As Dr. Melendez tries to deal with accusations of favoritism, Carly truly being fine with Shaun and Lea’s friendship is tested.
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As Dr. Melendez tries to deal with accusations of favoritism, Carly truly being fine with Shaun and Lea’s friendship is tested.
| Directed By | Mike Listo | |
| Written By | Sal Calleros, Thomas L. Moran | |
| Aired (ABC) | 2/17/2020 | |
| Introduced This Episode | ||
| Cory | Zade Garcia | |
Episode Recap
Regressing When Tested: Cory, Shaun, Morgan, Lea, Carly
With Morgan’s arthritis causing her to lose an opportunity to Shaun while in surgery, she decides to do as she used to do with Shaun – get in his head. Leading to Shaun becoming a bit confused about his relationship with Lea and Carly and whether Carly is genuinely cool with him and Lea being friends again. All of which, luckily, doesn’t affect their shared patient, Cory.
In fact, to recover from what she did, she compliments Shaun, and he praises her, on coming up with a way, and her pushing it, for Cory to not only be able to breathe on his own but, at 10 years old, gain the ability to talk.
Stuck In The Middle: Alex, Claire, Dr. Melendez, Morgan, Dr. Lim
While Dr. Melendez is a superb surgeon, one could submit his people skills need work. Be it relationships, being someone subordinate, or being a mentor, those aren’t things he excels at. In fact, one could say he tries to avoid situations that call for him to have to see himself as a leader and be fully aware of his actions. Hence why, after being reported by Morgan, even though Alex originally took the hit for her, for reasons that are beyond me, Dr. Melendez struggles.
This ultimately leads to Claire struggling, for she had just recovered her relationship with Dr. Melendez after all that happened in early season 2. So for this to happen and her opinion to not get validated or Dr. Melendez to chicken out due to the fear of how it could affect him or his career, it’s a lot. Plus, with there being no female surgeon for Claire to pair up with, and Dr. Andrews nowhere to be seen, Dr. Melendez is the de facto person who would mentor her.
Making her very lucky Dr. Melendez, after being talked to by Dr. Lim and Claire, decides to never mind rumors and assumptions and just deal with the fact he enjoys Claire’s company and her expertise. Oh, and as for Morgan and Alex? Well, while Alex gets to benefit from Dr. Melendez’s diverted attention, that seemingly won’t last. Then, in terms of Morgan? Well, Dr. Lim peeps she is definitely doing something to protect herself from being terminated. Now, as for what Morgan may have done, she isn’t aware yet.
However, considering Morgan’s hand is increasingly shaky, it is only a matter of time.
Insecurities Getting Ther Best Of Me: Shaun, Lea, Carly
We don’t know what Carly’s dating history is, but clearly she has been hurt before and even though she trusts Shaun and relies on his autism to keep him honest, she can’t deal with his connection to Lea. Mind you, does Lea play with some boundaries? Maybe. She does eat off Shaun’s plate, which could raise an eyebrow, but otherwise, she seems very aware of Carly’s discomfort, and while she doesn’t get it, she tries her best to respect it.
However, with seeing how comfortable Shaun is with Lea, while they do Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass,” at karaoke, it clicks in her head Shaun loves Lea, Lea loves Shaun, and either there isn’t enough love for Carly, or she is standing in the way. Because, you know, a guy can’t platonically love a female friend. It has to be romantic.
Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs
Better to feed down than kiss up.
— Alex
Other Noteworthy Facts, Moments, and Random Thoughts
- Just to note, per Nicholas Gonzalez, aka Neil Melendez, there are 20 episodes, so this train is not slowing down!
20!
— Nicholas Gonzalez (@IamNickGonzalez) August 27, 2019
Review/ Commentary
Highlights
Making Room For Shaun and Lea
Honestly, since the show doesn’t want to make a real effort in developing Carly beyond her helping Shaun grow, I’m glad she broke up with him. Her being in pathology, having a sister with autism, and liking PDA damn near feels like the sum of her person. Beyond that, who is she? I remember, during their first date, Carly talked about herself, why not follow up on that? Let’s pair her with Claire and have her talk about how hard it is to be a female doctor, especially non-white, and how that may be led Carly to choose pathology?
All I’m trying to say is, I so badly wanted to invest in Carly and feel duped that I did despite all the signs being there she was a place holder until the show decided to revisit Shaun’s possible romantic feelings for Lea.
Claire’s Season 2 Storyline Picked Up
Speaking of revisit, it seems all that was happening towards the end of season 1, but primarily the beginning of season 2, is finally continuing. We got Claire’s relationship with Dr. Melendez, her issues with finding mentorship and the double standards, as well as dealing with backstabbing peers who know they can’t compete with how likable she is so they use underhanded tactics.
Either way, it’s nice to see Claire get storylines that can go somewhere and say something about life as a female surgeon again.
Morgan Showing She Hasn’t Evolved But Adapted
Morgan, as seen with her family, has long been adjusted to the idea that the harder she fights, and the more she isolated herself, the further she gets in life and her career. That didn’t work at the hospital, so she decided to adapt. She got close to Claire, learned what made Claire who she is and used that to exhibit Claire-like qualities at times. Also, she spent time around Shaun, took note of how he can make mistakes and have flaws, yet still be insulted (see her current relationship with Dr. Glassman).
However, reporting Dr. Melendez and trying to compensate for her arthritis, in doing that, we see that if Morgan is desperate, she will return to her old trifling ways. And I very much appreciate being reminded of who someone is and that character development doesn’t always have to equate to growth, as in maturity, but can also be adaptability.
Low Point
Alex
I just don’t know what they can and will do with Alex. Claire noting he isn’t seen as a competitor really put the character on notice, and, as a member of the audience, it reminds me how far to the back Alex has gone. Which, when it came to that happening to Claire, I cared, I was mad, and always wondering if this thing or that would be the opportunity for her comeback. With Alex, I’m fine with him ending up like Dr. Andrews and missing a random episode here and there. He honestly won’t be missed.
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Making Room For Shaun and Lea - 85%
Claire’s Season 2 Storyline Picked Up - 87%
Morgan Showing She Hasn’t Evolved But Adapted - 86%
Alex - 65%
81%
While one of the characters makes a decision, which is frustrating, to say the least, others are challenged and tested which reveals who has a backbone and who has been a wolf in sheep’s clothing this whole time.
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Very interesting theory as to why Alex gave the nurses donuts. I just figured it was to make the conversations in the OR be more favorable for him and perhaps make some of the pre-op work go easier with the nurses helping him out more. I can also see that Alex would feel they are the only network he has to go to. But I’m not sure the nurses would be helpful in influencing any hiring decisions, even though that is what Alex is hoping for. I think Dr. Melendez and Dr. Andrews, and maybe to a lesser extent Dr. Lim, all ignore the nurses except when asking them for a surgical instrument, and they would not consider the nurses’ point of view, even as a group, on the same level as their own regarding a decision as important as the next doctor of their hospital.
I felt kind of dumb while reading the part of your recap dealing with Morgan, Alex and the complaint against Dr. Melendez. While I was watching the show, when Alex said he filed the complaint, I believed him. Then when Dr. Lim said Morgan filed the complaint, I gasped because I actually thought both of them did! Oops! Either Alex told Claire he filed it just to shut her up (because she was going on and on about it) or to mess with Claire’s head because Dr. Melendez kept agreeing with her during the surgery with the 3 of them and he was so annoyed and huffy about it. Then when Dr. Lim confronted Morgan about the complaint being made to protect herself from being fired, I thought Morgan lied to Dr. Lim. I figured Morgan knew that with her RA getting worse, sooner or later she was going to do something in the operating room that couldn’t be fixed, and this was her insurance policy to keep her job. So she filed that complaint knowing full well it was to protect herself and why. Oops again! I’m glad I read your recap to kind out what’s going on :)!!
I was invested in Carly, too. You know I like the actress, and now it looks the end is near (or here) for her. I was hoping Lea wasn’t end game, and that Carly wasn’t just a bridge. I feel duped, too. Sigh.
I miss Dr. Andrews. I’d like him to come back, now that hopefully complaint-gate is finished. But I think they’ll keep Alex so one of the surgeons has someone annoying to operate with and rub up against. However, I agree with you that I would like an episode or 2 without him.
A part of me feels that Alex knows he isn’t making friends with Morgan, Claire, or Shaun, and with that he is on his own and can’t use some kind of network. For, as Morgan said when she came in, Shaun has Dr. Glassman and that has him locked in. Claire has/ had Dr. Melendez and had a moment with Dr. Lim, who seems invested in her. Then with Morgan, we saw her chummy up with Dr. Andrews about writing a paper the last time we saw him.
So with all those people named, who is Alex supposed to pair up with? Hence him seeking the nurses’ favor and thinking about working the base rather than kissing up. Right now, the nurses are the only ones up for grabs in terms of building a network that could influence potential hiring decisions.