Viewing Single Post From: 4.16 / 4.17 Freedom

Viewing Single Post From: 4.16 / 4.17 Freedom
oncetherewasaway	Aug 12 2007, 08:58 AM
McEditor Posts: 1,625 Group: .Grey Girls. Member #23 Joined: October 25, 2006	[size=7]MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION[/size] [size=6]Grey Matter [/size] The End of the Beginning... Original Airdate: 5-22-08 So that was Season Four. Right after we finished filming the finale of Season Three, I sat down with the Grey’s writing staff and I pitched them the last scene of Season Four. That’s how I do it. I start at the end. When Season Two concluded, I pitched the image of Cristina tearing off her wedding dress and crying in Meredith’s arms. For this season, I knew immediately that I wanted more hope. I knew I personally NEEDED more hope. So I pitched Meredith standing on Derek’s land in a field of candles telling Derek where the living room could be, where the kitchen could be, where the kids could play. Because I wanted them together. I hated them being apart. It made me sad. It made me sad in a way that was bad for me and for everyone around me. But I also knew that, in order for Meredith to stand in that field of candles, she had to get there. Inside. Now I’m not an oogey inside person. I don’t do warm and fuzzy and I certainly don’t believe in therapy. For other people, it’s fine (yay, therapy!). For me, not so much. I write – that’s how I deal with my insides. And Meredith, she performs surgery – that’s how she deals with hers. But in order to get her to a place where she could stand in that field of candles, Mer needed a little help. Professional help. Which shocked my writers. Cause they know how I feel about therapy. But I knew something they did not. Something I’d been keeping to myself for four seasons. Which was the fact that Meredith sat on the kitchen floor in a pool of her mother’s blood after her mother attempted suicide. See what I mean about me not being warm and fuzzy? Nothing warm and fuzzy about pools of blood. Which is why I kept that detail to myself. When you say things like that in a writers’ room, people tend to look at you funny. People tend to suggest that YOU need therapy. So I kept it to myself. For four long seasons. I didn’t even tell Debora Cahn, the writer of the episode in which Meredith CONFESSES her mother’s suicide to Dr. Wyatt. Not until the last possible second. We’d have these discussions about Deb Cahn’s episode in the writers’ room where everyone would ask “Shonda, what is Meredith going to TELL Dr. Wyatt in this last scene? WHAT?” And I’d be all, “I don’t know. Stop talking about it.” And they’d sigh and shoot each other these looks. They love me but still, there were looks. I’d like to point out that it is RUDE not to tell details like that to your writing staff. It is cold and withholding, to use therapy-speak. But I just couldn’t do it. Because of two things: one, while I had pitched Meredith all whole and healed in a field of candles, I wasn’t sure I could get to a place where I BELIEVED that Meredith would ever go to the field. And two, I love Ellis Grey. Love her. Even though she is dead. I think she is fantastic. And I couldn’t figure out, couldn’t fathom, what a mother says to her child when she is bleeding to death on the kitchen floor from self-inflicted wounds. For a long time, I felt like anything she would have said to a five year old kid in that moment would make her a monster. Because I have a five year old kid. And I can’t imagine doing something so horrible and damaging to her. What do you say to your child at a time like that? Why is your child even there? How do you redeem yourself in that horrifying moment? And then I realized: be extraordinary. Be an extraordinary woman, Meredith. If you’ll remember, in Season Three when Ellis was lucid, she tells Meredith, “I raised you to be an extraordinary woman, Meredith and imagine my disappointment at realizing you are no more than ordinary.” That’s what she says in the episode RIGHT BEFORE Meredith falls in the water and chooses to stop swimming. To let herself go. That was Meredith’s own pool of blood. So suddenly, I had my answer. Ellis would lie there in her blood and tell Meredith to be an extraordinary woman. To not depend on anyone. And she wouldn’t be talking about surgery. But Meredith, at five years old, could not possibly know that. And she’d become the surgeon in training who screws boys like a whore on tequila and then tries to drown herself. Instead of realizing what Ellis actually meant -- don’t have ordinary love. Have extraordinary love. And that made it all possible. It made it possible for Mer to stand in a field of candles because once she realizes that, her whole world opens up. She can just stand there in her joy. But like I said, I don’t do warm and fuzzy. So that last scene, it was hard for me. To let her be oogey on the inside. So instead, Meredith is screaming and pacing and cursing like a fishwife. Because that’s how we do things at Grey’s. She’s going to love Derek and be with Derek but she’s going to go in kicking and screaming. And then I really didn’t want to just end with the two of them kissing. Everyone said, “end with the kiss, end with the kiss, end with THE KISS.” And I was all stubborn about it. Because this episode, it’s not about the kiss. It’s about the moment AFTER the kiss. It’s about the moment when she’s standing in the field of candles alone having just DONE the thing she was most scared of doing. She is free. She is free. And you’ll notice, there’s no voice over there, no Meredith telling us anything. Because, for once, my girl Meredith is speechless. There were other kisses in the episode. Maybe you noticed? Callie and Erica. Callie and Erica!! My god, did we discuss this a lot around here. Because Callie kisses a girl. We had this really cool meeting with GLAAD where we talked about the idea that a woman could decide she had feelings for another woman after being perfectly happy with men and we all got joyous because the chemistry between Callie and Erica and Mark is hot and interesting and fresh and like nothing any of us had seen on TV before. And we wanted it to be real – not some stunt to get people talking. We wanted to see what would happen if a woman suddenly had feelings for another woman. Because that has got to be surprising. And it is for Callie who so likes men. Who so likes sleeping with men. You’ll be very surprised when you find out where this story is heading next season. Because we don’t do things the easy way. And none of this will be easy. Not for Callie. Not for Erica. And not for Mark Sloan… How much do I love Mark Sloan? He’s a dirty pretty manwhore who ends up being a hero. And I love him for it. Not that he’s going to become a good guy. He’s no white hat. But for one moment, he did what he thought was the right thing. Because if there’s one thing he understands, it’s getting turned on by someone. And who is he to deny that? Okay, there is more to say. I have more to say. About George and Lexie. About Alex and Ava/Rebecca and Izzie. About Bailey. About the Chief. About Rose. And about Cristina. Oh, do I have more to say. But my fingers are tired. From writing all the kissing. So I’m going to end this now and post it. But I will write more tomorrow. I’ll finish what I started. But right now, I’ve got to head into the writers’ room and pitch them the end of Season Five… Thank you so much for watching the show. Every single time you watch an episode, we are grateful. You are all extraordinary. May 22, 2008 in Shonda Rhimes http://www.greyswriters.com/2008/05/the-end-of-the.html [size=14]----------------------------------------------------------------------- [/size] [size=6] The Emerald City Bar [/size] It's About Time When Mark Sloan comes into the bar and orders a water, you know something went down at Seattle Grace! So he says he’s growing and this whole swearing off alcohol thing is part of some “new leaf” or whatever, but I’m not buying it. Mark Sloan does shots. He goes home with nurses. He talks about threesomes and nakedness and things he wants to do with fingers. The dude once tried to get me to create a hot-or-not website that ranked the entire female staff of Seattle Grace! (I opted to create this blog, instead). Mark Sloan does not order water. He does not strike up conversations about Buddhism and spiritual journeys and the ways of the noble messengers of yesterday. And, Mark Sloan most certainly does not go home alone. So the question remains… WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED AT SEATTLE GRACE??!! Well, first of all, some kid supposedly tried to impress a girl by laying down in a bunch of drying concrete. Dude, seriously? Whatever happened to simply etching a pair of initials on the sidewalk and drawing a big heart around it? I guess this kid really wanted to get creative. Talk about good times! It practically took the entire staff to free the poor guy from his new deadly cement jail. Fortunately, thanks mostly to Bailey, the genius actually survived. Of course, according to Mark, cement boy wasn’t the only big thing to happen over at the hospital today. Many, many other things went down. Things like… Callie and Erica making out in front of Seattle Grace, for everyone to see! Yep, apparently Callie and Erica (finally) faced their true feelings for one another. Which, obviously, I think is absolutely wonderful. And, Mark agrees. However, as he was telling me the story, explaining how Callie literally grabbed Erica’s face and planted one on her with all the passion and longing in the world, I couldn’t help but sense that Mark was just a teeny, tiny, wee bit jealous. No, Mark wasn’t jealous because he wanted to join in. He was jealous because he saw two people having the courage to act upon their true feelings and not give a damn about what anyone else thinks. Mark, I could tell, wants something like that. Mark wants to find someone who can’t stop thinking about him all day. Yes, Mark wants to be in love. Aw, poor McSteamy. It’s about time he found some true love, don’t you think? It’s also about time Ava/Rebecca/Jane Doe got some professional help. Before going home for the night, Lexie stopped by for a cocktail. She told me all about Ava, or Rebecca, I mean Jane Doe (seriously, what do I call her), and her apparent SUICIDE attempt. After that happened, I guess Izzie was finally able to convince Alex to hand Ava (I’m sticking with that one because it’s the shortest) over to the psych ward. My man Alex was not happy about it, but he knew – in his heart – that it was probably for the best. Lexie said Alex was in his dark place when he left the hospital tonight. He must’ve been, because he didn’t even bother to stop by the bar. Uh-oh. I hope he went home and got some rest. Hopefully, Izzie will be a good friend and make sure Alex is okay after this whole mess. I’m sure she will… Speaking of good friends, Lexie and George? They are the best. I get the feeling that they really look out for each other. Take, for instance, the fact that Lexie actually broke into the Chief’s office and STOLE a bunch of personnel files. And, she did it all for George. She evidently discovered a whole bunch of personal (i.e. blackmail-worthy) information about ALL of our favorite docs. Information I cannot repeat here on this blog. But, information I can tell you in person, if you’re ever in the neighborhood. Let’s just say that George shouldn’t have to be an intern for much longer. Way back when, on Intern Test Day, George came totally close – I mean, super close, like one-point close – to making it to the next level and becoming a resident. Fine – I’ll just say it – George failed his intern test by ONE POINT. That’s it! Both Lexie and I hope there’s some way he can retake the exam… Somewhere… Somehow… Lexie didn’t stay for too long – she had to get home and clean up the apartment before George got there. See what I mean? A good friend! Later, however, Cristina came in – as happy and pleasant as could be. Talk about something big going down… Cristina was exuberant tonight. Wow, I never would’ve thought that those words could ever appear in the same sentence. Anyhoo, come to find out, the Chief backed Cristina up during surgery IN FRONT OF HAHN today. Now, that’s big, folks. Richard told Hahn that she had to teach Cristina. It was her job, and Hahn wasn’t doing it well. Of course, this came after Cristina did some awesome cardio on good ole’ cement boy without Hahn’s help. Good for Yang! About time she got the save! I asked Yang about her cohort, Meredith. Where was she? Apparently, that was the question of the night. Derek had been searching the hospital for Mer earlier, but to no avail. Wait a sec, did Mer’s disappearance have anything to do with all those candles I saw her carrying just moments earlier? Cristina had no idea what I was talking about. Candles, I said! Lots and lots of candles in lots and lots of little glasses! I was grabbing a jacket out of my car when I saw Meredith loading them all up in her car. Cristina shrugged… She was clueless. She knew that Meredith made medical history today with Derek, but Cristina didn’t know anything about candles. So Meredith and Derek successfully completed their clinical trial?! They cured a patient’s brain tumor?! They’re popping open that bottle of champagne?! It was then when Cristina shrugged and accused me of trying to take away “her moment,” but I simply waved her off. I was just so happy for Meredith! And I was even happier when I saw Nurse Rose in a corner of the bar… without Derek! Do you know what that means? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?! It MEANS Derek was with Meredith! It MEANS Derek and Meredith could (should) be reuniting (making out) as I type these very words! It MEANS Nurse Rose’s reign is about to come to a sad, sad end. And, for that, I just have to say: IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME! - Joe the Bartender http://www.emeraldcitybar.com/2008/05/its-about-time.html


4.16 / 4.17 Freedom · SEASON 4