Notes From the Spectrum

I’ve been told more than once, though accused seems like a better word, that I’m on the spectrum. Whatever the truth of that, I’d say I function at a reasonably normal level with some odd character quirks that I will not go into. Nevertheless, there are some overlaps between my own behavior and the two tv shows discussed below.

The two shows are Monk and Extraordinary Attorney Woo. The latter is new and I’ve just started it. I think I’ve been through four episodes. I’ve seen dozens of Monk episodes. There are eight seasons. I often see one just before bed. It helps to clear my head and settle me down.

The protagonists of both are OCD, a little like me, and/or autistic in different ways. Woo is a blatant rip-off of Monk, but it’s a creative one. Monk is a detective who always solves a mystery, while Woo unfailingly resolves cases that come before her in gratifying ways. In each episode, the characters are faced with a new problem. After stumbling around it for a while, they each get a flash of inspiration that enables them to prevail. The writing for both shows is always ingenious.

The lead in Monk, Tony Shalhoub, is a brilliant actor but his Monk is fairly restrained, compared to Woo, played by the Korean actress Park Eun-bin. I particularly liked his movie Big Night, co-starring with Stanley Tucci. Monk gets into physical scrapes in which it is hard to imagine the delicate, diminutive Park.

What I can’t get over is Park’s acting, a source of continual amusement. There are no huge laughs, as there are in Monk. I’ll give you an example of the latter. In one scene, Monk visits a memorial center where the ashes of the deceased are stored. On a table there are three urns on display. His first impulse is to make sure they are lined up properly, in a straight line with equal spacing. Then he begins checking inside and notices the three are not equally filled with ashes, so he starts adjusting, pouring from one urn to the other. Then he may have knocked them all over, though I’m not sure I remember that. At any rate it’s pretty funny.

Woo by contrast is more interesting from moment to moment in that her every movement and twitch reflect her condition. Just the way she schlumps around is funny. I noticed they put her in jackets that are just a bit too large, so that the sleeves creep past her wrist, making her look like a toddler. It’s played for laughs on the show, though it is arguably exploitative as far as autistic persons are concerned. The show is dutiful about educating viewers about autism, but the heart of the action is to exploit the condition as it is manifested in Woo.

So we’re laughing at a disabled person struggling with her disability. She overcomes it in each episode, which is heartening, but that isn’t why you watch. I may have to stop.