The episode discussed here is entitled 'My Way' debuted Monday and is available for streaming. What I am about to discuss are key plot points so it all must go under spoilers.
In the show, Shaun is the lead character and is autistic. He is engaged to Lea.
One of Shaun's patients is an elderly lady with an iron lung. Her niece Sophie is an aide/advocate and also a documentarian. Sophie offers to pay for and plan for Shaun and Lea's wedding if they agree to let her do a documentary on Shaun. At first, the offer is rejected. Then Sophie shows a Zoom screen of people praising her documentaries for inspiring them to deal with their various serious issues. Lea agrees to do it because it will inspire people and they have been having difficulties planning their wedding. Shaun notes that he saw nobody like him on TV getting married growing up and agrees to do it. The show ends there.
My initial reaction was betrayal because for all its flaws The Good Doctor is not really inspiration porn. Everything does not always end well for Shaun. If you take the zoom screen literally this is not pure inspiration porn in that this is not telling "normal" people "stop whining and feeling sorry for yourself, if this autistic person can do it so can you". But IMHO the zoom screen is a sales pitch to convince Shaun and the proposed documentary will be aimed at "normal" people. The show seemed to be going down this road.
I will reserve final judgment until the arc of the story is completed. Season finale May 2.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
20 Apr 2022, 7:39 pm
