State of the #SHEA part 16: The Bitter and the Sweet of #Shea Survivor Guilt

So!

It’s a good week for #Shea shippers… as in extremely good… as in Oh-my-God FINALLY good. Right?

And we’re gonna talk about it and talk some more, because one of the few “perks” of being at a season’s end is the time lying ahead to discuss all the things you didn’t have time to discuss before.

But… not so much talking about it just yet.

Because there’s a problem, and that problem is for every fan of TGD that had the jubilation tears in their eyes by the final scene, there was another one sobbing over the tragic fate of Dr. Neil Melendez.

There were also those just crying over everything—Morgan’s hands, Park staying with Casey in his final minutes, Lim and Claire and Glassman as each bid Melendez goodbye… maybe even for Lea as she stood vigil for Shaun, outside the brewery as the sun came up (even though we all know the titular character on the show has a little more job security than the rest of the cast)…

Yet putting yourself on the TGD rollercoaster of emotions is one thing, and feeling so sick by the end that you vow never to get on said rollercoaster again? Two very different matters.

I don’t think I’m going out too far on a limb to say now what I (and maybe you) were thinking as Shaun and Lea’s situation grew a little more agonizing each week—that somehow, someway, this was going to turn around by the final credit roll on March 30. TGD seldom fails to keep us guessing, but one thing that has remained constant in all three seasons thus far is that Shaun was faced with a “darkest hour” in his personal and/or professional life in the final few episodes, only to have some sort of beautiful “dawn” break in the nick of time.

Season 1: His mentor Dr. Glassman gets diagnosed with what is initially believed to be an inoperable brain tumor; Shaun becomes so obsessed with trying to find an overlooked solution that he makes a critical mistake during an operation… but in the end, Glassman’s prognosis proves to be much better than expected (and Shaun ultimately remains a part of the St. B residency program, though they didn’t truly resolve that issue until the start of Season 2).

Season 2: Dr. Han’s discriminatory ways lead to a meltdown and Dr. Murphy’s firing; it takes a bar fight, a hospitalization, and Dr. Andrews laying his job on the line (among other things)... but Shaun gets his job back in the last 20 minutes of the finale, and even gets a head start on Season 3 by making a date with future girlfriend Carly.

Season 3: Even in the most literal sense it was there, considering all Shaun and Lea’s most heartbreaking scenes all happened at night (starting all the way back at “Friends and Family”)… and then we had Shaun toiling through a dark, crumbling brewery basement for the past two episodes… AND THEN Shea 2.0 managed to become official just as dawn broke over San Jose.

Bygone conclusion or not, Shaun’s much-needed happy ending clashed this time around with all the other stories surrounding the earthquake episodes. With Melendez’s passing, though (and subsequent outrage from viewers), the clash is severe enough to leave many a #Shea fan hesitant to even express their joy on social media for fear of being verbally assaulted by a Melendez Mourner. Or at best, a comment like “IDGAF about Shaun and Lea, they killed off Melendez… I’m so done with this show.”

The fact that the TGD finale for season 3 impacted so many different characters, at such a significant level, is a testament to the show itself. The finales for S1 and S2 were complex too, but the lion’s share of the story each year was Shaun’s. Three years into the series, all of Shaun’s friends and colleagues are more than the supporting cast. We’ve met members of their families (save for Lea, which I really hope is rectified next season). We’re familiar with their lesser-seen sides. We have a deeper sense of what makes them tick. Consequently, everyone in the cast brings even more to their roles, and we (as viewers) “get into it” with greater intensity, as the CTV slogan says at the end of each Canadian TGD promo.

But there’s two sides to that coin. Death is the ultimate drama, I suppose, so it’s on the table of possibilities at all times- that’s why we feel sad even when a “patient of the week” that we’ve barely gotten to know ends up dying. Put a series regular at death’s door, especially one that has endeared himself to the audience, and things get testy in a hurry. My own initial reaction to the “who’s gonna die??” question about the quake was simple—and as it turns out, wrong (what else is new?). I said it won’t be Glassman or Melendez; they’re the ones being mentioned in the previews the most, that’s a sure sign they’re in the clear.  Welllll….

But another reason I said that was because I didn’t really think either character was expendable. Glassman for sure was not; although the continued gossip about a possible reboot of The West Wing (the NBC series for which Richard Schiff won an Emmy) makes me curious about what might happen in the future. For now, the character is a mentor to many and, more importantly, the father Shaun clearly didn’t have in his life until he was a teenager. His health scare came and went in S1 and S2, and he’s apparently now to the point where he can slam his dislocated shoulder into a doorway in order to, um, re-“locate” it. (Also… YEOWWWW.)

Dr. Neil Melendez, on the other hand? If I look at the characters on paper it makes a little more sense in that we haven’t gotten as deep a read on him as others—the only family I remember seeing of his came in a single episode, when he visited his developmentally disabled younger sister in the closing scenes of an episode in S2. Some of his development definitely came via Shaun—just think about their early days, when he was restricting Dr. Murphy to suction duties and, in return, fielding those direct-as-hell questions about his arrogance—but since spring of 2019, it’s been almost exclusively about his romantic relationships with two key women in the cast. In different ways, Dr. Lim and Dr. Brown helped “flesh out” Melendez, and obviously got countless fans caught up in whether or not the show should pursue Melendaire (Neil and Claire), or return to Limlendez (Audrey and Neil).

The answer, we know now, is a decisive NONE OF THE ABOVE (apologies to fans that are insisting Melendez might still return for S4, but post-finale interviews have been clear about this.) And it’s a gamble—a big one—to go this direction. But while I’d never presume to know how such decisions are made within a TV series that universally reflects positive relationships between cast and crew, I DO wonder if the looming Melendaire possibilities were just more than the show wanted to deal with in the #MeToo era. (Another post for another time; again, I love the fact that there’s plenty of weeks/months to explore things in TGD’s off-season!)

And if that means the show wrote him into a corner they couldn’t get out of—which happened to be the very thing I feared back when the character of Lea appeared to be in jeopardy (see my post about the “Mutations” episode —then wow, how incredibly ironic that Melendez was the one shouting for Lea’s safety during the quake (“Lea, get out of there!!”) when HE was the one who paid the ultimate sacrifice. (Thanks, Amy Danko, for helping with that realization!)

Obviously we #Shea fans are excited for what’s to come, but truth be told, I worry if the show will take a ratings hit over the Melendez decision. Only time will tell, I suppose, if sustained anger might lead to S4 being TGD’s last.

In the meantime, though, there is much to celebrate, and I hope TGD fans (die-hard #Shea supporters and otherwise) get to a point soon where we don’t have to feel isolated in such a hard-fought-and-won victory. Another thing said frequently in post-finale interviews (which I’ll give links to in the future) is that they’ve been planning for Lea and Shaun to end up together this entire season. Again, I’m not really surprised by that NOW (January was a different story). But what I’m trying to underscore is that TGD is always going to be a show that, first and foremost, is about an extraordinary doctor evolving in an ordinary world. What happens around him will remain fluid. The longer it stays on the air, the greater the possibilities for controversial casting decisions. That’s the good and the bad of any drama. (Just ask remaining fans of Grey’s Anatomy, which I’ve never watched in my life but understand it to be up to its eyeballs in beloved-but-deceased supporting characters in its 16 seasons on the air.)

You know who said it better than me? Fellow TGD fan Erin (@tncoffeerunner):

I know people are upset about Neil but the show doesn’t revolve around him. In my honest opinion, those that don’t care about Shaun or consider him second fiddle to Neil can stop watching now. You are watching for ALL the wrong reasons.

So go re-watch all of Melendez’s sad-but-beautiful goodbyes; they were, true to form, lovingly crafted by the TGD writers (probably Shore himself in this case).  I’ll get my scuba gear in order in the meantime, and we’ll begin our deep dive into the “I Love You” episode in a few days.