HazelEyes4325

I'm not so sure I would consider Richard and Catherine stable...but Ben and Bailey, yes... At least as much as anyone on this show could be. I was trying to think back to the last relationship that seemed to have any thought put into it and the closest I could come was Jackson and April (when they started). I do think there were a lot of missteps with that one and I was sure they were going to pair Jackson and Cristina for a while, but it still seemed somewhat organic when Jackson and April finally got together. Of course, everything that happened with them after that is a different story. Maybe Alex and Jo? I ask that because I honestly cannot remember how they got together or what led up to that. Well, okay, maybe we shouldn't count them, then... The sad part of this is that this is something the show used to be very good at...Meredith and Derek, Cristina and Burke and even Cristina and Owen. Even if I didn't like the couple, I still felt that effort was put into writing the relationship. Now, it's like they can't even be bothered to try. Maybe the new showrunner will get back to basics on this front.

I'm not against Arizona having a love interest, but they have to put more thought into it than lesbian+lesbian = true love. There was a lot wrong with the Arizona/Minnick relationship, but the biggest problem was that the show put absolutely zero effort in writing an actual relationship.

I hate this for 2 reasons: 1 - Love triangles rarely work well and I don't think that, with what we've seen with this show the past couple of seasons, they can pull it off. 2 - Owen and Teddy has already been done. Seriously. It seems like Owen is just a rehash of the same 2 or 3 story lines..over and over again. If they have so much trouble writing for this character, they should just move McKidd behind the camera permanently.

Well, she's only returning temporarily (for a "guest arc,") so I'm pretty sure anything long-term with Owen is off the cards.

Yep, there are a lot of loopholes there...even if he did write longhand! I never felt like they knew what they wanted to do with Tom and, ultimately, gave up and just killed him...

Not necessarily. There are many authors who swear by writing longhand (or on a typewriter!!). These writers, at least the ones I know of, then hire someone to type up an electronic version of their final manuscript for submission. I wouldn't say that this is the norm--I think the vast majority of writers, successful or not, do write on computers. But, I also think that there are notable exceptions to that.

From your mouth (er..fingertips) to Shonda's ears...

Hmm, that's not how I saw Gilead. I got the impression (from both the book and the show) that Gilead emerges from a US-based group. I could be wrong...I mean, I don't think anyone came out and gave us the definitive answer.

Also, obviously something happened to get from US to Gilead. I just accepted that, during that time, Canada was able to shore up its defenses to resist that. To put my hypothetically thinking cap on, my guess is that the leadership in Gilead cut off a lot of the US-allies (sorry, I can't see many 1st world nations sticking with a nation that would do what Gilead would do). Canada, as part of the British Commonwealth, would be afforded some protection by the British government and military. As it is now in the show, Gilead is barely holding it together. Trying to take on Canada, with British backing, would just be too much.