STATE OF THE #SHEA: Now That They Found Love, Part 2

By the time you read this, The Good Doctor may have started filming season four!

 

SIGH. The pandemic changed TGD’s shooting plans yet again between the time I wrote that first line and the time I posted it live on the blog.

 

Here’s the news release about the latest delay, in case you haven't seen it.

As for the ins and outs of HOW they move forward, once they do… there have been some write-ups about it, including “shooting love scenes during COVID-19” (which I know we’re all curious as hell about), and from a production standpoint, it’s quite interesting stuff.

 

BUT… for now you’ll need to look those articles up on your own, because that’s not what we’re speculating on this time. Part 1 of Now That They Found Love, which I posted back in May, opened a few avenues for storylines/episodes that I described as The Good and The Bad:

THE GOOD= things that count as lighter dilemmas & challenges; issues that are able to be resolved in some manner in an episode or two

 

THE BAD= deeper-rooted situations that have make-or-break potential, though obviously the hope is that Shaun and Lea now have a foundation to withstand such root “damage”

 

There are plenty more roads to explore, though, so let’s see if I hit on something that you’ve been thinking about as well…

 

THE GOOD

Improving “little things” before they turn into big things

 

Quick, what’s the only time thus far that Shaun has said something complementary about Lea’s physical appearance? HINT: Lea wasn’t even there when he said it…

 

SHAUN (talking to Claire at the hospital): My neighbor, Lea… If she were ever in a fire, she'd be rescued first.

 

CLAIRE: Why's that?

 

SHAUN: Dr. Melendez says attractive people have advantages.

 

(From 1.9 “Intangibles”)

 

That’s the conversation that started Claire explaining “the flirting trifecta,” which adorably led Shaun to counter Lea’s initial flirt—“You’re such an asshat, Shaun Murphy”—with his own attempt (“Lea… you look ridiculous in that sweater.”)

 

But that was then, this is now, and while it’s pretty much a given that Shaun is physically attracted to the woman he’s in love with… he has yet to tell her outright, at any stage of their relationship, that he thinks she’s beautiful/pretty/gorgeous/whatever. Not a criticism, just an observation.

 

Is it important that he learn to say these things that neurotypical men often tell their significant others on the regular? Well… while I do have this filed under the little things, I think one of Lea’s self-proclaimed “needy” attributes might the need to hear the words from time to time (let’s face it, she’s far from alone in that regard). And one thing about Shaun’s reticence on these kind of compliments—if/when he does feel inspired to tell her how he sees her, it could be epic in its own way!

 

All of this is related to a bigger little thing known plain and simple as communication… a challenging cornerstone for any relationship success, usually broken into pebbles of daily or weekly happenings. The bad news is that ASD makes communication even more challenging. The good news is that Shaun and Lea have a head start, learning what they’ve learned about each other for the past three years. But how far will that head start actually BE now that the relationship, and its expectations, are changing?

 

Something to think about… suppose Lea and Shaun were to try and help their communication along by mutually agreeing on an “exit line”—a.k.a. a way to improve upon all those abrupt departures of Shaun’s. Something simple, like I love you and I’ll talk to you later? Ah, that’s kind of boring. YOU should come up with an exit line!

 

(No, really, you should! And if you do, please leave it in the comments!)

 

 

Lea, the St. Bonaventurite-In-Training

 

S4 is also the perfect time for Lea to interact more with others we know and love at St. B. On the one hand, there are a wealth of options: Lea/Morgan (we already know we like that combo), Lea/Debbie (great potential, though they’ve yet to share the screen), Lea/ Claire, Lea/Audrey (who appear to be good friends off-camera already)… or any combo of the above.

 

On the other hand, a typical “girls night out” scene at a bar or restaurant might prove impossible to year due to COVID restrictions. So… carry-out Pizza at Claire’s house, anyone? Chinese food at Morgan’s? Think Audrey might have room on her motorcycle to give Lea a ride sometime? Or will Debbie air some big-time Glassman grievances while riding shotgun in the Striped Tomato?

 

It wouldn’t take that many scenes/episodes of bonding to establish a St. B sisterhood of which Lea is now a part. I hope TGD writers consider it. Would be a lot of fun, and a great way for Lea to become defined beyond being Shaun’s Girlfriend.

 

Speaking of which-- if TGD could hand over an entire episode in S3 to Carly’s character development AND get Carly and Shaun working together (figuratively and literally) to strengthen their relationship (3.12 “Mutations”)… surely they could do something similar in S4 with Lea, a character that (Lord willing) will NOT vanish from the cast a few episodes later?

 

 

From neighbors to roommates to best friends to…

 

For the sake of argument, let’s assume that COVID precautions are NOT going to interfere with shooting #Shea love scenes…

 

I’m also going to assume that there will be at least as much demonstrative affection between Shaun and Lea from the jump as there was in the final few weeks of Shaun and Carly’s relationship… probably more.

 

But as they progress towards that First Time we’re waiting for, there’ll be plenty of room for conflict. Maybe Lea will want to wait longer, for any number of reasons (she’s scared, she wants it to be more special than other “first times” in her life, she’s still uncertain about the relationship in general, etc.) Maybe they’ll have a number of attempts that will get interrupted by a call from the hospital. Maybe one or both of them will get upset by efforts to “make everything perfect” for that First Time that go awry… but then when they least expect it, an emotional rush of some sort carries them away.

 

Whenever Shaun and Lea officially become lovers, I think we need to make the most of it. Because I wonder how much we’ll witness of their sex life from that point onward. There’s plenty the writers could do to explore the challenges/rewards of their intimacy that does NOT come off as a retread of Shaun and Carly, but I wonder if they will. Not necessarily because of the pandemic, but moreso because, as we know so well, the personal stories on TGD are doled out in very limited increments of time. I suspect once it’s been established that #Shea have done the deed, we won’t be privy to a whole lot of pillow talk… if only because the show has bigger relationship fish to fry. At least, for now. (Believe me, I hope I’m wrong as much as you do!)

 

 

 

THE BAD

 

Shaun’s anger issues, revisited

 

They’ve got to go there, right? Here are some thoughts on how it could be done…

 

+  An organic way for TGD to ease Shaun and Lea into that discussion could be a scene that has them in or near the Striped Tomato for what is revealed to be the first time (or one of the few times) since the baseball bat incident. This might carry more credibility if they remind us that Lea has TWO cars, as they did when The Tomato made its debut on the show in the “Islands” episodes. (IF she still does?) Lea could make a lot of excuses for driving them around in her other car…then freeze up or react in some other, adverse way when circumstances placed Shaun back in the vicinity of her most prized possession.

 

+  Otherwise, it might take a flare-up on Shaun’s part—not necessarily sparked by Lea, but just in general—to trigger a conversation. Maybe Lea would pull away from such a flare-up, retreating silently (rather than trying to talk Shaun down) in recollection of that awful night last spring. How long might it take Shaun to counter-react to such non-verbal communication? Calling on my ASD experts…

 

+  Since I can’t imagine going through a season of TGD without some highly emotional moments from Dr. Murphy, it seems more a matter of when than if he’s wrestling with his anger. But I truly hope that if Lea’s involved, it’s in a way that doesn’t have her questioning her decision to be with him. No guarantees for that, I know… but something that might factor into that is the timing of such an event. If it were to happen in the back half of the season, would it seem less threatening than it does right now because the relationship will have a few miles under its belt by then? 

 

Lea’s “worthiness,” revisited

 

When Lea laid out her initial rationale against a relationship with Shaun, we got several confirmations about her perceived low self-worth. How will that play out now that she’s made her leap of love/faith? As Andreas pointed out a while back, telling Shaun he “made her more” in the final minute of the season didn’t give us much insight into how he does it… or how she internalizes it.

 

My point, which you probably know already, is that Lea’s self-esteem issues aren’t magically erased because she’s with Shaun now and knows that he loves her. If anything, she’s likely to hit some real low spots in the coming year—whether she’s questioning her ability to hold up her end of the relationship, or entrenched in a family issue, or feels she’s faltering at work (however her St.B role officially evolves). OR…maybe she’ll be just as much “a mess” as ever, but it seems like more because we’ll see HER more.

 

Shaun sounded confident when he told Lea (during the final three minutes of “Autopsy”) that he thought he’d be able to handle her neediness/selfishness/messiness if they were to pursue a relationship. But will that confidence hold up when their love is tested? It’s a difficult enough question for a neurotypical person; when it’s a person with ASD… well, that’s exactly what Lea was getting at when she initially walked away with tears in her eyes. With that in mind, I can’t imagine TGD writers will ignore these challenges in S4. I also can’t imagine Shaun doing anything less than finding his own way to rise to any occasion necessary. Hopefully that’s not me simply being over-optimistic.

 

An Outside Force to Be Named Later

 

There’s going to be at least occasional conflict if #Shea are to get any screen time; if it doesn’t stem from the characters themselves or any of the ideas I mentioned in the May edition of Now That They… , here are a few more options:

 

+  A new character (maybe one replacing Dr. Melendez)? A temporary character, a la Dr. Han? An extension of something that might happen between Lea and a member of her family? I should add that I don’t mean to imply a new character could come into the show setting their sights on either Shaun OR Lea… there’s plenty of things that can crop up without a hint of an issue of romantic betrayal.

 

 

+  A crime that Lea falls victim to… I’m saying Lea, not Shaun, since he was in the holdup in S1 and was also hospitalized in S2 after his (very brief) bar fight. But he IS the titular character, so I suppose he could be the victim of a crime too. Perhaps something that happens while they’re out on a date?

 

+  Since we just witnessed a natural disaster in San Jose, another one seems less likely… BUT… we had a 2-part quarantine in S2, and a 2-part quake in S3… what could be the 2 parter this time? And what long-term effect will it have on #Shea (if any)?

 

 

Readers, if you’ve got any offerings for that last idea… or, want to share your own take on S4 storylines for #Shea (my suggestions, or your own)… you know where to share your thoughts!

 

A post more specific the role ASD plays in romantic partnerships is what I plan to do as a final installment to this Now That They… series. Look for that in September!