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I don't know if its McKee herself or the fact that they keep giving her the 'big' episodes to do, and now a 'big' Greys episodes tends to be extra gimmicky. I'm not a fan of big time-jumps when they're so constant... I did enjoy The Sound of Silence quite a lot as a standalone hour of entertainment, but otherwise the episodes she's written have mostly been among my least-favourite. Early on, she had a few really fantastic episodes under her belt. Fingers crossed that there are no disasters heading our way.

Taking a break from her cat poop commercials, Katherine Heigl tells Howard Stern she's still sorry. It actually is a really interesting conversation that we've been having a bit - Katherine mentions how season 4 had so many series regulars and she felt like they couldn't possibly write 'dramatic, juicy stories' for all of those characters. Imagine how she'd feel now with a group of 16+ actors all vying for screen time.

I actually thought at some point that they were going for a Riggs / Amelia pairing which I wouldn't have been against, but it seems like she's stuck with Owen lol. I thought Mer / Riggs had nice chemistry in their first few scenes together, but I'm glad they didn't push it. I was afraid they were going to have them making out by episode 10 and I would have hated that... but there's been an odd amount of distance between them which I think is intentional. I definitely think she'll be the kiss that Henderson mentioned coming up, but I wouldn't be against the writers surprising us. So many people seem to think that Meredith / Alex is still a possibility and I've read speculation that Thorpe is going to show up again, so I'm glad they've at least kept us on our toes. I guess DeLuca really does have slim pickings. I wish they'd actually shake things up with the couples again. Rather than this pregnancy storyline I would have liked to see April and Jackson maybe playing the field a bit. I think Jackson sleeping with Meredith or Callie could have made for an interesting storyline (I know that's totally random, but I do miss the spontaneity of the old days where everyone was hopping in bed together.) I feel like I just mentioned this somewhere, but I always thought Callie and Alex could be a fun pairing too after their one-night thing. Maybe Steph and DeLuca if she sticks around next year? But I think he'll end up with Maggie again. Lol Bailey / DeLuca would be an easy way to break the internet. Twitter would go insane.

Meredith Owen would be so unbearable to me lol. I loved Owen in S5 and he's just totally unwound for me since. I don't always need to like characters to root for them or want to watch them, but Owen, at this point, just gets on my nerves non-stop. I really detest his character lately. I totally agree that Meredith can be extremely judgemental and rude, I don't think she's much of a screamer (though she's had her moments.) Amelia is much more suited to Owen in that regard. She basically spent her entire introductory season yelling at everyone and giving them pompous speeches. I'm incredibly grateful that they seem to have toned her down lately, and I think even Amelia deserves to get out of their never-ending merry-go-'round and find someone less shouty and insane. But I really, really hated the scene where Mer called Riggs psychotic over his 'lie'. Especially considering that she and basically all of her friends have been cheaters (including Owen!). I was fine with her sort of shoving Riggs aside at first as a little show of solidarity for Cristina / Owen, but I feel like now they're maybe pushing it as a build-up to a Meredith / Riggs romance and it doesn't make much sense. I do think she and Riggs could work as a good couple, though.

Lol that describes basically every character on the show to me.

I'd just love for him to stick it out until the series ends. He and Meredith have always been my favourite characters along with Cristina, so I'd hope to see them make it to the series finale. I used to really love Bailey, but her character has been ruined for me over time more so than Alex has (I still like her, but I find myself less connected to her and often annoyed by how she's written.) With Alex, it's just frustrating to me that we see so little of him outside of being a pal to Meredith. I do love his scenes with her and I enjoy their friendship, which I know is where I differ with some people here, but I still want more for him outside of that. Sadly I can't see things changing anytime soon, especially if we get more new characters next year, but I selfishly still want Alex around. I love seeing him interact with patients and I love how much we've seen him grow - I just think he needs a real meaty storyline to start showing the other sides of him again. I think for JC it comes down to knowing that he has it good - before Grey's he wasn't exactly getting great roles (The Wedding Planner, anyone?) and there's no assurance that he will after this. Now he has 10+ years of friendship with this cast and crew, a great paycheque, and considerable time off to spend with family. At 45 years old, I can see why he'd be incredibly content with that. Plus, outside of these message boards, a lot of people still really, really, really loves Grey's - they connect with it, it helps them through tough times, and they're very vocal about that with the cast. So I still think it's a fulfilling job in many ways which is extremely hard to come by.

There's gotta be a happy medium; the last thing I want is to see Alex suddenly revert to being a jerk, because I've loved watching his growth. I wish we got a storyline that could give him some edge, though. He has a sister and mother out there who we've never met, not to mention IZZIE (I know, I know... it will never happen. But I want it to.) There are tons of ways to keep his story interesting without just turning him into a jerk.

I still really enjoy Alex's character, despite wanting better for him - so I don't want Justin Chambers going anywhere and I don't think he will. Camilla is actually a question mark for me, but I agree that she wouldn't get any grand exit. Hahn was an exception as Shonda was essentially told to write her out by ABC with only one episode of notice, and obviously with Lexi they were planning to kill her off in the crash so there wasn't much they could do as build-up (although she definitely could have been given more to do in the back-half of S8 considering that they knew she was leaving.) I thought Teddy's exit was strange and rushed, but I didn't care much for her so I wasn't bothered at all. I hope if Camilla sticks around then the writers decide ASAP what the hell they want to do with them, because I agree that she'd be better utilized with just about any other character since they clearly don't want to write for the two of them. The problem is that she's been so under-utilized for so long that, for me, I don't care much about her outside of her relationship with Alex. Especially if Jerrika / Steph leave this year, Jo has literally no ties to anyone except Alex. I thought they'd at least maybe develop the Callie / Jo work dynamic this year but even that got glossed over. At least for Justin he has other scenes and other relationships, but Camilla gets literally nothing to do aside from occasional spotlights in random episodes here and there. I don't think this state of arrested development that they're in is fun for anyone to watch or any fun for the actors to play. I'm rooting for a Meredith / Riggs pairing by the end of the year and hoping that Alex and Jo get engaged and get some actual focus next year as a couple, but that's what we were promised this year and it never came, so I won't hold my breath.

They didn't write for her at all last season, either. That's what I mean... they totally could have just written her off. I thought she was going to be gone at the end of last year when she wanted to go do the military doctor thing. Plus at that time I thought they were hinting at an Alex / Maggie hook-up. Instead it seems like they're just content having Alex and Jo be 'happy' but not moving at all. The treatment of Jo the last two seasons has been pretty baffling to me considering that she was pretty prominent in S9 & 10.

I still haven't 100% ruled that out, but I think they would have been working on writing out Jo if that was the case. I don't think they would have bothered to have the Mer / Jo confrontation and apology, and I think they'd have probably broken Alex and Jo up by now. There's been plenty of opportunity to get those two apart. I'm not totally opposed to Meredith and Alex dating, but I'd much rather they not go there. I love them as friends and I really don't want that dynamic ruined.

Aren't they filming episode 24 now? I thought someone said that they were starting to film the finale this week, but I may be totally wrong. I don't think we'll be seeing her legs considering how pregnant she is, although didn't they establish a few years back that she got that realistic leg that would allow her to wear heels? I may also be making that up lol. Not sure why they'd put Capshaw in those heels either way.

I'm guessing it's gotta be Riggs / Meredith because it seems like they're pushing Owen and Amelia back together in the last few episodes. I'm glad they waited and didn't force it too early in the season, and now Riggs has interesting dynamics with at least a few other doctors rather that just being introduced as a love interest. I really like his character, and I think him and Meredith have nice chemistry from the little that we've seen of them together. I do wonder how they'll end up kissing. I really hope it's not exactly what I'm thinking, which is they kiss / he asks her out and then Meghan shows up. At this point I can't decide if I'd rather see Alex and Jo broken up or staying together. Clearly they're not getting any storylines together, but I don't really know if that would change with them apart. I can't see Alex paired with any of the woman in the cast right now, and I don't want anyone else brought in. I used to be into the idea of Callie / Alex but that ship has long passed. I guess if Alex and Jo broke things off and Jo started hooking up with someone else it'd at least cause some angst and give them something to do. I do wish we could just see Alex be happy and have a semi-normal relationship, though. From the latest sneak peek, I'm glad to see Callie and Arizona sitting down to talk about the Sofia thing rather than just going through the court. So Arizona was indeed just sort of seeing where she stands last week when she visited a lawyer. Clearly they're not communicating well, though. Does Arizona really think Callie would go and leave Sofia? And did Callie really think Arizona would just be totally fine with Sofia taking off for a year (or more)? I honestly don't hate the storyline if only because it's a real situation that a lot of couples find themselves in... I just wish that Penny wasn't the catalyst, because I still see no chemistry with her and Callie and it all just feels a bit forced. I truly hope Sara isn't leaving.

So strange. Do we ever see anesthesiologists talking to patients / families? I mean, even when Ben was one before? I wonder how they'll pull this off.

I just rewatched the scene.... Hannah stops her bike and says "this is me" and then we see that it's Hannah's outside steps. They're smoking on Hannah's bed and we've seen the staircase that they're on at the end before.

That was Hannah's apartment and Laird lives downstairs. Jessa & Adam were probably bringing groceries to Laird and the baby. That was, I believe, Adam's apartment. We've seen them there before this season.

I don't have a huge issue with Arizona going straight to a lawyer - she knows Callie well. She knows that she's "in love with being in love." It would be enough for me to hear that my ex was considering moving away with a girlfriend and taking my child away from me to see lawyer to at least question what my standing might be.

Press release for 12x22: This is the episode that Ellen Pompeo tweeted about:

To be fair, a ton of the leading female characters have cheated or been an accomplice to cheating, too: Meredith (cheated on Finn and slept with Derek while he was married), Arizona (cheated on Callie), Addison (cheated on Derek), Callie to an extent (slept with Mark while she was dating Hahn), Izzie (slept with George while he was married to Callie), Ellis carried on an affair with Richard for years, etc. I think the point with Riggs is that cheating doesn't make him a bad-guy. All of these characters are insanely flawed. Alex has cheated in the past, I don't hold it against him now. I still liked George after he cheated on Callie (despite HATING that storyline) and Meredith after she cheated on Finn and slept with Derek. I always loved Addison, Mark, etc. Grey's is just a show full of cheaters. I don't think it's a man-hating thing, I think it's just a trope of soap operas - all of these people sleep around.

Episode 12x23, the penultimate episode of the season, is titled "At Last" per SpoilerTV. At last.... Alex & Jo get some screen time? At last.... Owen gets over the Riggs thing? At last.... Penny is killed in brutal and extremely graphic freak accident? So many possibilities...

Grey's is tied with Modern Family this week as ABCs top-rated program, and it's also the 2nd highest-rated drama on any broadcast network behind only Empire. It's insanely steady, especially considering the drops that basically every other series are taking (including Modern Family & Empire)

Buzzfeed Quiz: How Well Do You Remember Grey's Season Finales? The Jo question gave me a good chuckle..

I'm right there with you on waiting until I actually see it unfold, but this thread is for speculation based off of spoilers, so I think we're all just having fun with trying to figure this out. I certainly haven't condemned Callie yet, but if the story plays out the way it looks it will, it won't be a good look for Callie, who has long been one of my favourite characters. As much as I dislike Penny, even if I loved Callie's romantic interest I'd still think it's selfish to uproot her daughter and move her 6+ hours away from Arizona for a year just to follow a new girlfriend.

No one is saying that Callie should give up Sofia - I think the consensus is just that it's a very contrived situation, because Callie doesn't have to leave. She's been with Penny for only a few months. She didn't get an offer, Penny did. If Callie got a grant it'd be a different story. My thoughts are that Callie should let Penny go, not that she should go with Penny and leave Sofia with Arizona. Your friends situation is a totally different scenario than this one. It's not just about uprooting Sofia, it's about taking Sofia away from her mother, Arizona, for a year so that Callie can follow her girlfriend of just a few months.

This. The thing is that Callie simply doesn't need to uproot Sofia to follow Penny when she's only leaving for a year. Callie could easily stay in Seattle, keep things the same for their daughter, and take frequent trips out to see Penny. It's not fair to ask Arizona to have to make that commute to see her daughter for a year all because Penny got a grant. It's not fair to Sofia, either. I'm still going to wait to see how it all plays out, but it's not looking good for me.

This 100%. I've said this since they started trying to force the "sisters" angle on us. Even as a Meredith fan, I get nothing from her relationships with Amelia and Maggie because they don't feel totally genuine to me. I started warming up to Maggie a bit at the end of last season, but she's become a total caricature to me this season. I'd much rather see Meredith talking to / sharing scenes with the characters that she has a real deep history with - Callie, Bailey, Richard, even April and Jackson. I get that with a revolving door of cast members, they need to keep adding new characters - but by the time we got to season 12, we had enough. I quite like Riggs, but I'd 100% prefer screen time going to Alex instead... or even to Bailey, Richard, Callie, Jo, Arizona etc. Steph and Jo have been around for 4 years now. I think Jo was pretty prominent in S9 & 10 and then she got back-burnered big time last year. Steph never got much focus after Jackson dumped her. She's definitely the only series regular to ever go 2.5 seasons without any semblance of a love interest. The first half of last season, Steph barely had a line per episode - then her only story was basically being Amelia's shouting-board during the Herman / Arizona arc. They've gotten Amelia, Maggie, Deluca, Riggs, Ben, and Penny since those two came in. I think Jackson / April have continued to get strong focus because they're really the only "power couple" that the writers haven't tarnished. Derek is dead, Callie and Arizona are beyond repair, but Jackson and April are always still floating around each other and seemingly always just one scene away from a reunion. I do think it's the writers' fault for not building Alex and Jo up enough, because they could easily be a fun and dramatic focus for romantic stories. They're certainly more interesting than seeing the Resident / Intern dynamic again (Alex and Jo, in fact, already did that story and better.) Steph and Jo were never my favourites, but I've really warmed up to both of them and would have much rather seen them get stories this year and last than ever introducing Amelia, Maggie, Deluca, etc.