Moments Easily Missed highlights those subtle moments that happen between or beyond the dialogue — those moments you can easily miss if you don’t look closely enough.

The Kitchen Island: Joy vs. Pain

In episode 6×07 Boys Don’t Cry, there’s this little detail that I’d like us to take a look at.

At the beginning of the episode, Lea and Shaun are talking about wanting to try for having a baby again, and Lea encourages Shaun that they should get started right away since there’s a little bit of time left before Shaun has to go to work.

Shaun is all for it, and — his attention now fully focused on kissing his lovely wife — he places the apple he’s been holding on the kitchen island to have his hand free.

During the course of the episode, Shaun and Lea learn that Lea will not be able to conceive at this time, perhaps may never be able to, which is an unexpected shock and has both of them in a state of deep sadness.

As they get home that night, Lea breaks down in tears as she sees the print-out of her menstrual cycle on the fridge door, and Shaun removes it and places it face-down on the kitchen island before he draws her into a comforting embrace.

Looking back, I wonder if the symbolism of putting both the apple and the print-out in the exact same spot on the kitchen island was done on purpose, and knowing how much The Good Doctor loves to subtly play with tangible symbols, I’d like to think that it was.

Interesting here is also that they chose a green apple as the symbol for joy and carefreeness, which is then juxtaposed against Lea’s menstrual cycle print-out as a symbol for pain and sadness.

If you think back, particularly to the early seasons, Shaun’s green apples have always had a certain significance. In a few episodes, an apple was a means and an opportunity for Shaun and Lea to bond over, for instance Lea stress-eating Shaun’s apple and later bringing one back, or Lea inviting Shaun into her apartment to have an apple. It’s interesting that it makes a reappearance here when Shaun and Lea are in a happy place, enjoying marital bliss.

As a contrast, we have the perhaps not as subtle symbol of the paper print-out that now serves as a reminder of how devastating the news about Lea’s Asherman’s syndrome was, and how much that hurts as it sinks in.

I love these little details and discovering them as I reflect back on certain scenes. Let’s see if I can spot more of them as season 6 continues!