State of the #SHEA Part 21: Precious Gaps of Time on the "Frontline"

 SHEA SEEDS…

(Apologies to those who already know about these news tidbits/updates; I always post these assuming there are readers who might not be aware)

IRONY, 2020 STYLE: One day after TGD’s COVID-centric season premiere, both Richard Schiff (a.k.a. Dr. Glassman) and his wife Sheila Kelley (Debbie) tested positive for COVID-19. As of now, production continues on the show and neither Schiff nor Kelley (nor their son, also ill) have been hospitalized. Schiff remains active enough on Twitter to acknowledge the well-wishes he’s received; Kelley provided this update via Twitter yesterday:

 

Richard is definitely slammed a bit harder than me or @schiffboat

Gus and I are having a better day than yesterday.

@Richard_Schiff

had a better day yesterday. Please send lots of prayers. 

 

SPARA SPEAKS: Check out this new “exclusive” interview with Lea’s portrayer via Hollywood Life. While Paige doesn’t share much that’s any different from recent Shore and Highmore interviews, it’s always great to here her own take on everything. And the talk about “more of Lea’s POV” coming? Yes. PLEASE!

 

RATINGS UPDATE:

This release from ABC (published this past Friday), highlighting TGD’s early ratings success this season, tells the story beyond basic next-day Nielsen reports. In short: any shortcomings in the next-day Nielsens seem to be getting made up considerably in DVR playback (which I think has to happen within 36 hours of original broadcast to count). It’ll be interesting to see if this upticks even further now that the COVID episodes have run their course.

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(And now, on with today's post...)

A “Lovely” Montage

I was delighted to hear TGD use “Lovely Day” for their things-are-finally-looking-up montage as they neared the finish line for “Frontline Pt.2”. And it wasn’t just because it’s a terrific song (Top 10 R&B and Top 30 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in early 1978, for Tony and others ready to look it up)… 

Bill Withers, the singer/songwriter behind the tune, had the most unique of music careers (this Rolling Stone article about him, if you can access it, is quite good ). He actually passed away this year on March 30—the same day as TGD’s S3 finale—and I can’t help but wonder if they used this as a sort of tribute because of that fact?

Regardless, one of the interesting things about Withers was that he and his wife quietly managed the licensing of his music catalog, carefully handling requests for “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Use Me,” and of course “Lean on Me” as well as “Lovely Day.” Not just any film/commercial/TV program is granted permission; its purpose in each and every case is scrutinized for a message that doesn’t harm the song’s legacy. While I’m not sure if his wife is still handling this task, or if it’s been handed down to carefully chosen successors… I’m not surprised at all that TGD’s request made the cut.

Here’s a confession, though: you know how, in previous seasons, there was the occasional montage at the start of the show featuring Shaun getting ready for his day with his timer close at hand (pushups, shower, shave, etc.)? Before the season started, I pictured “Lovely Day” being used for such an opening of S4… with Shaun opening his apartment door to Lea on the line “Just one look at you/ And I know it’s gonna be/A lovely day…”

And then we’d get a series of quick cuts on the “Lovely Day” chorus to follow, showing them in mini-makeout mode before finally getting themselves back out the door (on their way to St. B). It’s the director in me… I couldn’t help it (shrug)!

Strangely enough 😏the show had other ideas. But the fact that Withers still got heard on a show that tends to favor current music (or at least recent covers of older songs) pleased me greatly.

Even though, by the time they (finally) got back to Shaun and Lea, it was a different “lovely day” altogether… or at least a lovely NIGHT. We kinda knew that was coming, though, with their current situation well established in the first part of “Frontline.” A pair of episodes devoted to those hardest hit by COVID isn’t going to keep showing us the longings of an otherwise healthy young couple…

(Unless you’re Melendaire, in which you get an inordinate amount of—ah wait, that’s not fair; it’s not the same, one of them is dead.)

I shall not complain any further, as #Shea got both the first AND last word on 4.2. The long-distance “good morning” at the top of the show we knew about… the ending, we didn’t. And for all we were imagining that reunion to be, I’m now reminded of the lyrics of another song; another oldie: You can’t always get what you want/But if you try sometimes, you might find/You get what you need…

I'll get back to that later.

 

The good news about #Shea and “Frontline, Pt.2”:

 

Thanks to Shaun’s question to Park during their only apartment scene this week, the wheels set to transport our favorite cop-turned-doc—well, you might say they locked up:

 

        SHAUN: Do you love Mia?

          PARK: Of course I do.

          SHAUN: What do you love about her?

          PARK: (QUIZZICAL LOOK, LONG PAUSE) I love that… she loves our son. I love how she talks to him, knows what he’s thinking, knows what he needs…

          SHAUN: I thought so.

          PARK: You thought what?

          SHAUN: You love Kellan.

          (PARK TAKES A MINUTE TO PONDER THIS AS SHAUN JUMPS UP TO TAKE THAT CALL FROM LEA)

 

Why is this #Shea-related? Because the scene started with Shaun saying, more to himself than anyone, “It’s not always fun…” followed by the question to Park about loving Mia. I picture Shaun with a blank book-of-love in his head, mentally filling in new pages every day… and by the third month of San Jose’s version of the pandemic? No, Shaun, love is not always fun. Even when they love you back. Might as well learn that sooner rather than later.

It was also #Shea that can assume some responsibility for Shaun’s later attempts to connect with Lily (wife of Martin, a.k.a. Patient #2 from last week). It had already worked the other way around, in that Shaun likely borrowed the Lily-at-his-bedside-even-when-sleeping idea when he and Lea started spending nights with their laptop connections still going. This time, it’s what he says after Lily shares her meet cute story about she and her husband and the Bonnie Tyler song… along with an admittance that Shaun was probably right about Martin catching COVID from her. He says in response

 “It’s hard… thinking of someone you love… when you can’t be with them.” (To which Lily offers a solemn nod of recognition.)

From there, they do better. In fact, Andrews isn’t seen in Martin’s room again—it’s just Shaun, and even though he’s nervous as hell that she’ll go off on him again, she doesn’t. In fact—since this is the kind of brutal illness where the result of an amputated foot ends up being celebrated rather than mourned—she and Shaun actually have a cute moment of their own (when he asks “Can I hang up now?" and then does so before she can even finish laughing and granting permission).

 

And although #Shea’s additional “impact” came in the form of

that little blue plastic barrel-o-monkey that both eased Shaun’s ear pain and stood in for Shaun’s toy scalpel (when he needed to steady himself after Andrews’ takedown)… Shaun and Lea also showed up in a bigger way during Shaun’s micro-meltdown on Glassman’s front lawn.

         

In some ways, this was the centerpiece of the episode: it was not only Shaun and Glassy’s singular interaction during the entire two part arc, but it was dramatic, sweet, and also wryly philosophical to the entirety of 2020 (“Be kind to yourself… be kind to everyone… because what else is there?”)

And yet… I also feel like co-writers Shore and Freidman dropped the ball a bit on “Pt.2”, starting with this scene. (Seems fitting to use a baseball analogy at a time when the late great Nurse Petringa was revealed to be a huge fan of the sport).

 

          The bad news about #Shea and “Frontline, Pt. 2"

For starters, I have a hard time believing that Shaun would hear Glassman’s broad stroke about kindness and simply pull his jacket back on and walk away. I think he’d ask Glassman how that applied to him and Lea… or maybe throw out a solution of his own to check Glassman’s reaction (“I hung up on Lea when she first told me she got tested; that wasn’t being very kind… I’ll try not to do that next time…”). Maybe he wouldn’t even bring Lea’s name up again. But would he simply walk away as if that answer was satisfactory to his own particular needs?

It just didn’t feel authentic to me. Maybe it was a deliberate choice in that the “Be kind” lines wouldn’t have resonated as strongly if the conversation had continued… but I think they could’ve found a way.

It was also around this part of the show where the COVID timeline became problematic. Part 2 started with “week 8” of the emergency, moved to “week 9” by the second act… and then stayed there, in “week 9,” for the majority of the episode (until “week 12” when we said goodbye to Petringa).

Maybe it was simply impossible to do justice to the back end of the San Jose version of the pandemic, given we as a country are nowhere near the “back end” yet. But it had to do with a couple of the stories being told as well… and ironically, I’m not talking about COVID-centric ones.

On the COVID floor of St.B, we had Dr. Park quietly overseeing Ambar’s progress while also coming to terms with the “where?” and “why?” of his future… getting gutted by Kellan’s harsh words and then uplifted by his own tale of his son’s importance (all of which happened in week 9).

And then on this floor (basement?) of St.B, we had Claire spending inexplicable amounts of time researching a set of dog tags and chatting with Melendez the Arrogant Ghost rather than… oh, I don’t know… helping those still fighting COVID, maybe?

Given that Claire first picked up those dog tags during “week 8” and didn’t return them to their rightful owner until week 15 (a.k.a. “three weeks later” in the final act of the episode)… and we hardly saw Claire do a single thing for a living COVID patient during that time… I had lot of difficulty believing this part of “Part 2”. And not just because of Melendez’ appearance in it.

So for that half-hour stretch of TGD that comprised “Week 9,” we got development on just about every story being told, except—surprise!—Shaun and Lea. And like I said, that wasn’t unexpected. 

What was unexpected, at least for me, was the reunion scene

which closed the episode. Not that it wasn’t divine and perfect in its own way; it absolutely was. But I couldn’t help but feel like a few pages had fallen out of the script along the way—pages from a #Shea scene or two creating more context for what we got.

 

To recap what we DID get in Pt. 2: 1) in week eight, we saw Shaun and Lea waking up to each other via computer screen. 2) during that same act (still week 8, presumably), Shaun gets worried because Lea’s not answering her phone. 3) In week nine, she tells him over the phone about her sore throat and negative COVID test; he remains agitated, dwelling on the current inaccuracies of COVID testing before hanging up on her. 4) Still in week nine, Shaun goes to Glassman with his troubles.

And at this point I must note that when Lea shows up at the door with her stack of negative COVID tests, it is week fifteen… six whole weeks since Shaun was advised by Glassman about kindness. Yet he appears cautious, tentative, and somehow less than thrilled to see his girlfriend—the same one he so desperately wanted to be with in “Frontline Pt.1.” What happened with #Shea during those six weeks?

I’ve got some theories about that, but first let me complete my mini-rant. Couldn’t they have carved just two 30-second scenes out for Shaun and Lea check-ins? Or even one? Something to let us know he wasn’t upset with Lea, but rather, upset with everything—the disease he can’t fully understand, the patients he can rarely save, the exhaustion he can’t shake?

And why was Shaun still worried she had COVID? Was she going out unnecessarily, being something less than safe? Or was he just trying to be protective?

Was he talking to her less because of the difficulty in missing her so much? Did he harbor any fears of Lea “forgetting” about him if he did so?

And what about Lea—how was she dealing with all this? Going stir crazy? Coming up with any other inventive ways to “see” Shaun? Did she worry about him catching it? Were the doctors getting tested regularly by then? It feels like her side of things was all but abandoned… in favor, I’m afraid, of more Melendaire in this case. I’m cutting some slack because they felt a need to give some closure to that storyline, while also bracing for the airtime that “newbie stuff” will likely get in favor of #Shea bonuses.

In short, I guess it’s same #Shea gripes, new context. There’s a seismic difference (earthquake pun intended) in that both #Shea shippers and TGD writers seem to be on the same page in S4; we want to see this relationship explored, and so do they. But it seems the tradeoff for that kind of “security” is the awareness that we may have to keep filling in some of the gaps with our own deductions.

(And if we see something from #Shea in the next DVD collection of “Deleted Scenes,” I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s from this episode. Just sayin’.)

 
HAVING SAID ALL THAT… let’s go back to what we DID have to work with. The question worth keeping in mind the most is How has Shaun’s ASD continued to affect him in those six weeks since throwing rocks at Glassman’s window?

 

Here’s what Andreas, one of my readers/frequent contributors also living with ASD, has to say about that: 

 

“Story-wise and in-character things make sense when you take into consideration what Shaun went through since the pandemic hit, and look at the hints presented. The key to understand the scene is what Shaun was doing before Lea knocked on the door: he was watching The Weather Channel.

 

(NOTE: I know we didn’t actually SEE what Shaun was doing before answering Lea’s knock, but given that Park was not around and he had nothing else in progress, it’s the logical assumption to make.)

 

“Another thought: as far as I could gather until now, Shaun was worried sick over Lea's health this episode. So with that additional stress, he had a lot of emotions to cope with – as we know, Shaun is not good in this department – and many with ASD show less of their emotions the more they are confused.

 

“Under immense stress due to the pandemic, Shaun did what every sound autistic individual does… they engage excessively in a special interest/routine that is calming and reassuring to them. 

(Enter The Weather Channel, which we’ve seen as his go-to in previous situations.)

“Shaun appears to be distanced because he has little facial expression and a rigid body language – but this is nothing unusual with the condition, and it worsens under stress."

So taking all this into account—and assuming that Lea’s aware of it too, at least on some level—let’s re-examine what we witnessed:

 

          + Lea is ready for a stay-over; surely they’ve been discussing a potential reunion time. (I don’t think she’d just spring the idea at him, given his stress levels.) On the other hand, the “three negative tests in three days” is news to him, so he still has to think on his feet regarding how to process this.

 

          +  Shaun may not say a word in this scene, but his eye contact with Lea is strong. Look at how he only gives a few seconds’ consideration to the paperwork she hands him before continuing to gaze (yes, I’m going with “gaze”) at Lea. His emotions may be tangled, but his soother has arrived.

 

          + If the hug that Shaun initiated (still a major feat, as we know) gave you the dreaded “Carly vibes”—at least when you first watched it—you’re not alone. But it’s the subtle differences to note, as always; the contented sigh from Lea, the way he relaxed the longer he held her (and in fact held her a little tighter). His last embrace with Carly was a stilted goodbye, while this hug with Lea was a warm, welcoming hello again.

 

 

         + As for hello again’s abrupt ending… again, we have to consider who we’re dealing with here (as did Lea, who definitely had a flash of “wait, where the hell are you going?” on her face). After the hug he’d yearned to give for so long, he needed to return to his decompressing routine of choice—but he immediately invited Lea to join him in the part of the world that is exclusively his.

 

          + Because Lea is growing increasingly cool like that—she’s writing/re-writing her own book-of-love as this relationship progresses—she closes the apartment door behind her,

sets down her bag, and joins him on the couch (hands folded in her lap, much like his). And as many of us have noted, Shaun leaned ever-so-slightly her way once she was there, and that’s when she rested her head on his shoulder. The look on Shaun’s face throughout the scene may seem “blank” at first glance, but the hints of joy and relief that flicker as he hugs her are further enhanced by a look of quiet pride as he sits beside her.

 

Andreas again:

“Shaun has moved past the sexual intimacy of Part 1. This is intimacy on autistic terms; and Lea, self-proclaimed epitome of selfishness, quickly acknowledges and accepts it. They are successfully negotiating and trading their respective needs – just what they need to do in a mature relationship.”

 

Two other things to consider:

 

1)   Obviously the COVID-themed episodes are somber in nature. Even when the “Lovely Day”  montage brought some joy back, it was still followed by Park breaking it to Mia that he wouldn’t be returning to Phoenix after all… and, of course, Lim and Claire’s last visit to Melendez Memorial Park Bench.  To have Shaun and Lea go crazy on each other as soon as she entered the apartment would have seemed out of place, to say the least.

 

2)   Another thought: It seems like the show caught flak for Shaun “getting the only happy ending” in the S3 finale, especially because his happy ending came immediately after Melendez’s death. So… on top of all the other reasons, maybe there was a conscious effort for Shaun not to appear TOO happy, even getting what he’d wanted most. Perhaps the low-key approach that fit Shaun’s ASD needs just happened to fit TGD’s needs as well.

 

What does it mean going forward… will they have to start all over in terms of the physical aspect of things? Given that Lea was spending the night, I doubt it.

 

But how do they get from where we last saw them to possibly living together within the next few episodes?

 

One big thing to keep in mind is that there’ll likely be a small time jump when we get to the “Newbies” episode next week. The markers will be gone—4.3 won’t open with 2 months after the end of the State of Emergency splayed across the lower third of the screen—but if they’re moving beyond COVID for the rest of the season as they say, I presume we’ll spring forward a bit to a time when temperature checks aren’t done in the St. B parking lot, patients are allowed to have visitors again, and Shaun is as comfortable as ever in Lea’s arms.

 

How did YOU feel about #Shea in Frontline Pt.2? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments!

 

I plan to write a little more about the “Frontline” episodes—as well as thoughts on the upcoming “Newbies” episode—as far ahead of Monday night as I can! Stay tuned…