tapplum

Wow, so when they started exploring Shaun's love life, I was not expecting the theme Watch Our Hero Turn Into an Abusive Incel. Certainly Lea hasn't always been careful or considerate wrt Shaun's feelings, not that anything she's done or could have done would make it a good look for him to *threaten her with a baseball bat* wtf. She should've called the police and alerted the hospital. Also, I'd be a lot more sympathetic to Shaun if that inconsideration and selfishness hadn't been a two-way street, and also if he hadn't been similarly inconsiderate and selfish wrt Carley for most of that relationship. I'm also kind of uncomfortable with how they're sort of setting his autism up as an excuse for him, as that can seem to suggest some pretty unfortunate things about autistic people. It might be a better idea to tie into his abusive childhood and how that's formed his ideas about what's acceptable relationship behavior.

While it was undoubtedly very badly executed (which, no surprise - Grey's hasn't been a well-written show in many years), I'm actually kind of positively surprised by Alex's ending, as I always figured there was too much bad blood with KH for the show to include Izzie this way. Partly I suppose because I've never cared one single bit for Jo or the Jolex relationship. To me, April and Jackson are still the "new" characters that I'm on the fence about accepting - anyone who arrived after them is just scenery to me, and anyway I never for one second got the impression that Jo was anything more to Alex than the person he was with because he couldn't be with Izzie. I see a lot of people talking about how Alex has grown beyond this kind of behavior since Izzie left, and I'm not sure I agree? To quote another medical show, people don't change. In the end, Alex is who Alex is - sure he's been through stuff, sure he's mellowed somewhat, but the core of him is still the same. It rings true for me that Izzie would still be the one, and that he'd burn bridges in a shitty way rather than risking facing everyone if that's what he felt it took to be with her. Would I have preferred that the storyline was handled in a less ridiculous way, with build-up and common sense and some good writing, including Alex saying goodbye to people in person? Yes obviously, but I stopped expecting that kind of writing from Grey's around season 10...

Omfg the hypocrisy is strong in this one. As I recall, Owen cheated on: 1. His original fiancee, Beth - he began his relationship with Cristina without breaking up with Beth (or mentioning Beth's existence to Cristina). 2. Cristina, by having an emotional affair with Teddy. 3. Cristina again, by sleeping with an unnamed woman. 4. Emma, the doctor he tried dating after crowen broke up, as he slept with Cristina while seeing Emma. 5. The only reason he didn't technically cheat on Amelia is that Teddy turned him down. IOW, Owen has cheated (or tried his best to cheat) on literally every woman he's been involved with on the show. Even for Grey's, that has to be some kind of record...

It's kind of funny that I dislike Jaggie for the exact same reason I disliked Japril - as others have said, Jackson's written as a relatively reasonable adult, whereas Maggie/April tends to get written like she's an immture 14. That's not an appealing relationship dynamic, and I just cannot see why Jackson would be interested in a relationship with either of these women. Not because he's too hot for them, but because they're just not at all on the same maturity level. I'm having difficulty understanding why these adult, competent professionals who've been through a lot are being written like little girls. I'd suppose it's to contrast their more bright and shiny outlook on life with Meredith's dark and twisty (though Meredith's not really that dark and twisty anymore), but Izzie and George managed to fulfill that function, and did so far more successfully, without being written as middle schoolers. It's so frustrating that April's getting written out when shes finally (after all these seasons of me wishing her gone) getting some edge and depth, and becoming really interesting. It's like, I agreed with Jackson basically 99.9% of the time during the Japril blow-ups, but he's such a bland, boring and personality-less character, I'd much rather keep April, who at least has a strong pov and a clear, established personality.

Agreed, Arizona was a shitty friend to April - like most of them, she seems to feel that she can get away with being nasty to April (which in effect I suppose she can, since April's forgiving of this kind of behaviour). The way she was talking to April the entire episode, I mean can you imagine Cristina/Meredith, George/Izzie or Mark/Callie taking that tone with each other for no reason? I certainly can't. It highlights one of the problems with these later seasons of Grey's: the show was always built around intense, interesting friendships, and that's been sorely lacking lately. Sometimes I think that loss is felt even more keenly than the loss of the romantic power couples. Buuut omg this was a great episode for April! This is possibly the first time I've found her interesting and relatable, finally she's been written as an adult with real internal conflict. Her previous faith problems (like fighting with Jackson about it, or freaking out about losing her virginity) fell very flat for me, because she was basically written to believe in God the way a child believes in Santa Claus. There was no depth, no nuance, we didn't get to see her really engage with it like she finally got to do here. Even the intern hookup worked for me. Sure it's cliche, but it was a very effective metaphor for her "fall". Very much looking forward to her journey - and hoping she finally finds a friend or two who'll treat her right (step up, Owen! You may suck at romantic relationships, but you could at least be a good friend/mentor for April - god knows you need *something* to do besides slouching around looking grim).

Like many other viewers, I felt the Meredith/Riggs moment really stood out. Which, yeah, the only time that couple makes me feel anything is when they're used to remind us of characters/relationships that actually meant anything (ie, Meredith/Derek). I don't have anything against Riggs, he seems a fairly reasonable and likable person, it's just he's so ...bland. He doesn't stand out, he doesn't command attention. I didn't always like Derek, but he had a certain charisma, he had an impact on the scenes he was in, and I certainly didn't doubt that Meredith loved him. "Remember the dream where they come back to us ... if it was Derek, I'd already be gone." Now that's how to wring some emotion out of scene. It's just the show is essentially over if it can only evoke emotion in response to past seasons, if it's gonna stay vital it has to forge new characters and relationships that have real impact. Which, they haven't been doing great with that. Stephanie's been on the show how many seasons now, and again like with Riggs I don't have anything against her, but I don't *know* her, not the way I knew every member of MAGIC after just a few episodes.

YES

This is what's so baffling. If they have no interest in writing for her (and they've made it painfully clear that they don't) then why in the name of god is she still on the show? Write for her or don't, but do one or the other and do it properly: either give her a real pov and do justice to her storyline, or cut your losses and write her out. It's not like she's a hugely popular charcter whose loss would threaten ratings.

Since Meredith and Alex are the only characters left that I care about, I did enjoy the episode more than most. But something's off when the only parts of it that made me feel anything were the flashbacks and Meredith's "I'm married." Like, were they *trying* to emphazise how bland all the recent characters are? I just feel like, back in the day, there were a ton of characters that I might not *like* all that much, but I *cared* about them, because I knew them. They had a clear pov, a personality, a history, relationships and goals. Whereas basically everyone nowadays, they're just...non-entities. While I'm invested in Meredith, it's hard to care about her "relationship" with Nathan when I barely remember he exists.

But that would mean, you know, Bailey doing her job, which based on the last few seasons would be completely contrary to her characterisation... They've spent *a lot* of time establishing her as incompetent (even by the standards of the show), I would genuinely be shocked if she made a halfway sensible decision.

Yes, she did. However the show seems to forget this...

Idk, I obviously agree that most of them are being absurdly childish, but it seems incredibly stingy of Owen not to spare April a kind word when she's so blatantly being ostracised. He clearly felt bad for her, and it would be so easy for him to just give her a word of encouragement. Instead he sat with the anti-April brigade, leaving her out in the cold. If he doesn't want to take sides, that's obviously his prerogative, but given the working relationship he's had with April and the difficulties she's facing right now, I'd expect him to at least give her a friendly pat on the back. Oh yes, I'd *love* to see that. Given that Richard, Jackson, Meredith, Alex and Arizona own the hospital between them, it beggars belief that their idea of "resistance" is disallowing April to sit with them at lunch...

Agreed. I don't understand why Owen and Riggs weren't on April's side. Of course Alex, Richard, Maggie and Bailey will ultimately alway choose Meredith over April, and while Jackson cares for her he's obviously never respected her - but Owen's been April's mentor, he's always seemed to appreciate and value her (honestly I'm wondering why they've never hooked up, as that'd make a lot more sense than both Japril and Omelia: they're both pretty much out of the loop socially, both comparatively conservative, and they've always seemed to like each other), and Riggs served with her and gave every apperance of being friendly with her. Owen not only isn't close with Meredith, they've often been quite antagonistic towards each other, so really, what's he doing? He seems really disloyal to April.

I actually feel bad for April. I've never liked her, but being named Chief of General is obviously a huge deal for her in a way that being chief of their respective specialites just isn't for the others. Meredith, Arizona, Bailey, Jackson, Maggie (like Cristina, like Derek) always knew they were headed for great things, and just took it as their due. They've fought and they've worried and they've worked hard, but on a fundamental level, they knew they'd get there. They were the star students, or the legacy kids, the geniuses. April is none of that (like George wasn't). They could afford to take a stand and say no to something like this, knowing they'll have other chances, that there are safety nets. April doesn't have that security. Also she's something of a social outcast, people aren't loyal to her the way they are to Meredith or to Richard, which means it's not fair to expect the same level of loytalty from her either. We all know she'll lose Chief the second Meredith consents to return, and that she'll pay dearly for this stint socially, so I felt really sorry for her, seeing how happy she was and how much work she put in during her last scenes with Catherine.

I'd actually managed to forget (repress) that, my bad. Then I have to say Owen was more reasonable than I'd thought marrying Amelia - I've never believed he has feelings for her, much less that he loves her, but she's available, she understands about the job, and she's attractive, so fine, if she wants a hoard of children and his #lifegoal is to have a family, I suppose she makes sense. And if Owen married her on the understanding that they were essentially together to start a family, then it makes more sense that Amelia's so terrified of telling him she's changed her mind, since that *would* logically make him leave her (now, I don't think Amelia loves Owen either, but I believe she's scared of being alone).