Season 5 Recap: 5×12 Dry Spell

First of all FUCK YES! We are renewed for season 6!! I’m so stoked! Second of all, aww, this was such a feel-good episode. I chuckled, I smiled, I aw’ed, I had fun. A much needed reprieve after all the stress and hardship and emotional turmoil. I loved it.

The Technicalities

Written by April Fitzsimmons & Sam Chanse
Directed by Bosede Williams
Original airdate Mar 28, 2022

Patient Stories

Patient #1 is Mariel Torres, 31, fever, BP 124/83, fainted coming off a plane. Her fiancé Isaac is with her, he’s reported she’s had a persistent cough and pain in her chest and abdomen for months on and off. When Mariel regains consciousness and realises what’s happening, she’s immediately worried that she doesn’t have insurance, which seems to surprise her fiancé.

Mariel is a photographer, she documents immigrants across California and travels a lot. Lim and Wolke treat her, Lim orders a chest x-ray, which reveals two nodules in the left lung. They think it may be cancer. The title theme music that follows sounds super ominous. Which is kinda odd, we’ve had plenty patients on this show with a cancer diagnosis…

Park tells Mariel about the suspected diagnosis and explains they’ll need to do a biopsy to confirm cancer. She is still concerned about her insurance status, but Isaac assures her that they’re gonna sort it out with the insurance. Mariel confesses to Isaac that it’s not that her insurance lapsed, she lost it because she’s an undocumented immigrant. That comes as a shock to Isaac.

He actually bails soon thereafter. He can’t believe they’ve been together for two years and she hasn’t mentioned that. They’re about to get married. This cuts deep.

Mariel must have come into the US as a child, she was in the US under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy. The DACA policy allows some individuals with unlawful presence to stay in the United States after being brought to the country as children. Her latest DACA renewal was rejected because of a marihuana DUI misunderstanding. The cops had pulled her over years ago and she got arrested for driving high when they found edibles in her car, when she wasn’t actually under the influence. She was gonna try and get it expunged.

Mariel goes into a coughing fit, Isaac leaves. When there’s blood in her sputum, they rush her to the OR because she’s now bleeding from her lungs and airway. The team takes endoscopes to Mariel’s lungs to see what the trouble is. They find the nodules they saw on the x-ray and want to take biopsy samples, but they realise too late that it’s not cancer but fungus, and they just released it into her bloodstream by poking around with the endoscopic instruments.

What Mariel actually has is known as Valley Fever. The fungus is now in her bloodstream, and infections taking root in her brain or spine could be fatal, so they need to treat her quite aggressively with an anti-fungal agent. Anti-fungals are pretty nasty, they can have severe side effects like nausea, chills, high fever and convulsions.

Side Excursion: Skip this paragraph if you want to move past the biology lesson, but fungal infections are often pretty difficult to treat. Much more difficult than bacteria, for instance. This is because fungi are higher up in the evolutionary ladder, they are eukaryotes, as opposed to procaryotes like bacteria. Prokaryotes are pretty simple organisms and very different from mammalian cells, which makes them easier to target and destroy without harming the human body. Not the same with eukaryotes, which mammals also belong to. And since fungi are, cellular build wise, a lot closer to human cells, it gets harder to treat them without also having negative effects on the human body. Hence the heavy side effects.

They hit hard as the anti-fungal infusions start taking effect. The chills, the nausea, and no Isaac to help her through it. But Mariel is okay with that. If he can’t see how hard it is, then he doesn’t deserve to be there. Her status deteriorates, she develops complications and they have to take her to the OR again.

Mariel’s renal labs come back, they are not good. They need to put her back on the anti-fungals and clear as much of the fungus from her bloodstream as they can, then do the kidney surgery to remove the fungus nodules there.

The next course of anti-fungal treatment is more aggressive yet, and the side effects are worse this time around. Mariel is not doing great and Asher is trying his best to offer some comfort when Isaac comes back to see Mariel. He got her message, but he doesn’t know what’s going on anymore or what to trust because she lied to him. Mariel gets it. She didn’t trust him when she should have, but it’s hard when you have such a huge thing hanging over you.

They do the surgery on Mariel to remove the nodule from her kidney and her kidney function is already improving. Isaac attests that he’ll be there to help Mariel through the recovery. “I won’t freak out again and I’ll step up.” He apologises that it took him so long and he confirms he’s still committed their relationship. A fairly happy ending for Mariel and Isaac.

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Patient #2 is Brenna, she’s one of the research professors of the Jane Austen Project at Stanford. Morgan examines her in the clinic (which, I guess, means the clinic is back open). Brenna has rectal issues, Morgan diagnoses severe haemorrhoids that will require surgery. Gotta say, I love her indigo hair!

They’re recommending to do the surgery right away, and Morgan mentions a painful recovery that includes no sexual intercourse for six to eight weeks post-op. That troubles Brenna a bit, but Jordan assures her they can get her on the surgery schedule for later that day.

When Jordan and Shaun want to prep her later, Brenna is nowhere to be found. Code green, we have a runner! They find Brenna in the ladies’ room, and Jordan tries to find out what the issue is.

Brenna confides in Jordan that she didn’t mean to run, but that she’s dealing with a real conundrum. Brenna is 45 years old and has never had sex. It wasn’t for any particular reason, it just… never happened. And now she’s ashamed.

The haemorrhoids surgery is a problem because Brenna has a date tomorrow, a date that they mutually agreed would be her first time. His name is Victor, he’s an old friend from college, now a glaciologist who’s always on the move, and now he’s here in San Jose for a short time. He told Brenna he would be honoured to be her first. And therefore Brenna doesn’t want to have the surgery before she’s had sex with Victor.

While they try to find a solution for Brenna, Morgan actually shares her first time story. Oh, this one should be a good one! She vowed under no circumstances would she be a virgin when she went to college, so she and her high school boyfriend went for second base after senior prom. It didn’t go well, but Jordan rightfully says, “No second time without a first time.”

Jordan’s suggestion is to bring Victor to the hospital so that he and Brenna can have “supervised sex”. Well, okay, not actually supervised, just… help nearby if something goes wrong medically. Shaun thinks for a moment. The hospital has rules about a lot of things (including patients running in socks), but nothing about consensual sex. Phew, dodged a bullet there.

They try to make Brenna’s hospital room look as cosy as possible. Jordan even nicked some candles from the chapel. “God works in mysterious ways,” she says. She and Brenna have a little conversation about sex ed books from the 70’s and sex positivity. Brenna is a little scared for the big day tomorrow, and Jordan reassures her, “It’ll be an adventure. Your adventure, on your terms. Tell him what you want, and lube is your friend.” Lol!

Victor shows up the next day and he wants to get Brenna something from the gift shop. What a coincidence that Shaun has an almost full box of chocolates he has no more use for. Victor gladly takes it. Of course the first meet is more than slightly awkward. But Victor is a cool guy. He’s down with the weirdness of the situation. He likes that it’s strange and unique and… exciting.

Jordan and Shaun set the mood in the room. Jordan will be guarding the door, Shaun warns them not to be too loud. And off they go.

There’s radio silence from Brenna and Victor for a while, and at some point Jordan gets nervous. It’s been taking a long time. Shaun knocks on the door to politely ask if everything is okay, and there’s a timid, “Help,” coming from inside.

Shaun and Jordan enter, unsure what to expect. So there’s Victor still hovering over Brenna in the missionary position. Both have awkward but also somewhat alarmed expressions on their faces. They both had orgasms, it was going well, but now Victor seems to be… stuck.

Shaun isn’t worried. There’s a condition called vaginismus where the pelvic muscles contract and basically trap Victor’s… well, you get it. Not to worry, the muscles will relax if they wait a bit and then everything will go back to normal.

Brenna is apologetic, telling Victor how sorry she is that he’s done this nice and kind thing for her, and now she’s ruining everything. But Victor is actually pretty comfortable and somewhat amused. “This is a beautiful choice you made. And now that I know that we’re gonna be okay, it’s actually quite nice.”

They check on Brenna later after her surgery. Everything went well, and even Victor drops by to give her some flowers from the gift shop. And he wants to see her again – next month when he’s back in San Francisco for a conference. Aw. They’d make a cute couple! Shaun’s elbow bump with Jordan is everything. He’s like, ‘Look at this good thing we did.’ They both smile, too.

Closing remark here, what I loved about the team-up with Shaun and Jordan this episode is that they subtly strengthened the bond between Shaun and Jordan. Jordan gently put him in his place a few times, but it was always polite and respectful (such as when he was talking about the vaginismus and wanted to intervene physically – Jordan graciously held him back).

Jordan is starting to “get” Shaun, and is getting pretty good at knowing when and how to tell him he’s unintentionally overstepping. Shaun respects her, particularly since she’s also friends with Lea. Shaun doesn’t usually initiate gratuitous touch, and he’s only done it with a handful of people he trusts and is comfortable with. His little arm bump tells us he’s trusting Jordan, and that’s beautiful.

Shaun & Lea

It’s morning, Shaun is on his way to the bus stop to go to work. He locks the apartment door behind him, walks down the corridor – and, damn! He’s forgotten something. Ugh, he’s gotta go back to grab the clipboard off the table. But what is this? Curious noises coming from the bedroom, Lea’s stirring in bed. Is she…?

Yep. She’s “boosting her morale” with a vibrator. Shaun goes in, because he just has to get to the bottom of this, doesn’t he? Lea startles, jerks upright. “Oh my God, Shaun!”

Perceptive as always, he states the obvious. “You’re masturbating.” And of course he’s immediately going into problem solving mode. He can take the next bus if Lea is after sex. She declines. She’s good, and it’s late. Shaun’s all, okay, cool, I’ll go then. Talk you later, byyyyeeee.

Lea actually laughs to herself when Shaun is gone. Super awkward, but also kinda funny. She’ll have to talk to him about this later.

The “later” happens to be the cafeteria where Shaun is having breakfast. Can we guess what he’s eating? Bingo! Pancakes. Lea tries to phrase this discreetly. “So about this morning… when you came home and caught me, you know… boosting my own morale…”

It takes a moment, but Shaun gets it. “I used to boost my own morale a lot before we got together. But I don’t anymore because we usually have very satisfying sex.”

Oh, Shaunie, that’s so great to hear. And look at you, understanding abstract metaphors right away without even batting an eyelash. So proud of you!

Lea agrees on the satisfying sex part, and Shaun wants to know if she needed a morale boost because they haven’t had sex in nine days. Oh wow, he’s keeping tabs. Their average is every 2.3 days. And how is it that Lea preferred a vibrator over the real thing that morning?

She stammers a bit. It was quick and convenient and it took the edge off. I think Shaun doesn’t necessarily get it, but Lea assures him it’s not nearly the same as actual sex with Shaun. It’s certainly not a substitute for being with Shaun. Ever.

And she tried to drop a few hints last week, but Shaun was busy. He’s concerned that she didn’t ring the cowbell, but Lea isn’t worried. It wasn’t cowbell-worthy. It’s not a biggie. “We’re having a dry spell, and it will blow over.”

“That is a lot of weather terms,” Shaun says, “I’m not sure they apply.” Then he gets paged, probably to look at Brenna and her haemorrhoids.

Shaun then goes on a mission to find out how they can get themselves out of that dry spell. And he’s talking to everyone about it. Literally everyone, including Jordan and the gift shop cashier. Shaun, what are you even doing in the gift shop?

“Lenore, the gift shop cashier, she recommended light bondage.” Omg, Shaun. I actually chuckle. Jordan is a touch embarrassed since they’re in the middle of the hospital hallway discussing S&M practices. Alex suggested a romantic bubble bath, but Lea and Shaun don’t agree on water temperature. Jordan’s advice is to schedule the sex. “Reliability is sexy.”

Next person Shaun runs his dry spell issues by is Glassman, because of course it is. Not the first time they’ve talked about sex, let’s remember the deleted scenes with the mattress talk from season 4. Glassy isn’t that concerned. “Nine days isn’t a thing.” Shaun disagrees. “It is something.”

I chuckle again, because Shaun is just Shaun. “You said you and Debbie had a very good sex life, I would like to know all your secrets.” Yes, Glassy, tell us all your secrets! He stammers for a bit, then digs up a story about a… Ferrari. Enter the Metaphor Ferrari™. It will get a lot of mileage in this conversation.

So what Glassman is trying to elegantly make palatable to Shaun in the guise of a sports car is a book called Come As You Are. (Side Note: I was positively surprised this book actually exists. It’s taglined as The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life.) And said book was talking about how your sex life isn’t just a sex drive. You gotta maintain the hardware, make sure you accelerate and brake at the right times so that you can get your revving moments to be perfect.

Shaun is all geared up to listen, to take notes in his little grey notebook but then Nurse Villanueva interrupts. Shaun is slightly annoyed. They were just getting to the good stuff!

And here’s the good stuff that revs the engine, which Shaun frantically jots down: listening, chocolates, listening a lot. (Interestingly, Richard counts up numbers with his fingers here, starting with the thumb. I always thought that was the European way of doing it.) The things they should avoid, that put a brake on the revving, are stress, work, insecurities, jealousy, stress… Shaun is still taking minutes.

When Glassman asks if he and Lea are doing maintenance, if they’re talking and communicating, Shaun assures him that they’re talking and texting – but mostly about work. So obviously that could use some improvement.

So Daddy Glassy’s sex life advice gets a little more practical. “When you get home tonight, leave your work at the door. Go inside, put on some music, light some candles—not too many, you don’t wanna make an announcement.”

“How many?” Shaun asks. Yes, how many are too many here? “Nine,” Glassman says. “And no Weather Channel.” Shaun looks up. Oh no. But okay. He can work with that. I think we can already guess what Casa del Murphylallo will look like when Lea gets home that night.

And there we are, Shaun has lit all the candles. It’s not nine. It’s more like… thirty-nine? All over the apartment. All the candles he could find, it seems. Is he trying to make an announcement? He’s surely already wearing the PJs and a bathrobe, ready to rev. “Tonight there will be no brakes, only accelerators,” he tells a surprised Lea when she gets home. Of course she has no idea what he’s talking about.

He’s thought of everything. There’s red wine, and he’s researched the best relaxing massages on YouTube. He even practiced on a pillow. Shaunie. Look at you. You’ve come a long way since, “I am very bad at massages,” back in Gender Reveal (4×14).

The practice has paid off, Lea loves his ministrations. She’s comfortable, relaxed, she’s had a long day. Shaun offers a chocolate, because who doesn’t like chocolates, and Glassman mentioned them specifically. He takes great care to pick a dark chocolate one, and holds it out to Lea, but she’s a goner, snoring slightly. Shaun pops the chocolate in his mouth in frustration instead. So much for the romantic night to break the dry spell.

Next morning, Lea gets into work. She enters her office, switching on the light, and there’s Shaun, announcing loudly from behind the door that he wants to have sex. Lea startles, accidentally lashes out, and bam! She hits Shaun right on the cheekbone. Oh no. Ouch. She’s immediately a million times sorry. “Spontaneity is not the solution,” Shaun concludes.

She gets him an ice pack, he sits in her office and tends to his inadvertently battered face. They try to brainstorm more dry spell ending ideas. Jordan suggested a sex schedule, but Lea finds that very unsexy. Lea wonders if Shaun mentioned her morale boosting to Jordan, but Shaun is very clear. “No, Lea, that is very personal.” Okay, good, he understands that. The sad injured muffin look on his face here kills me, though.

Shaun volunteers that Lou the janitor mentioned a sex swing. I look up images of a sex swing because I have no idea what it is, and instantly wish I hadn’t. Thanks, guys. I need to go wash my eyes now. Shaun adds that the installation would be very cumbersome, so probably not the best suggestion either.

Side Note: I hear that Lou the janitor is a House reference. NiceNiceDevice explained to me that Drew is the hospital janitor who Gregory House thinks is called “Blue” and James Wilson thinks is named “Lou”. That’s a nice one!

Getting ready to prep for Brenna’s surgery, Shaun is by his locker when Lea comes in, and she’s ringing the cowbell. (Okay, first of all, how does she know Shaun is there? Second of all, why does she have the cowbell in the office?) Shaun jumps and his hands immediately go to his ears. He really doesn’t like the sound.

Lea opens with, “I owe you an apology.” Shaun says it’s not a big deal, the ice packs are really helping. But it’s not about the unintentional smack to his cheek, it’s about how Shaun has gone above and beyond to get them out of their dry spell, and she has done nothing at all to help. She wants to explain to Shaun why she’s not fond of the sex schedule.

Her parents used to have one, they used to mark their kitchen calendar with S.T., which they claimed stood for “steak tonight”, but they didn’t have steak that often. She and Donnie eventually figured out that it stood for “sexy time”. And Lea really doesn’t want her sex life to be like her parents’.

Shaun interjects that her parents have been happily married for 42 years, and he thinks it’s nice that they still want to touch each other. He ends this conversation on, “I need to go remove some haemorrhoids,” and Lea is left wondering.

Side Note #1: Credit needs to go to highmorefan_ on Twitter for this one, because she noticed it when I didn’t, but it’s a really cool point, because in this scene they are talking about Lea’s parents, and Shaun ends the conversation on having to go do haemorrhoid surgery. Remember in 4×08 Parenting when they were having the dinner with Lea’s parents? Shaun talked about haemorrhoid surgery then too, it broke the ice for their really awkward and slightly antagonistic start to the dinner. Nice callback!

Side Note #2: I think it’s an interesting dynamic here, and maybe I’m overanalysing this somewhat, but to me it felt a little bit like Shaun was brushing Lea’s objection off, disregarding it by saying, ‘I don’t understand your problem because the observational data suggests a sex schedule is a good thing.’

I think it’s a natural reaction to not always want to be like your parents, even if your relationship with them is healthy and positive. But Shaun never had much of that. He hasn’t had any kind of relationship with his parents past the age of 14, and even before then, it was laced with rejection, antagonism and contempt. Shaun has probably never even thought about what kind of sex life his parents may have had, so he can’t really relate, which I think makes it harder for him to see where Lea is coming from.

On the surface, though, this was probably just meant to explain why Lea wasn’t immediately fond of the sex schedule. Shaun listened to her story and optimistically observed that her story wasn’t all bad, that there may be merit to what her parents were doing. NiceNiceDevice remarked that Lea is a free spirit, the idea of a schedule would be a bit of a turn-off for her. Shaun, the more literal of the two, offered a different perspective—the schedule is sweet. It shows you care and still want to make an effort to spend time together.

We were also discussing how it would help if Lea actually verbalised to Shaun that he should try to work on his exits when they talk, particularly in important conversations between the two of them. He has this thing going where he’s like, ‘I got out of this conversation what I needed, we can end it.’ And then he walks away with a, “I have to go,” and unintentionally disregards that Lea may be feeling differently. And we think he may want to make an effort to correct that behaviour if she told him it could be seen as disrespectful or rude, even though Lea knows not to hold it against him. But anyway, I digress.

Since they are now on a schedule, Shaun and Lea leave the softball game early when Shaun reminds Lea it’s 7:45 and they need to get home for the sexy times. (Which, honestly, felt a little contrived to me. Is their sex schedule really more important than a competitive hospital league softball game that involves two whole softball teams and the St. Bonaventure honour?)

They’re sitting on their bed in their PJs, and it’s a little awkward and forced. “It just feels a little weird. Like we’re on the clock,” Lea contributes. Shaun would offer her a chocolate to help her relax, but he gave them away to Victor.

When Lea asks who Victor is, Shaun explains that he’s a very nice Arctic explorer who came to the hospital to have sex with his patient. “How… full service,” Lea remarks. “It was remarkable. His penis got stuck in my patient’s vagina.”

Lea lets out a chuckle. The idea is infinitely funny to her, and they both start laughing at the absurdity of it. Lea goes into a full giggling fit—now giddy, she slaps Shaun’s thigh as she breaks into full-fledged laughter that is infectious and gets Shaun to join her. The ice is broken, and she leans over, draws him close, and they slide down on the bed into a more comfortable position, exchanging kisses while they happily giggle in unison as the screen fades to black on them getting intimate. Yay, the dry spell is broken!

Side Note #1: Not necessarily directly related, but we’re now five episodes post no-marriage announcement, and we’re back to yes-marriage status, so I’ve been wondering… Are we going to see that crumpled church contract again? Lea picked it up off the floor after Shaun discarded it in Expired, which they made a point of showing on camera. Will that have some significance later on? It would be a shame if they just let that slide. You know, just sayin’…

Side Note #2: Interestingly, they used an intimacy coordinator on this episode, someone who specialises in making sexually intimate scenes on television look natural, and I can see why they chose to do so. Most likely they hired her because this episode was all about sex – masturbation, discussions about it and how often having sex is appropriate, how to satisfy your partner, massages, virginity and waiting for the right moment, the first time, revving-braking-accelerating, and not lastly the scenes with Victor and Brenna —they covered a whole lot of sexual intimacy ground in this one!

I’ve seen mention online of possibly a deleted or cut Shaun & Lea intimacy scene that the fans would love to see, though I’m not entirely sure whether this alluded to a whole scene they filmed that was never shown or whether the last scene in bed was supposed to be longer and we were being deprived of ogling more loving and passionate Shea.

If there was an extra scene that was not shown at all, ugh, yeah, I don’t love that idea and I’d be super bummed if that were the case. We know it’s happened before, though. There’s a number of official episode stills that depict scenes they must have filmed that neither made it into the actual episodes nor the DVD extras.

I get the impression that the home entertainment release team behind The Good Doctor doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in making the fans happy anyway and tends to keep that stuff to a sparse minimum. I’d bet money there are many more deleted scenes they could easily be putting on the DVDs that they don’t. Not to mention that I wish they’d release the damn things as Blu-rays in addition to DVDs. Come on, guys. This is 2022. This is the age of high-definition graphics and video.

As for that last sweet and loving Shea moment, the mutual giggling, the joy, the kiss and basically foreplay, I, too, would have loved if they’d kept the camera on that for another three or four seconds, but I also see how the editors or director didn’t consider that necessary. We saw what we needed to see – Shaun and Lea happy together, carefree, about to have what they both verbalised will be very satisfying sex.

I understand that fans would want to see more, but I also get why we didn’t. And personally, I’m super okay with that, because this episode was sweet and amusing and satisfying. I mean, we’ve seen Shea back to form – back together happily as a couple, communicating, understanding each other, caring for each other, candlelight romance, a massage, chocolates, spontaneity gone wrong (ouch, Shaunie), actual ringing of the cowbell, and sweet, sweet giggly kissing well on the way to sex at the end. As a Shea fan, I’m all 👍 💯. As far as I’m concerned, the raunchier risqué stuff can go into fan fiction, or, you know, good old headcanon. We mustn’t forget this is a Prime Time network show, after all.

Asher & Jerome

Asher has been considering venturing out of Hook-Up Town for something more serious. But where do you find guys who want more than Hook-Up Town? He wants someone who gets him but who also challenges him.

Asher has been assigned to Mariel’s case along with Park and Lim, as well as the nurse Jerome. We already saw Jerome last episode, he was the one whom Shaun asked to get Isla a sandwich without pickles. Jerome is witness to a lot of the exchanges between Mariel, Isaac and the surgical team, and he approaches Asher in the hallway to ask whether Mariel’s fiancé is coming back for the much needed emotional support. Her anti-fungal treatment will be rough.

When Asher tells Jerome he gets why Isaac bailed, Jerome bristles. “You get taking off when someone needs you?” Jerome challenges him. “She lied to him, for years,” Asher explains. But Jerome thinks it’s not that. She hid things, things that could get her trouble, her reasons should be fairly obvious. Asher still thinks it was a clear violation of trust. That can take some time to get over.

Jerome still thinks Asher is kind of a judgemental dick and isn’t afraid to tell Asher that. Maybe he deserves being with shallow Tinderites. Shots fired. Jerome, I like you.

As Asher is treating Mariel and they talk about trust and understanding, Asher shares a very personal story with her. In high school, he had a study partner, Micah, and he totally fell for him. He was the first person Asher told that he was gay, and also his first kiss.

Micah encouraged Asher to come out to his family, they should get to be openly gay as a couple. And when Asher did, it made his home implode because his dad totally lost it that his son was homosexual. Asher lost both his family and Micah that day, because Micah chickened out and didn’t have the courage to come out to his family. He hasn’t spoken to Micah since. “I was so angry. He betrayed me and… broke my heart. And then I realized how terrified he must have been, too. And how alone he must feel now. I miss him.”

At the end of a long day, Asher is wrapping his work up at the nurse’s station. And there’s Jerome with a selection of leftover meal trays he’s set aside because the cafeteria is closed now. Wow. Asher is delighted, he’s starving, and he’s also thanking Jerome for challenging him on the Mariel case earlier. There’s grilled salmon, penne pesto or the humble-but-classic grilled chicken. Asher would have gone with the pesto, but Jerome sold the grilled chicken really well, so chicken it shall be.

And then Jerome gets bold, because he suggests they could also head over to Tres Reyes and upgrade the chicken to insanely good tamales. Asher turns around and gives Jerome a curious look. “Are you asking me out, in, like… the dating way?” Jerome shrugs. “Looks like it.” Asher is so oblivious, it’s kinda cute. “Wait… you’re gay?” Nothing gets by you, huh, Asher? Which Jerome also aptly observes.

They exchange boyish smiles. Asher thinks an upgrade to insanely good tamales sounds perfect, a date it is! Aw yis! Get Asher a sweet and loving boyfriend! I wants it!

Side Note: It drove me and NiceNiceDevice crazy that we couldn’t read Jerome’s name tag, because we wanted to know his last name. It looked like it started with B and had a y and an s at the end. And then… he actually says his name during a scene with Lim in the OR. And it’s… Martel. Wtf? I swear to god, the name tag he had in this episode does not say Martel!

The St. Bon’s Vital Signs

So the hospital is back under Marcus Andrews’ presidency, and apparently it’s not going that well. Glassman is being hounded by nurses, lab staff and residents with one presidential problem after the next. The nursing schedule needs adjusting, there is a supplier issue in the lab, the NICU has an issue that needs addressing…

Glassman tells them all to speak to Andrews, but Andrews is pretty inaccessible, only taking concerns on appointment. Appointments that are apparently hard to come by. Glassman is as annoyed at this as Shaun, but for another reason.

Side Note #1: I’d like to think what we can take away from this is that, as much as Glassy may be pegged as a grouch, it looks like he was actually a pretty approachable and well respected president. He’s listened to his employees, addressed their concerns as best as he could, inspired enough trust for people to informally approach him. That’s pretty cool to know.

Side Note #2: It sounds like this episode is set about two months after Cheat Day. Dr. Ferguson from the lab mentions that she’s had issues talking to Andrews after the “last couple of months”. Heh, interesting, but gives us insights into the timeline of how the season is progressing.

Glassman promptly waltzes into Andrews’ office – without an appointment. His assistant isn’t happy, but Andrews tells him it’s okay. Glassman basically tells him that he’s being a terrible president, only with better metaphors. Andrews gives him the schtick about needing to focus on big picture post-Ethicure adjustments and not having time to deal with pesky details like sub-par lab supplies.

Glassman has a solution that’ll serve both their interests, though. He suggests that St. Bon’s assembles a softball team for the local hospital league. The team covers bats and gloves, and if the hospital donates $650 to the cause they can cover registration fees and uniforms. It’ll help with morale and staff cohesion. Win/win.

Side Note: Andrews says that Glassman was playing softball in Montana, but I actually think that’s not quite correct. I can’t tell if what they were filming in One Heart was a softball or a baseball game, but I know what we saw a sign that had the number of innings on it, and it was at eight or nine, and apparently softball only has seven innings. Inconsistency alert, I guess, but a very inconsequential one.

The next day, Glassman drops by Andrews’ office again and runs into him in the hallway. He throws him a jersey, tells him he’ll see him on the field. Andrews isn’t keen. “I gave you your team, my involvement ends there.”

But Glassman has other ideas. Now he lays it on him. “You’re busy being a bad boss. You isolate yourself from your own staff. They don’t like you, especially since this business with Salen.” There’s mixed metaphors about building bridges and being on the right team and righting ships, but Andrews gets it. He needs to be more approachable. A softball game may help break the ice. There, another sea-related metaphor. Go me.

The actual softball game looks fun, though I think our St. Bon’s Vital Signs team isn’t doing so great. Morgan and Audrey are giving some intel on fastballs and curve balls, Alex and Jordan are about to go in. And it’s Lea’s turn now, too, but Shaun reminds her it’s 7:45 and they need to go home since they’re on a schedule. And so Lea and Shaun leave before Lea can get the chance to be cleanup hitter.

Nurse Villanueva compliments Andrews on his double play last inning. He thanks her, and she adds, “If only you could handle our schedule with the same skill…” Ouch. But point well taken. Andrews sits down to hear out her ideas how to improve the nursing schedule, which Glassy watches with a certain amount of self-satisfaction. Mission accomplished, and there’s definitely a sense of team spirit here. Well done!

Side Note: The more interesting criticism I’ve heard about the episode was less about too little Shea intimacy but actually about too little softball. We would’ve loved to see the whole team at play, see them throwing balls and scoring home runs and whatever it is you do when you play softball (yes, I’m an ignorant European). There was painfully little of that actually shown, for the fact that they organised a whole undoubtedly Canadian-chilly outdoor shoot at a baseball field for it, and we saw all of 66 seconds of them actually playing.

We never got to see Lea take her turn, and I’m sure Glassy would have loved to see her kicking ass at it. I think secretly he loves Lea. She likes cars, she’s badass with computers and she plays poker and likes baseball. And would Shaun have dared to get in there and try his hand at softball? We were cheated out of the opportunity to see that, too. 😢

But in order not to end this on a mopey note, I’ll leave you with these lovely behind-the-scenes photos that were shared by the official The Good Doctor account.

State of the Shea

Coming soon.

Missing Scenes

Will be added later, stay tuned.

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