The Good Doctor, season 4 finale, part 2

 

After 4 days on the road to and around Guatemala, aka: Merritt, B.C., the ole cast ride got a little dusty.

Heck, what else are you going to do when your out in this neck of the woods??

Ahhhh, the doctors have arrived at the airport.....

.....a hawk soars above the normally tranquil landscape, wondering what all the commotion is about.

I bet the Los Altos airport hasn't seen this much action in awhile......

......and like we always do, we move in and take over a location. We filmed for 2 days in Merritt.

So nice being back in the Nicola Valley, an area I have travelled through many, many times in my infamous trucking and bussing days, lol.

Once again we used the same two busses, one for the driving on the road scenes, and this one for all the interior shots of the cast.

As ready as it's ever going to be......

Oh look, 2 new guest stars for the season 4 finale!

......and there they go, for the first of many cruises around the hills of Guatemala....

....I don't think I would want that light shining in my face......

.......heading out again, take 2. 3, 6?, I lost count.

Not sure why so many pics of this bus ended up on the blog, lol. (there's cast in there somewhere,lol)

.....back at the hotel room, something we haven't done since Ritsue moved in in 2019, a Skype date!

Day 2 in the rolling hills of Guatemala........

Oh man, the background performers caused a miny traffic jam! (Yikes, the one on the right is a little on the ratty side.)

One of our props people, Jonathan, showing off one of the baby stand-ins, albeit not a real one.

......rolling! Get those sheep out on the road, let the traffic jam begin. How ever will our doctors get to the hospital???

The Guatemalan hills panoramic pic.

The boys! Teamster bad asses Bob, John, myself (of course), Mike, Eric, Sapo stunt driver (aka: captain Ward), Rocky and Jaz.

Oh boy, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore. (or Merritt for that matter)

Yes, we will certainly be watching out for them. (awesome work by the art department)

The sun is setting on another filming day, in Guatemala, in Merritt, on another season of the Good Doctor.

I don't know if it's covid or a town that has seen better times, but the main street of Merritt was looking awfully lonely.

....back on set, a couple of extra parts, never know when you're going to need them.

We left Merritt and headed back for our last day at the Bridge studios. Looking out towards downtown Vancouver as I waited to pick up Dr. Reznick.

My last cappuccino of the season from the awesome Charlie Bar coffee truck. (spoiled, spoiled, spoiled)

The sun rises above downtown. We finished our one day at the studio. The last 2 weeks of filming season 4 would be at our second Guatemalan location, Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam.

Much of the 244 acre grounds are full of flora, and even a little fauna.

Standing under the green canopy of one tree.

Meanwhile, back in reality, this house in Kitsilano that Dr. Lim  (Christina Chang) and her family were renting has just gone on the market for, wait for it, $3.6 million!!??

....back at Riverview, I mean Guatemala, Dr. Murphy, Dr. Andrews and one of the finale guest stars, nurse Ana Morales (Esmeralda Pimentel) walk back to base camp from set.......

......as Dr. Park and Dr. Lim sneak up on me as they walk from base camp to set.

Another first in my cast driving career. The A camera focus puller (google please) forgot his glasses at home, and I had to go fetch them for him, lol.

The catering crew were working hard as always keeping the crew well nourished for their time in Gutemala.

Killing time waiting for the call sheets at the Bridge studio, I had time to walk around the sets. This is the rigging grips masterpiece above the roof of the hospital.

No line-up for the MRI machine.........

.......no patients in bed......(That soup looks like the same bowl I saw in there about a month ago......)

....meanwhile back at Riverview, the cast drivers await the cast......

Showing the Guatemalan colors,........one last trip to the Sutton Place hotel to pick-up the guest star Doctor, Dr. Karla Saravia. (Allegra Fulton)

......in and out of reality, this time waiting for the executive producer at Olympic Village.

Fellow Teamster softie peeps Mike, Bob, John, and Ward entertaining Paige's (Lea) dog Sally.

A beautiful last day in Guatemala, it was picnic time for Dr. Browne, Dr. Lim, Lea, and Dr. Murphy.

The hospital corridor in Guatemala.......

........and that's a wrap on season 4 of the Good Doctor. Nothing left to do but get the big trucks (like these 2 hair and make-up trailers) back to the studio.

Yay! A little shout out to Ritsue from the Nikkei Japanese Cultural Centre.

Hyuk.....

All quiet at San Jose St. Bonaventure hospital, for now. Season 5 will be starting soon enough, though.

The Good Doctor season 4 finale, part 1

The two-part season finale of the Good Doctor season 4 included many actors, including most of the main cast. (Only notable exception was Dr. Glassman, Richard Schiff.)

 

Hmnnnnn......I had my doubts as Ritsue started preparing these lotus roots.

......but and a little hamburger, pork, and shrimp and they were quite tasty, and crunchy!

A quiet early morning on Main St. waiting at J.J. Bean for the Good Doctor's cappuccino.

......and there it is, our base camp, for most of the final three weeks of shooting. We were set up at the Riverview hospital grounds in Coquitlam.

One of my many down time hiding spots on the grounds, the East Lawn building. I have been part of many productions that have filmed here over the years.

There he is, our transport captain, Ward. If you add a little make-up and a wig, voila!, you have Sapo the stunt Guatemalan bus driver! (He sure had a lot of fun with the 3 filming days he was in.)

Without giving too much away, the industrial services building slowly transformed into a Guatemalan hospital.

....and Dr. Reznick had something to say about that.

Outside the Center Lawn building, looking all official with the Guatemalan flag on the door. (Not part of the show, we did all of that for fun purposes, only.)

Lots blooming on the Riverview grounds.......

Broadway and Kingsway in Vancouver, waiting to take Dr. Browne to Guatemala, lol.

The grip pre-rig boys were hard at work on this bus, setting up for some interior shots.

Meanwhile back at the caterer's BBQ, Louie was working his magic. Yes, I know we are spoiled! 

These picnic tables at Riverview have not seen a visitor in many years.

Another nice bloomin' shot!

Hahaha, my own personal gym for 2 1/2 weeks, lots of stair climbing and dips.

We all had to carry this letter because of the new travel restrictions put on by the B.C. government. It says we are entitled to travel for work purposes.

Guatemalan party bus?????

Meanwhile, back at our last day at the studio, Dr. Reznick (Fiona Gubelmann) was loading up one of her birthday presents.

The other Guatemalan bus, the one the grip brothers were rigging up. Now it has been loaded onto this low-bed trailer........

One little wind storm and the flower blossoms looked like snow on the road.

We spent one day filming at an old western film lot called Jamestown. It was way out in Langley. My first time here!

Cast drop off was in this little Guatemalan village.

Looking oh so cool, stunt Sapo is back!

One of the old western sets, this church. As usual, our filming day turned into.......

.........night........

......went for a stroll, there was a pond out yonder......

........looking back towards Jamestown.

Still some cool old western pieces scattered around......

Close by was B.C. Buzz honey stand. I went to get a jar of cinnamon honey for Dr. Reznick. While I was there I grabbed a jar of buckwheat honey for myself, and a jar of raspberry honey for Dr. Shaun Murphy. Yum-yum!

Even the bunnies came out to see what was going on......

........stunt Sapo is at it again!

Random, digging the woods at Jamestown, pic.

Night time in the village.

Random, a younger me trying to look truck driver cool, pic. (A longer story for another time.)

Might as well throw in the me, younger, bad moustache, trying to look like a cool Greyhound driver, pic.

One day off again, time to enjoy a frosty cold one!

Sunday night was Nao Sushi time!

A blast from the past. I had these pics of bro Skip's old Datsun framed for him. That was quite a day in the early 80's out on the farm roads in around Minburn, Alberta. 

Wow! Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Hope. In all the years of driving this road, I have never seen less traffic. (Well, maybe at 3 in the morning.) People seem to be co-operating with the travel restrictions.

Fellow cast driving peep Jaz letting me know it was time to join the mighty Teamster gang at our base camp in Guatemala!

......and there it is, our base camp for 3 days in Guatemala, aka: Merritt, B.C. (....to be continued......)