Joana

Agreed. I found her oddly detached. She really was just another doctor on the case. The worst was Bailey who was more concerned about Meredith possibly suing the hospital than her well-being. On the other hand, I was afraid they were going to go all OTT with everyone's affection for Meredith, but it wasn't like that.

I think she was there just so we could witness her character growth and newfound confidence when she raised her hand in the end. There can't be any other reason or logic to it, really. I was also wondering if she and Callie are still together. It's likely that no one knows, Shonda included. Also, have Owen and Amelia definitely broken up? Or they're on a break, a la Ross and Rachel? Were they ever together to begin with? It's a mess.

So, Arizona spent two months just standing about fiddling her thumbs waiting for Meredith to get better. Cute. I don't know why they're making such a big deal about her dating again, especially since you just know it won't amount to anything. They could easily have her date someone off screen and be done with it.

It was beyond weird. Was something edited out? I know we were supposed to see everything through Meredith's POV so some/many things couldn't be otherwise explained, but this really felt out of place. It looked like Bailey was afraid Meredith was going to sue the hospital and I find it hard to believe that would have been her first concern under those circumstances.

She's not going away yet as she's in the photos for episode 14. But yeah, she might become a background character like the blonde intern or whoever. It would be for the best as it's really not going anywhere like this.

Amelia was awful in most of her scenes, but on the other hand, I don't think she really needs to be forgiven by Meredith so I was a little annoyed by it. I don't know where they're going with these two and why so much time was given to their personal dynamics in this episode. I guess the best possible outcome would be them acknowledging they can be a part of each other's lives without necessarily loving each other, being each other's sister or person or whatever crap. Meredith's "epiphany" in the end seemed to indicate she's about to take such outlook at life but you never know with this show. A relatively minor thing, but Callie's facial expressions when she talked to Meredith bugged me a bit. They looked quite exaggerated, like she was communicating with a child. Sara Ramirez can do better than that.

I'm also glad the other storylines weren't completely ignored, but did we really have to find out about the divorce by April making a scene at workplace? A bit more subtlety would be nice.

Gah, I wrote a long post, tried to edit it and it disappeared. I'll just say I thought the episode would have worked so much better without all the hype. Meredith was not in mortal danger at any point, it was soon made clear she'd be just fine physically and we barely saw any of the attack. All of it would have been alright for a regular episode (ignoring the fact she's experienced every tragedy known to a man, of course), there really was no need for the over the top hype like that. They really only did it so people would come back to the show after such a long break. I hoped Penny would "vindicate herself" simply by doing her job and being competent without much fuss, but of course they made her have her *moment* which of course felt cheap and contrived.

Whatever they do with Callie and Arizona, I just hope they don't just randomly decide they want to get back together out of blue. It would be pretty awful after all they've been through and would probably push me off the edge for this show. There would have to be a build-up of some sort and the writers seem like they can't be bothered about those two characters anymore, so I don't see it happen.

Why not a 20-year time jump. Richard is still working at the hospital. Owen and Amelia haven't progressed since the time she came over with a bottle of mineral water. Arizona still hasn't dated anyone.

Another time jump? What year is it in GA universe? 2035? Shouldn't they be all having grandchildren by now? OTOH, it's probably better that we get it over with in one episode.

I don't think this storyline developed organically or with any build-up. If Meredith had a confontation with any of the characters she's been having issues with and it had some serious consequences, then yes, absolutely. But apparently she's attacked by a random crazy patient, it could have happened in any episode at a time. Of course, it may be played out well and have a purpose in the greater scheme of things, we'll have to wait and see, but I just wish they'd tied up some loose ends before introducing a major storyline like that. For example, they could have simply explained what the deal with Nathan's sister is, whether she's dead, in a coma, missing or whatever. Honestly, it's not something that will keep people on the edge of their seats all intrigued waiting to find out what that's all about, and now will be just left hanging in the air.

Yes, but we actually know those storylines won't be addressed until later in the season, the actors involved have said as much. Basically everything that the first part of the season has been leading up to (and there has been quite a bit, albeit at a rather slow pace) will now take a back seat to a completely new storyline introduced out of nowhere. It's weird. I now think it's because they know this break simply is too long and want to give people something to go back to, and probably for the majority of viewers "Tune in to find what Owen's and Nathan's deal is and whether Amelia will start drinking again" just isn't as juicy as "OMG, come and see Meredith Grey in MORTAL DANGER!!!1".

I agree that they could have just as well written her off the entire episode but I suppose they wanted to make a silver lining about the whole situation and show that Derek's death was at least going to help someone become a better doctor. It wasn't necessary but it could have been OK as an one-off. There was no need to bring her back and especially not in some kind of a redemption storyline as it frankly just isn't that interesting and secondly, she has nothing to redeem herself for, it's not her fault Derek died.

The thing is, Penny wasn't at all bad in that episode with Derek's death. You could totally buy her as a competent yet inexperienced and timid doctor who couldn't make herself heard. I don't know what's happened since, it almost looks like they're making her be this dull and listless on purpose. It doesn't help that actress has very little screen presence, which again is strange since I assume she's not a total newbie in business.

Yeah. It also can't be Teddy, Izzie, Addison, it would make perfect sense if any of them popped up at some point. You'd think it could be one of the long list of dead people on the show, but there's really no obstacle why they wouldn't appear as a ghost or a giant floating head because why not. So that leaves us with... Erica Hahn. She's reappeared from the parking lot black hole!

I also feel the show has a lot of issues with its timeline at this point. Owen and Amelia have been together for how long now in GA's universe and yet we have no idea where they stand. Amelia was really upset when Owen wouldn't confide in her which would imply things are serious between them but we simply don't know. We never saw it. Just like we're now witnessing Arizona's tentative attempts to enter the dating pool again, all the while we've seen Callie take on no less than four different people, including what seems to be a serious relationship. I know everyone moves along at their own pace, it's fine, but all this time Arizona appeared to be stuck in the post-breakup phase, even as recently as at the dinner where everyone found out that "Perfect Penny killed Derek" and it's just wrong considering how long it's been.

That's the thing, there is a lot going on but everything is moving so slowly that it feels like nothing is happening. And they keep adding new characters and new storylines without going anywhere with the old ones, and then there's this huge break that's slowed everything down even more. The story about Owen's sister, if we ignore the fact that it's obviously something they've pulled out of their asses, it could actually be interesting. But it's hardly something that's going to keep you on the edge of your seat for months, so to see Owen and Nathan snarking at each other over and over again while not having an idea what it's all about... Of course, we don't know how it's all going to play out, but it seems to me that they could have at least got it out of their way before putting all focus on Meredith again. And as far as that is concerend, I'm all with Deanie87. If it's going to have a meaning for Meredith, her relationship with other characters and the show in general, great, go for it. If it's yet another "OMG, something horrible's happened to Meredith" situation, yawzzz.

I feel this season has some potential, but the timing and pacing has been extremely weird. And this long-ass break certainly isn't helping. So, we're only going to start exploring a story several months after it's been first introduced, not to mention also used as a clifhanger of some sort? Why?

As for Owen's sister, perhaps she and Nathan were involved in an accident of some kind and she went missing.

Heh. Maybe he's just not that good a racer.

I'm now geniunely interested in what happens to Meredith. Damn you, show! So it better not be anything stupid like someone yelling at her and her slipping and falling down and everything resulting in a few bruises and a couple of stitches. I don't know, for some reason I just can't see anything too outreagous happen to her, which is a good thing as we've had more than a fair share of that. I just hope it's something that makes sense.

Perhaps she failed to warn her about the danger or fled the scene and left her there.

I think it's clear that Knight was unhappy at his workplace and life's too short to put on a pricetag to that and keep being miserable as long as you have a reasonable alternative of any kind. Come to think about it, Heigl was the only one who left because she thought she had bigger things waiting for her, and it didn't go down all too well for her. Dempsey has other passions in his life, Leigh wanted to be with her kids, Oh wanted other challanges but obviously left on very good terms and I'm sure she can return at any point and be welcomed with open arms. I don't know what Dane's reasons were, though, but I don't think he expected something as big as GA to come up right away either. So, as long as the show's regulars don't have additional reasons to leave and are feeling comfortable on the set, I think most of them will stay.

It's also possible that Heigl's professional debacle made everyone wary about taking chances outside the show, which really is an extremely well-paid 9-to-5 job at this point.