State of the Shea, Pt. 78: The “Blessed” Knuckleball
But here you are in the ninth
Two men out and three men on
Nowhere to look but inside
Where we all respond to
Pressure
–Billy Joel, legendary singer/songwriter who has referenced baseball in at least three of his songs (“Zanzibar,” “Pressure,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire”) but I didn’t take the time to count; my apologies
⚾️⚾️⚾️
You can call it “America’s Pastime,” even though it’s played all over the world and professional rosters in the U.S. are filled with international talent. You can think of most games as a giant snoozefest; the new MLB “pitch clock” certainly wasn’t instilled because the action moves too quickly. You can get season tickets for a mediocre team because you love the park atmosphere, or you can make a certain team’s cap part of your daily wardrobe even if you’ve never watched an inning’s worth of play.
But whether you love baseball, loathe it, or couldn’t care less about it– chances are you’ve heard and/or used a baseball term in everyday language… (In English-dominant countries, that is. I'd love to hear about it if it’s the same in other languages!)
They’re bringing in the heavy hitters.
Nice! You hit that presentation out of the park!
Right off the bat, she made a great impression.
Well, that comment was totally out of left field.
I’ll take on that task; it’s within my wheelhouse of skills.
What a curveball! I did not expect the day to end like that.
(Fun fact: I was planning to title this post The “Blessed” Curveball because of the surprising turn of events in the final St. Bons scenes, but realized upon repeat viewing that the keyword was KNUCKLEball. And of course, I’ll get back to all that in a bit.)
I’d be remiss at this point if I didn’t share my own baseball ties, for I have a brother who played the game professionally for about a decade. His name is Sean (same pronunciation as Shaun Murphy, different spelling) and he pitched for various minor-league teams, save for a glorious stretch of weeks late in the 1998 season when he got called up to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates. (If you’re interested in that sort of thing, you can read a little more about my brother here.)
(When I find a photo from Sean’s major-league debut you’ll see it here… I’ve got a game he played with the minor-league Nashville Sounds in the meantime.)
So, anyway…
Fans of TGD in general (and #Shea in particular) are well-versed in the show’s use of baseball references. It was, after all, a prized baseball that Lea gave Shaun to “borrow” when she returned to Hershey in S1 and it has been on display in their loft apartment as the seasons roll by. Also, Morgan and Claire accompanied their young about-to-lose-his-vision patient to a ball game in S3’s “SFAD” episode. And Glassman’s specific love of the game showed when he escaped to Paradise, MT for a spell in S5 and Lea caught up with him as he played in the outfield. What’s more, once Glassman had returned to San Jose (and Salen had departed), he and Andrews got a St. Bons baseball team together (much too briefly) in an effort to build camaraderie.
So here we are, late in S6 (and now with a S7 to look forward to for sure!), and I went into this week’s post feeling like I should turn the whole thing into a massive baseball metaphor. I mean we have a pitcher POTW, talk of pitching speeds, Jared bringing up a ball-related volunteer opportunity to Perez, Lea making a little crack about Glassman’s taste in teams (“Well, he IS an A’s fan,” she snarks when Shaun mentions Glassy’s high intelligence)... and in perhaps the most poignant scene of the episode, Glassman semi-sarcastically asks Shaun “What’s the score?” regarding the executive functionality of his brain.
All those references came before Shaun’s sad “knuckleball” epiphany.
But I have to be honest– despite my family ties to the sport (or perhaps because of them!), I don’t watch or follow baseball enough to have a sound understanding of its terminology and nuances. So rather than embarrass myself and get all my baseball aficionados out there correcting me in the comments, I’m keeping the references VERY light. For those of you who prefer basketball or soccer… you’re welcome!
Let’s see how “Blessed” broke down…
DESIGNATED HITTER #1: DR. SHAUN MURPHY
Everything else aside, I have to say how relieved I was when Shaun pinpointed Glassman’s issue as a mini-stroke rather than a form of dementia. Watching it progress in S7, and wondering how far we’d see it progress… it can make for compelling television, as NBC’s This Is Us illustrated so beautifully last year. But that series was almost exclusively about a family dynamic. TGD is not This is Us.
What it is, of course, is a medical drama with characters and relationships that are essential– but the emphasis remains on the “medical drama” part. To have Glassman in this situation– the “best brain doctor in town” staring down what must feel to him an immeasurably cruel twist of fate– is a far better choice for this show. Painful to watch at times, yes. But far better. (And when has “painful to watch” stopped any of us??)
Of course, as of “Blessed,” Glassman doesn’t know all that we know. But from the moment Shaun brought up his work in the OR in the first scene, the red flag waved in front of Glassman’s furious face. You go to Lim (about this) and you’re going to look ridiculous! he bellowed at Shaun.
It felt like a low blow, the “look ridiculous” part… but behind the anger was surely a somewhat scared man. And we knew Shaun wouldn’t be deterred, no matter what Glassman said. (Shaun reinforced that fact beautifully as they scrubbed in for POTW Ricky’s surgery.)
He wouldn’t stop till he had his answer, but that didn’t mean Shaun wasn’t going through it, emotionally speaking, with every “Blessed” scene featuring the two of them. Sure, it’s easy to think of Shaun as stoic unless he’s in an extremely charged emotional state, but as has been made abundantly clear by now… this is his father we’re talking about, for all intents and purposes. When he realizes he will most definitely have to monitor Glassman performing brain surgery, Shaun sits by himself an extra minute, processing the difficulty of the situation ahead. When Glassman does something innovative in the midst of a surgical crisis– as he did with Ricky’s aneurysms– Shaun’s eyes and voice sparkle with momentary joy.
But Shaun has gotten under Glassman’s skin at some of the worst times, and doing so during the discussion of his surgical plan was no exception. Shaun never really knows when to stop, and Glassman gets to a point when ALL he wants to do is stop him. It’s a brutal mix. Still, a huge part of Glassman’s mounting anger towards Shaun in this case is his awareness that, historically speaking, a persistent Shaun in the medical arena is an ultimately correct Shaun.
And this 5-6 second lapse for Glassman that took place during that surgery– the one Shaun didn’t notice, but WE did– has to confirm that, deep down, Glassman knows something is wrong too. It will be ROUGH, watching him come to terms with this as the biggest milestone of Shaun’s life occurs simultaneously. So rough, in fact, that I really do wonder if Glassman will be around for any part of Baby #Shea’s arrival in the season finale.
But this is where TGD excels, and I’ll be girding myself up for every cathartic moment. I suspect you well be as well.
DH #2: DR. MARCUS ANDREWS
In Andrews’ endearing POTW Eddie– the first TGD patient we “lost” in quite a while*-- we got a man with a very rare condition (epidermodysplasia verruciformis) and what some might call an even more uncommon outlook on life.
Whether or not we’d consider ourselves “blessed” if we were in Eddie’s tough-to-wear shoes, he did indeed seem to have gifts to offer all who were involved in his final trip to St. Bons:
Morgan got the child she’s wanted all season (I’m not sure how much of that she attributed to Eddie, but the facts are the facts)
Jordan re-evaluated Perez’s current role in her life (more about this shortly)
Nurse Villanueva revealed her own “gifts”-- of the watercolor landscape variety– much to the surprise of her former sort-of paramour Andrews
And Andrews had an Eddie-induced self-revelation, sending him out to track down his former sort-of paramour Villanueva and vow to earn the right to see her watercolor landscapes himself. (Or something like that. I swear I’ll never be sure what’s up with these two again.)
Anyway, I think they made legit dinner plans when all was said and done.
Which brings us to Dead-Certain Asher. (I’d call him “Doubting Asher,” except this whole scorched earth thing he has with religion makes me think he’d throw his boiling pasta water on me if I went with that.)
His seething disregard for “believers”-- we’ve been there/done that, especially Jordan (I thought her raised eyebrow response to him should have been more of an Oh sweet Jesus, not this again scowl). What upped the ante this time was Asher’s insistence on an extended rant in Jerome’s presence… and while that was a first for us, poor Jerome looked like he’s been there/done that too much as well.
Incidentally, the way Asher downshifts at the very end of the scene and says “MMM… this is done; can you grab the salad?” reminded me of the mom who is in the middle of shredding her 3 kids for feeding the dog laxatives…
MOM: What… do… you… MEAN he begged you to feed him the whole bottle? He wouldn’t have asked for ONE, let alone the whole–
(PHONE RINGS)
MOM (AS SHE TAKES PHONE OUT OF POCKET): Honest to God I DO NOT KNOW who raised the three of you to act like this!!!!!!
(PUSHES BUTTON, HOLDS PHONE TO EAR, GETS ALL SING-SONGY): Helllooooooo?
Anyway, Jerome later turned the mirror on Asher in a HIGHLY effective way. How else do you explain the latter tracking the former down at his restaurant of choice and making a public declaration (and/or spectacle) of his feeling so blessed to be in his life…?!
“Blessed,” Asher??? How indeed!
(P.S. To all who believe in miracles, please take note of this one. Or just thank the late great POTW Eddie.)
MINOR LEAGUERS (for now):
DR. DANNY PEREZ and
DR. JORDAN ALLEN
I’m keeping Perez (who I’ll probably call “Danny” next season; just staying w/Perez now for consistency’s sake) and Jordan in the minors for now because this is most definitely a twosome that does not seem Ready For Prime Time. (OK, they obviously are in Prime Time; it’s an old Saturday Night Live reference I’m making… ah, never mind.)
Recovering addict Perez mentions in this episode “wanting to stay clean for a year” before getting romantically involved with anyone, and as far as I can recall that’s the first time he’s set a time limit on his dating sabbatical. Meanwhile, he walks back dating advice he gave to Jordan, now delivering the uber-confusing “You’re everything” compliment instead.
(I’m calling it a compliment, even though it felt heartfelt and achingly useless all at the same time.)
Meanwhile, Jordan was feeling super positive vibes courtesy of “the Eddie effect” and was trying to be more receptive of “God’s gifts”... one of which she now perceives to be Perez.
(BTW, this 33-SECOND snippet of a scene between Jordan, Morgan, and Lea could’ve been three times as long and I still would have wanted more.)
With no real development of the Jared/Jordan possibility in “Blessed,” it looks like an advantage Perez situation as we head to the S6 finish line. But WTF does that mean? The show can’t do another time jump until at least the start of S7. How do these two represent “gifts to each other” if he’s to remain faithful to his timetable… and she’s to remain faithful to her vow of celibacy?
Are they just gifts still wrapped up in pretty paper, yet to be opened…?
What if these are gifts that should be returned ASAP?
Should either of them be RE-gifted?
(I could do this all day… but I won’t. Lucky you.)
WHIFFLEBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: DR. MORGAN REZNICK
I’m only making the “whiffleball” reference because this was the easiest story of the episode (and Lord knows we needed an easy one): Morgan got overly attached to Eden in the previous episode, and just when it looked as if the young lass with Turner Syndrome had scored herself a pair of foster parents… they balked at the added responsibility, and backed out of the deal. With the clock presumably ticking on how long public assistance would pay for Eden’s hospital digs, Morgan rose to the occasion and took her home (surely with hopes to legally adopt the baby girl somewhere down the road).
Park didn’t have much going on this episode, which gave him plenty of time to check on Morgan and Eden’s situation… and soften his heart a little more each time he did so. It’s been a while since TGD tossed a rope to long-suffering #Parnick fans, and for everyone hoping they’d be back together before season’s end, congratulations (the odds seem better than ever now).
But part of me sees Park loving Morgan’s maternal side and can’t help but feel irritated with their “Afterparty” breakup all over again. What felt nonsensical and forced in the S6 premiere didn’t feel one bit better to me when they jumped to three months later in the next episode (“Change of Perspective”), and like many of you, I’ve just been marking time until the inevitable #Parnick reunion since then.
Will #Parnick be #Parnick again by May 1st…?
Will Glassman be speaking to Shaun at that point? Or anyone…???
Will Lea’s water break while burping up a storm in the St. Bons cafeteria????
Stay tuned!!!
(And please hit up the comments with your thoughts in the meantime)
