Season One:

I have watched The Good Doctor before, but I keep finding myself caught in frustration in the ways that people tend to immediately dismiss the show as "bad representation" and take that label as free-reign to mock Shaun's character relentlessly. It Bothers me. So, in order to satisfy my resentment regarding this 'misunderstanding', I'm going to be rewatching the entirety of the show and taking notes and making lists to point out the things the show does Well with Shaun as an individual character, and then does Terribly with its narrative and framing around him.

Presuming I won't wind up burning out on this resolution partway through (because as much as I do kind of like Shaun, the show itself is annoying enough to be exhausting), the notes and uploads will be slow-going. I take notes as I watch the episodes, which can quickly turn a 40 minute episode into a 2+ hour ordeal, and won't always be brimming with the free time to watch episodes at all. For now, I'll be keeping everything on this individual page -- though I might wind up fucking around with the formatting once I get further into this endeavor -- to make it easier to notice updates and new episode notes.

Maybe I'll figure out a better way to organize notes as well, but for now, I'm more or less just taking them as I watch the episodes. So, each point will be organized by the chronological placement in the episode timeline, rather than grouped by a central character or argument. I might go back and edit things into something more cohesive, but the chronological order works best for now, so that's what we're rolling with.

Ep 1: Burnt Food (Pilot)

This is the one Autism Media Trope that I truly can't stand: when they do the editing to make the noises really loud and obnoxious. I'm not sure it adequately exemplifies anything for NT audiences and just kind of alienates your autistic viewers -- it's bad enough I have to listen to all that stuff in real life, I don't want to hear it in HD here too.
I will say that I like Shaun's body language in the accident scene though. The stiff, frozen body, the tight hands close to the chest, the aborted "I want to cover my ears but I shouldn't" movement -- I think it's extremely on point.
The thing about the pilot, though, is that it really exemplifies the actual problem with this show. Shaun's character isn't nearly as bad as other people pretend like he is, the real problem tends to be in the ways other characters react to and talk about Shaun:
- The sort of B-plot in this episode is the Board of Directors of the hospital arguing about whether or not they should accept Shaun as a resident. Fine, sure, I can see it being a point of contension, but the problem for me lies in the way that Glassman argues his case.
- In essence, Andrews argues that Shaun shouldn't be hired based purely on the fact that he's been diagnosed with Autism. Glassman argues in Shaun's defense that his diagnosis shouldn't automatically disqualify him as a candidate. Glassman is right, but the way he argues is basically "Yes, Shaun has Autism, but he's also got Savant Syndrome, so that cancels things out."
- This episode's argument would have been LEAGUES better if they had Glassman argue that Andrews' argument sucks because he's never met Shaun. If they could bring themselves to remember that "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism" and point out that Andrews has no idea what Shaun's difficulties or skills are. He argues on pretense that because Autism comes with social skill deficits, Shaun will be terrible at handling patients and so that alone is reason enough to not hire him, but Andrews has no idea how Shaun talks, or what his social skills are or look like, whether he's able to compensate or mask at all.
- Instead, Andrews argues purely off of prejudice and assumption, and no one -- not even Glassman -- argues with him. They should be arguing with him on this point. Shaun does struggle with social skills, and the show spends a decent amount of time exemplifying his troubles with getting along with patients, but Andrews doesn't KNOW this about Shaun, he's ASSUMING it about Shaun, and Glassman's argument would have been so much stronger if the writers had the stones to have him point that out.
- In essence, Glassman shouldn't be arguing that "The Savant Syndrome cancels it out" or "Autism is a superpower actually" -- he should be arguing that Andrews is arguing based off of baseless assumptions based off a diagnosis, and he hasn't actually met Shaun at all, let along long enough to determine what his deficits are or where he'll need improvement.
Anyway, back to the accident scene: A lot of people talk shit about Shaun's "Autism HUD", and while I agree that the editing is kind of obnoxious, I do think it makes sense for the pacing of the show, and specifically the pacing of Shaun's speech. He pauses a lot while he sorts out his thoughts, it's a very relatable Autism Thing -- needing to fully conceptualize the thought you're expressing and the words you'll need to communicate it, "conceptualizing every word in a sentence as its own event", if you will -- I think the show would be missing something if Shaun never hesitated like this. BUT, if the show just had Shaun staring blankly into space for a handful of seconds while he's thinking, the show would have bizarre pacing -- other shows either have their characters articulate their in-progress thoughts verbally OR have quick 'lightbulb' realizations instead, neither of which would Land autistically to me. Having Shaun's thoughts depicted through images and on-screen text while he's thinking through concepts and words before speaking makes sense to me, and I think it reads way more in a "Thinking In Pictures" way than it does "Savant Bullshit".
The thing that tends to bother me the most about this show and the way people talk about it, is they both tend to fall into the same pitfalls of Blaming Shaun for Other Character's Attitudes and Actions. Meaning like, to solve the injury, Shaun has to get a knife to help rescue Accident Kid's lung -- he goes to TSA because he knows they confiscate items, but is so hyperfocused on "I Need to Acquire a Knife" that he forgets that he needs to explain the context of Why he needs that to anyone. This, as a Trait, does not miss the mark for me.
- Like, a lot of autistic people struggle with that sort of thing -- either in a "I kind of forgot that other people don't percieve the world Exactly like I do and don't automatically have all the context I have" way or in a "Just so focused on one topic that I can't think about anything else but the one thing" way. It Makes Sense.
- But the show is quick to frame Shaun as being In The Wrong for not being able to communicate this context "properly". When audiences comment on Shaun's social difficulties, they're often quick to point out "Autistic people are used to being misunderstood and so are used to providing context, so Shaun not doing that in this scene is bad, stereotypical writing".
- But WHY are we blaming Shaun alone for this? If the TSA guy had opted to tone back the sarcasm a Little and try to actually understand what Shaun was saying, the conflict could have been avoided. If they'd paused to try to understand what Shaun meant when he said "There's a medical emergency", the conflict could have been avoided. If they'd actually listened to what he was saying, they might have actually heard what he was saying before they opted to tackle him to the ground and tell him to be thankful they didn't shoot him.
- Like, if we could think for a second, we could acknowledge that SOMETIMES the weight of the world doesn't have to exist entirely on autistic people's shoulders. Why SHOULD we have to perfectly predict and compensate for our social deficits when a huge part of what a deficit MEANS is a difficulty in being able to predict and compensate for problems? The show could have had a moment where it focuses on the fact that TSA are acting like trigger-happy assholes, and audiences might get more mileage out of remembering that just because the show is framing a character a certain way, doesn't mean that the character himself is the core root of the problem here.
- I also think that the "You're lucky we didn't just shoot you" line is kind of insensitive given the number of disabled people that are killed by cops every year. I feel like the show is expecting the audience to agree with that agent when he says that, but given how little effort they put into understanding or deescalating the situation, it just reads as a shitty excuse to blame Shaun for something that could have been avoided if anyone used their brains for a second.
Okay, a HUGE issue I have with this show is the way they talk about their patients.
- Since I'm generally a fan of House M.D., that might sound absurd, but at least House is supposed to be acknowledged as a huge jackass. When he talks about patients like they're stupid, and thinks their rights and opinions are stupid, the show admits that he's acting like an asshole. The Good Doctor has the same implicit disrespect for patients as House M.D. does, but it's way less honest about the opinion than House is.
- Melendez is supposed to be a good doctor, and a good dude. But he talks about patients like they're foolish little imps who can't understand the importance of their decisions, so their consent is an afterthought and their concerns are completely dismissable. Claire is framed as being "in the wrong" for not being immediately willing to manipulate her patient into providing consent and instead trying to actually pause to address the guy's concerns about invasive surgery -- this is absurd.
- "I simply told him it was either consenting or going home, then I gave him two forms and told him to pick one." -- This attitude should be completely unacceptable, instead it's framed as The Right Choice because that's what moves the plot along and allows the audience to see A Surgery Scene (not to mention that Melendez literally reacts to the manipulation with a "Well Done").
- No one has actually explains prior to the surgery why this it needs to be done Right Now Immediately -- as far as I can tell, it's just because Melendez decided it was best for his personal schedule to do the surgery immediately instead of waiting until the morning like Claire told the patient originally. Sure, it retroactively justifies its decision by giving the patient an absess, but believe it or not, I don't actually believe that justifies the "Patients are too fucking stupid to understand what's good for them, that's why we need to manipulate them into consenting to things they aren't sure they actually want" attitude.
- This show has a Problem, and it's not one that ever actually improves to my memory.
For the ambulance scene, we circle back to the same core problem that the TSA scene had: Shaun is portrayed as being Bad At Communcation, and that's framed as Entirely His Fault. If no one listens to Shaun, then it's "because" he's not expressing himself "good enough". Shaun has introduced himself as a Doctor and is the person who just performed in-field surgery good enough to save this kid's life, but the paramedic in the ambulance acts like he's talking out of his ass and couldn't possibly have a point when he indicates there's a problem. The immediate dismissal is Not Shaun's fault, it's because every character he's surrounded by is a self-important jackass who won't pause to actually listen to him when he speaks. I don't understand why this is constantly framed and acted as if this is entirely Shaun's fault.
Same for when Claire takes over the case at the hospital: Shaun is explaining to her that there's a problem with his heart, and telling her to prove it by doing an Echogardiogram. Again, he introduces himself as a doctor, the paramedic acknowledges him as the person who did the first aid at the scene, Shaun is the one who would know if there's a problem. Instead, Claire -- who has looked at this kid for all of 20 seconds -- tells him "His heart is fine" as if she has any way of knowing and completely dismisses him with a "Behave yourself. Or you'll be removed from the building" when Shaun isn't doing anything more disruptive than arguing that the kid needs an Echo done.
Back to the Board meeting: "Are you gonna sit here and tell us that there were no other equally-qualified young surgeons -- surgeons without this one's... issues?" -- again, missed opportunity for Glassman to remind Andrews that he has no idea what Shaun's "issues" are, he's being presumptive and rude. He kind of points out the prejudice when he compares Shaun's situation to the historical barriers facing POC and women in medical fields, but then when it comes time for him to press his argument, he argues that Shaun is like, An Example for other autistic/disabled people. "We hire Shaun, and we make this hopsital better for it. We hire Shaun, and we are better people for it." Like, sure, I guess? But that's also not the crux of the problem, and framing Shaun like a diversity hire doesn't address the faults in Andrews' argument, namely that Andrews has never met Shaun and has no idea what his autism looks like, has no idea what he struggles with, how he presents, or what his supposed "limitations" are. Fumbled the argument at the finish line. This is another recurring problem the show has imo.
- Especially because Andrews immediately hits back with "We'd be 'better people' spending a lot more on malpractice insurance", like that's SUCH a shit assumption and the show is infuriating in the way it doesn't immediately call the guy out for it and instead lets you entertain the notion that he has a point When He Does Not.
Back to Accident Kid: Melendez asks why Claire hesitantly probed the Echo question. When she says Shaun was the one who suggested it, Melendez asks, "He didn't say why?" and Claire responds, "He was really weird." which is such Horseshit given that she did not spend enough time in Shaun's presence to determine there was anything unusual about him. He was making a coherent point when he was arguing that the kid needed an echo, just because Claire completely shut him down, refused to listen to him, and neglected to ask any questions to get an understanding of why he was asking, and then got him kicked out of ER doesn't mean that Shaun was acting "too weird" to listen to.
Anyway, fond of Shaun's inability to immediately articulate himself when Melendez storms up to him to ask questions. I do almost kind of wish that the show would be clearer that Claire isn't neceessarily "re-explaining" the question because Shaun didn't understand it when Melendez asked, but that her asking the question a second time just helps give Shaun time to get his thought processes back on track after they'd been interrupted by the whole "got kicked out of the building and refused entry back in" debacle, but I'll take it anyway.
I also really like Shaun's physical acting -- the way he holds his hands, the way he ruffles his hair as a stim, carrying the toy scalpel his brother gave him as a comfort item and rubbing the flat of its 'blade' as a stim.
I do, again, think it's a missed opportunity that the show doesn't point out that Shaun's case-experience today isn't exactly typical. He witnessed a really dramatic accident unexpectedly, and then had to perform in-field surgery using DIY tools, and made the beginnings of a diagnosis without any equipment at all, and then was repeatedly ignored when he tried to argue his patient's case. "He has a serious deficit", Melendez argues, as if he could work at his best performance under those atypical circumstances and wouldn't be more stressed than usual after it.
- I think this is where critique of the show mostly misses the mark for me: people talk about Shaun's traits as if they exist in a bubble, and don't acknowledge any context of the scenes he's in or the way other people respond to him. I think this might be understandable -- people are experiencing an Emotional reaction based off the frustration in Shaun's scenes, but then instead of acknowledging that every other character and the show's narrative might be in the wrong, they blame Shaun's individual writing as the problem.
- I don't think his character writing is the problem. I think it makes sense that Shaun might be worse at communicating his ideas than usual after the stress of the day -- that's a LOT of unexpected stimulus and breaks in schedule -- and even if this IS just "Shaun at Baseline", I don't think that's Bad Autism Writing; I think it's relatable, and so I don't think the writers missed the mark With His Character. I think they missed the mark on practically Everything Else, and just because it would be Easier to conceptualize all the problems as Shaun's Individual Fault, I think it's True that the problems weigh more heavily in everything Around him.
- Basically, it's the same exact problem that Please Stand By had. Not bad Autistic Characterization, but bad responses to decent/good Autistic Characters.
ANYWAY, Good character note: I like the hesitation again when Claire says Shaun must have questions about the place since he's new, he tells her he doesn't, and then says he does have one actually when she gets up to leave. I think it's silly that she immediately gave up on conversation when her single opener didn't pan out, but I do think it's incredibly real that Shaun has to take a moment to think through whether he has a question or not. The extended hesitation between someone asking me "Any questions?" and me being able to think through their question, think through everything that just happened, think through what's confusing me, decide I do want to ask a question, and then think through what words I'll need to ask the question, and then successfully get myself to verbalize the question out loud is something I deal with on the daily, so I like the show portraying it and also Claire being willing to go back to answer him instead of ignoring him because he "took too long".
More things I don't like though: the way the Board invites Shaun into the room and then proceed to talk about him as if he isn't there. It's rude.
- Side: this will also be a recurring theme in these notes (me highlighting everything I like about Shaun individually and then painstakingly pointing out the way every other character in the show and also the show's narrative pisses me off) -- I think there's too much criticism of Shaun as an individual when I don't think he's that poorly written, and so the core reason my own autism is insisting I make this list is to make it clear that Shaun himself isn't the problem everyone acts like he is, but that the show's writing dropped the ball in every Other aspect of the framing, narrative, and other characters around him in ways that degrade the quality of the "representation". So, get ready for a lot of Shaun Murphy Defense Squad counterbalanced with Everything Wrong With The Good Doctor Show lists as this journey continues.
Again, I like Shaun's body language -- the really tight, stiff way he holds his body (legs close together, arms tight to his side, hands folded up against his chest, the flat expression) hits the mark for me, and so does the subtle swaying on his feet.
Again, I don't like how every character responds to Shaun's hesitation to speak with immediate, exaggerated eye-rolling and annoyance. What's the point of that? What is that Adding to the narrative??
DO like his "And I want to make a lot of money so that I can have a television" addendum to his interview question-- it's REAL. If I made a tumblr post talking about how I wish I could just say that shit during job interviews instead of having to make up stuff about how much I love Work and Companies people would agree with me and say that I was right to want it. Shaun gets to just say it. Enviable.
Tempering it right back with the way Melendez immediately says that Shaun will not be allowed to do anything other than watch surgeries and do suction with a blunt "You don't belong here." It's STUPID. I hate that everyone on this show acts like Shaun hasn't already gone through years of medical school that he passed and presumably did very well at and automatically assumes that he'll immediately start killing patients left and right as if he didn't Already prove that he has tangible skills with the in-field operation he performed that saved a kid's life. It's horseshit!!

Ep 2: Mount Rushmore

Like Shaun's use of alarms to get through his morning routine -- I think the noise would get exhausting pretty quickly for me personally, but it's something I know a lot of autistic people do use, so it's a good detail for me.
Another thing about this show that really annoys me is how quickly people immediately jump on Shaun for 'mistakes' and blow them up into huge ordeals. Shaun being a little late because his bus was late isn't the end of the world, but Melendez acts like he's commiting a heinous sin and speaking about it as if it's the end of the world and immediately indicative that hiring Shaun was a bad idea. Like,,, chill Out for a second, man.
It's also annoying that they like, set up the differential in front of the patient. Melendez asks the residents to speculate while she's right there in front of them, but then when Shaun does exactly that, he gets chewed out for being too blunt in front of the patient. Maybe I'm sympathizing too much with Shaun in this scene and there's some kind of hidden social rule bullshit that's supposed to make sense here, but I don't understand how you're supposed to clearly express your ideas (the big problem Everyone had with Shaun last episode) while being vague enough in doing so to avoid alarming a patient. If you don't want the patient to be alarmed, don't speculate in front of her? I don't get it.
ALSO, how is Claire being repremanded for being "Too Nice" and not telling "Ugly Truths" to the patient when Shaun was just reprimanded for being "Too Blunt" and "scaring" the patient with those same "ugly truths"? What's the standard here?
Lovvve Shaun's nervous twisty hands and his swaying around, and the like, stiff awkward way he adjusts his shoulders and arms when Carly shuts him down and he can't decide if he's supposed to listen to her or press the issue for Melendez.
It does bother me, though, that every character that's around Shaun to be a Barrier (Melendez, Kalu, Andrews, even Claire on occasion) are all people of color, and the characters that are backing Shaun (Glassman and Melendez's fiance) are all white. I don't think I'd go so far as to say that the writers did this on Purpose but it's something to take note of.
It is patently absurd the way the patient's father reacts to Shaun showing up to treat his daughter. If a doctor -- someone you KNOW is a doctor because they examined your daughter earlier that day -- showed up at your door in the middle of the night to say "I ran a test and I'm concerned about your daughter" why would the immediate reaction would be complete dismissal? Even if Shaun didn't say he was concerned she might die before the morning, in what world would someone go out of their way like this if it wasn't significant? And who on earth would react to a doctor saying "I think it's a possibility your daughter could die tonight" with "Uh does your boss know you're here?". Like, I get that the show is trying to show that Shaun has problems with communication, but when they have to write the episode so that no one around him behaves in ways that make sense in order to show Shaun's supposed deficit it really takes the wind out of their own argument.
Another frustrating thing about this show, though, is how often people talk About Shaun rather than To him. Melendez and Andrews having a spat about Shaun's presence in the OR right in front of him, Kalu offering up Shaun's idea as his own and then him and Claire getting into a spat about it instead of Shaun getting agency in that plotline -- it's a frustrating repeating element of this show.
I don't know if maybe this is a trope of the genre or not? But I think it's strange how often patients/patients' parents will hug Shaun. Is that a normal way to treat your doctor? Or is this a thing the show does just because Shaun is autistic? Difficult to determine.

Ep 3: Oliver

One thing that does confuse me about Shaun's characterization is how often he'll like, question Melendez on things that are Teaching related? Like, Melendez asking them how long a liver will hold for transplant, and Shaun asking him back if he didn't already know that -- I'm not saying the purpose of those kinds of questions Never go over people's heads, but it does feel like something Shaun should have experience with given that he's made it this far through like, medical school and stuff. Like, it feels like other characters often forget that Shaun made it through college and medical school, but in these instances it feels like the show itself has also forgotten that.
Again, the running issue of people talking About Shaun instead of talking To him. Claire feels like she can't communicate with or understand Shaun well, and talks to Glassman about this instead of talking to Shaun about it (this happens Constantly throughout the show btw). Strange, given that in previous two episodes, they've already had pretty blunt conversations about social skills and deficits, why people do certain things in certain conversations, so there's precedence for that kind of conversation already. It feels like it would have been more consistent for her to talk to Shaun directly here, but the show had her talk to Glassman instead because it's bad. </3
"So, how'd you know about the weather? Is it some kind of gift?" Or perhaps he has eyes with which to see the fog...
Claire does an annoying thing in this episode that I also don't think she's done before where she'll see Shaun thinking about something and ask him one billion rapid-fire questions about what he's thinking instead of waiting for responses. Like, she can't bring herself to wait for an answer, so she keeps rephrasing questions to try to find one that he'll answer, like give him a second! But it's also strange, because I don't think she's done this before -- I feel like in the previous two episodes, she was pretty good about being patient and waiting for Shaun to answer questions even when it took him a while. Why the change? Bad writing 😔
Actually, I think Shaun being reluctant to answer direct questions is also brand fucking new? He answered questions just fine in the previous two episodes, why would they do this...? Shaking up previously consistent characterization just because you decided you wanted to do a particular subplot isn't a good sign :/ You could have just presented a different communication barrier if you wanted to pursue this conflict this badly.
I do like Shaun's little halfhearted attempt to pat Claire on the shoulder to console her, like it was something he thought about doing and then quickly second-guessed and just gave up halfway through reaching out, presumably because he isn't sure if she'd want him to touch her, but also think it's a funny option to consider that she was standing further away than he thought and he didn't feel like turning to look at her to regauge the space lmao.
Okay, like, I know that some people would probably see the scene where Glassman pours syrup on Shaun's pancakes as like, an infantilizing move (and DON'T get me wrong, the show has a big problem with infantalizing Shaun via his relationship to Glassman, be it Glassman being condescending or other characters talking to Glassman Instead of talking to Shaun), but I think it's kind of sweet of like, just a routine that they've been in since Shaun was a kid.
- The fact that Shaun and his brother fled their abusive household as children and spent a not-insignificant amount of time living out of an abandoned schoolbus and begging for money to buy food for themselves is like, a really devastating backstory. And the fact that Shaun's little brother died in an accident, and Shaun had to go back to their parents, and Glassman was the one who fought to give him a new out from that environment like. It makes sense to me that they have these routines and interactions with each other -- pancake syrup included.

Ep 4: Pipes

I think it's interesting that Shaun measured out his room to fit the dimensions of the bus he and his brother lived in, and I like that it's a slow, subtle reveal. We see Shaun measuring out the dimensions early episode 2, and only really put the pieces together here when Glassman asks why Shaun has all his furniture in the middle of his room, and the camera/his gaze lingers on the photo of Shaun and Steven in the bus all significantly
I appreciate that the show kind of explains that Shaun is freaking out about his missing screwdriver in part because he's stressed out at work adn kind of poorly adjusting to the new apartment after the additional stressor of a move, but I really don't like how often Glassman yells at Shaun
- Like, I get that it's late at night, but even though he apologizes for raising his voice the first time, he immediately does it again when he tells Shaun "later" after Shaun starts to immediately make a list of the things wrong with his apartment for his Super. It feels like they've known each other long enough that Glassman should know better.
- I also kind of dislike how the show writes other characters explaining things sometimes. The explanations are often short and incomplete -- I know the writers are presuming an NT audience, but it feels like one of those things that they're dropping the ball with re: Shaun. Like, would it kill them to have Glassman fully explain, "You can make a list and give it to your Super during the day, it's his job to fix what he can and get someone else to fix what he can't, but it might take a while" kind of thing?
- ALSO don't like that Glassman tells Shaun not to make the list immediately -- in Shaun's shoes, I'd be way stuck in the "I can't stay here; this apartment is Wrong" thought pattern, and writing a list would be a good temporary step to break out of it so that I could actually sleep instead of continuing to panic.
Anyway, I understand why "not in front of the patient" would be a rule or whatever, but I don't like that the show doesn't present an alternative place to have those convos. They meet almost exclusively in front of the patient or like, in the hallway while actively walking to the patient -- if Shaun has questions/ideas, when is he supposed to share them??
- Melendez only scolds him for speaking up in front of the patient, but never gives him an alternative time to speak up. In ep2 when Shaun did take the "not in front of the patient" rule to heart, and asked to speak outside, I'm pretty sure this was also framed as odd/incorrect communication -- so what's the deal?
- I KNOW that Melendez is set up as an Antagonist for Shaun, but the problem remains that the show doesn't give Shaun an alternative either. House M.D. has the characters do diagnostic/treatment discussions in a private conference room, so it establishes a place where those convos Could occur, but The Good Doctor doesn't present a similar option. Even if you wanted to keep Melendez as an antagonist uninterested in actually helping Shaun, the show could still present an office/conferece room that Shaun could either decide was a better option on his own, or even be Told is a better option by Claire/Glassman/whoever, but it doesn't, because it only really seems interested in showcasing Shaun's supposed deficits
I know these patient conflicts are also manifested purely for drama, but they annoy me anyway. This episode's in particular -- a fetus has a tumor that needs to be removed or it will die, the mother has some clotting disorder that complicates both surgery and pregancy in general, the husband wants to terminate the pregnancy because it's the safest route, the wife would literally rather die than lose another fetus after three miscarriages -- feels like something that should have been hashed out between them before she even got pregnant again. why wait until the day of the surgery to pull the brakes at the expense of what your wife wants??
Similarly, I know that TV shows as a whole prefer to use fewer sets, so most conversations on TV will take place in bizarre, inappropriate locations, but I think The Good Doctor could have put more effort into expanding that repertoire if it did want to be good Autism Media. Glassman choosing a public cafeteria for a conversation that he knows will upset Shaun sucks, so does him continuing to press the issue and only backing off once Shaun raises his voice.
- I also think it's dumb that Glassman pulls on a "It isn't my fault, YOU should be smart enough to navigate things that aren't meant to be taken literally" attitude when Shaun tells him that he went to his super with his list when he got home from work in the middle of the night instead of waiting for 9-5 hours. NOT just because Glassman has known Shaun long enough that he should already be used to making these conversational accommodations (I'd be more lenient if this was a conversation with someone like Melendez or Claire, who haven't known Shaun very long), but also because 24 hour support isn't That unusual. Lots of places will offer that kind of thing, so it's not exactly a stretch that Shaun could believe his apartment might be one of them.
- Again, like I was with Please Stand By, I'm annoyed when "highlight a character's oddities" takes precedence to writers over "comprehensible character dynamics" -- Glassman has known Shaun since he was 14 years old, and the two of them are supposed to be very close, so why is Glassman completely unwilling/unable to communicate effectively with Shaun? Especially because I don't think the show is trying to frame Glassman as the jackass here -- he should be helping Shaun out where he can and already be used to his communication methods.
I do think it's kind of silly to have Shaun panic and freeze when he misses his bus stop and not be able to get home on his own. Mapquest/google maps/whatever existed during s1 of this show -- there's no real reason why you couldn't have Shaun using something like that? Although, hell, maybe he doesn't have a touchscreen phone, IDK. Still, he does have the schedule memorized -- he could have even used a map of the bus route (printed or recalled) to get back to his missed stop and then walk home from there -- Lea could have stumbled into him during that walk if they wanted her to drive him so bad.
- You know what, I might take part of this back: I don't know if Shaun freezing up here is necessarily silly or odd -- I can see that happening, especially if Shaun hasn't lived in a big city like this before. BUT I think if they wanted to do that, then Shaun should have at least been anxious about being lost. If I missed a stop on my bus and got left somewhere I didn't know how to get home from, I can see myself getting too nervous to wander out into nowhere in the middle of the night BUT I'd be freaking out -- break in routine, unexpected problem to solve, I can't get home, IDK if I Will be able to get home, IDK When I'll get home, but I need to sleep because I have to go back to work in the morning, but how will I get back to work in the morning if I'm not at an actual bus stop and the bus won't stop for me, etc. Like, if Shaun is supposed to be too nervous to figure out problem solving in that moment, then he could at least appear nervous (which is frustrating, because up until this scene, I feel like they've done Shaun's anxiety/panic physicality pretty well)
- It also would have at least made sense for Shaun to have Tried to call Glassman for help, even if Glassman didn't pick up the phone -- it would Also make for a more consistent character beat
- The pilot also shows Shaun thinking on his feet to navigate a place he hasn't been in before (the whole "looking for an alternate entrance to the hospital when the security guard wouldn't let him in" thing) -- another option would have been Shaun trying to guess his way home and just getting lost
- Basically, there were other, better options that would have been more consistent to Shaun's character than "inexplicably just stands in place and seems to have no problem just standing there all night"
I do also think it's a little contrived to have Shaun deliberately fuck with his pipes to get the sink to drip at the right frequency -- like, it feels like a sound machine would be more grounded/accessible than this -- but I do at least think it's an interesting subversion of expectation. Glassman and the audience both assuming that Shaun is bothered by the noise of the sink, but it instead being something he likes because it's comforting background noise that's familiar to him. I just also personally think the setup is kind of goofy, but that's opinion more than Critique, I think.
- Opinion slightly influenced by the fact it seems contrived in a way to once again just frame Shaun as At Fault for social conflicts. LIke, I think this subplot's only purpose is to give the super a reason to resent Shaun and threaten him with violence. This show is afraid of technology purely as a vessel by which to frame Shaun as Problem-Causer -- they could do better here.
I also don't really like the shot of Glassman researching Aides behind Shaun's back. I don't have a problem with aides Conceptually, but there are TWO problems with it here for me:
1. The main problem -- Glassman hasn't discussed this with Shaun and knows that Shaun is adverse to the idea, but is researching the options anyway, with the likely intention of steamrolling over Shaun's actual desires to pressre him into accepting the help. If Glassman is that pressed about the idea of getting Shaun support, then there are other (less invasive) options than a full-time aide and it should be something that he's actually Discussing with Shaun. Asking why Shaun is so vehemently opposed to the idea, determining what exactly Shaun needs help with, and figuring out if an aide Would Actually be the best option for those areas, and then trying to figure out if the support would actually outweigh the negatives that Shaun anticipates with the idea. Instead, it's presented Unilaterally -- Glassman broaches the idea, Glassman researches options, Glassman doesn't ask Shaun to weigh in or be present in that process. Again, the show is talking ABOUT Shaun instead of talking TO him.
2. The lesser problem -- what exactly Would a full-time aide do to support Shaun? As far as we've seen on screen, Shaun's biggest problems are how frequently people get aggressive with him because of the way he talks and the fact that he can't drive and is at the mercy of the unreliable public transit system. He isn't shown to struggle with daily living tasks (laundry, cooking, shopping, dishes, etc) or with any of his work tasks. Is the aide just going to be there to have conversations instead of Shaun? How is that going to work? How would that not just be disruptive and silly? It doesn't feel like the show put any thought into the aide idea, it just assumes that it's a safe bet Shaun Could use one without putting any effort into determining the specifics of what that contract would look like -- it's a contrivance whose only Real purpose is to present a conflict between what Glassman wants and what Shaun wants, but the argument is entirely hollow, it's cheap.
- IF they actually put thought into Shaun needing an aide, though, I wouldn't have a problem with them presenting that kind of option/solution to the audience. I lived alone for several years and did so successfully, but when I moved back with my parents, even though I continued on taking care of most of my own daily life tasks, I did mostly drop specifically Doing Dishes and Going Shopping. I CAN do them, but they're stressful enough that having my parents around to help out with those instead makes a big difference to me. I wouldn't be opposed to Shaun needing help in certain areas despite the fact that he's largely independent, it would be a point on the Relatability Scale, so I wouldn't consider it unrealistic or somehow bad for representation or anything, but the hollow assumption of the topic's presence in the show with the lack of any real thought put into it is the crux of the issue here for me.

Ep 5: Point Three Percent

Think it is a good detail that Shaun is vocalizing more than he has previously at the beginning chunk of this episode, when Shaun is interacting with/talking about a young patient who happens to look identical to Shaun's dead little brother. Even though Shaun insists to Glassman that the resemblence doesn't bother him, the little drawn out hums that are slipping through between words and sentences is a good tell that he IS feeling some kind of way about it. It's subtle, but because it's new, it successfully reads like a particularly anxious stimming/speech disruptive quirk that's coming out because Shaun is anxious, so I'm very fond of it. Big points on the Relatability Scale as well.
- Glassman: He looks exactly like your brother.
- It's Vibes -- I like it.
I do like Shaun stopping to ask Claire for help because he knows he won't be able to pull off lying to the patient about his cancer diagnosis like the parents want. Feels like Shaun got used to Claire enough and feels more comfortable asking her for help than he might have previously
Props to Shaun, though, I don't even think I could stand being in the room while someone else lied about something this big. The pointed turn of his gaze away from everyone in the room makes sense to me, given all that, but I do kind of wonder how much consideration was put into where Shaun looks? I am fond of how rarely he'll even look people in the face -- I do the same thing a lot -- but it'd be interesting to know what thought/intent the actor put into all of it or if it was just a flat "don't look at people directly" direction.
- OKAY, it does seem like they put at least Some thought into it because later I notice that Shaun seems more likely to look people in the face when They are talking To Him, and then promptly looks away when it's time for Him to talk Back to Them -- same as me!!
Claire does seem taken aback that Shaun asked her for help lying, like her and Kalu have a kind of side conversation along the lines of "YOU don't seem like the best person for that", but I really don't think Shaun would have intended it as "Claire is good at lying" so much as being aware that Claire has proven herself the Least Likely to Mock/Deride him in general, so he feels more comfortable asking her for help.
I know that Shaun panics and admits to doing a test to figure out if the patient was misdiagnosed with cancer when he wasn't supposed to be doing that, but I'm not sure I understand how that leads to the patient's father trying to physically throw Shaun out of the room. I'm not saying that Shaun should have perfect, conflict-free interactions with everyone, but I do start to find it absurd how quickly people become antagonistic, hostile, and physical with him. Like I get that he's "too blunt" or whatever even though I personally think he's doing mostly Fine, but I still don't understand why everyone around him has to have a hair trigger temper.
- BUT Shaun himself, I see his caught off-guard admissions as very realistic. I also tend to blurt out automatic corrections when I hear people say wrong/incorrect things (why do you think I'm going through all this effort to clarify this show's Real problems?), and tend to accidentally admit to things when I'm caught off-guard by a question, like even if I know I'd want to lie in that situation, when the question is asked unexpectedly, my brain doesn't always process "Should's" before it processes "Answer" (which is why so many of my high school peers were able to confirm that I was gay despite the fact I would have preferred to not answer that question truthfully lmao).
- Shaun scripting for what to do if someone asks, and doing so successfully only for the first time when he was actively prepared for it, only for the kid to immediately identify it as a lie also invalidating the script, and Shaun doesn't have the time to decide on a new script or if the first one was fine enough to use again before he's asked a second time -- so I can follow along with how he lies the first time and then promptly fails immediately after, it's the parents' reactions that baffle me here.
Shaun reading the patient the last section of the book Shaun gifted to Steve when they were kids, the part of the book that Steve hadn't finished reading yet before he died unexpectedly, is a character moment that makes me feel so intensely it's almost nauseating though, honestly

Ep 6: Not Fake

Again, people seem more likely to touch Shaun than I think would be 'normal'? When Claire gets briefly overwhelmed and freezes, Melendez talks her out of it; when Shaun gets briefly overwhelmed and freezes, the nurse tries to grab his arm and physically pull him to a patient -- why? .It doesn't read like 'typical behavior', it reads as contrived bullshit the writers toss in just because they want to show Shaun pulling away from her touching him. It's frustrating.
I can't tell exactly if this is a purely objective observation, or if I'm biased in some way, but it feels to me like Kalu's difficulty in relating/communicating to a patient this episode is framed more sympathetically than Shaun's are. The patient IS being emotional and a little abrasive in response to Kalu's fumbling, so the difference here isn't in patient reaction, which is why I wonder if this is subjective conjecture?? But I do feel like, if Shaun had been written into this position instead, the writers would have put some third-party witness there to jump down his throat about the failure. Maybe that's just me though.
One thing I do objectively think, though, is that any Disability Acceptance this show wanted to exemplify is thoroughly hampered by the kind of medical drama that it is. There are often opportunities in this show where disabilities Could be deliberately framed as "not the end of the world", even accepted, but the show values "cool, groundbreaking surgeries" more than that message.
- i.e., in this episode, a patient has a leg with a femur too crushed to save. The leg needs to be amputated. The "Cool, groundbreaking surgery" is that Claire had the idea to replace the shattered femur with a titanium 'bone' instead, but the surgery is riskier because it hasn't been performed in this particular way before. The show COULD take the time to be empathetic, and in particular Reassuring, about amputations and the lives of amputees. Instead, the patient's fiance argues that he'd prefer the risk of death to amputationm and the parents overriding her to choose the safer amputation is framed as a kind of tragedy. The show isn't interested in being groundedly accepting of physical disability, it wants to show off a "cool surgery" at the expense of disability justice. This is a running problem I have with the show.
- ESPECIALLY since the fiance's argument hinges on "he NEEDS to be able to be physically active" -- the show has a great opportunity to provide examples of different prosthetics, and how many amputees do a huge variety of different sports, etc etc etc, but it tosses that potential out of the window instead. Generally speaking, I try not to judge shows based on "potential" avenues they Could have taken, since that's all subjective opinion, but again -- the show's marketing and plot leaning into Shaun as Inspiration (see: Glassman's whole argument during the pilot) makes it feel more pointed that they won't bother to even present acceptance and pride as an option in these other circumstances.
Repeating that I think Kalu in this episode is framed more sympathetically than Shaun has been historically -- especially in regards to contradicting a superior in front of a patient; Shaun Would have absolutely been scolded for that (even though Andrews is admittedly a more patient/understanding presence than Melendez has been for Shaun), where Kalu is told "Well done" and not really called out for it.
I do really like Glassman and Shaun's closing conversation though. Shaun's "I don't want love" being ultimately met with Glassman's cool "Okay. Do you want breakfast?".
- Like, okay, it DOES feel like something that should have come up in the 10+ years between Steve's death and the present setting -- this is something I tend to have beef with, the way the show kind of cuts back and forth between Shaun's childhood and the present moment as if Shaun experienced NO significant development between these two time periods. I feel like there are things that Shaun probably would have worked through, things other people in his life would have noticed and pointed out before now, etc. that just, aren't for some reason?
BUT I like that Glassman doesn't push his argument too hard for once. He lets Shaun have the time to internalize and think on the "just because someone died doesn't mean you can't still love them" concept, and also the notion that being afraid of loss doesn't mean you should never love again. it's nice that he just says what he wants to just the once, and then accepts Shaun's refusal to engage further on the topic, and pulls the conversation in a different direction. If Glassman could have been consistently written as this patient/understanding/empathetic, then I would like him a lot more consistently as well. Instead, it's characterization that comes and goes per the whim of the writers and the conflict of the week, but when it IS present, it Does really feel like Glassman and Shaun have been close friends for over a decade and know/care about each other a lot.