S05.E17: The Lea Show

[bros402]

Quote

Sophie takes Lea out for a day full of luxurious wedding planning; after a nearly fatal oversight, Dr. Lim senses an underlying issue is behind Nurse Villanueva's unprofessional behavior.

Airdate: 5/9/2022

Edited May 10, 2022 by bros402

[bros402]

Well, uhhh, that was an episode. What a weird ending.

I was half expecting them to just go to the outside of the church and have Glassman marry them, then they go to the reception instead of something big like that

[Annber03]

1 minute ago, bros402 said:

I was half expecting them to just go to the outside of the church and have Glassman marry them, then they go to the reception instead of something big like that

I thought they were going to decide to elope or something. While I agree they should do their wedding their way, I will say that I loved Lea's wedding dress, and Claire, Lim, and Jordan looked gorgeous in their wedding attire. And I liked Morgan, Park, Asher, and his new boyfriend all talking to the camera. "That spells 'Leash'...", LOL. I like Asher's new boyfriend, they're cute together. 

And speaking of Claire, thanks, show, for reminding me once again how much I miss Claire, and her friendship with Shaun. Really loved all the interaction between them this episode. The whole thing with them reminiscing about when they first met was really sweet, and between Claire admitting she missed Shaun and the whole back and forth with her and Lim, I was briefly wondering/hoping that maybe the show would surprise us and she was coming back for good. But no. 

I liked the whole thing with Lim and Claire this episode, too. Of course Claire would struggle with a patient - even when she's visiting she can't get away from some kind of sad event - but I am glad things all worked out for that little boy in the end. 

Can't believe next week's the season finale already. Preparing for whatever they've got planned for it!

[Avabelle]

Claire’s return reminded me of why I was happy she left in the first place. We get it show she’s empathetic, kind, feels her patients pain like no other doctor ever etc etc etc yada yada yada. At this point she may as well be wearing a halo in every scene.

[cinsays]

7 hours ago, bros402 said:

Well, uhhh, that was an episode. What a weird ending.

I was half expecting them to just go to the outside of the church and have Glassman marry them, then they go to the reception instead of something big like that

yeah, i would have liked that idea.

them going somewhere on a random bus?  how does that make sense?

and i wish i had some idea of how the medical problems for the boy were actually resolved.

i thought there were 3 problems - head, heart, kidneys - but they only needed 2 operations?

but i guess we just need to know that our hero pulled it out with a solution at the last minute as usual?

[Chasity]

24 minutes ago, cinsays said:

yeah, i would have liked that idea.

them going somewhere on a random bus?  how does that make sense?

and i wish i had some idea of how the medical problems for the boy were actually resolved.

i thought there were 3 problems - head, heart, kidneys - but they only needed 2 operations?

but i guess we just need to know that our hero pulled it out with a solution at the last minute as usual?

They decided to use medication to shrink the tumor in his heart so he only needed the operations for his kidneys and his brain.

[preeya]

9 hours ago, bros402 said:

Well, uhhh, that was an episode. What a weird ending.

Reminded me of this scene from "The Graduate"

[Daff]

6 hours ago, preeya said:

Reminded me of this scene from "The Graduate"

Oh, my! Just look at that baby’s face (take your pick)!

[UsernameFatigue]

I hated this episode. 

Only one medical case and it's on a kid. Of course the kid isn't going to die. Every scene involving the medical part of the show was like watching paint dry. 

But what I really, really (really!) hated was the wedding crap. I don't know how long the cameras are supposed to have been following Sean and Lea, but we are to believe that nothing has been decided about the dress, tux, flowers, theme. etc. until 54 hours before the actual wedding? WTF x 100. 

In addition why was the decision of theme not made by Sean and Lea? Are we to believe that Lea would not know that Sean would be uncomfortable in a skinny tux? Hell I knew, and I am not marrying him. BTW, pretty much no guy looks good in a skinny tux. They just look  like they need to gain a few pounds. Also Lea's strapless dress while lovely, looked very dated as strapless was all the rage several years ago.

Finally the producer of the documentary really didn't get Sean if she thought that he would be comfortable having his stag at the strip club. How unoriginal and cringe worthy. Obviously the scene was so that Sean would come up with a way to save the kid, but very lazy writing. 

So all in all I am glad that Sean and Lea bailed and the producer will not get her reality show. But mostly I blame the writers for the whole reality show debacle. Please give these actors better material. 

[KaveDweller]

And this may be unpopular, but I thought it was rather crappy and Lea and Shaun to screw the producer. Now, I get wanting the wedding their way and not being happy with the cameras. But they agreed to be part of the show and presumably signed a contract. And Lea picked the theme. Then they change their mind and just leave her hanging? They could have at least insisted on changing the wedding style but still let her film something.

It felt very weird that they called off the wedding and then just ran off, without a separate wedding of some type.

I am glad they saved the patient and that Claire is doing well in Guatemala. I miss her though! Her scenes with Shaun reminded me that her role as a friend to Shaun was never really filled. 

 

[izabella]

I think the free wedding was supposed to be in exchange for doing the reality show.  Shaun and Leah liked the idea of having their wedding planned and paid for by the show.  Leah picking Upscale Elegance to be inspirational to others, and then Leah and Shaun deciding against it for a more personal and comfortable wedding, could work as part of the reality show.  No, there's no wedding shots, but it would probably be more meaningful for the audience to see what's authentic about their relationship. 

[UsernameFatigue]

16 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

And this may be unpopular, but I thought it was rather crappy and Lea and Shaun to screw the producer. Now, I get wanting the wedding their way and not being happy with the cameras. But they agreed to be part of the show and presumably signed a contract. And Lea picked the theme. Then they change their mind and just leave her hanging? They could have at least insisted on changing the wedding style but still let her film something.

 

 

That's why I think the writing was so bad for this storyline. I don't believe in the real world (or as much 'real' as there is in a reality show) that a reality show would give the engaged couple hours to decide on such important parts of the wedding, Or really, basically ALL of the wedding. Also I don't believe that if the groom-to-be was not consulted about what he would like for his stag, at least the friends would be. So as is written, I am glad they bailed as the producer seemed unorganized in cramming so many big decisions into what amounted to hours before the wedding.  But really the blame goes to the writers for a ridiculous storyline. or at least ridiculous as written. 

[KaveDweller]

24 minutes ago, UsernameFatigue said:

That's why I think the writing was so bad for this storyline. I don't believe in the real world (or as much 'real' as there is in a reality show) that a reality show would give the engaged couple hours to decide on such important parts of the wedding, Or really, basically ALL of the wedding. Also I don't believe that if the groom-to-be was not consulted about what he would like for his stag, at least the friends would be. So as is written, I am glad they bailed as the producer seemed unorganized in cramming so many big decisions into what amounted to hours before the wedding.  But really the blame goes to the writers for a ridiculous storyline. or at least ridiculous as written. 

Agreed, they would never wait until the last minute like that. I don't even think Lea could have gotten a dress that quickly, aren't there usually fittings and stuff? Plus they would need to hire someone to do all the catering and flowers and crap, and I don't think those companies could provide things in 24 hours.

But it was dumb to agree to go on a reality show if you didn't really want to. 

[possibilities]

I thought it was condescending as hell that Lea picked a wedding style based on the idea that she thought that style would prove that someone like Shaun can marry someone neurotypical, rather than just picking what she and Shaun would both like, and showing their love, and honoring who he really is.

 

Shaun said he wanted to do the show so other autistic people would see themselves reflected. Lea continually wanted to engineer a fake representation of both herself and him, and then decided to bail on the hwole thing, screwing over both the producer and Shaun's goal of representing for autistic people.

The producer did not say: "We'll run this surprise ending". She said they did screw her over. I'm sure IRL, there'd be a contract and they'd have to pay. And I don't think the producer did a good job at all, with all the last minute wedding stuff jammed in there after what appeared to be a long time of filming other things and having to be constantly told she was being disrespectful and insulting. But: Lea being the flake who bails, the condescending control freak who undermines Shaun's agency, and the person who for all her talk about how much she loves him, sure does act like she doesn't respect him... yet the show apparently thinks she's awesome. 

Shaun was making an effort to please her and she first ignored and then bailed on the one thing he said he wanted, which was to show other people like himself who he was.

--

I love the relationship between Claire and Shaun. For a second I thought Shaun was going to bail on Lea and kiss Claire. It would have upset the entire series, but I would have laughed really hard.

 

 

[The Wild Sow]

15 hours ago, cinsays said:

them going somewhere on a random bus?  how does that make sense?

I was gonna say, what, you’ve never seen The Graduate?! But someone beat me to it!

Shoulda had some Simon & Garfunkel playing over the scene 😁

And Shaun’s hair looked terrible all slicked up like that.

[Gramto6]

14 hours ago, preeya said:

Reminded me of this scene from "The Graduate"

Yes, that reminded me of The Graduate too!

1 minute ago, Gramto6 said:

 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Gramto6

[thuganomics85]

I know that this show can occasionally test how much credibility I can strain at times, but I really find it hard to believe that no one has done the Harry Potter theme wedding like the Sophie claimed.  Considering how rabid the fanbase can get, I have to imagine there would be some takers out there.  Hell, there are people who do Game of Thrones theme weddings, which is kind of questionable considering how GOT weddings turn out!

I liked how there was only one patient this time, but he needed three different surgeries quickly, which allowed them to use the majority of the main cast, and have different teams doing their own surgeries.  Not surprised that it turned out okay since I really doubted that they would bring Claire back only to have her lose a patient (and arguably be responsible for his death), but it was cool watching the gang play off one another.

Glad we got some Claire/Lim scenes: even if they were at odds at times.  I do think Lim had legit concerns that Claire' empathy could make her struggle with the harder calls, but I did like Lim's recent coldness wasn't out of character and that Claire noticed it as well.  While it wasn't said out loud, I wonder if the whole Salen fiasco caused Lim to put more walls around her and that's why she had been distant these past few episodes.  But it looks like she is warming back up now and even if offering Nurse Villanueva a place to stay.

With all respect to fans of bread, I'm with Park about thinking a bread maker is kind of a lame gift for a wedding.  Of course, considering that Park didn't even think about getting a gift until the last minute, he doesn't really have much of a leg to stand on.

The Shaun/Claire scenes were the highlight.  Freddie Highmore and Antonia Thomas really work well together.

Now that the wedding is off (but Shaun and Lea are still an item, I guess), I'm not sure what is in store for the finale.

[cinsays]

8 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

I was gonna say, what, you’ve never seen The Graduate?! But someone beat me to it!

Shoulda had some Simon & Garfunkel playing over the scene 😁

And Shaun’s hair looked terrible all slicked up like that.

well, yeah, of course i have seen The Graduate, but this couple is not anything like that couple and I couldn't see Shaun doing that ever

[Annber03]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

I love the relationship between Claire and Shaun. For a second I thought Shaun was going to bail on Lea and kiss Claire. It would have upset the entire series, but I would have laughed really hard.

I honestly got a bit of a similar kind of vibe from their interactions, too, yeah. I was starting to wonder if maybe they'd be about to go through with the wedding as the episode ended, and then Claire would stand up and object, leaving us on a cliffhanger for next week or something. 

[Driad]

2 hours ago, Annber03 said:

and then Claire would stand up and object

On what grounds could Claire legitimately object? She would have to know something major that we don't: that Lea and Shaun are close cousins, or that one of them is already married. Lea might have done a Las Vegas marriage that she thought didn't count, but it's a tired trope. "Don't marry her, I love you!" is even more tired, so even after the recent bad writing I hope they wouldn't do that.

[Starchild]

10 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

With all respect to fans of bread

David Gates was awesome

[Annber03]

7 hours ago, Driad said:

On what grounds could Claire legitimately object? She would have to know something major that we don't: that Lea and Shaun are close cousins, or that one of them is already married. Lea might have done a Las Vegas marriage that she thought didn't count, but it's a tired trope. "Don't marry her, I love you!" is even more tired, so even after the recent bad writing I hope they wouldn't do that.

I dunno, but yeah, the "I love you!" one was the option I was going with, if they were to go that route. TV shows love that kind of drama, and this show's had its wild moments as it is, so... 

But yeah, if the promo is anything to go by, it doesn't look like they'll do that. 

[rmontro]

23 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

And this may be unpopular, but I thought it was rather crappy and Lea and Shaun to screw the producer.

I thought it was selfish of them to an astonishing degree.  Not only did they screw over the producer, who had invested who knows how much into their wedding and the film, what about all the guests?  All those people who were invited set aside the day to get dressed up and attend their wedding, and bought gifts.  Now they're going to have to do it all over again.  Terribly inconsiderate.  All this shows me I'm still not a fan of Lea, even after all the trouble they've gone to try to rehabilitate her.

What I thought was going to happen was Lea was going to change into the simpler dress that Jordan had referred to earlier.

I think a bread machine is a fine gift.  With all the people doing keto, Atkins, and avoiding carbs though, I'm sure there are plenty of people who avoid bread.

[izabella]

Most people buy gifts off a registry.  So the bread maker might not have been just a random selection.

[The Wild Sow]

12 hours ago, Annber03 said:

For a second I thought Shaun was going to bail on Lea and kiss Claire. It would have upset the entire series, but I would have laughed really hard.

Oh, you and me both!  

"Come on! Into the supply closet for a last fling!!!"

[circumvent]

On 5/10/2022 at 10:41 PM, possibilities said:

Shaun said he wanted to do the show so other autistic people would see themselves reflected

And that's a reflection of a show written by neurotypical people, for neurotypical people who probably don't see the irony of thei statements they write for the characters. The idea of other autistic people see themselves reflected is based on the neurotypical assumption that the way to do that is to show how an autistic people can be "just like the normal ones", doing the things the neurotypical way. It is a mess

[tennisgurl]

I expected Shaun and Lea to have a small quick wedding outside of the church so that they could still get married but in a less over the top way, but I guess the show wanted to do their random The Graduate homage at the end instead. Except the whole point of that scene was the main characters realizing that impulsively blowing up their lives is probably going to leave a huge mess in its wake, I have no idea what this was trying to tell us. I wish they had just gone through with the wedding then had a smaller ceremony later, both because then they would finally be married without future drama, and because its pretty crappy of them to stop the wedding when so much work has been put into it. They did screw over the producer lady, who seems perfectly nice, and they did end up wasting a lot of peoples time and money, taking this opportunity from a couple that probably would have loved to be on this show. Plus all of their guests came out for nothing apparently, will they be returning their gifts? Or are they just going to keep them for their next, smaller wedding? I get that decided they wanted something different, but it did feel like a pretty crappy thing to do. 

Loved seeing Claire, she and Shaun are so great together. Freddie and Antonia have such natural chemistry, I have missed Claire so much. Everything with her and Lim was really interesting, they have always had an interesting relationship so I am glad that they explored it more. I wish she could stay, Shaun has plenty of friends now but none quite like Claire. Too bad she cant see Shaun and Lea getting married after they decided to postpone their wedding.

I don't think a bread maker is a particularly lame gift, especially if it was on the registry. I got tons of stuff like that when I got married and we were thrilled to get our electric wine openers and cheese makers. 

What idiot decided to take Shaun to a strip club for his bachelor party? Whoever was planning this party is terrible at their job.

[Virtual]

I guess it could have been worse for Claire. The boy could have died but not only did that not happen, but he was able to play sports afterward.

I was also a bit annoyed by how Shaun and Lea bailed on the show last minute and left their producer with no wedding to film. They knew everything that was going to happen going in, and there’s no reason why they couldn’t just dress in more comfortable wedding attire. I hope they at least still get married now and not postpone it, since Claire is still there.

I wonder if the bread maker will be something that Morgan and Park will be recalling for years. “Remember when Shaun and Lea were getting married, and you made the decision on your own to get them a bread maker without asking me about it?” 🤣

 

[aemom]

On 5/10/2022 at 8:28 PM, KaveDweller said:

Agreed, they would never wait until the last minute like that. I don't even think Lea could have gotten a dress that quickly, aren't there usually fittings and stuff? Plus they would need to hire someone to do all the catering and flowers and crap, and I don't think those companies could provide things in 24 hours.

But it was dumb to agree to go on a reality show if you didn't really want to. 

That was totally bananas to me as well.  That would have all been planned way in advance - even a week in advance would have been crazy-short notice

 

22 hours ago, rmontro said:

I thought it was selfish of them to an astonishing degree.  Not only did they screw over the producer, who had invested who knows how much into their wedding and the film, what about all the guests?  All those people who were invited set aside the day to get dressed up and attend their wedding, and bought gifts.  Now they're going to have to do it all over again.  Terribly inconsiderate.  All this shows me I'm still not a fan of Lea, even after all the trouble they've gone to try to rehabilitate her.

What I thought was going to happen was Lea was going to change into the simpler dress that Jordan had referred to earlier.

I also thought that they were just going to get changed and go on with the wedding.  Everyone was there!  Just get married already!  Geez!

[candall]

2 hours ago, aemom said:

...

 

I also thought that they were just going to get changed and go on with the wedding.  Everyone was there!  Just get married already!  Geez!

Agree.  What if everyone decided to nope out ten minutes before the service and reboot at some future point with a ceremony that they suddenly realized suited them better?  Rude!

I would have myself a new breadmaker.  Or whatever.

[possibilities]

I thought Park over-reacted about the breadmaker. He acted like she had committed some horrible crime and to me it just seemed like an excuse for him to show he was getting really fed up with her in general.

[jabRI]

I think at this point they've blown through too many chances at a 'wedding'. It was beyond rude to flake out on their guests, who took time and effort to be there.  Just get changed into casual outfits and get married already.  At this point they just need to elope, too many almost weddings.  As a guest I'd be 'fool me once..' And yeah, as someone said earlier the stag party strip scene was stupid. You know Shawn, take him for karaoke!

[rmontro]

11 hours ago, jabRI said:

I think at this point they've blown through too many chances at a 'wedding'. It was beyond rude to flake out on their guests, who took time and effort to be there.  Just get changed into casual outfits and get married already. 

Not to mention that they promised them a meal.  What happened to all that food, was it thrown out?  It's really disgusting when you think about it.  Maybe they should have made the documentary on what wasteful, inconsiderate people they were.

[tvfanatic13]

Not sure why, but I get the feeling that 

Spoiler

Glassman will die next week. 

 

[Gramto6]

5 hours ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Not sure why, but I get the feeling that 

  Reveal spoiler

Glassman will die next week. 

 

I hope not! But maybe serious medical situation from which he slowly recovers.

[SunnyBeBe]

For many years, I’ve had a pet peeve of people who cancel their wedding last minute……….(maybe, it’s from the movies or tv shows )especially, standing at the alter.  Lol. I see no reason you can’t give people a day’s notice to cancel a wedding.  After all the guests have arrived….there should be a very big reason to just call it off.  Rude indeed….of course, better call if off, if there’s good cause.  

[Avabelle]

On 5/13/2022 at 5:28 AM, possibilities said:

I thought Park over-reacted about the breadmaker. He acted like she had committed some horrible crime and to me it just seemed like an excuse for him to show he was getting really fed up with her in general.

Agreed although I do think the storyline was played for laughs. I like Reznik and despite the show trying to tell us otherwise every episode I don’t think she’s all bad. I feel like Park had been one foot out the door since they got going yet for some reason it’s being played as though she’s the issue when all she’s done since they got together is support him.

How could Claire possibly be ready for a chief of surgery role when she’s not even or would just have qualified an attending. I assume that she’s the same level as Park/Shaun. She asked for Lims opinion but then got annoyed when it wasn’t what she wanted. Lim was probably overrreacting a bit but I don’t think Claire should have asked if she didn’t want to know.

Also I’m sorry but anytime Sean has one of his visions I just find it so cheesy and tacky.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Avabelle