grey's - stairway to heaven
Oh my goodness, you guys. Basically, Mer breaks my heart. A lot.
That was actually pretty mind-blowing and great. First of all, the opening? Very, very well done. The last time an intro gave me chills like that was the second half of the season two finale when it opened right after Burke got shot. But this? It might’ve been even better than that. The shots of SK banging his brain against the bed with all the blood dripping down intercut with shots of Meredith just sitting there waiting? Fantastic stuff, you guys. Fanfreakingtastic. I’m all flaily and full of awe here. Show, this is how you’re amazing. Even the stuff with Izzie and Denny worked well in the opening. If Denny has to be around, I definitely prefer him as a creepy haunting presence. It’s much better than the smitten idiot making cow eyes at Izzie we’ve had up ‘til now.
Speaking of the Izzie/Denny stuff… Well, at least we’re finally getting to the point of the story. I think this has been the slowest moving storyline in the entire history of slow moving storylines. I could've done without the excessive use of the heaven/hell parallels. And I still say that the whole Denny as a convenient, ghostlike brain condition who will romance you, haunt you and disappear with a kiss all for the low, low price of your sanity is nothing more than a cheap plot device used by Shonda to get naked Denny on TV, but…at least it looks like he’s gone now? Knowing the unhealthy strength of Shonda’s Denny love, I’m sure he’ll be back again this season, but maybe we’ll at least get a breather? At any rate, as crappy as this whole storyline has been, KH still knocked it out of the freaking park tonight. Girl can act. She was amazing as tortured, crazy sick Izzie. And, you know, not gonna lie here. There was definitely something therapeutic about getting to see her slap, shove AND curse at Denny. We got a whole trifecta of abuse, and IT WAS FABULOUS. Of course they then had to go and ruin it with a goodbye kiss. (Show, if you were so determined to have them kiss goodbye, couldn’t you at least have had Alex walk out and catch his girlfriend tonguing the air? Hee. I would’ve loved that a lot. Seriously though, I was a little upset that Alex gave her a scolding about talking to Denny instead of showing some concern over her behavior because she was operating at a VERY HIGH LEVEL OF CRAZY pretty much all night long.)
Now I know I complain about Mark/Lexie every week, but…um, I don’t like them every week? As soon as I do, I’ll say something nice. But, a broken penis storyline? Seriously? I know this was meant to be the funny, lighthearted piece amidst the sea of angsty, angsty angst that was tonight’s eppy, but I found it more cringe-worthy than funny. Show, you’ve already done the broken penis storyline. With Mer, Der and Steve, remember? It was much funnier then. You’ve also done the fellow interns overhear them having sex storyline with Mer and Der. Also, in that vein, Mark sneaking out of the house last week was remarkably similar to Derek sneaking out of the house way back when in season one. What gives, Show? Are you trying to make them echo MerDer? (I hope not as they will never measure up.) Or are you just lazy when it comes to storylines for Mark/Lexie? Also? Why were all the interns assuming that the broken penis meant the sex was great? (And why oh why did we have to hear them speak? NEW RULE. INTERNS SHOULD BE SEEN, NOT HEARD.) Seriously though, sex resulting in a penile injury severe enough to require immediate surgery strikes me as really tragic and unfortunate, and not the “hot, hot, hot sign me up for some of that” that random black intern seemed to think it was.
Also? The I WILL NOW GET IN BED WITH YOU AND STROKE YOUR HAIR!!! moment at the end did nothing for me. Show, if you insist on continuing with this pairing, can you at least take it back to the Mark and Lexie of the periodic table of elements? They were hot together. But the whole sweetly innocent (yet wild and crazy enough to break the baguette!) Lexie cuddles poor, injured Mark the Manwhore angle is doing nothing for me. Nothing.
Anyway, now that I got that out of the way, it’s on to things I loved. And oh, Show. I loved a lot. I really, really did. First of all, could Derek be a better boyfriend? (It’s a definite sign I watched too many Friends episodes as a kid that I automatically flashed back to Chandler while typing that.) It’s just… THIS GUY. Cristina has been horrible to him throughout the course of the show. Really and truly awful. To his face. On multiple occasions. And yet, he’s just putting it all to the side for Mer’s sake. Pretty much I’m ridiculously proud of him. First with the being so giddy over the ring and wanting Cristina’s opinion on the setting. And then telling her that Mer misses her a lot, and she’s gonna need someone to freak out to when he proposes. OH, DER. LOOK AT YOU UNDERSTANDING YOUR GIRLFRIEND. YOU’RE LOVELY TONIGHT.
Also, how adorable was Derek in that first scene with Mer? That grin on his face. Made me want to kiss him like whoa. And poor Mer with her guilty, guilty face. I do wish she’d told him the truth when he asked about SK, but since she couldn’t/wouldn’t, I loved how Ellen played up the guilt Mer was feeling over lying to him like that. (You guys, can we get Ellen an Emmy already? She’s more than earned it with this arc alone.) And yeah, Meredith and the SK. I got a very, very bad, chilling, creeped out feeling the moment he asked Meredith if Dr. Shepherd was her boyfriend. Ugh, that wretched man. He was absolutely getting off on messing with Meredith and watching her suffer.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of SK’s intentions with regards to Mer. I definitely think screwing with her was a part of it. We know he was attracted to Mer, and I’d find it very easy to believe that the women he murdered were all ones he desired. Maybe this was as close as he could get to slitting her throat while changed to his bed? On the other hand, that execution scene was incredibly hard to watch. I can buy that there was a bit of fear in what he did too. It seemed less scary to die in the hospital than chained down to a table in the prison, but in the end he couldn’t go through with it because he didn’t want to die. Basically what Meredith said to him. (Oh, Mer. You are so, so lovely. Your empathy is breaking my heart. You really are allowed to hate someone at some point.) And I did end up feeling some sympathy while I was watching SK be put to death. I had to actively keep reminding myself that he’d slaughtered five women and then went on to fuck with Meredith too. Oh, Show. This was intense. I love it when you make me all conflicted inside. Be awesome like this more, k?
What else, what else? Ooh…the surgery stuff. I loved that MerDer scene right before they took SK to the OR. I’m so proud of them for fighting like that and not having it lead to angsty, contrived break-up number forty-three. I’m especially proud of Meredith though. She usually just stands there and takes it when Derek gets all in her face and shouty, and it was so nice to see that not happen this time. She thought that she was right, and she told him. You guys, THEY COMMUNICATED. (More than once tonight, but we’ll get there in a little bit.) Even if it was angry communication, they still both said their thoughts. To each other. At the same time. And it was GLORIOUS. At this point, MerDer communication ranks right up there with MerDer sex in terms of increasing my happiness. (MerDer? To make me extra proud? How ‘bout you do both at the same time next eppy, k? There’d be gold stars all around. And, you know, nobody would break anybody’s baguette. Just saying…)
But yeah, that surgical standoff with Bailey. Honestly, she’s seemed a bit over the top to me this whole arc. I haven’t really bought her intense emotional attachment to Jackson. The kid’s very sweet and it’s very sad that he was going to die, but just… Seriously, Bailey? Those were Izzie at LVAD-gate levels of craziness and emotional instability you reached tonight. It doesn’t look so good on you. Maybe if they’d spent more time showing the connection between Bailey, Jackson and Melinda, I would’ve found her reaction more believable. But this new Bailey just felt weird to me. At any rate, now that Jackson’s okay, hopefully she can get back to being normal, kickass Bailey straight away.
Although, um… *tiny voice* There’s a (small, dark) part of me that thinks the show would’ve been better if the boy had died. It felt too convenient that they had a THIRD set of organs ready and waiting for him in the hospital. And Bailey’s decision to have Derek save the murderer has much more impact when there are no magical matching organs waiting in the wings. When doing what is legally right actually causes a child to die. This would’ve been so dark and painful and morally gray, and I would’ve loved it through all my tears. Seriously, I was about three seconds away from a good cry when the Chief came gallivanting in to interrupt Melinda saying goodbye to her son. Oh well. I guess it would’ve been too dark for primetime. And they had to find a way to work in George’s requisite two scenes per eppy. (Hey, George!)
Ooh, the Cristina and Owen stuff continues to be nice. I’m liking these two together lots. He’s something of an emotional basket case, but at least they’re acknowledging his PTSD, which is more than they ever did for poor S3 Derek. I’m not sure how I feel about the Cris/Mer stuff. I adore Derek for doing what he did, getting Cris for Meredith when she wouldn’t stop crying. He wins the selfless, perfect boyfriend award tonight, hands down. And that concerned!face he was sporting at Cristina’s. Oh my goodness. Derek, Derek, Derek. Look at you becoming all McDreamy again. It’s about time. But, at the same time, I also kinda hated the Mer/Cris scene a little because…come on, Show! Let Derek make it better. I want HIM to be able to understand Mer’s special brand of dark and twisty and not need to rush Cristina in to save the day. Let him be the one who knows the right thing to say to her for a change.
It was nice to see how immediately Cristina was there for Meredith when she really needed her though. I just hope that, now that the friendship has been fixed, they don’t go right back to being dysfunctionaly co-dependent BFFs. I don’t think they will, but at the same time, they still haven’t talked about what was wrong with their friendship. Basically, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will see progress. And a Cristina updates Mer on the new emo boy in town scene. And a Cristina is supportive of MerDer scene. Or ten. She owes him bigtime for how nice he’s been, and I really do think she’s coming around to the idea of MerDer. There’s just no way she can still think he’s bad for Mer after last night, and well, there was a teensy tiny smile on her face when Derek was showing her the ring. Oh, I saw it, Cristina! You can’t pretend it wasn’t there. McDreamy’s getting to you too.
Also, just…Meredith and Derek. You guys, they were so, so wonderful tonight. That scene at the end outside the prison. I do not have words. Just excessive flailyness. And also capslocks. Because Derek was there WAITING FOR HER. And Meredith had this sad, sad trembling face with tears in her eyes and her voice and just…AMAZINGNESS, PRETTY MUCH. AMAZINGNESS ALL AROUND.
Meredith wanted so badly to give SK some form of redemption because she believes so deeply in redemption herself, in second and third and fourth chances for everyone. She needs to see the good through the bad because I think that’s how she sees herself and her mother. She’s empathetic to a fault. Always has been. And so she went to the execution to be compassionate for him, but it didn’t work this time. It was awful. Because that man has done monstrous things, and he’s been manipulating her since the moment he met her. And just…how is she supposed to know if what she gave him was a moment of compassion in his final hour or just one last chance for him to fuck with her head? I don’t think she has a clue which one it was for him. That man got her to lie to boyfriend, to betray the man she loves, and yet she still finds herself at his execution, trying to be kind and compassionate and good to him. I love how completely confused and upset with herself she was after that.
And just… This couple. She told Derek how she felt. She told him WITH COMMUNICATION. Like a grown-up adult person. And he didn’t hold it against her or hate her or make her feel any worse than she already did. He was just there for her unconditionally. Like another grown-up adult person. It was pretty effing beautiful. They have grown so much. I’m so, so proud of my ship tonight.
So, to sum up, Show? I’m making it official. I love you again. A lot. Please be like this more, k? ALL THE TIME. FOREVER.
That was actually pretty mind-blowing and great. First of all, the opening? Very, very well done. The last time an intro gave me chills like that was the second half of the season two finale when it opened right after Burke got shot. But this? It might’ve been even better than that. The shots of SK banging his brain against the bed with all the blood dripping down intercut with shots of Meredith just sitting there waiting? Fantastic stuff, you guys. Fanfreakingtastic. I’m all flaily and full of awe here. Show, this is how you’re amazing. Even the stuff with Izzie and Denny worked well in the opening. If Denny has to be around, I definitely prefer him as a creepy haunting presence. It’s much better than the smitten idiot making cow eyes at Izzie we’ve had up ‘til now.
Speaking of the Izzie/Denny stuff… Well, at least we’re finally getting to the point of the story. I think this has been the slowest moving storyline in the entire history of slow moving storylines. I could've done without the excessive use of the heaven/hell parallels. And I still say that the whole Denny as a convenient, ghostlike brain condition who will romance you, haunt you and disappear with a kiss all for the low, low price of your sanity is nothing more than a cheap plot device used by Shonda to get naked Denny on TV, but…at least it looks like he’s gone now? Knowing the unhealthy strength of Shonda’s Denny love, I’m sure he’ll be back again this season, but maybe we’ll at least get a breather? At any rate, as crappy as this whole storyline has been, KH still knocked it out of the freaking park tonight. Girl can act. She was amazing as tortured, crazy sick Izzie. And, you know, not gonna lie here. There was definitely something therapeutic about getting to see her slap, shove AND curse at Denny. We got a whole trifecta of abuse, and IT WAS FABULOUS. Of course they then had to go and ruin it with a goodbye kiss. (Show, if you were so determined to have them kiss goodbye, couldn’t you at least have had Alex walk out and catch his girlfriend tonguing the air? Hee. I would’ve loved that a lot. Seriously though, I was a little upset that Alex gave her a scolding about talking to Denny instead of showing some concern over her behavior because she was operating at a VERY HIGH LEVEL OF CRAZY pretty much all night long.)
Now I know I complain about Mark/Lexie every week, but…um, I don’t like them every week? As soon as I do, I’ll say something nice. But, a broken penis storyline? Seriously? I know this was meant to be the funny, lighthearted piece amidst the sea of angsty, angsty angst that was tonight’s eppy, but I found it more cringe-worthy than funny. Show, you’ve already done the broken penis storyline. With Mer, Der and Steve, remember? It was much funnier then. You’ve also done the fellow interns overhear them having sex storyline with Mer and Der. Also, in that vein, Mark sneaking out of the house last week was remarkably similar to Derek sneaking out of the house way back when in season one. What gives, Show? Are you trying to make them echo MerDer? (I hope not as they will never measure up.) Or are you just lazy when it comes to storylines for Mark/Lexie? Also? Why were all the interns assuming that the broken penis meant the sex was great? (And why oh why did we have to hear them speak? NEW RULE. INTERNS SHOULD BE SEEN, NOT HEARD.) Seriously though, sex resulting in a penile injury severe enough to require immediate surgery strikes me as really tragic and unfortunate, and not the “hot, hot, hot sign me up for some of that” that random black intern seemed to think it was.
Also? The I WILL NOW GET IN BED WITH YOU AND STROKE YOUR HAIR!!! moment at the end did nothing for me. Show, if you insist on continuing with this pairing, can you at least take it back to the Mark and Lexie of the periodic table of elements? They were hot together. But the whole sweetly innocent (yet wild and crazy enough to break the baguette!) Lexie cuddles poor, injured Mark the Manwhore angle is doing nothing for me. Nothing.
Anyway, now that I got that out of the way, it’s on to things I loved. And oh, Show. I loved a lot. I really, really did. First of all, could Derek be a better boyfriend? (It’s a definite sign I watched too many Friends episodes as a kid that I automatically flashed back to Chandler while typing that.) It’s just… THIS GUY. Cristina has been horrible to him throughout the course of the show. Really and truly awful. To his face. On multiple occasions. And yet, he’s just putting it all to the side for Mer’s sake. Pretty much I’m ridiculously proud of him. First with the being so giddy over the ring and wanting Cristina’s opinion on the setting. And then telling her that Mer misses her a lot, and she’s gonna need someone to freak out to when he proposes. OH, DER. LOOK AT YOU UNDERSTANDING YOUR GIRLFRIEND. YOU’RE LOVELY TONIGHT.
Also, how adorable was Derek in that first scene with Mer? That grin on his face. Made me want to kiss him like whoa. And poor Mer with her guilty, guilty face. I do wish she’d told him the truth when he asked about SK, but since she couldn’t/wouldn’t, I loved how Ellen played up the guilt Mer was feeling over lying to him like that. (You guys, can we get Ellen an Emmy already? She’s more than earned it with this arc alone.) And yeah, Meredith and the SK. I got a very, very bad, chilling, creeped out feeling the moment he asked Meredith if Dr. Shepherd was her boyfriend. Ugh, that wretched man. He was absolutely getting off on messing with Meredith and watching her suffer.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of SK’s intentions with regards to Mer. I definitely think screwing with her was a part of it. We know he was attracted to Mer, and I’d find it very easy to believe that the women he murdered were all ones he desired. Maybe this was as close as he could get to slitting her throat while changed to his bed? On the other hand, that execution scene was incredibly hard to watch. I can buy that there was a bit of fear in what he did too. It seemed less scary to die in the hospital than chained down to a table in the prison, but in the end he couldn’t go through with it because he didn’t want to die. Basically what Meredith said to him. (Oh, Mer. You are so, so lovely. Your empathy is breaking my heart. You really are allowed to hate someone at some point.) And I did end up feeling some sympathy while I was watching SK be put to death. I had to actively keep reminding myself that he’d slaughtered five women and then went on to fuck with Meredith too. Oh, Show. This was intense. I love it when you make me all conflicted inside. Be awesome like this more, k?
What else, what else? Ooh…the surgery stuff. I loved that MerDer scene right before they took SK to the OR. I’m so proud of them for fighting like that and not having it lead to angsty, contrived break-up number forty-three. I’m especially proud of Meredith though. She usually just stands there and takes it when Derek gets all in her face and shouty, and it was so nice to see that not happen this time. She thought that she was right, and she told him. You guys, THEY COMMUNICATED. (More than once tonight, but we’ll get there in a little bit.) Even if it was angry communication, they still both said their thoughts. To each other. At the same time. And it was GLORIOUS. At this point, MerDer communication ranks right up there with MerDer sex in terms of increasing my happiness. (MerDer? To make me extra proud? How ‘bout you do both at the same time next eppy, k? There’d be gold stars all around. And, you know, nobody would break anybody’s baguette. Just saying…)
But yeah, that surgical standoff with Bailey. Honestly, she’s seemed a bit over the top to me this whole arc. I haven’t really bought her intense emotional attachment to Jackson. The kid’s very sweet and it’s very sad that he was going to die, but just… Seriously, Bailey? Those were Izzie at LVAD-gate levels of craziness and emotional instability you reached tonight. It doesn’t look so good on you. Maybe if they’d spent more time showing the connection between Bailey, Jackson and Melinda, I would’ve found her reaction more believable. But this new Bailey just felt weird to me. At any rate, now that Jackson’s okay, hopefully she can get back to being normal, kickass Bailey straight away.
Although, um… *tiny voice* There’s a (small, dark) part of me that thinks the show would’ve been better if the boy had died. It felt too convenient that they had a THIRD set of organs ready and waiting for him in the hospital. And Bailey’s decision to have Derek save the murderer has much more impact when there are no magical matching organs waiting in the wings. When doing what is legally right actually causes a child to die. This would’ve been so dark and painful and morally gray, and I would’ve loved it through all my tears. Seriously, I was about three seconds away from a good cry when the Chief came gallivanting in to interrupt Melinda saying goodbye to her son. Oh well. I guess it would’ve been too dark for primetime. And they had to find a way to work in George’s requisite two scenes per eppy. (Hey, George!)
Ooh, the Cristina and Owen stuff continues to be nice. I’m liking these two together lots. He’s something of an emotional basket case, but at least they’re acknowledging his PTSD, which is more than they ever did for poor S3 Derek. I’m not sure how I feel about the Cris/Mer stuff. I adore Derek for doing what he did, getting Cris for Meredith when she wouldn’t stop crying. He wins the selfless, perfect boyfriend award tonight, hands down. And that concerned!face he was sporting at Cristina’s. Oh my goodness. Derek, Derek, Derek. Look at you becoming all McDreamy again. It’s about time. But, at the same time, I also kinda hated the Mer/Cris scene a little because…come on, Show! Let Derek make it better. I want HIM to be able to understand Mer’s special brand of dark and twisty and not need to rush Cristina in to save the day. Let him be the one who knows the right thing to say to her for a change.
It was nice to see how immediately Cristina was there for Meredith when she really needed her though. I just hope that, now that the friendship has been fixed, they don’t go right back to being dysfunctionaly co-dependent BFFs. I don’t think they will, but at the same time, they still haven’t talked about what was wrong with their friendship. Basically, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we will see progress. And a Cristina updates Mer on the new emo boy in town scene. And a Cristina is supportive of MerDer scene. Or ten. She owes him bigtime for how nice he’s been, and I really do think she’s coming around to the idea of MerDer. There’s just no way she can still think he’s bad for Mer after last night, and well, there was a teensy tiny smile on her face when Derek was showing her the ring. Oh, I saw it, Cristina! You can’t pretend it wasn’t there. McDreamy’s getting to you too.
Also, just…Meredith and Derek. You guys, they were so, so wonderful tonight. That scene at the end outside the prison. I do not have words. Just excessive flailyness. And also capslocks. Because Derek was there WAITING FOR HER. And Meredith had this sad, sad trembling face with tears in her eyes and her voice and just…AMAZINGNESS, PRETTY MUCH. AMAZINGNESS ALL AROUND.
Meredith wanted so badly to give SK some form of redemption because she believes so deeply in redemption herself, in second and third and fourth chances for everyone. She needs to see the good through the bad because I think that’s how she sees herself and her mother. She’s empathetic to a fault. Always has been. And so she went to the execution to be compassionate for him, but it didn’t work this time. It was awful. Because that man has done monstrous things, and he’s been manipulating her since the moment he met her. And just…how is she supposed to know if what she gave him was a moment of compassion in his final hour or just one last chance for him to fuck with her head? I don’t think she has a clue which one it was for him. That man got her to lie to boyfriend, to betray the man she loves, and yet she still finds herself at his execution, trying to be kind and compassionate and good to him. I love how completely confused and upset with herself she was after that.
And just… This couple. She told Derek how she felt. She told him WITH COMMUNICATION. Like a grown-up adult person. And he didn’t hold it against her or hate her or make her feel any worse than she already did. He was just there for her unconditionally. Like another grown-up adult person. It was pretty effing beautiful. They have grown so much. I’m so, so proud of my ship tonight.
So, to sum up, Show? I’m making it official. I love you again. A lot. Please be like this more, k? ALL THE TIME. FOREVER.