on the list at this point.
2) The
“why is it still you?” line indicates he’d already spoken to her on the
2-way at least once before, therefore her safety was a given. And, also… third
on the list.
3) Sure,
the “I don’t need you” line could have been a holdover from the angst he’d been
feeling about their relationship to that point—it hadn’t been long before all
this, remember, that he’d sadly recapped why Lea didn’t seem to need HIM—but,
again, I think his words were more matter-of-fact than anything else. He didn’t
think Lea could provide him any information he didn’t already have.
He was wrong about that, though.
She’d talked to at least one firefighter directly (Hell, by the end of the
episode he was on a first-name basis with her), she knew what they were trying
to do to help, she even knew they’d shut off the water source but were still
mystified about the ongoing gushing. Shaun was in blunt, no-nonsense mode, but
she went with it, keeping her cool, giving him what he needed in that moment.
Could that be why, just before the
opening titles ran, Shaun suggested he could leave (without Vera) at any
moment? I don’t know, but even if it was just a fleeting thought that ran out
of his mouth unfiltered, it amused me to see Vera as stricken by the thought as
Lea was intrigued/relieved by it.
An
emotional—not sensory-- overload
I was amused by it because Vera had
begun to get into
Remember when Shaun had his chat
with GhostSteve in “Hurt,” and I mentioned the theory that Steve now represented
the other half of Shaun’s internal dialogue? As “I Love You” progressed, it
grew clear that Vera now represented a living, breathing manifestation of that
dialogue. It started in the episode as a continuation of what everyone else had
been advising him to do…
It moved into what felt to me to be
a somewhat patronizing riff on Vera’s part (“You’re good at adapting to challenges, aren’t
you?... Sawing (the rebar) wasn’t going to work (was it)?... But it wasn’t a
failure. (Right?)”)...
Ah, Shaun’s least favorite word—FAILURE.
The one that hangs him up; the one he felt compelled to add when his job was in
jeopardy earlier in the season (“45 Degree Angle”), and he had to apologize to
Dr. Lim.
“Isn’t ‘moving on’ just a euphemism
for giving up, for failure?” he asks Vera early in the “I Love You” conversation…
which lends insight to why he can’t yet move on from Lea: if he doesn’t move
on, he hasn’t required himself to admit to failure.
But Vera challenges him on his need
to “not fail” and uses that conversation about his adaptability skills to
suggest he’s more able to pivot to a life without Lea than he thinks (“You’re
goal isn’t Lea… it’s love.”). So by the time Vera asked him to make the
promise about moving on if she didn’t survive his amputation attempt, Shaun’s
increasingly fragile emotional state was in the palm of her waterlogged hand.
It was heartbreaking to see Shaun
truly wrestle with
What’s kind of hilarious to me,
though, in retrospect, is how I did not hear it at the time as “If I don’t make it, you have
to promise to move on.” I heard it as “If I let you do this…” and missed
the writer’s loophole entirely. (Anyone else…???) Honestly, if I’d been feeling better about the
outcome at that point, I think I would have taken note of the loophole myself.
But I heard it like Lea probably heard it: he is willing to do what he wants
least in the world—to let go of Lea – in order to try and save Vera. That is what a Good Doctor does, after all.
By the way—it turns out (as you
surely noticed) that there was no sensory overload for Shaun in either of the quake
episodes, which left me scratching my head a bit wondering what Freddie
Highmore had specifically been referring to when he said this in a preview
article with TV Line:
Remember
his public breakdown during Season 2's emergency quarantine, initiated by a
buzzing light? This, Highmore promises, is worse. "[These episodes] take
the emergency to a whole other level," he cautions.
But the line just before this in
the article makes reference to epic “on-site emotional tremors” for Shaun. So I
suppose that’s in reference to what I’ve just recapped… and Lord knows that was
more than enough drama for this storyline.
“Calm
in a Crisis”: Shaun’s laser-focus
We got a sense of it in “Hurt” as
Shaun (reluctantly) shifted from searching for Lea to tending to Vera, but his
ability to keep focus on what mattered most at any given moment was on full
display throughout “I Love You”:
+
The need for assistance that intensified
post-aftershocks
+
The need to cut the rebar and free Vera (didn’t
work)
+
The need to try and slow the water flow (also
didn’t work)
+
The need to amputate Vera’s leg… which, I couldn’t
help but note, was an option that only came to him when Vera stopped philosophizing
and got noble instead (“Shaun, if you stay…we both die”). It was as if once his
head wasn’t swimming with doubt about Lea, he could think clearly again.
+
The need to, somehow, amputate “cleanly”
(without an increased risk for infection).
+
The need to “give Lea something to do (counting to
180)” while he performed the amputation (which I think was as much for him as
for her, but we’ll talk about that in a later post).
+
The need to keep Vera from drowning while
he performed the amputation… which meant not only having the presence of mind
to tell Underwater Vera to exhale (“BREATHE OUT!!”), but then to go underwater
and perform mouth-to-mouth once she’d done so.
In noting that Shaun not only kept his wits about him throughout this ordeal
but likely performed at the top of his game professionally, my oft-mentioned
contributor Andreas pointed to this passage from Tony Atwood’s 2007 book The
Complete Guide To Asperger’s Syndrome:
"When discussing emotions, adults
with Asperger’s syndrome may intellectualize feelings, despise emotionality in
others and describe difficulties understanding specific emotions such as love.
There is often a conspicuous emotional immaturity; the professor of mathematics
may have the emotional maturity of a teenager. Despite their being notorious
for becoming irritable over relatively trivial matters, I have noted that some
adults with Asperger’s syndrome are renowned for remaining calm in a crisis
when some typical adults would panic. This
ability has been very useful for adults with Asperger’s syndrome who have been
medical staff in Accident and Emergency departments of hospitals, or soldiers
on active duty.”
“Tony Attwood is THE living expert on high-functioning autism aka
Asperger’s syndrome,” Andreas says. “And the writing staff (of TGD) undoubtedly
have read this book when conceiving the character of Shaun.”
And regarding the remainder of Shaun’s moments leading up to that final
scene (which will ALSO be discussed in a later post—be patient!)-- I’m guessing
it wasn’t lost on #Shea fans that, for all those pressing “needs” he’d addressed
throughout the episode, his attention was right back to Lea in the end. When
she rushed back to the lower level (where she fell through the floor at the
start of “Hurt”), and Shaun emerges after Vera’s been lifted to safety, it
looked to me like he was looking right up at her. I might have that wrong; he
obviously didn’t know she was going to be standing there, and perhaps he was
just looking up and forward in general. But they sure made it look like he was
gazing her way.
And although he accompanied Vera to the ambulance and responded to her
“it’s a new day” comment, I couldn’t help but notice he’d pivoted back to look
at Lea yet again before Vera was even fully secured in the vehicle.
Was it because he was so relieved to see her safe with his own eyes? Or was
it also because he was focused on one more “need”: to tell her he was now
prepared to let her go (because of his need to fulfill the promise)?
For just a few more seconds there, he didn’t know Lea had been wrestling
with her own internal dialogue all night long…
But
she WAS, and we’ll talk all about THAT side of the story next time.
21 comments:
Thank you, Kelli, for taking point on this cinematographic excavation campaign. Huh, the writers really have served us a special dish with this episode, haven’t they? The Good Doctor was never easy to consume TV, but this finale took it to the next level.
Shaun fought a hard battle in this episode, not against the effects of the aftershocks or the water or even death itself. He fought a battle against something nobody can outran: his own doubts, embodied by a highly annoying to watch patient named Vera. And if Vera was annoying us, guess what Shaun must have thought? She really played on his strings of being a Good Doctor. If it were not for the loophole (these wicked writers!), #Shea would have drowned in that waterfilled basement.
But lucky Lea got what the showrunner had promised for her: after seeing the worst of Shaun in the previous episodes, she now was witness to the best qualities in her friend. And with all the pros and cons on the table, she was able to make a decision at last.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was annoyed and then increasingly angry with Vera. Hello, you don't even KNOW Lea, and Shaun said she makes him more and he doesn't want to change who he is when he's with her! Maybe you should be worried about, I don't know, the rebar sticking out of your leg and pinning you in place instead of the love life of the doctor trying to SAVE your life?!
One of Shaun's best qualities, to me, is that he doesn't give up when it's something that's important to him. We've seen this time and again with his patients, going all the way back to S1 Episode 2, when he checked to make sure it was after midnight and told the nurse that since it WAS after midnight, she wasn't in charge of him anymore, and going to the little girl's house to MAKE her parents understand that she needed to go back to the hospital right away. And we saw it with Glassman once Glassman informed Shaun of his brain tumor. Shaun was the one pushing for a second opinion and more testing; Glassman had resigned himself to being dead in less than a year. After Shaun enlisted Jessica to help him double-team Glassman, Glassman got the second opinion and learned his tumor was treatable after all. And Shaun, for all of his hurt, showed no inclination to give up on Lea, either. She said that her flaws were too much for her to put on Shaun, and his response was an honest, even eager, "I believe I can handle them," and then his next step was to tell her, "I think we should go on a date." She told him they would never work, and he sat heartbroken on his couch for three days, unshaven and in pajamas, watching Minnesota weather forecasts, and when Claire dragged him back into work, he got a lot of advice from a lot of different people, but none of it rang true or worked for him. Then the earthquake happens, he learns from Glassman that Lea is unaccounted for, and his singular mission is to find Lea. Even Glassman and GhostSteve and the loss of his flashlight helmet didn't stop him. And even when he was with Vera, he was still communicating with Lea on the radio, and in the midst of a medical crisis, he thought enough of Lea to give her the task of counting to 180. And when Lea asked if that would help Shaun, Shaun said it would help Lea, because she would have something to distract her from Vera's screaming.
Lea heard the promise Shaun made to Vera, so when he started to tell her about the promise, part of me wonders what the end of that sentence would have been if Lea hadn't cut him off with that first kiss. Of course, as Shaun said a few seconds later, Vera didn't die, so the promise doesn't count, and all he has wanted for a long time is the chance to love Lea and be her boyfriend, and he has that chance, and her loving him back with all her heart, now.
We know that Lea loves Shaun. That was never in doubt. Her fears and insecurities about being with him were the root cause of the angst we had to endure between the end of "Autopsy" and the end of "I Love You." The combination of possibly losing Shaun in the cruelest manner possible, to death, and seeing and hearing him in a way she had never seen or heard him before made her realize that she was wrong (David Shore even said that it wasn't about Lea changing her mind at the end of 3x20, it was about her realizing that she was wrong to reject Shaun, that he does have what it takes to be a good boyfriend to her), that she's not too much for Shaun, that isn't that she's not good enough for Shaun. My theory remains that Lea has never loved anyone in her life the way she has loved Shaun, and she had never been loved by anyone in her life the way that she knows Shaun loves her. That kind of thing is terrifying. Shaun even admitted to both Glassman and Carly that he was scared to tell Lea he loves her, but when the moment came, he said those words looking her in the eye with his head held high. And Lea reached the point, at the end of "I Love You," where she could do the same. And even then, she still wasn't sure that she hadn't blown it, that she wasn't too late, because if you watch closely after the second kiss, Lea is looking up at Shaun anxiously, waiting to see what he's going to say, how he's going to react to her declaration that she was a stupid idiot for not seeing it but she loves him with all her heart kiss, and then she gave him another. For those few seconds, the whole world ground to a halt for Lea for the second time in 12 hours, because now she was meeting Shaun where he was weeks earlier: having put his heart on the line and declared his love and that he wanted to be her boyfriend. Now she was doing the same, but had she blown it? Had she ruined everything? Thank God she hadn't, as Shaun said that since Vera didn't die, the promise he made to her doesn't count, and then Lea told Shaun what I was hoping she would say after she heard his beautiful speech about her in "Hurt": "You make me more, Shaun." And then HE was the one initiating a kiss with HER, that basically turned into them making out in the street outside the destroyed brewpub. She's ready to take the leap of faith into a romantic relationship with Shaun that he is ready to take with her. And I'm very happy about that.
Hello, newbie here. I came to your blog on the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, and after reading this article, I am so glad that I did!
I have to say that one thing that you've beautifully pointed out is Shaun's utilitarian use of triage and how his autism seems to make him adelpty suited to employ this medical management concept. You've also made it more clear to me that triage plays a significant role in Shaun's life as he seems to implement it in situations where his personal and professional life intersect.
While practical, this manner of dealing with people can feel rather impersonal and harsh. But, as others have pointed out, Shaun has proven to be rather cognizant of Lea's needs and desires even in instances when it did not appear that he was. Which still seemed to put quite a strain on Lea, and his relationship with her. So, while Lea has recently admitted to being blind to this at times, Shaun has always managed to show his love in different - if belated- ways from what might be typically expected. However, for Lea, I believe that much of the tension that resulted from Shaun's desire to be a good doctor remained and overshadowed everything else. Which is why I felt it understandable when she did not want to pursue a romantic relationship with him, even though I always rooted for one.
But, this part really stuck out to me too. As you say: "[...]although he accompanied Vera to the ambulance and responded to her “it’s a new day” comment, I couldn’t help but notice he’d pivoted back to look at Lea yet again before Vera was even fully secured in the vehicle."
So, while Lea was not his highest priority for most of this harrowing ordeal, I think that we could use this observation to argue that she was his ultimate priority (proving Vera wrong) in the end. Furthermore, I think that it is also very significant that Lea hung back and patiently waited for Shaun to complete his hand-off of Vera and her transfer of care before she approached him. This seemed to indicate a deep level of understanding and a willingness to accept the position that she may often find herself in were she to enter into a romantic relationship with Shaun. No doubt, this isn't the first time, nor will it be the last, that she'll come in third to more pressing and immediate concerns, but she seems okay with that.
And, what was it that Glassman once said? "Sometimes you learn more about someone by what they do than what they say." Because, in my opinion, what Lea seemed to be saying with her actions is that she will wait for Shaun for as long as it takes. Which is lovely when you consider that she's essentially giving Shaun the space that he needs to be the good doctor that they both want him to be. It's even lovlier that your observation would also illustrate how his focus returned to Lea just as surely as their love for one another is reciprocated.
"And even then, she still wasn't sure that she hadn't blown it, that she wasn't too late, because if you watch closely after the second kiss, Lea is looking up at Shaun anxiously, waiting to see what he's going to say, how he's going to react to her declaration that she was a stupid idiot for not seeing it but she loves him with all her heart kiss, and then she gave him another..."
Yes, beautiful acting. Blink and you'll miss it. Great observation and beautifully pointed out. Thank you!
Ah, informed consent by both parties. When it happens it's a beautiful thing and a solid start.
I'm glad you touched on the sequence of events, Kelli. It's clear that there was some time elapsed between the end of Parts 1 and 2 of this finale.
Another point of interest was Lim and Park NOT having the radio tuned to Shaun during this pre-credits scene. They had their own patient to attend to, but they had it tuned to Shaun to learn about his predicament. I doubt they would have just said "sorry to hear about the water, Shaun. Hope it works out for you!"
Instead, I can imagine Lea establishing herself right around this time. And, given her proximity to the firefighters, Lim and Park trusting that Shaun was in capable hands.
I caught the "if I don't make it" part of the promise, and the implied loophole that went with it - even if Vera's intention was more of an "if I let you do this", as you suggested. It was fascinating to me, because it led me to root for THIS patient's survival more than any other in TGD's 56 episodes. And there were some very sympathetic patients! I knew that the Shea relationship's fate was linked to Vera's survival.
Going into the final episode, with all of the "who dies?" speculation going on, I saw a fair number of people predicting that Lea would go into that building and die proving that she loved Shaun enough to put his life above her own. Honestly, the more I saw this, the better I felt - since I became convinced that this would TOO "predictable" an outcome. Nevertheless, when Lea ran into that building at the end, a big "NOOOO" came out of my living room.
Thankfully, Lea got to LIVE while proving how much she loves Shaun. And in my opinion, this one short scene was CRITICAL in showing the symmetry between Shaun and Lea's love & efforts. And really, for me, it makes the ending moment feel fully "deserved" for both of them (which led to an even bigger "YESSSSS!!!" coming from that same living room).
Angelica, welcome to the friendly group of Blog Commenters! I, too, took great joy in Vera's "new day" comment. Even if she was meaning it in the "time to move on" sense, Shaun and Lea managed to start a "new day" in a different way - the BEST way!
Another thing that fascinates me about the two-part finale: Lea was the only main character at/right outside the pub throughout the two-parter. In fact, she's featured in the opening AND closing shots! But although her location was fixed, her life was VERY different at the end than the beginning!
(Me waving to my regular Bloggites-- just came up with that name; if anyone hates it let me know)
(BIG WAVE to Angelica) Welcome!! Thanks for reading-- and chiming in!
Angelica and Amy, both of you mentioned things I plan to touch on next time but I want you to come read anyway so I'm not gonna tell you what they are... LOL
Tony, great catch about Lim and Park and the radio! I forgot they both heard Shaun's "Please hurry" too, didn't they? But we only saw Lim at St. B's in the finale, right? For obvious reasons, I guess... but yeah, we had a number of presumptions to make in those opening minutes. That's what jam-packing an episode will do, I guess.
Regarding Lim, I would say "basically, yes" to being at St. B. throughout the episode. She was at the pub right before and after the credits, to establish that there was nothing she and Park could do for Casey.
This ties back into the discussion from Part 1 of the finale, and the number of walkies Park and Lim had combined at that point.
- Assuming they started with one each, did they have one to share after Lim handed hers to Lea??
- And once Lea took "control" of managing the Shaun situation as I hypothesized above, and Lim left to return to St. B., perhaps Park just left his off while keeping Casey at ease??
Ultimately, as you say, there was just a lot to cover in this episode. A character farewell, two more in career flux, and two who very well could have died if a few things had gone just differently at that pub. I can forgive the episode for skipping a few details, which I hope find their way onto the DVD Deleted Scenes.
While I'm speculating, I wonder if Park got done with his phone call in time to be the first witness to the Shaun & Lea new beginning???
Welcome, Angelica! I'm the one who made the observation about the anxiety on Lea's face, her uncertainty that she still hadn't blown it, that she might be too late after all. (I've lost count of how many times I've watched that ending scene of "I Love You" since the original airing on ABC March 30.)
Before she went back to Hershey, Lea told Shaun that when she thought of him, she thought he was a good doctor.
Then over the radio, she heard him say that he always knew he could be a good doctor, but until he met her, he didn't know he could fall in love, or do the other things that she introduced him to.
But this was the first time that Lea saw (or in this case, heard) firsthand for herself just what a good doctor Shaun actually is.
Shaun has already shown on more than one occasion that he takes the time and makes the effort to understand Lea and takes her feelings into account. When she apologized for ranting at him and eating his last apple in season 1, he told her that he had sought advice and knew that she just wanted him to listen, not point out how her position was wrong, and then he trusted her enough to seek her out after she'd gone back to her own apartment and tell her that he made a mistake that day and someone got hurt because of it, and he accepted her hug of comfort. He rented the apartment she liked when she couldn't afford it on her own for them to share. He had Hubert the fish autopsied to prove to her that she didn't kill him (which remains one of my favorite Shaun romantic gestures, because it's just SO Shaun). He trusted her enough to completely melt down and fall apart in front of her AND let her hold him and comfort him after his final confrontation with his father. (The only other person he has ever let touch him after a meltdown is Glassman, though at different times, Morgan, Park, Lim, and Claire saw Shaun melt down and either knew how to get him back on his feet and back in the moment, urged him to talk to them, or just sat with him in silence because there was no other way they could think of to be there for him.) And he compromised on the toilet paper hanging.
I too loved Shaun looking back at Lea, and Lea waiting patiently for him to get Vera into the ambulance. It was, indeed, a new day for Shaun and Lea, not just literally, but in their relationship, and I look forward to seeing where they go from here.
Wow, take a good nights sleep and the comments explode! Welcome Angelica to this happy bunch of scene-pathologists. ;)
It is a curious thing how the character relations evolved during the two-parter – or fragmented for a better part. 3.19 started with the St. B’s divided in two groups: the hospital and the brewpub. When the earthquake hit, they began to fall apart: Lea fell through the floor, Shaun went rouge, Glassman went back to the hospital, Lim followed him eventually, Park stayed on-site, and don’t mention Melendez and Claire…
If you think this way, all of them had their own sort of triage happening, tearing the characters apart, separating their stories from the others and clearing the view for what matters most to them. Something to address in a later stage of our discussion, when the time has come to sum up what this finale set up for season 4.
Back to Shaun and Lea, the parting ways of the various characters meant that their world narrowed down to the two of them – and Vera – until the new day broke and it was only the two of them oblivious to the world around them. As pointed out, Lim, Park or any other rescue worker eventually dropped out of their radio communication, which accomplished many things with one move:
– it showed that chief Lim not only trusted Lea and Shaun enough to handle things for themselves, but the firefighter Dan made clear that Lea was Shaun’s life-line to the world outside the basement: “What you need to do right now is convince Dr. Murphy to get out of there.”
– it showed that the bond between them, albeit battered and as thin as a single radio frequency, was not severed completely
– it showed that the repair of their bond was on them alone, without help or advice of third parties as seen in the episodes leading up to the finale
Which brings us back to Vera’s role in this. In film, writers are faced with the drawback that a character’s thoughts are not as easily conveyable as in a novel. Sometimes voiceovers are used for this, but the much more elegant solution is to give the protagonist a sounding board. Vera served a similar role as Ghost-Steve, the character was speaking out loud Shaun’s doubts – about Lea, about himself. Since he dropped down into the rubble, Shaun was second-guessing his actions, he was fighting for his identity, and he was fighting against his fears:
SHAUN: (BREATHING HEAVILY) Okay. Lea, I'm coming. (GRUNTS) Okay (METAL GROANING) (RUMBLING) (GASPS) Aah! I am not afraid. I am... not afraid. I'm not afraid.
STEVE: Of course you are. You know why? Because this is stupid scary.
SHAUN: Isn't "moving on" just a euphemism for giving up, for failure?
VERA: Do you really believe that? Do you think you failed? Accepting... loss makes us stronger.
SHAUN: Refusing to accept failure makes us not fail. If we keep fighting till we succeed, then...
VERA: That's not true! It traps us, prevents us from moving on to other victories. (BREATHING HEAVILY) (WATER TRICKLING)
While Shaun was fighting a battle of words, we witnessed Lea to fight a more silent battle of emotions, reflected again in the finely executed acting of Paige Spara. The characters mirroring each other yet again.
Both were tested to the extreme in this crisis. While Lea witnessed Shaun to rise to the challenges thrown onto him, her eyes were opened to what Shaun really means to her but also what she means to him: everything else besides being The Good Doctor he already is.
We, the audience witnessed something we had asked for a long time: Lea’s character growing! As Angelica pointed out, Lea managed to wait until Shaun had escorted Vera to the ambulance.
Again, instead of dialogue, Paige Spara’s nonverbal acting conveys how difficult this waiting is. As Shaun turns to her, we see her shoulders and arms tense, she is bouncing but does restrain herself from moving forward – and at this very moment the lyrics tell “I can’t do anything”.
In triage, red and orange tags need immediate action, while yellow and green are less urgent. Lea’s neediness and selfishness made her an orange at least, while Dr. Shaun Murphy perceived her as red only when he saw believed her in immediate danger but moved her back to yellow when he learned she was safe.
In fact, Lea can’t do anything to stop Shaun from being The Good Doctor she admires since meeting him in 1.3 Oliver, as frustrating it might have been at times (3.14/15!). All she can do is to control her selfishness and neediness until she receives a “delayed gratification” for her efforts. A price Lea can afford now because she realized that together they are more than two.
Some more thoughts…
When Lea rejected Shaun in 3.16, he slowly lost his balance, even failed to be a doctor almost (3.18). The prelude to The Three Kisses was a dive into darkness, that became literally once Shaun leaped through the hole in the floor to search for Lea.
This recalls a classic motif of literature, going back to Greek mythology: on his quest, the hero descends to the underworld. In fact, “Hurt” and “I Love You” may very well be seen as a variation of the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Apollo, god of healing and arts, has taught Orpheus to be a master of the lyre. Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, a woman of beauty and grace, and marries her. Shortly afterwards, she is bitten by a snake and dies. Orpheus makes his grief over her death known to everyone.
Then, Orpheus descents to the underworld to meet his love again, now residing as a shade among the dead. Hades, king of the underworld, is persuaded by Orpheus’ play of the lyre and allows him to take Eurydice back to the living, yet under one condition: while walking from the caves of the underworld, he should not look at her before *coming out to the light* or else he would lose her forever. If Orpheus were patient, he would have Eurydice by his side and alive again.
Eurydice's shade follows her husband to the light, but Orpheus can’t hear her footsteps and to check if his wife is still behind him, he turns to her. At this moment, her shade is whisked back among the dead, now trapped forever.
The tragic ending aside, the parallels of the structure are striking: Shaun is an outstanding talent in the art of healing, he has long since fallen in love with Lea and they lived comfortable as roommates for a short while before the events tore them apart. Shaun made a point in making his grief known to everyone at the hospital, including his patients. Lea has become a shade to Shaun, an elusive dream he longs for.
Finally, Lea is swallowed literally by the “underworld” of the brewery and Shaun descends to the dark to bring his love back to the light. But he can’t do that because his personal Hades – Vera – makes him to promise to be patient as in waiting for love to happen at its own pace.
These parallels struck me when I saw Shaun standing in the pit looking up presumably into Lea’s direction: Shaun was back into the light. He stood tall and calm, he had found his center again. Other than Orpheus, Shaun had shown patience by tending to Vera instead of looking for Lea, and he was rewarded with Lea waiting for him in the light of the new day. It was a rebirth of sorts. He was back to be The Good Doctor. What he left behind in the dark was what drove him throughout season 3, his biggest fear of being alone.
WOW, Andreas.
Be right back; I think my head just exploded and I need to go regather it...
I'd love to get a TGD writer reading these comments. I wonder if they'd say I HAD NO IDEA WE WERE THAT GOOD...
or MY GOD, THERE ARE VIEWERS THAT TOTALLY GET IT!!!!
You made my day Kelli! :D
Hope you gather your head soon, because I enjoy it so much to pick TGD apart with all the fellows here. You all give me great ideas. Have not been so creative in years! Let’s do more!
Wow.
Put me on the "mind totally blown" list too! BRILLIANT analysis, Andreas! And yes, Lea saw that her patience was rewarded at the end of "I Love You." Shaun saw his persistence rewarded too, both in getting Vera out of the rubble alive, and, after 3 years, finally getting to be with the woman he's in love with and knowing that she loves him back and wants to be with him too.
Congratulations on yet another amazing analysis which I loved so cannot wait for your final one. I did notice the loophole don't know why i just notice details like that. I also notices Shaun's confusion as he heart wrestled with his promise to Vera and even said part of that loophole out loud 'Vera lived so the promise doesn't count' David Shore is a miracle worker he wrote and directed that episode as knew how he wanted all to pan out and David Shore is such a perfectionist every detail had to be perfect inside his mind as he loves taking the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions and every single emotion during the finale which is a great achievement. This reminded me of the ending of David Shore's creation HOUSE which had one of the best endings of all time.
Thats' all I am able to write as It is 8am and still no sleep am in so much pain just now. Take care and stay safe. #sheamore
Well put, I absolutely agree!
I love how you pointed out that all of Shaun's colleagues have been good friends and were able and willing to support Shaun in various ways when he needed it. In this way, they all serve a purpose to Shaun and play instrumental roles in his development and success just as he provides some inspiration for theirs within the narrative.
But, you're right. He has a special connection and intimacy with Lea that he shares with no other and, like you, I am excited about their potential as they may aspire to new heights now that they're together.
Can't help but join the chorus here. Excellent observation, Andreas! Thank you for the brief lesson in mythology, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Intentional or not, the similarities between that ancient text and this prime time drama are very striking. It reminded of a quote from director/screenwriter Stanley Kubrick. In it, he expands upon the concept that there are actually only a handful of stories and that the greek playwrights had already written them all. But he offered some words of advice to modern day filmakers and encouraged them to retell those stories, anyway, after making them their own. As he put it:
“Everything has already been done. Every story has been told, every scene has been shot. It’s our job to do it one better.”
Well, given that the third chapter in Shaun and Lea's story subverted a greek trope by not ending in tragedy, then I would have to say that Shore did the classic tale "one better." Because, unlike Orpheus and Eurydice, Shaun and Lea were successful and earned the opportunity to enjoy delayed gratification because they actually abide by the rules and moral of that ancient odyssey. Which is, according to google, to be patient and keep one's faith. So, it's mind blowing, indeed, given Lea's stedfast patience and Shaun's unwavering faith in the season finale.
So, thank you again for your glorious insights, Andreas. They are very much appreciated.
Thank you, Angelica, for remembering Stanley Kubrick’s take on the ancient myths. I was aware of the quote but could not put a name on it anymore. By pure coincidence, tonight Kubrick’s "Barry Lyndon" is on TV, followed by a documentary about the filmmaker. I shall tune in and watch how he made the story his own. ;)
Kubrick’s observation is sure essential for storytelling. There must be a reason why certain tropes are around for ages. They tab into basic human conditions: love, hate, fear, hope, death, defiance… All stories told are iterations of the same few themes that keep us going. Shore and his crew retold them really well this time, didn’t they?
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