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.








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