IN `BIG-GIRL PANTS'
The Good Doctor star respects that drama confronts real-life issues
The Good Doctor has scrubbed back in for a fifth season. The drama, which airs Mondays on CTV and ABC, films in Vancouver and centres on a team of medical professionals at San Jose
St. Bonaventure Hospital. Postmedia News spoke with Christina Chang, who plays chief of surgery Audrey Lim, about her time on the show.
Q What a time to be starring on a medical drama. How has filming for season 5 been?
A It's been great. We just started not too long ago. Not too long ago we wrapped season 4, so we had a nice little hiatus and now we're back. I'm just grateful that we get to keep shooting.
Q Last season, the show addressed the pandemic and Audrey developed PTSD. How did you approach that storyline?
A It was important to me and the writers and (showrunner) David Shore that we portray somebody grappling with PTSD related to the pandemic in a way that was believable but also in keeping with our fictionalized world. It has to be something that somebody in my position is dealing with but that can still function in a way.
And it was important that we address it, period.
We're very aware that it's something that a lot of front-line workers and caregivers — everybody in the position of trying to save lives — is dealing with on some level. It gave me a little more insight into what it must be like, but I'm just playing at it while other people are really dealing with it.
Q Has playing a doctor on the show affected how you think about the pandemic?
A It was really only the first two episodes of season 4 that dealt with it, but it was pretty hard for most of us to do it because we were still in the thick of it (in real life). Just knowing that we were portraying what everybody in real time was dealing with was very meta.
And now here we are in season 5. The idea obviously is that we are in a world where that did exist but that we have moved forward. We're not acting like it didn't happen — we're just not addressing it directly now.
Q What can viewers look forward to in season 5?
A The first episode was titled New Beginnings and we found that to be a pretty apt title, considering it is that. After Guatemala in season 4, everyone comes back to St. Bonaventure and a handful of us are in relationships. We have new characters joining the show. It's all new beginnings, but more of the same. You're watching all the characters work on healing people and work on their own issues and keep evolving in season 5.
Q What's been the best part about playing Audrey?
A I love some of these one-liners that they write her. She can be sassy and sarcastic with these little quips and that's fun, but ultimately I think the moments that I enjoy are when she's on a learning curve — those moments and scenes where she has to go, “I'm not going to be afraid to be the boss.”
It's this evolution for her from being a trauma surgeon to being the chief of surgery and just having to put on her big-girl pants and do it anyway.
Just knowing that we were portraying what everybody in real time was dealing with was very meta.