Season 3 Writer's Blogs

Welcome to Seattle Grace Spoilers. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Pages:
1
2

Season 3 Writer's Blogs; Blogs from Greyswriters.com
Topic Started: Apr 29 2007, 06:34 PM (241 Views)
merdermaid	Apr 29 2007, 06:54 PM Post #21
Posts: 157 Group: Grey Girls Member #254 Joined: April 24, 2007	[size=7]3.18 "Scars and Souvenirs" writer Debora Cahn[/size] Original airdate: 3-15-07 Izzie and George sleep together. Izzie and George sleep together. And what does sleep mean, really, it could mean anything, which is what you figure’s going through Izzie’s head when she pulls up the sheet to check if she’s wearing anything, and the answer is, “No. Nothing at all. You’re naked in a bed with your best friend, and it sure as hell looks like he’s naked too. Everybody’s naked and in the bed and have been for a while and they have bed head and are naked.” So sleep could just mean sleep, but probably doesn’t. The moments you wait for, in a job like this, are ones like when Shonda calls you into the writer’s room and says, “You know how we talked about how maybe George and Izzie sleep together? Put that in your episode.” That’s when you smile, and try to be cool, and say, “Oh, sure, I can find room for that.” And then you leave the writer’s room and do the biggest happy dance you’ve ever done, and it goes on for a while, until you realize somebody from the script department is standing nearby and watching and now thinks you’re epileptic. Izzie and George sleep together. Well it was bound to happen, right? Best friends. They get each other like nobody else gets them. They share everything. It’s easy. It’s natural. It’s like gravity, how can you fight it? How can you not fall? Okay, there’s a way to not fall. Lots of people don’t sleep with their best friend. In fact, I’d like to take this opportunity to assure my husband that I’ve never slept with any of my best friends, and I don’t plan to start any time soon. But it makes sense, in a way, right? Isn’t that the fantasy? That the guy and the best friend can be the same person? That Izzie and George, who have shared every minute of the most intense time in their lives, turned to each other in every success and every failure and every breakup and every triumph, with every piece of gossip and every bit of pain, should share…everything? Share their hearts and their souls and… all their other parts? It makes sense, right? Right up to the “he’s married” part. That’s where it all kind of falls apart. Oh Callie. Callie gets a pretty raw deal around here. She’s tough. Which is good. She needs to be. But she gets a pretty raw deal. More on that later. Back to sleeping with your best friend… We’ve spent some time here today wondering if this is going to encourage a whole bunch of people deciding to sleep with their best friends. And who knows what would come of that. All I’ll say is, if your best friend’s married, I don’t recommend it. But if your best friend’s single, and so are you, and you always kind of thought of them as the guy you go to for advice about guys, maybe you should tilt your head to the side and see if they look a little different. Roll the dice. Who knows? Maybe the best relationship you’ll ever have…you’re already having. Let us know how that works out. But George is married. So there’s not really a way this can work out well. Oh Callie. Now, to be fair, Callie is not some innocent, trod-upon martyr. She lied. About something kind of big. And then flew off the handle when she found out George told his friends. And she flies off the handle at George a lot. The whole, “Why am I always the dog getting whopped on the nose with the newspaper” thing? I think he’s really got a point there. Callie was into the relationship first, and pissed that George wasn’t there faster. Callie was in love first, and pissed that George wasn’t there faster. There’s a lot of Callie being pissed for George having feelings different than hers, and he’s allowed to have his own feelings. She doesn’t have to enjoy it, but she can’t really blame him for it, and she does. A lot. He’s apologizing, a lot. And that’s just got to be exhausting. Still shouldn’t turn around and sleep with his best friend, though. That’s not cool either. Izzie and George. I’m not going to get into the Meredith, and the Derek, and the dinner, and the father, and Cristina and Burke and Colin, who we love, not just for his dashing British accent, but it certainly doesn’t hurt, and Alex, and the tragically deformed Jane Doe, because I rambled endlessly about all that on the podcast I did with Betsy yesterday and I don’t want to repeat myself. (My first podcast. Very intimidating. Kind of horrifying, really, though Betsy is just masterful, and I think in a few years will have her own talk show.) And because I’ve now taken up about all the real estate they want to give me on the Izzie and George. But I’m okay with that, in the end. I think I am. Because… you know… Izzie slept with George. March 15, 2007 in Debora Cahn -------------------------------



merdermaid	Apr 29 2007, 06:55 PM Post #22
Posts: 157 Group: Grey Girls Member #254 Joined: April 24, 2007	[size=7]3.19 "My Favorite Mistake" writer Chris Van Dusen [/size] Original airdate: 3-22-07 By now, you all know that this blog is a pretty scary, intimidating, daunting place for us writers. Unless your name is Shonda Rhimes. If your name is Shonda Rhimes, you’re not scared of the fans who are asking for your head because of that whole George and Izzie sleeping together thing. You’re not intimidated by the millions of people wanting – no, demanding – that Mer-Der sex. You’re not daunted by the task of getting Cristina Yang to walk down an aisle wearing a big, white, frilly wedding dress… Of course not. But, if your name is Shonda Rhimes, you’re able to casually saunter by a guy who’s staring at a blank computer screen, attempting to write his very first writer’s blog for his very first episode of television – his brow furrowed, eyes glassy – and casually whisper the words: “Just blame me.” Let me tell you, the day after we see Izzie and George have sex is a pretty frightening time to come on here and try to explain why Izzie and George woke up in that bed next to each other. Some of you are really, really angry about that. And, Shonda is insisting that you – yes, all of you – with your scrunched up noses and your crossed arms and your loud, infuriated sighs – you all should blame her for Izzie and George. “Izzie and George sleep together,” our fearless leader said. “IZZIE AND GEORGE SLEEP TOGETHER!” It was pretty amazing. It’s still pretty amazing. And, trust us, we’re taking Izzie and George to some pretty amazing places. Because, just like the theme of this episode, we have a plan. We know you’re shocked. We hear you. Television watchers without pity: We get it. But, here’s the thing. You know who’s even more shocked than you? Izzie and George. They didn’t see this coming. They didn’t mean for this to happen. I mean, they’re FRIENDS. They’re BEST friends. They spend most of their waking hours together. They have many things in common. They confide in each other. They look out for each other. They stick up for each other. They worry about each other. They care very deeply about each other. Wait a minute. Izzie and George are already in a freakin’ relationship! They’ve been in one for a really long time. Okay, so, up until now, it was a sexless relationship. But, Izzie’s been mourning Denny all season long. George has been fighting left and right with the woman he married in the wake of his father’s death. And, of course, Izzie and George drank a lot of alcohol. So, the sex happened. The really, really good sex happened… The sex that makes Izzie think she has deeper feelings for George? It happened. The sex that officially puts Izzie in the Dirty Mistresses Club and classifies George as an adulterer? IT HAPPENED! Both Izzie and George are wrong for the sex. It was a mistake. It wasn’t part of the plan. George is married. To Callie – who, at the moment, I feel so incredibly sad for. There she is – thinking that she married the perfect husband. The only man who has ever stood up to her father. She’s deeply in love with George. That scene, after lunch, when Mr. Torres comes to the hospital and tells George to protect Callie with his entire being – Wasn’t that scene just heartbreaking? The look on Callie’s face, so proud of her husband… George – We torture the hell out of him in this episode. He kinda deserves it, don’t you think? You know, for the whole adultery thing. So, he’s incredibly hung over. He remembers the sex during lunch with none other than his wife and his father-in law. And, in the last scene of the episode, he’s horrified, left speechless, just staring at the ceiling. So, so lost. He’s not getting any sleep tonight. And, neither is Izzie. One of my favorite scenes of this episode is Izzie and George in the linen closet, right after George has remembered the previous night’s transgression. There are no spoken words, yet it’s almost like you hear what Izzie and George are saying. It’s painful. Heart wrenching. I don’t know about you, but, in that moment – I wanted Izzie and George together. Without the complications. Without the mistakes. Without having to totally destroy Callie. The sex, it was wrong. But that last look between Izzie and George in the linen closet? It was so, so right. Because… Izzie and George? They’ve got some intense feelings for each other, those two. It’s obvious. It’s amazing. There they are, in that linen closet, NOT DRUNK AT ALL, and it’s apparent that the sex – the really, really good sex – it could happen again – right then and right there. So George rushes out, leaving Izzie all alone. Neither has a clue what to do. George. Is. Married. We see George banging the linen closet shelves, Izzie looking so confused, both of them pacing around like caged animals. Izzie and George are so incredibly flawed. But that’s what makes them interesting. That’s what makes them human. That’s why, even though they did a terrible thing, we still love them. And we want to see them get out of this okay. I’m talking about all parties involved: Izzie, George, and Callie. Okay, some of you will remain angry about this Izzie-George thing. Go ahead. Be that way. But, HOPEFULLY you found some joy in the MER-DER SEX you saw at the end of tonight’s episode… It’s been a long time for those two. Cut Mer-Der some slack. I mean, Meredith was dead for an afternoon and Derek has been busy running around the halls of Seattle Grace making sure there are no large bodies of water left for his woman to fall into. Which, according to Meredith, is a big problem. Meredith doesn’t want anyone looking out for her right now. Her mom died. She’s fine. She’s ready to move on. But, everyone around her – namely, Derek – won’t let her. He’s going around trying to protect her, but it’s coming off as extremely manipulative. Meredith wants to fight her own battles. She’s wants to be a surgical machine. She has a new plan. So, it really pissed her off when Derek talked to Mark about the Jane Doe surgery. The troubled look on Derek’s face when Meredith tells him to shut the door on his way out – he just wants what’s best for his girlfriend. Maybe what’s best for his girlfriend, though, is a little space. We see how much this affects Derek when he’s unable to give his board interview the focus and attention it deserves. Burke is doing Power Point. Addison is rehearsing her introduction. Mark… Well, Mark is being Mark. And, to everyone’s dismay – particularly Bailey’s – Mark ends up winning the race for Chief (for today, at least). And, what’s Derek doing? Not concentrating on his board interview. Instead, he’s worried about Meredith. Hovering. Pacing. Which is starting to affect his job. Which can’t be good. Now, I’m worried. But, in the end, Meredith and Derek put their differences aside for a moment and finally go back to being the couple we all want to see. It looked like all of that fighting led to a pretty passionate night… Let’s not forget about Burke and Cristina. Tonight, we got a glimpse of Cristina’s first ever musings on her upcoming wedding. Hey, at least it’s good to know that the wedding is still on. Because when Colin Marlowe showed up in the last episode, things got pretty intense in Burktina-land. Colin’s arrival threw a serious wrench in Cristina’s plans. And, over the course of this episode, no matter how bad Cristina wanted things with Burke to go back to normal, she realized that they can’t. Because Burke isn’t interested in that. He wants to move forward. He wants Cristina to commit to this wedding. He basically wants Cristina to change her ways. And, she does. A little. Because, much like Cristina’s diabetes patient, Doug, she doesn’t have much of a choice. When Cristina tells Doug that, even though he lost his foot, he still has a lot left to lose – she’s talking about herself. She realizes she’s got to give Burke something, because she’s in grave danger of losing him if she doesn’t. So, that’s what Cristina’s doing with all of that talk about City Hall and mosquito netting… There’s another scene in tonight’s episode that’s worth talking about. It’s when Alex presents the different faces to our Jane Doe. Wasn’t it nice to see Alex in a new light? It’s interesting to see him have a real relationship with a woman that isn’t based on sex. This is a real connection with someone Alex isn’t linked to romantically. And, finally, Jane Doe gets a real name and a new face. Ava. All thanks to Alex. Well, there’s so much more to say, but that’s all the time I’m going to take away from you. I’m just as excited as you to see what lies ahead for our characters. I hope you enjoyed tonight’s episode! March 22, 2007 in Chris Van Dusen -------------------------------



merdermaid	Apr 29 2007, 06:56 PM Post #23
Posts: 157 Group: Grey Girls Member #254 Joined: April 24, 2007	[size=7]3.20 "Time After Time" writer Stacy McKee [/size] Original airdate: 4-19-07 Ok. Before I get into the whole George slippity slipping on Izzie’s scrub pants and Derek needing to choose: Be the Chief or Be With Meredith and DAMN – did you notice that Richard can TOTALLY bust a move ??--- I just want to say… Welcome back, you guys! It’s been a little while since the last new Grey’s Episode… And it’s been even longer since I’ve had a chance to talk to you! That was Waaaaay back in November, back before George was married (let alone falling for Izzie!), back before Meredith was (almost) dead (and talking to dead people), HECK – back before the boys went camping! THINK of how much has HAPPENED!!! I know – lately we’ve had a few repeats, and you’ve all been very patient, but now… here we are. This week marks the first of the final few Season Three episodes and – MAN. I can say this because I know what’s going to happen next… I seriously envy you guys. You are about to have SO MUCH FUN. All new episodes. Funny episodes. Heartbreaking episodes. Supersized episodes. Cliffhanger episodes. This is it. The beginning of the end of the season. So, brace yourselves. Now, about THIS episode… I want to talk about mothers. (I know – it sounds boring, but just stick with me for a second here.) Love ‘em, hate ‘em, miss ‘em, or try very hard (only to be unsuccessful) to fool ‘em – we’ve all got some kind of mother somewhere. Even if we’ve never met her. Even if she’s not related by blood. Even if she’s haunting us from the grave. Even if, when we went to college, she secretly recorded things onto our computers like: “Words of Wisdom from Mom: Never have unprotected sex on days that end in the letter Y” -- We all have a mother. Whether we like it or not. (And yes, my mom DID record that onto my computer when I was a college freshman. And, no – I never could figure out how to erase it, so… every time I misspelled a word for the next four years, I was reminded to use a condom. True story.) There are a whole lotta mothers floating around tonight’s episode. Ava meets her faux mother. This poor girl has no memory, a new face, her only real friend right now is Alex and she’s about to become a mother herself – and suddenly the cruelest thing imaginable happens to her. She is first claimed by, then rejected by her “faux” mother. When Ava’s “mom” walks through that door, Ava believes that her life, the very history she can’t remember, is about to be restored -- only to have that hope yanked away from her – it’s horrible. It’s devastating. And Alex is the one who has to deliver the news. Alex, the guy who has been there, looking out for Ava, from the very first moment he pulled her out of that water – he’s the one who has to tell her that “those people” are not HER people. No wonder she lashes out at him. Stupid faux mommy. And then there’s Meredith – trying to figure out how to react to HER Fake Mommy. I swear, if anyone could use a little motherly nurturing, it’s Meredith Grey. I was secretly thrilled when I realized I was going to have Susan in my episode. I love Susan. Sure, she’s a little pushy (what with the whole bringing groceries over uninvited thing – and chatting up Derek before Meredith has even stumbled her way downstairs…) but Susan is, mostly, just a very caring, very genuine MOM. The exact opposite of Ellis. It’s the kind of mother Meredith has never actually experienced first hand, and it’s the kind of mother Meredith (clearly) desperately needs – even if she isn’t sure how to accept Susan’s kindness quite yet… There was a line that had to be cut for time that I loved: “I’m not used to moms of any kind before my coffee.” But don’t be fooled – Susan’s not squeaky clean and perfect. Her “gestures” aren’t coming out of a solely kind and generous place… they are also brought on by some good old fashioned guilt. Susan feels responsible for the fact that Thatcher was so absent from Meredith’s life. Susan’s known about Meredith for years, for her entire marriage – and yet, it was a very recent chance meeting at the hospital that finally prompted Susan (and Thatch) to become a part of Meredith’s life… No wonder Meredith is a little cautious. In Meredith’s experience, mothers ALWAYS have an agenda, and it’s usually not a generous or thoughtful one…Which is why Susan is so important. She has the potential to help heal a few of those wounds for Meredith. Susan is like a happy little beacon of motherly hope for Meredith and her future… even if she DOES stop by unannounced. But, of course, the Grey’s universe has to even itself out. We can’t have the potential of a happy, hopeful motherly Susan relationship on the horizon for Meredith without a little dark and twisty Dead Mommy love haunting Meredith, too – even from the grave. And by haunting, I mean messing with Meredith’s McDreamy. Richard says to Derek that he made a promise to Ellis. Richard told Ellis, on her deathbed, that he would look out for Meredith. So, as unfair as it seems, Richard intends to make good on that promise. Which means he’s willing to pass up Derek as the next Chief in order to make sure Derek will be available to focus on Meredith. What’s so interesting about this is that – it’s not that Richard is punishing Derek for having a relationship with an intern. Or, in fact, trying to force Derek to choose between his relationship with Meredith or a shot at being Chief… Actually, it’s a vote of confidence from Richard. Richard clearly thinks Derek is good for Meredith. Richard wants their relationship to succeed. And he knows – firsthand – that nurturing a relationship properly is nearly impossible given the professional demands of being Chief. He thinks he’s doing Derek (and therefore Meredith) a favor. Richard is protecting Meredith. He thinks he’s doing exactly what Meredith’s Dead Mommy would want him to do… The question is – how will Derek respond to all of this? We see him there, at the end – lost in thought. What’s he thinking about? Is he questioning whether or not Meredith’s worth all this trouble – Is he thinking about what Bailey just said to him – that if you can’t be with the person you love, then all the rest of “this” means nothing… ? Yes and Yes. Derek’s not being a jerk by not answering the phone. He’s being human. He’s trying his best to work through his demons – in private – so he doesn’t take them out (unfairly) on anyone (like Meredith) in public – he doesn’t WANT to hurt Meredith; he loves her. And, he’s just been told that she’s the one thing that will prevent him from achieving his life-long professional dream. Cut the guy some slack. He’s allowed a broody night all alone in his trailer, don’t you think? Then of course, there’s Bailey. She always knows when one of her “kids” needs her. She just can’t help herself… And right now, that kid is Izzie. The Izzie bone marrow story has been swirling around our writers room for a while. In fact, I’m pretty sure that as soon as we figured out Izzie had a daughter – we also figured out that one day, that daughter would get sick. She would need bone marrow. And that would bring her to Izzie. The question has always been – WHEN do we bring Izzie’s daughter back? There have been a LOT of possibilities, but suddenly – in the wake of this new Izzie/George relationship… At this very crucial moment, when Izzie is mourning the loss of her closest friend, and when Goerge is having trouble even looking Izzie in the eye… SOMETHING needed to happen that would bring them together—privately. Intimately. Perfectly. Hello, Izzie Jr! The thing I’ve always loved about this story is that it’s not about Izzie or George. Their tension, their fling, their awkwardness – it all gets put on a back burner the moment something much more important falls into their lives. They have to set aside their weirdness, step outside of themselves and their screwed up lives, and – just hold each others hands. It’s like that moment, just before the hematologist starts to drill into Izzie’s hip, when Izzie and George’s faces are just inches apart, and nothing else matters. It’s just George being there for Izzie when she needs him most – it’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s one of the most meaningful moments – for both of them. Well… that and the scene with the scrub pants… SIDEBAR: Can we please talk about George and Izzie’s scrub pants??? Is it just me, or was that moment charged in a way that made me both a liiiiittle bit uncomfortable AND incapable of breathing for – well – the rest of the scene? I’m telling you – this whole George/ Izzie thing? I’m as conflicted as you are. I see a scene like that and I think to myself – Oh my goodness, they belong together. Right NOW. Make it happen!! Until I see Callie a few scenes later and… well, I get mad at myself for forgetting all about her. Because I love Callie, and I hate the idea that George might hurt her – REALLY hurt her… Callie’s blameless here. She loves a man who really really seems to be… falling for his best friend?!?!? Alright. Enough already. I’ve been talking way way too long – plus, I still have to call MY mom and find out what she thought of the episode… I tried calling her last night (I’m in LA and she’s two hours later in Houston) – and I very carefully timed it so she’d be done with all her work (she kicks butt as a realtor there) so we could chat… and when I called, she answered with: “Now, Stacy. You KNOW I can’t talk to you right now. The Chief just told some woman that he’s ‘a FRIENDLY guy.’ I have to go!!” And then she hung up on me. (sigh.) Moms! April 20, 2007 in Stacy McKee -------------------------------



merdermaid	Apr 29 2007, 06:56 PM Post #24
Posts: 157 Group: Grey Girls Member #254 Joined: April 24, 2007	[size=7]3.21 "Desire" writer Mark Wilding [/size] Original airdate: 4-26-07 Desire. It can wreck your life. It can be, as Izzie rightly says, your Penis Fish. It can crawl up inside you and… yeah, you pretty much know the rest… So that’s what I’m gonna talk about in this blog. Desire and the metaphor we came up with to represent it. The Candiru. Or Penis Fish. I won’t call it a Candiru. I’ll call it a Penis Fish because that’s a lot funnier to say than Candiru. I’m not sure if Penis Fish should be capitalized, but if you had one in you, you’d probably think it’d be worth capitalizing. In fact, ALL the letters in it probably deserve to be capitalized. PENIS FISH. However, I don’t want to be accused of sensationalism so we’ll just keep it at Penis Fish. First some background. My personal desire has been to do this story for a long time. In fact, it’s been the whole writing staff’s desire. We actually had the story in a couple of previous scripts but it never quite worked out. It either didn’t work with the theme of the episode or we’d just done a show with someone having penis troubles and we didn’t want to do penis overload, as it were. Second, the Penis Fish is a real thing. It’s more of a parasite than a fish. It likes to swim up the little eddies created by a fish’s gills. Then it stops and latches on to the insides of the unsuspecting fish. The unsuspecting, unlucky fish. And then it, well… feeds. Yeah. Very yucchy. It’s found in South America. However, unlike, say, telenovellas, it’s not coming to America anytime soon. You will not find it at your local swimming hole or the YMCA. It’s strictly Amazon. But it does exist. Look hard enough on the Internet and you’ll find a picture or two of the thing. It’s thin enough to get in your urine stream, slippery enough to avoid capture and agile enough to work its way inside you. Where it gorges on your blood or tissue. And gets bigger. So when the Chief pulled it out at the end, that’s about what it really looks like. Hey, we do our research. The Discovery Channel even has some web site where they do a re-enactment of the thing swimming into some poor guy. Even that fake re-enactment gives you the willies. At least I hope it’s fake. So George and Izzie make the mistake of thinking they can somehow quench their desire. That by ignoring it and saying it’s not there, they can simply move on. Be best buddies again. It’s not that nothing happened. Something did. But they think they’re strong enough and wise enough to deal with it. It was a one time thing. A simple mistake that can be rectified by their own determination to put it behind them. The trouble is… their desire keeps getting in the way. And that’s why George has hit upon a new way to deal with it. Go West, young man. In this case…Mercy West. It’s not just George and Izzie that suffer from this affliction. All our couples in this episode suffer with some form of metaphorical Penis Fish – a desire that’s hooked into you and won’t let go. Look at Derek and Meredith. They got what they desired. Each other. But once you get what you want, is it really what you want? Because, unfortunately, love isn’t just about desire. At some point it’s about other stuff, too. Getting through the day to day. Putting up with your partner’s snoring. Wondering if they have, well, some kind of death wish… Those things tend to complicate relationships. Eat away at them. Make you wonder if you’re getting out of it what you put in. How many problems can you take before the taking gets too hard? Derek tells Meredith he doesn’t know if he can keep breathing for her. It’s not just costing him the chiefship, it’s also…wearing him out. She’s his Penis Fish. Does he want to get rid of his Penis Fish? That’s impossible, right? It’s Meredith and Derek. It’s just a bump in the road. Or is it? Well, all I can say for now is stay tuned… Addison and Alex have been desiring each other for what seems like forever. And we finally pay it off with a tryst in the on-call room. How about that? THEY FINALLY DID IT (now that deserves all capital letters). We’ve never done a tally of the various places where our people have done it in the hospital. I have to think the on-call room leads the way, with storage closet a close second. But Alex clearly has major issues with girls who like him. So he detaches himself pretty quickly from any possible entanglement. He won’t let Addison be his Penis Fish. . And finally Burke and Cristina. Burke wants his relationship with Cristina to work. He wants her to choose that wedding cake. We know what that cake means to him when he sits down with Izzie in the conference room at the end of the episode. This cake. For this day. With this woman. And in the end, Cristina does choose a cake. The red one. The red velvet. And Burke has hope again. He’s wanted this wedding all along. And he’s thinking, hell, maybe now she’s finally on board. Maybe she finally wants this thing just as much as he does. Maybe, just maybe, they’re finally heading in the right direction. The question, of course, is does Cristina feel that way? She loves the guy enough to have made little compromises along the way (see Stacy’s great episode last week). But is this whole wedding thing her Penis Fish? Okay, even though I said this blog would just be about desire and the Penis Fish, I lied. Only because I really liked the scene at the end with Bailey and the Chief. Where he’s leaving for the night and he runs into her filling in surgeries on the OR board for the next day. And he’s told her earlier in the day that she has to delegate and she just can’t. SHE CAN’T. It’s not in her. And, truthfully, it’s not in him either. The question is, will Bailey suffer for that? The answers to that question and a lot more will be coming up in the next three weeks. I promise, it’s going to be a GREAT ride. Next week’s our two hour episode and it’s moving and funny and all things Grey’s Anatomy. And that’s not even the finale. In the meantime, if you find yourself in the middle of the Amazon and you have to take a pee, stifle whatever desire you have to go in the river… and just find a nice thicket of trees or a large bush. And that way, you can avoid being what no one desires – being another odd medical story on the Discovery Channel. . April 26, 2007 in Mark Wilding -------------------------------



oncetherewasaway	May 21 2007, 10:23 AM Post #25
McEditor Posts: 1,625 Group: .Grey Girls. Member #23 Joined: October 25, 2006	[size=7]3.22 & 3.23 "The Other Side of This Life" writer Shonda Rhimes[/size] Original airdate: 5/3/07 So I owe you an explanation. For this episode (for these two episodes, I should say). I owe you that. You’ve stuck with me through Season Three and now you want answers, damn it! You want an explanation. You are preaching to the proverbial choir. If you were a preacher and I was a choir. Which…I’m not a choir cause I can’t sing but maybe you are actually a preacher and…rambling. The point is, when I watch TV and things happen like the Scooby Gang raises Buffy out of her scary grave or Felicity goes back in time or they take their sweet time telling me what those numbers mean over on Lost...I get a little nutty. I sometimes get irate. Because these are my shows. These are my people. These are my FRIENDS THESE WRITERS ARE MESSING WITH. I don’t say this lightly. I am a hardcore TV watching fanatic. I was deprived of it as a kid. So now, as an adult, I am deep into it. I dig my TV. So when shows take leaps, I go a little out of my mind. I go a little out of my mind, I shake my fist to the heavens, I tear at my hair and I ask the writing gods “WHY?!!!!” “WHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!!!!!” I go all drama on my own ass and then I lie back down on the sofa and keep watching. Mainly because I’m lazy and shaking one’s fist to the heavens is exhausting. But also because I’m interested in seeing what happens next. And because the writers have asked me to leap and so I’m gonna leap with them. Also because, now? Now I get it. I so totally get it. It’s freakin’ gotten. Here’s what happened to me: I was sitting in the editing room one day watching Mer and Burktina and the gang doing all the stuff they do. I love the editing room – it’s like this cocoon where I’m alone with the characters (and the editor) and it’s where I get a lot of my ideas. And for the first time ever since working on this show, I got an idea that was Grey’s Anatomy but…not Grey’s Anatomy. It was something else. It was Addison driving down the freeway with her hair blowing all over her face. So I started writing it down, this not Grey’s Anatomy idea. I started writing it down in secret because I knew Betsy and Shoots With No Script would very gently explain that I had lost my mind and then send in the guys with the strait jackets. Because we are very busy here at Greys. We don’t have time for non-Grey’s ideas. We are a hard-working people. Except I had this idea and it had already worked its way under my skin and I had to write it down. Or else I’d get in one of those moods. Things happen when I’m in those moods. Things like Meredith drowning. And I love Mer and wanted to keep her away from the water. So I wrote it down. And I gave it to the studio and the network. It became something. A script that was part-Grey’s, part something else. And then it became news around town and suddenly my tiny little written down something was being paid a lot of attention by the outside world. Next thing you know, they’re calling it a spinoff. This episode, it’s NOT a spinoff. It’s Addison going down to LA to complete the story we’ve been laying out for her for two seasons. It’s the culmination of Meredith’s family story. It’s Burktina and the wedding and Izzie, Callie and George and that hideous triangle they are stuck in. It’s the beginning of the end of Season Three. And I’m warning you now: the ride to the end of the season? You may want to buckle up and store your luggage in the overhead compartment because this ride is gonna be bumpy. I’ll explain more after the finale. I’ll talk about where we are headed in Season Four. Because I think Season Four is gonna rock. The fun is back in Season Four. But for right now, I guess I’ll just talk about the here and the now. About what is right in front of us. So. Even though we took this detour down to Los Angeles, what I want to talk about is what happened in Seattle. To Meredith. To Cristina. To Izzie. Because things are not working out the way they planned. George is leaving for Mercy West and Izzie feels responsible. Cristina’s facing the fact that she’s going to have to compromise what she wants yet again for Burke. And Meredith…well, Meredith is losing another mother. Worse, she’s losing her father. And even worse than that, she may be losing Derek. But my favorite moment is Alex. Who, when Ava asks him what happened to him that has made it so hard for him to connect, simply shrugs and says “Maybe I don’t remember.” He remembers. But he can’t face up to it. Not yet. Alex is the guy we know the least about and the one struggling the most. And I kinda love him for it. Because he wants to be a better guy – he’s just not sure he IS a better guy. In this episode, our people in Seattle all hit a crossroads while our girl in Los Angeles finds a new road altogether. I’m hoping you like the new road. I’m hoping I get a chance to show you how good this road can be. But for now, the detour is over. Now, we’ve got the last two episodes of this season to bring to you. Where we are going might make you shake your fists to the heavens and scream. But we are leaping. So, if your sofa is comfy, maybe you could lie back down and leap with us? May 04, 2007 in Shonda Rhimes -------------------------------



oncetherewasaway	May 21 2007, 10:24 AM Post #26
McEditor Posts: 1,625 Group: .Grey Girls. Member #23 Joined: October 25, 2006	[size=7]3.24 "Testing 1-2-3" writer Allan Heinberg [/size] Original airdate: 5-10-07 I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but, sometimes, terrible things happen on GREY’S ANATOMY. Wonderful things happen, too. People fall in love. They have the best sex of their lives. They have epiphanies about life and love and surgery and so forth. But mostly on GREY’S ANATOMY people accidentally puncture their surgical gloves with their fingernails during a heart surgery. Or they sleep with the wrong people -- again and again. Or they die. Occasionally they die and come back to life, but for the most part they die, and it’s devastating: George’s father; Meredith’s mother; Meredith’s step-mother. It can make for compelling television drama, but it’s not entirely unlike real life, where terrible things happen to us, to our friends, and to the world around us without warning or explanation. And we’re human beings, most of us, so when terrible things happen, we want to know the reasons why. We want the suffering to mean something. And when the meaning isn’t immediately evident, we assign meaning as a way of comprehending, if not controlling, what seem like random acts of terribleness. When bad things happen, we make sense of them by calling them tests. Tests we either pass or fail before moving on to the next level of experience, but ones we hopefully learn from either way. As Season Three hurtles toward its shattering, emotional conclusion, the interns at Seattle Grace face a very real and terrifying test: a written exam, which will determine whether they become residents next season or whether they’ll be dropped from the surgical program altogether. The attendings, too, are now just one day away from discovering the results of their season-long test. Tomorrow they’ll find out whom Richard has recommended to become Chief of Surgery -- the same day Bailey and Callie discover Richard's choice for Chief Resident. As usual, however, the professional challenges the doctors face are nothing compared to their personal ones. Cristina and Burke are twenty-four hours from their wedding. Izzie's bracing herself, about to lose George to Callie and Mercy West. Alex discovers Ava has been concealing her true identity from him. Derek feels he's losing Meredith in the wake of Susan's death. And Meredith feels like she’s already lost everything: her career, her relationship, and her family. Meredith’s first test arrives before this episode even begins in that she has to decide whether or not to attend Susan’s funeral. After the way Susan died, and Thatcher’s physically violent reaction to the news, Meredith would understandably harbor some ambivalence about going. Especially on the day of the intern exam. But in a surprising show of strength and resolve, Meredith doesn’t whine or deliberate over her decision. She simply puts on her black dress and sets off for the funeral. Even when Cristina gives her the out of asking the Chief to let her take the exam another day, Meredith refuses. She doesn't need to reschedule the test. She's ready. What Meredith isn’t ready for, however, is her father’s showing up drunk and angry at the hospital and publicly humiliating her all over again. At which point Meredith simply shuts down. She sinks under the weight of her own life -- and her own perceived failures -- just as she did when she drowned. Faced with her mother’s dismissing her life as merely “ordinary” -- and her father’s brutal rejection -- Meredith seems to will herself out of existence, failing to complete the intern exam and to communicate with Derek. That is, until her friends intervene. Confronted with the prospect of losing one of their own -- a test in and of itself -- the interns set aside their own conflicts and concerns and fight together for Meredith. In the end, Meredith’s biggest test isn’t whether or not she fails or succeeds as an intern. It’s whether she can allow herself to be helped -- to be taken care of -- to be loved -- by others. When her biological family casts her aside, Meredith’s Seattle Grace family is there to support her unconditionally -- and, though it’s obviously painful and difficult, especially where Richard is concerned (“You’re not my father.”), Meredith ultimately lets them. For Derek, who’s consigned to having to watch Meredith go through all this from the sidelines, it sometimes seems as if his entire relationship with Meredith has been a test. And what's the right answer at this point? To take her at her word that she's fine? That she needs to go to Susan’s funeral by herself? Or should he worry and hover -- making sure she’s still breathing -- as he’s been doing since she drowned? In the end, Derek listens to Meredith -- he gives her the space she’s asked for -- but as a result, the distance between them grows wider than ever. Derek ends up walking away from Meredith as she re-takes the intern exam -- leaving her in the care of her waiting friends -- but does that mean he’s failed her? After all, he doesn’t succumb to the temptation of accepting the drink from the girl in the bar. He remains true to Meredith, even if he remains excluded from her experience. Again. But for how long? As for Cristina, the intern test seems to pose little or no challenge for her. She has Callie’s cards and… she’s Cristina, she’s going to be fine. And it’s not even her relationship with Burke that’s testing her at the moment. It’s her relationship to the wedding itself: the ceremony, the ritual, the vows -- all of which, in Cristina’s mind, have nothing to do with her and Burke. But the demands of the wedding itself continue to test her patience and resolve. And her sense of self. Is she the sort of person who vows to love and cherish and honor till death do us part? Burke knows she’s not. Yet, in spite of himself, he’s expecting her to go through with it anyway. Burke, too, faces the challenge of not judging Cristina's commitment to their marriage by the way she's participating (or not) in their wedding. But in his mind, aren’t they one and the same? Does her reticence to commit herself to him in public betray a deeper reluctance to commit to him at all? According to Burke, it will all come down to the moment he sees her walking toward him down the aisle. At which time, he’ll know. He’ll know the answer to the question, “Do you, Preston, take this woman, Cristina, to be your lawfully wedded wife?” But with some tests, there are no right answers. Ava lies to Alex, concealing her true identity, and in doing, she fails him. She betrays his trust. But it seems she does so for Alex. She keeps her identity a secret so that she can remain with him at Seattle Grace, rather than return to the marriage she was trying to escape in the first place. It’s not the right thing to do, certainly, but it is an act of love. In the end, even Alex can see that. But how much will he be able to trust someone who lied to him? Even if she did so out of love? Addison's test is played largely for comedy in this episode as she struggles to come to terms with her infertility in the face of a seeming army of pregnant women. And at no time does she ever put her personal struggle above the needs of her patients or her friendship with Callie. She passes this test several times over, but she does so, it seems, at the risk of her own long-term happiness. And it’s far too late for Izzie and George to do the “right” thing with regard to each other and Callie. George and Callie’s marriage has already been compromised. And no matter how real or deep Izzie and George’s feelings for each other are, their relationship has been compromised, as well. And up until this point in his life, George has considered himself a highly moral person. He’s not a man who cheats on his wife. So what is the right answer for George, at this point? Does he remain at Seattle Grace and continue to try to deny his feelings for Izzie? Or should he tell Callie the truth, even if it means hurting her and ending their marriage? Or does he stay the course by keeping silent, recommitting to the marriage, and sparing Callie’s feelings? There is no right answer at this point. George is a highly moral person doing his utmost to be the best doctor -- the best friend -- the best husband he can be. But people, no matter how well intentioned, make mistakes. If life is a series of tests, there is no perfect score. You do the best you can and try to learn from your mistakes, because before you know it, life has another test in store. And another. And then one after that. Not unlike episodes of series television. Speaking of which, we have only one episode left of GREY’S ANATOMY this season, and it’s epic. And we’re already well into our work on Season Four -- talking about how far the characters have come in three seasons and where they seem to want to go next. Thanks for reading, Allan Heinberg May 10, 2007 in Allan Heinberg -------------------------------



oncetherewasaway	May 21 2007, 10:26 AM Post #27
McEditor Posts: 1,625 Group: .Grey Girls. Member #23 Joined: October 25, 2006	[size=7]3.25 "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" writers Tony Phelan & Joan Rater Shonda Rhimes on Burning Down The House... [/size] Original airdate: 5/17/07 So the third season began with Meredith helping Izzie remove her prom dress and ended with Meredith helping Cristina get out of her wedding gown. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but…I like a little symmetry. This season was important to me. It wasn’t as light as Season Two and for good reason – our characters were in a darker place. I needed to put Meredith’s mother to rest, Izzie’s grief to rest, and the race for Chief to rest. George needed to grow up on a monumental level and then come full circle to where he was when we first met him in the pilot. Meredith had to finally try to face the fact that she’s damaged when it comes to relationships. I wanted to put Bailey on the path of questioning her standing as The Chosen One. Both Burke and Derek needed to hit a relationship wall, each in their own ways. And then there’s Cristina… Oh, the Cristina of it all. What this season is about most of all – for all of our women – is the idea of “having it all” is a myth. And that was true for Cristina more than anyone. Slowly, over the course of the season, we’ve watched as hard-nosed Yang sliced off little pieces of herself to accommodate Burke. From helping Burke hide his tremor to Colin Marlowe telling her she’s not the woman he knew to prepping for the wedding, she slowly morphs from kickass surgeon-girl into a woman we don’t quite recognize in that wedding dress with penciled eyebrows. I wanted you to have the feeling in the finale that she’s become this painted doll – beautiful, everyone’s fantasy bride, but a painted doll all the same. No longer our Cristina. There’s that wonderful moment where she begs Bailey to let her cut because a part of her knows she’s becoming someone she doesn’t recognize. And then, just as she’s lost almost all of herself standing there in that gown ready to walk down the aisle, Burke is telling her that he can’t marry her. Because even Burke realizes that this Cristina is not his Cristina. It’s devastating. I hope you noticed that in the beginning of the episode Cristina talks about a heart as a purely anatomical thing (“it pumps blood”) and then Burke’s vows are all about the heart as an emotional thing (“I promise to lay my heart in the palm of your hands”) and it’s so sad to realize that they have completely opposing views of the world. I feel for Burke and you should too because he knows that, in a way, by leading, pushing, cajoling her down this path to being together, he’s done this to her – he’s changed her. That the only way to save her from disappearing completely is to set her free. And then in that wonderfully painful moment (how much do we love Sandra Oh and her incredible talent?) in the apartment, Cristina turns to Meredith and says “He’s gone. I’m free. Damn it.” And it’s so nuanced and so layered and so tragic because she’s relieved and terrified and heartbroken and suffocated all at once. Watching her journey back from this is going to be amazing next season. George and Izzie and Callie: you all have your opinions, very strong opinions, on how you feel about this love triangle. I’m glad – strong opinions mean you care what happens. In the finale, Izzie’s declaring herself and Callie’s fighting for her rightful territory. That moment when Callie casually lets Izzie know that she’s not only been named Izzie’s boss but that she and George are trying to have a baby is very interesting. Callie’s saying “don’t mess with me” in the only way she knows how. About the baby thing – for the record, I am very strongly against anyone trying to have a baby to save a relationship. It’s crazy because it never works and I highly recommend you don’t do it. Plus it goes against every feminist bone in my body. But it is also human to delude yourself into believing that you’re not having a baby to save your relationship, that instead having a baby is a way of taking your relationship to the next level. And Callie gives that great speech about her hormones and her body. I’ve been there and I know that it is real, this sudden baby rush that happens and, if you are firmly into your career, it freaks you out. Callie’s just being as honest as she knows how to be with George. Because she can’t bring up Izzie again – not when the last time she brought it up, George called Izzie a supermodel thereby suggesting that Callie was, well…not. George is interesting is this episode. Did you notice that after he looks at his test scores, his entire demeanor changes? How he’s vulnerable in a way that we haven’t seen in a long time? My favorite moments for him are in that scene with Bailey where he says he can’t repeat his intern year over again. He just can’t. And then when that girl in the locker room (Lexie Grey! Lexie Grey!) asks if he has any advice, he says simply “No.” I love that. Because he doesn’t have any answers. He thought he did and then he fails his intern exam and Izzie has to go and tell him she’s in love with him. He has no idea what the future holds. His whole future is one big question. Alex and Ava. My heart beats for them. How amazing was Ava in those scenes? And Alex…I’ve said before that Alex is Meredith’s mirror and I’m saying it again. He’s too screwed up to give Ava a reason to stay because he doesn’t think he’s good enough. And it’s no coincidence that this scene comes right before the MerDer scene where Derek is asking her, all pained and raw, to put him out of his misery and Meredith is WAY too screwed up to give him an answer. They’re damaged people, Alex and Meredith. What I love is that for Meredith, Cristina getting married has become this incredibly important thing – this sign – that maybe she and Derek can make it through. That she can be healthy enough to let herself have this, have him. She keeps saying to Cristina “you can do this” and she needs it to be true. She needs it desperately. Meredith, the girl with no family model for how a relationship works, looks to her best friend. So when Burke shuts the whole thing down, Meredith is almost as devastated as Cristina. She does that long walk down the aisle, gets up in front of the wedding guests and tells them it’s over. And she doesn’t just mean the wedding. She means everything she hoped could be true. She means the fairy tale. She means the MerDer of it all. It’s over. It’s so over. Because she no longer believes. Bailey’s got a lot to contend with next year. She thought she was going to be Chief Resident – she really believed it. After all, the Chief spent the season practically anointing her with Chief Resident oil. But he also spent the season warning her. Because from his own life, he knows what it is to get so caught up in a job that you neglect your family. And he wouldn’t wish that on anyone. That is a lesson Bailey’s not ready to learn – the fact that there may be a choice between family and career isn’t something this generation of women has been raised to believe. It’s not something I’m ready to believe. But, like I said, what the women start to see this season is that maybe they may not necessarily be able to have it all. Because maybe having it all has a price. Is it fair that Bailey has to pay this price? Absolutely not. But isn’t it ironic that Bailey’s got the strong family and (in her mind) a shaky career while Callie’s got the solid career and the shaky family life? The Chief. Aah, my Chief. I love his full circle journey this season. His wife starts out leaving him and now she’s come back. And Derek hands him back the Chief job. Which opens all sorts of possibilities. Because if he’s going to do it all over again, how will he do it differently? Is it possible for him to have it all? Will he get Adele back if he chooses to stay Chief? I love the wonderful moments with his wife, when they’ve lost the baby and he’s there for her. For me, in the face of the supposed fairy tale playing out with Burke and Cristina, this is what real love is. After years of mistakes and pain and problems, real love is two people standing together, choosing to be together, despite all that has gone wrong. It is very grown-up, the Chief and Adele of it all. Derek. Poor Derek. He’s done his best to pull Meredith forward. He’s done his best to be in this relationship and help her be in it too. He has tried to be the best man. But it wasn’t enough. He can’t save her. And so in that last moment, when he’s sitting with the Chief, and he tells the Chief that he can’t take the job, it is about so much more than just the job. It is about his belief in himself. I adore the moment in the locker room when he tells Mer that she’s the love of his life. Mainly because Patrick says things like that better than anyone I’ve ever seen. But also because he’s desperately trying to get through to her. And when he says that he can’t leave her, he won’t leave her, because he can’t – it’s sad. And she looks at him and just sort of…freaks out and and he pleads with that one word “Meredith”…it’s all so…the way he puts his head back as they leave the locker room…He can’t be more of a best man. Where he’s going next season is going to be interesting to watch. Last but not least are Addison and Mark. We don’t see a lot of them in this episode. And for good reason. Their stories were done, finished, earlier. For Addison, there’s a brand new future ahead over at Private Practice (Wednesday nights at 9 pm!). For Mark, he starts fresh over at Grey’s next year. Without Addison. He’ll get to stand on his own and I think you’ll enjoy seeing it. So that’s it. That was our season. I did my level best to burn it all down this season, to burn it to the ground so that we can have a place to build from next season. Burning it down was hard. But next season…oh, next season is all about the fun and the pain and the new beginnings. Because our interns are going to become residents. Because everyone is single again -- well, there is the little matter of Izzie and George and Callie…but still… …the future is wide open, people. Special thanks to Tony Phelan and Joan Rater for writing an excellent finale. And to Shoots With No Script for...well, shooting with a very long script. Have a good summer. May 17, 2007 in Shonda Rhimes -------------------------------



1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)


« Previous Topic · SEASON 3 · Next Topic »

Pages:
1
2