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Pete Nowalk, the head writer on "Give Peace a Chance," shared some thoughts on last night's terrific episode of Grey's Anatomy on the show's official writers' blog.

Below are some excerpts from Pete's column, with a link at the bottom to the full entry ...

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Do surgeons really wear diapers? Well, depends who you ask.

Either way, it wasn’t that big of a leap for us to go diaper. Our doctors are hard core by nature. Combine that with the threat they're feeling from the Mercy West residents and you can understand while they'll do anything to win.

As Lexie tells Jackson, if she needs to pee in a diaper to help Derek get through his impossible surgery, she'll pee in a diaper. Which of course just drove Cristina crazy jealous.

Cristina was a shoe-in to win that pen-in-a-cup contest...but then she choked. Happens to the best of us. That left Owen having to cope with the fact that his girlfriend was fiending to put on a diaper. Admittedly, it's not the sexiest thing to picture.

But I think it speaks to Owen's overall good nature that he found a way to be okay with it, even gifting Cristina her very own marathon surgery to cheer her up.

And then, when Derek thwarted that plan, he went as far as to sexily teach Cristina the right way to work the microscope. You gotta admit, the dude's a pretty awesome boyfriend.

Speaking of awesome boyfriend...  I'm sorry, I mean awesome husband...

Derek Shepherd.

This episode felt different. As you've probably noticed, we’re trying to experiment more this season. And that’s probably uncomfortable for some of you. It was for me.

Derek gets some encouragement from his doctor, Lexie Grey.

In retrospect I’m really glad we told this story this way. As Derek says in the voiceover, what drew him to surgery was the quiet. The deep, intense, long-ass focus it requires.

And this episode really reflects that. It’s quieter than a typical episode. More single-minded. Derek is our sole focus. And really, what an amazing character to spend an episode with.

Watch Patrick Dempsey on your screen and you can’t help but be struck by how much he says without saying anything. The guy can pretty much give you an entire soliloquy with one look.

That’s a rare talent, and we really wanted to use that to our advantage.

It also seemed like the perfect time to do our Derek-focused episode since we had little time to shoot with Ellen Pompeo (8 1/2 months pregnant at the time we shot this one).

Typically, if Derek's doing a once-in-a-lifetime surgery, Meredith would be at his side. But since we couldn't physically do that, we had her be there for him in a different way.

There's still no sign of Izzie. She's still god knows where and not telling Alex squat. Which is just harsh. Sure, the guy tried to pretend that he didn’t care whether she’d show up for her IL-2 treatment, but we all know that's just his way of coping.

Who doesn’t show up for their life-saving IL-2 treatment?

Last but not least, I'd like to applaud Chandra Wilson. She acts, she sings, and now she directs... and sometimes all at the same time. I have a feeling Chandra’s the kind of person that’s good at everything she does. You know the type from high school.

Follow the link for the entirety of Pete's blog ...

Mark Wilding, the head writer on "Invasion," has a lot of explaining to do.

Where the heck did Izzie go? Will she be coming back? And what is with these people coming in and tearing down the foundation of the Seattle Grace we know and love?

Below are some excerpts from Mark's column, with a link at the bottom to her full entry. It's always interesting to get a fresh take from the people who put it together:

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Izzie is gone. Fired by the Chief who, these days, is looking an excuse to fire ANYONE. Maybe she went back home. Or to visit some friends. Or just took off for points unknown.

But yes, Izzie Stevens, third year resident and surgical rising star, no longer works at Seattle Grace/Mercy West. The hospital, new name and all, is in her rear view mirror.

George’s death, her stage four cancer, coming back to work too soon – it all proved too much – and now she’s off to God knows where. More on Izzie and broken-hearted Alex later.

Reed, Charles, April and Jackson. The Mercy West crowd. Just as insecure and uncertain about their new situation as our people. And our residents are understandably nervous because, like invaders of any kind, these MW guys are a threat. They’re smart, they fight dirty.

The new actors – their real names are Nora, Robert, Jesse and Sarah - were a blast to work with. I probably should have known all their credits and what shows they’ve been on before we started shooting but I didn’t. And none of that mattered because they were all so strong.

Lexie and April. We got to see a new side of Lexie Grey. One who can fight dirty and be a mean if she had to be. That is until the passive-aggressive April herself is undone when she finds out Lexie has read her notebook with all her little self-help homilies. 

Izzie was looking over her shoulder from the get-go.

Charles and Izzie. Izzie thinks she’s found someone who maybe just maybe, reminds her a little of George. And it goes to Izzie’s trusting instincts and her need to fill the void left by George that she quickly gloms onto a sympathetic soul like Charles.

But, as the Chief tells her later, it’s a different era. The old rules don’t apply – be it with friendships or with jobs. A lesson that Izzie learns not just once in this episode, but twice.

Jackson and Cristina. I especially loved Cristina Yang finally deciding to hold up the white flag of surrender. Throwing in the surgical towel. And as for Sandra Oh - in the scene when she’s crying with Meredith (and pining for Burke), well, my God, she was superb.

Alex and Reed. Reed is not a big person. Still, as Alex finds out, she can flat out play this game. As much as I loved their competitive dynamic, each trying to outmaneuver the other one, I also liked showing our doctors as less than compassionate with a patient.

Back to Izzie. When you tell the Chief of Surgery that you NEED this job, that you’ve got nothing else in your life, DESPITE the fact you’re married, you are in a very bad state indeed.

I understand the part about sneaking off without telling anyone after you’ve been fired but to just leave your husband a note – that’s absolutely brutal. No wonder Alex has issues.

Finally, I want to talk about Callie and Arizona. It was Hector Elizondo’s idea to use the cards. He didn’t think his character would know that stuff of the top of his head, which is how I originally wrote it. And he was right. And it worked beautifully.

And that final scene when he and Callie are outside the hospital and he’s asking her if she’ll still get married, still have kids. I really, really liked that scene. 

Follow the link for the entirety of Mark's blog ...

Joan Rater, who wrote "I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me," tells us a bit about how last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy came together on the writers' blog.

Below are some excerpts from Joan's column, with a link at the bottom to her full entry. It's always interesting to get a fresh take from the people who put it together:

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After Richard dropped the bomb that the hospital would be merging with Mercy West, we knew that this episode would have to deal with people’s paranoia. Because merger means change.

Change means fear. And the worst kind of fear is the kind that lives in your head.

The dark thoughts. The paranoia.

The worst case scenarios you play out that usually don’t come true. And with Richard holing himself up inside his office, it’s just a breeding ground for rumor, fear and paranoia.

When we started talking about this episode, the theme of paranoia emerged quickly.

Right away I thought of doing a story about a paranoid schizophrenic. So we knew what our main medical story was going to be and we decided that we wanted everyone in the hospital, the doctors, nurses, techs, everyone, to be scared. Scared to give up any edge. Just scared.

Izzie’s story was inspired by my friend Lynn, who has cancer and runs her own company.

A big concern for her is making sure her employees have confidence in her and don’t see her as sick or weak. She told me that that went into her decision to get a really good wig which looks exactly like her hair did before chemo. It’s to put her clients and employees at ease.

I love that scene where Alex brings Izzie her pill and a banana and water. Izzie wants to think she's fine, and doesn’t want Alex to hover, but he can’t help it. He loves her and that’s what you do for someone you love, especially when they’re trying to pretend they’re fine.

And I love it when he tells her at the end that she can’t pretend she isn’t sick, that she needs to take responsibility for her illness and he can’t be her nurse.

I loved the scene where Owen, Derek and Mark take Cristina, Meredith and Lexie to the baseball field. This is one of the first times Owen has seen Cristina’s intensity. And I love that he finally makes her leave the hospital, focus on something else.

That’s why he’s so good for her.

Follow the link for the entirety of Joan's blog ...

"Good Mourning" and "Goodbye" made for a powerful re-entry into the Grey's Anatomy universe last night. For a unique take on the episode from the woman who brought it all to life, we've posted some excerpts from the show's official writers blog below.

Here's what executive producer Krista Vernoff, who's responsible for the episodes we watched last night, had to say about them. Specifically, what she thinks about ...

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George: I think the reason I don’t want to spend any time writing about these episodes is not just that I’m lazy but that it makes me sad. Watching them made me sad, writing them made me sad and now writing about them will make me sad because, as Cristina finally acknowledges 40 days after the event, “George O’Malley died." It’s heartbreaking.

I fell in love with George, like many of you did, Season One.

The first episode of Grey’s Anatomy that I got to write was the one where George is kind to Annie, the lady with the 60 lb tumor. In an attempt to comfort her about her procrastination in seeing a doctor, George talks to her about his love for Meredith and how he has yet to confess it.

And Annie says something like, “Seriously? You’re equating your love life with my record-breaking tumor?? Seriously??” I loved George O'Malley because he was doing that; because his love for Meredith was as big as that tumor; because, like Izzie, George led with his heart.   

The funeral scene: I have to admit that this is one of my very favorite scenes ever ... they came together fresh-faced kids and now one of them has cancer and one of them is dead and damn, life is freakin’ like that, y’know? Growing up is crazy hard.

Friends get sick and friends die and marriages begin and end. It’s so complicated and so beautiful and so painful and the best any of us can hope for, I think, is to have friends who will stick by us and laugh with us and cry with us and just be with us through it all.

Callie: Sara was so beautiful in every frame of these episodes. She always drops my jaw – but when she’s wailing to Mark, “... and Arizona keeps bringing me doooooooonuts,” I just loved her even more. And as for Callie, here’s the big question:

If faced with having to decide what to do with your brain-dead ex-husband’s organs, would you rise above and turn to his ex-mistress for help?

Derek and the Chief: This is a thing that won’t be going away any time soon. Derek was pretty freakin’ noble. So noble! Cause you KNOW how much he wants that job. It was a promise of the Chiefdom that brought him to Seattle from NYC to begin with. Okay, that and his love for ferry boats. Oh, and the Mark/Addison messiness but y’know, mostly, it was becoming Chief.

And right here, the job was his for the taking. And out of loyalty and friendship, he went to the Chief and warned him. So what is up with the Chief that in response, he completely shut Derek out? Pride. He’s all proud and hurt and threatened. Really, really threatened.

And people are flawed. Even the Chief, whom I adore, is deeply flawed.  

Cristina, Owen and Dr. Wyatt: How brilliant are the actors in that scene???? Seriously – how freakin’ good are all three of them? If I could hand some kind of award to Kevin McKidd and Sandra Oh and Amy Madigan today, I would. Y’know what? I just might.

When I was nominated for an Emmy and didn’t win, my best friends made me an Emmy out of tinfoil. I might do something like that – that’s how good they all are. Here’s what you don’t know ... I handed them that scene 20 MINUTES BEFORE CAMERAS ROLLED. Swear to God.

The scene was totally different. It was a funny scene until the last minute.

I had been desperate to find humor anywhere I could in these two hours and because Sandra is a pretty reliable source for comedy, I had leaned on the funny. And I got a call from the set after they rehearsed the scene. Sandra and Kevin had smart questions – and what became crystal clear to me instantly is that this storyline could not be resolved in a humorous way.

It had earned weight. Indeed, it required weight.

Follow the link for the entirety of Krista's blog ...

Below is Shonda Rhimes' blog about "What a Difference a Day Makes," Thursday night's terrific episode of Grey's Anatomy. Here's what the show's creator and executive producer had to say about the events of that night and the 100th episode milestone ...

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Okay. So... 100. 100 episodes. Which means I was so tired last night that I forgot to blog. But I’m blogging now. I’m here now.

First, a warning: this is our last blog of the season. It’s also our last podcast and today will be my last tweets of the season.

We’re going dark, people.

Why? Because next week’s episodes (two in one night) are so explosive and cliff-hanger-y that we, the writers, have all agreed that we can’t even talk about them. For fear of giving anything away. We honestly can’t say a word. But know that we are proud.

Of the episodes. And of you.

For sticking with us. For 100 plus episodes. For going through the good and the bad. For having faith in us. And in our characters. We thank you and we appreciate it. There are not words to express how much we appreciate it.

So this is the last you will hear from us until next season.

What can I say about the 100th? Well, there was a wedding. Which made some of you cry and made some you mad. There was Denny. Which made some of you cry and some of you mad.

But mostly, there was a point. I had a point!

That happy woman you saw? Doing her solo surgery and smiling at the Chief?  The one giving her wedding away with warmth and joy? THAT WAS THE SAME WOMAN WHO TRIED TO DROWN HERSELF. That was our dark and twisty girl. All grown up. Whole. Healed. FOR REAL.

It was a day I never thought we’d see (well, I did think it but... hell, you know what I mean). For once, Mer is the calm one. The happy one. The one who is fine.

For once, Mer is whole and healed and happy.

She doesn’t have a problem ... well, other than the Chief peeking over her shoulder during her solo surgery. She is excited about her marriage. She is calm. She doesn’t need her eyebrows shaved off to be numbed into the submission of marriage. She is fine.

Continue Reading...

Episode #99 is in the books. What did you think?

Grey's Anatomy continued building toward its life-changing Season 5 finale last night with a powerful new episode, "No Good at Saying Sorry." How did it rate in your mind?

We put together a survey to gauge reactions, as we've been doing each Friday after new episodes on the Insider, to see how recent Grey's Anatomy episodes are received.

Tell us in the poll below how good you thought last night's was ...

I thought "No Good at Saying Sorry" was ...

The award-winning Grey's Anatomy writer and producer who authored last night's episode, Krista Vernoff, has posted some of her impressions on the terrific "No Good at Saying Sorry (One More Chance)" on the show's official writers' blog.

Here's an excerpt about the relationship between Meredith and Richard, with reactions from the writer herself, and a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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I LOVE what Richard says to Meredith. I wrote it, so, y’know, I should love it – but I don’t always love everything I write – and man, do I LOVE that scene.

I sat on set while the brilliant Tom Verica shot that scene and while the luminous Ellen Pompeo and the wonderful Jim Pickens acted it. And I cried.

Every take. I just sat there crying take after take after take. 

I cried for Meredith Grey, mostly, because finally, FINALLY one of the adults in her life is taking responsibility for what happened to her.

Finally, she’s hearing the words that she needed and didn’t even know she needed. People have tried to apologize before.

Thatcher has tried. Richard has even tried. And it’s not that Meredith is hard-hearted. It’s not that she can’t forgive. It’s just that no one ever got it right before. She was a baby.

She was a little kid. She couldn’t stand up for herself.

And here were all these adults running around acting like children and failing, every day, to fight for her. She was neglected and she was abused.

Her mother, for those who may have forgotten, attempted suicide IN FRONT OF HER. This was an emotionally unstable woman, Ellis Grey. 

Richard saw that – and he did nothing. And Thatcher, her freaking FATHER, who not only saw it, he lived it WITH HER, did less than nothing. 

To make an amends is not  just to apologize. It’s to make a thing right. And Thatcher’s little scripted apology can’t do that for Meredith. It can’t make it right. Her pain runs too deep. Her abandonment was too complete.

And so when Richard finally truly takes responsibility?

It breaks down a wall in Meredith’s heart that I truly believe she didn’t even know was there. I think she’s as shocked by her tears as anyone.

And I think there is real and profound healing in that moment.

Continue reading Krista's blog here ...

Well?

Grey's Anatomy returned last night with a new episode, "Sweet Surrender," which continued some of the stories that have been building for some time, while setting into motion some additional plots that the show will carry through its May 14 season finale.

We put together a survey to gauge your reactions, as we've been doing each Friday after new episodes on the Insider, to see how recent Grey's Anatomy episodes are received.

How good was this one? Tell us in the poll below ...

I thought "Sweet Surrender" was ...

The Grey's Anatomy writer who authored last night's episode, Sonay Washington, posted some thoughts on "Sweet Surrender" on the show's official writers' blog.

Below are some excerpts describing how things together, with the reactions from the writer who penned them, and a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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Okay, too much is going on in this episode. TOO MUCH! People are throwing themselves out of windows, planning weddings, eating food by the barrels ... And friendships are mended, a child dies and a daughter disowns her father. Okay, there’s a lot to discuss here, so let’s go.

Izzie is dying. That really hit home for me after seeing her collapse. I remember discussing this story in the writers’ room and Shonda saying “Izzie collapses. This is the turning point. She gets really, really sick.” And I said “WHAT????? Izzie collapses? MY Izzie collapses???”

Seriously, it’s heartbreaking to see Izzie this way. When Izzie fake codes and makes Meredith try on ugly wedding dresses, we get the sense that Izzie’s going to be okay - that the chemo won’t affect her. And Izzie believes that too.  

She fights to maintain who she is throughout the day until her body betrays her.

When Izzie vomits, this disease becomes real to her. But what we also see is the beginning of a true friendship between Cristina and Izzie. It took a lot for Izzie to admit that she’s sick to Cristina.

That the cancer is winning. And Cristina is there for her. She’s there to wipe her brow and to help Mer with her stupid wedding dresses. And it’s for Izzie. Cristina is there for Izzie.

And if anything comes out of this tragedy, it’s their friendship.

Continue Reading...

The Grey's Anatomy writer who authored last night's episode, Stacy McKee, has posted some of her thoughts on "Elevator Love Letter" on the show's official writers' blog.

Below are some excerpts describing how the events came together, with the reactions from the woman who penned them, and a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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Just so you know, I am a sap when it comes to marriage proposal stories. I love them. I love hearing them, I love telling them. I fully enjoy all the cheesy romantic oooey gooey-ness.

I LOVE that Derek proposed! I LOVE that Meredith said yes!

I can’t help it. I’m just cheesy that way.

But first things first. Entirely too much happened in this episode. TOO MUCH. Owen went all PTSD and choked Cristina in his sleep then she forgave him and they had ridiculously beautiful sex until she realized she had to dump him after all.

Alex snooched (yes, you heard me right. Snooched.) into a cup for Izzie so her eggs could be extracted, fertilized, and frozen before her body gets all sick with radiation and chemo.

Derek finally came back from the woods looking all Grisly Adams-ish to operate on Izzie’s brain and – and then, there’s that elevator.

Where Derek Shepherd proposed to Meredith, and she said YES.

Yup. Too much happened in this episode. I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what to talk about first.

Let’s start with the unpleasant part. Owen. And the choking. This was a tricky one. Let’s be clear. This is not a guy attacking a woman because he’s a guy who attacks women.

We did not set out to tell a story about domestic abuse. This is a story about PTSD.

Owen is completely asleep when he attacks Cristina. Asleep, in a nightmare. Remember the story we did earlier this season about the guy with night terrors? Same thing.

Follow the link to continue reading Stacy's blog ...