S07.E06: M.C.E.

[DanaK]

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TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT - The Good Doctor: "M.C.E." (706)

The team must deal with a mass casualty event that forces them to put aside their emotions following a recent tragedy.

 

[Annber03]

Aw, I liked that ending, that was a touching moment. 

Poor Jerome. He just broke my heart. I liekd him and Jordan cleaning out Asher's locker together at the end. 

Good for Shaun and Charlie finally learning to work together. And Lim...man, this is like her breakdown during the pandemic all over again. I like how they handled that, the stress of having to tell so many people their loved ones died and then trying to "save" the person you lost thorugh other patients and all that. 

It might feel a bit "neat" how quickly some of htese storylines wrapped up, but they're also short on time for the season and whatnot, so I kinda get it that way, too. I hope the reoslutions to these storylines continue on through to the end of the season and we get to see how everyone comes out of this and moves forward. 

[bros402]

This was a decent episode. I still wish we at least had a 13-16 episode final season - they bit off more than they could chew with the plot.

Hey look, another example of why Shaun shouldn't be in this situation - look at how overwhelmed her got. Lim should've put Glassman in charge, he was the perfect candidate - since he cannot operate and he has the years of experience to properly allocate resources (and, well, he's the hospital president).

The writers are hot and cold on how they are writing Charlie - they don't even say what her complaint is about, just make a mysterious thing practically bookending the episode.

Charlie was written better this episode - but you think someone other than her would've tried to center Shaun in the past? I think it is something that neurotypicals would also know how to do? Especially after knowing Shaun for seven years!

So Shaun and Charlie bonded over the meatball surgery in the ER - will they still be copacetic in the next episode, or will it go back to them being iffy? I hope that they try to avoid them butting heads, because more drama between them in the final three episodes would feel...awkward.

Also, why did it take so long for the Glassman-Charlie pairing? Glassman is the perfect mentor for her...and apparently it took two sentences from him to get both of work together peacefully? Glassy must be The Autism Whisperer.

Also, Leah, by delayed processing of grief it doesn't mean "oh, six hours after the funeral after a busy day is when he will start to express grief" - so don't chalk up him reacting at the end of the episode to that. It can take longer than that depending on the person - sometimes weeks, sometimes months - it all depends on the person (Also, I hate that the first result I get when I google that is the damn puzzle piece organization that Shall Not Be Named).

[thuganomics85]

Glad that they at least had a service for Asher, even if was cut short.  Nice of them to bring back Rabbi Benjamin from last week as well and have a heartfelt moment with Jerome.  I hope this isn't the last we will see of Jerome, but I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves/moves at some point, since it will probably be a lot to handle since he'll no doubt be seeing Asher everywhere he looks at the hospital and amongst his co-workers/friends.  Surely he'll need time to grieve.

Just when things look like they might get worse, they do an about face with Shaun and Charlie, thanks to the latter helping the former survive another potential meltdown and then successfully complete a surgery together.  A little bit pat and borderline "it takes an autistic person to truly understand/get through to another autistic person because they all share that bond" territory, but I'm all for them not dragging this out.  Instead, Charlie is now withdrawing her complaint (for now!), and Shaun not only tells her she did a good job but has the makings of being... an "adequate" surgeon.  Progress!

Poor Lim though.  She was almost in the role of the Angel of Death here, with the way her patients seem to be the ones that ended up dying.  At least she made it through things with only one mild outburst at an unruly patient (who ended up being pretty understanding/apologetic at the end.)  The scene with her mom at the end was nice.

Glassman's still got it!  And Dom steps up!

Noticed that Park was pretty much off screen during the thick of it and was only referenced during all of the surgical stuff.  I wonder if Will Yun Lee needed a lighter schedule that week, and that was why he was only really there for the opening and ending scenes.

Jordan lets her anger over what happened to Asher prevent her from giving the driver proper medical treatment, but eventually comes around, thanks in part to a speech from Jared.  Because Jared is now the wise man of the gang.

A bonus with these mass casualty episodes (man, no way not to sound a little psychotic when I word it like that!) is that it's fun seeing all of the recurring nurses in the thick of it and getting moments to standout.

[Diana Berry]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Glad that they at least had a service for Asher, even if was cut short.  Nice of them to bring back Rabbi Benjamin from last week as well and have a heartfelt moment with Jerome.  I hope this isn't the last we will see of Jerome, but I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves/moves at some point, since it will probably be a lot to handle since he'll no doubt be seeing Asher everywhere he looks at the hospital and amongst his co-workers/friends.  Surely he'll need time to grieve.

Just when things look like they might get worse, they do an about face with Shaun and Charlie, thanks to the latter helping the former survive another potential meltdown and then successfully complete a surgery together.  A little bit pat and borderline "it takes an autistic person to truly understand/get through to another autistic person because they all share that bond" territory, but I'm all for them not dragging this out.  Instead, Charlie is now withdrawing her complaint (for now!), and Shaun not only tells her she did a good job but has the makings of being... an "adequate" surgeon.  Progress!

Poor Lim though.  She was almost in the role of the Angel of Death here, with the way her patients seem to be the ones that ended up dying.  At least she made it through things with only one mild outburst at an unruly patient (who ended up being pretty understanding/apologetic at the end.)  The scene with her mom at the end was nice.

Glassman's still got it!  And Dom steps up!

Noticed that Park was pretty much off screen during the thick of it and was only referenced during all of the surgical stuff.  I wonder if Will Yun Lee needed a lighter schedule that week, and that was why he was only really there for the opening and ending scenes.

Jordan lets her anger over what happened to Asher prevent her from giving the driver proper medical treatment, but eventually comes around, thanks in part to a speech from Jared.  Because Jared is now the wise man of the gang.

A bonus with these mass casualty episodes (man, no way not to sound a little psychotic when I word it like that!) is that it's fun seeing all of the recurring nurses in the thick of it and getting moments to standout.

I noticed park missing too .  I just figured they may have cut some  scenes since there was so much going on or like you said he needed time off.  Jared wasn’t used that much either. 
 

 

[Daff]

9 hours ago, bros402 said:

tried to center Shaun in the past?

The visual was amazing. He routinely visualizes the solution to the problem within the human anatomy, but this is the first time he’s done so to manage the people in the physical environment. Seems strange the skill never generalized till this incident. Didn’t he have a meltdown during the COVID mass casualty episode? 

Really happy Dom is over his aversion to blood.

[tennisgurl]

At some point these guys have to wonder if God has it out for them personally, they're in the middle of their friends funeral after he was hate crimed to death only to get called into work to handle a mass casualty event due to an act of domestic terrorism. What a day, they're going to need a whole lot more cookies. Poor Jerome, I feel like he'll be leaving soon, having to spend every day in the place he and Asher fell in love in would be so hard, especially in such a high stress job.

They handled everyone's grief over losing Asher well, but I still don't like that they killed him off. It seems like his character arc could have been better fulfilled by coming to terms with the many aspects of himself, getting over his bitterness towards religion (without getting religion again) and finding happiness with Jerome instead of being beaten to death the second things start really going well for him. Its just such a cliché, the character who is about to get married/have a child/retire/finally deal with their angst immediately dies to maximize the audiences tears, and that's not even getting into the whole thing of the shows most major LGBTQ character being killed off for the sake of drama. I'm sorry, I just thought that we were moving past these clichés, but I guess writers can never resist. 

Putting Charlie and Glassman together seems so obvious, he would be a great mentor for her. This is probably the best they have written her so far and I am glad that she and Shaun seem to have made peace, even if it was all a bit pat with the "autistic people can help other autistic people" thing. I do like the idea of Shaun bonding with another person who also has autism, I don't think he knows many other autistic people and if he got his hackles down and Charlie learned to handle the workplace more, they could have a good relationship.

[bros402]

14 hours ago, Daff said:

The visual was amazing. He routinely visualizes the solution to the problem within the human anatomy, but this is the first time he’s done so to manage the people in the physical environment. Seems strange the skill never generalized till this incident. Didn’t he have a meltdown during the COVID mass casualty episode? 

Really happy Dom is over his aversion to blood.

Yup - that visualization was much better than Shaun's Magic Autism Vision that pops up during surgery. That's just pathfinding and thinking through a problem logically.

Yeah - he had a meltdown during the COVID episode when the noise of the fluorescent lights overwhelmed him. I'm guessing the writers would say "well he's improved himself even more now!" or something like that

12 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Putting Charlie and Glassman together seems so obvious, he would be a great mentor for her. This is probably the best they have written her so far and I am glad that she and Shaun seem to have made peace, even if it was all a bit pat with the "autistic people can help other autistic people" thing. I do like the idea of Shaun bonding with another person who also has autism, I don't think he knows many other autistic people and if he got his hackles down and Charlie learned to handle the workplace more, they could have a good relationship.

Yeah - the "autistic people helping autistic people" was a bit annoying, but at least Kayla Cromer was given some decent material this episode (Or at least the part where she helped Shaun through the sensory overload - since it makes sense she would be able to do that, given the differences in their upbringing. Charlie said in an earlier episode that she had a para during school, versus Shaun who had his... traumatic upbringing). 

Shaun doesn't interact with other autistics by choice - I think that was established in season 2? That could be a contributing factor to Shaun pretty much instantly rejecting Charlie.

As a side note, with the autistics teaching autistics - I had something similar today. I'm in a weekly writing group for young adults with cancer and all of the prompts this month are based on things by autistic individuals, due to autism awareness month. I'm the only autistic in the group - the others in the group have said that my point of view is interesting/helpful, so they can see how an autistic individual processes the prompts vs. their neurotypical selves.

[circumvent]

I didn't really like the episode. The celebration of life was touching, until Jordan decided to speak her mind. I cannot stand her, the self-righteousness, the arrogance. She should not be a doctor, if she refuses care based on her feelings.

It was way over the top, the mass casualties, all of them in one hospital. It defies my ability to suspend disbelief. 

And surprise! The hospital actually has 8 other surgeons, but of course they are all in some conference. They should have told Park to suit up in his super-surgeon gear and operate on everyone, with only one resident and one nurse. I mean, he can do micro surgery, orthopedics, brain surgery and any other modality without a single test to clear the patients. Surely he would be able to save them all.

I thought it was a waste and I had a hard time watching to the end, so bored I was.

[chitowngirl]

On 4/10/2024 at 6:16 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Instead, Charlie is now withdrawing her complaint (for now!),

The “for now” really irritated me. As long as she’s getting her way, she’ll keep the complaint withdrawn.

[Artsda]

I really don't like Jordan, she stood up and made it about her anger. I wish she's be killed off instead.

The ending made me teary, it was so sad. 

[bros402]

10 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

The “for now” really irritated me. As long as she’s getting her way, she’ll keep the complaint withdrawn.

Yeah, the "for now" felt unnecessary. The writers know by this point that this is the final season, no need to leave that dangling.

[Daff]

On 4/11/2024 at 7:23 AM, circumvent said:

It was way over the top, the mass casualties,

I had similar feelings-about the unrelenting onslaught. Reminded me of Code Black where, due to logistics and volume, it was an expected daily occurrence. In any ER, the paramedics would not be roaming around, distracting the working doctors.