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Post by kaz on May 18, 2011 4:22:43 GMT -5
GREY'S ANATOMY: Unaccompanied Minor-- SEASON FINALE (5/19) SEASON FINALE
WITH HER CAREER IN JEOPARDY, MEREDITH FINDS HERSELF AT A NEW LOW, ON THE SEASON FINALE OF ABC'S "GREY'S ANATOMY" "Unaccompanied Minor" - News of Meredith's dishonesty in the clinical trial comes to light, leading to unanticipated consequences for both her and others. Cristina finds herself in a compromising situation, which forces her to decide between her career and her relationship. Meanwhile, Owen posts his decision for chief resident and Teddy makes a surprising choice regarding her love life -- and her future -- on the Season Finale of Grey's Anatomy, THURSDAY, MAY 19 (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 cast includes Scott Foley as Henry, Rachael Taylor as Dr. Lucy Fields, James Tupper as Andrew Perkins, Daniel Sunjata as Eli and Beverly Todd as Gilda Bix.
"Unaccompanied Minor" was written by Debora Cahn and directed by Rob Corn. ------------------------------------------
This thread will remain locked until the day the episode airs.
Please refrain from posting 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.
Here are some questions to get the conversation rolling, if you'd prefer not to write a review:
- Was this a good season finale? - Favourite line/scene/storyline? Least favourite? - What would you rate the episode out of 10? - Will you watch this episode again? - Are you inspired to tune back in to Grey's Anatomy after the hiatus by what you saw tonight?
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
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Post by MarryMeOwen on May 19, 2011 19:56:17 GMT -5
Ok so I am going to just cut to the chase on what is a depressing finale I gotta say Sandra and Kevin both acted the hell out of this episode, I just wish we had more quality OC time this season to fall back on.
Anyway the scene where Cristina tells Owen she's pregnant goes on longer than the sneak peak, and you can clearly see Cristina is afraid of the possibilities of having a family, and Owen has so much faith in her, its kind of sad that she can't see her own potential when it comes to relationships.
On the bench when OC are talking Owen basically gets that Cristina is afraid to love a baby, and he is so good at being supportive in that scene, and trying to convince her that there is a future besides careers. It was really intense.
Then we have the scene at the firehouse where Cristina comes home she asks him "Tell me how much you love me" and he says something like "I love you a great deal" and she says "I want you to remember that.." Then she tells him that she made an appointment for the termination. Both Kevin and Sandra are amazing in this scene, you clearly see how tortured both of them are with this decision, but Cristina is basically leaving him out of the decision and that is what she doesn't seem to understand. So when she exclaims "NO!" at the top of her lungs and Owen in sadness and desperation turns away from her and tells her to "Get out" Crsitina asks him, "Why because I denied you a baby?" And he says "because you denied me a part in the decision, a marriage" and he tells her again to get out you can see how devastated they both are. I just don't know how they can come back from this if she does go through with the appointment. But in the montage at the end, they show Cristina alone on Meredith's couch when the voice over says about love, "What if you like it?" So i think Cristina is going to do some figuring out, it just sucks we wont find out until S8.
Other than that nothing HUGE in this finale, I mean the Mer stuff was interesting, April was CR as we expected and everyone hates Alex, but that's nothign new.
All in all except for the compelling acting from Sandra and Kevin, the episode didn't even feel like a finale.
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Post by ella1967 on May 19, 2011 21:54:25 GMT -5
I'm perversely hopeful because this episode was all about people learning that old behavior doesn't work for them and taking chances just might get you somewhere new, as scary as that might still be.
I'm like marryme in that the only point of this episode for me was some rockin' Cristina and Owen scenes. And boy, did Kevin and Sandra deliver! Kudos to my favorite actors for showing us such a broad range of emotion in these scenes. I'll get to why I'm hopeful in a minute.
Cristina can't see her potential because she's stuck in old ways of thinking about herself. And I'll say it again, this season was all a huge set up for Cristina to be reexamining her definition of self. She's broadened it to include wife and then surgeon, the old standby, involved stepping away from it to get some peace around that redefinition, but mother just blows all the circuits so she shuts down. Not that it excuses her behavior, simply gives it depth to my mind.
Owen does his level best to reach her and even though most of her answers are all about 'No' he finally gets a crucial piece of the puzzle. She would love their baby and that scares her. He is probably remembering quite clearly how hard she had to work up to telling him she loved him the first time when he chuckles a bit and says 'that's a problem we can work with.'
My husband just came home so I'll make this brief and finish with the three things for which I am grateful for from this episode:
1 - Cristina finds out she's pregnant and she goes to Owen. There's no rigamaroll, no anxious looks across rooms at her husband, she goes to him and finds her words to tell him she's pregnant.
2 - That hopeful look she gives him when he sexily says 'Cristina Yang...I imagine such a huge life for us.' You can see her wanting, if even for just a brief moment, to step into that vision. She just doesn't know how to yet.
3 - And that we're left with more questions than answers as to why Cristina doesn't want a baby or to be a mother. Yet she lets Owen have that one small but crucial piece of the puzzle. She would love their baby.
Okay and two more:
4) Owen clearly states how he feels, stands strong even when it is difficult, shares with her his vision. He isn't running or relying on three word sentences anymore.
5) They found their words over and over again to say how much they love each other. Even as they struggled with this agonizing situation.
I'm truly sad to see the both of them so despairing by end of episode and to be thinking they don't know where to turn next. But I think I can see the path they're going to be on and I suspect it will involve things better placed in the S.8 spec thread. Except I'll say one small thing - ectopic pregnancy/miscarriage is still on the table for discussion, IMO.
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Post by karen on May 20, 2011 0:25:33 GMT -5
SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN FINALE. IM SORRY, DO NOT KNOW HOW TO HIDE COMMENT. I have just finished watching the finale. Let me just say I am a crazy, fanatic Cristina Owen fan who also happens to be a very independent, very liberal, very pro-choice woman. I know a couple of very good women who have made the difficult choice in their lives. However, I found the last bit of the finale with Cristina going so far as to schedule an abortion -- deciding to abort the child of the husband she loves (without even giving it a week unbelievably enough) -- so distastful, so unpleasant, so unforgiveable that I will never, ever return to Grey's. (I could have gone with the disturbing, but serious and beautifully acted discussion up to that last bit.) I wish Kevin and Sandra had quit the show before they agreed to to tell that horrific story. (It actually diminishes the almost boundless respect I had for both of them as actors that they didn't put their foot down.) It was only compounded by the fact that the writers tried to tell the story in a few minute snipppets -- as casually as they might have told any other silly GA story. That the last scene was treated as some routine ho hum domestic spat was just insult to injury. (not to mention the fact they just made the case for all those on the opposite political spectrum who are anti-choice who like to portray women who make the painful choice as heartless and silly - well Cristina was certainly portrayed at least as monstrously unthoughtful -- that's saying a lot from someone who has always loved, loved, loved Cristina and believe that's not her character at all.) The fact that the writers did not take this issue seriously completely turned the tide on whether I ever want to even spend another minute of my time with the show. If any of you who have a pipeline to Kevin are willing to give him feedback, tell him this devoted fan thinks his only option now is to tell them he's not coming back in the fall. They will never give the wonderful character they originally created any good storyline and they will never do justice to Kevin's talent. No matter what they write on paper, this epic story has met an untimely and undeserved demise.
If any of you knew how much I have loved the Cristina Owen story, how it ranks for me among the all-time love stories of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre, of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy and all the classical, wonderful, complicated love stories of all time, how much time I uncharacteristically devoted to a fictionaly story that happened to be one of the truly lovely stories I have ever seen on TV, then you know I do not say this lightly. (edited to add spoiler tags - Betinad)
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Post by Leanne on May 20, 2011 3:28:14 GMT -5
wow that was an emotional ride Think I personally enjoyed the s7 finale better this one had me in tears were the S7 finale had me on the edge of my seat which I really appreciated as a viewer The unaccompanied minor story was heart wrenching for the rest it was just who stayed together and who broke up Mer and Der Ok so they get married and all Mer Der fans breath only to get it whipped away ~ will they resolve and get back together and bring up baby Zola, its a big problem that mer doesn't see right from wrong would be hard to overlook in a real life marriage... One thing I feel there is no need to worry about is Mer wont loose her job and yay for finally seen that house of there's Owen and Cristina Ok perhaps Cris should have given this a bit longer than one day but I guess it had to fit into the finale she is still running scarred and its mind over heart, a bit more unpredictable as we haven't ever seen Owen in kick out mode before ( I think it would have been more in character if we had seen Owen walk out rather than throw Cris out but then I guess we would not have gotten Cris to mer's pad) ~ but I feel once the heat debates we will get a resolve Lexie/Mark/Avery ok creepy Mark ~ still prefer Mark and Lexie but Im ok with Avery Nice to find out why Avery dumped the Chief April really kewl she got CR but missed a stark tie up Teddy/Andrew and hubby yawn although Hubby to me was the better choice Alex and Lucy ok so everyone will hate poor Alex we have been here before ... and I wasn't that invested in Lucy so I'm ok with this split Bailey and her man still kind of a strange union but ok going with the flow thankfully very little Callie and Arizona ~ the end is upsetting for O/C fans but keep the faith and support going looking forward to S8
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ruralstar
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Post by ruralstar on May 20, 2011 6:58:16 GMT -5
Just wasn't in the mood after a very tiring day to write last night. So my thoughts by the couples...
Teddy and her fellows-I'm with Leanne. Yawn-worthy stuff. Though I prefer Andrew over the hubby I did feel bad for him because Teddy has been written as so d**n dense. Kim needs another job.
Alex/Lucy-again, who cares? How often have we seen Lucy? Why should we be invested in her or their relationship? What aggravates me is that Alex, like Mer and Cris, has reverted to type. They should have all grown a little according to Shonda's 'season of change'. Yeah, whatever.
Mark/Lexie/Avery-Yawn, again. Lexie calls Mark paternal but then she allows herself to get sucked back in. I don't get the attraction but then I'm not a 20 something with daddy issues so there you go. And I think Avery is very bland. His stepping out of the Cheif's clinical trial was very considerate and easily the most interesting thing he's done since the early part of the season.
The ehtics of GA have always bothered me. The Cheif being willing to mitigate Mer's punishment because Adele benefited from the drug switch is just another example of how ridiculous this show can be. In reality she would have been fired. In fact, there's a good chance she would have been removed from the study at the beginning because of her harassment of Derek regarding Adele's numbers. The turmoil before her early onset Alzheimers forced her number to drop to a 23, whcih made her eligible. So yet another case that harkens back to all of the Izzy drama surrounding the LVad and Denny and on from there.
Mer/Der: When oh when is Mer going to grow up? She seemed downright flip in the Cheif's office. She cannot see how her actions were wrong no matter the reasons why. I'm 100% on Derek's side here. Sometimes there is just black and white no matter how much you want things to be gray. The fact that Mer picks up baby Zola and takes her home does not indicate great change for me. Given all of Mer's rfecent behavior I see the baby as more of a peace offering to Derek. If Mer were really so enamored of the idea of being a mom she would have reacted a lot differently to Cris' news at the end. Again, she was almost dismissive.
Owen/Cris: I knew this would spark debate. However, I think this baby sl is less about abortiion and more about Cris making choices without being fair to Owen. FTR, I'm wondering if she will lose this child before she gets the chance to terminate it. In the conversations with Owen and Mer she mentioned needing to lie down and feeling like crap. How interesting if she were to lose a baby and suddenly realize she wanted it while Owen struggles to get past the fact that she didn't? S8 anyone? Getting back to this ep, I agree that Sandra and Kevin acted the hell out of their scenes. In regards to character, well there was a bit of change in that Cris went to Owen, as Ella pointed out, and actually told him. She didn't go to Meredith, which is exactly what Owen pointed out in one scene. "Do you think I want you going to Meredith?" He knows how she operates and he is getting pretty sick of competing with Meredith when it comes to the intimate details of his life with Cris.
Yes Owen and Cris did use words but for a while no one seemed to be listening to one another. He was so convinced that she could love a baby and wasn't getting the fact that she didn't want to be a parent. I think that is a big part of the issue. For Cris it might be fear but it could also be the truly intractable desire to be a career woman and not have a family. I'm sure we all know women like this. I can think of at least three in my immediate circle of friends. Cris is right that a child should have parents who love it and having a baby is more than a scheduling conflict. That said, there is a lot of fear in Cris and that fear has cut Owen completely out of the equation. For the first time since they met Owen seems truly emotionally healthy. He can see the big picture and he tries so hard to paint that picture for Cris. In one day she finds out she's pregnant and makes the decision to terminate. She won't even tell Owen how far along she is. For Owen this is about the vision of a child with a woman he loves. How close, how real, is this child? Not just how many weeks and when does life begin. When Owen throws Cris out I saw it as completely logical. Owen has planted roots. That is his home. A place he clearly expected to raise a family in not just live with Cris in some sort of professional partnership. He feels that she's violated his trust, their bond, by making a unilateral decision. He isn't willing to let her off the hook just because he loves her, nor is he willing to destroy what he's started to envision in that building. I thought it was entirely appropriate that Cris leave. The mislead earlier in the conversation of Cris asking Owen if he loved her had me convinced for a minute that she had already ended the pregnancy. If she had I think there would have been no going back. Because she didn't I think there is a chance but only with a lot of work.
Finally one last nod to 'ethics', or whatever you want to call it. Owen and Cris are doctors and they were obviously having unprotected sex. I know Cris only has one tube but so do a lot of women. What did they think was going to happen eventually? Geez!
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Post by trinity on May 20, 2011 8:23:31 GMT -5
Cristina/Owen: I absolutely respect every woman decision of having or not children. But this is not a hypothetical situation anymore, she does not want children, but right now she has one. And the thing is she says to Owen that she would love that child, so let me get this straight writers, Cristina wants to abort a baby because she is afraid she might love that baby, more than her career? My logical brain cannot process that. And if Cristina was so decided that she didn't want to have a child she would have taken a more drastic birth control - like tie her tube - but yet she didn't which suggests that she is not entirely sure about that.
Owen has struggled the entire day to reach to her, make her see the bigger picture, almost begged her to think about this TOGETHER and yet she went behind his back and scheduled that abortion. In that same day. She didn't take into consideration Owen's position. She simply shut down because the simple prospect of having a child still terrifies her. Because to me deep down she still wants that child. But she is so scared and freaked out that she reverts back into some old habits. She doesn't trust Owen completely, her abandonment issues are still not solved. I really don't think they'll make Cristina have another miscarriage, more probably she might keep the pregnancy and we'll see how she and Owen deal with that in S8.
The thing is the way I saw it, I think Owen was OK with the fact that he and Cristina will never have children. But now it happened, and he sees it like something that was meant to be, more than a baby, a part of him and Cristina and who they are as a couple. It became real and palpable in a way.
I understood why Owen told Cristina to get out. Ruralstar pointed out very well (though IMO I still think it's a bit OOC for Owen). As for those who ask: why didn't Owen leave the house and told Cristina to go: Look back what he said to her in the SP when he proposed, there is the answer. "I'm not going anywhere." He is in this marriage but Cristina must be too with all her heart. I also think he told her to get out because he was so hurt and angry at that moment that he was afraid he might say something to her that later he'd regret.
And one more thing, the writers conveniently forgot that Cristina has gone through a huge trauma and PTSD this half of season. Anyone who has gone through that kind of trauma is forever change and starts to see things in a bigger picture and different perspective. They simply choose to forget that for Cristina's character.
I don't know how they'll come back from this, maybe there is still a chance if Cristina keeps that baby, if she goes with the abortion, then I don't really see a way back. adjusted spoiler tags were not working
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Post by hopew on May 20, 2011 9:04:39 GMT -5
Cristina/Owen: I absolutely respect every woman decision of having or not children. But this is not a hypothetical situation anymore, she does not want children, but right now she has one. And the thing is she says to Owen that she would love that child, so let me get this straight writers, Cristina wants to abort a baby because she is afraid she might love that baby, more than her career? My logical brain cannot process that. And if Cristina was so decided that she didn't want to have a child she would have taken a more drastic birth control - like tie her tube - but yet she didn't which suggests that she is not entirely sure about that.
Owen has struggled the entire day to reach to her, make her see the bigger picture, almost begged her to think about this TOGETHER and yet she went behind his back and scheduled that abortion. In that same day. She didn't take into consideration Owen's position. She simply shut down because the simple prospect of having a child still terrifies her. Because to me deep down she still wants that child. But she is so scared and freaked out that she reverts back into some old habits. She doesn't trust Owen completely, her abandonment issues are still not solved. I really don't think they'll make Cristina have another miscarriage, more probably she might keep the pregnancy and we'll see how she and Owen deal with that in S8.
The thing is the way I saw it, I think Owen was OK with the fact that he and Cristina will never have children. But now it happened, and he sees it like something that was meant to be, more than a baby, a part of him and Cristina and who they are as a couple. It became real and palpable in a way.
I understood why Owen told Cristina to get out. Ruralstar pointed out very well (though IMO I still think it's a bit OOC for Owen). As for those who ask: why didn't Owen leave the house and told Cristina to go: Look back what he said to her in the SP when he proposed, there is the answer. "I'm not going anywhere." He is in this marriage but Cristina must be too with all her heart. I also think he told her to get out because he was so hurt and angry at that moment that he was afraid he might say something to her that later he'd regret.
And one more thing, the writers conveniently forgot that Cristina has gone through a huge trauma and PTSD this half of season. Anyone who has gone through that kind of trauma is forever change and starts to see things in a bigger picture and different perspective. They simply choose to forget that for Cristina's character.
I don't know how they'll come back from this, maybe there is still a chance if Cristina keeps that baby, if she goes with the abortion, then I don't really see a way back.[spoiler/] Well, not surprisingly, Trinity and I are on the same page here about C/O: All day, Owen kept trying to get Cristina to discuss what was going on, to at least consider the possibility of having the child. I thing he WAS listening to her, for at least most of the episode. He heard her conviction that she didn't want a child; didn't want to be a mother. He tried to find her reasons so that they could really talk about it. His offer to take 6 months or a year off to care for the child was not a small thing; it was his way of doing whatever he could to ameliorate the impact of having a baby on her career. He can't offer to actually carry the child for her - - if he could have, he probably would. But basically all she says all day is "No." Almost every one of her sentences begins with "I don't want . . . " most of his sentences begin with "we". In light of that, Owen's willingness to keep trying to reach her, to continue to confirm his love for her, to remind her of her love for him, was pretty admirable, IMO.
I also agree with Trinity about Cristina's abandonment and trust issues. I read the following observation somewhere else, but I can't remember who said it and I apologize in advance for not attributing it properly. But one of the comments I read (maybe here, maybe at the YHT) pointed out that when Owen asks Cristina "Do you love me?" she immediately answers "yes." When he asks "Do you trust me?" she hesitates before responding. I think that moment, combined with Mer's usual overly dramatic voice over later, is significant. The voice over is about being alone: about choosing to be alone, about how being alone is safer than letting yourself love and risking the intense pain of losing your love. Cristina doesn't trust Owen to stay; she doesn't understand that having this baby isn't about "I" - - it's about "we." And she is so terrified of the risks that she can't even really discuss them with Owen - - she just keeps saying "no."
I'm not happy about where things are right now. For once, I was glad to have been spoiled about the ending, because I think if I had seen it cold I would have been too angry and disappointed be willing to hold on at least for a while and see what happens. ITA with Trinity that the writers have let Cristina regress, have denied her the growth that should have come from her recent life experiences, including the PTSD and her year of loving marriage with Owen. I understand Owen's anger with her at booking the abortion without involving him in the decision, but I did think kicking her out of the house was another one of the OOC moments that Shonda creates for Owen in the service of her fabricated drama. Shonda needed a mechanism for getting Cris and Mer under the same roof - with each other and without their husbands - at the end of the episode. So Owen told Cristina to "get out" so she could go where we all knew she would. BFFs forever (gag me). The only thing that makes it at all credible was the definitive angry "NO" from Cristina that immediately preceded Owen's "get out." She won't even talk to him; I can understand why the last thing he wants to do is have her anywhere near him at that moment.
The one fear I had that wasn't realized was a character assassination of Owen. I know that some of the comments "out there" are that Owen is "blackmailing" Cristina into having the baby. The haters are going to hate. But that's not what happened on the screen. I think some pains were taken to portray Owen and trying to be reasonable. He says at the end that he's kicking her out NOT because she denied him a child but because she denied him a part of the decision; because she denied him a marriage. Like many of you here, I am a liberal, pro-choice woman. I'm also happily married and childless by choice. But IMO Cristina is not handling this correctly, and for her to have an abortion under these circumstances would be wrong. Which is why I still think that Shonda will not go there. Either they will actually reach a mutual decision to terminate the pregnancy, or they will decide to have the child, or there will be some medical intervention that forces a decision (there was a lot of talk about Cristina feeling ill, but who wouldn't after that day?). OR Cristina will go ahead with an abortion on her own, but in that case this split will be permanent. There would be no coming back from that for this couple, or for me as a viewer.
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Post by hopew on May 20, 2011 9:15:56 GMT -5
And just a couple of other brief comments about the episode: 1. What does it say when the only time I felt moved to the point of tears was not when the story was focused on the core characters, but when it was focused on a group of unnamed individuals waiting to hear about a surgery on a child they had never met? The moment when the survivor's mother shows up and finds the others waiting there and what follows immediately were really moving. Teddy choosing Henry and Alex telling Lucy to go to hell instead of Africa? Not so much.
2. I think the single best line of the night went to Jackson. After that absurd conversation with Mark, when Mark "gives" Lexie to him (so glad that Lexie rightly described that as "weird and paternalistic" because it was), Jackson tells Lexie about the conversation and says to her: "I think I owe him a goat." Priceless. I agree that Jackson is kind of a boring character, but the Jackson/Lexie relationship is starting to grow on me just a little bit.
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ruralstar
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Post by ruralstar on May 20, 2011 9:51:09 GMT -5
And just a couple of other brief comments about the episode: 1. What does it say when the only time I felt moved to the point of tears was not when the story was focused on the core characters, but when it was focused on a group of unnamed individuals waiting to hear about a surgery on a child they had never met? The moment when the survivor's mother shows up and finds the others waiting there and what follows immediately were really moving. Teddy choosing Henry and Alex telling Lucy to go to hell instead of Africa? Not so much.
2. I think the single best line of the night went to Jackson. After that absurd conversation with Mark, when Mark "gives" Lexie to him (so glad that Lexie rightly described that as "weird and paternalistic" because it was), Jackson tells Lexie about the conversation and says to her: "I think I owe him a goat." Priceless. I agree that Jackson is kind of a boring character, but the Jackson/Lexie relationship is starting to grow on me just a little bit. I agree about the families of the crash victims. That was sweet and touching and one of the few totally honest scenarios we've seen all year.
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ruralstar
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Post by ruralstar on May 20, 2011 9:57:45 GMT -5
All day, Owen kept trying to get Cristina to discuss what was going on, to at least consider the possibility of having the child. I thing he WAS listening to her, for at least most of the episode. He heard her conviction that she didn't want a child; didn't want to be a mother. He tried to find her reasons so that they could really talk about it. His offer to take 6 months or a year off to care for the child was not a small thing; it was his way of doing whatever he could to ameliorate the impact of having a baby on her career. He can't offer to actually carry the child for her - - if he could have, he probably would. But basically all she says all day is "No." Almost every one of her sentences begins with "I don't want . . . " most of his sentences begin with "we". In light of that, Owen's willingness to keep trying to reach her, to continue to confirm his love for her, to remind her of her love for him, was pretty admirable, IMO.
I also agree with Trinity about Cristina's abandonment and trust issues. I read the following observation somewhere else, but I can't remember who said it and I apologize in advance for not attributing it properly. But one of the comments I read (maybe here, maybe at the YHT) pointed out that when Owen asks Cristina "Do you love me?" she immediately answers "yes." When he asks "Do you trust me?" she hesitates before responding. I think that moment, combined with Mer's usual overly dramatic voice over later, is significant. The voice over is about being alone: about choosing to be alone, about how being alone is safer than letting yourself love and risking the intense pain of losing your love. Cristina doesn't trust Owen to stay; she doesn't understand that having this baby isn't about "I" - - it's about "we." And she is so terrified of the risks that she can't even really discuss them with Owen - - she just keeps saying "no."
I'm not happy about where things are right now. For once, I was glad to have been spoiled about the ending, because I think if I had seen it cold I would have been too angry and disappointed be willing to hold on at least for a while and see what happens. ITA with Trinity that the writers have let Cristina regress, have denied her the growth that should have come from her recent life experiences, including the PTSD and her year of loving marriage with Owen. I understand Owen's anger with her at booking the abortion without involving him in the decision, but I did think kicking her out of the house was another one of the OOC moments that Shonda creates for Owen in the service of her fabricated drama. Shonda needed a mechanism for getting Cris and Mer under the same roof - with each other and without their husbands - at the end of the episode. So Owen told Cristina to "get out" so she could go where we all knew she would. BFFs forever (gag me). The only thing that makes it at all credible was the definitive angry "NO" from Cristina that immediately preceded Owen's "get out." She won't even talk to him; I can understand why the last thing he wants to do is have her anywhere near him at that moment.
The one fear I had that wasn't realized was a character assassination of Owen. I know that some of the comments "out there" are that Owen is "blackmailing" Cristina into having the baby. The haters are going to hate. But that's not what happened on the screen. I think some pains were taken to portray Owen and trying to be reasonable. He says at the end that he's kicking her out NOT because she denied him a child but because she denied him a part of the decision; because she denied him a marriage. Like many of you here, I am a liberal, pro-choice woman. I'm also happily married and childless by choice. But IMO Cristina is not handling this correctly, and for her to have an abortion under these circumstances would be wrong. Which is why I still think that Shonda will not go there. Either they will actually reach a mutual decision to terminate the pregnancy, or they will decide to have the child, or there will be some medical intervention that forces a decision (there was a lot of talk about Cristina feeling ill, but who wouldn't after that day?). OR Cristina will go ahead with an abortion on her own, but in that case this split will be permanent. There would be no coming back from that for this couple, or for me as a viewer. I saw Owen sending Cris away as completely about his feelings at the time. He felt betrayed and more than that there is the simple physicality of the situation. He did not want her anywhere near him at that moment. He hasn't thrown her out for good, merely put some distance between them before he says something he'll regret. What struck me about that particular moment was the way Kevin portrayed Owen. Gone is the hesitancy, the weakness of voice and the fidgeting that characterized all of Owen's emotional scenes for so long. Owen isn't asking Cris, he isn't uncertain due to not knowing his own feelings. He is positive about his marriage and what it means to him at least. That's why I didn't see his reaction as OOC. *shrugs*
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Post by kaz on May 20, 2011 22:44:57 GMT -5
I need to sit with this episode a little longer and view it again before I comment properly. But I will say this - I really liked it. It hurt to watch, but that's what made it so good for me. It's been a long time since anything O/C related has made me feel that way. In fact, it's probably been since season 5. Irrespective of my thoughts on the storyline, Kevin and Sandra nailed their scenes and have me hooked to see what season 8 brings.
Yes, I am an angst-whore...
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Post by hannahadsmith on May 22, 2011 11:00:38 GMT -5
One thing that stuck with me was when Owen said "because you love me" in the scene on the bench. Harking back to 7x02 when Cristina ran from her fear and out of her marriage!
I did feel that the interaction/discussion were not long enough for such a big issue, so he fully that will come in season 8!
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Post by ella1967 on May 22, 2011 11:15:08 GMT -5
One thing that stuck with me was when Owen said "because you love me" in the scene on the bench. Harking back to 7x02 when Cristina ran from her fear and out of her marriage!
I did feel that the interaction/discussion were not long enough for such a big issue, so he fully that will come in season 8! Really good catch! Love it! (And also Owen pointing out that she just might love a baby.) And we saw what the outcome of that attempt to shut down and run was for Cristina in 7.2. She decided to have faith and step into her marriage. Granted it was because Owen fought for her. Now that's the kind of lesson I want to see repeated for Cristina, that fighting for your relationship is a better risk than giving up on it and on your heart's desires.
Owen's comments in that firehouse scene, which I still can't watch all of yet, about how he's asking her to get out because she denied him a marriage, as chilling and heartbreaking as it was, echoes the shocked look on her face. I know we heard her process it only partially at Meredith's, as we did at the end of 7.16, but I do think that shot of her contemplative on Meredith's couch while her friend settles her new baby in upstairs shows Cristina's in a place she never intended to be. Hence...how do you find your way back from love once you find you like it, you need it, you build your life aroud it? Well, you fight for it, of course.
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Post by MarryMeOwen on May 23, 2011 9:13:53 GMT -5
I know some here have mentioned that Owen was kind of harsh when he told Cristina to leave, but if you remember, he did promise that he wouldn't go anywhere again and wouldn't go anywhere without her. In that respect I think he was keeping his promise in a wierd way, plus he knew she would end up at Merediths' so it wasn't like she was being kicked to the curb. Anyway just a thought.
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Post by hopew on May 23, 2011 9:32:12 GMT -5
I know some here have mentioned that Owen was kind of harsh when he told Cristina to leave, but if you remember, he did promise that he wouldn't go anywhere again and wouldn't go anywhere without her. In that respect I think he was keeping his promise in a wierd way, plus he knew she would end up at Merediths' so it wasn't like she was being kicked to the curb. Anyway just a thought. He only said it after she announced "I don't want to talk about this" and then shouted "I said NO." I've watched the scene again a couple of times, and I'm now convinced telling her to "get out" wasn't at all OOC for Owen. And you make the excellent point that he knew she would go to Meredith anyway.
Cristina's whole approach to that scene felt manipulative to me. She begins by saying "How much do you love me?" which, given what was coming, really feels like a set up. The closest she gets to an apology, or any acknowledgement of his feelings, was to say "I'm sorry if this upsets you. . ." I think Owen needed to do what he did. She really had no concept that she had crossed a line; she took him and his love for her totally for granted. Owen has always been there, has put up with snarkiness, messiness, drunken lap dances with strangers, "no sex" rules, all of it. It never occurred to her that there was anything she could do that would drive him away. Although she may have hesitated in responding when he asked "do you trust me" the fact is that she did, or at least she trusted him to put up with whatever she handed out. Even at Mer's, when she says "I'm getting an abortion and Owen kicked me out of my house" she still sounds incredulous. It's only in that last shot of her, on the couch at Mer's, that I think she is starting to understand that she has put her marriage at risk by what she has done.
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Post by MarryMeOwen on May 23, 2011 10:04:33 GMT -5
As was Meredith's whole line "The hospital gave me a baby, she's in some dead kid's porto-crib" they both sound so childish in that scene, I am sure it is SR thinking they are cute but that shot of Cristina on the couch makes me think of her as a lost little girl that finally realizes what she might be losing.
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Post by hopew on May 23, 2011 10:30:35 GMT -5
As was Meredith's whole line "The hospital gave me a baby, she's in some dead kid's porto-crib" they both sound so childish in that scene, I am sure it is SR thinking they are cute but that shot of Cristina on the couch makes me think of her as a lost little girl that finally realizes what she might be losing. Yep, ITA.
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Post by hannahadsmith on May 23, 2011 11:10:14 GMT -5
One thing I found in the interaction between Meredith and Cristina in this episode was that I felt Meredith came off as incredibly selfish and unsympathetic.
When Cristina told her she was getting an abortion and Owen had kicked her out meredith's response was to ask her to help her with her baby upstairs! Insensitive much!!!!!!
That final shot of Cristina reminded me of the scene in 7x01 and 7x03 when she is waiting for Owen (in the grip of her PTSD fear) on the couch. The final shot here was reminiscent of how she feels unsafe without him. She is again gripped by fear and that final shot shows how the realisation that he is not there is hitting her.
Th other key point from this episode was that Cristina surprisingly for me said"" if I have a baby I will love it."" The way the baby issue has been approached with her before made her seem cold towards children and not maternal. This was turned on it's head in these lines, so the key question for both Owen and the viewers for season 8 is WHY does Cristina not want to be a mother?
A question probably best debated in the season 8 thread?xxxx
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Post by MarryMeOwen on May 23, 2011 11:43:05 GMT -5
Well the question of "Why does Cristina not want to be a mother?" is simple, she had a horrible experience with her own mother. After her father died and her mother raised her, she never got over that. I think she is worried that if something happens to Owen and she has to raise a child alone, she will be as bad a mother as her own mother was, or as Ellis was to Meredith.
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