STATE OF THE #SHEA Part 5: How I'm facing the "Sex & Death" Music

First up, a correction to my comments on MANY a Tweet about #SHEA over the past week… I’ve been calling the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it (and in fact, some people did!) scene between Shaun and Lea 45 seconds long. But now that I have cooled my heels about “Mutations” enough to sit and watch it again, I got my timer out and clocked just that one scene. And… I was wrong.

It was closer to FIFTY seconds.

My apologies. (Insert the eyeroll emoji here)

And in case you can’t bear to watch it again yourself, here are the lines exchanged in the scene that should have been so, so different (and/or so many more scenes):

LEA: (carrying a box, sees SHAUN prepping dinner plates to be packed) Those are yours.

SHAUN: We bought them together.

LEA: Because you found the pattern soothing.

SHAUN: (Considers her statement; returns the plate he’s holding to the cabinet)

LEA: I’m gonna miss you, Shaun.

SHAUN: (Still facing the cabinet) I love Carly.

LEA: And that’s great. I am SO happy for you.

SHAUN: (swinging by LEA with more packing material; starts wrapping cups) Now you can hang the toilet paper incorrectly anytime you want, and Carly and I can go back to the way things were before our fight.

LEA: (after a beat) Sometimes couples need a little time to recover…

SHAUN:  (almost cutting her off) We won’t. Carly asked for you to move out; you are moving out. (Gives a little nod as if to say “and that’s that”.)

Shot ends with Lea watching him wrap cups with a knowing look on her face.

In response to one of my angry tweets about this scene, someone said—with a fair dose of snark, it seemed – I bet you didn’t predict that! To be honest, the “scene opens on Lea & Shaun packing boxes; any conversation about this HUGE change in their living situation has already been had” was on my list of possibilities… but to find it, you had to look under Worst-Case Scenarios. And to have it be Lea that did the moving out? No… my brain didn’t even allow it to register.

The main reason for that might be a tad dated now… I’m thinking back to season 1, where Shaun was first living independently and Dr. Glassman became increasingly concerned with Shaun’s ability to do so. Which led to him trying to find assistance for Shaun, which led to Shaun “running away” briefly via his road trip with then-neighbor Lea. Glassman ultimately backed off of all this for the remainder of the season, and when Shaun & Lea became roommates/besties, it became a non-issue. I made the suggestion that if Shaun had to move out for Carly’s sake, his sometimes friend/confidante Dr, Park would be a good roommate choice—at least temporarily—because it would solve the problem of Shaun living alone. Well, that was one of the reasons, anyway.

I suppose TGD writers consider my reason “dated” for sure, since the whole idea at the moment is for Shaun to consummate his relationship with Carly… to have the place to himself, where Lea’s not in the way anymore (at least not physically), where he can leave his clothes in a trail to his bedroom like Jack Tripper might have done on Three’s Company back in the day, giddy with anticipation for what’s about to happen after many stops and starts.

I realize, as I read this back, that I sound annoyed (at best) by the Carly/Shaun relationship progression in “Mutations”. Or maybe that I’m channeling Lea… were we to ever to get a hint that things were moving the way most #Shea ‘shippers are rooting for, that is. Despite how it sounds, I don’t really fault them for giving Shaun some happiness in that department. Did I want Lea to be “his first”, like I’ve seen many fans lament this week? Yes, I guess I did. But if (and I know, that’s still a big IF right now) Shaun and Lea are destined by the show to be long-term… and they see Carly as “his first” as a means to that destination… then I’m willing to come along for the ride.

But as of “Mutations”, I’m not feeling as confident that will be the case. And that makes the Shaun/Carly bedroom scenes difficult to take now, especially when I’ve come to expect the progression of their physicality in small increments and what transpired last week felt like the equivalent of being tickled with a steamroller… difficult to execute, and impossible to enjoy. I mean, we were clobbered these past 2 episodes with the notion that lingering feelings for Lea may have kept him from full intimacy with Carly. Then in the space of half an episode, they’re fully undressed and under the covers? And another ½ hour later they’re at it again… or, were… cue Shaun’s oh-so-happy face?

After a full hour of searching, in vain, for Lea to get a second scene (or for Shaun & Glassman to have ANY scenes together), I only felt the knot in my stomach tighten beyond resolution. Shaun, my dear, I’d say I’m happy for you but dammit, I’m just NOT.

As I’ve said before—for me, it’s not about disliking the character of Carly. I know that’s not the case for some of you (Boy, do I know!). I know that the more some see her interact with Shaun, interact with others, become more fleshed out as a part of TGD, and say Ugh. She just irritates me. She’s so insecure. She doesn’t treat Shaun like an equal. Or worse. 

But to the writers’ credit, I think we need that from a love interest for Shaun (that isn’t Lea). We need to see someone multi-dimensional, perhaps with significant flaws that reveal themselves gradually, so that if/when Shaun and Carly are no longer an item it makes sense. We don’t want Carly to simply be branded as KIND and PATIENT, do we? We need the two of them to have difficulties that stem from human foibles. neurotypical and otherwise, so that fans pulling for long-term “Sharly” can see what’s coming… and maybe, just maybe, be more accepting of an eventual future with Lea.

The women in charge of writing “Mutations” surely did so with a lot of “humanizing Carly” in mind; in addition to further it’s-not-you-it’s-me behavior with Shaun, we saw her nervous, uncertain, even downright sad at work when all we’d really seen before was varying does of attitude, depending on the speed at which someone was requesting test results. In watching the show a second time, I think they did a pretty good job in that regard. (I mean, they found a way for Shaun to both comfort her and call her “beautiful”, in very Shaun-esque ways... no easy feat). Unfortunately, the unbalanced—or dare I say, lop-sided—love triangle was so very out of kilter with this episode, I just couldn’t enjoy any aspect of said episode. Not the Fault-in-Our-Stars kids, not Claire & Melendez, not Morgan’s RA medication issues, not Glassman back in the OR, not even the brief scene we got—finally—with Shaun and Claire.

(OK, I’ll allow that I was impressed with the power of that brief catch-up conversation, but I also couldn’t help but wish it was longer. Maybe if Shaun wasn’t going to announce his new living arrangement to Glassman, he could’ve told Claire. And SHE could ask the bare minimum questions: How are you going to suddenly be able to afford that place on your own? How could you kick Lea out with almost no notice? Where did she go? Is she okay? Are you really so focused on Carly you didn’t have any of these questions yourself?... oh, if only.)

Maybe some of this will be addressed tonight with the “Sex and Death” episode we’ve heard about and/or dreaded for at least a week or two. Maybe Lea will turn up for two minutes instead of one. Maybe as Shaun crows about his new “status” to anyone who will listen (as I suspect will be the running joke, based on what I’ve seen), Glassman will take some of our concerns/frustrations and run with them in some fashion. Maybe this is a sort of honeymoon episode for “Sharly”; I suppose they’ve got at least one of those coming to them if drama is supposed to rear its ugly(??) head as season 3 moves forward…

I won’t know any of this until later in the week, because I’m not watching it in real-time tonight. I just can’t. I’ll probably keep an eye on Twitter again, sometime after the show’s over, to see if there are any signs of #Shea hope in this particular episode. There may not be. There may not even be in the promos for “Influence”, the episode airing two weeks from tonight, but I’ll try not to let that get me down too much as only the front-burner story tends to get that 15-second plug.

I don’t need #Shea to be front-burner anytime soon in order to keep the faith. I just need it to stay on the damn stove. Know what I mean?

2020 U.S. Nationals Previews & Predictions (Ice Dance & Men)

Ice dance starts Friday at the 2020 U.S. Nationals in Greensboro; the men start their event on Saturday. Here are a few notes about both:

                            

DANCE: I was surprised to learn that only NINE dance teams are competing at the senior level this year (compared to 14 teams at the junior level). Among those nine is the new pairing of Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, both of whom competed with their siblings (Gordon Green and Rachel Parsons, respectively) until last year. They took 7^th place in both their GP assignments earlier in the season. 

As for placement predictions—as usual with ice dance, I’m combining personal preference with anticipated scores based on the way I’ve watched these programs be judged through the season:

GOLD: Chock/Bates

SILVER: Hubbell/Donohue

BRONZE: Carriera/Ponomarenko

4^th: Hawayek/Baker

5^th: Green/Parsons

I wasn’t sure I thought it was a good idea for Chock/Bates to continue competing post-PyeongChang—they’d accomplished plenty already, Madison had a pretty intense injury/surgery to recover from last season, and they seemed to hit a competitive plateau maybe as long as 3 seasons ago. But this year’s Egyptian Snake Dance FD changed all that for me. They were able to edge H/D for the silver medal at the Grand Prix Final; I’m hopeful they’ll defeat them again here. Last time they won Nats: 2015.

The battle for bronze might prove even bigger than the one for gold this year… that’s because Hawayek/Baker (the reigning bronze medalists) struggled big time on the GP circuit this past fall, particularly with their Beethoven free dance. I’m extremely fond of H/B in general, and was kind of hoping they’d either unveil a new FD at Nats or return to last year’s highly successful Irrepressibles FD. As of now, I haven’t heard any major changes they’re making… and that’s why (sigh) I think they could lose bronze this year to the still-building Carriera/Ponomarenko.

MEN: If the field of 16 competitors looks smaller this year than usual, that’s because it is: four men who otherwise qualified for Nats cannot compete because they didn’t reach the minimum TES score now required by USFS. Oh, and if you’re looking for veteran competitors Timothy Dolensky and Alexander Johnson, both of whom finished as high as 6^th here in previous years… sorry, but they’ve both retired.

Among the “new” competitors is 22-year-old Yaroslav Paniot, who competed for Ukraine until last season, as well as last year’s Juniors champ Ryan Dunk (age 19). The top 5 from last year—Chen, Zhou, Brown, Hiwatashi, and Krasnozhon—will all be there.

Cutting to the chase, I don’t anticipate a lot of movement in the top placement this year. Chen seems as much of a lock for his 4^th consecutive title as there could be. Zhou has been out of sight much of this season as he sorted out his new college-student status, but he’s looked as good in practices this week as he ever has. Brown’s in the most vulnerable spot, as usual, with his likely lack of quads… but until one of the up and comers (namely Hiwatashi, Krasnozhon, Pulkinen, or Torgashev) get a lot more consistent in their efforts, I’m giving Brown the benefit of the doubt for bronze.

                                           

GOLD: Nathan Chen

SILVER: Vincent Zhou

BRONZE: Jason Brown

4^th: Camden Pulkinen

5^th: Tomoki Hiwatashi

I’ll be on Twitter for much of the action this weekend (@KLBSt8ofSk8)… say HI if you see me over there!

2020 U.S. Nationals Previews & Predictions (Pairs & Women)

I’ve been subletting my blog this past week to a series of posts I wrote for fans of the ABC drama The Good Doctor, but my skating roots run deep enough that OF COURSE I’m still gonna make previews and predictions for the 2020 U.S. Figure Skating Championships! (I even went skating myself, just yesterday, for the first time in about a year. I won’t post the video here, as I don’t know that I want to immortalize my terribly exciting one-foot spin in that fashion. But it’s over on Twitter…)

As is usually the case nowadays, all the Nationals action can be found over the next several days at either NBC, NBC SN, or NBC Sports Gold. Here’s a link to help you sort out what you can watch vs. what you may have to read about later…

And this year I’m breaking my preview/predictions into Pairs & Women, which both start later today (1/23)… and Dance/Men, which get going Friday and Saturday, respectively.

PAIRS

There are 12 teams competing in all; the top 8 from last year are all returning EXCEPT 2019 Bronze Medalists Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Nate Bartholomay, who ended their partnership last spring. (Stellato-Dudek is now representing Canada along with Maxime Deschamps; they finished 6^th at Canadian Nationals last weekend.)

Here’s my guess for the top 5. Tough call between gold and silver, but since no pair has won back-to-back U.S. titles since Castelli/Shnapir did it in 2013-14, I’m picking Denney/Frazier to return to the top. Last time they won was 2017.

GOLD: Denney/Frazier

SILVER:  Cain-Gribble/LeDuc

BRONZE: Knierim/Knierims

4^th: Kayne/O’Shea       

5^th: Calalang/Johnson

WOMEN (Even the event page for NBC called them “women” this time rather than “ladies”… So it’s time to talk about the WOMEN!)

There are 18 competitors this year; that number does not include 3 withdrawals (Ting Cui, Hanna Harrell, Emilia Murdock).

Gracie Gold, as mentioned previously, is making her first appearance there since 2017. Paige Rydberg (who finished 11^th in 2017) will also be back this time, and Karen Chen returns after missing last year with an injury. The top 3 from last year—Alysa Liu, Bradie Tennell, and Mariah Bell—will all be there. Number 4 last year was Harrell; #5 last year was Cui, and last year’s 6^th place finisher, Megan Wessenberg, did not meet the minimum TES requirements now needed to compete at U.S. Nationals. To me, that means there are only two real challengers to last year’s strong podium: Chen, who of course won the title in 2017, and last year’s junior national champion Gabriella Izzo. Nonetheless, I’m sticking with last year’s top 3…

GOLD: Alysa Liu

SILVER: Bradie Tennell

BRONZE: Mariah Bell

4^th: Karen Chen

5^th: Gabriella Izzo

Others that are worth keeping an eye on include Amber Glenn (7^th last year), Starr Andrews (8^th last year), and yes, the aforementioned Gold.  My prediction for Gracie? Top 10. I’ll say 9^th, specifically, because I don’t know how many additional triples she’ll manage for her FS when she wasn’t getting a lot of them done in the prelim events this season. (If you’ve watched any of the practice videos this week you know she’s looking pretty good… I’m curious how she’ll do under a pressure she likely hasn’t felt in well over  a year.)

More predictions soon!

STATE OF THE #SHEA Part 4: Well, it was lovely while it lasted... (A RANT. I Guess.)

Sad, angry, dejected, deflated, stunned, bewildered, confused…

Slap in the face. Punch in the gut. Kick in the head.

I’m the first to admit I get too enmeshed in it all. Over-involved. Embarrassingly so. And it pisses me off that I’ve been here before—caught up in a fictional story I thought I understood so well, only to feel betrayed by those actually telling the story.

But until the “Mutations” episode of The Good Doctor aired on 1/20, Dr. Shaun Murphy’s story was so, so very different. That’s what made Shaun and Lea’s story so fascinating and fun for me—and probably for you, too: a “slow burn” (to quote an early interview featuring Paige Spara) of neighbors turned flirty friends turned semi-estranged turned roommates turned best friends… that still had time, in my humble opinion, to turn that last corner towards both-sides-now romantic love and “endgame,” as people like to say. I thought time was of the essence; if Shaun’s relationship with Carly didn’t complete its course by the end of this season, with Lea there to pick up the pieces in some sort of fashion, then perhaps that good ship #Shea had sailed for good.

“Mutations” not only all but did away with practically every last hope for the above… it did so in a way that felt small, and mean-spirited, and left me to wonder just what Paige Spara (Lea) ever did in her life—and especially via her character on the show—to deserve that kind of sendoff.**  “Mutations”? Heh. Yep, they sure did get the name of this episode right. Just not in the way I anticipated AT ALL.

(** Nipping this in the bud right away: I don’t know if Spara is being completely written off the show or not. I know that especially after “Mutations,” the rumors are probably going to keep growing, and every Insta post she makes will be carefully combed for clues. But I, myself, have no idea as of this writing.)

I don’t even want to watch TGD in real time next week. That’s where half the fun usually is, but my head has been swimming too much after each of the past two episodes, keeping me sleepless in a life where I only average 5 hours a night as it is. The 1/13 episode was far from what I’d have liked it to be with regards to Shaun & Lea, but at least it left me thinking I still knew the direction in which things were headed. The 1/20 was…as Shaun might say... different. We all knew the spotlight would be on Shaun & Carly, but damn, I can’t even come up with words for how brutal that opening (and only) scene with Lea was.

Well, maybe I can. How about these words: It was as if David Shore, or whoever was at the helm in this particular episode, told scriptwriter Liz Friedman “Look, you’ve got about 45 seconds at the top of the episode to get rid of Lea. I don’t care how it’s done, just make sure it’s clear that she’s leaving, and Shaun can’t wait for her to go because he’s horny as hell and wants to get Carly in his bed before the sun goes down that night. Oh, and if you want to throw in a line about the way she hangs the toilet paper (an issue which sparked an entire awesome episode in better times), that would be a nice touch. Just make sure it doesn’t take away from the time we need to capture Murphy’s  I’m-no-longer-a-virgin face at the very end.”

A confession: In the crush of the current presidential administration’s impact on current events and beyond, TGD has been one of my only true happy places of late. Lord knows for someone like me—battling chronic low-grade depression, anxiety, and a kettle of other issues that leave me somewhat less than optimistic in general—I needed that happy place. But like Paige Spara’s role on the show, it now feels inexplicably snatched away.

I know I’m contradicting myself when I say all this because, a week ago, I was the one nodding methodically, saying It’s OK, #Shea fans, we’re still got 9 new episodes to go; I’m sure there’s a plan… But as of now, it feels like the “plan” is to kick Lea, and a beautifully crafted friendship/love story, to the curb. And to quote Shaun again, this time from his big Glassman scene last week… I feel sick.

Even if that’s somehow NOT the plan, how can the show possibly rebound from that atrocious “movin’ out” scene? Shaun was, well, cold (to quote a fellow Shea fan on Twitter) and seemingly unconcerned, even failing to reciprocate Lea’s “I’m gonna miss you, Shaun” with anything more than his new favorite phrase I love Carly. (Which now seems to, among other things, translate to “I cannot possess any feeling at all for you, Lea.”) Obviously his words and expressions don't often come off as others do, but this somehow felt deliberate.

It was equally miserable how Lea was uncharacteristically agreeable to the whole thing: Oh, Carly thinks we shouldn’t live together anymore? Wow, I don’t know how I feel bout—oh, what’s that? You agree with her? Well, I think we at least need to talk about some things before you move out… oh, what’s that? You think *I* should move out? Well, I guess I’m fine with that… I think; um, I haven’t really had time to—OH, you meant you want me to move out TODAY? But Shaun, I still need half a day to make arrange—AAAND now you’re handing me a box and bubble wrap. Oookay then.

In racking my brain, struggling to understand how things looked so interesting/promising two episodes ago to… THIS… the only thing I’m coming up with is that the writers used, even exploited, Lea’s character (and the entire Shaun/Lea relationship) solely to create conflict and advance the Shaun/Carly storyline. Lea became the other woman in a way that only makes sense in a non-neurotypical relationship—an “other woman” who spends the night with a man without shedding so much as a heavy pullover. And once Shaun made a choice (in one episode's time) to recommit himself to Carly? The one that I’ve seen described repeatedly online as Shaun’s “endgame” is, instead, facing “game over.”

So to summarize: TGD brought Paige Spara back as a regular cast member for season 2, apparently appreciating her talents (to say nothing of her chemistry with the titular character) enough to spend FOUR of the early episodes of that season getting #Shea to a place that they could work with long-term: roommates that could, at any time through the magic of great writing and directing, turn into something even more delightful…

But here we are just 18 months later, just a couple episodes removed from being thrown a gigantic bone of new possibility (“Friends and Family”)… and even with my crappy middle-aged eyes I feel I can read the writing on the wall, and the words are We wrote her into a corner we couldn’t get out of.

If that’s what I’m reading…as a fellow writer… allow me to call bullshit on that notion. It doesn’t make sense, to borrow yet another favorite phrase of Dr. Shaun Murphy.

And if ever there was a time when we REALLY needed something, anything, to make sense... it’s these early months of 2020.

I may be completely wrong about all of this… or, it may stand that we #Shea ‘shippers were wrong the first time around. All I know now is that TGD is not getting the benefit of the doubt from me for the foreseeable future.

How about you? As always, your thoughts—either long-form in the comments, or short-form via Twitter—are most welcome. This misery can definitely continue to benefit from some company.

STATE OF THE #SHEA Part 3: "Love" and The Ultimatum (Plus a "Mutations" Wish List)

Don’t you love the simple, often dual-purpose titles of TGD episodes? “Apple”… “Empathy”… “Take My Hand”… About the only title I really didn’t like was “Burnt Food” (the pilot episode for the series). I know why it had that name; I just thought it was a somewhat unappealing first impression. Shows what I know; people obviously tuned in everywhere anyway! But I digress…

Here’s what I liked about Shaun and Carly’s closing scene in “Fractured”… and yeah, despite the overall theme of it, a few minutes in the company of TGD direction and production are almost always going to be highly worthwhile:

+     Over the 6-week hiatus, I re-watched the entire series. One of the interesting things I discovered was that the character of Carly was actually introduced ahead of the character of Lea; in fact, she was introduced to Shaun in exactly the way Carly described it last week. Shaun brought something to the lab that needed a rush job (leave it to Shaun to recall exactly what that “something” was 2 ½ years later!)… Carly initially told him they’d get to it when they get to it because they’re very busy, and then Shaun had a brief flashback to a time with Steve—this was the episode where they were trying to raise money for themselves by telling people about a (non-existent) school trip to Mt. Rushmore—and the flashback ended with Shaun and Steve throwing a rock through a man’s window, then running like hell. This memory is what prompted modern-day Shaun to tell Carly if she didn’t tend to his sample right away, he’d throw a rock through her (pathology lab) window. She looked momentarily taken aback, then chuckled and said something like “Well! We can’t have that, can we?” and then fulfilled his request. (For those keeping score, Lea’s debut episode came the following week.) ANYWAY, hearing this recollection in “Fractured” pleased me because I’ve seen times in scripted shows where backstories and events are described as if viewers should recall them… but we can’t, because they never happened. Ugh!

+      Something I did NOT like: Carly telling Shaun “You told the truth… and that’s a good thing!” in reference to him telling her the truth about what happened in Wyoming with Lea. It was incredibly patronizing… like praising a child caught in a tough situation. But, arguably, that’s one of the flaws in this relationship. (What would LEA say if the roles were reversed? Something along the lines of “I’m glad you told me the truth.” Period.)

+      What I liked, relatively speaking: Carly’s request of Shaun to move out and leave Lea behind (which was pretty much the only part of “Fractured” that I called correctly). Why? Because like the “Friends & Family” episode in its entirety, it contributes to momentum building towards this triangle’s climax. Do we want to see him and Lea living apart? Hell no. But Lea appears to need her eyes opened. THIS—sad as it will be if fully executed—might be the only way to do it short of Shaun completely losing his mind and asking her to help him pick a ring for Carly. (Don’t worry; I went there because it’s not. Going. To. Happen.)

+      What I also liked, relatively speaking: the way Carly made her request. She wasn’t super-dramatic about it, and she seemed to be willing to give him time to think about it, acknowledging it should not be a snap decision. I suppose it could be more of a calculated strategy on her part, but she’s not aware of Shaun’s “everyone’s going to leave me” talk with Glassman. I guess I just don’t think her claws are fully extended… yet. (Let’s re-evaluate that statement by the February episodes, shall we?)

+     What I had very mixed emotions about: the hand grab. From a storytelling perspective, it was pure gold… he’d made a big decision in that moment, and given his and Carly’s long and twisted road to just this one physical sign of affection, it was what he needed to do to convey the seriousness of his next words to her. (The “mixed” part of my emotions, of course, was the same part that wanted the scene to end with her walking away… him going home… and saying “Carly wants me to move out, Lea,” and see where things went from there. But the drama gets better when the stakes get higher, so there ya go.)

+     Which brings me to “I love you, Carly.” Did you see that coming in that moment? (I didn’t.) Were you more than a little deflated by it all? (I certainly was.) But now that it’s been a few days, I’ve… processed it better. And the main reason for that is what happened in the final seconds, right after he said it: Carly giggled, as if to say “Oh, how cute!”, then went in for a… very tepid hug. (I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall as the director steered this scene.) We know physical affection has been challenging for them, but we all know Shaun can now totally give (and sort of receive) a hug under the right circumstances, and of course they’re capable of a kiss (though… I know I’m biased, but… all the kisses they’ve delivered this season still can’t equate to the feeling delivered in just those TWO kisses with Lea from season 1. Something to talk about another time…)

+      I say all this to say to YOU (and not the #Sharly fans, many of whom seem so blinded by the love words they are under the impression that Carly has professed her love as well—she hasn’t) because I don’t think even Carly believes he loves her. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s because, deep down, she’s thinking Well, he’s autistic so he’s not really getting what love is yet, but that’s okay. Maybe it’s more Uh-oh, I’m nowhere near ready to say the L-word to this guy. Maybe it’s OK, I don’t believe it but I’ll take it if it means he’s ditching Lea. Maybe it’s a little of all three. But she sure as hell didn’t react like a woman who was thrilled to hear those words. Oh, and while Shaun’s facial reaction to anything is difficult to read? I saw at least one review of  “Fractured” that interpreted it as Shaun looking like he already regretted saying it (before the scene was over). I’ll allow that there was probably a lot of relief for him in that moment as well, for he thinks this bump in the road of love is over. Heh. You might want to buckle up, Shaunie.

The 1/20 episode, “Mutations” (see? They’ve done the double-meaning title again, since Shaun’s living situation is reportedly about to C H A N G E…) is written by Liz Friedman and Tracy Taylor, who also worked together to bring us the “Claire” episode from earlier this year. Friedman has also collaborated on several other TGD scripts, but perhaps most notably was the scribe behind season 2’s “Carrots”—the episode that started with Lea rebuffing Shaun’s suggestion they move in together, and ended with them jumping around squealing “We’re gonna be ROOMMATES! It has a fireplace!!!” etc. And I must admit, that gives me a little added boost of hope as to what we might see this time around. Here’s my wish list for “Mutations” (keeping my expectations kind of low):

1)   As much of Shaun and Lea discussing the movin’ out situation as time allows. Assuming they open the show with such a scene, we know it’s going to run less than 2 minutes and then Shaun’s gonna say “I have to go to work” somewhere in there. If I were writing it with that under 2 minutes goal in mind, I’d start it about five seconds after Shaun breaks the news over breakfast. And I’d end it with a decent amount of time on Lea—enough for us to know, once he goes out that door, that she’s seriously shaken by his news. (I’d say “she was shook”, but my teenage kids will come across this post and make fun of me for trying to sound like a hipster or something.)

2)   At least two doses of Glassman: one with Lea (that will, I pray, start to tip towards revelatory regarding Lea’s possible feelings), and one with Shaun. In that order. I think. But I’m not sure. Probably doesn’t matter. (Considering they’ve never really spoken, I’d like to see him engage Carly in a little chat too… but first, I’d rather see…)

  

3)   Carly and Lea have a little chat. Presumably they’ve at least met a time or two offscreen by now. But considering the sneak peek some of you may have seen from “Mutations”—the one where Shaun and Carly are “working towards intimacy” again, but this time have taken things all the way under the covers—it looks to me like the scene might be taking place in Shaun’s bedroom of the #Shea Shack. If that’s the case, I’ve gotta wonder if Lea’s anywhere around. With earbuds in. Wishing she had a sick friend she could go visit… But I’m probably getting ahead of myself with this entire wish.

4)   Oh, and since the concluding scenes are perhaps the most critical these days on TGD, my biggest wish is that Lea is somewhere in said scene. If not seen or heard from directly, then at least spoken of.

By the way, I realize I haven’t said word one about the “medicine brought them together…will medicine drive them apart??” question posed during all the promos of late. We know that whatever the Argument-of-the-Week proves to be as Shaun and Carly work together on Case A, they’re not going to break up over it. But let’s see what additional lessons can be learned for the #Sharly file.

STATE OF THE #SHEA Part 2: Fracturing up "Fractured"

I mentioned in my first post about The Good Doctor/Team #Shea that I was a professional writer; what it actually says on my business cards is ‘Freelance Writer/Producer”. I’ve worked in TV and/or video most of my adult life, but like many in the field, my work has primarily been at a local/regional level (for TV) and in a non-broadcast capacity (for video). In other words, I’m nowhere near the big league-writers represented by the WGA; never been near the production staff of a scripted prime-time drama. But all that said, I can’t help but watch and listen to a show like TGD with different eyes and ears than an average, passive viewer.

For instance… on a later-in-the-week viewing of “Fractured”, I decided to make a list that itemized and timed every scene of the show. (That's me trying to get my "producer" hat back on.) Here’s a summary of the findings of which I was most interested:

+                  There were approximately 33 different scenes, with a total running time around 41:05. (I forgot to break the show up by “Acts”… I’ll do that next time.) Most scenes ran anywhere from :30 to 2:30; I think this is true of most TGD episodes. The big exception in this episode was the final sequence between Shaun and Carly (SIGH), which was 3:25.

+                 Number of those scenes dealing directly with Shaun’s Lea-or-Carly dilemma: 10. This included the “flake” conversation with Morgan, as well as Shaun’s meltdown in Glassman’s office.

+                  Number of minutes of “Fractured” featuring Lea: 4:31

(Almost all was in the first 2 scenes; the “pulse” scene was only 1:33)

+                  Number of minutes of “Fractured” featuring Carly: 8:13

Almost all the other scenes I classified as Case A (the opioid addict refusing meds) or Case B (the drug mule guy)… of course Claire and Claire/Melendez had a few isolated scenes too.

The biggest bummer for me with “Fractured” is clearer to see with this scene-by-scene breakout. And believe it or not, it wasn’t about Carly’s moving-out request (which I expected), or even Shaun’s so-called declaration of love to her (which I did NOT expect, and will discuss in more detail soon). My biggest problem with the episode was Lea’s lack of screen time. It’s not that she had any less time than has probably been allotted to her on the first nine episodes of the season, but given all that went down on the “Friends & Family” week—where she was probably able to pick up all the time that might normally have gone to Carly—“Fractured” felt like a big step backward in that respect.

Not that TGD Writers had a lot of choice—I get that. It’s a medical drama, not This is Us or A Million Little Things. Only about 1/3 of a typical TGD episode is set aside for personal storyline development, and in this case, the front-burner romance gets most of the minutes for that. Maybe it’s worth it, knowing that Lea’s name was mentioned/kicked around/cried over in much of the time Shaun and Carly spent together in this particular episode. But let’s face it: Lea needs more time in front of TGD viewers, especially the most skeptical and/or outright #Sharly fans, if she’s to convince us that she’s anywhere on the road to loving Shaun as much (and in the same way) that we know he loves her.

From those 10 scenes that addressed Shaun’s current “situation” came plenty to love… maybe a little to not love so much… and a whole lotta mental note-taking. You may not need these things pointed out, but even if you know them backwards and forwards… consider the rest of this post your bonus Validation Station.

(NOTE: I’m skipping past Shaun’s exchange with Morgan)

SCENE 1… The morning after (Shaun/Lea)

What I didn’t love: I must confess that I’d built this scene up in my head over those 6 weeks a few different ways, including showing us Shaun waking up in Lea’s arms and how he reacted to that… Lea waking up in Shaun’s arms (imagine them turned the other direction from the way they were scene in the final shot of “Friends & Family”)… and though it would’ve probably been inappropriate given the reason they spent the night together, I even toyed with the possibility of one of them having a romantic dream about the other before the wake-up. (Shame on me, but raise your hand if you went there too.) Anyway, the more I thought of the possibilities the more I thought OK, now you’ve jinxed it, they’ll never start this show like that. And, in fact, they didn’t. Booo. Also, sorry.

What I DID love: Or at least I found it noteworthy… When Lea wanted to talk about what happened, she ended it by suggesting they keep to themselves that she’d spent the night there because “people might get the wrong idea”. Seems to me that, had this been a year ago, she might have been more concerned that SHAUN would get the wrong idea, and have gone out of her way to carefully explain that she was just doing what any friend would do. It’s a little thing as far as the dialogue goes, but it seemed fairly important to me.

SCENE 2… The gas station (Shaun/Glassman/Lea)

What I DID love: Pretty much the entire scene, from the way Shaun looked over his shoulder at Lea before spilling the “slept together” beans at Glassy’s feet all the way to Lea coming out with the Mallomars. I mean, people.... she brought the self-proclaimed Mallomar lover (and his Mallomar lover-in-training) their goods, and she wasn’t even in the episode that featured the Mallomar hunt last season! And she did this immediately after Glassy said Shaun needed to decide what he wanted, and soon! Do we not know a sign when we see it??

I also couldn’t help but think Glassy’s “sometimes you can tell more about people by what they DO than what they SAY” (paraphrased) was the writers’ way of indicating Glassy might be getting ready to see Lea in a new light. Surely we’ll get more clues on that soon, perhaps even Monday. (She and Glassy have GOT to be having a conversation soon, right?)

SCENE 5… Shaun’s first convo with Carly since getting back

She was pissed, first and foremost, and if she was feeling sad or worried for Shaun’s “loss” (relatively speaking) of his dad, it was hard to tell. Perhaps they did this to underscore the Carly-only-thinks-about-Carly vibe that many have talked about. I mean, they could have had her come running out of pathology the moment she saw him, offering whatever condolences and hugs you offer your abused/abandoned/autistic boyfriend at a time like that. But as it happens, Morgan seemed to convey more emotion and sympathy that Carly did. Oof.

SCENE 17… The Elevator

My goodness, whoever assembles the official ABC promos for TGD is a tricky devil. They had me convinced Shaun was going to exit the elevator without answering Carly’s burning question about Lea—which, upon watching yet again, is interesting.  I’m not clear on why she was prompted, at that point, to ask it in the first place. Makes me wonder if a scene was deleted… I guess we can assume Shaun did indeed text Carly (as Lea and Glassy requested) before they left, so she knew Lea was invited. But was she making “something you’re not telling me” leap about Lea all by herself? Hmmm.

Anyway, it was mighty impressive that Shaun found a way to take is “it felt… different” confession from earlier in the episode and turn it into an “It is different…” in a way that made sense, but kept Carly protected from his so-called struggle over which woman to pursue.

SCENE 19… the Pros/Cons w/an Andrews assist

The Pros/Cons list was pure Shaun, but it was also purely superficial—which is why he probably sought additional advice from Andrews. To me, Andrews repeated a lot of the same kind of “that’s what it’s like when you first fall in love” stuff that Glassy and the Uber driver discussed last season when the topic was on the table. But since the “makes my heart beat a little faster” is not meant to be taken literally, it was of little use to the highly literal-minded Shaun. Nonetheless, who did Shaun do his heart-rate check with? It wasn’t Carly…

SCENE 20… LEA’S ONLY OTHER SCENE

Boy, there wasn’t much to this. The main thing I wished was that it was longer. Not even gonna lie that I wanted Shaun to have his head on Lea’s shoulder or something by the time his experiment concluded, but I suppose that would be out of character!

Three little things I loved: 1) That Lea said “Hey, You” rather than his name… more endearing, more familiar. 2) That Lea, confused as she was by Shaun’s behavior, simply asked a playful/curious “what’s up…???” rather than be irritated. And 3) That Shaun was clearly disappointed his experiment didn’t work. Which is to say that he was hoping his pulse would skyrocket in her presence. (Yeah, buddy, I was too. Would sure make this whole thing a lot easier… I shouldn’t date you anymore, Carly… I have proof!)

Not much to say about the cafeteria scene with Shaun/Carly, and what can be said about the big Glassman/Shaun hug scene that hasn’t already been said?

So that leaves that final 3 minutes and 25 seconds, and I’ll get to some thoughts on that—as well as some wishes for the “Mutations” episode—in the next post.

If you’ve got a “Mutations” wishlist, I’d love to hear it in the comments!

Introducing STATE OF THE #SHEA... (A Blog about ABC-TV's "The Good Doctor")

*** NOTE: Scroll on down for FIGURE SKATING blog posts; there's plenty of them.******

If you’re anything like me, six weeks was a long, LONG time to go without a follow-up episode of The Good Doctor.

Arguably, that was the case for any fan of the show. How could it not be, given the emotional wallop of “Friends and Family”? But if you’re anything like me, you’re also what (I think) the cool kids call Team #Shea… and you’ve watched that final minute of the episode at least 3 dozen times now on YouTube… and all those synapses in your brain that laid relatively dormant during the first half of season 3? Yeah, those have been firing away with all the possibilities that seemed to shake themselves anew the moment Lea got her arms around a flailing, distraught Shaun—and without hesitation, he let her.

When Shaun got his flowers and his chocolates (“real ones”) and his best suit and stood there in front of Lea in the final minutes of season 2… only to walk right on by her and out the door/down the street/through the woods or whatever it took to get himself to Carly’s doorstep… I was happier about it than I thought I’d be. Yes, I’ve been Team #Shea from the moment a certain young surgeon with ASD went to collect the batteries he’d loaned to a certain young mechanical engineer down the hall in season 1. And when the first half of season 2 re-launched their relationship with, ultimately, new living quarters and a new set of rules, I remained cautiously optimistic that somehow the decidedly platonic twosome would find themselves on the same romantic page in due time.

But the final minutes of season 2 was not yet that time. We’d had numerous bonding moments by then, but we also had (sigh) “Jake”. Not that “Jake” was anything more than a Generic Boyfriend for Lea, but he was enough to reiterate It ain’t happening for Shaun yet, folks. Shaun knew it, and he mourned it, and stayed as pre-occupied as he could with Dr. Glassman’s illness until Dr. Han’s arrival forced Shaun to put all his energy towards keeping the career that never should have been in jeopardy in the first place. By the time Shaun had fought through all that (and a hospital stay of his own!), who knows if Jake was even around anymore. But he’d served his purpose, for Shaun was moving on.

Or, he thought he’s moved on.

Has he moved on?

I’ve never been fully convinced. And when he picked Lea over Carly to join him in Wyoming, my thought was Oh yessssss. I see what they’re doing here. And while the “Friends and Family” episode covered an achingly sad (and also infuriating) event, I couldn’t help but feel it lifted the hopes of #Shea ‘shippers the way an unexpected romantic interlude would for, say, a completely neurotypical, would-be, long-awaited twosome. You know why, right? It’s because even though nothing remotely sexual transpired between Lea and Shaun on that troubling night… the embrace, the way he reached back and pulled her even closer, the way she pressed her cheek against his, the locking of hands, it whispered/screamed THIS is still your woman, Shaun.

So while they did not sleep together in the way Glassman first thought when Shaun told him… in the context of his intimacy issues with Carly, they might as well have.

I know this is where a lot of fans break ranks with those on Team #Shea. To a fair degree, I understand why… they think she’s “a flake” (thanks, MORGAN) who has never taken Shaun seriously as a love interest beyond their road-tripping days of season 1. They think she sees him as more of a brother, or that she’s more representative of Shaun’s late brother Steve at this point in the relationship. They don’t see chemistry, they see a good-time girl who would only break Shaun’s heart if they were together like that.

I see it very differently, and thanks to a lot of online lurking (and a little bit of posting) during that long 6 weeks away from the show, I believe that not only am I—are WE—far from alone. In fact, #Shea ‘shippers are in the majority: every Lea or Carly? Poll I’ve seen has Lea winning handily—60% in some cases, but more often something like 70/30 over Carly. (This Good Housekeeping article from Tuesday had a 75/25 split in Lea’s favor last time I checked it.)

Which may lead you to ask… or even wail (at least in your mind)… how could TGD Writers have Shaun agree to move out of a living arrangement they spent a LOT of time developing for him, with a woman the fans seem to prefer for him? And what about that “I love you Carly”…??? Are they crazy?

I’m no expert—a professional writer, yes, but certainly not one connected to the show in any way, shape or form—but I feel fairly safe in saying they (TGDW) know exactly what they’re doing. And that we need to trust that it is, by and large, in line with what we think they should be doing.

There is so much more I’d like to get into, especially if it’ll be interesting and/or helpful to other #Shea ‘shippers as we navigate the proverbial Sea of Love during the remainder of TGD season 3. (Which has recently expanded to 20 episodes rather than the usual 18, according to The Good Doctor Scouts Twitter account.) But… especially to the many TGD fans I’ve recently met on Twitter who aren’t quite as happy right now with the show as they thought they would be after that break… let me put a few more thoughts out there for you to chew on while we wait for “Mutations” (the next episode):

A)    Shaun seemed torn between the two women in his life when “Fractured” started. Glassman suggested he “figure it out, and fast”; in Shaun’s mind, he has now done just that.

B)     To prove it, Shaun made a series of very bold actions and statements (for him, at least) in the final moments of the episode. Which is one of the things I’d love to talk about in another post, BTW.

C)    There are still as many as nine episodes of storytelling left to go on this arc. In other words, it ain’t over. And I have a hard time believing TGDW have invested the better part of three years cultivating Shaun and Lea’s relationship just to have Lea fade quietly into San Jose shadows the minute Shaun professes his love for another woman.

So keep breathing, team #Shea. As Steve might ask… “How many candles do you need”?

ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING: I’m not a Carly-hater by any stretch of the imagination…in fact, I think she’s absolutely essential to Shaun’s evolution. So if you’re here primarily to bash the character or the actress that portrays her (Jasika Nicole), you’ve come to the wrong place.

If, on the other hand, you’d like to talk about your own thoughts and/or feelings for #Shea, for The Good Doctor in general, or ask any questions, please do so in the comments! This is a very experimental post for me and I’d really like to hear from you.

A Month-Plus of Unsatisfactory Skating News in Under 400 Words

Hey guys!

As usual, I’ve been much too absent since the Grand Prix Final over 6 weeks ago.

Given the string of upsetting (to say the least) events that have come to light in figure skating in that span of time, I’m not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing to be off the blogging grid! In the interest of staying up-to-date with my information and any commentary to come off of it, I clearly could do better. But as I said about a year ago, when John Coughlin’ssuicide leaped into skating headlines and beyond… there’s plenty of places to gather the facts-as-we-know-them on any one athlete’s (or coach’s) troubling situation, and I don’t know that my thoughts about such situations is particularly helpful.

So instead, I’ll just point my best thoughts towards the people in figure skating that seem to need them the most these days:

--the youth involved in the Morgan Cipres incident

--His pairs partner, Vanessa James

--Alina Zagitova

--Maia Shibutani

--All the victims of the reversed decision on Richard Callaghan

--Lauren Lecavelier

--Anyone sniping back and forth on social media about Yuzuru Hanyu and/or Nathan Chen

Oh, and no, I’ve not yet seen a minute of Spinning Out on Netflix. Have you? Aside from the flurry of “things they got wrong” that seem to lie within any figure skating film, what did you think of it?

I AM reading Adam Rippon’s memoir, and it’s a pretty fun and interesting tale so far… as I figured it would be. Let me know if you’d like a review!

And… did you think I forgot?... U.S. Nationals are NEXT WEEK! So I plan to be back on the blog for as much of that as I can. Stay tuned. Plenty of interesting stuff sure to happen there in Greensboro.

But in the meantime, a heads-up that this here State of the Skate blog is about to loan out some of its space for a slightly different kind of TV coverage… if you happen to be a fan of the ABC drama The Good Doctor, you might find it interesting!

If not, well, hang in there… I’m writing all of it, and the skating posts will keep on coming… fear not!