State of the Shea, Pt. 69: All Together Now (“Quiet & Loud”)

As those who follow me on Twitter are (painfully?) aware, the past weekend was one of the big ones for figure skating season with major national and international competitions happening simultaneously. (And a new post over on my State of the SkateMUSIC blog too.)

With so much TGD to discuss this week and precious little time left to do it, I’m doing this first part in homage to a great roundup style during Trevor Noah’s tenure on The Daily Show… called AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!

For instance: I’d love to spend time on this initial #Shea scene and how Shaun literally put his hand up to block the view when Lea urged “don’t look” (at whether it’s a boy or girl)…

Or how much of a JOY it was to finally get a scene with Lea and Jordan, who somehow haven’t shared the same screen space since the “Afterparty” season opener…

Or, hell, to see Lea with ANY of her fun (Shaun might say “loud”) friends…

But, AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT.

And this scene here, with Lea trying to explain to Shaun how difficult it was to be an expectant mother/patient again… and how Shaun stopped to look at his wedding ring when she said “Not in this room, in this bed…”

Or Jordan’s hilarious “Thor” references that Shaun had no hope of understanding…

Or this thing with Morgan and teenage POTW Drew, when she seemed to be trying to give him permission to give up his health battles rather than just let him vent when his mom wasn’t around? What was that??

(You’ll have to talk amongst yourselves, because, again,

AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!)

Another question: I get why Shaun was not allowed to operate on his wife, but IRL would Glassman still be able to do so without a conflict of interest? Or does he get a pass because he’s only a surrogate father-in-law?

Also, it’s crazy enough that Freddie Highmore can (as Shaun) sink down unassisted to a cross-legged position on the floor…

HOW DOES HE ALSO DO IT IN REVERSE?!

And what about the fact that “newbie” Dr. Danni Powell was nowhere to be found in this episode… not even when the entire cast showed up to hold vigil with Shaun?

Did anyone notice??

You tell me, because (say it with me) AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!

How about Morgan’s choice of Glassman for her chauffeur?

Was he really the only one available, or did the writers do that in effort to show how steadfastly Morgan was sticking to her boundaries with Park?

How about this— when Lea figured out that Shaun now knew the sex of the baby, and in his ill-fated effort to stay mum he briefly mashed his lips together as if willing them to stay shut? How cute was that??

(Or am I the only one that saw something there?)

How about Lea being the one in the final painting scene to declare baby blue “heteronormative” (sounding much more like Shaun there) while Shaun claims he was about to say it was very “pastel” (sounding much more like Lea)? Was that little exchange a representation of their personalities melding?

I’ll keep wondering…

(Because AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT)

Part TWO of this post is what I wanted to devote to THIS article (bemoaning the use of the time jump in this episode), as well as THAT article (which approved the time jump but discussed other flaws within the episode)… or I should say, some of the detailed reactions fellow viewers were sharing after reading one or both of these.

Unfortunately, I’m desperately short on time for even that. (Apologies to Daniela, Romy, David, and others I planned to quote here.) I’m still gonna talk about what they talked about, but mostly in general terms as you’ll see—

RE: THE TIME JUMP

I pretty much assumed there would be one, unless they were to pick up with Perez getting rushed to the ER which I didn’t see happening. It’s definitely unusual to see 2 time hops (so far) in one season, but why show Lea in the 1st trimester when we’ve seen her nauseous phase before and things were drama-free? Why show Lim recovering directly after surgery when it was almost a given that she’d be walking soon?

Add in the time that was needed for Perez to be in rehab, and a bonus of Shaun using that first trimester to research the bejeebers out of surgeries to save his wife and child… BOOM. Well-played, TGD crew. It made sense to me on all the levels of the major stories right now: Lea’s pregnancy, Perez’s recovery, Morgan’s plans for motherhood, and of course, Lim’s new (new) reality.

Speaking of Lim: if you’ve been reading this blog all season, you won’t be surprised that I’m definitely on board for Lim’s new living arrangement (as opposed to the “proposed” living arrangement at the end of “Not Broken Yet”). 

It was good to put her into that next stage. I think we all figured that her time as a person with paralysis was ending, for better or worse (because I know they were people who truly appreciated what the storyline was doing for disabled people, and hoped Lim would adapt to her new life and that would be the end of it),

We knew the surgery was going to work, and her relationship with Shaun would continue to heal… 

Did we know that ring would actually sit on Lim’s kitchen table for all three months? I kind of found that more amusing than intimidating or frustrating (as Andrews did). I took it for what it was– or what Clay said it was– from the outset: much more a gesture than an actual proposal.

Not that he wasn’t serious, for I presume a well-established pediatrician doesn’t go cheap on his engagement rings and/or have them at the ready. But when Clay joked later on in the episode about literally taking the ring off the table – and then he did, resulting in Lim’s counterproposal– that rang truer for me than most of this relationship has thus far.

As for Park and Morgan, I feel like there’s a two-prong dilemma here. One is that I think most of us feel these two are going to get back together eventually and the show is just keeping them apart for drama's sake right now, so everyone’s collectively looking at their watches, saying just do it already… The problem– and I assume TGD has a plan for this– is that they are now dealing with two potential pregnancies/baby storylines. Both are time sensitive– and if they allow Morgan to become pregnant too, do we really think they’ll allow her and Lea both to go to term? The time jump takes things into a little more dramatic place for Morgan. She’s no longer thinking about wanting to have a baby and or how to go about doing it, she’s actually in the process of receiving IVF treatments.

As for the seemingly endless sniping between them… It’s not sniping without a purpose, as we know they are as at odds about the baby thing as they are about anything else, but I saw someone suggest on Twitter during the show that Park needed a new thing all his own (to do) and I get that. More time involved with his son Kellan, more time engrossed in a storyline that’s new and has nothing to do with Morgan… But it’s one of those things that I suspect is not possible in a pretty crowded storyline canvas.

The storyline between Jordan and Perez— I must admit it’s getting quite irritating to me. Set aside the question of genuine chemistry between the two (which I still don’t really see, sorry), and all I see so far is a frustrating scenario that we’ve been fed in two versions: Lo-fi (his confession to her about drug use earlier in the season), and hi-fi (his overdose, which has now been followed by an underscoring of the original frustration.)

It starts right away in this episode… He sees Jordan for the first time since OD-ing (we learn), and the first thing he has out of his mouth as an excuse is “I didn’t know what to say?” How about Thanks for rushing me to the hospital and saving my damn life? How about that, for starters? And then he’s back to the double talk that seems to be all he can offer: It’s important you know I didn’t OD because of you, but I don’t have anything else to say to you that’s meaningful…

I was going to make your chicken tarragon and work really hard to be charming, but I called my dealer instead and I can’t really explain why. Or, oh wait, I guess I can explain why, and the reason is that we’re right back to where we started at the beginning of the season and I guess I can’t really be in a relationship with you after all. At least, not now. So let’s keep our distance from here on out and maybe you’ll be willing to wait for me when I get all this figured out.

I hope and pray that TGD knows where they’re going with this story as opposed to digging a hole too deep to get out of.

(And if I had time, I’d get into the question of WHY WAS HE “ASSIGNED” TO JORDAN (didn’t the investigation into his OD indicate they were kinda seeing each other socially?) and WHY DIDN’T ONE OF THEM SAY "Uh, this isn’t going to work”? But…A.N.G.T.F.T.)

Finally, Shaun and Lea…! (And if you’re reading this Monday night and wondering why no pics in this part, come back soon. I’m adding them later.)

I admit it took me too long to figure out why this episode was called “Quiet and Loud”. But it’s the yin and the yang of who they are. Shaun was trying to support Lea the way he knew best. Medically, that worked out really well – – socially, not so much. It took Asher’s “you’re being a pain in the ass“wake-up call to get Shaun to move the needle just a little.

In fact, it was a very ASD-heavy episode as far as, seeing a lot of things we identify with Shaun: his annoying critique in the OR for the first surgery, his restriction of Lea’s visitors, his snatching the baby's breath out of Lea’s bouquet because the smell offended him (not her)…

And of course, during the painfully long wait during surgery number two, he was soothing himself by closing his eyes and walking through every surgical step he imagined them performing in the actual OR. Sitting on the floor may have been the only option for such a long wait, but it was highly reminiscent of Shaun‘s most devastating hospital meltdowns… 

Sitting on the ground symbolizes a sort of powerlessness to me; a feeling of, I can’t physically hold myself up anymore so this is the only option. And as great as it was to see Andrews – the one who was the most vocal about not wanting him at St. Bon’s back in the beginning– to come sit by him first. By the time everyone else joined, it was a thing of beauty not just because they were all there (minus Dani Powell), but they were down there on the ground with him, silent, holding vigil in the way he needed it most. And when Lea was in the clear, and the rejoicing began, we got a hug for Glassman, a somewhat more careful hug for Lim, and then that kind of leap up with his arms outstretched to everyone in the corridor as if to say  If I could withstand it, I’d hug each of you; please accept this symbolic gesture instead.

I’m pretty sure the overarching feel-good vibe of these scenes won everyone’s approval… how could it not? I know some took issue with the specific direction of the scenes, and felt there were nuances of connectivity (for lack of a better word) that were surprisingly absent… and me, I spent time wondering why Glassman seemed all too eager to make his exit while everyone celebrated. Was he feeling like this is Shaun’s moment and this is the rest of his family; he doesn’t need me here? Or was he in dire need of the men’s room? 

Ah, never mind, for time is up for me to do the talking… but the comments section is made for YOU! Share your thoughts!