Last night on Fox’s new show Mental, the storyline centered around a young girl with autism. The character, Lisa, was written as a severe autistic child with the traditional autistic symptoms. By “traditional”, I mean the characteristics that are usually associated with a child with autism. She had sensory issues with new clothing items, transitioned poorly, poor eye contact and limited communication skills. She also had one area that she excelled in, playing the piano.
This character’s primary form of communication was by echoing words that were spoken to her. She also had a unique form of communication that she used. The main character, Dr. Gallagher, played by Chris Vance, had two lines that really struck a chord in me. The first one was “I just got better at listening.” This was said in response to the fact that he figured out that the character Lisa was trying to tell him something with the piano. I feel the same way about my son. His nonverbal communication hasn’t changed, but I have gotten “better at listening” to what he is trying to tell me when he doesn’t have a communication device close at hand to use to talk.
The show handled the subject of autism gently. They didn’t hit you over the head with this character and autism. The writers developed this storyline to show the best way to handle what could be a tragic situation. In this episode, Lisa sees her father being shot and killed. The police think she is in shock and, after they were unable to get hold of child protective services, calls Dr. Gallagher. After a brief “conversation” with Lisa, Dr. Gallagher recognizes that the girl may be autistic and has her brought to the hospital.
The other characters on the show display their knowledge or lack of knowledge of autism in the following scenes. Research is done about some of the treatments and they are briefly discussed. In the end, the doctor’s do what they can to communicate and treat this young girl on her terms.
Toward’s the end of the episode, Dr. Gallagher says the second line that most of us can relate to. Holding a gun on the shooter of the young girl’s father, the killer tells him that he won’t shoot to save his life. The doctor agrees, but clarifies that he would kill to protect this young girl.
How many of us would say the same? I know that I would take on anything in defense of my children. Mental has become one of my favorite shows to watch. The show balances the sometimes controversial storylines with compassion and tact. I think they did a great job with last night’s episode and look forward to more great shows.
What TV shows do you enjoy watching?
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Comments (3)
I saw the episode and I thought it was awesome. Of course, I might be a bit biased since that's one of my favorite shows, but hey, lol. I did think they did a great job handling the issue without going overboard or being insensitive. I liked how they had characters say and do things in the show that might teach the public a little bit, like for example when the girl started freaking out at the nurse trying to put a different shirt on her, another doctor said "it's probably a sensory issue, try one of her own shirts" and that solved the problem. I did think the acting was a bit awkward on the girl's part, but I guess it would be extremely hard for anyone who is not actually autistic to act it and pull it off 100%. She did a good job for such a heavy role, anyway.
I like this show too. Love it actually. I have a mental illness, so the show naturally drew me in. I think that they portray mental disorders in a positive light and treat the patients very humanely. I, too, agree that it has some of the best quotes. I was really nervous for this episode because they were doing so well on the mental illness front, I worried that they'd be careless and make some mistakes with the character with autism that might offend some people. My favorite part about this episode was that one of the doctors said that ABA is still the most proven method for teaching children with autism. I'm going back to school soon for ABA. Sadly, I think we just saw the end of the show, not just the season. I really hope I'm jumping to conclusions on this one.
Resources like the one you mentioned here will be very useful to me!