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Post by kaz on Oct 27, 2010 0:06:22 GMT -5
THE DOCTORS OF SEATTLE GRACE MERCY WEST ARE THE SUBJECTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM CREW, ON ABC'S "GREY'S ANATOMY" Mandy Moore and Ryan Devlin Reprise Their Roles as Patient Mary and Her Husband, Bill
"These Arms of Mine" - A documentary film crew visits the hospital six months after the shooting to document the road to recovery for doctors and patients. The camera lenses follow Derek, Owen, Mark & Callie as they ambitiously perform a rare arm transplant surgery, Meredith helps Cristina put on a brave face for the cameras, and Bailey's patient, Mary, returns for her surgery -- which marks the first time they've all seen of each other since that fateful day -- on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
"Grey's Anatomy" stars Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey, Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd, Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang, Justin Chambers as Alex Karev, Chandra Wilson as Miranda Bailey, James Pickens, Jr. as Richard Webber, Sara Ramirez as Callie Torres, Eric Dane as Mark Sloan, Chyler Leigh as Lexie Grey, Kevin McKidd as Owen Hunt, Jessica Capshaw as Arizona Robbins, Kim Raver as Teddy Altman, Jesse Williams as Jackson Avery and Sarah Drew as April Kepner.
Guest starring Mandy Moore as Mary, Ryan Devlin as Bill, Paola Andino as Lily, Vanessa Martinez as Gretchen, Audrey Wasilewski as Nicole, Amanda Foreman as Nora, John Lacy as Zack, Crystal Kwon as Nurse and Linda Klein as Scrub Nurse Linda.
"These Arms of Mine" was written by Stacy McKee and directed by Stephen Cragg.
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This thread will remain locked until the day the episode airs.Thread is now unlocked.
Please refrain from posting in this thread until after the episode has aired and remember to use spoiler tags.
This thread is for your discussion, thoughts, comments, reviews, musings (brief or extensive) about the episode once you have seen it.
Mixing it up a little with the questions to get the conversation rolling, if you'd prefer not to write a review:
- Did you like this episode? - Was it better or worse than the previous episode? - What parts will you rewatch and what parts deserve fast forwarding? - Which storyline/character arc was your favourite this week? Which was your least favourite? Any honourable or dishonourable mentions? - What would you change about the episode if you were the writer? - What would you rate the episode out of 10?
Feel free to answer all, some or none of the above.
Also, please throw new questions into the ring if you wish as we go along or PM me before the episode has aired with any suggestions and I will add them to this post or my list for next week.
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Post by kaz on Oct 28, 2010 22:50:00 GMT -5
Wow, quiet night. That bad, huh?
Has anyone got ANY thoughts? Even one sentence will suffice.
Let us know what you thought.
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betinad
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Post by betinad on Oct 29, 2010 0:34:34 GMT -5
well... yes, seems to be a quiet night ... I am still trying to get clarity about how I feel about the episode. for sure it will not go to the list of the ones that I will rewatch. I liked Alex SL. Finally we get to see a little more about him. He is getting closer and closer to become the doctor and man that he is meant to be. Still dealing with deamons and his internal issues and denials but moving ahead at a nice pace. Mark/Derek/Owen SL was interesting as medical case. Nice to see them working together. Callie/Arizona: I understand they have to make room for the actress maternity leave, but I am losing interest in the SL Lexie: I can't stand her anymore. Jackson: we are starting to see his breakdown and the consequences of the shooting on him. Have potential for a good development. As much as I agree that he is nice to look at I am not sure about his acting skills... let's see next episode Baileys: how much one woman can take? come on! I miss the Nazy! I want her back! Cristina/Meredith: showing support for each other. Nice scenes . as I mentioned for last episode, I am finding Cristina's recovery path a little slow and without showing anything being done to help her. WIthout that background I am feeling detached to the SL and finding difficult to buy it. Those are my disjointed thoughts at this time. I'll come back when I can put together a more coherent opinion
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Post by MstrColm on Oct 29, 2010 8:29:25 GMT -5
Hey everyone, just dropping in to give my two cents on the most recent episode. Honestly overall I was not impressed, the episode had a very dragging feeling to it, I kept expecting to hear david attenborough's voice describing the anatomy of doctors any second. Sadly it wasn't a documentary without his voice and despite what critics say about it being great, I did not think much of it. The biggest lack of course for me was the lack of CO, I was sure that the people doing documentary would have found the amount of relationships between doctors interesting and would have interviewed couples together.
I definitely noticed the non presence of music and just really that by the second half I was purely in it just for the promo. - which by the way looks much better for next week
Next week looks like a good Owen episode, not sure what Jacksons problem is but who cares, looks interesting.
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Post by hopew on Oct 29, 2010 8:32:33 GMT -5
I actually liked the episode, which surprised me. I went into it with no expectations, since I've been trying to avoid spoilers since I got back from a two-week trip last weekend. I was pretty thoroughly spoiled for the first few episodes of the season, but by now the story has moved past the "leaks" I had read before we left. The only thing I knew in advance about the episode was that it used a documentary format.
Like many of us here, I watch primarily for the Cristina/Owen relationship. That's what turned me into a "fangirl" - - before Owen got off that ambulance I was, to put it most generously, a very casual viewer of Grey's. So the fact that the episode held my interest and even moved me at times, REALLY surprised me.
There was a lot that I liked. Sandra Oh did a wonderful job (of course). Seeing Cristina struggle (and essentially fail) to maintain a facade for the camera crew was heartbreaking. Alex (who I have always enjoyed, even though the writers have not always done a good job with his character) got a chance to shine, and I really, really liked seeing that. The team interaction among Derek, Mark, Owen and Callie - - in the OR and the bar - - was fun to watch. I would have liked to see Owen as more of a "senior partner" there, but I think that was part of the point. Mark and Derek have such outsize egos that they were taking up most of the oxygen and it was really Callie's job to bring them down a peg or two. There is clearly something in store for Avery in the drama department, and it will be interesting to see if the actor is more than a pretty face and can pull it off. Teddy is not my favorite character, but I did enjoy watching her shouting obscenities at that officious security guard. And I thought the guest cast - - the patients and their families - - were all really, really excellent. This format let us look into their lives in a why that the usual format does not. And, finally, there was a refreshing lack of those "anvil" moments when a patient tells his/her most intimate secrets to a doctor he/she met 5 minutes ago and those secrets just happen to be directly relevant to some aspect of that doctor's personal life. I didn't miss that at all.
The thing I didn't like was the, IMO, kind of heavy-handed way in which the Callie/Arizona personal stuff was handled. That felt out of place in the documentary format. And I thought having Derek talk on camera about Cristina sleeping in his and Meredith's bed was off-putting and weird. But overall, although this is NOT one of the episodes I will rewatch repeatedly, I thought it was an hour of good television.
We've had five consecutive weeks of story development for Cristina and Owen, with some lovely moments. I don't mind taking a week off. I am still avoiding spoilers, so I don't know what's in store for next week. So I'll just hope we get a few good C/O moments soon, and not feel deprived that we didn't get any this week.
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Post by sdevil on Oct 29, 2010 8:39:50 GMT -5
Okay, seem to be the only one who absolutely loved this epi. Which is a good sign actually, because I was a little "scared" that I wouldn't really like it and it would be the beginning of the season getting worse. ;P Not a too long review since I have to go soon, just a few random thoughts: I loved it that Owen, Mark, Callie and Derek were working on a case together, and adored that you saw Callie being sceptical about her show-off colleagues talking about being medical titans and then, in the end in the OR, she was the one who told the others what to do, haha. ;D And I think one of my favorite lines definitely was Mark making the notation 'bout his TV and only getting sound from one speaker. ;D Awww, Bailey. Can't get over it, I miss the Nazi-Bailey as well, but the storyline with Mary was really sad. I have to say, I liked Jesse Williams a lot in this epi. It is true that he's more a pretty face than the best actor (but c'mon, this is a Kev fansite, we are spoiled by pretty face AND amazing actor ), but I liked him in this episode. Teddy wasn't really much seen this week? But that I really really like her is no secret so, yeah, didn't change (hate me ;P). Oh, I loved the short saying 'bout "Not everyone is having Bieber Fever." YES PLEASE! Need to be said in TV once. 8) I liked the kiddie-Alex-SL as well. Ummm ... Callie and Arizona moving to Africa? Oookay. I mean, okay. I don't really know what to say about it. Lexie's poor. Poor Lexie. I hope Chyler does get a little bit better stuff to work with soon, I mean of course she's dealing with it well but she's a really good actress IMO and in this epi, she really was annoying lol, sorry. So for the next week, it looks like a good episode. Really, really good episode. Looking forward to it.
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Post by agneskenya on Oct 29, 2010 8:58:47 GMT -5
My opinion is that it was interesting to see the characters in this context. I still think I need a rewatch to make sure, but I also missed the characterization, except for Alex since we actually got a lot on him.
To me, one is enough, but there were moments that made it really good. I did like it for what it was, but it's certainly not why I watch GA...However, it was an interesting take, and I'm glad they did it.
I couldn't believe that Mary's SL got to me. I saw the cute couple coming in, I KNEW she was going to die. But still. It sucks. Like some people just can't get a break. Can't even imagine the effect on Bailey.
Loved the tattoo thing and Karev singing, and not nearly enough Owen Hunt. But I guess it wasn't the point of this ep.
In short: I did like it, but not necessarily as much as a regular ep. E.G: I liked "I saw what I saw" from S6 (Rachomon like ep) much better. It's a good transitional ep I think. All in all, mixed feelings, but mostly positive.
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Post by ranniez on Oct 29, 2010 9:50:02 GMT -5
i really enjoyed the episode, too. My quibbles are only minor.
Being that I'm such a hardcore Owen fan. I wish that they would have talked to him solo during the documentary the way that did with Derek for example. That was my quibble. Loved our they dealt with the characters we love as real doctors and lost all the soap opera crap. Didn't miss that one bit.I felt horrible for Bailey when her patient Mary died. Bailey is really amazing. Maybe it was for a shorter time, but she had a gun held to her head too, and she still functions. Chandra Wilson is really my girl crush. I think we learned something about Owen, too. He is very modest about his skills and functions better as part of a team. Maybe that's why the film crew didn't talk to him individually. Wish we could see more from when he was in Iraq because I thought of Owen in the Army when I watched him in the beginning directing the ER in a crisis and when he was working on the arm transplant. I didn't believe it for one second when Alex said that he was considering pediatric surgery because it was an elite field. No way. He loves the kids. I think he was cute when he went to Lily's school to talk to the kids for show and tell. He just has a togh guy image to protect. I wish they could do more episodes like this. Take care now! ranniez ;D
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Post by MarryMeOwen on Oct 29, 2010 10:18:52 GMT -5
Another indifferent episode for me: This episode was kind of a miss for me. I really dug the Mer/Cris/Der parts, I thought it odd they didn't interview Owen about since he was another Dr. that got shot. But whatever. The mer/Cris moment was really good, and I liked how they showed the different ways Jackson and Cristina are still dealing with what happened. I found Mark and Lexie both really irritating in the episode. Loved Alex's relationship with his peds patient. It was a cool dynamic and you can really see how he will do well in peds.
The Der/Owen/Mark/Callie case was ok, I think it was odd to see Owen kind of unaffected by anything going on. There was kind of a disconnect there. Esp. when you see Cristina having such a hard time. I know it was a different format, but it just didn't seem to gel. I also don't understand why they would focus on AZ and Callie, they were not really affected by the shooting in a personal way, though I realize that it was because of moving along the AZ story.
I know some people seem to like the Teddy moment in this episode, but I kind of feel like if the only time people are really going to like Teddy is when she's yelling at someone or doing something like calling herself a Barbie name, I can do without it. It doesn't really add substance to the character and I found her kind of pointless in this episode and even more useless in my book. She is more or less just providing sound bites, most of them not good.
The Chief just kind of walked around like a politician kind of trying to show how everything is perfect inspite of all the imeperfections and emotional problems his staff is having.
The only cases that got to me were the peds one with Alex and also Bailey's with Mary. It was kind of poetic how it all ended for Mary, an indirect victim of the shooting kind of emphasizing how everyone is still suffering though the shooting itself lasted mere moments in their lives.
All in all not the best episode, it had the same effect on me that the cross overs do, it didn't further any of the plot with exception of AZ/Callie, and the character development was minimal. I mean we saw Cristina and Jackson going through the motions, but nothing was really delved into which was probably the point, but it really didn't mean as much to me. I did think Cristina's scene at the end was the most telling. Overall I was expecting more from this episode I guess I should know better.
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Post by trinity on Oct 29, 2010 10:55:32 GMT -5
The main reason I watch GA is because of Cristina and Owen, but to my surprise I enjoyed the episode. Not one that I would re-watch, but good non-the-less. I was expecting not to like it at all. Cristina is breaking my heart, and it seems like we might get some friction between her and Meredith as suggested by Stacy McKee's writers blog. But I tend not to fully believe/trust everything they say there, there is a level of manipulation in their posts. I learned my lesson last year, so I tend to be selective.
I enjoyed Alex tremendously. Aside from Cristina and Owen he's always been one of my favourite characters (among with Callie) so, I was so glad seeing him shine. Pediatric surgery is clearly his specialty and he is rocking it.
Team Callie/Owen/Derek/Mark had a very good dynamic and I enjoyed watching them, even more in that scene from Joe's bar. To me Owen seemed so detached because he was in front of the cameras. He's concealing very well what he is really feeling, exactly what Cristina has tried to do all day, but failed. Not the type of guy who shows very easily how he feels and definitely not in front of the cameras. For months Cristina was the only who the extent of the damage the war had upon him.
Bailey seems to have really hard times after the shooting, esp. now with what happened to Marry. I did not see that twist coming.
Callie/Arizona story seemed a little bit out of place, but I think somewhere that was the intention. The way the story is developing now between these two, it reminds me of Cristina/Burke dynamic, but to a lesser extent, with Callie giving pieces of herself to accommodate Arizona, because she feels less worthy in this relationship (her speech to the Chief from last episode proved that) - just because till at some point in her life, she has been sleeping with men. Arizona raised this problem a couple of times in the past when she told Callie that she is less of a lesbian and having that constant fear that Callie will someday change her mind and go back again sleeping with men. That is my impression till now, but I might be wrong. We will see how things go after J Cap comes back from her maternity leave.
Notes aside: The actress who played the wife of the patient who received the transplant also appeared in the SP at Owen and Cristina's wedding - you can spot her when they focus the camera on April during the ceremony. Under Derek Shepherd's and Mark Sloan's names appeared the title Chief of Neurosurgery, respectively Chief of Plastic Surgery. Under Owen's name appeared only Trauma Surgeon. As far as I know Owen is the Head of Trauma, or some things changed during the time Derek was the Chief?[spoiler/]
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Post by Leanne on Oct 29, 2010 13:08:05 GMT -5
mmmm - Did you like this episode? Ok Im not big on Documentaries or movies filmed on the move (motion sickness delux) there certain aspects I enjoyed and then others I didnt. I do take my hat off to them for trying something new - Was it better or worse than the previous episode? Not really sure I dont even view it as a standard episode
- What parts will you re-watch and what parts deserve fast forwarding? mmm not sure I could pin down a particular part you have to watch this as a whole if you want to really get the picture - Which storyline/character arc was your favourite this week? Which was your least favourite? Any honourable or dishonourable mentions? Ok well the whole thing was a good idea but I didn't enjoy the stupid personal add in's like for example Lexie and her id card Callies expression when the guys were talking about the arm attachments taking about personal involvements Derek mentioning that Cris ends up in his bed Derek and sloan pushing each other around like school kids the Chief in every scene etc etc....
I guess some of the above was a bit true to form if you add a camera into the lives of normal folk there's that inclination to over act and that's often the feeling I got (probably good acting)
Story : Mary very heart wrenching the rest I was a bit board with
Avery locked in the corridor was also well done you felt the claustrophobia
Alex that's all I will say I really thought he shone
Ok no O/C but I dont think this episode lent itself to personal stuff and Im glad they left there personal life out of it - What would you change about the episode if you were the writer? I probably wouldn't had done a documentary at all - What would you rate the episode out of 10? about a 5 wow Trinity you noticed quite a bit of the finer details thanks for that very interesting observations...
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Post by ella1967 on Oct 29, 2010 13:29:11 GMT -5
I guess I needed more from this episode than we got but it was an interesting, if oblique, angle on all the characters. As others have said, probably not an episode I'll watch again. It was obvious when the characters were trying to show up as they wanted to be perceived rather than how they really are, i.e. Alex' reasons for being on peds, and yet rather than being bugged by that I found it kind of endearing. Last week's episode showed how ragged everyone is after the shooting and this one showed us how hard they're trying to pretend to be better post-shooting so in that way, interesting bookends. I too watch for Cristina and Owen so I was sad we got just small blips of each of them. I suppose Owen as the humble part of a surgical team and Cristina being fragile but thinking she's putting on a good front were meant to show us their continued characterizations from last week. I thought Owen might have gotten at least a brief solo interview about being shot especially given his wartime service and/or they might have mentioned it in the context of a bright spot of celebration being that he and Cristina got married in the wake of the shooting, but I also get that the only forward character momentum was really reserved for Callie and Arizona and Alex, characters which have been somewhat backgrounded so far this season. Reviews I read ahead of time said Meredith and Cristina's time with the camera crew was gripping but I don't think it showed us that much. The interesting thing we did see is that slight precursor of friction between Cristina and Meredith. (I didn't need the writer's blog to point that out.) There was a lot of quickly resolved conflict between them in the SP and I'm wondering if there will be some residual angst for them regarding Meredith's murmurings at the end of S.6 which caused Cristina to doubt Owen. Also, IMO, Cristina has so much boiling over inside of her regarding that painful day that she is unable to see the triumph of having saved Derek's life because it's overshadowed by how her emotional circuits were blown by the experience so her reaction to Meredith's thanks didn't really surprise me. Maybe that will be part of their friction too since we haven't really seen them talk about what happened that day and how each was triggered and/or motivated. I enjoyed Alex on his peds case. He essentially raised his siblings so I'm not one bit surprised he likes peds or that he'd have a hard time admitting it. Bailey's post-shooting circuit seemed about to be completed when Mary's surgery was successful so it was a bit of a gut-punch that Mary didn't survive after all. Another lesson about the preciousness and capriciousness of life through which Chandra Wilson showed us this stoic character's emotional context. Nicely done. Arizona's news seemed an odd way to exit JC for her maternity leave but makes as much sense as anything. I can't remember who here said their storyline reminded them of Cristina and Burke but a shout out to you because I had the exact same thought as we watched that scene of Callie and Arizona trying on silly desert wear after Callie gave notice at the hospital. Callie showed us how insecure she is about her standing in her relationship in her presentation to the chief last week and that insecurity, IMO, makes her downplay her own needs and give more credence to what Arizona wants whether it's having or not having kids or moving or not moving to Africa. Little pieces are being chipped away from Callie because she feels 'less than' in her relationship and that one's gonna blow...[again, didn't need Shonda's follow up articles to show me that. ] Since we still know so little about Arizona I do wonder what her reaction will be. Poor Lexie - girl can't catch a real scene to save her life. Though her freak out about bringing Mark his coffee was well done. (But seriously, when will we be done seeing scut monkey Lexie?) Mark's seeming moment of sincerity over Derek's shooting was interesting, as was the chief appearing so bumbling after last week's show of strength. Interesting how they keep tying Teddy and Avery's stories together. I'm not sure if we're supposed to see an emotional bond being built (i.e. following up on the he's pretty/flirting/shirtless medical locker room quiz) or how Jackson's post-shooting cracks are showing and Teddy will be mentoring him via the 'tough love' she purported to practice in her presentation to the chief.
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Post by trinity on Oct 29, 2010 14:53:54 GMT -5
I too watch for Cristina and Owen so I was sad we got just small blips of each of them. I suppose Owen as the humble part of a surgical team and Cristina being fragile but thinking she's putting on a good front were meant to show us their continued characterizations from last week. I thought Owen might have gotten at least a brief solo interview about being shot especially given his wartime service and/or they might have mentioned it in the context of a bright spot of celebration being that he and Cristina got married in the wake of the shooting, but I also get that the only forward character momentum was really reserved for Callie and Arizona and Alex, characters which have been somewhat backgrounded so far this season. Reviews I read ahead of time said Meredith and Cristina's time with the camera crew was gripping but I don't think it showed us that much. The interesting thing we did see is that slight precursor of friction between Cristina and Meredith. (I didn't need the writer's blog to point that out.) There was a lot of quickly resolved conflict between them in the SP and I'm wondering if there will be some residual angst for them regarding Meredith's murmurings at the end of S.6 which caused Cristina to doubt Owen. Also, IMO, Cristina has so much boiling over inside of her regarding that painful day that she is unable to see the triumph of having saved Derek's life because it's overshadowed by how her emotional circuits were blown by the experience so her reaction to Meredith's thanks didn't really surprise me. Maybe that will be part of their friction too since we haven't really seen them talk about what happened that day and how each was triggered and/or motivated. Arizona's news seemed an odd way to exit JC for her maternity leave but makes as much sense as anything. I can't remember who here said their storyline reminded them of Cristina and Burke but a shout out to you because I had the exact same thought as we watched that scene of Callie and Arizona trying on silly desert wear after Callie gave notice at the hospital. Callie showed us how insecure she is about her standing in her relationship in her presentation to the chief last week and that insecurity, IMO, makes her downplay her own needs and give more credence to what Arizona wants whether it's having or not having kids or moving or not moving to Africa. Little pieces are being chipped away from Callie because she feels 'less than' in her relationship and that one's gonna blow...[again, didn't need Shonda's follow up articles to show me that. ] Since we still know so little about Arizona I do wonder what her reaction will be. Well, Ella you'll have to shout out me about Burke/Cristina - Callie/AZ parallel. Glad I was not the only one who noticed that. I don't read spoilers so I didn't know that Shonda had said the same thing. On a different note about Owen: I really enjoy they way they are handling the Cristina and Owen's story so far. Much better than season 6, thank you! But those little things that they do - like last episode in that last scene with the attendings, where Owen had that humble look on his face as if he had to feel guilty for winning the grand, which he actually totally deserved, and this episode where they wrote under his name only Trauma Surgeon instead of Head of Trauma - bothered me. Maybe they shouldn't, but the more I think about them, the more they bother me. And you are right, Ella I hoped that they would do an interview with Owen, given the fact that he was shoot and he worked for so many years in Iraq. It would have been very interesting to hear his insight over the shooting. I am hoping that they're going somewhere with this. He's a very humble earth-grounded person, that is something to admire to a surgeon - as they tent to be very arrogant.
Also about Meredith and Cristina: I think somewhere, a little part of Cristina is blaming Meredith for what's happening to her. From her murmurings about Owen, to what happened in that OR. She cannot even enjoy what she did for Derek, what performing that surgery meant for her - she's downplaying her role - because of the emotional, psychological damage the shooting had on her. And in a way, unconsciously she is blaming Meredith for that. And that might come to surface in the next episodes. Hah, Leanne my photographic memory kicked in.
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Post by kaz on Oct 29, 2010 18:54:33 GMT -5
Okay, tackling the questions because I don't know how to structure a review of this episode otherwise. Did you like this episode? To my surprise, I actually really did. It was novel and while I'm quite sure I wouldn't want them to try out the format again, I found certain aspects of it quite moving and enjoyable. Some of the aspects that I found particularly interesting and refreshing were being able to see the patients and their families at home, have them (and the doctors) speak directly to the camera and just overall seeing a different side of the hospital. Have to say that this format caused the medical stuff to look even more gory than usual (probably because it seemed more real) Was it better or worse than the previous episode? Neither. It was just different. What parts will you rewatch and what parts deserve fast forwarding? In all honesty, I'm not sure that I'd really be rushing back to this one for a rewatch even though I did enjoy it but if I were to, I would probably rewatch the Cristina speeches (especially the end one) and Alex's interaction with his patient.
I would DEFINITELY fast forward through all of the medical titan stuff and Mark talking about how the shooting affected him. I couldn't quite figure out if it was Eric Dane's bad acting or we were supposed to think it was Mark trying to be sensitive, honest and emotional (and coming off as fake and melodramatic) Which storyline/character arc was your favourite this week? Alex's storyline was the shining star for me. I'm really glad he finally seems to have found his place in paeds. I loved all of his moments with the patient, including singing to her (was that a Bieber song?? I honestly wouldn't be able to recognise one) and then attending at her school for show and tell. Which was your least favourite? Callie and Arizona. I just don't care anymore about these two. Any honourable or dishonourable mentions? Honourable - Cristina's storyline. It wasn't a huge focus but I liked what we saw - Cristina trying to put on a brave face for the camera but ultimately failing and then at the end, that painfully honest acknowledgement that being a hero has its price. I picked up on the tension between Meredith and Cristina too (before reading the writer's blog) and am looking forward to seeing this situation explode in the next episode.
Honourable - Bailey and Mary. Wow, way to punch us in the gut, Shonda! I can't believe they killed Mary off. The situation came full circle, but certainly not in the way I had expected (ie, Mary living). It was cruel but I thought Chandra Wilson did a really lovely job in this storyline.
Dishonourable - the arm transplant patient. I liked the patient's storyline itself (and the actors playing the patient and his wife) but Derek and Mark's egos killed this for me. I thought Callie was great but other than that, it fell flat. Also, they didn't give Owen enough to do and that was a disappointment. He was just there.
Dishonourable - the stupid security system story. Found Lexie and this overall storyline so annoying. The one good thing was that it led to that moment with Avery stuck in lockdown. I agree with those of you who have said you're not sure Jesse's acting chops match his pretty face but I am at least intrigued to see what's going on with Jackson. Up until now, I had kind of overlooked the fact that his friends had also died the day of the shooting and was focussing more on the fact that he, like Cristina, operated at gunpoint. But clearly there's a bit more going on for him and I look forward to seeing it flare up next week (from the look of it). Judging by how giggly and wired Jackson was at one point, I am guessing he is on some sort of narcotic, perhaps because he's not getting any sleep courtesy of his PTS. We'll see.
What would you change about the episode if you were the writer? I think the main thing I would have changed would have been to shift the focus in the transplant storyline from Mark and Derek to Callie and Owen but then I get that it might not have worked in the context of who the characters are. Owen, at least, is more humble and just keeps his head down and does his job. It seems true to form that if a camera crew comes into the hospital, the two doctors who are going to be trying to shine in front of it are Derek and Mark. I just didn't like it.
Also, the Lexie stuff. After so many weeks she wouldn't have gone to security to get her card sorted out??? Just doesn't make any plausible sense. What would you rate the episode out of 10? I can't rate the episode as against the others of the season, because it was so different but as a stand alone I would probably give it about a 7.
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Post by MarryMeOwen on Oct 29, 2010 23:07:09 GMT -5
I gotta say as well that I was really disappointed that this was a Stacey McKee episode. McKee has written several episodes that are among my top 10 over the years. I realize the writers like to try new things once in a while but this was a case of trying too hard. Plus I think this type of mode has been over done in several television shows already.
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