Yes, this will be one of those episodes...
Accompanied by Glassman and Lea, Shaun visits his father on his deathbead and the family reunion reveals unexpected results. Melendez, Park, Morgan and Claire treat an injured star NFL player with severe spinal damage. Claire addresses her mental health.
- Abusive Parents: Although Shaun's father tries to make amends on his deathbed, unfortunately, he ends up demonstrating that he hasn't changed and blames his son for Steve's death. Shaun's mother, as always, does nothing to prevent the abuse.
- Beware the Nice Ones:
- Shaun is furious with his father and blames him, screaming, for Steve's death. He repents and forgives his father. But the father in turn...
- Lea, who is normally friendly, makes no attempt to hide her contempt for Shaun's parents.
- Bittersweet Ending: Shaun's father humiliates him before he dies, even accusing him of Steve's death. In the final scene, Shaun is horrified by the experience and tries to hurt himself before Lea stops him and consoles him. This (and Claire's decision to finally seek help to deal with the mourning of her mother's death) is what prevents the episode from ending with a total Downer Ending.
- Cooldown Hug: At the end of the episode, Shaun is so traumatized by the disastrous final encounter with his father that he begins to hurt himself. lea intervenes and manages to calm him down with a hug.
- Foreshadowing: The fact that Shaun preferred to choose his best friend Lea to accompany him on the trip instead of his girlfriend Carly is quite revealing in retrospect...
- Heroic BSoD: After being humiliated by his father one last time before he died, Shaun has a complete emotional breakdown in the final scene, even getting physically hurt. Fortunately Lea appears at the last second and manages to calm him down and comfort him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Shaun's father initially seems remorseful of all the bad things he did, but in the end it turns out that he's still an asshole, when he takes advantage of Shaun's forgiveness to humiliate and blame him for his brother's death.
- Kick the Dog: After an initial fight, Shaun forgives his father before he dies. The reward he receives from his father is to hear that he was weak and responsible for the death of his brother.
- Ms. Fanservice: Lea stripping to her underwear before throwing herself into a lake to go Skinny Dipping.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Shaun is surprisingly and apparently relaxed after the disastrous final encounter with his father. Then in the final scene, he collapses emotionally.
- Parental Neglect: Shaun's mother loves him... but she is too cowardly and loyal to her husband to intervene in the last fight between them. There is also the revealing fact that she does not seem intrigued or have any curiosity in knowing who is the woman who is accompanying her son on the trip.
- Patient of the Week: Art Kalman (James Earl), an NFL Player who had a spine injury after an accident at a game.
- Skinny Dipping: Lea tries to convince Shaun to go on an impromptu lake night swim with her at a lake, and she strips down to just her underwear to do so. He adamantly refuses to go, and is upset when she almost tricks into him the water by pretending to drown.
- True Companions:
- Lea proves it again. She herself says at the beginning of the episode that she is busy at work and that she is the last person to advise on family matters, considering that her own family is a mess. But she will go on the trip anyway because Shaun asked and he is her Best Friend.
- Glassman too, counseling Shaun during the trip and proving to be a better father figure than Shaun's biological father.
