All You Need Is Love - Grey's Anatomy Season 8-14 - Postmortem

Valentine's Day

After the virtual reality episode last week; it was great to get back to the characters’ lives in the real Grey’s Anatomy world. When we last saw the Grey’s docs they were all congregated at a party at Meredith and Derek’s in honor of Zola’s first birthday. Owen had just told the entire hospital at the top of his voice that Cristina had killed their baby and apart from Meredith; nobody else knew about it. Arizona and Callie were pushing Mark towards a serious relationship with Julia, when he told them to back off. Is Mark still in love with Lexie? Most Mark and Lexie shippers are hoping so.

Meredith and Derek Aren’t Getting Any……

Our golden couple can’t seem to get any intimate time together. The running into the bathroom, because of the baby in the bed, then the sofa; before they realise Lexie is there watching TV. So then it’s out to car, and wouldn’t you know it? The baby wakes up and Lexie is banging on the window. She offers to watch Zola, so her sister and husband can get some alone time.

By the time their day is over at the hospital; Meredith chasing a suspected tumor that is attacking her patient’s brain and causing seizures; it was a wonder they had the energy.

Cristina and Owen are in a Bad Place

These two are barely speaking to each other let alone celebrating their love on Valentine’s Day. Cristina insists that Owen put her back on Teddy’s service, and he agrees. Apart from Owen announcing he is moving out, that’s about all they have to say. Even the car crashing through the ER doors and almost killing them was not a big enough event for them to start talking. This does not come as a surprise for these two. Cristina was never one to talk about her feelings, and Owen may well be the opposite, however these conversations take two people to participate.

The obvious impasse that Cristina and Owen have reached in their marriage has begun to get depressing in my opinion and I’m sure I speak for many shippers of this couple when I wonder how in the heck will they to resolve this issue. Owen obviously sees a life with children and Cristina doesn’t and never has. Cristina’s feelings on having a child were apparent to me in Season 2 when she scheduled an abortion.

On the other hand though, the scene in the fan room gave me a small feeling of hope for them, especially when Cristina begs Owen not to hate her. It was good to see them in their special place again and brought back memories of Season 5 when they had not long met and romance was blooming.

Lexie has an Epiphany About Mark

It took a patient dying before he could propose to his girlfriend of eight years to get it through her thick head that she should tell Mark she loves him. After the patient codes and dies, Lexie finds a necklace with a little note inside that reads “will you marry me.” Except his girlfriend didn’t know and he never got the chance to tell her. So Lexie decides to take Zola over to Mark’s house for a play-date with Sofia in the hope that she can fess up the truth. But as luck would have it Jackson is there cooking Mark dinner in return for help studying for the boards, not exactly a good time for a heart to heart. But that was where Shonda left it. We can only guess at whether Lexie stayed for an uncomfortable dinner with her two exes or did she leave. Or best case scenario; hopefully Jackson left to let them talk. Believe me, I wasn’t holding my breath.

Teddy Tells Owen She Hates Him

While I felt Owen had a long speech coming from Teddy, even if none of it was his fault, which it wasn’t; Teddy went too far. She is grieving and usually our anger during that grief is directed at someone we love. But comparing Owen to dead soldiers, good men who died for their country was below the belt even for Teddy’s character. Yes it’s a TV show, and its fiction and Teddy is plenty angry with grief; but she didn’t mean most of what she said. The whole scene just made me feel uncomfortable; I can’t describe it.

 

I did enjoy Teddy and Cristina’s interaction, even though it was brief. Poor Teddy wants nothing to do with Owen; and Cristina wants nothing more than to fix her issue with Owen. Her worst fear; as we found out at the end, is that Owen hates her.

Arizona and Callie were Camping?

No; not really. Arizona was terrified that they were going camping for Valentine’s Day, but Callie had another plan. She borrowed Derek’s trailer and decorated it to fit the occasion and Arizona could not have been more relieved when she found out she would not be making love to her wife on the cold, hard ground.

Alex’s patient with the peanut allergy was cute. Although I found it a little hard to take seriously, given they were ten. The whole head lice issue was a riot. It reminded me of when my kid was ten and we had to deal with those issues at school. Those two parents brought the funny in these scenes. I was little confused as to why Arizona was absent from this storyline, given she is head of peds and Alex’s boss. I guess fighting with Mark about babysitters was more important.

This was not the best episode of Grey’s I have watched this season, however it was pretty good. Next week we have the crossover episode with Private Practice. Amelia comes to Seattle to convince her brother Derek to help her save Erica’s life. I love Amelia on Private Practice, so both episodes are worth a look simply to watch her and Derek duke it out. You just know he’s going to give her a hard time.

So what did you think of All You Need Is Love? Comment below or on Facebook or join the #GreysAnatomy conversation on Twitter.

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Spoiler Alert! Grey's Anatomy Season 9: Jesse Williams Dishes

24 May 2012


Jesse Williams Talks to Glamour


In a recent Interview and article on Glamour written by Jessica Radloff, Jesse Williams who plays Dr Jackson Avery talks about the much hyped Season Eight finale and Season Nine. It would seem that Jesse definitely knows he has a job next season and he also dished on a few others that look as though they will be back.




Glamour: Ok, so we have to talk about what happened last week. Did you stay home to watch the finale?

Jesse Williams: I haven't even watched it yet. I've been shooting like crazy and haven't seen the last couple of episodes. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that!

Glamour: What would you like to see happen with your character and April? You guys have had quite a bit of an emotional roller coaster recently.

Jesse: I view it as a big adventure—it can go a lot of different ways, and now you have a whole new element thrown in there, which is Lexie. And Mark, my co-worker and kind of my guy, because obviously he's traumatized, and I'm going to be traumatized to a degree. My friend/girlfriend is obviously going to have to deal with me losing someone that I was intimate with, and me and her, we haven't really figured out what we're going to do yet.

Glamour: How do you see Jackson's relationship with April evolving?

Jesse: What's most important is that we trust each other, which is why, Jackson I think, trusted her and went with her when she pushed herself on to him. He got burned with Lexie. He should have known better. He probably did know better, but at least with April, he knows he can trust her, and she's going to look out for him. As crazy as she behaves sometimes, she's always there for him.

Glamour: When you watch the episodes, do you become a fan, or in a way, is it too hard being so close to the action?

Jesse: No. I am definitely a fan of the show, but I don't like watching myself. It's too hard. I will fast-forward through my stuff. I'm just not comfortable watching myself because it's not me, it's somebody else. Don't get me wrong. I watch it sometimes, and I watched it my first season, but it's just awkward for me.

Glamour: Alright, fun question for you: If you were stranded on the side of the road at 3 a.m. and could only call one Grey's cast member to pick you up—knowing they would answer the phone and be there—who would it be and why?

Jesse: Jim Pickens, Jessica Capshaw or Sarah Drew, except the last two are very busy moms who need their sleep! So, I'd probably call the Chief.

Written by Jessica Radloff; 24 May 2012. Read the rest of this article at: Glamour

So what do we make of this? Is this yet another clue as who may be returning next season? It would sure seem that way. At the very least it sounds as though he knows he returning, and also believes that Sarah Drew and Eric Dane are as well. So perhaps all of Shonda's warnings of another death could all be hype, which is what I think. However, I'm interested to know what you all think, so sound off in the comments below or follow me on Twitter or Facebook.



Source:Glamour



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If/Then - Grey's Anatomy Season 8-13 - Postmortem

Grey's Anatomy in an Alternate Reality


Ellis Grey never had alzhiemers, Meredith is shiny and happy, Alex is a geek, Bailey is shy and quiet, Derek is still married to Addison and much, much more.


Recently a special episode of Grey's aired on Australian screens which took all the characters into a world where everything was different to how we know our favourite doctors today.


Meredith puts Zola to bed and lays down herself to go to sleep next to her husband. In the very next scene she waking up, hearing her mother calling her and she comes down the stairs dressed in a pink sweater with very straight hair and a big smile on her face. Not the dark and twisty Meredith we all know and love. Ellis Grey is married to Richard Webber and Meredith is now Meredith Webber, instead of Meredith Grey.




Derek is still the chief of neuro and Addison is pregnant, she also wears horrid red lipstick. It would seem as their marriage is not happy. As she and Derek continue to bicker throughout the episode. Callie and Owen are married and have three kids, however Owen seems to still struggle with his PTSD issues and is seen to be confiding in Cristina. Cristina is a loner and all the other residents seems to hate her and blame her for Dr Burke leaving.



Alex is a nerd and it would seem that he is engaged to Meredith. In the very first scenes Meredith is flashing around a big ring to the residents. April is Meredith's best friend and it would seem that Meredith and Cristina do not get along at all. From my point of view it seemed to me that Meredith wanted to follow her mother into General Surgery, however Ellis seemed to be pushing Meredith towards a career in Cardio.


Izzie and George's names get mentioned but only in a negative way, George failing the intern test and was never seen again and Izzie stealing the heart. Meredith went to her mother and turned her in, which is not what Meredith would have done in Season 2. Miranda Bailey is a complete opposite of what we know of her today, complete with dreadlocks and a meek and mild personality and Charles, the Mercy West resident who died in Season 6 was there and very much besotted with April. Arizona is the bubbly, happy pediatric surgeon we have always known, however she has Callie pining after her, even though Callie seems to be happily married to Owen and totally in love with her three children. Teddy was nowhere to be seen as Callie is the cardiac surgeon, however cardio was not her first  choice, she tells Bailey that she loves ortho. Teddy is absent, however she is referred to as Owen's friend in Iraq. Callie is under the impression that Teddy is a male buddy of Owen, not a beautiful blonde, desert barbie.



The best part of the episode for me was Lexie turning up with dreadlocks and a drug habit that she has overdosed from, and Jackson is in charge of her case. It was really a different look for Chyler Leigh and I loved the transformation. She reveals that her sister works there, but does not reveal who that is.

That lipstick is horrid

However as the episode went on it was clear to me that everything that was different about their alternate reality lives would eventually revert to what we have seen already on Grey's. Ellis Grey was no different without alzhiemers, than I remember her in season. When Meredith was upset about catching Alex with April in the middle of you know what....her assumption was that Meredith was upset about the heart surgery and Cristina stepping in and not letting her finish. Perhaps we are meant to assume that having Richard as her father would've made thing different, as he did not seem to misunderstand her.



I totally loved the end when Mark turns up with Lexie in his arms and leaves her with the docs; Jackson, Cristina and Meredith to work on. Meredith picks up the chart and for one minute I wondered if she realised who it was she was working on. Cristina and Meredith performed as a team to save Lexie's life and then ended up doing tequila shots at Joe's bar. Meredith even had a conversation with Derek at the end and the girl in a bar stuff came up again. Talk about ending the episode with what was meant to be. Cristina seems to have a close connection to Owen, which is not surprising.



Mark on the other hand did not stick around to see if Lexie lived or not and went in search of Addison. He is there changing his bloody shirt when Derek arrives. Addison tells Derek that the baby is Mark's. What's the bet we see Kate Walsh back on Grey's sometime in the next two years for longer than a cross-over episode. Pure speculation here, but it would be good to have Addison back.



The upshot is that this was an experiment worth doing as many fans really liked seeing their characters so out of character. Given that the last experiment was the musical episode and that did not go down well for many reasons, although I will say I loved it, because for the most part a lot of the music they used in that episode was what made me fall in love with Grey's Anatomy in the first place. This was different and fun, but I was looking forward to getting back to the business of telling the characters stories in the real world.


What did you think of If/Then? Was it better than Song Beneath the Song? Sound off in the comments.




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"Huge Spoiler!" Grey's Anatomy Finale - Big Death Enrages Fans

Much Loved Character Leaves Grey's Forever



Warning: The following contains Spoilers on the Season 8 Finale. If you have not watched it and do not want to be spoiled then do not read any further.

Cast of Grey's Anatomy - Photo by Ajmass

Probably the most hyped Season Finales in Grey's Anatomy history has just gone to air and many are saying that it did not live up to their expectations. Given all the hype and the dead give-away promo of the first six minutes of the finale, I am really not surprised. In the first sixteen minutes of the episode, Lexie Grey; played by Chyler Leigh succumbed to her very critical injuries and died. Mark was by her side the entire time and told Lexie what she had needed to hear for the last year; that he loved her and would always love her and when she finally passed they both said the words "Meant to be." Lexie passed with a tear rolling down her cheek. Chyler Leigh really brought home the death scene; it was touching and emotional and so well acted and I had no issue with the fact that she passed in the first part of episode. However many of the fans did and wanted Meredith there to say goodbye, but I felt as though Mark and Lexie deserved their private moment and so did the Mark and Lexie fans.





Many fans have since gone on a rampage; some have created petitions to get the character of Lexie back on. Some fans have abused and threatened the creator of the show; Shonda Rhimes, and some have point blank, refused to watch the show anymore. Knee jerk reaction; or is it. Will Shonda lose viewers due to Lexie dying. Mark and Lexie were a popular pairing with fans, and that possibility is gone forever according to Shonda. She was quoted as saying that she does not think we will ever see Lexie again and that Chyler Leigh has left the show. So it would seem that Shonda had little choice but to kill off the character of Lexie. I don't really see how the fans would be see Lexie leaving Seattle Grace in the middle of her residency as a plausible storyline.



RIP Little Grey - Photo from TVFanatic




Much speculation has also been made about the fact that Chyler Leigh has refused to comment on her departure. Shonda has said it was personal and that she wants to respect Chyler's privacy which I understand but it does create speculation when the fans don't get to hear her side of it. Perhaps she is taking a leaf out of Sandra Oh's book? Sandra Oh rarely talks to the media and when she does she is extremely professional and never reveals anything about behind the scenes' happenings. Fans have debated this back and forth on message boards over the last week as to why Chyler has not spoken. TWOP and the GreysAnatomyABC boards have been rife with speculation and rumours all week since the finale went to air. Whether or not Chyler chooses to give a statement or not, that is not the important issue and Shonda Rhimes pointed out in her the day after the finale that some fans missed the point of episode. "They are still out there." She is quoted as saying. "When we return in Season 9, they are all still stranded in the wilderness." She also went onto say that fans cannot expect that everyone will be okay, leaving speculation that maybe we may see another death in September when Season 9 returns.

Meredith Learns Lexie is Dead - Photo from TVFanatic

Mark, Arizona and Derek all seem to be seriously, if not fatally injured and time could work against these three. It could also work out that Meredith and Cristina have injuries they are not aware of. At the end of the episode Derek murmurs something that sounded like 'rose' or 'boats' or it could be 'this blows.'  If I had to hazard a guess it would be boats, boats is the most likely, unless Derek has brain damage, why on earth would he mention Rose; his part-time girl friend in between breaking up and getting back together with Meredith. "This blows" could also be a possibility; like Patrick speaking the truth about his character...ha ha! However from what I remember from the spoilers they are in the same area as when he and Cristina went fishing during the PTSD story arc; perhaps he talking about boats on the lake or stealing a boat to return to safety. Who knows? We have all summer (winter in my case) to speculate about Derek's mumblings.



Meanwhile back at Seattle Grace Mercy Death (so true) we are shown that everyone there is getting on with life and have no idea what has happened to Derek, Meredith, Cristina, Arizona, Mark and Lexie. Owen has his assistant divert all his calls to voicemail, surely this is a big setup for him to get his ass kicked for not checking his voicemail? Are we really meant to believe that the Boise hospital would not have found another way to contact Owen or someone else who could notify Owen. That felt like a total 'crock of shit.'  Seems to me there was a search launched, hence the helicopter that flew over. And the moment the plane lost contact with the radar, air traffic control etcetera, the airport from where they took off and possibly where they we supposed to land would have initiated a search. But in my mind, Shonda has created an arc where someone will blame poor Owen. Between him and Alex; I have to say I am so sick of seeing these two guys get their asses kicked. Owen's character has been basically ruined for me, probably since the special "What is it About Men?" episode. 




Anyway moving on; I was bored to tears by most of the returning to the hospital stuff, especially April and her despair over giving up her virginity. Gotta say; I'm over this story arc. However, I will say that I'm happy about Jackson and April getting together, I'm glad she did not end up with Alex. I hope Jackson really does leave, but that's wishful thinking on my part. He, April, Teddy (who was the other surprise departure) are not needed anymore. Teddy and Owen's scenes when he fired her to force her to take the chief of MedCom position were really good, and the scene where they crossed between the crash site and the trauma room while both doing a procedure. I liked that. Callies pep talk to April, Alex and Jackson about Webber's dinner was awesome and I loved it when she slapped the chips out of Alex's hand, so funny! Her speech was true, she has definitely seen some crappy stuff in life and has come out the other side. April's little dramas are nothing. Apart from those things, going back and forth between each location was annoying for me. I also loved the reference to George O'Malley via the opening scene, Callie and Cristina.




For a Season Finale that has been compared to Lost on SOW, which could well have been a 'shout out' given Lost was an ABC show; this finale was not one of Shonda's best in my opinion. Shonda said that the writers were joking in the writers' room at the time of the table-reading, that if this were the Series Finale they were penning, it would be good to go. Well speaking from the point of view of a lot of fans and myself, I would think fans would be extremely upset if this had been the end of Grey's Anatomy. Personally I would have seen this as lazy not to wrap up everyone's storyline. The other beef I had was; whoever's idea it was that it would be okay with contract negotiations to interfere with the writing of the show was a moron. Sometimes these things cannot be helped; like when Katie Heigl left. But couldn't these negotiations have taken place before the season premiere in September last year? If someone out there can answer this, please post in the comments. It would seem this is pattern at Shondaland/ABC; the writing is dictated by what is happening off screen with the cast. Not the first time this has happened is all I'm saying.

                                                 

Why does this keep happening?

So now we wait and speculate some more. Contract negotiations were successful with the original six stars and as far as we know they are all returning. I only wish we weren't told that before the finale went to air as it really narrowed down the list of who was going to die in the episode. However the news was leaked, and I'm guessing no-one knows by whom and it ruined it for many fans. Not knowing if the original cast have re-signed was part of the drama. Is it possible Shonda or ABC were worried that viewers might not watch because many believed that an original was leaving? Did they chicken out and leak it on purpose? I really have to wonder about that; and if that's the case then I think it was a big mistake. They could have gotten 15 millions viewers if they had kept it quiet in my opinion. Perhaps that is a big assumption on my part, but the suspense was kind of ruined for me.


Season 9 will back in September; around four months from now. Will someone else die in the Season 9 premiere? If so, who bites it? Will it be Mark? His storyline will be light now Lexie has gone. If April stays, how will Shonda explain that? She can't just replace Lexie as some fans are suggesting and do her fifth year of residency again. She is now an attending; just not board certified. I suppose she could work as an ER doc, but if Shonda has cuts to make, why not get rid of April? In any case it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.



So what do you think? Was it the best Season finale ever of Grey's? Discuss in the comments or connect with Twitter and Facebook.

Farewell Little Grey - Photo from Wetpaint

Sources:


Shonda Rhimes on Twitter

TVFanatic Photo Gallery 

SeriouslyOMGWTF

ABCGrey'sAnatomy

Wetpaint



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Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

Hope For The Hopeless - Grey's Anatomy Season 8 Postmortem

Lost Causes and Milestones




Well here we are at the half-way mark of Season 8, hard to believe we are here already. In the US the season finale screens in five days time and if you have been reading the spoilers, you will have heard about some of what's happening.


Anyway let's discuss Hope for the Hopeless. I think today I will start at the end and work my way back. In the final scene, it would seem that Owen and Cristina's chickens have come home to roost. After a heated exchange in Meredith's kitchen in the middle of Zola's first birthday party, Owen screams at Cristina that she killed their baby and doesn't get to forget that. Everyone who was at the party heard it, so the whole hospital will now know that Cristina had an abortion. So I guess the question is, was Owen's outburst inappropriate? The answer is a lot more difficult. He knew Cristina did not want kids, he also went along with the abortion; going with Cristina and holding her hand. Cristina on the other hand does have a way of not considering Owen's feelings. This is a tough one. How do you negotiate in a marriage when someone wants kids and you don't? Is it over? It that a deal-breaker?



To enter into a marriage without discussing children is very stupid. However Owen cannot claim he did not know, because he did; but I have a feeling the writers have forgotten about Season 6 - Sympathy for the Parents. What happened in the episode was both their faults. Owen should not have let the matter drop when he went to see her at the end of the episode and asked her about children and Cristina could have been more clear that night. However in Season 7-16, they had the same discussion again, and again Cristina made it clear that she was not interested in having children. For Owen to be so surprised in the Season 7 finale was stupid on his part. And Cristina should have listened to Owen and dicussed it more before booking the abortion.


Anyway let's get to the rest of this episode. Dr Webber celebrated his 10,000 surgery, which was a liver transplant surgery involving two sisters who were; shall we say, difficult patients. However Webber did not get to go to the party as Adele was found wandering the streets, and turned up at the hospital. He cancelled the party to take care of his wife. Seems as though Adele is getting worse. The scene in the OR where Webber sings Funny Valentine was just so sad. Webber ends up being able to be at Zola's birthday party and instead of Zola having a birthday cake, Webber gets the cake instead. Zola wón't remember not having a cake as a 1 year old.


Derek and Lexie have their first "Lost Cause" case. Derek has taken patients who have been told no; and he has told them he will try. His first is an eleven year old boy. This patient broke my heart; so did his mother. His mother had not told him about the tumor, just that he has a bad back-ache. However the kid figured it out and he told Lexie he knew. They get in the OR and find that there is too much damage and the tumor has eroded everything, they simply cannot get to it. Derek orders everyone to close up, and Lexie has a melt-down telling Derek he has to try. Derek explains that there is no chance the kid will survive the surgery. Lexie tells Derek that he needs to tell the kid about the tumor, because his Mom won't and he will think they've done the surgery, however this kid is smarter than everyone it would seem and figures out they didn't do it because he has woken up feeling minimal pain. He tells his crying mother that he is going to heaven with Dad and he will be okay. That made me reach for the tissues.


Later at the party Lexie is feeling pretty morose after dealing with the case, and Derek tells her she can quit. She tells him she's in, and that she does not need them to be fun, just not like today. Derek encourages her to join the party and she reluctantly follows him into the living room. The last thing Lexie wants to do is hang about watching Mark and Julia all happy and in love.

Meredith is running herself ragged trying to get organised for Zola's party, and at the same time Owen tells her she needs to nominate a specialty. She consults Bailey about it and she thinks it's a no-brainer, general surgery just like her mother. However, Meredith does not want to be like her mother. While in surgery with Bailey and Webber it would seem that Meredith does see that general surgery would suit her. It's pretty obvious she won't be going back to nuero now. As much as I miss seeing her work with Derek, it's probably better she doesn't work alongside her husband. Webber finally gets Meredith to see that she is nothing like her mother and choosing general surgery as her specialty will not make that so. It's her legacy and she should grab it.


Up until her screaming match with Owen, it would seem as though Cristina has a good day. Teddy is dragging her in and out of back to back surgeries. Obviously Teddy needs to work to distract her grieving and she's taking Cristina for the ride. Owen tries to put a stop to it; because neither one has had any sleep for fourty-eight hours and they are both liability. He does have a point, however Teddy's patient has injuries that the new attending MacQueen is not up do dealing with. As the Chief of Cardio she kicks him off the case and Cristina goes to assist her, however Owen catches them out, and is not happy. This was obviously the straw that broke the camel's back. He asks Teddy to find him later, which she doesn't because she is not speaking to him. Owen is very upset about this and in a way takes some of that out on Cristina. But as we find out, it is the abortion that is really making him angry.

 Another sold episode, Shonda and her crew are really trying to give it their best, given it could be the last season for some cast members. A really good way to finish off the first half of the season. Next week we will get to see Meredith and the cast in an alternate reality. This was an interesting episode and very well thought out. You will never guess how it ends.








To read more about Grey's Anatomy, Please visit me at http://janelle-coulton.suite101.com/ Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

This Magic Moment - Grey's Anatomy Season 8-11 Postmortem

Baby Steps and Moving Forward



This was a really good episode, very cleverly written and put together. From Meredith's opening monologue to the end where Zola takes her very first steps. The parrallel drawn between the theatre, the classical music throughout the episode, the reference to Carnegie Hall; and the phrase "practice, practice, practice" was so fitting and brilliant. I could especially identify with Merediith saying that the OR used to be called a theatre as that is what the OR is called in Australia.


The big medical case of the night really was not original or engaging; in a dramatic or emotional sense. The only doctor who we really saw engage with the con-joined twins' parent's was Lexie and it was mostly to avoid Mark and his chit-chat in the OR about Julia. She found that she was envious of them because they were so much in love with each other. The con-joined twins' surgery had been done before with two adults in Season 3; I distinctly remember George O'Malley giving up the surgery to be with his Mom, while his Dad was in surgery.








Arizona Robbins was in charge of the case, however you wold have thought that Owen Hunt was the one who had cared for these babies for months. Arizona did not seem like the confident surgeon we know that she is, she was a bit of a monster ordering everyone about and second guessing everyone else's surgical decision. However given that she was in charge of the case, I saw that as her doing her job and I totally understood her concern with Jackson and Mark racing to finish their part of the surgery. Jackson had a mishap in the OR only two weeks earlier in which Callie took the heat; I felt it appropriate for Arizons to lecture Jackson and Owen as the Chief should have stepped in. I don't like him as Chief, but I think we're stuck with him.



Given the recent drama with Henry, Cristina was not scrubbing in on Teddy's cases. However, everytime Teddy was in the OR she had Cristina paged and asked her to relate Henry's surgery from start to finish. This had apparently gone on for two weeks. I was confused at first and thinking 'Please don't tell me Teddy going to blame Cristina'. However it became clear to me that this was what Teddy needed to understand how her husband died. Especially at one stage when Cristina said "I was one hundred percent sure." Teddy backs off. Cristina tries to apologise, but Teddy is having none of that; she tells Cristina that it was not her fault, and she did everything right, Henry just died. In the real world Teddy would have been on leave, I don't believe a hospital would allow someone to work who's husband has died at her workplace and Owen (as Chief) should have put a stop to this. But I get it and the scenes between Kim Raver and Sandra Oh were flawless as usual.

April's outburst in the OR in response to Teddy's questioning of Cristina, while inappropriate and none of her business, the scenes were well acted. This girl does the emotional really well. Sarah Drew, the actress is pregnant at the moment, so her scenes will likely be limited for the rest of the Season or until she has the baby.







Despite there being a General Surgery part to this special case; Bailey, Webber and Meredith were not invited to scrub in, there were strange residents scrubbing in to do the General Surgery part of the separation. Richard Webber was in the OR; yet was not asked to scrub in. I'm guessing it was his job to supervise the residents.





Bailey had Meredith with her in the OR because she was working with Ben, and she and Ben were disagreeing about whether they should move in together. Bailey wanted Meredith as a buffer, so that she did not have to discuss this personal issue at work, which I thought was a reasonable request. I did not think discussing it at work, especially in an environment where lives are a stake was appropriate and if Bailey did not want to discuss it in the OR, then Ben should have shut the heck up. However, we cannot expect it to be realisitic, it is a fictional drama after all. Meredith and Zola in the gallery during lunch was so cute, and I loved when Zola clapped along with the OR and gallery when Derek and Callie were able to get the twins legs all moving. So cute.

Did anyone else notice how tense things are with Cristina and Owen. I've been saying for months that this whole abortion thing is going to blow up in their faces and now Cristina is upset with him for lying to her about Henry and expecting her to lie to Teddy. So the drama between these two just builds and builds.

All in all this was a great episode. I loved Callie and Arizona at the end, Callie telling her she was a monster and the banter that followed. The McFamily is totally cute too, Zola gets up and walks, having seen herself on the TV and Derek can't get to the camera quick enough or turn it on. The only disappointment I feel is that there was still no explanation as to how and why they got Zola back, especially after being told that they weren't getting her back. I don't think there will be an explanation, which surprises me because Shonda Rhimes recently adopted a child and I figured she would have told the story of how difficult it is to go through this process.


Stay tuned for my post-mortem on Episode 12 - Hope for the Hopeless.



To read more about Grey's Anatomy, Please visit me at http://janelle-coulton.suite101.com/



Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

"Big Spoiler!"Contract News On Grey's Anatomy Favourites

The Original Cast Will Return


The contract negotiations with the original cast members of Grey's Anatomy have dragged on and on for months, however it would seem fans can rest easy. According to Deadline the six orignals: Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Patrick Dempsey, Chandra Wilson, Justin Chambers and James Pickens Jnr will be back on Grey's Anatomy in Season 9. News broke today that all six originals renewed their contracts for two more years and will be back for Season 9.


Fans must be breathing a huge sigh of relief, I know I am. It was my wish that they would all be back for Season 9. However, this news makes us all wonder who the beloved character is that dies in a little over a week's time. This recent revelation brings up the question of why? Why does someone have to die if it's not contract related. I don't think we can assume anyone is safe outside of the original characters. But it makes you wonder if one of the actors wants out and we have not heard about it.





It could be any of the other eight actors that check out on May 17. Callie, Arizona, Jackson, Owen, Teddy, April, Mark or Lexie. That still leaves the door wide open for it to be a beloved character as Shonda as said in her interview. However, it could all be a big gee up to get ratings.


So are you disappointed that this news has come to light before the finale? Shonda did say that she was hoping the details of the originals' contracts would not leak out before the finale went to air. Perhaps this news was inevitable given that I am reasonably sure that I read somewhere the network have until the 15 May to announce their renewed shows for next season.


Given the news regarding contract negotiations it still leaves the field wide open as to who it could be. I'm guessing there will be plenty of speculation after the second last episode, Migration goes to air tomorrow night.


What are your thoughts? Sound off in the comments or connect via Facebook or Twitter.





To read more about Grey's Anatomy, Please visit me at http://janelle-coulton.suite101.com/



Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

"Spoiler Alert!" Who Dies On Grey's Anatomy?

Death Watch at Seattle Grace


Fans have been freaking out for the past several days about which character is about to meet his or her demise on Grey's Anatomy. Many viewers are in denial and are hoping this information is not true, however the head writer and executive producer; Shonda Rhimes has confirmed that a beloved character will die in the Season 8 finale on May 17, 2012.

What's even more interesting is for months Shonda has denied knowing anything about contract negotiations for the six originals and has now said that she cannot comment about the contract status of her actors. That would indicate that she knows what's happening with her cast for next season. This is making fans very nervous about who it could be. Recently in an interview posted on Wetpaint; Jesse Williams as much as confirmed it would be an original cast member as he mentioned something about contracts.


The internet has been buzzing with spoilers for days now. One in particular was apparently leaked by an extra who had a role in the Season Finale, however Shonda claims there were no extras around during the filming of the finale. However, apart from Shonda confirming there would be a death in the finale, I generally cannot believe in much she says because she has lied in the past.

If you pay attention to what being written on forums, Facebook and the like; fans are divided on this issue and many have gone as far as saying that they will not watch the show anymore should certain characters leave. These opinions largely apply to Meredith and Derek fans, and Callie and Arizona fans. Much speculation and theories have been written about who it is that will meet their demise on May 17. I think we can be reasonably sure that the upcoming death is about contract negotiations not going well. I don't believe for one minute that Shonda would kill off a beloved character for fun or laziness (as some people have claimed). Usually when a character is killed off a popular series it is about contracts, the actor's personal life or issues with the network. From what we have heard, the Grey's Anatomy cast and crew are one big happy family. There has been no gossip about individuals not getting along. Not since Katherine Heigl shot her mouth off.


A lot of the talk has been about George O'Malley's death and when Shonda brought up that issue and said that after that she learnt there were certain characters you can't kill; I think she was admitting she may have made a mistake killing George off. However T R Knight made it clear he did not want to return to the series. That statement tells me that she cannot kill off her most popular characters. Meredith Grey would fall into the category, obviously. Cristina Yang would run a close second. Not because of Yang's popularity with fans, but it would be more about Sandra Oh as a talent. If Sandra Oh was to leave; I believe Shonda would leave the door open for her to come back as a guest star or on recurring status. I feel it would be suicide to let such a talent get away and let's face it; Sandra Oh is the most talented actress on the show.


Much of the debate has been about the character of Derek Shepherd. It is common knowledge that Patrick Dempsey has talked about leaving, and has also confirmed he will stay given he can negotiate a contract that allows him to race. If Patrick Dempsey were to leave, would Shonda kill off the character. That depends on whether she can convince Patrick to come back as a guest star. If ABC manage that, then I think Derek Shepherd will live. I also think the death of Derek Shepherd would really upset the fans; and would be a huge risk to the ratings. Many fans have stated they are done with the show if this happens. Shonda said in her interview she was worried about fans stoning her in the streets. Does this mean it could be Derek that dies?

Moving on to Callie and Arizona. This couple have a huge fan following, especially within the gay and lesbian community. If something were to happen to these two characters; Shonda could lose half her viewers. I don't think that she would kill off her girls, simply because Shonda is extremely proud of her lesbian relationship on the show. Callie is a much loved character; Arizona not so much, however there are plenty of fans who love them and would be pretty angry to see anything happen to their Calzona (as the fans have dubbed them). It would also be very difficult to film such intense scenes given Jessica Capshaw's pregnancy. So I'm doubting that it's Arizona and I really hope it's not Callie.

This whole thing could easily be a wind up, and the character that is being written out is not so beloved to the fans. It could be that everyone signed on for Season 9, and Shonda is trying to build drama for the finale and next season. It was said a while back that they all wanted to return. So perhaps it is not contact related. When Henry (Scott Foley) died in episode 9, Dark was the Night, was that leaked? Did the fans know before it happened? I read everything I can find online about Grey's and I did not come across anything. I only realised it was going to happen when Henry started coughing up blood in episode 8, Heart Shaped Box. Having said that, I believe it was common knowledge that Scott Foley was going to True Blood. That's not to say that he could not have done both.

Update: 9 May 2012, 8.32 am; TV Line confirms that all Grey's Anatomy originals have signed on for another two years. http://tvline.com/2012/05/09/greys-anatomy-ellen-pompeo-patrick-dempsey-sign-new-contracts/ I guess we have to wonder how true this is, and whether this news has been leaked by ABC to throw fans off the trail of whose dying in Season Finale. However it does make sense that this information would be released, because I think (not sure about this) the network have to announce their show renewals by 15 May 2012. I'm sure I read that somewhere.

Therefore I have to say this again. Is this a wind up to get ratings? Will the character be as important as Shonda is insinuating? This is anyones guess and it could work out that we will not know until Season 9 returns in September. The thing about knowing the original's contract status kind of ruins any cliff-hanger that Shonda has written. Not many fans will believe it if it looks as though any of the originals have died.

Now that the news about has broken, many fans are speculating about Lexie. The character of Lexie Grey does have a big fan base, and it would be a loss for many viewers, however if Shonda was not sure about Ellen Pompeo signing back on, she would not get rid of the other Grey. On the other hand; we don't know what she knew about the contracts; she said almost two weeks ago that she could not comment and I don't think the cast had finished filming then.


So what do you guys think? Sound off in the comments or connect via Twitter or Facebook.






To read more about Grey's Anatomy, Please visit me at http://janelle-coulton.suite101.com/


Box Set; Grey's Anatomy Seasons' 1-7 Available at Amazon:







Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

Grey's Anatomy: Suddenly, Season 8-10 - Postmortem

Here Today; Gone the Next


US Screening 5 Jan 2012.  Australian Screening 26 April 2012


The return of Grey's Anatomy in the new year in the United States was well worth the wait for fans. Suddenly, the title of episode ten was even better than the previous episode. Many fans judged it as the best of season 8 so far.

Flashbacks of previous episodes were shown, and we were taken to the accident scene where Alex and Meredith had just left the ambulance to discover an over-turned van and bodies sprawled all over the road. Teddy was still in surgery; Owen having just made the decision to lie to Teddy about Henry’s death. Bailey, Owen and Webber are still arguing about whether they should tell Teddy the truth.


Meredith and Alex jump straight into action to try and save the family of six who have just crashed into them. Meredith convinces the teenage daughter that she must hold the baby and squeeze the ampule bag that is keeping the baby breathing. Three adults, the father, mother and grandmother and two children have been seriously and critically injured. However it isn't until after talking to the father that Meredith realises there is a child trapped near the van. As she is trying to free him, headlights appear in the distance. Knowing that they have little chance of spotting them, Meredith runs into the road screaming and waving at the vehicle to stop. It does, thankfully and it appears that it is another ambulance. Help has arrived.


They get back to the hospital and Meredith takes on the responsibility of caring for this family. The grandmother died at the scene, and shortly after the mother goes into cardiac arrest. Meredith runs into the trauma room to help, telling the ER residents to keep going as the daughter is watching. In the end Meredith takes over and tries numerous times to bring the mother back to life, but to no avail. The father, and two children are taken to surgery. One child has a shard of glass in her eye and the other child has a lacerated liver. The father is in a bad way, internal bleeding and a broken pelvis.


The child with the glass in her eye made way for a really gross surgery. I had a hard time watching the doctors removing glass from someone's eye; and I wasn't the only one. However I will say that the whole procedure looked completely realistic, If I didn't know better it seemed like the real thing to me. Lexie's scenes were pretty awesome too. I loved it when she realised that Julia was a nice person and a good surgeon.

 

 

Meredith overseeing her patient's well-being

Meanwhile Teddy is still operating on the woman with the screw in her heart and is not winning the battle. She pages Owen and asks him to find Cristina, as she needs another set of hands and she needs that to be Cristina. Owen tracks down Cristina and orders her back in the OR to help Teddy. At first Cristina refuses, and then she realises that Owen has not told Teddy about Henry. Owen insists that Cristina has to go help her, that there is no choice.

Realistically; Owen is right. Telling Teddy about Henry is not the normal protocol and keeping the truth from a surgeon in the middle of an operation would happen in a real life situation. However, every effort would be made to replace Teddy, so they could break the news as soon as possible. Sending another surgeon in to help Teddy is normal protocol too. Instructing other staff not to break the news would happen in a real life situation. So realistically Cristina would have to stand by Teddy's side and not reveal the truth. When Teddy asked Cristina about Henry, I thought it was pretty clever of her to change the subject and take the piss out of April Kepner, although I did feel a bit sorry for April.

The scene between Teddy and Cristina in the scrub room was brilliant, probably Sandra Oh's best scene this season. If that girl doesn't get an Emmy award this year, something is wrong. Kim Raver's performance was awesome too, especially her scene with Henry's body in the OR. It was dignified and terribly sad, I was reaching for the tissues quite a few times during this episode.

Lexie realises that she likes Julia, much to her dismay

A little later on it becomes clear that the father of this family is probably not going to wake up. The oldest child requests they stop trying to revive him and let him go. Meredith tells her it's not as simple as that, however the young girl reveals that she just turned eighteen that morning and she is now the head of the family and should totally make a decision about her father's care. This would happen in real life, however probably not as fast as events seemed to take place in this episode. It is likely that the doctors would have spent days doing tests and making sure that nothing could be done, before withdrawing life support.


Meredith explains to the daughter exactly what to expect when they turn off the machines and offers to give her some privacy to say goodbye, however the girl does not want to be alone and asks Meredith to stay. This was yet another tissue moment, and classic Meredith Grey taking care of her patient. It was obvious from this scene that Meredith's doubts about her ability to be a nurturing mother are unfounded. She is nothing like Ellis Grey.

Derek and Julia agree to remove the glass

All this talk about what would happen in real life verses fiction comes from all the criticism fans dumped on Owen after he lied to Teddy. I felt this was unfair and that Owen Hunt was in an impossible situation. Towards the end of the episode it would seem that Cristina is also angry with Owen, but that could have been because Owen insisted that he should have been the one to tell Teddy about Henry. Cristina was right when she said it didn't matter, that Teddy knows now and that's what was important.

The episode ends with Derek and Meredith getting Zola back. While I'm happy to see the McFamily re-united, the lack of an explanation irritated me, especially since they were told just twelve hours or so earlier that they would not be getting her back. Given the crap that prospective, adoptive parents have to go through to get a child, it all seemed too easy to me. Perhaps the show-runner Shonda Rhimes wanted to leave all this to the viewer imagination, but I have a feeling that fans like myself will want an explanation. The other disappointment was that Jackson was not forced to take responsibility for his stuff up in surgery, Callie ended up taking the fall as the incident happened in her OR and she felt it was on her to make sure her resident did the surgery without mistakes. I am not a fan of Jackson, but this outcome did make sense and probably would happen in a real life situation.

All in all this was a great episode and for mine, the best of the season so far. Stay tuned for my review on This Magic Moment episode 11 of Season 8. Many viewers criticised this episode as being a little too cliche.



To read more about Grey's Anatomy, Please visit me at http://janelle-coulton.suite101.com/


 

Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton
Photos courtesy of http://www.tvfanatic.com/

Dark Was The Night - Season 8-9 - Postmortem

Doom, Gloom and a Huge Cliffhanger

Screened in the US 10 November 2011 - Screened in Australia 19 April 2012


This episode was so good it could have been a season finale. It was in fact the last episode in the US before the Thanksgiving/Christmas period. This hiatus lasted almost two months. American fans did not get a new episode for almost two months. Episode 10; Suddenly screened on the 5 January 2012. Fans in the US were furious with the ABC network for making them wait for so long for a new Grey's Anatomy episode.


Because of the speculation surrounding the contract negotiations for the original cast members, many fans were left thinking that something terrible happened to Alex and Meredith when the ambulance was crashed into. Even though we saw them come out of the ambulance, the scene before them was weird and kind of unreal and the ambulance was not damaged on the outside. Speculation was rife that either Alex or Meredith had died and were in the midst of their afterlife. Anyway we now know that they did not die and all is well.


Henry finally succumbed to his tumor condition which we all knew was coming. Poor Henry who has become a popular character on Grey's was written off the series. From the day he appeared with his ghostly pallour, in a wheel-chair talking to Teddy in the elevator, it was obvious his days were numbered. The Denny Duquette storyline was the same. From the moment we were introduced to Denny in Season 2, it was clear that he was going to die. Perhaps not so clear to all fans, but clear to me. As much as we all loved Denny, his outcome was never going to be good. Perhaps the fans' love for Denny is why Shonda chose to re-unite him with Izzie in Season 5.


As for Henry and his chronic, recurring tumor condition, it was inevitable too. The minute I saw him coughing up blood in the previous episode, I knew the honeymoon for Teddy and Henry was over. So how will Teddy react to losing her husband? Will she be angry? Will she blame Cristina, Owen and Webber? Next week will be interesting. At the end of the episode Teddy was still in surgery and had not been told about Henry. In-fact Owen lied to her and told her that Henry was fine. I really felt that Owen could have avoided lying, at least for a bit longer than he did. Cristina's realisation that it is Henry on her table and that Teddy's husband has just died in her OR was so well acted. Kudos to Sandra Oh. What an awesome performance. Will she forgive Owen and Teddy for concealing Henry's identity from her? This is yet another nail in the coffin of Owen and Cristina's marriage. Things are about to get rocky for these two.

"We're not getting Zola back."

Things are also rocky for Derek and Meredith again. Meredith receives a call from Janet who tells her that they are not getting Zola back. So how do you all feel about that? It is possible that there is a mistake here with the Judge and Zola's case, remember that the Judge has cancer, and could have taken ill. I for one would not be upset if Zola did not come back as I am reasonably sure Meredith will be pregnant by the end of the season, whether Ellen Pompeo leaves the show or not. It is my gut feeling that Shonda will leave Meredith and Derek with a happy ending if they both decide not to come back next season. However if one or both of them do not come back, then it is my belief the writers will kill off one or both characters.

"I'm off to save a baby."

Alex and Meredith get into an argument because Meredith wants to forget about having children. She is heartbroken about Zola and does not want to deal with anymore disappointment in regards to starting a family and Alex argues that Meredith cannot quit on having a family if it's what she wants. Meanwhile Derek is worried that he pushed Meredith to adopt Zola and now that it hasn't worked out she will blame him. Cristina tells him that she wanted it too. It was really nice to see Derek and Cristina supporting each other again. It's a shame we had to wait so long to see this, given last season Derek and Cristina developed quite a strong friendship over the shooting and Cristina's PTSD.


Jackson completely screws up and yes, that pun was intended. He operated on a woman's spine and did not secure the pedical screws properly, which wound up stabbing the woman's heart. This was the surgery that Teddy had to rush off to, when she really wanted to be with her husband. Callie is furious and orders Jackson to collect all the scans and go over everything to find out what went wrong. Jackson's mind is on other things however, and he tells Callie he is busy. This makes Callie even angrier and she confides in Bailey; which leads to a great scene in the end. Who doesn't love Bailey's words of wisdom?

Sad McDreamy

So the episode closes leaving our favourite doctors dealing with some worst case scenarios. Alex and Meredith are stuck on the side of a mountain road with a very sick and premature baby, and before them is the scene of an accident. An over-turned van which is on fire, and bodies all over the road. Derek, Arizona and Mark lose contact with Meredith and Alex when the ambulance is crashed into and do not know whether they are dead or alive. Teddy is operating, unaware that Henry is dead and Owen, Webber and Bailey are arguing about whether they should tell her.


This episode and next weeks are in my opinion, two of the best episodes of Season 8.


So that's it for now. My apologies for being so behind with these reviews. Stay tuned for my postmortems on Suddenly, Episode 10 - Season 8, and This Magic Moment, Episode 11 - Season 8, which will be posted soon.


To read more about Grey's Anatomy, Please visit me at http://janelle-coulton.suite101.com/


Photos courtesy of http://www.tvfanatic.com/



Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton