Remember how, at the start of my “Venga” post, I said comparing the tone and content of the S3 and S4 finales of TGD was beyond apples-and-oranges; that it was more like apples-and-plantains…?
While I most definitely stand by that comparison, I find myself caught up in those differences now that we’ve seen the “Venga”/”Vamos” episodes in their entirety. With S3, we had a natural disaster shaking multiple relationships to their very core… with one true beginning (Shaun and Lea) and one true ending (Claire and Melendez), while one’s relationship to surgery itself (Morgan) and one’s future with St. B itself (Park) both came away greatly clouded.
With S4, it’s kind of like Shaun and Lea not only found their way to another new beginning, but created enough good vibes to spill over and “infect” the rest of the cast. From soon-to-be-single Dr. Andrews to soon-to-be-single Dr. Glassman to the no-longer-singles (Park, Morgan, Lim) to the who-cares-if-I’m-single (Claire), there was a whole lotta hope making the rounds…
Come to think of it, maybe that foreshadow from “Venga”-- about how newlyweds are full of hope-- was a spill-over situation too.
Oh, before I go any further… ice cream, CHECK.
(The good stuff… CHECK)
(Giving my pint of Halo Top the night off-- CHECK)
I hope you have yours… let’s dig in.
🍏🏎💍🍏🏎💍🍏🏎💍
“I really liked the fact that Lea didn't allow language to be a barrier when helping Sofia and Isabella. She found a way to communicate with her. In one way or another, for me it was, in part, Lea's maternal instinct.”-- Vicky
“I really think that holding the baby, with Shaun at her side throughout part of that long night, was the healing factor for Lea. She was so desperate to lose track of her and Shaun’s journey. She had briefly forgotten that together they could accomplish everything. But being there with him, holding the baby whose life she helped saving, made her remember all that. And I think that the sequence of scenes and the way they were filmed were perfect to show that kind of process taking place. Nothing else was needed, no straightforward explanation, no words.”-- Daniela
“The scene of Shaun and Lea helping Isabella was very exciting. Much meaning in this scene, like ‘Now we are a team. We can do it together. Today and the rest of our lives.’-- Vicky
“It was so sweet to see Lea smile so brightly looking at the baby and then at Shaun, and to see Shaun feel seemingly happy to see Lea be happy.
Lea looking softly at the baby then turning to stare deeply into Shaun's eyes - while she had said that looking at him hurt because his blue eyes made her think of their baby - may mean that she found hope that someday (soon!) she would be holding their baby, and from that moment she felt that things will be eventually alright as long as she's with Shaun.”-- Syl
OK, before I dig in much I want to give a shoutout to these comments about Shaun and Lea’s time in the nursery (where I put most of my attention in the last post)... Syl and Daniela’s words are from the comments section; Vicky’s are from an extensive Twitter thread that you can find under the hashtag #TheGoodDoctorS4Finale.
Now I want to take a look at some of the other characters…
“About Shaun's response to the proposal, it was very sweet because it was so natural. He's very aware of what he wants with Lea and the relationship, so he didn't have to think of an answer because, in his mind and in his heart, he already had one.”--Vicky
Ah, Vicky, you’re so right (this was also taken from her extensive Twitter thread about the finale). A lot of people have commented that Shaun said “Of course” the way others might say “Well, DUH.” I’ve been thinking of his answer being more of a literal thing, as in:
LEA: Will you marry me?
SHAUN: Of course, (name the time and place and I’ll be there because) I love you.
Which would also account for the time lapse between his answer and his realization that this wasn’t just ANY question she was asking him…
OK, we’ll get back to the proposal later. Where was I… Oh, THE OTHERS. I’ll do this alphabetically--
Andrews (and Ana)
First of all, kudos to Andrews actually getting a hint of a
storyline-- at least a promise of things to come-- with the Guatemala episodes. With the Niece Olivia storyline crumbling away mid-season, it’s one of those times when I wonder a) how far in advance Shore & Co. decided Livvy’s fate, and b) how Andrews’ portrayer (Hill Harper) felt about it, knowing it would also take Andrews out of the storyline ring once again.
But here we got something of an Andrews bombshell: not only were he and his wife separating, but it was because she’s leaving him for another man? Ouch. Also, oof. Also, woah. It came as a surprise not only because it’s a story that has completely taken place off-screen, but because on the few occasions we have had a reference to Isabel since S1-- such as in S3’s “Fractured” or S4’s “Frontline” 2 parter-- Andrews appeared to adore his wife. Even as recently as the “Dr. Ted” episode, he spoke of he and Isabel as one cohesive unit (when having to deal with questions about their efforts to have a family).
As little information as we have about that relationship, there’s really no place to complain about a storyline not making any sense. Do I wish, as with Glassman & Debbie, that they could find a story for Andrews that didn’t require
his marriage to dissolve? Certainly. But they seem to be looking for a clear path to Andrews as a single man (for the first time in nearly 3 decades!) in S5, and this-- from the unexpected flirtfest with Ana, to his confession about the marriage in ruins, to his parting ways with his wedding band in the name of life-saving medicine-- unabashedly sets the stage for exactly that.
Claire
I know the haters are neither reading this blog post of mine nor paying attention to much with TGD (aside from their own assorted desires for vindictiveness), but the way Claire’s exit was crafted so lovingly is a testament to Shore and Company, AND the character they created, AND the person playing her… it just seems all the more ridiculous to question the show’s intentions for this woman.
- We had a BIG hint at Claire’s next career move when they showed the hug between her and Shaun in the promo for “Vamos”, but even then, I wasn’t convinced she’d be gone for good. What about her relationship with her dad? I wondered. What about that much-anticipated (?) battle among the fifth-year residents? Aren’t we going to see her in a happy, well-balanced relationship at SOME point? All good questions, I guess (as Lim would say/did say), but when Antonia Thomas is ready to call it a day, what can you do-?
The answer was a little journey of self-discovery for Claire in her final TGD season: Start with a profound effort at closure for her relationship with Melendez, Then build that friendship with Lim while also adapting to a leadership role (with the Newbies). Then test that leadership role in a different way when Newbie Boardshorts asks her to coffee… forming a loose bond that ultimately foreshadows her own future (remember, it was Boardshorts who left St. B to take his skills to more needy areas of the world, prompting Claire to look outside the St. B box herself with that European tour search).
Then test that friendship role with Lim as the latter’s PTSD requires significant interference (for lack of a better word) on Claire’s part to get her on a path out of the dark. THEN bring Claire’s estranged father into the mix, creating a mini-arc that not only helps Claire clear the Breeze that still lingers like an unrelenting fog (see what I did there), but points her toward an actual future with surviving parent Miles. For however long he has, anyway… he’s still terminally ill, right?
Perhaps the best thing about Claire’s exit, for me, was how her heart-on-her-sleeve approach was treated like the beautiful asset it is. Or, at least, as it is perceived by Dr. Karla through the Guatemalan lens. For a character whose very first scene in TGD’s pilot was cavorting with a fellow resident in a bunk of the on-call room (telling Dr. Kalu “We don’t have ‘a relationship’, we have sex” if I recall correctly), she’s taken quite the ride over this four years. I’ll miss her, but her departure from the show-- all the way to her influence of the final two episode titles of S4, and getting the last scene/last words-- could not have been done any better.
Small correction: perhaps the VERY best thing about Claire’s exit is that it may have taken us back to GhostMelendez’s final words about how he “can’t wait to see” what lies ahead for her, but it DID. NOT. dredge a single hint of a Melendez specter into her exit. I don’t know if the lingering Melendaires of the world were bitching about this or not; I highly doubt it was even considered (especially when Lim mentioned “losing a friend last year” in the same episode and didn’t say his name). And last I heard, Nick Gonzalez is shooting a new series in Australia, so… let’s just say the need to move on is strong all the way around here. Vamos, indeed.
(Okay, that covers the two individuals. What about the two non-#Shea couples?)
(Uh-oh, I mentioned Shaun and Lea again; another commenter is approaching the mic)
“It’s amazing how much Shaun has grown, and Lea has a great deal to do with that. She helped him from the day she met him. Sure, she gets impatient at times; frankly that’s understandable...
“Shaun has always been ahead of Lea as far as moving forward with the relationship. That’s why it was important for her to pop the question, particularly, given her emotional struggle. That showed she was unequivocally into the relationship.”-- Julianna
Ain’t that the truth, Julianna! From wanting to uproot his San Jose residency and accompany her back to Hershey (S1), to wanting them to be roommates (S2), to wanting them to pursue romance (S3), to wanting to live together again, now as lovers… some of Shaun’s “wants” have been premature, and rooted in the naivete of a man who entered the relationship game considerably later than his neurotypical peers. But with the exception of his S1 “request”, Lea has come around to his way of thinking time and time (and time) again.
Maybe this time, it was as simple as Shaun keeping this one, ginormous “want” all to himself because he feared asking too soon… if ever. For better or worse (no pun intended), he’s probably wanted to marry Lea longer than he’s ever realized. When he said “I love you, Lea. I want to be your boyfriend” back in S3, he said boyfriend with such reverence it was clear he regarded the opportunity as few others might. To upgrade that one day to Lea’s husband? I wonder if he dared to dream that far, even after they resumed living together.
Whoops! I went off on a #Shea tangent again. Where was I on this part dedicated to THE OTHERS? Oh, right, I’m up to “M”... as in
MatLim (Mateo and Lim)
Maybe it has something to do with the number of Latinx fans on my personal Twitter feed, but DANG, if Dr. Mateo Rendón Osma isn’t one to quickly have fans saying Melendez who???
Dr. Audrey Lim may not have been with TGD since the very beginning as Claire was, but her importance as a calm, cool-to-a-fault figure of authority should never be taken lightly. Along with that comes, as it did with Claire, a healthy dose of us quietly wishing for something good to come her way-- especially this year. So no wonder some of us (ME!) were looking at those preview photos from “Venga” and hoping the sparks we saw already flying between Lim and Dr. Mateo were legit.
And to hear Osvaldo Benavides was joining the cast next season? For me, that did indeed cushion the blow of Thomas’ departure. The fight for meaningful screen time on TGD will obviously continue in S5-- lest we forget, the newbie characters of Jordan and Wolke will both have expanded roles now-- but I see Mateo (I guess I’ll start calling nicknaming him “Osma” at some point, since Shaun is the only guy I call by his first name) as a great asset for whatever amount of time TGD still has on the air. His looks, and his chemistry with Lim… terrific bonuses. But most important-- I just liked the character from the moment he came on screen. What more can you ask?
ParNick (Park/Reznick)
Real talk time: As the finale approached and news spread that newbies Jordan and Wolke were moving to series regulars next year, I couldn’t help but think Guatemala would end up calling away at least one existing regular… but rather than presume that to be Claire, I feared it would be Morgan that was a goner-- the fact that she’s no longer in the surgical mix, combined with that was looking more and more like a dead-end situation with Park, prompted me to wonder if Morgan could be the one to connect in Central America (a funny thought, now, considering how much emphasis was placed on Claire’s bighearted nature and she and Morgan appear to be polar opposites in that regard). Anyway, I didn’t want it to be Morgan… I think a character like that is much tougher to do without than, say, a “Claire”.
But what the hell are they doing with Morgan and Park? I kept wondering. Like I’ve felt the past two seasons with #Shea (though with admittedly less concern), #Parnick seemed wound into a futile situation: a friends-with-benefits deal that left one urging the other to spend more time in the dating ring (?)... then a colleagues, no-benefits deal that left other colleagues rolling their eyes in collective frustration (??)... then a we’re-nothing-to-each-other scenario on the mission trip that started with all the passive-aggressive drama of a dozen high school relationships I either witnessed or participated in myself--
Aha! That’s it! From wisecracks, to amateur private eye work, to practical jokes, to the yes-I-care/no-I-don’t/hey-come-back-I-was-just-kidding stuff, Park and Morgan tread so many miles of elementary-school romance (sexual component notwithstanding), I was starting to think they could seriously benefit from conversations with relative novice Shaun. (It could still happen in S5!).
Even the “You think you love me?/I do/I think I love you too” exchange on the bus felt much younger than they actually are… and put reader Amy Danko in a certain Partridge Family frame of mind…
But the real reckoning of #Parnick came when Morgan attempted to perform surgery in an emergency situation in Guatemala, only to have Park finish her work when her RA pain became unbearable. I’d been waiting much of the season for Morgan’s anguish about her career to boil over; now it appears the reason we hadn’t seen it was her offscreen PT progress… and, presumably, an odds-defying strategy to get back into the OR. (While once again I’d have appreciated seeing some of this during the season, we know how these things go on TGD.)
For a while there during “Vamos” I thought she was going to pull it off, truly creating a game-changer of a moment. But if she’d found true success with her surgical efforts in Guatemala, her sweet and vulnerable conversation with
Park-- you know, the one that apparently caused him to call his girlfriend back home and break up with her that same night-- might never have happened. It was an incredibly effective way to finally bring these two together for real…
Now, if the writers can just work on developing Park’s character even more in S5-? When Kellan disappeared after his contributions to "Frontline," half of Park's storyline opportunities disappeared as well.
Before I get back to our personal Main Event of this season finale, there are a few things I wanted to note about the Spanish-language pair of songs used near the end… and hold up, it appears I’ve got another reader who can’t wait any longer to speak his mind:
“...Even my lofty expectations were greatly exceeded. While I didn't count out the possibility of Lea proposing, I certainly didn't foresee it going the way it did. The feelings were pure; they were genuine. It was so low-key, and yet, it resonated so greatly.
And the reactions from the others were nothing short of great joy and happiness. I just loved Park's bro-hug with Shaun, followed by his more robust "big brother" type hug with Lea. They've all had a role in the Shea journey, at one point or another. And that celebration felt like a major "St. Bonaventure family moment."-- Tony
Well said, Tony! Even when we know we’re going to love what TGD does with #Shea, it never ceases to amaze me how much I end up loving it.
The reactions you mention in your second paragraph happened while the second of the two songs played… And I will get to that as soon as I finish mentioning
“El Invento” (The Invention) by Jose Gonzalez, described in Wikipedia as a Swedish indie folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Gothenburg (Sweden)...
“The song is about the questions—who we are, where we’re going, and why? Whom can we thank for our existence? Historically, most traditions have invented answers to these questions. Thereof the name of the song: The Invention (god).” - José Gonzalez
“El Invento” was heard in the final act of the finale, starting with the little clips of the doctors saying goodbye to their respective cases... and faded out for good just before Lim sat next to Claire and gave her the final push for taking the Guatemalan offer. (The last lyrics we heard were, in English, “Tell me where you’re going, and tell me why.”)
The music video features a side-by-side translation of Spanish to English lyrics.... (see below)
Then, a few minutes later, we hear "Hasta La Raiz (To the Root)" by Natalia Lafourcade... a Mexican pop-rock and folk singer and songwriter who, since her debut in 2002, has been one of the most successful singers in Latin America (again according to Wiki). It’s heard just after it hits Shaun that he and Lea have reached a new pinnacle in their relationship... and plays to the very end (the shot with the “ugly dog” that belonged to Claire’s first surgical patient-- the one that had to cede his spot on the roster during the mission trip).
The 1st verse (in English), heard as Shaun and Lea run toward the others:
I keep crossing rivers,
Walking through forests,
Loving the sun
Every day I keep pulling thorns
From the depths of my heart
At night I keep igniting dreams
To clean every memory with sacred smoke
And then the chorus, which I think is the last thing we hear as Claire begins her new journey:
I carry you inside me, to the root
And, that you may grow better, you will be here
Although I hide myself behind the mountain
And find a field full of sugar cane
There will be no way, my moonbeam,
For you to leave
With “El Invento” as the quieter, more introspective piece (literally asking Where are we going?) and “Hasta La Raiz” as a jubilant, not-quite-so-literal response of This is where we’ll be headed now… what a glorious way to close out the season, musically speaking.
“I’m sure that Kelli will touch this in her second part, but I just wanted to offer something to think about, in the meantime.
Do you remember how many times we asked each other when the moment of Shaun’s annual meltdown would have come? Well, it never did. And he was put through very tough situations, for sure.”-- Daniela
Thank you, Daniela, for making this one such an effortless segue! 😀
It’s true-- the annual Shaun Meltdown made no appearances in S4. There were moments when it seemed imminent-- the rock-throwing in “Frontline Pt. 2,” his How can I be a good father? bridge conversation with Claire in “Teeny Blue Eyes,” and any number of his Glassman office consults spring to mind as examples-- but it all speaks to his growth and maturity that nothing escalated to meltdown status. Hopefully Freddie Highmore isn’t disappointed by this fact; such past scenes have been exquisite showcases for his acting abilities. And we’ve yet to know what kind of turmoil they’ll subject Shaun to in S5, so anything’s possible. But steady-Eddie (or steady Shaun, LOL) was his underlying status for a whole lot of S4.
“This season has been about Lea growing into those words (“You make me more, Shaun”). Shaun’s answer to the proposal “of course. I love you” is pure Shaun. He’s always had the love for Lea. Lea needed to build up to this point. Shaun this season was steady as a rock for Lea. No matter the challenges and they threw a lot at them to say the least Shaun was steadfast and his love for Lea wasn’t going to be shaken. She needed to get to that place, and the proposal was Lea saying that yes she’s there too.”-- Steven
Steven, I love the idea of Lea “growing into those words” she told Shaun at the end of S3. I recall many of us saying I’d really like to hear her tell him HOW he makes her “more”... even if it was just to prove that it was more than a great line. The answer to that question, based on the events of S4, sound
Here are some additional things I didn’t really think through in predicting Shaun as the proposer rather than proposee:
The wish he verbalized after hearing Lea’s Hershey mini-bomb was to “make Lea less sad”-- to “want her to feel better.” Did he have a particular plan in mind? Other than ask Dr. Glassman, I don’t think he did. So what
happened, in joining Lea for the overnight ventilating session, was Shaun being not just “himself” but the best version of himself. Attentive, compassionate, determined… generous with his time, and selfless in his needs-- the latter of which was reflected from the last moments of the “Venga” episode onward.
As I mentioned a moment ago, back in “Frontline Part 2” we saw Shaun distressed and throwing rocks at Glassman’s bedroom window, wondering if loving someone was worth it when you couldn’t even spend any time with them in person (as was the case with him and Lea during TGD’s version of the pandemic). More thorough reviews of Season 4 will come later, but I think about what Shaun has come back to repeatedly this year, from small disturbances in the #Shea landscape to the biggest ones in more recent weeks: Yes. It’s worth it. Be yourself-- then be more, as you know you’re capable of thanks to this woman-- and you’ll find your reward within her.
I guess I’m keeping all this in mind because of how
remarkably chill Shaun turned out to be about the Hershey thing. A part of me wonders if, as he and Lea made their way to the airport (and Lea had not yet revealed her decision), he had resolved that any trip Lea ended up making to Hershey would be a relatively short one… that they’d survived months apart earlier in the year; they would survive this too. (This may have been a naive take on matters, but I could certainly see him reasoning in this way.) Another part of me wonders if Shaun might’ve been just that confident that Lea wouldn’t leave-- that the cathartic situation in which they were immersed made all the difference. I think I’m going to stay with what that “first” part of me said :) What do you think?
Putting all this together, and circling back to what I said in the “Venga” post about Shaun needing a certain “motivation” for wanting to get married… I guess the answer is one I hadn’t really considered: Lea herself.
What a great way to start this next part of the journey.
NOTE: Though I might pop in and out of the comments as they're made on this post, my next #Shea post won't be for at least two weeks...
But don't worry, I won't leave you in the lurch over the summer! There's plenty to discuss in the off-season!
💒🎊👰💍🤵
