How The Pitt Mastered Autism Representation Where The Good Doctor Failed

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]I am A SURGEON. I AM A SURGEON. I AM I am a am I a surgeon.

[00:00:16]Can you believe it's been 2 years now since the good doctor ended? I know, right? Time flies when you're not having bad autism representation flash in front of you. I remember that fateful day on May 21st, 2024 when a large majority of autistic people all around the world breathed the collective sigh of relief and not having to suffer through hearing about this show anymore. Or being reminded of how Freddy Hymore, the actor who plays Shawn in this show, did an advertisement with Autism Speaks, which if you know anything about that organization and how they view autism as the disease that needs to be cured, should be an immediate red flag. The Good Doctor really has served as a pretty big reminder to people that autism doesn't really always have the best portrayals in modern media, even to this day in a lot of ways. But interestingly enough, in more recent memory, a different medical drama has surfaced and has absolutely been making waves in terms of discussion of television, but also just so happens to actually have good autism representation, unlike The Good Doctor.

[00:01:10]This show is of course none other than The Pit, the widely critically acclaimed medical drama that's been airing on HBO since 2025. In a lot of ways, this show is arguably an inverse good doctor, choosing to actually highlight its autistic characters as actual people with truly fleshed out personality, something the good doctor pretty clearly doesn't do. So today I want to look at both The Pit and The Good Doctor, discuss why one of these shows pretty clearly handles autism representation a lot better than the other, and also discuss just in general what good autism representation should really look like in popular media. But first, are you like me very wary of how expensive gaming has gotten as a hobby now? I recently just spent over $200 pre-ordering the new Ninja Turtles game, the new Star Fox game that's finally coming out, which I'm very glad Star Fox is finally getting a big return. and also buying several other games for both my Switch and PS5. It seems now that gaming is the biggest and most lucrative entertainment industry in the world, eclipsing both the music and movie industries combined, it's also, of course, gotten a lot more expensive to properly indulge in over the years. If only there was one singular place where you could find all the best deals on your favorite games and also all the best deals on DLC and add-ons for those games as well. Well, look no further than Aneba, the sponsor of today's video. Aneba is the world's biggest gaming marketplace where you can find tons of different discounts for your favorite games on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. You can also get great deals on DLC and in-game content for those games as well. I ended up being able to actually snag some great deals on Sonic Racing Crossworlds DLC from this site, which is definitely a game I've been enjoying a lot in my off time.

[00:02:50]Ana is a really reliable source for getting all kinds of great deals for your favorite games on multiple different platforms. If you ever need any assistance from AIBA as well, their 24-hour live support team is always there to have your back. Don't wait at all to get in on some of the greatest deals in gaming, check out AnoBA through the link in the description. If you're wanting to get some of the best deals in gaming, especially in today's economy, Ana is certainly the way to go. Once again, check out Aniba through the link in the description. Let's start this discussion off looking at The Good Doctor and get that out of the way since that's pretty obviously going to be our quote unquote bad example here. Widely circulated during its time on live television, The Good Doctor was a medical drama that aired on ABC from 2017 all the way up to 2024 for seven seasons and a total of 126 episodes. The show actually started live as a Korean medical drama originally before making its way onto American TV waves through Daniel Day Kim, who also stars in the show, purchasing the adaptation rights to the show and eventually landing a deal for a full series aired on ABC with the help of Disney and Sony Pictures Television. The show follows a young autistic man named Shawn Murphy who ends up working in a hospital after performing a miraculously successful surgery at random on a man who's been injured at an airport as seen in the show's premiere episode. After witnessing that Shawn has what the show refers to as Savant syndrome, which in the universe of the show basically just boils down to his ability to apparently use his autism powers to operate on an injured individual with insane precision and visualize organs on screen for the very unsuttle convenience of the audience. The lead doctor at a local hospital decides Shawn is exactly the kind of person who should become a surgeon at his hospital. Now, on the surface, especially with how this is framed in the pilot episode of the show, this isn't really a bad thing, per se.

[00:04:39]The chief of surgery at the hospital, Dr. Aaron Glman, has apparently known Shawn since he was 14 and wants Shawn to work at his hospital since he recognizes his apparent gift and explicitly defends Shawn against people who are initially suspicious of him, an autistic person, working in an environment like a hospital and are technically being somewhat prejudiced, against Shawn's ability to work at the hospital. This wouldn't really be a bad thing on the surface, perhaps being a good humanizing story of showing someone on the spectrum working alongside people in a hospital and being treated as just as competent and just as much of a person as everyone else if Shawn was actually a character in this show. I've discussed this before admittedly, but I think The Good Doctor's biggest problem is that it doesn't really treat its main character, that being Shawn, as a real character whatsoever. He ultimately is just a gimmick used in every single episode of the show to be the magical Zavant that always knows how to solve every single problem for the hospital and also is treated uncomfortably like more of a cuddly pet or a soulless robot that the audience is somehow supposed to find adorable as he tells a trans woman that she isn't a woman in a very concerning scene.

[00:05:46]>> That's a penis.

[00:05:50]She's not a girl, he's a boy.

[00:05:52]>> OH, COME [screaming] ON. THIS ultimately does seem to be the show's biggest problem consistently. Rather than actually showcasing Shawn as a real fleshed out character with real motivations or personality, he's seen as nothing more than a soulless robot who can magically perform any possible surgery or figure out the solution to any possible operation on a whim. The show also, unfortunately, as a result, perpetuates a variety of myths and things that aren't really true about autistic people as a whole. In fact, one of the big ones the show perpetuates is the claim that autistic people cannot feel empathy. In fact, there's an entire episode in season 2 called empathy that entirely focuses on Shawn's supposed inability to feel empathy for those around him.

[00:06:35]>> You really don't have any empathy for Billy.

[00:06:38]>> Empathy is a bad reason to fight for someone. If empathy makes me only want to help patients who are from Wyoming or have ASD, then that's very unfair to all my neurotypical patients from Idaho.

[00:06:51]>> What the episode focuses on Shawn supposedly needing to learn a lesson in empathy since everyone else who works at the hospital has noticed that he apparently doesn't have any or lacks the ability to empathize with other people and understand and relate to them.

[00:07:04]There's a moment in the episode where Shawn outright says he thinks empathy is bad when a fellow doctor is doing an X-ray on a patient and talking them through it as well since Shawn notices that it's messing up the X-ray scan, at least on his end.

[00:07:18]>> This is why empathy is bad. You're talking to our patient because you like him, which is causing him to move, which is affecting our imagery.

[00:07:29]>> The truth is autistic people can show empathy. And the idea that they can't is a myth that's been around for a very, very long time. Sadly, a lot of popular media that portrays autism tends to fall into the trap of portraying its autistic characters as unepathetic husks, especially when it's a character that falls more under the savant stereotype of autism representation. The Good Doctor, unfortunately, also pretty blatantly feeds into this myth as well.

[00:07:54]And the fact there's an entire episode themed around Shawn needing to find a sense of empathy that he apparently lacks only exists to be further proof of that. But I think by far the good doctor's biggest sin in terms of how it chooses to portray autism and its main autistic character definitely comes from the series of episodes that feature Dr. Han, which also happen to be the series of episodes that the infamous I am a surgeon meme comes from.

[00:08:17]>> I deserve TO BE A SURGEON. DR. HAN, I I I am a surgeon. Out of any of the episodes in the entirety of the series for the good doctor, this series of episodes where Shawn is supposedly put at odds with Dr. Han, the new lead of surgery at the hospital Shawn works at, honestly baffle me with how most of them are written. The show seems to want to treat Dr. Han as a villain for some reason since he ends up putting Shawn in pathology instead of his usual role as a surgeon with the team of other doctors that he normally works with. But the thing is, no matter how much the show want to try to act like Dr. Han is a villain for some reason. Nothing he does in any of these episodes is actually villainous whatsoever and oftentimes is actually pretty reasonable. The situation kicks off with Shawn running out midsurgery while operating on a patient due to being overstimulated, which is honestly pretty understandable, especially as an autistic person. I admittedly relate to not doing well under pressure either, and I can get easily overwhelmed in certain situations as well, much like Shawn does here. But of course, in this case, this is extremely bad because Shawn has quite literally put his patients life at risk here. As a result of this, Dr. Han decides to put Shawn in pathology instead of where he was before, which in all honesty isn't really a bad thing at all. Given how Shawn generally operates and the mannerisms and abilities he's showcased throughout the series, it actually seems like he would probably thrive in Pathology since there wouldn't be any risk of him being overwhelmed.

[00:09:41]This position also does allow him to exercise some of his biggest strengths since ultimately he's here to try to figure out what the good solution to an operation is without actually participating in that operation itself.

[00:09:53]Given the fact the last one did end pretty drastically with him running out and technically putting the patients life at risk. I think this is actually a good solution here. But for some reason, the show seems to constantly feel the need to show that Shawn has to be a surgeon. He can't be anything else. In fact, his own caretaker gives him some genuinely awful advice, telling him to stand up to Dr. Han after being placed in pathology and telling him to show Dr. Han he should be a surgeon again.

[00:10:18]>> You have to stand up for yourself. And you know what? If you can't, then the new head of surgery, the chief, he's right. Now I can go tell him he's wrong.

[00:10:27]Won't do any good. Or you can go show him. Which of course is one of the main catalysts for the infamous I am a surgeon scene that comes much later. I feel like Shawn should be finding someone who has better advice for him than his caretaker here. In fact, because of this, Shawn ends up going through a patient's purse while she's asleep because of the advice his caretaker gave him until Dr. Han catches him in the act.

[00:10:48]>> What are you doing?

[00:10:54]He is now quite literally going through a patient's personal belongings and invading their privacy. Despite the fact the show seems to want to constantly try to paint Dr. Dr. Han is some kind of villain here. It's pretty clear he must have a lot of patience for Shawn given all the things Shawn has done here. If Dr. Han was truly a villain, like the show seems to want to make its audience think he is. And if he actually wanted to just be rid of Shawn, he probably would have just fired him right from the get-go. It's clear he does have some level of respect for Shawn and does view him as an actual person given the fact he was willing to put him in a different position at the hospital that he thought Shawn would excel at. So again, the fact that the show always tries to frame Dr. Han is some kind of villain. It really makes no sense whatsoever. This man is somehow on the villain's wiki of all things despite doing quite literally nothing wrong. How do we get to this point? But somehow this still isn't the worst of it because after Shawn literally invades a patient's personal privacy and belongings. That's when he decides to enter Dr. Han's office to demand his job as a surgeon back. Which unfortunately is exactly where the infamous clip spawns from. I AM I am Honestly, in a lot of ways, and maybe this is just me being overly optimistic, I actually think The Good Doctor might have been able to lean in a slightly better direction if they just kept Shawn and Pathology during this series of episodes. It probably still wouldn't have been necessarily a good show, at least in my personal opinion, and ultimately not really good autism representation either, but it might have been at least a little more bearable and possibly even open up room for improvement down the road. At least if only the show just understood how bad they're making Shawn look as a representation of an autistic character by having him do these sorts of things and constantly pushing him to need to be a surgeon again in the context of the show. It's really frustrating to watch and it's easily my biggest gripe when it comes to this show. Overall, The Good Doctor and its main character of Shawn Murphy aren't really good autism representation in general. They seem more content to lean into a large amount of myths and stereotypes regarding autism and also portray the main autistic character as a soulless savant rather than a fully fleshed out well-defined character that just so happens to be autistic. But thankfully that's where The Pit comes in with an absolutely fantastic portrayal of autism with its character of Dr. Mel King. For those unaware of what The Pit is, it's a medical drama that debuted in 2025 and really seems to have taken the world by storm. One of the things that has really helped this show stand out amongst the plethora of other TV medical dramas is that each episode is actually meant to represent an actual hour in a shift at the hospital in Pittsburgh where the show takes place called The Pit. So, the first episode of the show actually takes place from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. in a shift at the hospital, and the second episode takes place from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and so on. It's a really unique format that I think also allows the viewer to get sucked into what it's like working in a busy hospital environment like this. And I'd argue because of this format, The Pit actually succeeds at being way more immersive than any other medical drama that's come before it. But something that The Pit also definitely really succeeds with is how it manages to portray autism in a very authentic way with its cast. Most notably with the character of Dr. Mel King, who's an integral part of the main cast of the show. The actress who plays Mel in this show, Taylor Dearan, is actually neurode divergent herself, which on its own already gives The Pit a giant leg up over The Good Doctor in my opinion. One of the biggest problems when it comes to autism content representation in media is that often autistic people aren't actually sought out to portray autistic characters, which often does lead to a lot of the problems we see with autism representations in popular media just in general. One of the most famous representations of autism in media, that being Rainman, was played by Dustin Hoffman, who of course isn't an autistic actor, but funny enough, his portrayal wasn't even based on someone who had autism. The character of Rainman in the film was actually based on the real life Savant Kim Peak, who didn't actually have autism, but in fact had FG syndrome, a completely different condition. I've discussed this in a previous video, so I recommend you check that out if you want the full narrative.

[00:15:00]But in short, a lot of misconceptions about what autism actually is, in fact, came from this performance in Rainman since it was a neurotypical actor basing his performance on someone who wasn't even autistic. As far as autism representation that I've covered on this channel goes, outside of things like Love in the Spectrum, of course, since the whole gimmick of that show is having autistic people date each other, the only thing I can think of where there was actually [music] an explicit effort made to cast an autistic actor in an autistic character came from the movie Ezra, which technically did feature good autism representation, at least in the fact that the main child character of Ezra was actually played by a young autistic actor. However, that movie, which I reviewed a while ago here on the channel, has plenty of its own issues on its own, specifically with its really awful portrayal of autism parenting.

[00:15:49]There's a lot of different issues with that movie's portrayal of autism parenting, specifically with how it shows the dad constantly trying to overstimulate his son and quite literally using him as a prop in his own standup comedy show at a club he goes to.

[00:16:02]>> Stand up and take the wig off, Es.

[00:16:04]>> STOP TALKING ABOUT ME. UH, YOU KNOW, try to have a little respect, okay? As I'm up here humiliating myself to give you a better life.

[00:16:12]>> All right, I'm good to you, you little prick.

[00:16:15]>> How are you good to him? You just brought him to this club against his will and now you're up on stage actively making fun of him. And just in general, honestly being a pretty terrible dad overall. So really, despite the fact that Ezra has an authentically cast autistic character in it, it still isn't really a good movie whatsoever. So, it's honestly really refreshing to finally see a piece of media like The Pit that does make an effort to cast autistic characters and isn't showing them being mistreated at all or using them as a prop and ultimately just lets them be fleshed out characters who are truly involved in the show's narrative. When playing the character of Dr. Mel King Taylor actually specifically stated she wanted to avoid falling into the traps that other portrayals of autism on television had done before and she wanted to be able to give off a much more natural relatable feel to the audience. I'm neurode divergent so it's always bugged me and still there is a show that will [music] not be mentioned um that I saw and I was like wow [music] they're really trying to play autism there in a very unflattering light. I'm a virgin. Given the fact she is also Nura Virgin herself, this really helps the performance feel authentic and lets the audience really appreciate her performance and get invested in the character she's playing. Interestingly enough, despite the fact that Taylor actually has been acting for quite some time now, the characters she's all played before are very different than the character of Dr. Mel King. She was in things like American Vandal and Sweet Vicious and played very different kinds of characters than what she plays here in this show. But I think in a lot of ways her playing an actually neurodiverent character in this show allows her to embrace her [music] narrative diverency even more, which is a really cool thing to see. Mel is able to come off as a much more human character than Shawn did for a lot of reasons, but probably one of the biggest ones is that unlike Shawn, she is actually shown to be an empathetic character. And this is thankfully shown to the audience multiple times throughout the series.

[00:18:16]>> Everyone calls me Mel. I'm so happy to be here. It's a little bright in here.

[00:18:22]Sorry, the uh ER can be very noisy.

[00:18:26]>> I agree.

[00:18:27]>> My frustration manifests itself emotionally and then I get upset and then it looks like I can't handle things and you know then I can't cry in front of the patient cuz no one wants to see their doctor cry. That's just a big red flag.

[00:18:38]>> You You just hit a perfect cri. You're doing great. This honestly makes me really happy to see because it helps break down the stereotype that autistic people cannot feel empathy because ultimately they can and at times they show it in a more clear way than a neurotypical person might. This is illustrated absolutely wonderfully with how Mel engages with the patients around her showing a genuine care for their needs and wanting to solve any problem she possibly can for those around her.

[00:19:05]Really going above and beyond. Also, unlike Shawn, she can actually understand jokes and humor from people around her, which yet again busts another myth about autistic people that they can't understand humor.

[00:19:16]>> She understands jokes.

[00:19:18]>> Which neurotransmitter makes the best adhesive?

[00:19:22]>> I don't know.

[00:19:22]>> Glutamate.

[00:19:24]Glue to me. Am I right?

[00:19:27]>> Nicely done, Dr. King.

[00:19:28]>> Mel also does showcase a lot of the struggles that autistic people go through, such as being over stimulated.

[00:19:34]But unlike how it was portrayed in The Good Doctor, where Shawn just becomes a screaming mess that honestly becomes rather uncomfortable to watch at times, Mel's over stimulation is portrayed as much more human. It's obviously not glamorized at all, and it's still shown as a very real scary thing that does happen to people on the spectrum, which I myself can definitely relate to as someone who struggles with being overstimulated and also does suffer from anxiety as well. but it's done in a way that honestly is able to translate and be understood more by a general audience than it was in The Good Doctor. I honestly think this is perhaps The Pit's greatest strength when it comes to autism representation, its ability to show autism as a human thing and humanize its characters that are autistic so that their characters are easy to resonate with and be liked by the people who are watching the show.

[00:20:21]This is a leagues above the good doctor which consistently seemed to want to treat its autistic character as a soulless robot that couldn't relate to anyone around him and nobody else could relate to him. We honestly need more portrayals of autism that are like the pit in my opinion where autism is not shown as something that isolates an individual from those around them but is actually shown as something that enhances their ability to empathize with those around them and gives them a unique look on the world around them that really nobody else could have. It's these kinds of portrayals that end up being genuinely positive progressive takes on autism. And that plus the fact that Pit actually went out of its way to cast neurody divergent actors in its cast really shows how the show went the extra mile ultimately. Even outside of Mel herself, the show actually cast an autistic actress in the role of her sister in the show as well, who Mel functions as a caretaker for in the context of the show. And there was also a male autistic patient who shows up in the series at a certain point as well who is also played by an actual autistic actor. One of the coolest things about this scene where Mel is talking to this autistic patient is that she's able to relate to him in a way that all the other neurotypical doctors around her really can't whatsoever. Oftent times when it comes to neurodyiverency, neurode divergent people are able to resonate and connect with each other on a much deeper level and in a way that just doesn't really happen with neurotypical people. The way I like to look at it, oftentimes autism sees autism. And that's really on full display here with how Dr. Mel is able to understand this autistic patients needs and level with him in a way that the neurotypical doctors just can't because in many ways she understands the exact kinds of struggles that he's going through since she often struggles with the same exact things herself. It's a really amazing moment and probably my favorite moment of the entire series. In fact, and it's really just something you wouldn't see in The Good Doctor given the fact Shawn is constantly portrayed as someone who can't relate to anyone else around him. That is the biggest leg up that The Pit has over The Good Doctor in my opinion, although of course there are plenty more in general. But definitely one of the greatest strengths it has is breaking down this stereotype that autistic people can't relate or empathize with people around them. It's things like this that really, really make me like The Pit as a whole and make me extremely happy how willing this show is ready to go to portray autism in a well-defined, nuanced, truly positive light. I really hope we start to see more Dr. Mel Kings in media we consume going forward and less Dr. Shawn Murphy's. Admittedly, there's still a lot of bad autism representation out there in popular media, and there's unfortunately still a lot being made to this day even. But things like The Pit definitely give me hope that maybe, just maybe, things are starting to get a bit better for how autism and people like myself are portrayed in the media around us. If you haven't seen The Pit yet, I highly recommend it. Even outside of how well it portrays autism, it's honestly just a really well-written show overall and a surprisingly very engaging medical drama. I don't even usually like medical dramas when it comes to the television I like to watch. I'm admittedly more into science fiction or fantasy. So, the fact I'm giving The Pit praise for everything it does should really show a lot. It is just genuinely a really good show and I can't recommend it enough. Speaking of recommendations, something I'm going to be doing with my videos going forward is something I'm going to start calling Noah Nods. Essentially, at the end of every video, I want to shout out fellow creators that I think are doing great things on the platform since I used to be very good about shouting out great people and it's something I want to make a habit of doing more. Today's Noah nods go to Sunnyland Productions and RCT3's Epic, two creators who you might be familiar with if you're a longtime viewer of the channel and also are IRL friends of mine. They're both also neurody divergent creators that I highly recommend you check out. Sunnyland Productions does a lot of videos covering animation and also has done some videos talking about neurodyivergent representation and animation as well. He's covered a lot of different things regarding Disney Channel cartoons. So, if you're into that at all, I highly recommend you check out his channel. RCT3's Epic is a big fan of theme parks and talks about different theme park rides individually on his channel. He also is a big fan of Tron and does have some Tron related content on his channel. So, I highly recommend you check him out. Both him and Sunnyland Productions are good friends of mine and good friends of the channel in general. I'm hoping I can take opportunities to highlight good creators more with my videos here since that's something I like to do in general. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this video about the autism representation featured in both The Pit and The Good Doctor. And I hope you learned something new from it as well.

[00:24:50]If you like this video, be sure to give it a like and also consider subscribing as well. I do lots of videos like this in general, often covering film, animation, games, and things like that.

[00:24:59]So, if you like this video, you'll probably like the other videos I have planned as well. The next video I do will probably be another autism related one since I've been wanting to look at the concerning trend of fans diagnosing their favorite celebrities with autism.

[00:25:12]Yes, this unfortunately is a real thing and it also causes a lot of misinformation on autism as you could probably imagine. The other videos I have planned are probably a review of Mandalorian and Grou when that comes out and also I want to do a video talking about Jello Apocalypse's different media criticisms and how they're not really media criticisms in general. That's a video I've been working on for a while now and hopefully will be up within the coming months. If you'd like to hang out with like-minded film and animation fans, you can consider joining my Discord which is linked down in the description. If you want to check out my letter box, that's also linked down in the description where you can see a lot more movie reviews for me. Often times movies I won't review here on YouTube.

[00:25:49]Special thanks to all my patrons and YouTube members who choose to support me monetarily. I appreciate you all a ton and I appreciate all of you for coming to the end of this video. I hope you enjoyed it or learned something new from it. But for now, I've been Noah the otter and I'll see you on the otter side. Bye.