State of the Shea Pt. 79: A "Stop!" Too Far? (“Beautiful Day”)
THE PEANUT IS COMING!
THE PEANUT IS COMING!!!
T H E P E A N U T I S C O M I N G !!!
(I haven’t forgotten, #Shea Nation… but it wasn’t officially coming until the very end of the “Beautiful Day” episode, so I promise to make plenty of space to talk about that next time.)
Also to talk about another time (or maybe not at all)— SPOILERS that are released ahead of the Finale. I’ve seen them, you may have seen them too, but I don’t get the point of such info being made public by way of a big fat headline (as opposed to a tease headline that you can then click on if you CHOOSE to). In any case, I won’t be linking or talking about any of that here.
ALSO in my WHAT’S THE POINT? files… TV columnists who follow TGD but never seem to be able to write a positive thing about it. Not only that— it feels like they’re watching another show entirely, where they don’t even remember important plot points correctly. I’m thinking of one in particular right now, but this “one” has pissed me off numerous times. I might need to pick apart some of this person’s critiques in the off-season. Stay tuned…
In the meantime— I’m giving most of this post to the Shaun/Glassman situation (so get ready!). Here are the three subplots of “Beautiful Day”, lest you think I forgot them…
Morgan the Muddler
We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, this Morgan-as-new-mom thing. I’m not sure why SHE didn’t know that, but she possesses a lot of self-confidence and maybe truly believed she’d be above that spitup-stained learning curve…
Obviously Park’s assistance is golden (perhaps the best we’ve seen him all year), helping Team #Parnick keep their hopes alive as we head for the S6 finish line.
The laundry room scene, though… wow! We’ll have to talk about that some other time.
Jordan/Perez and the “Date”
I thought last week’s “gifts to each other” stuff was an ambiguous middle ground on which for these two to tread until the end of the season… but suddenly they were planning a DATE? For that very next night?
(And yet it still didn’t happen…! And sorry, but ditching their plans to stroll through the makeshift Christmas market was silly.)
Andrews/Villanueva and the Nurses Union
Soon, I presume, this sort-of relationship will make sense. But for this episode, we were again subjected to Andrews and Villanueva sharing several scenes, with the added component of potential unionizing to underscore the huge power imbalance between them. (Asking her to narc on her fellow nurses?! How’s that “changing” coming along, Andrews??)
But the fact that they haven’t thrown these two into a full-blown affair in the back half of this season (a la Salen/Andrews) is a relief… in fact, they’ve actively kept them even more chaste than the Jordan/Perez moments (not even a kiss; just flirty looks, holding hands, head on shoulder…) I’d call it sweet, if only there weren’t so many sour notes emerging from it all.
I ran one of my polls this week, and I’m not certain but this may have drawn more votes than any other I’ve done (in recent memory at least). Simply stated, the Shaun/Glassman thing is complicated! You see that the majority ultimately went to “Both, but mostly Glassman”… but as I watched the votes come in, the bottom two options switched leads more than a Spice Girls single. (Younger readers, I’m not taking the time to add a link there— Google it!)
As I planned this post, I even attempted a flow chart to sort out all the arguments pro and con for each side. It failed to become a true writing guide because… well, look at it. It’s a living mess. And that’s before you factor in my handwriting.
(Flowchart masters, please don’t write in… it was just an experiment! Promise!)
Dare I take a side in this debate? Why yes I did. Read on…
I broke this down into each man’s “side”, or POV…
Shaun’s POV:
He went to Glassman (in the episode “A Blip”) with concerns when he noticed his two-suture miss, and had to beg him to get a brain scan “for him” before Glassman finally relented.
Once a cancer recurrence was ruled out– but Shaun noticed screws missing from the crib assembly and remained convinced there was something wrong– his effort to convince Glassman of the same fell on deaf, angry ears.
Convinced that “going to Lim” with his concerns would be useless without conclusive evidence, Shaun went about gathering it in the only way he saw possible: tracking Glassman’s every move… which (I think) almost left Shaun convinced that he’d been mistaken again… remember, he was excited and impressed by Glassman’s efforts at least a couple times in the “Blessed” episode.
But his epiphany about Glassman’s mini-stroke came after that surgery was complete. At that point, Shaun had his conclusive evidence… and, to his understanding, Glassman would be no more convinced of his impairment than he would have at any other juncture. So he went straight to Lim.
This is part one of the sticking point for Glassman, and those that feel Shaun is most at fault here. What if Shaun had gone straight to Glassman’s office (instead of Lim’s) and told him the same news when Glassman returned there? Would Glassman have
Dropped into his chair with a huge sigh, said Damn, you’re right… I guess that was my last brain surgery, huh?
Or (more likely) seen some merit to Shaun’s claim, but insisted on a full cognitive workup to be evaluated by someone outside St. Bon’s?
Or would he simply have blown up at Shaun one more time (in the name of Full Denial) and stomped out, with Shaun ultimately going to Lim after all?
Had this scenario cropped up I’d like to think Glassy would’ve gone for “B”... but let’s be honest, the dramatic impact with that choice is far less intense than what we were given in “Beautiful Day.”
Now let’s go back to the actual “Beautiful Day” narrative:
As per Shaun’s brief discussion with Lea at the top of the episode, he felt he did the right thing “both medically and professionally”... and that he “had no choice” but to go behind his back because Glass wouldn’t listen to him.
Picking up Lea’s suggestion that he seek out/speak to Glassman about it, Shaun did that upon arriving to work. He asks Glassman if he’s mad at him; Glassman says “Yeah, a little bit… but maybe you saved my life, so…”
(NOTE: I found it interesting that Glassman said “maybe you saved my life” but for whatever reason– time constraints, priorities, etc.-- that fact was not mentioned again. I say so given that Shaun puts so much emphasis on the “saving lives” part of everything he does; we’ve heard it throughout the series and especially earlier this season when he couldn’t come to terms easily with Lim’s anger towards him. Perhaps “maybe saving Glassman’s life” will resurface in the season finale…)
Based on the remainder of that conversation, it would appear that Shaun was unable to absorb the gravity of Glassman’s emotions at that point. For instance- when Glassy said he was mad at Shaun “a little bit,” we can tell by his inflection that it’s much more than “a little bit,” but Shaun’s ASD keeps him from drawing the same conclusion.
A little later in the episode, after Lim tells Shaun she’s been overruled (by Andrews) regarding keeping Glassman out of the OR, Shaun goes to Glassman with hopes he can convince Shaun’s patient (“DickDad” Kurt) to have the brain tumor-removing surgery he needs, for he isn’t convinced Kurt is competent to make the decision on his own…
GLASS (after studying DickDad’s scans): … you don’t think I’m competent to be a doctor…
SHAUN: Oh, no. Just to be a neurosurgeon. The surgery should give Kurt about 20 more years…
NOTE: Glassman clearly sees Shaun’s efforts as all-encompassing, while Shaun clearly sees a pinpoint on the neurosurgery. That’s a substantial difference.)
GLASS: Let’s recap (about Kurt)– 20 more years as a bad father versus 1 year as a good father.
SHAUN: There is no medical justification–
GLASS: Yes there is, Shaun. Yes there is! (STOPS AND LOOKS AT HIM) There’s an emotional one! There’s an emotional issue!
SHAUN: Your voice is getting louder and your face is flushed. Are you upset?
(NOTE: Now THIS is a cue for Glassman’s anger that Shaun can easily recognize.)
GLASS: (WALKS ONWARD) You should have come to me with the scan. You don’t go to Lim… you don’t show it to Lim.
SHAUN: You said you were only a little mad at me.
GLASS: You- you ratted me out to the head of the department when I specifically asked you not to do that!
SHAUN: Yes- I did that because you did not believe me–
GLASS: (YELLING) Well then you come to me! You try to convince me! Again, and again, and again! Don’t you think you owe me that?
SHAUN: That’s four times… I tried a lot more than that.
Glassman took a moment, then pivoted back to Shaun’s original request of speaking to the patient. He didn’t have anywhere to go with his angry line of questioning after that, for Shaun’s “four times” line was a brilliant one. Not only did Shaun process Glassman’s words literally here (as he is obviously prone to do), but he was right– he’d gone to Glassman at least four times and been dismissed, with the exception of the initial scan request. (I’m kind of surprised Shaun didn’t come back with the actual number of times!)
By the time Glassman says fine, whatever, I’ll talk to DickDad/Kurt (paraphrased), Shaun flashes a quick look of satisfaction– I’m assuming it’s because he decides Glassman can’t be THAT mad at him if he’s agreeing to talk to his patient, but the fact that Glassman was no longer yelling at him had to be a bonus.
After Shaun and Glassman meet with DickDad/Kurt and successfully convince him to have the surgery (but with Glassman doing it, at Kurt’s insistence), we find Shaun in the Practice Lab as Glassman reviews the surgery with Jordan and Perez. Shaun is more cautious (and vocal) than ever about Glassman’s efforts, but it doesn’t help that Glassman is low-key seething with anger at this point and Shaun can’t tell when he’s irritated, when he’s making a joke, or when he’s simply working. So Shaun keeps calling him out on different things until Glassman –with a savage amount of cool– kicks Shaun out. (“One of us is leaving, and it’s not going to be the one doing the surgery” is what he said specifically.)
Next time we see Shaun, Lim is telling him about Glassman’s decision to keep Shaun out of the OR during the surgery (and assuring Shaun the patient will return to his care immediately afterward).
Shaun says OK, he’ll just watch from the gallery; but she guards against the idea. “He’s pretty upset right now, and if you push too hard, it could really hurt your relationship… you don’t have to be the one catching (the mistakes) when the one making them is your dad.” (paraphrased)
Glassman’s surgery on DickDan/Kurt gets underway. Lim is assisting, Jordan and Perez are on hand… and we see Shaun enter the overhead gallery just as a commercial break hits. (NOTE: I have A LOT to discuss regarding this step in the sequence of events, but it will come later in this post so I can stick to Shaun’s POV for now.)
Early during Glassman’s surgery Shaun speaks up about a choice made; Glassman explains his choice very briefly and then tells Shaun he’ll be removed if he speaks out again. Shaun, undeterred, says “Carry on.”
Nearly 7 hours into the surgery (did Shaun really stay there AND stay quiet for nearly 7 hours?!) Glassman successfully removes the tumor, then stops some unexpected bleeding that follows. When it’s time for the next step, he says nothing although the nurses and doctors seem to know what’s next, with tools ready. Shaun looks anxious.
After several seconds (about 5-6, same length of time as Glassman’s pause in the “Blessed” OR scene) Shaun can’t help but point out Glassman’s hesitation. “Please tell us what the next step is,” he implores. Glassman wants security to toss Shaun out, but Lim (who MUST have noted the hesitation herself) says “Answer… please.” Everyone stares expectantly at Glassman for next 20 seconds; he eventually stammers but cannot answer. He then quietly exits and Lim takes over.
(NOTE: It’s tough, as usual, to tell exactly what Shaun is feeling in that moment. Could he process any of Glassman’s humiliation? Particularly when he was doing it from a distance? I tend not to think so. His focus throughout was on keeping Glassman from making a mistake and/or harming his patient… or more succinctly, trying to protect Glassman in the only way he knew how. Once Glassman exited, I think relief was the emotion Shaun was processing more than anything else.)
After witnessing DickDad/Kurt wake up and make an effort (however delayed) to hold hands with daughter Hailey, Shaun seeks out Glassman before he leaves for the night… surely to pass on that the surgery appeared to be a success in more ways than one. (I mean, again… if Shaun had realized the full weight of his actions, wouldn’t he have avoided Glassman? At least until he could talk to Lim or Lea about what happened? We’ve seen him dodge people before… )
Then came that final scene. Shaun’s effort to acknowledge what had happened was meager at best…
It must be hard to accept you are compromised…. (his attempt to empathize, something we know he cannot do easily)
…But you did not hurt a patient, so you understand why I did it, and you can’t be mad at me. (It’s indeed selfish, worrying much more about where Glassman’s anger is pointed than WHY he’s feeling that way. But the consistency is remarkable as well– throughout the episode, Shaun tried to gauge Glassman’s anger. Why? Because he loves and respects Glassman deeply, and no one (especially Shaun) wants “Dad” to be mad at them.
That’s what makes the difference, for me, between Shaun fighting for the right thing with Glassman rather than simply being a pain in his ass. When Shaun was at odds with the now-departed Dr. Danni Powell in the “Hot and Bothered” episode, he let his anger (re: Danni advising Lim against his surgical plan) impact the way he dealt with her.
But when Shaun stammers out a futile “I… don’t know what to do” as he is overcome by the weight of Glassman’s feelings, it’s heart-wrenching because it’s the very crux of the matter. He put himself out there in a gallant effort to do the “right” thing. Did he go about it correctly, given the circumstances and who he was dealing with? Yes and no. Did his ASD impact his decision-making? Of course it did, at times. But, much as was the case when Lim was on the operating table at the beginning of the season, we see the struggle now between his spectrum-related thinking and his deep emotional connections to certain people.
In this case, for me, that means putting the primary responsibility on the neurotypical party involved (Glassman).
Unless we just blame Andrews for the whole damn thing… But that’s another story for another post, right??
So let’s jump to the other side of this pancake…
GLASSMAN’S POV
After Shaun told him (in “A Blip”) he’d missed two sutures at the end of a surgical procedure, Glassman was probably amused more than anything else– that he’d actually made a mistake on a very basic part of surgery, and that Shaun found it cause for so much concern. But any annoyance that grew as Shaun combed through his files, left piles of data on his desk chair, etc. seemed to evaporate with Shaun’s very personal plea to get a brain scan done.
By the “Half Measures” episode Glassman briefly found himself on the same page as Shaun– waiting for the results of a test that would tell if their time on Earth together was about to be cut short. It wasn’t, but…
There Shaun was a morning or two later, raining all over Glassman’s cancer-free parade because of a couple of unused screws on a baby crib. To be fair, Glassman was right in that furniture is notoriously difficult to assemble and perhaps there was really nothing to be concerned about. Even if you’re the most precise taskmaster in town. (I think Shaun and Glassy share that title, actually.)
But Glassman saw red the moment Shaun alluded to his surgical work– and rather than appease the younger surgeon by way of additional cognitive testing, Glassy shut down the conversation. Of course, trying to shut down a conversation with Dr. Shaun Murphy is like trying to put out a grease fire by blowing on it…
So Glassman grit his teeth and tolerated Shaun shadowing his work with his next several patients. Which went about as well as you might expect something like to go between these two…
GLASSMAN’S MENTAL LAPSE IN “BLESSED”
Except (during his OR scene in “Blessed”), Glassman had a 5-6 second mental lapse where it appeared– to us, anyway– that he wasn’t certain of his next move. Shaun was too busy discussing options with the others in the OR to take note. But if Glassman truly thought Shaun’s concern was bonkers, he HAD to at least be thinking to himself OK, WTF was that???
His work on Ricky in “Blessed” was successful, Shaun seemed satisfied, and he got to talk baseball with his patient afterwards– what wasn’t to love about Glassman’s life in that moment? (Point being, Shaun went through this arc in more of a perpetual state of anxiety and frustration, while Glassman took more of the roller coaster version. So when the lows hit him, they hit VERY low…)
Next thing Glassman knows, he’s got the chief of surgery in his office telling him he’s had a Transient Ischemic Attack (or “mini-stroke”), and that she only knows this because his “son” figured it out and told her. He didn’t tell Glassman… he told HER.
And not long after that, he is there in his office, virtually oblivious to Glassman’s anger towards him. It’s not his fault he’s oblivious– Glassman knows that better than anyone. Still, it’s more than Glassman can handle in that moment. He manages to send Shaun away without unloading that anger… right then and there, he just needed time to think…
Glassman then goes to Lim with his bargaining chips in hand: he’ll take these meds and those meds, reduce his workload, have a backup on lengthy surgeries, even eat more broccoli! But the chief of surgery says she can’t have him in the OR until he agrees to some cognitive testing to see what they’re dealing with.
He puffs his chest in refusing the testing (“Do I look impaired to you?”), underscores his value as the surgeon who takes on what others can’t or won’t… and then, when Lim continues to stand firm, threatens legal action.
When Shaun comes to him (at Lim’s prompting, which she regretted later) hoping for an assist on talking a patient into brain surgery, Glassman’s anger toward Shaun dials up a notch or two… but it doesn’t get him much farther as he’s reminded how many times (literally) Shaun has tried to warn him in recent days. (I covered this scene verbatim in Shaun’s POV, so scroll back up if you’d like another look.)
Shaun’s patient requests Glassman specifically for the surgery once he hears a little of his pedigree, so he gets his team into the practice lab. Given the more casual environment (than the actual OR), and the fact that he’s leading the practice, Glassman repels Shaun’s incessant questioning first with humor, then snark, then outright rejection as he sends Shaun out of the lab for the duration of the session. (NOTE: I can’t help but feel, the way that scene unfolded, that Glassman grabbed a whole lotta control back. Or at least, HE felt as if he did.)
Glassman then requests/gets permission for Shaun to be taken off the case while Glassman’s part was in progress. Did he realize Lim would immediately step into the void? If he didn’t, he masked it nicely (“Welcome aboard.”)
When Glassman steps into the OR and starts the clock, Shaun shows up in the gallery soon after– to which Glassman and Lim glance up briefly, then continue. (Was he really that amenable to Shaun being up there? As I said during Shaun’s POV, I’ll be talking more about this later in the post.)
The first time we see Shaun chiming in from above, Lim looks almost as annoyed as Glassman does– but Glassman holds his cool as he did in the practice lab, answering his question but warning of his removal if he spoke out again.
But the next time we see this OR, it’s several hours later and Glassman appears to be tiring. He removes the tumor, stops a major bleed, and then… is it exhaustion that brings on what looked (to me) like a mental lapse similar to the prevous week? Is it the damage done to his brain? Is it Shaun’s hovering? Is it all the other members of his team looking at him so expectantly?
It could have been any/all of those things, if you ask me… but given Shaun’s analysis of his condition, and the way this lapse bore similarity to the previous one (except Shaun caught it this time along with the rest of us)... Glassman must have felt brutally exposed in that moment. And rather than insist on staying and finishing the surgery– even if Lim had to verbalize that “next step”-- he felt the only way to preserve his remaining dignity was to leave.
Did it have to go down that way? No– but I blame Glassman for that, not Shaun. Glassman stubborned up when warning signs came earlier. Glassman let his ego get in the way once Lim was in the know, and threatened his way back into the OR. And based on what he said in the closing scene, he seemed to be counting on Shaun– the one person on the planet who truly adores him– to put his emotions over medical ethics; even though he can’t often access those very emotions the way neurotypical people can.
I’m not saying I’m void of compassion for Glassman… I tried to make that clear and I hope it is. But even as I made that flowchart attempt, I found myself with more empty space on the “Glassman” side of the page. When writing if/then statements around the guy with both heels dug so very deep into the ground, you simply can’t pull him very far in any direction.
***HERE’S THE POSSIBLE CONTINUITY ERROR WITH THE “BEAUTIFUL DAY” EPISODE THAT I CAN’T HELP BUT THINK AFFECTED THE SHAUN VS. GLASSMAN ARGUMENT***
I have no verification of this, just a hunch I have based on the way TGD is usually laid out…
We see Lim advising Shaun not to sit in the gallery because he doesn't have to be the one to catch “his dad” making a mistake. And Shaun seems to consider that statement as they go to commercial.
In the next segment, we don't see Shaun/Glassman until the end of said segment... when Glassman starts the surgery, and Shaun takes a seat in the gallery. Both Lim and Glassman notice this, but neither seems surprised.
Meanwhile, we had Park in his scene at Morgan's house to start that same segment... and then he shows up in the OR in the scene immediately following. (Regular reader Asa mentioned this to me; I suspect a lot of people noticed it though.)
So it really seems like there was supposed to be a scene of some kind between the one at Morgan's, and the one in Park's OR.
AND, it feels like there was a missing scene where Shaun chatted with someone else (or maybe saw something transpire) that led him to the decision to sit in the gallery despite Lim’s warning.
We know that TGD, like most other dramas, shoots multiple scenes per episode that don’t make the final cut (but can sometimes be found on the DVD for that season). Would it have made a difference if a brief Shaun scene happened while Park was commuting back to St. Bons… but got deleted by mistake? It obviously wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but I can’t help but think it could have informed us a lot better about why Shaun chose to “go there” (the gallery). As it played out last Monday, it looked a little like Lim’s very important words went in one of Shaun’s ears and out the other. But that doesn’t ring true with the Shaun we know… does it?Just something to think about.
***
By the time you read this, the whole rift between TGD father & son could be on its way to mending (via the season finale). Or maybe we’ll get just a glimmer of a promise of mending, depending on what else is going on (and if history holds, A LOT will be “going on”). But the repercussions are likely to continue on into next season. And as Glassman continues to process this new development (and the new living quarters, new grandson… so much NEW), I’d invite him to consider this– a quote from Renowned Guest Doctor of the Week Dr. Nakano, who said this back in S4 (after Shaun spotted a “tiny error” he made, if I recall correctly)...
"I always told myself once I started making tiny errors, I’d stop before I made a big one… I made this plan years ago, because I knew that when the time came, I’d look for reasons why whatever I did wrong was tiny, minor, didn’t count. That’s why I made the rule. Everything counts.”
(Big, fat props to @jorgjumanji97 on Twitter for reminding me of this!)
Were you as focused on Glassman’s situation as I was last week? Or were you more invested in one of the subplots? Give the comments a piece of your mind!
(Go have a baby, you two crazy kids) 👇👇👇
