Category Archives: Review

The Good Doctor: Season One, Episode Three

This week’s episode of The Good Doctor is titled “Oliver." "Oliver" is the name of the donor of a very important liver, a liver that will save a life. The episode's main plot dealt with the ethics of transplantation, which is pretty heavy stuff. Transplant lists literally decide who will live and who will die. Overall, the episode was decent -- Much better than last week's DSM dumpster fire. Sean once again has motivations beyond pathology. God willing he stays that way for the rest of the season and even perhaps grows as a person.

I think ABC really missed an opportunity with this episode to educate, however. While exploring the ethics of transplantation, it would have been wonderful if they had explored the ethics of transplantation as it relates to people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities -- People like Dr. Sean Murphy. If Sean … Continue Reading ››

The Good Doctor: Season One, Episode Two

This week's episode of The Good Doctor is titled "Mount Rushmore." It delves into issues of autism, honesty, and bedside manner. And to be honest, this week Dr. Murphy's writing unfortunately tilted him more towards being a DSM checklist than a person. I hope next week's episode does better. I am intentionally only referring to Dr. Murphy as Dr. Murphy in this article instead of "Sean." Because he is a doctor. He went to medical school. He got good grades. He passed his board examinations. He is just as qualified as the other two surgical residents, if somewhat less experienced. Watching Dr. Murphy being repeatedly abused and bullied without him even understanding that he is being abused and bullied was painful for me. Like many autistic adults, I've been in similar situations, and when you find out what people actually thought of you, it is soul-crushingly awful. It made the episode hard … Continue Reading ››

The Good Doctor: Season One, Episode One

I have a confession to make: I began watching ABC's The Good Doctor with extremely low expectations. Atypical, another recent series featuring an autistic protagonist, was a tire fire of bad stereotypes and worse representation. Awkward autistic white guy is nothing new or groundbreaking. The Good Doctor desperately wants to believe that it is groundbreaking. Apparently, none of the unnamed "autism consultants" involved in the show told David Shore or the writers that there are actually plenty of autistic doctors and med students. So far, The Good Doctor is basically House, if House was an adorable talking kitten instead of a pill-popping curmudgeon. I actually really enjoyed House in all of its formulaic glory, but I'm not sure adding a dash of inspiration porn and subtracting a pinch of nihilism will lead to an enjoyable show. That said, The Good Doctor had a … Continue Reading ››

Atypical: Season One, Episode Eight

This is it. The final episode of the first season of Atypical. Unless Netflix addresses some of the significant problems with Atypical and includes some actual autistic voices, I hope it is the last episode ever. Despite a few positive moments, Atypical laughs at autistic people, not with us. Rather than inform people about what our lives are like, it provides a cartoonish and heavy-handed caricature that plays into almost every negative stereotype about autism. Treating women like sex objects is not a natural extension of autism. Limiting how often someone is allowed to talk about what they love is abuse, not a real relationship. Autistic women, autistic people of color, queer autistic people and transgender autistic people exist. Autism doesn't cause families to fall apart. It isn't even true that families with autistic children have higher divorce rates than the general population. The fact that … Continue Reading ››

Atypical: Season One, Episode Seven

The end is near! The seventh and penultimate episode of Atypical is titled, "I Lost My Poor Meatball." My first reaction was to desperately hope that it wasn't yet another disgusting sexual euphemism.

‘You need bowling more than anyone I've ever met.’