An Aspie on (The) Good Doctor.

With my diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome, I'm intrigued to watch practically any movie etc. about autism, and so after coming to enjoy the new US TV medical drama The Good Doctor, I've also begun its 2013 South Korean predecessor, simply titled Good Doctor, on YouTube. Both are consistently well-made and can stand on their own. But how do they do that, and how accurately does each portray people with ASDs?

Good Doctor's protagonist is Dr. Park Si On (Joo Won); THE Good Doctor's is Dr. Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore). Both are resident surgeons who behave similarly in each episode, reflecting the need many autists have for a lifestyle of strict routine. Both shows go about inspiring sympathy for their heroes differently (in GD we see less of Park Si On's childhood but his colleagues' antagonism towards him is more pronounced) despite the US version copying many scenes from the original. Both also have the lead falling for his main female colleague and displaying kind but mechanical bedside manner; but Shaun is more inquisitive and serious than Park Si On (who in one episode even tries to amuse a boy in a park by pulling a face but instead scares him). The US version has also had an episode with a transgender patient which proved controversial because Shaun insists, initially, on using what he considers the biologically accurate pronouns.

Nonetheless, I really like each version both as TV and depictions of autism. Both show it honestly and sensitively through their protagonists' eyes, and I think the makers of each (the US one's showrunner is actually David Shore, who created House which I almost never missed) consciously try to just get the essence of autism and not everybody's experience with it. Countless films and shows have tried to do that and failed. But to my Aspie mind, these Good Doctors both get it just right.