S01.E12: Islands - Part II

[SnarkyTart]

The twins suffer complications from their surgery forcing the team at San Jose Bonaventure Hospital to make a life-changing decision. Meanwhile Dr. Shaun Murphy returns to the hospital after his trip with Lea and decides he needs a more permanent change and gives Dr. Aaron Glassman his two weeks' notice.

[Annber03]

I was afraid one of the twins would die. Ergh. It's a more realistic outcome, given how iffy a lot of these types of surgeries can be and all, and with all the complications piling up (and I will say that I think all the back and forth got a little overwhelming after a while-I felt like I was on a rollercoaster much of this episode with that storyline), but still. I'd hoped for a miracle regardless. That ending brought tears to my eyes. 

Obviously Shaun staying isn't a surprise, but still, nice little parting scene between him and Lea. The gift was sweet, as were her parting words of encouragement to him. And I like that Claire telling Shaun she'd miss him was a factor in his deciding to stay, too :). 

Melendez and Jessica breaking up wasn't a surprise, either-she's right that the kid thing would become an issue eventually for them. Be interesting to see how that impacts them going forward (if the promo for next week is any indication, clearly not well).

Also will be interesting to see how Jared fares now he's back at work-seems he may be Andrews' new target of sorts going forward. Maybe it might've also helped Jared's argument to point out that while the hospital was right to have fired him over his physical assault, they're going to have to explain why a doctor who's harassed a woman is still on staff. If I recall rightly, they don't seem to know the full extent of that doctor's harassment history, since Claire had threatened last episode to further expose his behavior if Jared didn't come back to work. But I believe they know about the situation with Claire, at least, and I would think that'd warrant some further investigation of the guy. 

[tennisgurl]

Oh that was a sad ending with the twins. I figured that something like that would happen, but it was still hard to see. I guess they cant have a win every time, and thats a good story choice, but it still sucks to see it happen, especially after so many false hopes. At least one survived. 

I knew that Shaun would stick around, and it sucks that Lea is leaving, but it was still a good moment for his character. He ended things with her on a good note, and is trying to learn something from his mistakes the way an responsible person would. I will miss Lea though. I thought she could push Shaun too hard sometimes and could get him to indulge in some bad behavior, but she really cared about him, and just saw him as a normal guy who she liked, and not Autism Man, and I think that was something he really appreciated, and was good for him.

I figured that Melendez and Jessica wouldn't last very long, with Melendez clearly wanting to have a kid, and Jessica not wanting to. I dont know how I feel about that. The break up was handled pretty well, but I dont really feel connected with Jessica like I do with the other characters. I dont dislike her, usually, but I dont really like her either. Melendez has become a really likable, engaging character, even when he is being rather arrogant, so in the breakup, I end up just feeling like "well, I guess she will still be here. Or something. Poor Melendez." because I dont really care about her running around trying to keep the hospital from getting sued. Maybe now they can give her more to do? She just isn't very memorable the way the other characters are, as of now. 

Jared ends up back at work, but with a shadow over him. They really need to deal with Dr. Harassment, even before they worry about Jared. Jared definitely did something wrong, and he needs to acknowledge that, but they have a guy running around sexually harassing women, maybe they should worry about that a bit more? 

I thought it was sweet when Claire told Shaun she would miss him if he was gone. With Lea gone, Shaun needs friends. A lot. 

[Annber03]

18 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Maybe now they can give her more to do? She just isn't very memorable the way the other characters are, as of now. 

Yeah, I hope we can get to know her a little better in her own right going forward, too, 'cause I think there's some interesting tidbits about her and her life worth delving into further. There's that connection she has to Glassman, for instance-lots of story potential there, and given how career-driven she is, I think that could provide for some good storylines for her, too. It'd also be interesting to explore how tough it can be for her to help keep the hospital going as she does, and show us more of the sorts of issues she sometimes runs up against with her job. 

[possibilities]

Shaun didn't get that Melendez was angry. That flew by, and I wasn't 100% convinced it was in character. But I did have an autistic friend who totally missed a lot of what I thought were obvious cues that people were angry with her, so it's not completely unrealistic, either.

I thought it was a big mistake for everyone to refuse to let the twins be in the same room after their surgery .I know they thought they were doing the right thing, but I still was relieved when Claire prevailed on Andrews to approve it.

One thing I didn't understand at all was how, after re-joining them, it was supposed to work for one of them to be in a coma. Jenny would have to stay in bed next to her, right? There would be no going on to school or leaving the hospital whatsoever. Was the idea to just do it while waiting for either Katie to die (which they said could possibly take 20 years) or a heart transplant to become available for Jenny?

[luna1122]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

 

I figured that Melendez and Jessica wouldn't last very long, with Melendez clearly wanting to have a kid, and Jessica not wanting to. I dont know how I feel about that. The break up was handled pretty well, but I dont really feel connected with Jessica like I do with the other characters. I dont dislike her, usually, but I dont really like her either. Melendez has become a really likable, engaging character, even when he is being rather arrogant, so in the breakup, I end up just feeling like "well, I guess she will still be here. Or something. Poor Melendez." because I dont really care about her running around trying to keep the hospital from

Beau Garrett was one reason, aside from Freddie Highmore, that I watched this show originally...I have a little bit of a girl crush on her, and it's been fun ,as one of maybe 7 people who actually watched "Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce', to see the mini reunion (tho I'm not sure they've even shared a scene...maybe one?) with her Girlfriends co-star Necar Zadegan, who's playing Dr. Ko.  But yeah, I don't have much of a sense of Jessica, and I'd like to. She's a good actor, who made me care about a character I didn't even initially like on Girlfriend's Guide, so I'd like to see her fleshed out and not just be a pretty blonde cipher, as she is here so far.

I'm of mixed opinions about her breaking off her engagement....he still wanted to marry her, despite wanting kids when she doesn't. He's right...sometimes we don't get everything we want, but we can have some of the things we want...he wants her. No guarantees he'll fall in love again, or love someone enough to marry them, let alone have kids with, or maybe he settles and has kids....but doesn't really have love, which means he loses, and his wife loses, and Jessica loses, etc. Or maybe it's all for the best...but relationships are all, ultimately, kind of a crap shoot, or, more elegantly, a leap of faith.

[vibeology]

I get that Shaun is conflict avoidant, but I feel like he still hasn't really had his reckoning with Glassman and that needs to happen. Glassman says he's going to back off but I don't get the sense he's engaged with why he's too involved in Shaun's life (probably something to do with his mystery daughter) and Shaun hasn't really addressed the fact that he could benefit from some support/therapy because of his childhood.

That being said, there was never really any doubt about Shaun staying. This is the show. The drama was how he was going to decide that and I'm glad it came from Claire. I'm glad we saw Melendez support him and say true, glowing things about him. I'm glad we got to see Shaun deeply engaged in his work. I'm glad Shaun had multiple reasons to stay beyond Glassman saying the right words.

The twin stuff took too many twists and turns. I don't even know which one was alive at the end. And I think that's a shame because both actresses were great as was the mother. I really tried to follow this because I did care about them but it was just too convoluted. I also spent considerable time figuring out the logistics of linking them back up. If one was a vegetable that would trap the other in bed until the one twin died. They weren't even acting like it was meant to be a temporary thing. I just got lost in the case.

Jared's story was so frustrating. I'm rarely pro-Andrews but I was so happy when he called Jared out. Jared deserved to be fired. That other people weren't fired when they should have been doesn't change the reality of Jared's situation. The situation, while shitty, had nothing to do with race but he leveraged it to get something he wanted. I think so little of Jared now.

Melendez has quickly become my favourite character. I loved his brief conversation with Glassman about Shaun's letter. I loved the way he dealt with Shaun when Shaun came back. He made it clear Shaun was wrong but he didn't pull that punishment stuff from the beginning of the season. I like that he was diligent folding his laundry and that scene was the first time I got Melendez and Jessica's relationship. They actually do have some chemistry together. Still, that breakup was predictable and I don't really care. I think there's something really patronizing about breaking up with someone "for their own good" but it's something that happens in TV and real life all the time.

[greekmom]

What really bothered me was Andrew’s speech to Jared near the end.  How Jared played the race card to get his job back which was wrong of him to do (according to Andrew).  Yes Jared played the card but in my opinion he did play the wrong card.  Allegra did acknowledge to Jessica that the other two doctors were only given a slap on the wrists due to their “donor power”.  If Jared was on excellent terms with his parents, I am very sure Allegra would have only given him a slap on the wrist. 

Jared had a point.  There needs to be consistency across the board.  And why have they not tossed the douchebag out who actually made advances to Claire?

On a better note, I am liking Melendez a lot more than the first couple of episodes.

[Blue Plastic]

Hmm, I thought they'd drag out the 2 weeks' notice situation a little longer and he'd have more difficulty handling the almost surely inedible loss of Lea, but it was all wrapped up rather easily.  Jared coming back on the scene was a bit abrupt.

Too bad both twins couldn't make it.  Sure, it's fairly realistic that one of them might not survive, but it's hard for me to buy that the one who wasn't getting much blood circulation in her brain for hours? days? is the one who ended up making it.

[elle]

16 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Jared ends up back at work, but with a shadow over him. They really need to deal with Dr. Harassment, even before they worry about Jared. Jared definitely did something wrong, and he needs to acknowledge that, but they have a guy running around sexually harassing women, maybe they should worry about that a bit more? 

I was expecting the big reveal from the lawyer would be about the reason Jared hit the other doctor with additional complaints about sexual harassment by that doctor.  (not to mean that what Jared did was justified, it was not) This could not be the first time it had happened.  Did Claire not file a complaint?  While it should not matter, she did have a witness to the event willing to back up her statement.

The show better address this issue.

Edited January 17, 2018 by elle

[JenMcSnark]

This is the first episode I really didn't like. 

I thought Freddie played Shaun over the top.  He seemed to have assimilated Lea's worst personality traits.  He comes back and shoves his way into a conversation/case that he has not had any part of?  He is flippant and disrespectful IMO? He still doesn't have any sort of conversation really with anyone about why he's going or what the problems have been.  No real resolution to anything.  No growth. 

I liked Melendez and Claire,  but it was all too brief. 

Hated the reasons/way Jessica broke up with Melendez.  She was so selfish and said something like 'I can't take it when you break my heart' so she decides to proactively break his heart?  I know it does happen, but it's so stupid and especially in this case when so far they've had no indication Melendez is going to be resentful.  In fact he seemed to be embracing it.  I totally agree with Luna1122's statement below. Especially with his age, career, etc.  

5 hours ago, luna1122 said:

(snip)

I'm of mixed opinions about her breaking off her engagement....he still wanted to marry her, despite wanting kids when she doesn't. He's right...sometimes we don't get everything we want, but we can have some of the things we want...he wants her. No guarantees he'll fall in love again, or love someone enough to marry them, let alone have kids with, or maybe he settles and has kids....but doesn't really have love, which means he loses, and his wife loses, and Jessica loses, etc. Or maybe it's all for the best...but relationships are all, ultimately, kind of a crap shoot, or, more elegantly, a leap of faith.

And I really don't want this show to be about drama for drama's sake.  They've done a good job of avoiding that so far.

I hated that Shaun was such a special snowflake to the visiting doctor (who knew him all of 15 minutes) and already decided that not only was he the most fabulous doctor in all of doctordumb, but that the extremely successful surgeons and staff surrounding him are all jealous of him.  And we seemed to be back to Shaun immediately having the right answer for absolutely everything so that visiting doctor could further gush over him and inflate his ego and once again damage his perceptions of others much like Lea did with how Shawn perceives Dr. Glassman.

And speaking of that...Lea tells Shaun in this ep that Glassman is just trying to help and of course Shaun magically believes it.   And she tells him maybe he would benefit from therapy and of course he magically believes it.  I actually liked Lea up until the last two episodes.

I kind of liked the twins and their storyline, but it did seem like they were jerking us around for drama's sake.  And I saw every twist coming a mile away.  So fail on that too. 

The only things I did really appreciate was Claire and Melendez being their for Shawn in a healthy way.  But now of course I'm worried that Shaun is going to think Claire is attached to him in a romantic way because they really didn't sell me with the Shaun and Lea romance but he fell for that.

I liked the Jared storyline and Dr. Andrews speech at the end.   That all felt really real to me.  And even though she said it was about donations, it still quite possibly could be about race and/or both.   And add into the two (three?) cases mentioned, you have the white creepy doctor hitting on the black subordinate and nothing is done.  But I agree with Dr. Andrews and also agree with posters that Jared doesn't seem to have learned anything from this whole thing. 

And the preview has me worried that they just might be fucking up this show that I love. 

[Lady Calypso]

I go back and forth on Lea, but I do think that I will miss her and her friendship with Shaun. Even for all of her individual faults, the one thing I loved about her was that she treated Shaun like a completely normal person. She went to him to talk to him about her problems, she got upset when he was blunt but ultimately accepted that she liked his blunt honesty, and she never walked on eggshells around him, nor was she downright rude to him about his autism. It's really refreshing to have a character like that, because so often, characters don't accept autism for what it is. Hell, Melendez even had to go on his own journey to finally accept Shaun as a competent doctor. 

But, at least there's still Claire. She's treated him fairly normal. I liked how her conversation helped Shaun to realize that he should stay. And I liked Lea/Shaun's final scene. Even though she treated him like a normal person for the last 12 episodes, even she went through some growth with asking him if she could touch him. Damn; I do think that I'm going to miss Lea especially when they bring in Shaun's next love interest. I don't think I'll be as lucky with a character like Lea. But who knows; maybe things will be different than what I picture. 

Yeah, I'm feeling very unsettled with Jared. I've grown from not liking him to warming up to him to not liking him again. I don't mind his storyline, but I dislike the fact that he asked his lawyer to do what was necessary all for his job. I don't like Andrews at all, but he had a point about the way he got his job back. Yes, Dr. Sexual Harassment should be rightfully punished for what he did. But what Jared did was wrong as well. Holding the race card over the hospital's head so they could give him his job back is not the right way to handle things either. It's a messy situation that is far from over, so we'll see how Jared handles things now that he's back at work. 

I don't hate the Melendez/Jessica breakup, because it felt realistic. It's also nice to have Jessica break things off so that Melendez can be a dad and they don't have to go through an even messier breakup down the road. However, I didn't feel all that much toward their relationship because we didn't get all that much to see. Jessica's been such a mishandled character, much like Tamlyn Tomita's character, who was upgraded to a series regular early in the season and hasn't been seen much. If they want Jessica to be a main character, they'll have to find something for her to do. But I do think it's harder when she's not a doctor, so she can't really be around much during the work scenes. 

The twins storyline was pretty sad. Too many twists and turns to make it feel entirely realistic, though I don't understand medicine in general so what do I know? I don't hate that one of the twins died. Sometimes, that kind of stuff happens. 

[DearEvette]

Last week I liked the twin storyline  This week all it did was hella confuse me.  I still have no idea which one lived. 

Everything else I enjoyed.  I continue to like how well they've rehabbed Melendez from the pretty awful person he was in the first few eps.  Claire's character just gets better each episode and I am really enjoying the relationship they are carving out for her and Shaun.

The Jared sitch is messy in both a good and bad way.  In his own way, he is just as privileged as those rich donor doctors who got the wrist slaps.  He has the money to hire a private lawyer to get him back in his job and to do it in a way that does disadvantage others who are really being persecuted for race.  It is really great that the show is diverse enough so that it can deploy an Asian female Administrator and a black male doctor to argue the issue whereas  it might have sounded a somewhat defensive coming from a white doctor.

I am wondering is the Melendez/ Jessica (man I had to look up her name still) is the network realizing they don't work and hopefully freeing up the actress to do more  Maybe it'll be the blossoming of her character?

I won't miss Leah. At all.

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

The Jared sitch is messy in both a good and bad way.  In his own way, he is just as privileged as those rich donor doctors who got the wrist slaps.  He has the money to hire a private lawyer to get him back in his job and to do it in a way that does disadvantage others who are really being persecuted for race.  It is really great that the show is diverse enough so that it can deploy an Asian female Administrator and a black male doctor to argue the issue whereas  it might have sounded a somewhat defensive coming from a white doctor.

A very good point. I actually like the shades this whole storyline has brought to Jared. I think he's overall a decent guy, and generally means well much of the time, but yeah, situations like this, and the way Claire called him out for the way he initially brushed off her complaints about creepy doctor dude, show he's still got some learning of his own to do. It'll be interesting to see how he sorts things out going forward, and what he takes away from this whole situation. 

On a semi-related note, Claire's made mention now of having an unstable home life when she was younger, and living in a trailer. She clearly didn't come from privilege. Jared did. That's factored into their respective responses to the whole thing with the assault and harassment issues, as you noted, but I wonder if that's caused any issues in their relationship in general thus far as well? Wouldn't surprise me. 

[SnarkyTart]

2 hours ago, JenMcSnark said:

This is the first episode I really didn't like.

I didn't like this one, or last week's Part 1 of this two-parter.

2 hours ago, JenMcSnark said:

And the preview has me worried that they just might be fucking up this show that I love. 

I share your concern.  I've liked every episode, loved some of them, except for these last two, "Islands" Part 1 and Part 2.  I checked wikipedia to see who the writers were, and it shows that the same team of co-writers, Thomas L. Moran and William Rotko, wrote both of these episodes.  Neither of them have been writers on any previous episodes.  Thankfully, next week's episode "Seven Reasons" has a team of co-writers, Hoselton and Shore, who have individually written other episodes I've enjoyed: David Shore wrote episode 2, ""Mount Rushmore", and David Hoselton wrote episode 5, "Point Three Percent".  So I'm using this information to keep me from being inconsolable about stupid writing destroying one of my favorite new shows.  Maybe it was a temporary lapse, however unfortunate that it came past the mid-point of the first season.

These last two "Islands" episodes, for me, were so much soap opera and hospital melodrama, lacking in the complexity and nuance of many of the previous episodes.  The writers also seemed to go off track in their understanding of the character development that previous writers had consistently built upon.  To find myself abruptly disliking Glassman (for his psycho intrusion into Lea's apartment) and Kalu (for gratuitously pulling the race card, without regard to damaging real cases of racism in the workplace), was disturbing.   Lea, who I had enjoyed in episodes previous to "Islands" Part 1, became someone I was glad to see the last of.  Even Shaun wasn't nearly as likable and sympathetic as he's been prior to this, and that's a real crime.  IMO.

[possibilities]

RE Jared's story: I love how layered it is. He's wrong in two ways now, both of which are very serious in my book. But the hospital is also wrong in other serious ways. The messiness is what makes it a great story.

It's super frustrating... like so many things on this show--  Melendez/Jessica (I feel wrong using his last name and her first name, but I don't know his first or her last), and the situations the twins were in are also very messy and complicated-- but in a way that is interesting rather than just annoying, at least to me.

[Annber03]

Melendez' first name is Neil, and according to Wikipedia, Jessica's last name is Preston. I'm trying to get in the habit of referring to Melendez by his first name, too :p. 

I fully agree with you on the messiness of all these situations being interesting, too. 

[JenMcSnark]

2 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

I didn't like this one, or last week's Part 1 of this two-parter.

I share your concern.  I've liked every episode, loved some of them, except for these last two, "Islands" Part 1 and Part 2.  I checked wikipedia to see who the writers were, and it shows that the same team of co-writers, Thomas L. Moran and William Rotko, wrote both of these episodes.  Neither of them have been writers on any previous episodes.  Thankfully, next week's episode "Seven Reasons" has a team of co-writers, Hoselton and Shore, who have individually written other episodes I've enjoyed: David Shore wrote episode 2, ""Mount Rushmore", and David Hoselton wrote episode 5, "Point Three Percent".  So I'm using this information to keep me from being inconsolable about stupid writing destroying one of my favorite new shows.  Maybe it was a temporary lapse, however unfortunate that it came past the mid-point of the first season.

These last two "Islands" episodes, for me, were so much soap opera and hospital melodrama, lacking in the complexity and nuance of many of the previous episodes.  The writers also seemed to go off track in their understanding of the character development that previous writers had consistently built upon.  To find myself abruptly disliking Glassman (for his psycho intrusion into Lea's apartment) and Kalu (for gratuitously pulling the race card, without regard to damaging real cases of racism in the workplace), was disturbing.   Lea, who I had enjoyed in episodes previous to "Islands" Part 1, became someone I was glad to see the last of.  Even Shaun wasn't nearly as likable and sympathetic as he's been prior to this, and that's a real crime.  IMO.

Well, hopefully they don't write any future episodes.  It totally felt like a different show with different characters.

Shaun couldn't even speak as well as he normally does!  Maybe some of it was direction to. And Lea's line "Are you a good doctor Shaun?" was so stupid and a really poor way of bringing in the title to me.  I thought she was going to follow it up with "Yass! you're a GOOD doctor! Good doctor!"

[SnarkyTart]

31 minutes ago, JenMcSnark said:

Well, hopefully they don't write any future episodes.  It totally felt like a different show with different characters.

What of the conjoined twins?  First we separate them so they can have individual lives.  Then one goes into a coma.  Then the other one has heart problems.  So we’re going to do a heart transplant using the comatose twin as a donor.  But then the comatose one miraculously wakes up.  But the one with the heart problems gets worse, so we re-join them to take the workload off the problem heart.  But somehow that causes even worse heart problems, and the heart problem twin dies.  But the other one doesn’t want to have the dead one un-joined.  Then we do un-join them and now everything will be okay.  Maybe. Or something like that.  It was incomprehensible.  I felt like I was watching an old episode of “General Hospital”.

32 minutes ago, JenMcSnark said:

Shaun couldn't even speak as well as he normally does!  Maybe some of it was direction to. And Lea's line "Are you a good doctor Shaun?" was so stupid and a really poor way of bringing in the title to me.  I thought she was going to follow it up with "Yass! you're a GOOD doctor! Good doctor!"

It made me think of The Wizard of Oz.  I thought Lea was going to say "Are you a good doctor, or a bad doctor?"

[BookThief]

1 hour ago, JenMcSnark said:

Well, hopefully they don't write any future episodes.  It totally felt like a different show with different characters.

Shaun couldn't even speak as well as he normally does!  Maybe some of it was direction to. And Lea's line "Are you a good doctor Shaun?" was so stupid and a really poor way of bringing in the title to me.  I thought she was going to follow it up with "Yass! you're a GOOD doctor! Good doctor!"

I came here just to bitch about that line. It was awful! Dear God, who let that leave the writer's room? I don't even normally pay attention to that kind of thing, but it had nothing to do with anything in that moment and was just the stupidest thing I've ever heard in a long time. Well, on a scripted TV drama anyway. It was a shithole of a line. If they had left it out I would have been fine and never noticed anything amiss. Ugh. Blech. Ick.

[Pink-n-Green]

5 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Last week I liked the twin storyline  This week all it did was hella confuse me.  I still have no idea which one lived. 

I laughed so hard when I read this and then thought to myself, "Eh, that's not a laughing matter."  Then I read it again and laughed even harder :)

I think I am in the minority that I liked Lea but maybe I only liked her because I found out the actress is from near Pittsburgh and that's my hometown.  Come to think of it, before I knew that, she kind of annoyed me.

[Fable]

I thought the episode was okay, better than the last one, but I hope they are not going to sacrifice substance for drama. 

I had a feeling the twin story was going to end tragically, but I thought it would have been better if both twins had died so they could remain together.  Obviously that is what they wanted. 

I’m not invested in Melendez and Jessica, but I hate the trope where one person decides to break up with someone else because they decide that they know what is best for the other person.  They talked about this last week and seemingly came up with a workable solution.  Aren’t all relationships about negotiating? 

[aemom]

As for what happened with the twins: Katie was in a coma because her brain was not getting enough oxygen. Jenny's heart was not strong enough to keep her alive. So they took Katie off the respirator to give Jenny Katie's heart, except Katie didn't die. They reconnected them so that Jenny could stay alive until Katie died - but who knew how long that was going to be?

Then Katie woke up. Jenny finally died because her heart couldn't keep her alive.  So Katie lived, but I don't know if she was Harvard or Yale.

I think that sometime soon Jared might wish that he had taken the money and ran.

[statsgirl]

6 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

it shows that the same team of co-writers, Thomas L. Moran and William Rotko, wrote both of these episodes.  Neither of them have been writers on any previous episodes. 

Thomas Moran was one of the writers and producers on House, David Shore's old show. I would be very surprised if he didn't write more for this show.

14 hours ago, vibeology said:

I get that Shaun is conflict avoidant, but I feel like he still hasn't really had his reckoning with Glassman and that needs to happen. Glassman says he's going to back off but I don't get the sense he's engaged with why he's too involved in Shaun's life (probably something to do with his mystery daughter) and Shaun hasn't really addressed the fact that he could benefit from some support/therapy because of his childhood.

You can't force someone into therapy though, especially someone on the autism spectrum.  Glassman needs to accept that.

[Lady Calypso]

6 hours ago, SnarkyTart said:

I share your concern.  I've liked every episode, loved some of them, except for these last two, "Islands" Part 1 and Part 2.  I checked wikipedia to see who the writers were, and it shows that the same team of co-writers, Thomas L. Moran and William Rotko, wrote both of these episodes.  Neither of them have been writers on any previous episodes.  Thankfully, next week's episode "Seven Reasons" has a team of co-writers, Hoselton and Shore, who have individually written other episodes I've enjoyed: David Shore wrote episode 2, ""Mount Rushmore", and David Hoselton wrote episode 5, "Point Three Percent".  So I'm using this information to keep me from being inconsolable about stupid writing destroying one of my favorite new shows.  Maybe it was a temporary lapse, however unfortunate that it came past the mid-point of the first season.

Well, William Rotko also has a credit on writing the third episode in the series, the one with the transplant on the highway (an episode which I don't think I enjoyed much either). , and Thomas Moran wrote the fourth episode. I do know of Thomas' previous work on House, as he's written several episodes there which I actually enjoyed. I'm hoping this was just a small lapse in writing judgment from both writers, as I think they're sticking around. 

[thuganomics85]

Damn, show!  Way to just toy with the audience with the twins, huh?  One ways, but the other one is in a coma and likely to die.  But then they find out that the first one's heart is actually weak, so they plan on giving the second one's heart to her.  But then suddenly, they take her off the respirator and she gets better!  One thing leads to another and both of them get reattached, and things seems OK for the moment.  And then... the first one ends up dying still.  I can only imagine how the surviving twin and the mother are going to move forward from here.  Because all of that was rough!

Obviously not surprised that Shaun ended up staying at the end, but I wonder just how much damage this might have caused still.  Even though he promised he would back off, I still suspect Glassman will not be able to help himself once Shaun does something again he doesn't approve of.  And then there is Shaun, who I don't get the sense he realizes how much Melendez and the rest were affected by him taking off on a road-trip to "find himself" or whatnot.  I know they have been lenient in the past and Melendez even seems to be warming up to him, but he really needs to realize how unprofessional that was, if he wants to grow and succeed in this industry.

Jared already finds himself back, by having his fancy lawyer find out cases where the hospital were more forgiving with white doctors instead of him, so they relent in order to avoid being accused of discrimination.  But now he's just made an enemy out of Andrews, who is someone you really probably don't want hating your ass.  Uh oh!

Sigh... again, I actually liked the idea of Melendez/Jessica staying strong and Melendez finding happiness by mentoring children, but of course, she ends up just calling it off, because she fears he will grow to resent her.  There are so many ways I could argue against that, but whatever.  Clearly just a way to have him and Claire grow closer.

I did like that it seem like it was Claire's words that finally made Shaun decided to stay. 

[Mystery Author]

Quote

 It was a shithole of a line.

Now THAT'S the way you use shithole (without repercussions)  :)

Quote

It made me think of The Wizard of Oz.  I thought Lea was going to say "Are you a good doctor, or a bad doctor?"

LOL. So did I. Great minds.

[funky-rat]

16 hours ago, AEMom said:

As for what happened with the twins: Katie was in a coma because her brain was not getting enough oxygen. Jenny's heart was not strong enough to keep her alive. So they took Katie off the respirator to give Jenny Katie's heart, except Katie didn't die. They reconnected them so that Jenny could stay alive until Katie died - but who knew how long that was going to be?

Then Katie woke up. Jenny finally died because her heart couldn't keep her alive.  So Katie lived, but I don't know if she was Harvard or Yale.

Katie was Yale.  The twin with the bad heart was Harvard.  She woke up first, and she said to the doctor who was giving her the words and stuff "I'm going to Harvard, you know".

[NeverLate]

Whoa, this one was a rollercoaster of feelings. Their poor, poor mother!

Shaun was so sure he wanted to leave, because he met his first love, may he have many more.

[jhlipton]

I thought of the twins as Good Brain, Bad Heart and Bad Brain, Good Heart.  BBGH (aka "Yale") lived and GBBH (aka "Harvard") died. 

What I found unbelievable was that BBGH seemed not to have suffered any mental loss at all, in spite of having major loss of oxygen to her brain.  It brought back very unpleasant memories of the Terri Schiavo case.

[hatchetgirl]

 Claire and Melendez are my 2 faves art this point.  Glassman and Shaun are a given - both brilliant actors. I Love the opportunity for Shaun to leave his comfort zone and visit lea.

All in all, it's turning out to be a good little show. 

[Driad]

The surviving twin is likely to have neurological problems.

Were we told the age of the twins?  Since they were getting ready to go to college, they might be 18, which AFAIK is the age at which they could legally make their own medical decisions. Or they might not.

[jhlipton]

4 hours ago, Driad said:

Were we told the age of the twins?  Since they were getting ready to go to college, they might be 18, which AFAIK is the age at which they could legally make their own medical decisions. Or they might not.

I think they made all their own decisions, save for the one to take GHBB (Yale) off life-support.  When they were making their own decision, the asked their mother what she thought, but she told them she would support whatever decision they made.

[Driad]

Thank you, jhlipton.  I remember the mother saying that but I wondered about the legal aspect.

[Neurochick]

IMO there is no such thing as a "race card."  There is racism period.  Also if the sexual harasser had been fired, Jared wouldn't have had to "assault" him.  So to assault a sexual harasser... too bad, so sad.  Maybe if he didn't harass women, he wouldn't have been assaulted.

[Chas411]

I'm list which one died? Was it the one who was awake the entire episode. 

[jhlipton]

15 hours ago, Neurochick said:

IMO there is no such thing as a "race card."  There is racism period.  Also if the sexual harasser had been fired, Jared wouldn't have had to "assault" him.  So to assault a sexual harasser... too bad, so sad.  Maybe if he didn't harass women, he wouldn't have been assaulted.

Two wrongs don't make a right, and assualting the sexual harasser doesn't make him stop.

1 hour ago, Chas411 said:

I'm list which one died? Was it the one who was awake the entire episode. 

Yes.  Good Brain/Bad Heart ("Harvard") died.

[tvfanatic13]

Table for one (plus?) but dare I say I will miss Lea. 

The twin on the right died. That's all I know.