Saturday, April 24, 2021

State of the #SHEA Part 33: Seven Revelations For Seven Kisses ("Gender Reveal")




I tend to think of episode titles like songs on an album… and the more intriguing, the better. (At least usually… but let’s leave “Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices” out of the conversation for now.) TGD tends to keep those titles short-- you can count the number of over-three-word titles on one hand-- and more often than not, a title ties in somehow to where Shaun is in his journey. 

The best ones, in my opinion, carry dual or even multiple meanings-- one of my favorite examples being 3.15 “Unsaid.” More recently, I guess 4.5 “Fault” or 4.7 “The Uncertainty Principle” brought respectable amounts of piqued curiosity too. But “Gender Reveal”? The only thing that served to “intrigue” me was wondering if the focus of 4.14 would be as literal as the title suggested. 


In the best way possible, my answer after watching it was yes and no. Obviously, we learned within the first few minutes that Shaun and Lea’s baby is a girl… but we didn’t realize how much impact that fact would have on the rest of the episode until it unfolded, piece by remarkable piece. 


My first thoughts for cases-of-the-week in the “Gender” episode were something of the transgender variety-- but since TGD has previously covered this territory at least twice before (in S1’s “She” and very recently with S4’s “Irresponsible Salad Bar Practices”), the motivation was a little muddy to me. Of course I was (delightfully) way off the mark, for what we got instead was a sort of 21st century “Battle of the Sexes” within both medical cases…


  • On one end of the hospital floor: an MMA fighter (and apparent crush of Dr. Wolke’s?) revealed to have breast cancer, who needs a verbal beat-down from Park in order to man up and tackle the stigma of having a “woman’s” disease.


  • On the other end, Jean the Superwoman Fighter Pilot came in for hp replacement surgery and left with… gulp… a Parkinson’s diagnosis, thanks in no small part to years of warning signs ignored or dismissed by her own internist.


While both cases were compelling, I’ll just be referencing Jean’s case from here on out. For it was through that, plus Shaun and Lea’s clash over the use of a doula, that we got 


SEVEN REVELATIONS… one for each precious #Shea kiss that we were graced with in this episode!


(Or, suffice to say I’ve grouped the revelations so they coincide with the number of kisses. What can I say? I like symmetry.)





REVELATION #1: For Shaun, our daughter is to our baby as our baby was to the fetus.


Apparently as many as 80 percent of today’s expectant parents find out the sex their child will be born with in advance of the birth! I guess I should have figured on that, given the number of couples we hear of nowadays announcing BOY or GIRL status amidst a whole lotta fanfare. Twenty years ago, my husband and I decided to go with the delivery room element of surprise… and it turned out to be a boy. Two and a half years later, I found out via ultrasound but my husband chose to wait and be surprised again.  How I got through the next four or five months without referring to our unborn as a she in front of him…? Actually, I think I slipped a couple of times when it was late in the day and I was really tired…


In any case, those days of “let’s be surprised” are falling victim to technology such as the fetal DNA test-- a non-invasive, diagnostic blood test that has become popular over the past decade, as far as I can tell. It’s apparently what Lea used… and for those who were trying to determine how far along she was in the “Gender” episode, I read that fetal DNA can be detected RELIABLY 10 weeks into the pregnancy, with results being delivered three to 15 days later. So... maybe say it was week 11?


All of this begs a new question-- if not for certain Gen-Xers (and older),  then at least for atypical Millennials like Shaun: Why is it so exciting to know in advance? Shaun “mirrored” Lea’s joy as best he could (I mean, he WAS getting kisses out of the deal), but looked uncomfortable doing it because he couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Likewise, when Claire said “That’s wonderful!” in reaction to the news, he could only respond with a puzzled “Why?” 


To be clear-- while the “Gender Reveal” episode cast a bright light onto women and women’s issues, I never felt scriptwriter Debbie Ezer was implying a girl was better to bring into the world than a boy. Rather, it was about how that additional bit of information brought the whole parenting thing into sharper focus; the “it” or “they” becoming he or she.


As you might expect, Shaun needed to process this additional bit of information in his own unique way. I’ll be breaking that down as we go, but suffice to say there were multiple steps between him thinking of the gender reveal as useful home decor information (“Do you want to paint the nursery pink?”) and taking a thoughtless (male) doctor’s approach to women’s health very, very personally (“My daughter is never coming to see you,” which no doubt had fans cheering no matter how many HIPPA laws were broken in that reality-suspended scene...)



REVELATION #2: Not that we’re surprised, but #Shea communication is improving (again).


Neither Shaun nor Lea has changed all that much, but the further they go with this ultimate adventure of pregnancy/childbirth/parenthood, the more every action/reaction gets magnified. These two faced their disconnection challenges in “Spilled Milk” and-- presumably without any help from that cowbell-- adjusted course. So in “Gender,” when Shaun implied his participation in a birthing class was unnecessary, a pointed look from Lea was enough to get him to say The Right Things, even if they both knew he didn’t fully believe what he was saying. And that was quickly followed up with Lea clearly articulating her needs about the results of the fetal DNA test (“I’m excited to find this out… please come here so we can look together”), rather than get upset about Shaun’s inability to thrill over the same information.


Of course, it was the Doula Debate that garnished the most attention for #Shea in this episode… and while I’ll backtrack to Shaun’s side of the discussion in a minute, I want to give another shoutout (as I did when live-Tweeting the episode) to the conclusion of their in-hospital discussion. Lea had made up her mind to have one, and while Shaun is of course not the kind of guy who would impose his will on her decision… it meant the world to her when he signified at the end of the episode that he not only accepted her decision, but supported it entirely. 


He wasn’t anywhere near that acceptance during their time at the hospital though, as the express-delivered shoulder massager indicated. 

(available for less than $50 at Amazon, in case anyone’s interested!)

But-- perhaps buoyed by the awareness that Shaun simply (HA!) wants to be her everything-- she took a breath and stated “the facts” from her side of the table, all the way to the double reassurance of “I love you” and “I’ll see you at home.” No stomping off, no raised voices. They can disagree about something pretty significant and still go home, in love, at the end of the day. 


It’s really not a bad reminder for anyone in a long-term relationship, is it?



REVELATION #3: The power of Shaun’s ability to take things literally must never be underestimated.


We saw it coming three weeks ahead of the episode, that initial “uh oh” during the birthing class scene where poor Shaun (who admittedly hates receiving massages himself) is trying to rub


poor(er) Lea the right way… and it looks more like he’s kneading the hell out of a ball of ciabatta dough. So, strike one.


Then, Shaun gets his outspoken doctor self into overdrive… gets a death stare from the class leader

that put any of Lea’s withering glares to shame… and next we know, #Shea have been expelled. Whoopsie. Strike two.


But when Lea cautions against further “strikes” by bringing Theresa the Doula into the picture, Shaun takes offense. Why? Was it that need to be the ultimate “everything” partner I mentioned earlier, especially with his ever-increasing awareness that being the dad is more important here than being the doctor? OR… was it out of frustration over his ASD-related limitations, and a huge need to try and overcome some of them for Lea’s sake?


(By the way, since Shaun’s aversion to washcloths was new information, I asked around a little on Twitter and found three viewers with ASD who also dislike washcloths… in the case of @Guiand97 and “Erin” @tncoffeerunner, they especially dislike microfiber. And “Remy Lebeau” @RemyLeb78309281 says “I do not like the feeling of terry cloth at all. I also do not like anything moist, especially warm. So moist washcloths would be very hard to deal with.”)


Shaun feels similarly, it would seem. And for those who were curious like me, I went back and checked that opening shower

scene from 4.7 “The Uncertainty Principle”... nope, no washcloth use that I could see.


Anyway, Shaun eventually found himself in Glassman’s office trying to explain himself… but with Shaun himself stating the proven benefits of a doula, it was hard for Glassman to see the problem at hand. (At least, not for the amount of time in that scene. But if he’d had the opportunity to press a little more-- What’s the real problem here, Shaun?-- then the #Shea scene I discussed in revelation #2 wouldn’t have been necessary.)


I suppose it seemed to Glassman that what Shaun needed was permission to support Lea’s doula wishes, perhaps thinking it was more a simple case of Shaun’s doctor brain challenging the doula concept? In any case, he gave Shaun simple advice-- “just give her what she needs”-- and Shaun went on his way, thinking

  • If she needs massages and I can’t give them, I’ll find a device that does.

  • If she needs my hand to squeeze hard and I can’t handle that, I’ll find something that lets me handle that a little easier.

  • If she needs cool/warm cloths and I can’t stand to touch them, I’ll just have to get better at it.


But employ another
human for those things and more? Even though countless neurotypical men apparently surrender duties to doulas, Shaun the Overachiever remained resistant. UNTIL…




REVELATION #4 (for Shaun, if not for the viewers): “The world is harder for women.”


This multi-layered one actually encompasses revelations 4,5, and 6… and for those who might be asking Didn’t Shaun just get a lesson in it’s-harder-for-women with Lea’s “Decrypt” episode? I say Not exactly… he might have come away with a better appreciation for women in STEM careers and/or Lea in general. But as far as connecting career hardships with those that could affect women’s health, or livelihood, or actual lifespan… not until now.  


One lesson for him that’s likely to become more personal once Lea’s dealing with it head-on:  the family vs. career thing continues to influence women’s choices in a way it doesn’t for men. It was clever the way they bridged into that discussion, having Shaun be the only man on an OR team and assess that things are getting better for women as a result. Needless to say, it took just was one mention of a certain key difference between men and women (the uterus) for Shaun to pipe down. Well, that and a patient whose blood pressure was tanking inexplicably and unexpectedly… which brings us to the next harder-for-women sub-lesson:



REVELATION #5: The cost of “breaking through” may be too high.


“Your mother’s an inspiration,” Shaun declared to pilot fighter Jean’s daughter, Tory, as she sat there in the hospital room, watching her mother push herself as hard as she could (surely not the first or even 101st time) shortly after her hip surgery. But as was the case many times during the episode, Tory looked adrift and bewildered, yearning to connect with Mom on the importance of maternity leave, of not “pushing through” difficulties and pain, of laying off that constant need to compete and improve. It wasn’t until Shaun started asking questions of Jean’s BP/fainting backstory that mother and daughter could almost agree on a few things that had taken place-- enough to help spur the team to an eventual, heartbreaking Parkinson’s diagnosis.


We saw the camera circle, very deliberately, back to Shaun as he watched Tory climb up on Jean’s hospital bed and comfort her mother as she finally broke down in her arms. Next time we saw Shaun, it was when he brought Lea home and surprised her with Theresa setting up the loft for her newest client. Do you think it was something in that momentary observation of Jean and Tory that prompted Shaun’s decision to embrace (at least figuratively) Lea’s decision?


What he said just before opening the door to the apartment was (paraphrased) “I want you and our daughter to have the chance to have everything you want… but I can’t do it all by myself.” So on the surface at least, it’s about him owning up to his so-called “weaknesses” and putting Lea’s need for peace of mind ahead of his own need to triumph over this particular adversity. But what do you think he took away from Jean’s case that may have tipped him towards that realization? 


While you’re thinking it over, here’s one more “reveal” that hopefully rang a bell not just for Shaun, but for a whole lotta viewers:


REVELATION #6: When history doesn’t help, think outside the box. 


My mother suffered from a very rare form of anemia that chased her in and out of hospitals for most of her 66 years of life, often with ailments that were very difficult to diagnose. To have legitimate, persistent health issues ignored by healthcare professionals-- or worse yet, disregarded and written off with a catch-all term such as “anxiety”-- should be outright unacceptable. Yet it still happens.


Maybe not as much, though. Though I shudder at the thought of how much time my own mom might spend on women’s health-related Reddit, blogs, and social media threads if she were alive today, I also marvel at how many of these non-traditional outlets may have been the very thing to point a reader into a life-saving direction.


And I’ve got to applaud the way those scenes between Shaun, Jordan, and Claire were handled: 1) Jordan-- the youngest on the team-- is the one to first bring up a Reddit discovery. 2) At first, Shaun is turned off by the very mention of “non-conventional” methods, and then even Claire gives an initial eye roll to the mention of Reddit. 3) But it only takes an additional second or two for Claire to shake off her med-school beliefs and start asking Jordan for more details. 4) When Shaun shoots down the idea yet again, it only takes him a few more seconds to realize he has nothing better to offer… and then delegates their non-traditional searches


I think Lim would have applauded all this, had she been involved at this point. (I’m kind of glad she wasn’t, though. I liked them solving it on their own.) Would Andrews have been as receptive...?


In case of (A Dr. Murphy) emergency, break (it to) Glass(man)”

REVELATION #7: There may just be an unwritten rule at St. Bonaventure… 


Given Shaun’s brief “research” scene in the St. B maternity ward, I’m left to wonder now: Is there an unwritten rule that if Shaun makes an unsolicited visit or offers unsolicited advice to a fellow doctor, they page Dr. Glassman?


I'm just asking.


WAIT, I JUST THOUGHT OF A BONUS REVELATION...



Since doulas have become more prominent in the years past my childbearing prime, I didn't really think about the fact that in most cases, doulas aren't brought into the picture into the later stages of a woman's pregnancy. Sometimes they are in such demand that they need to be booked well in advance... but by and large, their services aren't needed quite as soon as, say, week 11 😉 All of which leads me to speculate again about Lea going into premature labor and/or delivering by season's end. We know Lea is going to experience "complications" when episode 16 hits on May 10 (yes, there will be at least one more TGD rerun hitting on 5/3)... beyond that--??


I wonder how many episodes Theresa is scheduled for...




OK readers-- it's your turn! What were your thoughts on "Gender Reveal" and how do you think it impacts the rest of the season? The comments section awaits... !




Saturday, April 17, 2021

Watching the Detectives, #SHEA Style


 

The three-week wait for “Gender Reveal” is almost over, #Shea fans! 


What have you done this month in the meantime? Anything fun, anything noteworthy? Go include it when you leave a comment, if you’re so inclined. Noteworthy or not, here are my contributions:

  • Accompanied my daughter on two college campus tours

  • Got immunized part 1! (Pfizer, minimal side effects, 2nd shot next month)

  • Picked up my son (already a Purdue student) for a brief stay at home since they are not getting a regular spring break this year (Thanks, COVID)

  • Baked an apple pie from scratch for said son, since his birthday was this past Monday and he prefers pie to cake

  • Went skating again, though I didn’t get as much accomplished as I hoped. (I only posted it to Facebook this time; look me up @ Kelli Lawrence-Bordenkecher)

  • Signed up to audition this weekend for a play at a very small theater in my area; first time doing that since the pandemic hit. Unless I get into the show, this “noteworthy” event never happened, okay?😉


🤰🏎🍏🤰🏎🍏🤰🏎🍏

So we’re excited about Gender Reveal… we find out boy or girl, we get pregnancy progress, we get a #Shea kiss (!!) in what appears to be a more lighthearted episode than we’ve seen in a while (whew).


Coincidentally or not, 4.15 is called “Waiting”... which describes #Shea fans’ most common activity as this last arc reveals itself oh-so-slowly. Good Housekeeping even did a little article devoted to the TGD wait, but it was just filler-- all Tweets from fans (were you among them?), and nothing from any TGD showrunners.


Certain thoughts linger in the back of our minds during the waiting…


  • What will trigger the Shaun “meltdown” that we feel is certain to come yet this season? Season four has only brought relatively minor ones, such as his rant in Glassman’s front yard during “Frontline Pt.2,” and his crisis of confidence during “Teeny Blue Eyes” (after his patient/fellow autistic doctor chewed him out and prompted him to question his ability to parent a child). I think we’re all a little afraid his inevitable upset will be triggered in some way by Lea’s pregnancy, meaning something heartbreaking may be on the horizon.


  • On the other hand, will we be treated to any more “light moments” after 4.14? A hormonally horny Lea? Shaun recoiling in disgust from her sudden pickle cravings? (hopefully not in the same episode, though that would be our luck, huh?) Will we see them shopping for cribs… or at least putting one together in Lea’s old bedroom? Will we be privy this season to whatever decor/theme is decided for the nursery?


  • Will there still be a Road Trip this season?


  • Will there be a place for the “traditional” karaoke scene this season?


  • How far will the storyline advance in the final arc-- will Lea deliver BabyShea by season’s end?


  • And hey, what about that “hospital fundraiser” that had Lim scouting locales back in early January? Are we supposed to have forgotten it by now, or is it still to happen? (Sadly, I suspect the former… and that Shaun and Lea’s attempt at dancing in the apartment during “Spilled Milk” is as close as we’ll get this season.)




Whatever comes at us in the remaining weeks/months, we all know that the final arc usually carries the highest-caliber drama where Freddie Highmore/Shaun is concerned. Since the “we” I speak of covers a lot more readers than I had at this time last year (thank you very much!!), I feel the need to display here what the fabulous women behind SheaEndgame created and have pinned to the top of their Twitter account:


"As a fan page we will respect the hard work the writers, actors and crew are making to create a great finale so we won't be posting anything that can be considered a spoiler. We don't care about the "likes" or have the first-hand information... we want to respect the production and also the fans that don't like spoilers. We are saying this because we are sure that information will be leaked... so please let's create a great environment to enjoy what is coming, but also have something to be thrilled about when the episodes air. It's up to us."


My adaptation of this for State of the #SHEA: Please continue to speculate to your heart’s content in the comments, but-- just as I’m editing my own content to steer clear of any spoilers I pick up along the way-- I ask that you do the same. 


What AM I considering spoilers? Definitive plot developments: the fate of the baby, a major change in #Shea such as a proposal or a breakup, news that an actor is leaving the show (unless it’s already been announced by a reputable publication). Also there’s at least one blog out there that has been known to post things like scene rundowns from future shows… while not all that stuff is outright spoiler-iffic, I may delete a comment that comes too close to the line. Fair enough? 


And while the sex of the baby doesn’t quite rank as a plot development per se, let’s try to keep that news under wraps too until after Monday’s episode. How might you find that out in advance? More on that later...


What ARE NOT spoilers in my book? Episode titles, synopses, published guest star lists. Even if an episode title is unofficial (hasn’t yet been released by ABC), it’s OK with me, especially with hints often coming from the scripts/social media accounts of the actors/writers themselves. And general hints about upcoming scenes/episodes-- like the ones I’ll be discussing shortly-- are OK too.


Again, speculation about upcoming possibilities is great! Dropping information ahead of its time-- not so much. 


🤰🏎🍏🤰🏎🍏🤰🏎🍏


Speaking of speculation and information...

WHAT DO WE KNOW AT THIS POINT?


4.14 “Gender Reveal” comes at us Monday; directed by Tim Southam & written by Debbie Ezer (who co-wrote “Fixation” last year).


4.15 “Waiting” is slated for 4/26 and is directed by Gary Hawes (last sat in the director’s chair for “The Uncertainty Principle”) and has a script attributed to David Hoselton and David Shore (teleplay) and Oren Gottfried (story). The official synopsis references no characters from the show; it simply states “After a political protest turns violent, the team races to save two young gunshot victims.” I presume, then that “Waiting” involves the on-location protest scenes that we discussed here previously (in the comments I think).




It would appear, based on several “Waiting” photos showing Lea in a large holding area alongside very distressed-looking co-stars of the week, that the episode title is mostly about the agonizing time during which loved ones await the fate of those receiving emergency care (gunshot victims, in this case). Why is Lea there with them when her “loved one” is busy trying to save lives? Don’t know yet. But since everything is done with a purpose on TGD, I know I want to pay close attention to whatever gets said (or remains unsaid) during those scenes. Especially since both the co-stars of the week I mentioned are women.


Promo pics have been released for both episodes but as I write this, no sneak previews are out yet for “Gender”... those tend to drop Sunday and/or Monday depending on how generous ABC is feeling (maybe more generous this week due to the longer wait?)


As for the CTV promo for “Gender Reveal”... I haven’t seen it yet. Apparently some have, AND THEY ARE SAYING THE GENDER OF THE #SHEABABY IS STATED WITHIN THE CTV PROMO… so if you want to try and wait until Monday to watch and find out when Shaun and Lea do, BEWARE!


*** And if you DO watch the CTV promo, again, PLEASE avoid discussing spoilers in the comments.***


The airdates for the five episodes beyond “Waiting” haven’t been announced yet. Episode titles I’ve heard (unofficially) include “Letting Go” and “Forgive or Forget”. The latter was seen on a script held by Sheila Kelly in her IG post; it looks like it was for 4.18. It also looks like Thomas L. Moran, who I tend to think of as one of the #Shea specialists, co-wrote that one with one of the Davids (I’m guessing Renaud since Hoselton is involved with the “Waiting” script).


We also know that somewhere along the way, Lea is going to be hospitalized (temporarily, we assume) because Paige Spara posted shots of "Lea" in a hospital gown--posing with some of the other great women of TGD-- on her IG page a few weeks ago. I say "temporarily, we assume" because it seems very unlikely that she would share a major spoiler of her own (e.g. Lea and/or the baby are in jeopardy). Maybe it's for 4.16? 4.17?


And finally, we’ve been blessed with the awareness (via the “What’s Filming” account on Twitter) that TGD spent a LOT of time this past week shooting scenes in the 220-acre Central Park, located on the Vancouver-Burnaby border. And since we are further blessed with reader Pamela-- a Vancouver-based #Shea fan who has “stalked” on-location TGD shoots before-- we get to know a little bit more about this week’s efforts… 


  • The Striped Tomato was in attendance (meaning at least
    some of what they shot there was #Shea-related). And a photo that circulated on Twitter earlier this week seemed to indicate one of the locations was made to look like a campsite. Given that one of Lea’s “likes” (according to the “Fault” episode) was camping, perhaps this will turn out to be that Road Trip 4.0 I mentioned earlier? At least, sort of? (Though having done a lot of camping myself, I shudder at the thought of trying to sleep comfortably in a tent during the second or third trimester of pregnancy!)


  • When Pamela got there on day 2 of the shoot, it was just in time to see Freddie and Paige arrive for shooting: “I saw Paige first in Lea's camp clothes as she waited for Freddie to join her before they walked together through the trail to the forest set. Very nonchalantly just the 2 of them amongst regular people also walking through the trails… They were talking to each other the whole walk to set. Easy to see that they get along so well.”


  • Pamela continues: “About 15 minutes later Paige came back with a crew member and she retrieved a drink from one of the food trucks.  A bit surprised by this as she could have easily just asked a crew person to get the drink and bring it back to the set for her. Obviously not a diva which is awesome to see!!!  I'm glad she did get her own drink because this time I could clearly see a baby bump. Definitely nowhere near full-term size, but maybe 5-7 months… “


  • “I am truly amazed at the hugeness of this TV show. From taking over 2 different parking lots (the other lot contained all the cars from crew members and mobile trailers for cast/makeup/hair), the vast amount of equipment all over the park especially at the big campsite set to the dozens upon dozens of people prepping and manning the sets, the circus area and filming itself.  They clearly have the $ to fund such an enormous location shoot.” 


So as you might guess, “which episode?” was another big question surrounding the Central Park shoot. Pamela received an indication that at least ONE scene was for episode 18… the “Forgive or Forget” one. But there were multiple shoots taking place for TGD over the course of three or four days, not all of which involved Shaun and Lea. Pamela thinks the showrunners were taking advantage of a long stretch of great Vancouver weather, which leads me to speculate that they may have been shooting out of sequence (meaning, shooting for earlier or later episodes than the one on which they were primarily focused).


🤰🏎🍏🤰🏎🍏🤰🏎🍏


Finally… while I had room for it, I wanted to include some of the ever-interesting comments and observations that you guys have made over the course of the past few pregnancy-themed episodes! 


From Syl, regarding “Teeny Blue Eyes”: 

How the hell was Shaun able to not say anything about the pregnancy to others?! (I'm partly joking but it's also a real question!) It was on his mind all day, but he managed to keep it to himself, even hiding his notebook. He also stopped himself from blurting it out to Claire. Even though he has learnt to restrain himself, it's surprising to me. I thought that he would at least ask questions to a few people apart from Glassman.



I wondered about this too, especially since it happened at least once before. Obviously during “Teeny” we were still able to see the wheels turning via Shaun’s notebook and his visualized list of “reasons to have a baby.” But the only person he shared the pregnancy news with directly was Glassman. All of this reminded me of when Carly broke up with him last season… early in the “Autopsy episode, when Shaun revealed in front of Park and (I think) Melendez that he and Carly had broken up, I think Park’s the one who replied with “I thought things were going well with you two,” to which Shaun said “They were… until they weren’t.” Which was accurate enough, but kept him from divulging the whole “She says I have to tell Lea I love her” thing. Even in the scene that had Park trying desperately to pull Shaun away from the man’s car, thinking Shaun’s actions were driven by anger towards Carly… Shaun still only snapped back “It’s not about Carly!” rather than blurt out anything about Lea. In both cases, he wasn’t suddenly being dishonest but was instead keeping some sort of filter on his thoughts… seemingly uncharacteristically. Was TGD staying true to Shaun’s ASD tendencies in these cases? I asked Andeas. Here, in part, was his response: 



While autistic individuals like to stick to the truth, they don’t necessarily blurt out every though at once either, at least in the high-functioning section of the spectrum.


The key to the writers’ decision to have Shaun be more secretive about Lea’s pregnancy might very well be that other incident (in which) he acted uncharacteristically (breakup with Carly), and I might add his father’s death, which he did not discuss much with his peers as well. These are obviously issues that even Shaun regards as something to deal with more privately...


So, it is probably safe to say that the writers discern between minor and major events in Shaun’s life, for which they decided that the latter are something he deals with his trusted inner circle, namely Glassman, Lea and Claire.


--

From Daniela regarding “Teeny Blue Eyes”:

 I have to confess that I didn’t understand the reference to Shaun’s family of origin as a problem to consider. Is he supposed to think twice before having a child because he had a bad family the first time? I hope it’s not some sort of foreshadowing from the writers, maybe about the possible return of Shaun’s mother, as some fans have anticipated. As far as I’m concerned, she definitely lost her mom’s card the moment she decided to give up on her children and it wouldn’t be enjoyable (at least for me) to see her paying a visit and maybe reclaiming her grandparenting rights. DNA is a small detail in the grand scheme of things. It would be drama for sure, but not the kind I like.


From Andreas, regarding the likelihood of Shaun’s mom trying to re-enter his life:

In the matter of Shaun’s mom, I would like submit that the show out of nowhere introduced Claire’s father just in the moment she had finally gotten closure on her mother.


Since Claire and Shaun’s story arcs mirror each other I see the return of Shaun’s mother as a real possibility in the remaining episodes. Of course, we’ll have to wait and see how Claire and her father proceed and if the ill fate of biological parents in this Shore-verse continues… 😬


Something I wanted to add here: since presumably, the only way Shaun’s mom would get word of the baby is if Glassman told her… does anyone think he may feel compelled to do exactly that, perhaps due to his ongoing battle with the parenting demons? Or did he learn his lesson after Shaun’s ill-advised final minutes with his dad (ill-advised by Glassman himself)?


From Syl, regarding Shaun and Lea’s “connection” discussion in “Spilled Milk”:  

Something that bothers me: Lea keeps saying she's scared, but I wish we would see her expand on that and particularly say clearly to Shaun the things that make her scared the most. Shaun didn't seem to remember that Lea said she was scared in "Teeny..." as she had to repeat in this episode "I'm scared too", and Shaun's "what are you scared of?" makes it seem like they barely talked about their feelings regarding the pregnancy, which is odd given that they both are normally honest with each other.--Syl


For me, the mentions of being scared were in two different contexts in two different episodes. Back in “Teeny,” Lea’s fears pertained to having the baby at all. By the time fears were getting discussed in “Spilled,” they’d moved on to the reality of an ASD father-to-be struggling to connect with both his partner and the child she’s carrying. 


Still, perhaps it would have been better if both sets of scriptwriters from the two episodes had sat down together and worked on ways to keep conversations from even hinting at being a retread from another part of the pregnancy timeline…


From Mo, regarding “Spilled Milk”:

Lea was being so patient and tried so hard despite feeling like crap to give Shaun a connection with their baby which Shaun called a fetus despite Lea asking Shaun not to and Lea finally snapped, At that point, I threw my slipper at my TV hitting Shaun between the eyes as believe me I am a good shot


This just made me laugh and laugh… so thanks, Mo! 


Finally… from Tony, responding to the larger part of Mo’s post about “Spilled Milk”:

Thanks, Mo, for reinforcing the question of "do the fans give Shaun too much slack?" that was highlighted on this blog not too long ago. I asked myself: if the exact dialogue of the two Shea conflict scenes in this episode were between Morgan and Park, or Claire and anyone, would people be calling out the woman? I think not!


OK. Thanks for giving me so much to work with, y’all! 


I’ll be back as soon as I can after “Gender Reveal” airs!