Viewpoints News (Page 3)

Grey's Anatomy writer Jenna Bans, who authored last night's episode, has posted some thoughts on "Sympathy For the Devil" on the show's official writers' blog for the fans.

Below is an excerpt, with a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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I like to pretend [doctors] have all the answers to explain every possible anomaly of the human body, that they learned all these answers in a very popular med school course called “THE ANSWERS!” Sadly, this is not the case. There is no such course.

And so they graduate and become doctors without having all the answers. They learn how to use good judgment to get close to the answers ... and then they guess. And sometimes they’re right. And sometimes they’re wrong. And sometimes it’s too close to call, which brings me to...

Meredith Grey’s judgment as a doctor.

Man, was it tested thoroughly tonight. When adorable serial killer Eric Stolz makes his argument, that this dying kid needs organs, that he is a match for said dying kid, and that he is about to be lethal injection toast in a mere five days, Meredith sort of ... agrees.

As much as she doesn’t want to agree with a serial killer, as much as Derek makes a very good argument that the guy’s trying to screw the system and it’s not their job as surgeons to help him do it ... she still agrees. Because a kid is dying.

Because Bailey, unflappable Bailey, is out of ideas and seems utterly broken by that. Because perfectly good organs are going to waste. So she betrays Derek and the oath she took to do no harm, and she does harm.

She does harm for what she tells herself, is the greater good - and she helps a patient try to kill himself. Which is why I love Mer in this episode – agree with her or not, she makes a bold, consequences be damned, choice in the end.

She just can’t help doing what she thinks is right even if it seems so, so wrong. Even if it comes back to bite her in the ass HARD in the next episode – and by the way, I can’t wait ‘til you all see what happens, because it is truly awesome.

She does this because, like Carolyn Shepherd points out to Derek at the end, she doesn’t just see things in black and white, she sees the grey.

Carolyn Shepherd has arrived.

Nothing was more fun on set than to watch Tyne Daly become Derek’s mom. Because she did BECOME Derek’s mom. She was tough and no-nonsense and I don’t blame Mer for being scared out of her mind. I’d wear an absurdly high ponytail too if Carolyn came sniffing around me, checking me out, making sure I was good enough for her son.

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

So, Grey's Anatomy is officially back in 2009. Was it worth the wait, or did last night's episode fall short of your expectations? Tell us what you thought about it in the informal survey below ...

What did you think of "Wish You Were Here"?

Grey's Anatomy writer Debora Cahn, who authored last night's episode, has posted some thoughts on "Wish You Were Here" on the show's official writers' blog for the fans.

Below is an excerpt, with a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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Cristina and Meredith are fighting.

I hate it when they fight. They’re so damn miserable. You’d think maybe they’d enjoy it. Worthy opponents, squaring off. Throw down of the century. But no. Not even Cristina, who usually relishes the opportunity to tear anyone a new one, seems like this is just eating away at her soul. Where’s the sense of fun? Of sport? Can’t they try to get into the spirit of it? No. They both look kind of oxygen deprived. And that’s really what it’s like.

Owen... wouldn’t it be great if Cristina had Owen to turn to?

Sure, he would be like Derek - not a replacement for Meredith Grey, but still. He’d be something. Wouldn’t we all feel a little better? So why can’t he get his damn act together? Why is he so damn hot and cold all the time? Why? He’s big and strapping and gorgeous and brilliant and capable and strapping and gorgeous, why is he such a basket case? Cristina doesn’t trust people. She just doesn’t come to it naturally. But here he is, holding out a hand, or at least a cup of coffee. She decided to let him in... and every time she comes to him in a moment of need, he’s totally checked out. Don’t you want to just smack him upside the head?

And while we’re smacking people upside the head... Chief Richard Webber. I think that’s the real problem, for everyone, on this particular day. The Chief has checked out. He’s on strike. Gone. It’s like the center of gravity stopped pulling, and everyone’s about to slip off the face of the planet. Bailey, for a change, is the only one who really notices what’s going on.

And Derek. Saving the life of a serial killer. When all he can do is look in the guy’s eyes and imagine the face of the man who shot his dad.

And Mark Sloan. Mark Sloan who could always find happiness, or at least some brief gratification, in an on-call room, with pretty much anyone, but certainly with Callie, Mark Sloan is falling, hard, for the Littlest Grey.  And his conscience, which has always been buried pretty deep, won’t let him have her. He betrayed Derek once. It was a biggie. And he can’t do it again. Despite the fact that Lexie’s trotting around him like a happy puppy. He can’t go there. Won’t. Talk about lack of oxygen.

People are having a really crappy day.

Except Izzie. Who couldn’t really be happier.

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

We apologize if this post appears negative. As the editors of the web's #1 Grey's Anatomy fan site, we are as devoted and loyal to the show as humanly possible.

But we imagine even the most ardent followers believe the show could use a new prescription (or several) at this point. For all that is appealing about it week in and week out, Grey's Anatomy has lost the fire. What would you like to see done to bring it back?

We've put together a list of suggestions that could bring Grey's Anatomy back to its past glory. If you agree or disagree, tell us why - and if you have your own prescriptions to improve the health of the medical drama, by all means, leave comments below!

1. Bring Back George!

If T.R. Knight wants off the show, having been given so little depth (when he's even on screen) for so long, we honestly can't blame him. But it is sad that his character - a fan favorite of so many of us for so long - has been marginalized to this point.

2. Run with Sloan, Karev and Hunt.

This isn't actually a complaint, but something the show has done well that we hope continues in the coming months. The development of both Mark Sloan and Alex Karev (no matter how you feel about their respective love interests) has been a treat to watch, as has the addition of another complex fellow in Maj. Dr. Owen Hunt. In the words of Britney Spears, gimme more!

3. To Be Continued ...

One of Grey's Anatomy's epic, two- or even three-part sagas is just what the doctor ordered. Some of the best episodes are the 2-3 part "events." A catastrophe raises everyone's game ... as long as Meredith doesn't die again. We've already got Denny on the show full-time now.

4. Set a Due Date.

It may sound sacrilegious to even talk about, perhaps the show would deliver more powerhouse episodes if there were, say, an end date set for the show after Season Seven, giving the writers a clearer idea of where they want to go with story lines and characters and when. It's just an idea. SIDE NOTE: Grey's Anatomy seems to be introducing new characters and losing old ones at an alarming rate, making it harder and harder for fans to invest themselves.

5. More MerDer Love.

We like that there's been relatively little negative MerDer drama so far in Season Five. But we also wouldn't need our arms twisted to watch a few more loving scenes, Shonda.

6. Axe Private Practice.

We actually like the spinoff, but if it has to be sacrificed in order to focus all writing efforts back on Grey's Anatomy and improve the more important of the two shows, then it's a no-brainer. Hey, maybe Addison can even come back to Seattle full-time! Win-win!

7. Off Denny. Again. And Again. However Many Times it Takes.

We love Jeffrey Dean Morgan too, and maybe Shonda will pull something out of a hat and salvage this story line. But week after week of Izzie and Ghost Denny, with the rest of the characters oblivious and only Grey's Anatomy spoilers to tip us off to her condition? Bizarre.

Grey's Anatomy writer Pete Nowalk, who authored last night's episode, has posted some thoughts on "All By Myself" on the show's official writers' blog for the fans.

Below is an excerpt, with a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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Alex is still a little mysterious. He likes sex, yeah. He has a sick sense of humor, sure. He’s a pretty rotten communicator, no duh. But now we know he loves Izzie. Loooooves her.

Which he finally told her off the thrill of winning the solo surgery. Alex needed this win. This is the dude that failed his boards and froze during the heart surgery in the elevator. Winning the solo - and having Cristina of all people pick him – finally allowed Alex to believe in himself.

And with that came believing in himself with Izzie. Who makes him better.  Who gives him the warm and cozies inside. Who is still. Seeing. Denny.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Or I don’t. But what I do know is that it’s confusing. Alex loves Izzie. He’s been good to her. SO WTF IS THAT GIRL THINKING? She’s not thinking. That’s the point. Because when we think we tend to screw things up. We over-think. Or under-think.

Or just think about thinking. And it’s exhausting. To the point where it’s easier to just shut your mind off sometimes, to just go with the flow.  

So that’s what Izzie is doing. She’s throwing caution to the wind. She’s letting it ride. She’s saying F&$# IT! And I don’t blame her. Who knows how long Denny will be here, or when Alex will confront her about the bizarro behavior, or what - if anything - there is to learn from Denny while he’s here. So like Izzie, I’m choosing to say F%$# it. Go on, try it. Shout it.  Scream it to the rafters. F&%$^&^*^**&*#### IT!!!!!!!!! Feels good, right?

I don’t know about you but that moment right before Mark gave in - when he was trying with all his might to not do the thing he knew he shouldn’t do but oh-so-wanted to - was a window into the kinder, gentler McSteamy. Mark was trying to be good, for Derek and for himself.

But he’s also human. And he’s Mark. And Lexie was there. All vulnerable. All beautiful. All HALF NAKED. Hell, even I wouldn’t be able to deny her in that moment (and I bat for the other team). As long as Meredith and Derek don’t find out about these two.

Follow the link to keep reading Pete Nowalk's blog ...

Grey's Anatomy writer Joan Rater, who authored last night's episode, has posted some thoughts on "In the Midnight Hour" on the show's official writers' blog for the fans.

Below is an excerpt, with a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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Okay, it’s a little crazy to try to take out an appendix. I get that. I think Lexie and Sadie and all the interns get that. IT’S CRAZY TO TAKE OUT AN APPENDIX!

But here’s the thing – it’s the middle of the night. And an appendectomy is the easiest surgery. And they’ve seen them done. And they’ve done them on the practice dummy, iStan.

And they’re competitive and feel like their residents aren’t letting them do anything and, I think it bears repeating … it’s the middle of the night. When all things are possible.

It’s not the middle of the night as I write this, but it’s late, 11 pm, and I’m feeling like maybe I’ll wake up early and exercise before work.

I probably won’t, cause like … um … I never have … but it’s late and under cover of darkness … all things feel possible. Which brings me to Izzie.  

I’ll get back to the interns because more needs to be said – THEY TOOK OUT SADIE’S APPENDIX! - but Izzie … Izzie just touched Denny - talking, breathing, right here in her bedroom Denny – and she’s just sitting there at the beginning of the episode wondering what’s going on, it’s not possible that he’s here, because he died, but he’s here and he’s talking and now he’s walking toward her and now he’s unbuckling his belt and ….

Crazy. Unreal. Impossible.

But I think Izzie is thinking that tonight she’s going to let this be possible. In the confines of her room she’s going to let this be real. But it’s complicated and scary.

She and Alex are finally good, really good and so what is this, why is Denny here, why can’t she just move on? And I think she thinks she will - tomorrow, in the morning, as I’m exercising, she’ll be all moving on and stuff, but tonight ….

Tonight why can’t she just let miracles happen, turn off her scientist brain and just be in that moment, the two of them, finally alone together?  And by the way, I don’t think she thinks it’s cheating on Alex.  I really don’t. Because Denny’s dead.

Whatever this is, whatever he is, Izzie knows this isn’t real, she KNOWS that, but it feels real and she just … closes her eyes and, you heard the sounds coming from the room, as Meredith said, it sounded kinda porny, so whatever’s going on with the dead guy, the sex is good at least …

But by morning, in the light of day, when appendixes have been removed and you realize you can’t stay in your room with your dead ex-boyfriend forever, she chooses Alex and it’s sad as she looks at Denny who seems sad, but he gets it, after all he’s “here for her …”

Follow the link to continue reading Joan Rater's blog ...

Grey's Anatomy writer Stacy McKee, who authored last night's episode, has posted her thoughts on "These Ties That Bind" on the show's official writers' blog for fans.

Below is an excerpt, with a link to the full column at the bottom ...

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Hahn isn’t dead. But she IS gone. And Callie Torres is feeling it - sort of. Callie’s diving into work. She wants bones to break, skeletons to build, SOMETHING to keep her from thinking about Erica. Erica played an unbelievably important role in Callie’s life; Erica’s relationship with Callie has completely redefined how Callie sees herself. That’s something you can’t undo.

Erica’s departure has left Callie with this big gaping hole that she has no idea how to fill. Callie had just started to figure out her own feelings, her own identity and now - Hahn’s gone. Without a goodbye. Whether or not Callie and Erica were ever soul mates, you can’t deny that they played irreplaceable roles in each other’s lives. The heartbreak that Callie is feeling is very very real.

And very very private until – she starts to cry, and cry and cry and cry, in the OR, over the bones that she built from scratch. She’s crying for all the loss and heartbreak and sadness she hasn’t allowed herself to feel yet. Which is why it’s lovely that Callie’s friends - Yang, Sloan, and even Owen Hunt - recognize the moment for what it is and try to give her the privacy she needs.

Callie isn’t the only one feeling a lack of connection.

It’s clear that Owen is having difficulty adjusting to life at SGH. He calls in Derek and Mark for help, then disregards their concerns about his patient. I love watching Owen’s face when he’s listening to his patient’s story, about how somewhere along the way the patient just lost the ability to connect.

It’s clear that it resonates with Owen, and it’s only after that moment that he really becomes receptive to Derek. And I think that it’s because of that moment that Owen goes in for that kiss with Cristina… Owen doesn’t want to lose his ability to connect with other people. But, obviously, he’s having some difficulty connecting gracefully – that kiss isn’t soft or romantic.

It’s a little desperate - at least at first.

Follow the link for the full writers' blog entry ...

Grey's Anatomy writer Bill Harper, who authored last night's episode, has posted his thoughts on "Rise Up" on the show's official writers' blog, and they're quite interesting.

We've condensed his intro a bit (follow the link above to read it), but here's what the writer had to say about Izzie, Denny, Hunt, Cristina, Callie, Hahn and more ...

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Detachment shows up all over in this episode.

The first Solo Surgery’s about to be awarded, it’s a huge deal, a huge honor, so our doctors are fired up to learn, to prepare, to win it - and their interns are being neglected by their teachers - everyone’s getting a little crazed, a little... detached.

Lexie assembles her league of unclaimed bodies. But Alex literally body-snatches them and pretty soon all of the residents are using them. And I mean using them.

They’re so consumed with practicing procedures (and, in some cases, their lunch) they lose track of the fact that these are actual people they’re cutting into. 

Of course, it takes Bailey to snap them back, to demand for these bodies the respect they deserve. Sadly, it all lands on poor Lexie, who, from the beginning was the only person who showed those cadavers anything like respect. (I love her little speech thanking them for being there).

No wonder she joins her basement band of self-doctoring interns.

Meanwhile, George works heroically away on his “patient.” Stan (played by iStan - truly the most amazing patient simulator there is out there). The idea behind these is that they can create a scenario so realistic that doctors actually feel the stress of a real-life trauma. And by the end Stan becomes more of a person than he has a right to be (thanks partly to the Chief).

The poor beating victim, on the other hand, becomes less than human.

Alex and Cristina have turned him into a grab bag of procedures to practice on, losing track of the person to the point where Owen completely snaps.

Continue Reading...

Grey's Anatomy writer Mark Wilding, who authored last night's episode, has posted his thoughts on "Life During Wartime" on the writers' blog.

Here's what he had to say about Major Hunt, Anatomy Jane, pigs and more ...

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First things first. No animals were harmed in the filming of "Life During Wartime."  None. I know ABC ran that thing before the show that told you that, but I figured you should hear it from me too. Those four pigs were entirely and utterly fake. Fake, fake, fake.

... I thought we were pretty evenhanded in dealing with the issue of animal testing. I heard from both sides as we were shooting the episode (boy, did I hear). Compelling arguments were made on BOTH sides - including one surgeon who told me that a day after learning to do open heart surgery on a pig, she used the same technique on a human being THE NEXT DAY. She told me point blank, without a doubt in her mind, that if she hadn’t learned that procedure there’s no way she would have saved that person’s life.

At any rate, I thought it was a cool way to bring back Major Owen Hunt. 

Even if people at Seattle Grace were appalled by what he did, his goal in the wet lab was to teach people. And to teach them the best way he knows how.

Teaching, incidentally, is one of our major themes this year.

See one, do one, teach one. You want to move up from being the number 12 hospital in the country, you’ve gotta fight that fight on all fronts. Be it operating on pigs, hiring better doctors or doing a better job with the doctors who are already here.

Anyway, I think we came to understand Owen’s attitude toward the pigs at the end of the episode when he tells Cristina about losing all his army buddies in the RPG attack. If you’ve seen 19 of your friends die in one day, it tends to make other things in your life not seem quite as important or dramatic.

My wife really doesn’t care what Owen (Kevin McKidd) does or doesn’t do to pigs. She’s just glad to see him back at Seattle Grace. REALLY, REALLY GLAD. 

Continue Reading...

Grey's Anatomy writer Jenna Bans, who authored last night's episode, has posted her thoughts on "There's No 'I' in Team" on the writers' blog.

Below is an excerpt, with a link to the full version at the bottom.

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What I love about “The Shepherd Method” (how awesome was that American Neurosurgery magazine – props to the props people!) is that both Meredith and Derek have completely valid arguments. Meredith, as Bailey points out, did work her ass off on that clinical trial.

And it was totally her idea.

However, Derek is the attending and in the medical world, would absolutely get the credit. So it’s a classic professional standoff – complicated by the fact that these two people share a bed. Now if Meredith did the clinical trial with say, Erica Hahn, could we see her getting all riled up?

Think about that. Not a chance, right? (Not like anyone in their right mind would ever pick a fight with Erica Hahn anyway) So it’s not just about the medicine, or about the principle of the thing, it’s also about Mer’s hurt that Derek never said thank you. There are feelings involved.

Big picture point is, when you fall in love and move in with your sort of boss, the personal bleeds on over into the professional, and it gets messy. And happily for us writers who are constantly looking for ways to exploit the Mer-Der drama, there’s no easy way out of that.

As Bailey tells Derek in the end, he’s gonna have to learn to live in the mess.

It’s not simple. But it’s fun to watch. And if anyone can wade through it and make a kidney in a jar look all fun and sexy, it’s these two.

Izzie and Alex, huh? I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt that kiss coming on for weeks. Kind of like a good flu. Iz takes a huge leap of faith tonight – telling Alex, I’m on your team and I’m not going anywhere. That’s a brave lady.

Continue reading Jenna's column here ...