Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Family

Finishing The Good Doctor

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Last night, Christina and I watched the last episode of The Good Doctor.

We had been watching the TV show for the past seven years. It started great with Shaun Murphy, a young surgeon with autism and Savant syndrome, overcoming a myriad of obstacles to become an attending surgeon in a prestigious teaching hospital.

After a few season, we disconnected a bit. An important cast member, Dr Neil Melendez, had died and the dynamics of the TV had changed. We were having a lot of trouble adapting.

Fortunately, the last seasons became interesting again.

I don’t know about the medical bits but the depiction of autism by Freddie Highmore (Dr Shaun Murphy) and, later, by Kayla Cromer (Dr Charlotte Lukaitis) is very interesting and feels true.

Over the years, the cast changed quite a bit but there are a few actors and actress we grew attached with starting with Paige Spara (Lea Dilallo) who started as a badass then toned down quite a lot then started showing signs of badassery again. She is married to Shawn and has to cope with autism on a daily basis.

We also really liked Richard Schiff (Dr Aaron Glassman) and his friendly competition with Christina Chang (Dr Audrey Lim). We liked Hill Harper (Dr Marcus Andrews), Fiona Gubelmann (Dr Morgan Reznick), Will Yun Lee (Dr Alex Park), Antonia Thomas (Dr Claire Browne), Bria Henderson (Dr Jordan Allen), Noah Galvin (Dr Asher Wolke), Nicholas Gonzalez (Dr Neil Melendez), Chuku Modu (Dr Jared Kalu), Elfina Luk (Nurse Villanueva), April Cameron (Nurse Hawks) and Giacomo Baessato (Nurse Jerome).

I was hoping to watch The Good Lawyer, a spinoff whose pilot, interestingly, aired as an episode of The Good Doctor (S06E16), but it has been unfortunately cancelled.

Young Sheldon ends

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Last night, Christina and I watched the last episode of Young Sheldon. Of course, this TV show is a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory which we also liked a lot.

When the TV show started in 2017, Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage), Missy Cooper (Raegan Revord) and Georgie Cooper (Montana Jordan) were still very young. Over the years, they would grow in front of us and become very good actors.

George Cooper Sr. (Lance Barber), the dad, and Mary Cooper (Zoe Perry), the mum, are very good too but Christina and I have a soft spot for the oldies, especially Meemaw (Annie Potts) who is fantastic as the eccentric, fun and practical grandma. Dale Ballard (Craig T. Nelson) is funny too.

Later in the show, Georgie settles with Mandy McAllister (Emily Osment) and have a kid. Mandy’s parents, Jim McAllister (Will Sasso) and Audrey McAllister (Rachel Bay Jones) are great.

Pastor Jeff Hodgkins (Matt Hobby) and Peg (Nancy Linehan Charles) are hilarious. I like that, from the outset, Sheldon is an atheist and cannot comprehend religious people at all, including his mum.

At the school where Sheldon was as a kid and where George and Missy still frequent, Principal Petersen (Rex Linn), Coach Wayne Wilkins (Doc Farrow) and Mr. Givens (Brian Stepanek) are hilarious. Sheldon has two friends, Tam (Ryan Phuong) and Billy Sparks (Wyatt McClure), whose mum is Brenda Sparks (Melissa Peterman).

And, last but not least, at East Texas Tech, Sheldon has to interact with President Hagemeyer (Wendie Malick) who is quite fantastic, Dr John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) (who falls in love with Meemaw and is Sheldon’s confidant) as well as Dr Linkletter (Ed Begley Jr.) (who, initially, is Dr. John Sturgis nemesis but becomes colleagues and friends later on).

We are going to miss Young Sheldon but it looks like that there’s going to be a spinoff to the spinoff. Georgie and Mandy’s First Wedding is going to start soon.

I wonder what Iain Armitage and Raegan Revord will do next though. I think they have a bright future.

Farewell Raymond “Red” Reddington

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On Monday, Christina and I watched the last episode of The Blacklist, a TV show which ran from 2013 to 2023. We started watching Season 1 with the kids around 2015 and we loved it.

It’s about a special FBI Task Force set up to work with the most wanted criminal in the US, Raymond “Red” Reddington, in order to catch “blacklisters”, other dangerous criminals. During the show, we learn about the way the US and Russia work, about parenthood, criminal networks, politics and politicians, family and friendship. Sure, some of the characters were a bit boring but the main ones were very interesting, starting with…

Raymond “Red” Reddington is the main characters (in the sense that everything revolves around him) and he has the intelligence, personality, elocution and talent to steal the show. Every scene he is in is fantastic and, despite being a hardened criminal, everyone root for him.

Raymond’s sidekick is Dembe Zumma and he is a formidable character too. He is easily the most decent and dependable person in the show. He is so genuine that, even after having been Red’s bodyguard, he is admitted in later episodes as an FBI agent. In real life, he must be very nice to be friends with.

Harold Cooper is an Assistant Director of the FBI and heads the Reddington task force. He is a methodical person who is nice to everyone despite facing enormous pressure. He is the glue that prevents everything from exploding.

Elizabeth Keen is the FBI profiler who is initially brought in at the request of Raymond “Red” Reddington. Little by little, we come to understand that she and Raymond are linked and that, ultimately, she would have to leave the FBI to become Raymond’s heir. Unfortunately, things ended abruptly for her.

Donald Ressler is the other FBI agent and is most of the time contradicting the others. He is a pain in the ass in many episodes but grow into becoming another very good and dependable person.

Finally, I liked the Agnes Keen character as well. She is Elizabeth’s daughter and she is adopted by Harold Cooper who she calls Pops. She regularly gets the visit of Raymond Reddington who she calls Pinky.

So, farewell Raymond, Dembe, Harold, Elizabeth, Donald and Agnes.

Farewell also to the other recurring characters in the show such as Aram Mojtabai, Samar Navabi, Tom Keen, Alina Park, Mr. Kaplan, Cynthia Panabaker, Chuck, Brimley, Baz, Weecha Xiu, Siya Malik, Meera Malik, Herbie Hambright and, of course, Katarina Rostova (among others).

It was a wild ride and we highly recommend The Blacklist. Rated 8/10 by Christina and I.