S04.E10: Decrypt

[helenamonster]

Quote

When the hospital is hit with a cyberattack threatening to shut down life-saving machines, Lea rises to the challenge and looks to outsmart the hackers to prove herself; the team treats an inspirational cancer survivor who harbors a dark secret.

Original airdate: 2/22/21

[Annber03]

Aw, Olivia :(. Sad to see her go, I liked her. Hopefully this won't be the last we see of her in general. 

Yay for all the other stories turning out well this episode, at least. Glad Lea's efforts paid off, and it's nice to see her and Glassman connecting a little more. I also liked Shaun telling her that he respected her and her work. 

(And hi, Josh from "Trial & Error" :D! Very cool to see him pop up here. I wouldn't mind seeing him again.)

Also really liked Morgan connecting with that girl, and going to the lengths she did to help save her. And I'm very glad Claire and Lim made up and sorted things out. Though, yes, this just further proves why it's tough to be friends with someone you work for, or vice versa. 

[KaveDweller]

I liked Olivia too, and will miss her if she is off the show. But man, 5 years of medical school is a really expensive way to avoid telling people you don't want to be a doctor. 

I liked getting to see Lea in the spotlight and save the day. I don't necessarily love her as a character, but it was nice to see her in her element instead of just a prop for Shaun. And I admit, I laughed when she accused Shaun of not respecting her job when he said it was different than an OR, and he was just like, "I meant you can't bring food in an OR." I think he does respect her and was glad he told her at the end.

Grey's Anatomy did a hospital held hostage by hackers episode too, I guess this is a real thing? People really suck, that's pretty terrible.

Andrews should have waited until the patient was discharged to leak the story. He would be exposed and less chance of anyone getting blamed. But obviously that is less drama.

[Driad]

Were we told in some previous episode that Lea was a computer expert? I just remember her doing clerk work. Also, wouldn't they have more than one person working on a problem like this? I was taken out of that whole story line. 

[thuganomics85]

I had a feeling that not all of the "newbies" were going to stick around, so I'm not to surprised that one has left now and it's Olivia.  I liked her and the actress, but I always did get the sense she wasn't improving as much as the other three have, and it makes sense that it was because she never actually wanted to be a doctor, but felt pressured to do so (although, as mentioned above, that could not have been cheap considering how expensive medical school can be.)  But she got a nice send-off at least.  Curious to see how the other three will fare.  Right now, I think Jordan and Enrique have stood out more than Asher, but that can always change.  Especially since I still think Jordan is a step ahead of everyone, so that alone makes me wonder if a major obstacle is heading her way soon.

I won't even dive into the debate over the fake cancer patient and if the good his lie did going forward outweighed the initial horrible act he committed to kickstart all of it, because I'm just confused over how he got away with it for so long.  Did the charity he work for not have fact checkers?  Since he was suppose to be somewhat of a celebrity, wouldn't it have been leaked out way, way earlier in this day and age?  I just couldn't buy that he kept the gig up for as long as he did.

I guess Lea's storyline was fine, even though I'm still not wild about the character (although I still think Paige Spara is charming in the role.)  Did think it was weird that none of her underlings were helping out, but I wonder if that was another case of the show limiting unnecessary background characters due to the pandemic.  Her line about spending her life always being doubted and overlooked by her male colleagues and superiors is definitely something I've heard from women in IT departments, sadly.  Although, I knew Shaun wasn't meaning to be disrespectful, because it doesn't matter what gender or job you have: he will interrupt you unless there are "No sandwiches in the ER" rules enforced!

Noticed the camera lingered just a little bit on Reznick/Park's hug.  Hmm...

Come on, Andrews!  You really think leaking that info wasn't going to cause some conflict, once Lim found out it came from the hospital?  Of course, Lim went at the worst way possible, even if Claire admittedly did inadvertently make herself look like a good suspect.  But I'm glad they worked it out at the end.

[Annber03]

6 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Noticed the camera lingered just a little bit on Reznick/Park's hug.  Hmm...

Same. They also shared a little smile at one point that the camera lingered on a bit. 

[DanaK]

This was a good, engrossing episode, even if the tech work wasn’t entirely plausible (I was a software developer before I retired in 2019). The hostage by hacker is definitely a real thing and has been in the news multiple times in the last few years, including in Baltimore last year or the year before

Olivia confessed as a way out of her conflict of not wanting to be a doctor, but I liked her and was sorry to see her go. Andrews should get some punishment for leaking the guy’s story, but he’ll escape because his niece took the fall

I was glad to see Lea performing her job, and succeeding, instead of just being Shaun’s girlfriend

[methodwriter85]

I was happy to see Nicholas D'Agosto. Damn, I wish he'd been cast as a doctor on this show instead of as a throwaway guest spot. We need a 40-something male presence on this show, damn it.

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, methodwriter85 said:

I was happy to see Nicholas D'Agosto. Damn, I wish he'd been cast as a doctor on this show instead of as a throwaway guest spot. We need a 40-something male presence on this show, damn it.

I very much approve of this idea :). 

[bros402]

Raise your hand if you laughed at "they're gonna delete the machines" and those totally fake "SYSTEM BIOS" screens

 

Why did Leah connect that unaffected piece of hardware to a totally infected system.... if she wasn't right, she just destroyed those backups.

Why was she working on the parts in a closet "clean room" - since that dusty thing was nowhere near a clean room. Since they didn't pay to get records back, what happens to the last ~92 days of records?

Also, Dr. Andrews should be fired for that huge violation of HIPAA, like holy crap - but he should not have told his niece what he did, that just brings her in on the crime.

How long until Dr. Andrews crime is discovered?

[Leeds]

2 hours ago, Driad said:

Were we told in some previous episode that Lea was a computer expert? I just remember her doing clerk work. Also, wouldn't they have more than one person working on a problem like this? I was taken out of that whole story line. 

 

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

 

I won't even dive into the debate over the fake cancer patient and if the good his lie did going forward outweighed the initial horrible act he committed to kickstart all of it, because I'm just confused over how he got away with it for so long.  Did the charity he work for not have fact checkers?  Since he was suppose to be somewhat of a celebrity, wouldn't it have been leaked out way, way earlier in this day and age?  I just couldn't buy that he kept the gig up for as long as he did.

 

Not to mention all the friends/relatives/acquaintances who would have known it was a lie.

1 hour ago, methodwriter85 said:

I was happy to see Nicholas D'Agosto. Damn, I wish he'd been cast as a doctor on this show instead of as a throwaway guest spot. We need a 40-something male presence on this show, damn it.

Well, Alex Park, Hill Harper and Will Yun Lee are all 50 somethings.  Is that too old?

The whole Lea story line was utterly ludicrous.  How could it happen that she has become the only member (and woefully inexperienced at that) of a multi-billion hospital tech department?

Don't surgeons typically keep their nails really short and blunt so they can do their jobs as, well, surgeons?  That hug at the end showed pointy talons on the niece.  Just as well she's getting out of surgery.

[Driad]

By the end of Lea's story line, I was sure that it was a dream, that she was fantasizing that she was competent at something.  What a trainwreck of an episode.  Didn't this show used to be good?

[Florinaldo]

"You may be devout but you're also selfish"

Well-deserved smackdown of a character that is often self-righteous and judgmental. Too bad they had Asher try to soften the blow a bit.

 

[Starchild]

11 hours ago, Driad said:

Were we told in some previous episode that Lea was a computer expert? I just remember her doing clerk work. Also, wouldn't they have more than one person working on a problem like this? I was taken out of that whole story line. 

I was thinking the same thing. I was like, "wait she's their IT director? in charge of IT for the entire hospital? When did that happen?" 

Also, generally speaking, I always think it's hilarious when shows and movies treat computer work like a car chase lol.

 

11 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Right now, I think Jordan and Enrique have stood out more than Asher, but that can always change. 

Interesting you say that, because when he's onscreen (which hasn't been much lately) I find him the most compelling of all of them.

 

9 hours ago, bros402 said:

Also, Dr. Andrews should be fired for that huge violation of HIPAA, like holy crap - but he should not have told his niece what he did, that just brings her in on the crime.

How long until Dr. Andrews crime is discovered?

My head nearly exploded when they lied to that patient to coerce a kidney out of her. OMG the lack of ethics on display in this episode was mindblowing.

[thuganomics85]

Quote

 

Quote

Right now, I think Jordan and Enrique have stood out more than Asher, but that can always change.

 

Interesting you say that, because when he's onscreen (which hasn't been much lately) I find him the most compelling of all of them.

I actually do think Asher is a compelling character as well, but I was referring more to his work performance, where I currently feel they haven't had him shine as much as the other two lately.  To be fair, I wonder if some of it is because he still is wary after how his first surgery went, and that's made him be more cautious and not wanting to put himself out too much again.  Hope that is something they'll explore going forward.

[DanaK]

It turns out star Freddie Highmore directed this. I thought he did a good job

[Power-Aspie]

13 hours ago, Driad said:

Were we told in some previous episode that Lea was a computer expert?

 

[statsgirl]

This is the most I've ever liked Lea. Reminding us that she's an IT genius explains a lot about her relationship with Shaun, quirky brilliant people rather than Lea acting as a big sister which is what they show us too often.

Lea refers to a tech who spilled coffee and switched the parts out. I guess they wanted to cut down on actors by not showing anyone but Lea in the department.

Olivia was the only one of the new residents who I liked so of course she's gone, it's trademark David Shore.  I'm liking Jordan less and less, lying to a patient to get her to risk her life is not okay.

I thought the actress in the liver transplant did a good job (although even if the character lived on her own, wouldn't she have a guardian to help make big decisions for her?)

16 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Andrews should have waited until the patient was discharged to leak the story. He would be exposed and less chance of anyone getting blamed. But obviously that is less drama.

He should not have said anything at all. That is such a violation of medical ethics that I can only put it in the Grey's Anatomy category.  And we were never actually told how much the patient himself benefited from his fame. He said that he raised money for cancer, did he keep some for himself or give it all to the foundation he was working for? We're supposed to be outraged but there are so many holes in this story.

Shaun said that they can't do the surgery because of the Bleomycin that he was treated with for the cancer. How did Shaun know what he was treated with?  Did he fake his medical records too? Why wouldn't they scan to see if his lungs really were scarred?

[Granny58]

15 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I was happy to see Nicholas D'Agosto. Damn, I wish he'd been cast as a doctor on this show instead of as a throwaway guest spot. We need a 40-something male presence on this show, damn it.

I think Park fills that role and is easy on the eyes!

[tennisgurl]

What Andrews did was definitely a huge violation of medical ethics, but I am more taken aback by them lying to that patient to get her to give her liver up. Not only is it outrageously manipulative, but they were all way too chill about it afterwards, no one was even a little conflicted about lying to and manipulating a patient. I guess you can say its for the greater good, but its really weird how many people did very questionable things this week and no one seems to mind very much. You would think someone who has as much experience as Andrews does would know that the hospital leaking patient information would look bad on them, even if no source was ever identified. 

Sad to see Olivia go, I liked her and the actress a lot. I guess some of the newbies were inevitably going to leave and she always seemed like she was holding back a bit so it makes sense that she is the first gone. I am glad that she is finally being honest about what she wants to do, but five years in medical school is a long time (and a lot of money spent) waiting to tell your family you want to change your major. 

Glad that Lea had more to do, I think she works best as a character when she is doing things beyond creating drama for Shaun. I totally forgot that she is a tech expert, so its cool that she got to show her smarts and bond with Glassman. I felt for her saying how hard it is for her to be taken seriously sometimes, although of course Shaun is just a stickler for sandwich rules. 

The case with the patient who faked cancer was interesting, there is something of a question to be asked there. Did he make up for the terrible lie by genuinely helping people, or did the lie retroactively invalidate his good work? Did he do all of this for the attention, or did he really end up caring about this cause, even if it also benefitted him? I guess you can tie that into the other patient of the week story, whether or not the lie is worth saving lives. The organ transplant plot was also kind of a reverse of that episode a few seasons ago when they were trying to get a little kid to accept the organ of a convicted murderer who wanted to donate an organ so the dying child could survive. 

[Florinaldo]

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I actually do think Asher is a compelling character as well, but I was referring more to his work performance, where I currently feel they haven't had him shine as much as the other two lately. 

Now that they have started to cull the herd of new doctors, I suppose they will be able to devote more time to each of the surviving residents. On the other hand, Asher was the only one able to come to a conclusion as to the potential of the donor by assessing her social media behaviour.

I agree that the means to reduce the crowd strains credulity; who would silently endure the great effort (and expense) of getting through medical school just to avoid telling family members she does not like medicine?

11 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

What Andrews did was definitely a huge violation of medical ethics, but I am more taken aback by them lying to that patient to get her to give her liver up.

This episode had two instances where the doctors had no apparent qualms about violating ethics. Will there be consequences later in the season episodes or will it all be forgotten as if it never happened?

[mtlchick]

As for the newbies, it's supposed to play out a lot like House (A show I never watched.) From Deadline's article when they were hired: 

Quote

The plot is reminiscent of one of the most popular storylines from Shore’s previous hit medical drama House, which also played out during Season 4 of that show. In it, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) launched a contest among 40 applicants for the three vacant positions on his team. He eventually narrowed them down to seven. The actors portraying the finalists recurred on the show, with the three whose characters got the jobs, Kal Penn, Olivia Wilde and Peter Jacobson, becoming series regulars. (Another character, Anne Dudek’s  “Cutthroat Bitch” became so popular that she remained a key recurring character.)

So it was bound to happen.  Sad it was Olivia (and spending 5 years in medical school to realize 'it is not for me' sure is expensive.) 

The one thing that stuck out for me: when Shaun came in to talk to Lea in the server area, he simply crossed his ankles and sat right down without any problem.   I tried doing that and I could barely bend.  

Edited February 23, 2021 by mtlchick

[rmontro]

21 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

What Andrews did was definitely a huge violation of medical ethics, but I am more taken aback by them lying to that patient to get her to give her liver up.

It really bugged me that everybody got so self righteous and judgmental with the fake cancer patient - yes, what he did was wrong, but their job isn't to judge everybody who walks in the door.  Especially when he ended up doing a lot of good for a lot of people - we should all be so horrible.  But then they lied to the liver girl, which hypocritically was the exact same thing they were so upset with the fake cancer patient for - lying to help someone else.  I know that wasn't his full motive, but still.  The whole thing really irked me.  And the House thing strikes again, everybody lies.  

Edited February 24, 2021 by rmontro

[jabRI]

With the motivational speaker, I mean would they not have had to see his medical records to see exactly what he was treated for, medications, set backs, side effects, etc.  Seems like a pretty easy lie to find out in like 10 minutes these days.

[Leeds]

3 hours ago, Florinaldo said:

 

I agree that the means to reduce the crowd strains credulity; who would silently endure the great effort (and expense) of getting through medical school just to avoid telling family members she does not like medicine?

 

It happens.  I have a close friend who underwent 5 years of medical school purely because of pressure from his parents.  He immediately went on to get another degree in IT and hasn't looked back since, having never worked a day as a doctor. 

[KaveDweller]

19 hours ago, Driad said:

Were we told in some previous episode that Lea was a computer expert? I just remember her doing clerk work. Also, wouldn't they have more than one person working on a problem like this? I was taken out of that whole story line. 

Yeah, they have referenced it before several times. Then earlier this season Shaun announced she had been made IT director.

2 hours ago, statsgirl said:

He should not have said anything at all. That is such a violation of medical ethics that I can only put it in the Grey's Anatomy category.  And we were never actually told how much the patient himself benefited from his fame. He said that he raised money for cancer, did he keep some for himself or give it all to the foundation he was working for? We're supposed to be outraged but there are so many holes in this story.

Yes, ethically, I agree. He should not have said anything and it was completely a violation. I was just saying once he decided to break his oath, he should have done it smart so innocent people did not get the blame and no one had to leave their job.

As it turns out, Olivia wanted to leave. But she could have done so on her own and it would have looked better on her resume if she ever does decide she wants to do something with medicine/patients.

[A.Ham]

3 hours ago, mtlchick said:

The one thing that stuck out for me: when Shaun came in to talk to Lea in the server area, he simply crossed his ankles and sat right down without any problem.   I tried doing that and I could barely bend.  

Apropos of nothing, one of the family group chats I am in (a blessing and a curse, I tell you 🙄) sent out a fitness test at the beginning of the pandemic. One of the things was to basically sit down like Shawn did, and then get up, without using your arms. It led to some hilarious videos. 

Topic? I don't have much; I agree that two major ethical violations were made--wonder if anything will come of either of them.

And I did enjoy the bit of banter between Glassman and Leah this time around.

[rmontro]

4 hours ago, Florinaldo said:

I agree that the means to reduce the crowd strains credulity; who would silently endure the great effort (and expense) of getting through medical school just to avoid telling family members she does not like medicine?

I was rolling my eyes at this, and I would agree that it strained credibility - except I know that this sort of thing happens in real life.  I know people who get a degree, then decide they want to do something else.  It happens, although it's kind of extreme in the case of a doctor.  Honestly, I can't really blame Olivia for wanting out.  The job is incredibly high stress, there doesn't appear to be much time or energy left over for a life outside the hospital, and from this episode it doesn't look like too enjoyable of a place to work anyway.

Now Lean, okay they've shown that she has some propensity for computers.  But she just doesn't strike me as a genius type.  Mainly because when they first introduced her, she seemed to be mostly a kind of carefree hippie chick type.  Doesn't mean she can't be smart.  It's just that she's been presented more as a foil for Shawn, a way to get him to deal with the real world as opposed to a colleague.

[possibilities]

Didn't Leah work for some other tech company in a previous season? I think it's been established over a long period of time that she's a computer person.

Lim cared about ethics. But she didn't know about the lie to the kidney donor.

 

[bros402]

14 hours ago, Starchild said:

I was thinking the same thing. I was like, "wait she's their IT director? in charge of IT for the entire hospital? When did that happen?" 

Also, generally speaking, I always think it's hilarious when shows and movies treat computer work like a car chase lol.

 

Interesting you say that, because when he's onscreen (which hasn't been much lately) I find him the most compelling of all of them.

 

My head nearly exploded when they lied to that patient to coerce a kidney out of her. OMG the lack of ethics on display in this episode was mindblowing.

Yeah that kidney coercion was amazingly horrifying

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

What Andrews did was definitely a huge violation of medical ethics, but I am more taken aback by them lying to that patient to get her to give her liver up. Not only is it outrageously manipulative, but they were all way too chill about it afterwards, no one was even a little conflicted about lying to and manipulating a patient. I guess you can say its for the greater good, but its really weird how many people did very questionable things this week and no one seems to mind very much. You would think someone who has as much experience as Andrews does would know that the hospital leaking patient information would look bad on them, even if no source was ever identified. 

 

The case with the patient who faked cancer was interesting, there is something of a question to be asked there. Did he make up for the terrible lie by genuinely helping people, or did the lie retroactively invalidate his good work? Did he do all of this for the attention, or did he really end up caring about this cause, even if it also benefitted him? I guess you can tie that into the other patient of the week story, whether or not the lie is worth saving lives. The organ transplant plot was also kind of a reverse of that episode a few seasons ago when they were trying to get a little kid to accept the organ of a convicted murderer who wanted to donate an organ so the dying child could survive. 

1. I mean they do say a lot of surgeons are sociopaths....
2. The lie didn't invalidate his work, but it didn't make up for it. He earned money for being a motivational speaker and the face of that charity - that's ill gotten gains.

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

Didn't Leah work for some other tech company in a previous season? I think it's been established over a long period of time that she's a computer person.

Lim cared about ethics. But she didn't know about the lie to the kidney donor.

 

I believe that is what Glassman was referring to - she worked for a company that worked on self driving cars.

 

 

9 hours ago, statsgirl said:

This is the most I've ever liked Lea. Reminding us that she's an IT genius explains a lot about her relationship with Shaun, quirky brilliant people rather than Lea acting as a big sister which is what they show us too often.

Lea refers to a tech who spilled coffee and switched the parts out. I guess they wanted to cut down on actors by not showing anyone but Lea in the department.

Olivia was the only one of the new residents who I liked so of course she's gone, it's trademark David Shore.  I'm liking Jordan less and less, lying to a patient to get her to risk her life is not okay.

I thought the actress in the liver transplant did a good job (although even if the character lived on her own, wouldn't she have a guardian to help make big decisions for her?)

He should not have said anything at all. That is such a violation of medical ethics that I can only put it in the Grey's Anatomy category.  And we were never actually told how much the patient himself benefited from his fame. He said that he raised money for cancer, did he keep some for himself or give it all to the foundation he was working for? We're supposed to be outraged but there are so many holes in this story.

Shaun said that they can't do the surgery because of the Bleomycin that he was treated with for the cancer. How did Shaun know what he was treated with?  Did he fake his medical records too? Why wouldn't they scan to see if his lungs really were scarred?

I'm guessing Shaun guessed the regimen he was given based on the type of cancer he had - I believe bleomycin is used with testicular cancer, among other cancers, but they were trying to make this guy semi-Lance Armstrong.

If she's living independently and is able to function in the community and can demonstrate financial responsibility, she might not need a guardian.

[Florinaldo]

10 hours ago, rmontro said:

I was rolling my eyes at this, and I would agree that it strained credibility - except I know that this sort of thing happens in real life.

I know that people switch fields of study, usually before finishing the program; I remember examples from university of students going from physics to law after one year, or from finances to sociology. And many people work jobs that are not traditionally linked to the diploma they received.

But doing it after medical school, a particularly grueling program from what I know, simply to avoid a confrontation with the family is a sign of a rather weak-willed individual. And she has not been portrayed that way; perhaps at most eager to please and not disappoint her uncle, but not to the point of doing something she hates for 5 long years.

[Starchild]

Much more than 5 years. More like your whole life.

In my experience, medical school is typically preceded by an intense, specialized undergrad science degree.

Which is in turn preceded by a high school experience steeped in science and math.

Which is often preceded by a childhood where you and your family are focusing on developing the discipline you're going to need to go through all that (and I got the sense from their earlier conversations that they've been expecting her to be a doctor since she was a little girl).

[cinsays]

On 2/22/2021 at 11:35 PM, Driad said:

Were we told in some previous episode that Lea was a computer expert? I just remember her doing clerk work. Also, wouldn't they have more than one person working on a problem like this? I was taken out of that whole story line. 

Yeah, and i thought they said she was the IT director, so she wouldn't be the hands-on person.  How did she get there from the position she had under Glassman?  I don't buy her character as being a computer genius either.

 

[CarpeFelis]

On 2/23/2021 at 7:26 AM, Florinaldo said:

"You may be devout but you're also selfish"

Well-deserved smackdown of a character that is often self-righteous and judgmental. Too bad they had Asher try to soften the blow a bit.

Speaking of self-righteous and judgmental... Claire has been insufferable lately. When she started in on how fake cancer guy should be moved to a different hospital, I was yelling at the screen. “Have you completely forgotten the Hippocratic oath?! If he’d robbed a bank or killed someone, you’d still have to treat him!” How many times has a handcuffed patient been brought in from prison to be treated on this or other medical shows? Someone’s always conflicted about it and ends up treating them.

I’m really starting to like Lea. Implausible though the tech stuff was (like those ridiculously fake BIOS screens and the not-so-clean room), she’s no longer the complete flake I couldn’t stand.

Bite me, Insurance Guy with your sexist comments! I’m a female software engineer and that sort of thing annoys the hell out of me. (And don’t even get me started on ageism in tech, which we’ll probably never see portrayed here or on any other show.)

[Power-Aspie]

1 hour ago, CarpeFelis said:

And don’t even get me started on ageism in tech, which we’ll probably never see portrayed here or on any other show.

Ageism was acknowledged by Glassman doubting Lea could change a tire because her being a millennial.

For all those who still think Lea’s IT skills came out of the blue… I compiled a timeline.

Season 1

1.11 “Islands Part One”: Lea reveals that she’s an automotive engineer, working for a start-up that's developing new designs for self-driving cars. She does not like her work because it is all talk but no hands-on.

1.12 “Islands Part Two”: Lea leaves for Hershey to fulfill her dream of rebuilding old cars at her Grandpa’s garage.

Season 2

2.06 “Two-Ply (or not Two-Ply)”: After the garage went broke, Lea has returned to San Jose; the focus of her work on cars appears to have shifted: when Shaun tries to discuss “her messiness”, she explains that she is running late for an all-night coding session.

2.12 “Aftermath”: Lea has a bad day at work, alone in a conference room she calls Shaun and invites him and Glassman for lunch at her workplace, YAUTO. Glassman observes that there are no colleagues of Lea joining them.

Season 3

3.14 “Influence”: Lea is tired of her job again because they are not developing anything for real. Shaun urges Glassman to hire Lea because of the hospital’s current IT problems. For her job application, Lea hacks into the hospital’s system and accesses Glassman’s personal data.
[Watch on YouTube]

Season 4

4.03 “Newbies”: Lea is now head of IT and busy trying to keep bots and hackers out of the hospital’s network.

4.05 “Fault”: Lea is stressed because of a failed system update. In the background plays "From Here to Eternity", a movie picture set shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Bottom line:

• Lea’s line of work was left vague, but she worked within the field of self-driving cars from season 1 on, a software-intensive industry.
• Lea was always a woman in STEM, the sexism she had to endure and that influenced her personality to a great deal, was from begin on anticipated by the writers and alluded to by her frustration about work and the absence of workmates.
• Season 2 saw her focus shifting from hands-on work to coding.
• Lea’s hacker capabilities were introduced two thirds into the 3rd season, already laying the groundwork for “Decrypt” in the 4th season. The show just had to give the character some time to work up the ranks.
• The cyber attack was foreshadowed in 4.03 and 4.05.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Power-Aspie

[statsgirl]

They deliberately didn't tell us how much money Cody gave to cancer support and how much he kept for himself to make the story more simplistic. Professional fund-raiser is a real job and he has an MBA in non-profit finance. So if he raised millions, took $60,000 a year for himself from the charity while they kept the rest, it's a different story than if he kept hundreds of thousands for himself.

10 hours ago, bros402 said:

f she's living independently and is able to function in the community and can demonstrate financial responsibility, she might not need a guardian.

Maybe not a guardian for day-to-day things but she should have someone, even if only someone who holds her power of attorney. Getting a transplant is not a decision I would want to make entirely on my own even if my doctor had spoken to me about the idea earlier.

1 hour ago, CarpeFelis said:

Speaking of self-righteous and judgmental... Claire has been insufferable lately. When she started in on how fake cancer guy should be moved to a different hospital, I was yelling at the screen. “Have you completely forgotten the Hippocratic oath?!

The Hippocratic Oath

Quote

Hippocratic Oath

I swear by Apollo the physician, and Asclepius, and Hygieia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses as my witnesses, that, according to my ability and judgement, I will keep this Oath and this contract:

To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life with him, and to fulfill his needs when required; to look upon his offspring as equals to my own siblings, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or contract; and that by the set rules, lectures, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to students bound by this contract and having sworn this Oath to the law of medicine, but to no others.

I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

In purity and according to divine law will I carry out my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, even upon those suffering from stones, but I will leave this to those who are trained in this craft.

Into whatever homes I go, I will enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any voluntary act of impropriety or corruption, including the seduction of women or men, whether they are free men or slaves.

Whatever I see or hear in the lives of my patients, whether in connection with my professional practice or not, which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret, as considering all such things to be private.

So long as I maintain this Oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me to partake of life fully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all time. However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, may the opposite be my fate.

While they have been going against the Hippocratic Oath all over the place (although some of those lines do deserve to be violated), there is nothing that I can see about treating everyone who wants treatment.

Claire thought that the patient had forfeited his right to treatment and she said so in the meeting. She didn't refuse to treat him, in fact she was on his operating team till Lim took her off it. 

Andrews not only failed to keep secret the details of his patient's life, he squealed on him to a reporter so that he could reach the maximum audience and was will to let Olivia take the fall for him. Maybe he would have let Claire be fired too if Olivia had not spoken up.

The flip side of not keeping private details private is deliberately lying to the patient to give consent, in this case uninformed consent. Morgan, Park, Jordan and Asher are all guilty of that.

Ethics report for this episode: Fail. 

[CarpeFelis]

1 hour ago, Power-Aspie said:Ageism was acknowledged by Glassman doubting Lea could change a tire because her being a millennial.

Ageism for sure, but not the kind I was referring to. How often do we see techies over 40 portrayed - still in technical roles, not management? I say this as a software engineer still coding at age 63 because I love coding and would hate being a manager. Do I ever see myself represented on TV? Hell no.

[CarpeFelis]

19 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

The Hippocratic Oath

While they have been going against the Hippocratic Oath all over the place (although some of those lines do deserve to be violated), there is nothing that I can see about treating everyone who wants treatment.

Claire thought that the patient had forfeited his right to treatment and she said so in the meeting. She didn't refuse to treat him, in fact she was on his operating team till Lim took her off it. 

Good points, and I learned something new today! There is a newer version of the oath written in the ‘60s, but that one doesn’t say anything about being required to treat anyone either. Harvard Medical School has an interesting article about this issue: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-myth-of-the-hippocratic-oath-201511258447
I think the false impression about that comes from too many poorly written TV shows!

[Virtual]

Go, Lea. She saved the hospital. Glad that Glassman showed appreciation for that and invited her to his poker night.

When Lim came into the room and said that somebody in her department blew the whistle to a reporter about their patient, I was pretty sure it wasn't Claire. Yes, she openly expressed her negative feeling about the situation, but the show has hardly ever been that obvious when they have us guess who did something. I definitely thought it was Olivia because of all her facial expressions when people talked to Claire about it, but wasn't expecting that Andrews was the one who made the call.

[Fable]

I liked this episode well enough.  I’m glad Olivia left, not because I disliked her, but because they added too many new characters and needed to thin the herd.  I’m still opposed to Claire and Lim seeming to now be best friends since Claire is her subordinate, and that’s the reason Lim and Melendez broke up.  I am glad Shaun and Leah seem to be getting along, but remembering Shaun’s chaotic behavior last season, it still leaves a bit of a bad taste. 

[jabRI]

8 minutes ago, Fable said:

 I’m still opposed to Claire and Lim seeming to now be best friends since Claire is her subordinate,

I agree, I think in real life Lim would have kept her private life aside, would not be out drinking with a resident.

[Beezella]

What do I know, but that liver looked like it just came out of the deli case.

[rmontro]

6 hours ago, Florinaldo said:

But doing it after medical school, a particularly grueling program from what I know, simply to avoid a confrontation with the family is a sign of a rather weak-willed individual. And she has not been portrayed that way; perhaps at most eager to please and not disappoint her uncle, but not to the point of doing something she hates for 5 long years.

Hey, I agree it sounds crazy.  But maybe she thought she would grow to like it.

 

3 hours ago, CarpeFelis said:

I’m really starting to like Lea. Implausible though the tech stuff was (like those ridiculously fake BIOS screens and the not-so-clean room), she’s no longer the complete flake I couldn’t stand.

Your line "the complete flake I couldn't stand" helps explain the problem.  It isn't that we've never been told she was in tech, it's just that early on especially, she was portrayed as being very flighty.  There was a lot of people on this forum who were very leery of Shawn getting involved with her because of it, so it wasn't just Glassman.  That flighty personality doesn't really mesh so well with saving the hospital, although they have been trying to rehab her personality the last couple of seasons.

You make a good point about the ageism.  You're more likely to see a child tech genius save the day (like the girl in Jurassic Park) than a 60 year old.  TV prefers young, good looking bodies though, that's never been a secret.

[Pepper the Cat]

I wish they had showed more of the effects of the computer hack. Residents have to cope with writing orders instead of using a computer. Paper charts. 
I seem to remember a donation circle from another show. Maybe New Amsterdam??
 

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, Pepper the Cat said:

I wish they had showed more of the effects of the computer hack. Residents have to cope with writing orders instead of using a computer. Paper charts. 
I seem to remember a donation circle from another show. Maybe New Amsterdam??
 

Maybe New Amsterdam, and I think Grey's Anatomy did one as well, with even more people. 

[chitowngirl]

On 2/23/2021 at 12:19 PM, DanaK said:

It turns out star Freddie Highmore directed this. I thought he did a good job

I didn’t watch the opening credits and was wondering if he was directing because he wasn’t in the episode much.

[tinderbox]

I enjoyed this episode.

Claire has become way too self righteous.  She turns me off.  

Finally an episode where Leah is featured as more than a friend or girlfriend for Shaun.  I have always liked her character.  Happy Glassman stuck to his word and included her in his next poker game.  

Anybody else think the writers might be moving to a romantic pairing of Lim and Claire?  I’m kind of feeling that vibe.

[Power-Aspie]

7 hours ago, tinderbox said:

I enjoyed this episode.

Claire has become way too self righteous.  She turns me off.  

Finally an episode where Leah is featured as more than a friend or girlfriend for Shaun.  I have always liked her character.  Happy Glassman stuck to his word and included her in his next poker game.  

Anybody else think the writers might be moving to a romantic pairing of Lim and Claire?  I’m kind of feeling that vibe.

Claire has never been the sweetheart fans made her. Because of her commitment issues, she held Jared, who was seriously in love with her and got fired because of her, at arm’s length for casual sex instead making clear that she did not want a serious relationship.

She manipulated Andrews and Aoki to get reinstated in Melendez’s team by arranging public meetings with representatives of other hospitals and making sure to be seen.

And Claire even manipulated parents to have their 18-year-old daughter declared mentally incompetent because the patient opposed Claire’s treatment plan and chose Morgan’s instead. Leaving the free climber with an impaired neck and estranged from her parents.

A Lim/Claire pairing is just like Melendez/Claire: inappropriate because of their positions within the hospital hierarchy.

It is also a misinterpretation of the characters' motivations. Lim has sacrificed her private life for the career. The divorcee misses family and kids. Claire is a surrogate daughter to Lim, similar to Shaun being a surrogate son to Glassman.

Claire doesn’t seek a lover but a parental figure that can replace her dysfunctional and often absent mother. Claire is drawn to figures of authority because her mother was not. Therefore, she crushed on her attending and boss Melendez, even as she knew that it was inappropriate.

[limecoke]

So the collective self-righteousness of the doctors over the fake cancer patient and then the public outing of said patient (which is against the law, btw), is dandy, fine and laudable. Got it.  And then these same doctors, indignant over fake cancer guy,  collaborate in a lie intended to coerce an innocent patient out of a functioning bodily organ.

In addition, couldn’t this woman get online and find out what crime the guy had committed? Then, couldn’t she sue the doctors and the hospital? Too bad Lim didn’t find out about that. 

Dear Lord, protect me from doctors like these.  Claire is getting less and less tolerable with each episode. She’s actually annoying me more than Leah.

Edited March 5, 2021 by limecoke

[Emma9]

Yeah, wtf on the two big ethical conflicts. Andrew in particular never struck me as someone who would need fight a battle like this, much less betray his oath to do it - and with the transplant, they could have tried something like "For privacy reasons, I can't give you details on the recipient's crime, but it's more complicated than you think" (which would be true of course, we never really grasp the entirety of another person's life). Or have his daughter come in to tug on her heartstrings.

 

On February 24, 2021 at 12:44 PM, CarpeFelis said:

I say this as a software engineer still coding at age 63 because I love coding and would hate being a manager. Do I ever see myself represented on TV? Hell no.

You might like Person of Interest.