Season 6 Wishlist

As summer is in full swing, we’re getting ever closer to season 6, and of course we’re all in anticipation of what it will bring. What kind of episode, character and season arcs can we expect, what is it that we’d like to to see for our favourite doctors and their loved ones? Take a look at the wishlist below.

• First of all, I think we all want Lim and Villanueva to live. Is that realistic? Probably not — personally I don’t think Villanueva will make it, but Lim will.
• Dare we hope for Shaun and Lea to have a healthy baby? I would warrant that if this were on the horizon for season 6, then perhaps more towards the end of the season, or maybe the season 6 high note ending.
  But just imagine, sleep-deprived Shaun napping with a sleeping baby on his chest. Papa Glassman feeding a cooing little’un pureed carrot. And of course Shaun’s eternal question of, “Will I be a good father?” (Yes, Shaunie, you’ll be an awesome father. Glassy taught you well.)
  Daniela suggested fast-forwarding the early stages of the pregnancy (seeing how we already witnessed that in season 4) and getting to the real kid by the end of season 6.
• I know it’s probably a bit boring, but I’d love to see Shaun and Lea do more normal things together, being comfortable with each other and living their best lives as a newly married couple. I dig Happy!Shea, I want more of it. (I also dig Angsty!Shea, so if we get that instead with a happy ending, I’ll also be happy.)
• It would be lovely to see Shaun discovering new things that he’s good at or just Shaun being super sweet when he’s supporting friends and family. Some of the best episodes in the past were always those where Shaun was trying to figure out a personal conundrum and in the end coming to a realisation or a solution that made us all go, “Aww, Shaunie.” We haven’t had a lot of that lately.
• David Shore hinted at some things to come this season, including Shaun becoming attending and getting accustomed to the new responsibility and lack of safety net. I’m excited to see this unfold, particularly with the two new residents who both sound like they have a personality and a half!
• Speaking of which, I’m eager to meet these two new people and get to know them better. They sound like they’ll be interesting additions to the mix. And it’s kind of a no-brainer that we’ll find out more about who they are.
• Knowing that these two new residents are both called Danni/Danny and have the same initials (full names: Danica Powell and Daniel Perez), I bet we’ll see some name mix-up shenanigans. I’m sure this will drive Shaun crazy. Could be humorous, but I hope they don’t overdo it.
• This is a totally selfish indulgence wish, but I’d love to see Shaun deal with the sniffles for an episode. All the fevered hijinks and epically cranky Shaun, plus Lea trying to deal with it all. I think it would make for a fun, lighthearted entertainment episode.
• Not so lighthearted, but somehow I felt cheated out of a lot of the really important ASD topics last season. Hints were dropped at Shaun and Lea having to work on their issues, yet we saw none of it actually on screen. Shaun still has all that childhood trauma and abandonment issues that will always simmer under the surface. I’d love to see that being showcased a little more.
• On the subject of childhood trauma, will Marcie (Shaun’s mother) be back? Will there be any attempts at reconciliation? The fandom seems to be pretty divided on the topic. Some say they would welcome Shaun and Marcie to have an opportunity to reconnect, others say Shaun has wiped that slate clean and shouldn’t waste any more energy on ties already severed. I think it could be interesting to see Marcie back in the mix, but would depend on how it’s being done. I wouldn’t want to see some tropey plot device thing unfold. If Shaun has to be faced with that dark chapter of his life again, it will have to be something worthwhile and poignant.
• Daniela said she would like for Lea’s parents and Glassy to meet and interact with each other. That would definitely be interesting and have a lot of potential in terms of good comedy. I very much agree!
• Daniela would also like the show to build on the basis of the Shaun/Glassy father-son relationship that’s been finally openly addressed in the season 5 finale. Shore said that Glassman will always be Shaun’s bedrock and knowing that he’s there and that he loves him is all that’s important to Shaun. She wants to see proud Daddy Glassman supporting Shaun in his new adventure as a newly appointed attending. From the looks of it, Shaun is going to need that.
• On that note, both Daniela and I would like the subject of Shaun calling Glassy “Dr. Glassman” being addressed. We know that the writers often don’t like to dwell on such details, but it would be really nice if they did.
• Speaking of Glassman, I’d love to see him having more positivity in his life for once. Not quite sure what that would be, not necessarily another romantic interest. (Though if that were to happen, please not a Debbie #2 — maybe a friendship that slowly develops into something more.) How about a fulfilling hobby on the side, like, say… getting involved with a horse sanctuary on the outskirts of the city?
• Let’s leave the hospital a bit more, how about that? The episodes where that happened were always interesting, like the road trip in season 1, the trip to Wyoming in season 3 (as heartbreaking as it was) or Lea and Shaun’s camping trip in season 4.
• Daniela mentioned that Lea, Jordan & Glassman’s little business project was an interesting detail they put there in season 5, and it would be great to see that evolve throughout season 6. It could be a useful plot device to focus more on their interactions and relationships.
• I’d love to see more of Asher, and Asher with Jerome. Please don’t break them up, they’re cute together. Asher’s inquisitive rebel boy energy gives me life!
• I’d love to see Jordan grow, and see more of the Jordan and Lea friendship. Jordan brings Lea’s fun side out a little more. I’d also love to see Lea get her own plot line, if only in one episode. Decrypt in season 4 was a nice one.
• Oh! Can we also have Freddie Highmore write or direct again? We do love when he gets more involved.
• I honestly have no idea what to wish for in terms of Alex and Morgan. I don’t think I want her permanently in New York, though perhaps we might see her going there for a while and finding out it isn’t working out for her, so she’ll return. I wouldn’t want them to have Morgan stay in San Jose just for Alex’s sake and then blame him for her unhappiness over a missed opportunity.
• As for the Lim storyline, personally my prediction is that we’ll see her struggling with the physical repercussions of the attack and what I imagine will be Dalisay’s death and feeling guilt over it. Coupled with the PTSD, I could imagine it would be a hard journey that we’ll see unfold at least during the first half of the season. Although I wouldn’t want to see Dalisay die, I think it could be an interesting arc for Lim.
• In more general terms, I want more organic and less plot device-y writing. It was sad to see Lea being used as a plot device a lot in season 5, and particularly the second half of the season felt incoherent and aimless. The reality TV show arc was largely a poorly executed amalgamation of missed opportunities. I hope season 6 has a bit more underlying direction and cohesion.

I have a post-hoc addition, because I only looked more into the actors who are playing the new residents after I published this wishlist, but I wanna add something because I realised later that Savannah Welch is an above-the-knee amputee and has a prosthetic leg:

• I assume/hope they will at the very least mention or explain Danni’s disability, since the slightly different gait of person with a prosthetic leg will be noticeable. I think this could offer some common ground for Shaun and Danni, or at the very least some discussions about the parallels of their situation, even though ASD isn’t necessarily considered a disability.
• From what we know about Danni, she’s competitive, very mature for her age and doesn’t shy away from defying authority. I could imagine they’ll write her as a person (very much like Shaun) who doesn’t want to be defined or limited by her physical constraints. So what I think would be interesting to see is her overdoing the pushing for independence, and it would be super sweet to see Shaun actually being the one to tell her that sometimes it’s okay to admit you need help and let the people who offer help you.

And with that, we have to wait until Oct 3 for the season 6 premiere to flicker across our screens. Seems like a long wait, doesn’t it? Filming is reported to start on Aug 03, so maybe we’ll see a few behind-the-scenes shots over the coming weeks at least.

Got your own wish for upcoming episodes? Leave a comment below and I’ll add it to the list.