State of the #SHEA Part 38: Journeys (The "Venga" Episode)

 

So, about that foreshadow of foreshadows that was in the “Venga” episode…

Yes. There was. Did you see it??

You didn’t see it???

MUST I DO ALL THE HEAVY LIFTING AROUND HERE??? 😂

I’m just messing with you. Kind of. Because there was a clear foreshadow in my judgment... and I can neither confirm nor deny any other hints floating around cyberspace in the coming week, but I will allude more directly to said foreshadow somewhere along the course of this post. Does that make it some sort of an “Easter Egg”? Yes. Let’s go with that.

(Because if I tell you now, you won’t read the rest of the post. And that will make me sad. Which will kind of make me like Lea. This isn’t the time for me to be like Lea, ok???)

Eh, you’ve probably retraced the show’s steps and figured it out anyway by now...

So let’s start talking about the rest of TGD SEASON 4 FINALE PART 1 and see where we end up…

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As I said when I wrote about last season’s penultimate episode, the scriptwriter of “part 1” takes on the challenge of not only setting up more complex (two-part) plotlines, but the challenge of creating enough conflict, engagement, and tension throughout the first part to hook us through to the second. 

Having said that… it’s a bad idea to compare last year’s two-part finale to this one. Natural disaster vs. mission trip? Activity of one night vs.10 days? Three main characters of the show in peril vs a wall of faces and files competing for life-changing operations? Yeah, it’s kind of like comparing apples to plantains… which is to say, even more different than apples and oranges.

Oh, and rather than #Shea officially beginning their path as a couple, we have #Shea at a fork in the road. Or so it seems. Of course we’ll get back to that.

But anyway, in Part 1 of this “Plantain” we also have…

• A UNIQUE SETTING.

The mission trip is set in Guatemala, and that fact alone brought both excitement and concern to TGD’s many Latin America viewers. Excitement-- or maybe curiosity is the better word-- over how Guatemala would be represented… and concern because, historically speaking, even the best that TV and film has to offer still tend to lean on stereotypes too much when depicting another country or culture. In this instance, one only has to observe the yellowish/sepia filter used on the Guatemalan scenes (at least the outdoor ones) to know a certain “look” has been crafted here. I asked a couple of you for input…

From Vale, who lives in Chile: “There were too many cliches, stigmas, the yellowish filter… there is a pattern: many try to portray Latin America as if it was the WIld West. And in my opinion, that’s wrong.”

And from Naty, who runs the TGD Argentina account on Twitter: “The scarcity of green (in the exterior shots)... it looks as if it were the WIld West and it is not… they could have improved the scenery…” And while she applauds the show for using actors of Guatemalan descent (something she has confirmed herself), the authenticity of such things as the Guatemalan accent were mostly lost, she says, by the abundance of English used over Spanish. 

As for the medical issues raised in Guatemala, Naty points out there are definitely issues that apply to Latin America as a whole: “One of the things we have in common is the collapse of the healthcare system, especially in rural areas. The limitations are practically the same (from country to country)... the only differences are the geography and the weather.” She also commended TGD for bringing up a patient’s dental issues in one particular case; adding that dental health care simply doesn’t exist everywhere. “Endocarditis kills many, many people a year in rural areas of Central America,” she added.

(Feel free to bring up your own thoughts on the portrayal of Guatemala in the comments-- I know a lot more could be said about it here, but I’m gonna move on at this point…)

• TENSION VIA “THE KIDNAPPING”:

• Okay, maybe the term Mateo used should have been “emergency kid-delivering”?? For while I didn’t exactly relish the thought of Lim and Mateo being in danger, “kidnapping” seemed pretty extreme once we were all up to speed. Certainly was a great way to bring those two closer together… (as if they needed help? I’m not sure they did.)

• CONFLICT WITH PARK and MORGAN

• As uncertain as I am of where these two will actually stand with each other by the end of next Monday night, part 1 set them up for something rather effectively: Morgan looking pretty miserable in Park’s presence from the airport onward, Park witnessing the “thank-you-for-trying” scene with Morgan and the dad in the corridor, Park looking like the wind had been knocked out of him by a linebacker with Morgan’s verbal take-down in the bar parking lot… amidst all the other activity in the episode, #Parnick could’ve easily gotten lost in the shuffle. But the time they got was pretty powerful.

• ENGAGEMENT (of sorts) wth the decisions being made about the dozen cases

• The premise of the mission, as laid out by Dr. Mateo when the St. B’vites first arrive, is mighty compelling: decide on 12 patients/operations that can be done there in a way that attracts more potential patients and, hopefully, more volunteer doctors. But the simple fact that the cases have to go into one of just three piles on that table-- and then have to be subject to a ton of scrutiny by the entire medical team-- ramps up the human interest factor. Speaking of human interest… we had Claire challenging the integrity of separating the patients’ personal stories from their assorted ailments. We had Mateo-- the very one advising “It can’t be a competition of who has the saddest story; there’d be too many winners.”-- turning around and using a patient’s elite-athlete status (a futbol star in “excellent cardio health”) to defend his own choice. 

   

  
  
  

  
  

  
  And then we have Morgan present her case: “She just got married last week…” she adds after discussing the patient’s tumor. “Dr. Reznick…” Mateo begins to say, warily. But Morgan presses on:  “... which is medically relevant because studies have shown that optimistic people have better long-term prognosis… and she is full of hope.” 

   

  
  
  

  
  

  Cue to a shot of Shaun taking notice of this, in his unique way…  

   

  Just after Morgan’s patient gets pinned to the board, we cut to that shot of Lea, looking for blankets, about to get gutted by the sight of the happy family in the nursery.

   

  
  
  
  
  
  

  Do you see it yet? Yes? Maybe? If not, ask yourself why would they have those lines in there otherwise… why would Morgan, of all people, be pushing optimism and hope… and why would they show Shaun reacting oh-so-slightly?  

   

  OK, I’m moving on for now...

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• ROMANTIC INTRIGUE VIA LIM AND MATEO

• For what it’s worth, I was cheering for Lim big-time on this. Not sure what will become of these two long-term, if anything, but it was delightful to see her get some of her mojo back after her exceedingly rough year.

  INTRIGUE WITH ANDREWS AND NURSE ANA

• Also for what it’s worth…When Andrews became all dimples-and-darts during that one scene with short-haired beauty Nurse Ana, I know speculation ran high that Andrews joined the trip last-minute to escape some troubles he may have been having with his wife (echoing, maybe, Glassman’s apparent separation from Debbie). But when he assured Lim there was nothing to worry about, I believed him… my totally speculative guess is that Andrews and his wife-- who just came up in conversation for the first time in ages during the “Dr. Ted” episode-- are considering a Guatemalan adoption, and that Andrews is quietly working with Nurse Ana to facilitate that possibility. 

I know some of you want it to be Shaun and Lea who come away with an adoption-- we’ll circle back to that later too. Speaking of which...

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And now, back to #Shea

• Shaun is, as we thought, doing this mission trip without “the boot” from last week’s camping trip (from “Forgive or Forget”)... so this trip is an indicator that more time has passed… anyone know how long it takes an injury like that to heal? Three weeks? A month? 6 weeks? Anyway, if you factor in the three weeks between “Letting Go” and “Forgive or Forget,” they’re likely two or three months or so down the road now from the miscarriage of their baby girl.




• 
  Glassman finally gets an exchange with Lea—
  their first time sharing a scene since we saw her playing poker at his house at the end of “Decrypt” a million years ago—and while it couldn’t possibly make up for all the missed opportunities in between, it DID manage to capture the upgraded-but-still-edgy relationship they share in a very brief period of time with Glassman’s offer “to talk” if she needed someone (“I’m not going to do that.” “I know.”) If nothing else, it served as a sweet snapshot to hold up against to last season at this time—when his disdain for The Way She Hurt Shaun was felt all the way across the brewpub. (Pre-earthquake, of course.)

 

• As for Shaun and Lea, it’s hard to say how they’d progressed in grieving immediately prior to Guatemala, but I inferred that Lea had slowly been getting to a place where #SheaBaby’s memory didn’t stop her in her tracks every other minute… and Shaun's most emotional moments are still to come. Once they are doing mission work in Guatemala, though, it’s like someone has thrown a giant magnifying glass on both #Shea and the things that make them stronger and more vulnerable, respectively.

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• Shaun is fluent in Spanish, giving him a rare communication advantage over his fellow doctors (though he was still hard on himself for neglecting to tell his patient that his ailments were treatable)

• Lea, with presumably much less to do in these
  “evaluation” days of the mission than when the operations take place next week (her official role on the mission is Tech Support), has idle time serving as an enemy here, leading her to dwell in her sorrow… especially after becoming aware of Sofia, Oscar, and baby Isabella.

• Shaun brings rash cream to rural shepherds, finds exciting challenges in the patients he sees, and even gets a spell of ***ShaunVision *** …quelling many(?) a viewer concern that Shaun’s gifts are no longer shining through as they once were. (I posted somewhat sarcastically about this during the show Monday night, and got a fair share of responses that, um, overlooked my snarky efforts completely. Heh.)

• Lea… has apparently been getting barraged with phone calls from Mike and Pam Dilallo. Ugh. (I guess Shaun couldn’t intercept those forever.) More on this in a minute.

• It bears repeating that Shaun can neither pick up cues nor sense emotions like neurotypical people do. Lea pretty much HAS to tell him she’s sad; otherwise if she’s trying to spare “the trouble,” she’ll succeed.

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• But only if Shaun were to watch Lea pack for this trip would he have known she’d brought along the tiny pair of pink socks that Mama D apparently gifted her with a while back. Maybe she hoped passing them on to Sofia’s Isabella would be a kind gesture that also alleviated her from seeing such a painful visual reminder (what if she’s been toting those little socks around since the miscarriage?). But Lea’s grief is currently a private affair, ready to tighten its grip on her at will. Giving away every gift she ever received on her baby’s behalf won’t change that.

Claire is the one to notice it-- first at the bar, as she notes Lea looking adrift (it was just after Shaun offered Lea the drink he was bypassing because of the next morning’s surgery). That was followed by their little hospital corridor conversation the next day, where Lea's reasoning for keeping things to herself included the awareness that Shaun can't fix what's hurting her... and Claire says

“It’s not about (Shaun) fixing it… it’s about the two of you just being in this together.”

(Quick question here: is anyone else intrigued by the fact that a year ago, a certain infamous conversation focused on how Shaun’s ASD can’t be “fixed”.. And now we’re talking about how Lea’s grieving can’t be “fixed” either…? If someone else wants to flesh out this parallel, have at it!)

By design, I suppose, Shaun and Lea’s time together in the “Venga” episode is limited almost exclusively to that scene in their hotel room near the very end. So let’s get to that…

(A side note here: I’ve heard some take issue with the whole idea of Lea hiding her grief from Shaun in this episode, noting her tendency to try and match Shaun’s honesty with her own. Was the situation in “Venga” less than believable, structured simply to heighten the drama? I say no, giving TGD the benefit of the doubt because of the amount of time passed since the miscarriage creating lots of leeway for change in the grieving/sharing process. But YMMV (your mileage may vary), as they say. What do you think?)

• I think it’s when Lea references the baby as “she,” and references Shaun’s blue eyes as a painful reminder of what they’ve lost, that Shaun really starts to feel the gravitas of their situation. Actually, scratch that-- it’s just before, when Lea says “nothing” can be done to make her feel better, that serves as gut punch #1. The “she”-- that’s gut punch #2. And to hear Lea say looking into his eyes hurts… oof. What a helpless feeling.

• And if that weren’t bad enough, this is where Shaun (and we) learn that Lea’s parents want her to “come back to Hershey for a while.”

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• This felt like low-key trolling on Mike and Pam Dilallo’s part. The insinuation, to me, is a retread of their declaration earlier in the season that Lea isn’t up to the challenge brought on by a relationship with Shaun. Were they worried about Shaun? Did they suggest they BOTH come for a visit? Nope. Did they encourage Lea to be honest with Shaun about her pain? Also nope. Grrrrrr.

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• “Do you… want to?” Shaun says in response to all this. You can tell he is dreading her answer. If she says she wants to, he’s supposed to want that for her too, right? What about me? What about us? He must be thinking, deep inside...along with wondering where those questions are supposed to fit in amongst his everlasting desire for Lea to be happy.

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• Lea: “I think it would be good for me to get some time away… from everything…” Note that she didn’t say she wanted to, for whatever that’s worth. Again, I think this is a combination of her ever-judgmental parents getting in her head + her (completely understandable) state of mourning + her own nagging self-doubt; that voice now questioning if she can be what he needs her to be, which at the moment probably translates to be “not sad."

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• Shaun then reaches out and takes her hand; not one of us should be surprised because it has become their default connective move over the course of the year. But when they go back to the two-shot of them sitting on the bed, you can see how very rigid Shaun’s body has become. He’s clearly shaken by this, perhaps his greatest lingering fear about the two of them… that Lea would go away again (specifically, go back to Hershey, PA). Doesn’t matter how temporary it may be; to him, there’s every chance in the world that she wouldn’t return. 

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• “I’m sorry you’re sad” is all he says. Maybe because it’s all he can get out truthfully in that moment without making it about him. But I think he’s just too stunned to say anything else.

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Before I jump into the theories, some general thoughts that I think are worth sharing, and/or repeating if I’ve said them before:

1. Shaun is the central character on TGD, which makes him and Lea the central couple on the show. #Shea is not everyone’s cup of tea-- God knows there are viewers who continue to make that painfully clear. But the show has very clearly invested in making them the heart and soul of TGD, and for those of us still supporting the show on a regular basis-- all the way into a season 5-- I don’t think it’s crazy to think we’ll continue to be rewarded for our efforts for the foreseeable future. In other words… to worry about #Shea splitting up is to borrow trouble. So why do it?

2. For me personally, I don’t need to look any further back than one season ago to recall some seriously mixed emotions. The pattern of the show is clear-- Shaun’s biggest crisis comes in the final arc (last several episodes of the season), with a more-than-satisfactory resolution by the end of the final episode. Nonetheless, I was anxious as hell watching the earthquake episodes: Why is Shaun getting told he should give up on Lea? When will Lea have this epiphany she needs to have already?! How will this work out??? And need I remind anyone that the finale itself was entitled “I Love You”--? The moment I’d heard that news, I felt relief that they were going to be OK… nonetheless, I remained anxious as the episode played out. (Yes, I know Lea wasn’t the only woman saying those words in the episode, but she was the only one saying them to the TITULAR CHARACTER on the show.) My point: if we made it through all that, we can get through this…

3. And to me, "this" feels like nothing more than a red herring. (“Red herring”: something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question, by Wikipedia’s definition.) It’s a GOOD red herring, in that it’s believable that The Dilallos would try and prompt Lea to pull away from her life with Shaun. But NOTHING in the promotional material-- where they’d want to play that up big-time-- indicates #Shea is in danger. What do we see instead? 

1. Shaun and Lea together in the hospital nursery, perhaps providing aid to baby Isabella based on how distraught Sofia looks in some of the pictures.

2. Shaun and Lea sitting together in two different places with Lea’s head on Shaun’s shoulder, another familiar sign of affection and togetherness we’ve seen many times this year.

3. 
   Lea looking VERY happy in this one shot.
   

4. Shaun turning to Glassman (via FaceTime or whatever) with his fears. Glassman telling him (in context? Out of context?) “You can do anything… you’re good at this.” Shaun saying the words “People need to move forward… I want to move forward.”

4. All of which goes to me thinking They are drawing the dots VERY close together, guys. All we’ve got to do is wait until Monday and CONNECT THEM.

Still don’t believe me? Still thinking of how they pulled the rug out from under Melendez fans a year ago? All I can offer is that you put your critical thinking caps on extra tight, and re-read numbers 1-4. If I’m totally wrong about this, and all the fear-mongers on Reddit and Facebook and Twitter prove to be right, don’t worry-- I’ll come back and eat my words (along with a healthy amount of ice cream and a big ol’ spoon). 

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THEORIES… oh, Lord, do we have THEORIES… here are some of more realistic ones by my judgment (I'm not even going to bother with anything suggesting they're going to split up; you can find those elsewhere if you're truly interested):

1. Shaun will insist on following Lea to Hershey—for real, this time. Except… again… if she’s saying she wants to “get away from everything” he may presume she doesn’t want him there.

 

2. Something will happen to baby Isabella or her family that prompts Lea/Shaun towards adoption. Except… first and foremost... they’re not ready. Maybe they should go home and adopt a rescue dog… if Shaun could handle it, that is… I’m semi-serious about that. But for a variety of reasons,  I just don’t think this is the way for #Shea to go at the present time.

3. Something will happen during their time saving baby Isabella (whatever is prompting them there in the nursery) that will prove cathartic for them as nothing else has to this point… something clearly uniting and reminding them that this loss of theirs is precious and unique and they need EACH OTHER to keep healing and moving forward.

4. At some point, once these two have worked through all they need to work through in the first several acts of “Vamos”... he will propose. It may be in some low-key fashion completely unique to Dr. Shaun Murphy, but I’ve never been more convinced that by the end of “Vamos,” Shaun will ask Lea to marry him and she’ll say yes.

Here’s why:

I think it was Andreas who said earlier in the season—during one of numerous discussions about marriage in the comments—that Shaun would need to feel a specific motivation at this point in order to decide it was time to propose marriage. In other words, he already has the love of his life sharing a home with him, and as far as we know, to this point she hasn’t pressured him towards a bigger commitment. (In fact, given that he knows Lea was married once before, he may have presumed she would not be interested in another go-around unless she said so directly.) 

So, we’ve wondered, how could that motivation manifest itself? For the tax and/or legal benefits of being married? Maybe, but for obvious reasons (I hope) I didn’t want him reaching that conclusion… at least, not out loud. Because of their unexpected baby? I definitely thought about it, but sadly, that motivation no longer exists. Because it remains a wildly popular convention of social (and/or religious) culture? That’s a reason I could see Shaun supporting… but it still leaves me a little cold.

Back to that foreshadowing we go...

“She just got married last week…” she adds after discussing the patient’s tumor.

“Dr. Reznick…” Mateo begins to say, warily. But Morgan presses on: 

 “... which is medically relevant because studies have shown that optimistic people have better long-term prognosis… and she is full of hope.” 

(For sake of argument, I’m going to presume that the idea of making Lea his wife someday is not a particularly foreign one to Shaun.)

On the surface, it might feel to us a little TOO simple of an equation: If a newlywed is “full of hope”… then Shaun might rationalize (over-simplified or not) that he and Lea stood a better chance of a hopeful future if they got married—preferably ASAP. But that’s just one part of the trigger here. The bigger picture is that he doesn’t want to lose Lea, he doesn’t want to lose a chance at future children with Lea, and (again, most importantly) if she relocates to Hershey for ANY period of time, he fears she may never come back. Whether or not that is a reasonable fear is beside the point—the Hershey card is out on the table, for the second time in their time of knowing each other… and he can’t unsee it.

The motivation is there… the foreshadowing seed has been planted… everything’s teed up.

Are you as excited for Monday yet as I am???