So, as a Guatemalan myself I got really excited when I found out the episode would take place here, and I'm happy about this, but... I think that I can give some criticism as this is my country, I'm not mad though, but a little bit more of research about our culture could've nicer, they tried their best to recreate the environment, and I really wished we had health centers like that in the most poor areas of our country, conditions are worse unfortunately, other nitpicks that I have are the accent, we don't talk like that, I mean, we do speak Spanish but that ain't our accent, the names as well were weird, also, a kid fan of baseball in Guatemala? In those rural areas I see that really unlikely, other than that, I've been to medical missions like that, as a translator, and much more people would attend, anyhow, that's only my opinion as a Guatemalan, but happy about my country being here, that's cool.
14 Reviews
Guatemala? ummm, nope
bngrossads2 June 2021
OK, I love this show. The actors, the themes, all amazing. I was so excited about a Guatemala because we lived there for some years. And the story itself was good. But really disappointed in the look and feel and casting. (1) it showed them on a 'chicken bus', which is extremely unlikely; they would have rented a large van. Good Hollywood, but unlikely. (2) showed them coming into a teeny village with a dusty roadsigns for "Quetzaltenango". Nope, that is the modern second largest city in Guatemala with 180,000 and many conveniences. (3) I saw few typical Guatemalan indigenous faces, who are most likely to need desperately the medical help, and (4) I saw *no* indigenous clothing, such as guipiles or men's wool aprons. I loved seeing Guatemala represented, but I wish the production people took the initiative to understand the place and the culture and get the 'look' right.
A better effort to show Guatemala than other TV shows
blivorsi3 June 2021
I am American but I have traveled to Guatemala several times. I watched the episode several times, trying to figure out if it was filmed in Guatemala itself. Only after reading other fan reviews was I convinced the actors weren't filmed there.
One commentator mentioned the unlikely scenario of a young boy knowing about baseball or the Cardinals.
Since we adopted our son from Guatemala when he was 11 years old and brought him home to St. Louis (the Cardinals' home town), I completely agree this awareness was unlikely. Our son was raised in Guatemala City, where the Internet was very available, and yet he didn't understand what or where the US was and he didn't know about baseball. He became a baseball fan after his adoption..soccer is the big sport in Guatemala.
I agree there weren't many indigenous faces in the extra casting. I did see efforts at Mayan clothing and I was glad they didn't have all of the extras wear Mayan clothes because most of the younger generations don't wear traditional clothing unless there is a special event. Regular native dress is more likely to be see in the older generations.
I am unable to respond to observations about the Spanish accent being "off" for Guatemala, but I know there is a big difference in the accent (and many words) from Mexican Spanish.
In the last decade, I have seen a number of shows try to represent Mexico, but it is rare for network shows to try to show Guatemala. My review is based, in large part, on the clear evidence that this show tried to represent the country.
Some have commented that they thought the show was lazy in not filing in Guatemala but it is important to remember that the episode was filmed during a pandemic. Their home base is in Vancouver and Canada has/had a number of restrictions regarding leaving the country and returning to Canada.
I am fairly certain it would have been a logistical nightmare to film these episodes in Guatemala during the pandemic.
One commentator mentioned the unlikely scenario of a young boy knowing about baseball or the Cardinals.
Since we adopted our son from Guatemala when he was 11 years old and brought him home to St. Louis (the Cardinals' home town), I completely agree this awareness was unlikely. Our son was raised in Guatemala City, where the Internet was very available, and yet he didn't understand what or where the US was and he didn't know about baseball. He became a baseball fan after his adoption..soccer is the big sport in Guatemala.
I agree there weren't many indigenous faces in the extra casting. I did see efforts at Mayan clothing and I was glad they didn't have all of the extras wear Mayan clothes because most of the younger generations don't wear traditional clothing unless there is a special event. Regular native dress is more likely to be see in the older generations.
I am unable to respond to observations about the Spanish accent being "off" for Guatemala, but I know there is a big difference in the accent (and many words) from Mexican Spanish.
In the last decade, I have seen a number of shows try to represent Mexico, but it is rare for network shows to try to show Guatemala. My review is based, in large part, on the clear evidence that this show tried to represent the country.
Some have commented that they thought the show was lazy in not filing in Guatemala but it is important to remember that the episode was filmed during a pandemic. Their home base is in Vancouver and Canada has/had a number of restrictions regarding leaving the country and returning to Canada.
I am fairly certain it would have been a logistical nightmare to film these episodes in Guatemala during the pandemic.
A pretty good episode however one could see from space the decor to make it look "guatemalan""
sumtim3s00n1 June 2021
The ep in general was quite well written, more like the seasons of old and unlike most of 4th, which was at time terrible and sometimes downright bad and overpoliticized and coated with sjw/cancelculture.
However the traveling to Guatemala and that aspect. Abysmal. Everything from the building and the furniture ,the flora (you could see clearly the palm trees they added, slightly hidden cause they were obviously still potted, spruce trees everywhere instead of leafy ones, , the added cars, added signs and crosses, design...). It was sooo bad and obviously filmed where the rest of the series was filmed. They only send someone to film that intro establishing panning shot of Guatemala. Except for things like that, it was utter laziness on that part.
That ruined it all for me, it was just too lazy and B, no , C-production quality for a show that has been on for 4 seasons and should be concerned with quality and have ample budget to at least make it real enough.
However the traveling to Guatemala and that aspect. Abysmal. Everything from the building and the furniture ,the flora (you could see clearly the palm trees they added, slightly hidden cause they were obviously still potted, spruce trees everywhere instead of leafy ones, , the added cars, added signs and crosses, design...). It was sooo bad and obviously filmed where the rest of the series was filmed. They only send someone to film that intro establishing panning shot of Guatemala. Except for things like that, it was utter laziness on that part.
That ruined it all for me, it was just too lazy and B, no , C-production quality for a show that has been on for 4 seasons and should be concerned with quality and have ample budget to at least make it real enough.
getting back on track
DrMarazanvose1 June 2021
S4.E19 - Guatemala [9/10]
panagiotis199327 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
(S4. E19) My Live Reaction / Review for The Good Doctor Season 4 Episode 19 ''Venga''. The previous episode was good and I gave it a rating of 9/10. Let's see if this one is better or worse. I didn't know Shaun can speak spanish, that's cool. The whole team goes to Guatemala to do surgeries there? That's a cool change. It sucks that they have to choose only a few people, it would be nice if they could help them all. Morgan telling this father the bad news about his son's health made me emotional. Lea is still upset about losing the baby and it makes sense. I really wanted to see Shaun as a father. So Lea thinks its a good idea to leave Shaun alone and go back to live with her parents? More drama, I hate Lea. Overall this episode was good and I enjoyed it. My rating is 9/10.
Holy mother of cringe
kaianmattmckay29 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I gave this 3 stars, because if it does a few things well (or at least "interestingly").
One, it does highlight wealth and healthcare disparities between developed countries and developing countries (although in terms of pitiful access to healthcare, the doctors could just as well have stayed in the US, for obvious reasons).
Two, it depicts the isolation and the pervasive, persistent traumatic effect on a mother-to-be of losing a fetus.
These two themes are addressed, although the first one seems almost accidental. Sadly, though, they don't succeed in lifting this episode above the agony of its many clichés.
From the orange/yellow filter that appears to be cinematographic shorthand for the "Global South" (are we really still doing that? In the 21st century?), to the "noble savage" portrayals of the faux Guatemalans smiling so devoutly through their impoverishment, to the "White Saviour" complex that even a multi-ethnic cast is incapable of concealing, this episode is cocktail of the laziest tropes on the little screen.
In juxtaposing the American doctors and the Guatemalan patients, the episode manages to portray the Americans as dramatic, over-emotional, naive, privileged, shallow, and linguistically challenged. For this, I gave the episode a third star, because even if the effect was accidental, it was still accidentally accurate.
One, it does highlight wealth and healthcare disparities between developed countries and developing countries (although in terms of pitiful access to healthcare, the doctors could just as well have stayed in the US, for obvious reasons).
Two, it depicts the isolation and the pervasive, persistent traumatic effect on a mother-to-be of losing a fetus.
These two themes are addressed, although the first one seems almost accidental. Sadly, though, they don't succeed in lifting this episode above the agony of its many clichés.
From the orange/yellow filter that appears to be cinematographic shorthand for the "Global South" (are we really still doing that? In the 21st century?), to the "noble savage" portrayals of the faux Guatemalans smiling so devoutly through their impoverishment, to the "White Saviour" complex that even a multi-ethnic cast is incapable of concealing, this episode is cocktail of the laziest tropes on the little screen.
In juxtaposing the American doctors and the Guatemalan patients, the episode manages to portray the Americans as dramatic, over-emotional, naive, privileged, shallow, and linguistically challenged. For this, I gave the episode a third star, because even if the effect was accidental, it was still accidentally accurate.
A show about Guatemala without any Guatemala in it
madseason3694 June 2021
I have to preface this by saying I enjoy this show, the leads are amazing actors and I was also super excited to see they included my country in the show at first... but then I saw it and well it gave me the sads... it was sad to see that there was clearly no effort made in:
Hiring a Guatemalan writer that made the spanish actors' dialogue sound like they're Chapinos. Think of it this way, if you're doing a TV show showcasing Texas but you hire actors from Scotland, Australia and Ireland to play Texan and they don't even try to change their accents and don't even use Texan slang in the dialogue whatsoever and instead use Aussie slang and Scottish slang...like wtf
It was so obvious that none of the latinx actors are from my country, some weren't even native Spanish speakers and it was hard to understand what they were saying - why would you hire non native speakers to do that job? I read that one girl is part Guatemalan but clearly she doesn't speak the language because she sounded like it was very difficult for her to say the words in spanish but hey at least ONE actor in the whole show that actually had 50% Guatemalan roots ... but isn't that also sad that they didn't even try to feature majority Guatemalan actors depicting Guatemalans? Or at least close to half or a third...?
Also, the show only served the narrowest saddest stereotypes of my country and my people...and they got the country and the people wrong! It was a tough pill to swallow.
Also please do your research on getting our Hupil correctly. I get that there must have been covid restrictions but google is free and you can even buy huipils on etsy. I'm tired of having the name of my country thrown around because it sounds "exotic" it felt very tokenizing to me.
If this was gonna be the outcome and the majority of the actors cast for the episode are Mexican, why didn't they just have the cast go to Mexico instead?
Hiring a Guatemalan writer that made the spanish actors' dialogue sound like they're Chapinos. Think of it this way, if you're doing a TV show showcasing Texas but you hire actors from Scotland, Australia and Ireland to play Texan and they don't even try to change their accents and don't even use Texan slang in the dialogue whatsoever and instead use Aussie slang and Scottish slang...like wtf
It was so obvious that none of the latinx actors are from my country, some weren't even native Spanish speakers and it was hard to understand what they were saying - why would you hire non native speakers to do that job? I read that one girl is part Guatemalan but clearly she doesn't speak the language because she sounded like it was very difficult for her to say the words in spanish but hey at least ONE actor in the whole show that actually had 50% Guatemalan roots ... but isn't that also sad that they didn't even try to feature majority Guatemalan actors depicting Guatemalans? Or at least close to half or a third...?
Also, the show only served the narrowest saddest stereotypes of my country and my people...and they got the country and the people wrong! It was a tough pill to swallow.
Also please do your research on getting our Hupil correctly. I get that there must have been covid restrictions but google is free and you can even buy huipils on etsy. I'm tired of having the name of my country thrown around because it sounds "exotic" it felt very tokenizing to me.
If this was gonna be the outcome and the majority of the actors cast for the episode are Mexican, why didn't they just have the cast go to Mexico instead?
You can tell it's set in South America...
untersim8 October 2021
So disappointing episode...
arnulfotalamante4 June 2021
It was all yellow
Shoebarno2 November 2022
The Good Doctor has put so much effort into putting social justice in the forefront of each episode in recent seasons, sometimes to cringy, ham-fisted levels, that it comes as a shock how it went ahead and used an awful yellow "this is how you know it's a 3rd world country" filter on the episode set in Guatemala. It looks and feels pretty awful.
Otherwise, I can get behind the drama of it all. There are emotional moments.
Then again, seeing the doctors who in previous episodes have managed to be stoic through the sufferings of their American patients breakdown because of being unable to help equally dire Guatemalan patients feels a bit off.
Otherwise, I can get behind the drama of it all. There are emotional moments.
Then again, seeing the doctors who in previous episodes have managed to be stoic through the sufferings of their American patients breakdown because of being unable to help equally dire Guatemalan patients feels a bit off.
It was ok
ciscoaldana27 October 2021
FXXK ridiculous
l-7538023 February 2023
Is the writer's brain being hosted?????? In order to help this politically correct thing, all the surgeons in the whole hospital came out. What about the emergency department in the hospital??????? What does a computer administrator do?????? Who will manage the computers in the hospital???? Please find a brainy screenwriter!!!!!!! Is the writer's brain being hosted?????? In order to help this politically correct thing, all the surgeons in the whole hospital came out. What about the emergency department in the hospital??????? What does a computer administrator do?????? Who will manage the computers in the hospital???? Please find a brainy screenwriter!!!!!!! Is the writer's brain being hosted?????? In order to help this politically correct thing, all the surgeons in the whole hospital came out. What about the emergency department in the hospital??????? What does a computer administrator do?????? Who will manage the computers in the hospital???? Please find a brainy screenwriter!!!!!!!
Pointless
pinkladysz25 July 2021
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