betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 20, 2011 0:31:07 GMT -5
E!online review: There were no armed shooters, bus crashes or brain tumors, but that doesn't mean the events of this Grey's Anatomy season finale was any less emotionally traumatic. With jaw dropping medical maladies all season, tonight's episode hit at the emotional heart of every doc. Who became parents, who got fired and who's breaking up? Find out here: Pizza Versus Thai: Baby or no baby? That is the question. Cristina (Sandra Oh) insists it's not like choosing takeout but we really like that food metaphor. It is dinnertime, and we're hungry. Moving on, Cristina has a bun in the pizza oven and she doesn't want it. That's her bolded line in the sand. Of course, Owen (Kevin McKidd) wants a little baby and even has some nice things to say about their potentially huge life. This seems to be very much the Calzona baby argument of seasons past and could very well be their breaking point. Paternalistic and Weird: OK, we're calling shenanigans on the Mark (Eric Dane) and Lexie (Chyler Leigh) storyline in this episode. Mark tells Dr. Pretty Eyes that he can have Lexie. Um, she's been dating him for a good six months at least but OK, sure Mark. Despite the longing looks of last week, Lexie tells Mark to stop talking to her. Oh, and she also said she'll always love him. What a double-edged knife to our hearts. We'll admit it, earlier this year, when Shonda tweeted hope for Mark-Lexie fans, we thought we'd have to just bide our time this season for a happy season finale reunion. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Fingers crossed for next season or was the Shonda-implied timeline for the whole series? We must be gluttons for punishment. Are the writers just going to torture us with will-they-won't-they forever? Gorked Out Lump: FYI, gorked out lump was Meredith's term not ours. But that's her argument for messing up Derek's clinical trial. She didn't want Adele (Loretta Devine) to be a lump. That is so sweet, if not mildly offensive. Fortunately for Meredith and her career, the chief (James Pickens, Jr.) didn't want Adele to be a gorked out lump either. Alas, Derek is still peeved, so Meredith soldiers on as a single mom. Malawi Lullaby: If you told us seven seasons ago that Meredith Grey would be bringing an adorable African baby to her mother's house, we would have sent you to the pysch ward, stat. But Meredith showing around her new Malawian baby around an oddly quiet house was pretty darn perfect. Unaccompanied Minor: Somewhere way deep in the background was the case of the week: a plane crash that yielded one survivor. The relationship casualties of this episode were far greater in emotional impact than the deaths on the plane, but that makes us sound just a tad blasé. So, hands up if you cried when all the grieving family members stayed until the sole survivor's family arrived! Shepherd Dream House: High on a hilltop are some nails and a wooden frame of Derek's perfect life. We think what he's forgetting is, life isn't perfect and neither is his wife. And that's the real reason Meredith is such an intriguing character, because she has those flaws. We have complete confidence that he'll remember that it's not all about a perfect blueprinted life and remember why he loves a woman who would risk everything for a friend. Maybe he'll miss a soft bed and a roof as well. Streusel-Eating Babies: It would have been way too easy to send Teddy (Kim Raver) to Germany with Dr. Hot Trauma. When Noel Henry (Scott Foley) finally got angry and told her to get lost, she came to her senses. See boys, nice guys finish last and that's why you need to yell and be mean to get the girl. It'll be interesting to see how long he survives next season. Miraculous recovery or November-sweeps-scheduled traumatic loss? What did you think about that wrap-up to the season? It sure wasn't a musical, but we have all summer to mull the big questions. Will Derek come back to Meredith and baby? Are Mark and Lexie done for reals this time? Will Cristina cave and keep the baby? Was that chief resident race a real let down? Start your summer-long countdown clocks and sound off in the comments! Read more: www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b242931_greys_anatomy_season_finale_redux_who.html#ixzz1MrrPcD96
|
|
betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 20, 2011 1:01:59 GMT -5
'Grey's Anatomy' season finale recap: Baby, Baby, Baby EW review A plane crash leaves few survivors, giving the docs plenty of time to forge new relationships and destroy old ones. By Jennifer Armstrong | Published May 20, 2011 . At last we come to the end of this strange season of highs (the documentary episode, the Arizona/Callie wedding) and lows (yeah, the singing). So much change, so much coupling and decoupling, so much baby talk. So let's get to it. Mer and Der were working baby plans into their under-construction new house, and the adoption lady was showing up, it seemed, everywhere. As if she could tell if the house would be a good environment for the kid based on the fact that there would, in fact, be a concrete foundation and a basic frame. In any case, the couple was also moving forward with their Alzheimer's trials at work, with Meredith insisting that he treat her "like a doctor" and not "like a wife" when they were in their professional capacity. When will these people ever learn that the only way to take the personal out of their hospital lives is to stop screwing and marrying each other? That would make it a lot easier when, say, Owen has to tell Derek that has wife messed with the trial protocol. Just as an example. This, needless to say, did not go over well with Derek. Meredith pleaded with the Chief, "Kick me off the study. There's nothing wrong with the study." But she refused to say what she messed with or why. The Chief said she'd probably be losing her job then; Meredith told Alex, who'd blabbed about the switch to Owen, to get his stuff out of her house. Cristina, too, was none too pleased with Alex; Alex seemed genuinely sorry, as he'd only meant to knock Meredith out of the running for chief resident, not get her fired. Henry, too, was having too many feelings -- namely, he was sad that Teddy would soon be leaving with Andrew for Germany. She protested that she was not his real wife, so he couldn't get upset. "You're my real best friend," he countered. "What does that get me?" Aww, poor Scott Foley. But we had no more time for Scott Foley's big, weepy eyes because we got word that a 757 had gone down in the sound, and soon about 200 injured passengers would be arriving, with Seattle Grace as the headquarters for handling the traumatized families. Suddenly, Teddy wasn't leaving quite so fast; they'd need surgeons as well as world-class trauma counselors, of which Andrew is the awesomest ever. Oh, and guess what! Cristina found out she was six weeks pregnant in the midst of all this. As they waited for the patients to show up from the crash, she broke the news to Owen, who, naturally, was kind-of into the idea of having a baby. "I'm not a beautiful vessel for all that's good about the future," she snapped. Then: "Are you getting all lifey on me?" He said he wanted kids -- as he's hinted before: "I want them, and maybe you can, too." He was so earnest when he gave his speech: "Cristina Yang, I imagined such a huge life for us." It's too bad he didn't go ahead and ask her instead of just imagining, but he looked so sweet and pleading I almost wanted to have his baby. We should also pause to note here that if Cristina does get an abortion -- something we won't know for sure until next season -- that's a pretty historically rare happening in network television (though it's a subject being addressed more and more). Meredith was dealing with her massive life meltdown as well, still insisting to Derek and the Chief that "if you don't know what I did, the trial stays blind." Alex, however, had told them: It was Adele whom Meredith slipped the drugs instead of the placebo. A-ha. Now everything was clear to everyone. The Chief backed off and told Meredith he'd have to suspend her just to maintain some sense of protocol, but he'd obviously forgiven her. Derek, not so much. It was also becoming clear that no patients would be arriving from the crash -- if it was taking that long, no one could have survived. And did we mention that April was named chief resident? Remember that thing everyone's been competing for for months? Yep, our little former Everwoodian got it, as anticlimactically posted on the bulletin board amid preparations to receive the families of the dead passengers to break the bad news to them. Alex expressed his displeasure with the choice to Owen: "It was supposed to be me or Grey. You think anyone's going to listen to Kempner? It's going to be complete chaos." Owen had an answer: "You think everyone's going to listen to you? You just sold out the one universally liked individual at this hospital. Everyone's going to hate you. ... I was planning to give it to you. But now ..." Can we just take a moment to appreciate that Meredith is apparently now "universally liked"? Sign of massive character growth, overstatement, or somewhere in between? And will Alex ever pull himself completely out of the jerk hole he always digs himself? Now it was time for the doctors to call out the names of the families, take them to private rooms, and tell them their loved ones were dead, as if the day hadn't already been stressful enough for our poor Seattle Gracers. Teddy escaped the emotional onslaught for a bit by bringing Henry pudding, but he didn't want her there. "I'm a man who's in love with you who waltzed you into the arms of a d**n knight on a horse," he said, asking her to leave him the heck alone already. Andrew paged Teddy -- just to see her face, he told her: "Something like this happens, you just want to be with someone that you love." Then, of course, Teddy got it -- she had brought Andrew pudding when she just wanted to be with someone. She went straight up to his room and kissed him, declaring, "You're my husband, and I think I'm falling in love with you." Auf weidersehen to Andrew, I suppose, though we didn't get to see that. Finally, one survivor was uncovered in the wreckage and rushed to the hospital. She was a little girl by herself, an "unaccompanied minor" with head injuries and bruises. When one of the women who lost a son in the crash heard this, she insisted on staying at the hospital until the girl's parents got there, and all of the other families within earshot joined her and her husband. When the tearful mom of the girl arrived, the woman told her, "We all thought she should have someone pulling for her." Then she told her the comforting lie that her own son was still alive and also in surgery. Tearjerking in four simple plot steps. The value of having loved ones carried throughout the rest of the episode as well. Derek couldn't bring himself to forgive Meredith: "I don't know how to raise a child with someone who doesn't understand that there's a right and wrong in the world." Meredith got a text from the omnipresent adoption lady right after he said that, so we knew they'd be getting the baby. We just knew. And we were right! There was that gorgeous child on screen again, and all was right with the world. The NICU nurse was bustling around packing up lots of baby gear for the shellshocked Meredith and asking about things like car seats. "I don't have a car seat," she said. "I'm not even sure I have a husband." Mark symbolically "gave" Lexie away to Jackson, which Lexie rightly called "paternalistic and weird," but it was probably also something that had to happen. "I don't want to love you," she told him. "I want to be happy. And Jackson makes me happy." (Smart girl.) "I'm letting you go, Lexie," he said. "That means you gotta walk away." And she did! And Eli wanted to go home with Miranda, and she let him! And Hot Blond Doctor asked Alex to tell her not to go to Africa, and he told her ... "Go to hell." Okay, so that one didn't work out so well. Maybe because she has to go be on the new Charlie's Angels show next fall. Good for her. Meredith, Miss Universally Liked, was actually doing well with bringing the baby home, even though she was alone, which was definitely a sign of character growth. (The Mer of seasons one and two would never have handled this okay.) "I am very glad you're here," she told Baby Zola, and she sounded like she meant it. We ended the season, though, with the one couple whom I think is truly meant to be on this show -- not Meredith and Derek, but Meredith and Cristina. Cristina told Owen she'd made an appointment to terminate her pregnancy. "This isn't pizza versus Thai," she explained, batting away his pleas for "compromise." "You don't give a little on a baby." He kicked her out, "because you denied me part of the decision, because you denied me a marriage." (Am I the only one siding with Cristina, if there's a side to be taken, on this one? You really don't compromise on a baby, and if he felt so strongly he should have asked her about kids before proposing.) This sent Cristina knocking on Meredith's door. Meredith broke her baby news first: "She's upstairs sleeping in some dead baby's crib." Then Cristina: "Wow. Well, I'm getting an abortion and Owen just kicked me out of my house." These two belong together. What did you think, Grey's watchers? How did this finale measure up for you in the history of Grey's finales? How'd it measure up to the rest of this season? Will Mer-Der-Zola make it? How about Teddy and Henry? Will Cristina keep the baby? Will April cut it as chief resident? So many things to ponder over the summer! tvrecaps.ew.com/recap/greys-anatomy-season-7-episode-22/
|
|
|
Post by Leanne on May 20, 2011 4:12:38 GMT -5
The "Grey's Anatomy" finale explored a very interesting question, though one that we haven't already asked ourselves a hundred times in a hundred different ways on this series. Is everything black and white? In Thursday's (May 19) episode, Meredith found out her penance for switching Adele's placebo for the real thing in Derek's Alzheimer's clinical trial. Meanwhile, the hospital prepares itself to treat the passengers of a plane crash, but find that only one young girl survives. And the other doctors are forced to define their romantic relationships in whole new ways. Meredith and Derek: When the chief discovers that it was Adele that Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) was protecting, he decides to suspend her instead of fire her. But to Derek (Patrick Dempsey), there's just no getting past what he believes is Meredith's inability to see right and wrong. While he fixates on her bad judgment, Meredith takes on the responsibility of their new adopted child all by herself for the first night. Christina and Owen: When she finds out that she's pregnant, Christina (Sandra Oh) decides she won't keep the baby. Owen (Kevin McKidd), on the other hand, tries to convince her that she needs to open herself up to the idea. So when she goes forward on making an appointment for an abortion, Owen hits the roof. He claims that the issue isn't whether she keeps the baby or not (though, how could that be true?), but more about not being part of the decision process. Greys-anatomy-Finale-scott-foley-kim-raver.jpg Clearing up the gray: Teddy (Kim Raver), Bailey (Chandra Wilson), and Lexie (Chyler Leigh) all take steps to clearly define their romantic relationships in new ways. Teddy decides that she's indeed falling in love with Henry (Scott Foley). Finally! Bailey moves beyond the mainly sexual relationship she's having with the hot male nurse when she decides to let him meet her son. And Lexie finally tells Mark (Eric Dane) that he can't just give her over to Avery with his words, but he needs to stay away from them as well. She doesn't trust herself with any of the in-between. Chief resident: By default, the position goes to Kepner (Sarah Drew). While Alex (Justin Chambers) may have had good reason to rat Meredith out, it backfired on him. Owen points out that by doing what he did, he had lost the respect of the other doctors. So, how could he be an effective chief resident if no one will listen to him? If creator Shonda Rhimes wanted us to examine the question of whether there exists a definite right and wrong, then she accomplished that task and then some. blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/05/greys-anatomy-finale-merediths-not-alone-and-other-gray-matters.html
|
|
|
Post by Leanne on May 20, 2011 4:14:35 GMT -5
[The following story contains spoilers from Thursday's Grey's Anatomy season finale.] Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes told TVLine that this season’s finale would feature an “emotional shootout†(versus last year’s literal kind), and sure enough, by the time the Shondaland logo came up, at least three relationships were left sprawled on the ground, critically wounded. Derek and Meredith entered the hour on a high note, anticipating as they were the possibility of adoption. But thanks to the massive unlabeled spoiler a drunken Alex let slip last week, Mer’s contamination of the Alzheimer’s trial protocol came to light, putting her job very much on the line. That Richard came around to “appreciate†(and even take some responsibility for) Meredith’s actions was understandable. Derek, though, could not help but think of the millions of Alzheimer’s sufferers out there who might have benefited from a successful trial. It was then that he wondered aloud — though not in quite the exact and pointed words cobbled together in the promos — how he could raise a child with someone who doesn’t know right from wrong. By episode’s end, Meredith was handed an armful of irony: baby girl Zola, for her and her husband to love and cherish. Mer was left to bring the wee one home to a wholly empty house. But she would not be alone for long….. Cristina and Owen came into the finale cutely negotiating her viability as a chief resident candidate, with her withholding sex in the name of having her husband see her as an “organized and focused†doctor, and not his bed bunny. As it would turn out, motherhood-averse Cristina had already had sex one time too many, which she realized while schooling a woman on how to tell if your period is too late. Yes, Cristina had been crystal clear with her stance on having a baby, yet no one could be faulted for suspecting that, if push came to bun in the oven, she would have one of those convenient changes of heart and embrace the new life inside her. But that is not Yang. Not long after delivering to Owen the news and reiterating her unease with her expectant status, Cristina revealed that she had made an appointment to terminate the pregnancy, prompting Owen to kick her out of the apartment — and back into Mer’s house of refuge. Alex’s nascent romance with Lucy, meanwhile, was almost a victim of collateral damage in this “shootout.†Though his work with the African kids had all but sewn up his W in the race for chief resident, Alex’s outing of Mer’s unethical antic soured Owen’s opinion of him, since Karev did wrong by Seattle Grace’s most beloved doc. With Mer in the brig, Cristina reprimanded for her latest bit of rogue behavior, and Jackson having recused himself form consideration, April wound up claiming the lofty title — though the poor girl doesn’t seem quite ready for all that comes with it. Having lobbied so hard for the plum gig and lost, Alex was not in the right mindset at all to field Lucy’s invitation to ask her to stay, though just a few acts prior he glue-gunned his heart onto his sleeve. So once again, Alex implodes when on the cusp of good loving. Elsewhere, Mark decided to “let Jackson have Lexie†(or weirdly paternal words to that effect) by removing himself as an obstacle to that relationship, while Teddy decided and affirmed that she was falling in love with her husband, Henry. There was also a rather and surprisingly sweet C-story involving the many ill-fated victims of a plane crash, and how one mother who lost a son rallied for the mother of the sole surviving “unaccompanied minor.†Nice work by a roomful of guest stars. What did you think of the Grey’s finale? Is Meredith deserving of the dog house? What do you think was going on in Derek’s mind as the hour closed with him sleeping oustide in the dream house framing? And who here thinks Cristina will actually go through with an abortion? Hit the comments with those thoughts and any others. www.tvline.com/2011/05/greys-anatomy-recap-season-7-finale/
|
|
|
Post by Leanne on May 20, 2011 10:06:46 GMT -5
Abortion Could Save 'Grey's Anatomy' Posted by Jeanne Sager on May 20, 2011 at 9:21 AM Sandra Oh Never let it be said that Shonda Rhimes steers her shows away from controversy. She started the TV season back in the fall with speculation about a rape on Private Practice. Now that that's behind us, she decided to end Grey's Anatomy with speculation about one of the hottest controversies in women's health there is: abortion. It's not the first. Cristina Yang considered an abortion several seasons ago before an ectopic pregnancy essentially forced one on her -- it was the baby or her life. But in the most powerful portion of this season's finale, Yang and husband Owen Hunt's battle royale over her uterus was the best attempt Grey's has made at the issue. I can't help wondering if it wasn't made more powerful by the fact that this time around, Yang is married. This isn't an out-of-wedlock baby. This is something that happened between two adults in love and very much committed to each other. And yet, Yang doesn't want a baby. That's what it comes down to. As she tells Hunt, "I don't hate children. I think they should have parents who want them." That. Right there. This isn't about Yang and Hunt. It's not selfishness. It's not even a commitment-phobia. It's full knowledge that she is not ready to be a mother. This show has had a long history of treating Yang like she's too selfish to think things through, but this moment may be my favorite from her. Not because I think abortion is the answer. I think birth control is. But every time I read a horror story involving kids and think "parenting should require a license," I follow it up with the thought that some people just aren't made to be parents. It's not a knock on them. They're often really good at something else. I'm good at parenting -- relatively anyway. There are so many facets to the abortion issue. Young kids who didn't have good education about birth control whose lives will be ruined because of a mistake. Adult women who know they just can't afford to care for another baby. The list goes on. But what Grey's Anatomy did was show that women simply not being prepared for motherhood is an important factor too. You can't force a mother's love. And Hunt's whining, his moaning, his blackmailing came off not as a man wanting "his" baby but as a man trying to mold his wife into the person he wants her to be, as a man who wasn't thinking through what it really takes to parent. He may have "wanted" a child, but he clearly wasn't going to be in a position to care for one either, at least not as long as he thought all it took was a little compromise. As Yang said, "This isn't pizza vs. Thai. You don't give a little on a baby." If the abortion happens -- that's the cliffhanger part of a finale folks -- it will be historical anyway, one of the very few to happen on television. It WILL get viewers. It seems Shonda Rhimes knows exactly what she's doing -- touching off one of the hottest debates there is might just save this show from that musical debacle. thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/120611/abortion_could_save_greys_anatomy
|
|
betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 20, 2011 10:31:37 GMT -5
WRITER'S BLOG
Debora Cahn on "Unaccompanied Minor"...
Original Airdate: 5-19-11
It’s the finale. The FINALE! Shonda asked me to write the finale! How great is that???
Not great.
Last year, she wrote the finale herself. She pulled a machine gun out of her mental arsenal and mowed down half the cast. Derek. Alex. A bunch of cast members whose names we no longer remember. Why? Because they’re dead. She killed them. A couple years ago she asked me if I would write the Private Practice finale. I said no. She said, “You get to kill off a beloved cast member.” I said, “I’m in.” The year before, I’d written the Grey’s finale. Cakewalk. Why? George got hit by a bus. Oh, and Izzie, coding on the table as the final voice over rolls. Nothing’s easier for a writer than killing beloved cast members. It’s dramatic. It’s emotional. It’s like a lollipop, covered in a martini that doesn’t give you a hangover, covered in a bright sunshiny day that isn’t giving you skin cancer because of the magic. You know what you can’t do the year after your boss kills off a bunch of people in the finale? Kill off anyone. You can’t do anything the year after a mass murder. There’s no topping a mass murder. So we decided not to. No flood. No fire. No smallpox outbreak. No Lexie gets caught in a well while saving conjoined twin babies. No seven patients all snarled together after driving their hang-gliders into the electrical wires. No 15 simultaneous organ transplants. No surgery at all. You’ll notice, we never went into the OR in this episode. We never watched anyone have a meaningful conversation in a surgical mask. Nobody coded. Nobody charged anything to 200 and yelled CLEAR.
So what’s left, when you take away carnage, and the death of our loved ones?
Emotional devastation.
Sorry. It’s all we had left.
Seriously, it’s an interesting challenge, when you’ve started writing a show that’s focused on the lives of young single people, and then you get them into relationships, and some of the relationships manage to stand the test of time, and they eventually tie the knot, in a church, or on a post-it… suddenly you’ve got a show about married people. How did that happen? We were all having such a good time. And now this. Meredith and Cristina, of all people. Married. They grew up, our little girls. But of course, they didn’t. As some of us learned in recent years, just because you’re married, and shacked up, and the waiter in the restaurant calls you “ma’am” (what the f*@# is that about?) it doesn’t mean you’ve figured out how to be a partner. There’s an awful vertigo that sets in when women who were raised to be strong, and independent, and decisive, learn that they’re no longer supposed to make their decisions alone. They’re supposed to consult someone else. Hear their opinion. Consider it. And sometimes bend to it. It’s a nightmare. We were raised to do the opposite. Generations of our foremothers fought tooth and nail, so we could make our own decisions. And we’re still supposed to consult someone else? What the hell? And so Cristina. Making a terrible decision. Alone. The decision itself is a problem, obviously, but that wasn’t our focus, cause we’d all seen that one on Lifetime. Our focus was how she was making the decision. Where Owen was in the decision. What did it tell us about her marriage. Her partnership. Her ability to include someone else in her life, even at this most devastating time. Ultimately, she couldn’t. We can all slot ourselves into predictable spots on the political spectrum, but none of the bumper stickers prepare us for deciding with someone else. Everything that makes Cristina a great surgeon makes her a terrible partner. And that just sucks.
Meredith. Different hair color. Same story. She made a unilateral decision. She had to – he never would have understood. He sees the world in black and white, and she… well, with that last name and everything… So she made a decision. And she made it alone. And then when it all hit the fan, she still believed if she contained the information, she’d contain the damage, so she didn’t tell him what was going on. And so he disappears. At an extremely inconvenient time. It’s all her worst fears realized. She’s got a baby she never thought she was capable of mothering. And she’s alone. But that’s the world she created.
Our mothers worked hard. They were tough. They were clear. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. They taught us how to be strong, and independent, and decisive. They taught us how to be alone.
I was going to end the blog there, but that’s so miserably depressing, I can’t do it. We’re not all going to die alone. Season 8 spoiler – they don’t all die alone. But they struggle, like we all do. It’s a new set of problems.
Wow. Still depressing. Sorry. Have a great summer!
|
|
betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 20, 2011 11:08:36 GMT -5
'Grey's Anatomy' Fan Columnist: KABOOM! That boom in the title was the sound of lives imploding. While not as showy as last season's finale, "Unaccompanied Minor" still managed to upend the lives of Meredith, Derek, Cristina, Owen and Alex in spectacular fashion. Head still spinning? Mine too. Let's get to it. Meredith I wonder if Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes is fully aware of how many ticked off MerDer shippers are out there in the world. I mean, really. She finally marries her iconic couple legally (vs. by Post-It, for those of you who have been living on Mars), and all of the stars align for them to adopt what is possibly the cutest baby on planet Earth. So, of course, something has to go horribly wrong. In this case it's the little matter that Derek finds out that Meredith tampered with the Alzheimer's clinical trial. And quicker than you can say summer hiatus, Derek needs "space" and Meredith is taking Zola home all by her lonesome. While I know that some fans will defend Meredith with their dying breath, I happen to think that what she did in the trial, however well-intentioned, was wrong. There are too many consequences for too many people as a result. Having said that, Derek needs to snap out of it. The Post-It vows clearly say no leaving. I call Post-It. Cristina Meanwhile, my beloved Cristina Yang finds herself accidentally pregnant. Again. I mean, seriously. The woman only has one working fallopian tube. And given how adamant she is about NOT becoming a mother, I'm sure she's using birth control. Yes, I know, birth control sometimes fails. Whatever. Remember when I said last week that I'm rarely surprised? This is Exhibit A. With all of the baby anvils dropping from the sky all season I completely predicted a Cristina pregnancy. What I didn't predict was the fallout. Be still my Cristina-Owen lovin' heart. Breathe. Just breathe. True to expectations, Cristina doesn't want the baby while Owen does. I think the man gets credit for keeping his clear joy under control. He really tempered his response to the news so as not to freak Cristina out, asking only that his feelings as least be considered. Alas, that didn't happen. As Owen kept trying to reach some sort of compromise, Cristina wasn't having it. By the end of the episode, she scheduled an abortion and Owen kicked her out of their firehouse. So now the CO shippers are apoplectic, too. Now, personally, I'm not even going to bother calling this a breakup, because I think this couple is too strong and has been through too much to stay apart for long. Having said that, Cristina is right in that you can't have half a baby. So I'm very curious to see how this all works out and if Cristina will truly go through with the abortion or not. I'm hoping not. I absolutely agree that it's perfectly fine for a woman to not want to be a mother. But Owen does have a point. This is no longer just a hypothetical situation. Cristina may not want a baby but she has one. Will GA really show a happily married woman aborting a child for the sake of her career? Or because she's afraid? Or because she just doesn't want a baby? Only time will tell. Alex and the Rest of the Gang Oh, Alex. You let something really big slip while drunk and not it's come back to bite you. While I think you were absolutely right from a professional standpoint, your friendship with Meredith may never be the same. You lost chief resident. The other residents hate you. And, once again, you have no girlfriend. GA writers, please take note. Karev deserves some happiness in season 8. In other news, Miranda and Eli are moving forward in their relationship. Teddy chose Henry. Callie and Arizona were barely onscreen (which is OK because, frankly, they dominated the middle section of the season). Mark and Lexie are finally over for real. I think. I hope. Because she's better with Jackson. Really. And April's Chief Resident! Season End Wrap Party So what do YOU think? Will Meredith and Derek work things out? How about Cristina and Owen? Will Alex ever find some lasting happiness? And is there really a reason that Teddy is still on this show? We'll find out in the fall. See you then. All-new episodes of Grey's Anatomy will air in September 2011 on ABC. www.buddytv.com/articles/greys-anatomy/greys-anatomy-fan-columnist-ka-40389.aspx
|
|
|
Post by Leanne on May 20, 2011 11:29:40 GMT -5
Matt Webb [The following Q&A contains spoilers from the Grey's Anatomy season finale.] Fans of Grey’s Anatomy‘s grand Meredith-Derek romance need to know — in the wake of the unsettling events of Thursday night’s season finale — that series creator Shonda Rhimes aims to have the end justify the means, as the ABC drama enters what may be the final season for Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey, whose deals expire in a year. TVLine spoke with Rhimes the morning after the assorted emotional bombshells were dropped, solidly rattling Meredith’s newly official marriage, Cristina’s future with Owen, and Alex’s latest (and failed) bid to move past Izzy. Grey’s Anatomy Finale Recap: Casualties of An Emotional Shootout TVLINE | Do you think you steeled yourself enough for the blowback from Meredith/Derek fans? Or did you feel you had some “capital†to spend, having just given them a wedding? I don’t know if I steeled myself for the blowback. I’m sure there’s going to be some, but I’m not even sure I thought about it. I was busy thinking about setting us up for next season, which might be the final season for the [original cast members]. I wanted to spend next season doing nothing but telling stories about the originals, and I felt like in order to do that, we wanted to put everybody in a place where the focus was squarely on Meredith and Derek, Cristina, Alex…. TVLINE | Do you appreciate that the ABC promo department at least gave people a heads up of what was to come? I’m at a place with promos where I sort of say, “Do what you guys do best.†I remember feeling very panicked about the way they were going to promote last season’s finale and they did an amazing job, so finally I decided that I can’t keep spoilers from getting out. Do it how you want to do it. TVLINE | Tell us about the discussion about whether Meredith would actually do what she did, tampering with Derek’s Alzheimer’s drug trial. Here’s what I think is interesting about that, because I’ve heard a number of people say, “I don’t think Meredith would do that.†Meredith is the girl who put her hand on a bomb in a body cavity. Meredith is the girl who tried to help a serial killer kill himself, so that he could donate his organs. Meredith — and this is obvious – has a compass that has always led her to shades of grey. She does not believe in black-and-white, she does not believe in good or bad, she does what she thinks is right. It’s funny, when we first pitched this storyline to Ellen, the first thing she said before we got to the end was, “But I give Adele the drug, right? I definitely give Adel the drug [versus the placebo].†We said yeah, because that’s who Meredith is. And Derek has always been a person who believes in right or wrong, and that has been the fundamental argument of their relationship. I also feel like it’s important to say that Meredith and Derek aren’t getting a divorce; their marriage is in trouble. TVLINE | But for TVLine’s season finale scorecard, do we count this as a “Break-Up� No. TVLINE | As we left Meredith in her house with little Zola, what percentage of her is feeling undeservedly deserted, and what percent accepts some responsibility for pushing Derek away? I don’t know. Maybe 50-50? She made a choice but she knew she made a choice. It wasn’t a simple choice to make, but it was the only choice for her to make. As a woman who would tell a gunman to shoot her [n the Season 6 finale], that’s who she is. She deals with consequences later. I know that she feels justified, but I also think she knows she made her own bed. TVLINE | And what is going on in Derek’s mind as he camps out there in the frame of the unfinished dream house? He just needed his space. The work of his life, which was him basically trying to cure the disease that Meredith eventually will likely suffer from, has been ruined. If he knew about the baby [Zola], things might be different, but he doesn’t. Right now he’s just angry and he needs a chance to get over it. TVLINE | You’ve previously told us that Meredith and Derek are destined to be “together forever.†Do you feel that undercuts the drama when you do a finale like this? Or does it in fact amp things up, leaving us to wonder how on Earth they come back from such a deficit? I feel like Meredith and Derek are meant to be together forever, and we’re going to make sure that in the end they end up together, one would hope – unless one of them dies or something. So, no, I don’t think it undercuts the drama. I think how we get there is the journey. TVLINE | I was going to bring up Ellen’s quote from a year ago, where she said she would “probably not†renew her contract after Season 8. But it sounds like you’re preparing for next season to be her and Patrick’s “last hurrah.†It might be the last hurrah for a lot of them; you never know. I really don’t know and I don’t presume to know. Everybody [including Chandra Wilson, Justin Chambers and James T. Pickens] has an individual choice to make and I get that. It’s been seven really amazing years. Everyone has a choice to make. All the originals are in play. TVLINE | You’ve done an excellent job of having Cristina stick to her guns on the baby issue – do you think you can hold your ground and in fact have a lead character on a Big 4 network’s pride-and-joy terminate her pregnancy? Or realistically are there other factors in play? No one’s ever told me I couldn’t, so it never occurred to me I couldn’t. It is a polarizing issue, and we deal with a lot of polarizing issues. Addison performs abortions on Private Practice all the time, and she’s had one herself; Violet has had two herself. I don’t feel like that’s the point. Every woman has her legal, God-given right to choose. TVLINE | Are we counting Cristina and Owen as a “Break-Up� [Thinks for a moment] I don’t know. That one, I don’t know. I’m still debating what’s going to happen with Cristina and Owen, in my own head. Every day I change my mind about what’s going to happen with them. TVLINE | Turning to Alex: Does it pain you to put the boy through such romantic travails each season? I want him to be happy so badly! I really do. It’s so difficult because he’s such the kicked dog a lot of the time, and his character is so tough about it. But you really feel sorry for him. I feel like he hasn’t had any happiness since Izzy. TVLINE | In a world were Rachael Taylor doesn’t have a Charlie’s Angels reboot to run off to, do Alex and Lucy end this season going strong? I love Lucy and I thought Rachael was great; she has such a sparkle to her. If that pilot hadn’t happened, things would be entirely different. TVLINE | Speaking of guest cast with pilots in play: Did you have psychic intel that Scott Foley’s CBS show wouldn’t get picked up?? No, and let me tell you, we were holding our breath. I wish all the best for Scott, but we were holding our breath. We fully planned to go forward with [the Teddy/Henry] story in a slightly different way if he had gotten another television show, but we knew we were ending it this way no matter what. TVLINE | So Foley will definitely be back next season? I am very hopeful that we will see him again. TVLINE | I felt last night like the character of Mark was speaking for you, saying that it’s time to pull back on the Mark-Lexie teases. I really like Mark and Lexie together, and I re-edited that scene like 50,000 times. I took it out, I put it back in…. The writers and I argued about it for days and days, and it felt like we needed to give Mark some place to go. He’s been in baby land this whole season and he needs to step out of Callie and Arizona’s relationship and stand on his own. That’s what we’re trying to do. TVLINE | Before we go, I was wondering: As a Lost fan, do you have mixed feelings about Grey’s going up against Michael Emerson’s new CBS show in the fall? No, no, I don’t. I have Henry Ian Cusick on [the new midseason series] Scandal, so I have my own Lost piece — and I feel good about that. TVLINE | And as a Buffy enthusiast, can we count on your DVR being set to catch Sarah Michelle Gellar’s now show, Ringer? You know, I literally have been working so hard, I did not know that she had a show that got picked up. But I am sure I will check it out! www.tvline.com/2011/05/rhimes-greys-anatomy-finale-pompeo-dempsey-final-season/
|
|
betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 20, 2011 11:40:06 GMT -5
Ratings:
Grey’s Anatomy was up two tenths in its season finale to a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating, and Private Practice was also up two tenths to a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating, its best numbers in 7 weeks with adults 18-49, and a 5 month high with adults 18-34. But the news isn’t good: Grey’s finale was down 37% from last season to its lowest-rated finale ever. Private Practice was down 22% from last year’s finale and also marked its lowest-rated finale.
|
|
betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 20, 2011 23:25:39 GMT -5
Abortion and “Grey’s Anatomy” Okay, this will be brief because I have never seen “Grey’s Anatomy,” which includes last night’s season finale. But we should talk about the program because abortion was one of the story lines and more than a few sites (and readers) commented on the Cristina Yang character who informed her husband (Owen Hunt) that she was six weeks pregnant and wanted an abortion. The Cristina Yang character tells her husband she wants to abort Going only on what was said by reviewers, the husband was either a weepy whiner/manipulator or merely a guy desperately trying to persuade his wife that she should not end the life of their child. After offering the usual list of reasons why having an abortion makes ‘sense,’ one reviewer added this:“But what Grey’s Anatomy did was show that women simply not being prepared for motherhood is an important factor too. You can’t force a mother’s love.” Well, it’s hardly a new thought but women (and men) can and do change their minds…and their hearts….once the baby is born. We all know that. But a process of gradual acceptance/embrace also works during the months the mother is carrying her baby. And we all know that as well. There is a reason pro-abortionists so adamantly try to sabotage laws making ultrasounds available to abortion-vulnerable women. They know this makes what is almost an abstraction—“abortion”–into a concrete action—taking the life of a real flesh-and-blood human being. During their back and forth, we read that Hunt is looking for a “compromise.” To which Yang snaps back, “This isn’t pizza vs. Thai. You don’t give a little on a baby.” Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that in an age of widely accessible, legal abortion, the baby is either allowed to live or she isn’t. But, no, in the more important moral and ethical sense. Parents are SUPPOSED to “give”—and not just “a little”—for their kids. The irony is that people who wrote to support Yang’s threat to abort (which we won’t know whether she carries out until next season) use the lack of moral maturity and empathy as “a-ha” evidence that everyone (and most assuredly the baby) is better off if she aborts. No, they’re not. That failure to reach out—and that would most assuredly also include the baby’s father—is not an excuse to do the inexcusable but a reason to rise to the challenges of being a parent. No doubt part of the reason the show ends on this ultimate “to be continued” theme is to draw viewers—including new ones—to the new season. Well, they’ve succeeded with me. www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/05/abortion-and-%E2%80%9Cgrey%E2%80%99s-anatomy%E2%80%9D/
|
|
|
Post by Leanne on May 21, 2011 13:09:59 GMT -5
Creator Shonda Rhimes likens this year's season finale of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, "Unaccompanied Minor," to last year's shooting massacre finale. However, this time around, the bullets are metaphorical instead of physical. It's an apt analogy, as many of the main characters suffer serious emotional pain in the episode. Derek (Patrick Dempsey) is disgusted to learn that his wife, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), tampered with his Alzheimer's trial. Chief Webber (James Pickens Jr.) goes easy on Meredith once he realizes Meredith has acted to help his wife, but Derek can't bring himself to forgive her. Owen (Kevin McKidd) begs Cristina (Sandra Oh) to consider having a baby once he learns she's pregnant. She makes an appointment for an abortion, and he kicks her out of their house. Alex (Justin Chambers) betrays Meredith, despite the fact that she is the one person who has always been nice to him, and the rest of the staff loves her. It costs him his chance to be Chief Resident, and everyone's respect. Reviews for this episode: Derek, Meredith, & Alex / Owen, Cristina, & Richard / Everyone Else Extremely uncertain is the future of Owen and Cristina, whom Rhimes says she hasn't decided whether to break up or not. They rush into marriage in the wake of tragedy, and Cristina is still not used to relying on another person. She makes the decision in "Unaccompanied Minor" to have an abortion unilaterally in spite of Owen's pleas. She does not get the concept of a couple, or making decisions together. While it is completely within character for Cristina to not want to be a mother, it is a big step backwards for her to not even consider Owen's feelings. Or does she? Cristina has shown a willingness to think of Owen, especially this past year. It is very possible that she takes Owen's wants into account, and decides against him anyway. In which case, the failure is in communication. As an anti-people person, Cristina never develops the skills to adequately relate to others, and as close as Owen is to her, and as much as he understands her, it is easy to see how he could mistakenly think she is being uncaring when she's not. Bottom line, it's never a good idea to bring a child into the world that is unwanted. Owen may be willing to do the lion's share of the work in raising a child, but once the baby is born, there is no way Cristina can turn her back on the tyke to concentrate on her career. She is a human with real emotions, and a child would force her to be more nurturing. That is what she is rebelling against more than Owen. She has no desire to be put in that position. Were she to go through with having the baby, she would do the right thing by the child. Which makes the decision even more complex. Advertisement Will Meredith's decision to cheat on the Alzheimer's trial have any lasting effects on Seattle Grace / Mercy West or Chief Webber? Webber does suspend Meredith, but if she had acted for any reason other than to save his wife, she would be fired. There will be an investigation from outside the hospital, and while Webber has a lot of leeway as Chief, it's certainly possible he will be found to be going too easy on Meredith. She is not out of the woods in losing her job, nor is the Chief safe in his. The hospital at large can still be negatively impacted, too. With Meredith's actions, the FDA may decide SG/MW is not a secure place to do research. They could lose credentials. Webber has worked very hard to increase the positive reputation of the hospital recently, and Meredith's actions may lead to a backslide in those efforts. While Weber will feel it is worth it, the rest of the staff won't be so forgiving. Meredith is arguably the most beloved doctor on staff right now. That will not last. Reviews for this episode: Derek, Meredith, & Alex / Owen, Cristina, & Richard / Everyone Else Grey's Anatomy will return next fall to ABC for an eighth season, the last the original cast in contracted to do. Which means it could be Derek, Meredith, Alex, Cristina, Bailey, and / or Webber's last season, depending on what the actors decide. You will not want to miss it. www.examiner.com/tv-in-lexington/grey-s-anatomy-finds-an-unaccompanied-minor-owen-cristina-richard-review#ixzz1N0mkje3B
|
|
betinad
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1,789
|
Post by betinad on May 22, 2011 19:32:23 GMT -5
|
|