KnitsWithRaceCars

Since we don't have a Shonda or TPTB thread, I'm putting this in here. I'd certainly like to sh*t on Shonda's head right now!!

Can anyone summarize the EW article for me, please? I won't be able to get a copy of it until next week. Thanks!!

The last paragraph of that article makes me VERY happy! It sounds like it's right up my alley.

Unfortunately, I suspect you're right. He's going to get blamed for "messing up" MerDer. And I suspect that it will only get worse for him if it turns out that it was his decision to leave and that becomes public knowledge. Too many people are too self-centered and just don't have enough respect for others.

Crap. I'd already decided that I'm not watching tomorrow's episode when it airs, and this really solidifies my decision. As much as I don't want it to be right, I have a sinking feeling that stopthestatic's scenario is pretty much right. So it seems that last week's episode was my last unless they bring back Derek as a ghost. I'm glad to be free from the show and Shondaland, but brokenhearted about Derek dying. As I told someone yesterday, at least after this year, it will save me the $30-$40 per year that I was spending on the Grey's DVDs. I can spend that money on yarn for knitting instead!

In the still of the first promo that's in the Promos and Sneak Peeks thread, Mere is smiling, which is why I was thinking that was part of the promo. I just rewatched it, and I guess it isn't. I'm now in the anger and depression stages of grief over this.

The only thing about this scenario is: Why would Mere be smiling and looking happy and unworried in the pics and promos as she enters the hospital if she knows that Derek was in an accident and injured enough for the cops to have to come get her? I'd be freaking out if the cops came to take me to the hospital where my family member was after being in an accident. And why would she take the kids? In reality (yes, I realize how far this is from reality), the police would most likely have a cop stay at home with kids that young so they wouldn't see the family member in that condition. I guess maybe I'm grasping at straws and trying to maintain my grip on that tiny and weak thread of hope I've been dangling from.

**Waves hand wildly** I'd gladly tune back in if Derek is dead, but makes ghost appearances!! Bring on the drowning NDEs and brain tumor hallucinations!! Give Mere Alzheimer's and have her story line be filled with flashbacks to interactions with Derek that are new to viewers!! How on earth is Patrick at all at fault for Calzona's story line?? That is one majorly convoluted line of thinking!! If Derek dies but it was Patrick's decision to leave, I totally respect his decision and have no problem with him at all. Having said that, I will still be bitter towards Shonda and Co. for killing Derek, unless of course that was Patrick's request as well.

What has me worrying more today is something that clicked in my mind last night: What if Derek on the ferryboat is his farewell, a la Mark Greene walking through the empty ER on "ER" when he died? Derek has a thing for ferryboats, so TPTB might view that as an appropriate final scene/farewell to Seattle for him. Has the burn victim in the sides for one of the final episodes been identified? Is there any chance of that being Derek? I haven't completely lost hope that Derek doesn't die, but I'm only hanging on by the tiniest and weakest thread. I'm dreading this episode, and will never be able to listen to "How to Save a Life" again if Derek dies, which sucks because I really like that song. I just wish, if Derek is going to die, that Shonda would've had enough respect for the fans to let it be known that Patrick is leaving so that we could've really prepared ourselves. But of course, shock value is more important to her than respect and potentially alienating a huge amount of the fans.

I'm doing a facepalm after looking at that pic again. I'm about 99% certain that the pic was taken in an area of the hospital that wasn't being used for shooting at the time of the pic. It's quite possibly the actor/extras/crew holding area. The woman in the pic is sitting in a Grey's Anatomy chair and there's crew equipment on the floor in the background. It being a holding area would explain the dim lighting and lack of hospital supplies. I've worked as an extra on a few medical shows, and this pic screams backstage holding area to me. I generally don't like to speculate, but after finding out in last night's ep that Derek wants another baby, I wonder if Mere is the one who is pregnant. And maybe the time jump has something to do with that? If Derek dies, I am done with the show. IMHO, even if he dies as a hero, it's a slap in the face to Patrick and the fans. Also, I have not really cared for the show for several seasons and have only hung in there because I'm such a big fan of Patrick. Derek dying is the deal breaker for me.

I'm glad it's been ruled out, as I didn't think it really seemed like a psych hospital anyway. My college degree is in Psychology, and I've worked at psych hospitals that look just like "regular" hospitals, complete with supplies in the halls. I've also been hospitalized in several "regular" hospitals for surgery for all of my physical ailments, and some of those do look like the one in the pic--dim lighting and no supplies in the halls. I'm taking the "freak out 'spoilers'" with every grain of salt that ever has existed and ever will exist.

I didn't get to see this ep until 12:30 am, thanks to my local ABC station not showing it so that they could yammer on ad nauseum about tornadoes in Illinois. And I and the TV station are in Wisconsin, where there were no tornadoes! Anyway, I don't feel like I missed out by having to wait to see it. The Good: -Horny, flirty Derek! -The directing. Romano was my favorite ER character. I've always thought that Paul McCrane is a great actor and director. -Amy screwing up, although I feel bad for the patient. But Amy really needed to eat some humble pie, so I enjoyed that. The Bad: -The penis storyline. I know that the medical cases are based on real-life cases, but it seems that this season they've gone more and more for the outlandish ones for drama and shock value. In what reality would one hospital get so many unusual cases? There are better ways to create drama. The rest was just meh because I'm just not invested in the show anymore. #WhereIsDerek ? Maybe he's at a cheap motel by the airport, jumping on a bed in his underwear. IMHO, that would be more fun to watch than 99% of this craptastic season!

In retrospect, that comment could've been referring to the 6 episodes that he was not in. I think that people in general are not realizing that, since Patrick is doing most of his racing overseas this year, he has way more travel time and greater time changes in terms of time zones which can cause jet lag and fatigue. Therefore, he's going to need more time off from Grey's. That can account for him having more solo scenes and needing to shoot as many scenes as possible each day. It also comes into play more now because the WEC season has begun and he has 2 overseas races in a 4 week time frame. There's one in the UK this weekend and one in Belgium on May 2nd. I do not believe that Derek is going to die. The reality of Patrick's/Grey's circumstances does not support the speculation. I think people are grasping at straws to have something they consider to be "juicy" to gossip about.

You mean to tell me that 7 seasons after "Forever Young" they're essentially going repeat the episode and they still may not grow up?!

IMHO, it was better because Patrick is back. I think Owen actually did take it down a few notches. I'm quite shocked that he didn't even take a swing at the guy. I was expecting him to go full on cage fighter. And PD does teary eyed dreamy speeches even better. I'm hoping and praying that, for his sake, Derek actually told Mere that he kissed the research assistant, and the flashback wasn't just to inform the viewers. Unless I missed it, they didn't show him telling Mere, and I'm sure all hell will break loose if he didn't tell her and she finds out later.

With all due respect, that's no longer true. It was true through season 5, then changed at the start of season 6 when Bailey became an attending. Now there's Richard, Bailey, and Mere who are all general surgeons and Owen and April who are both trauma surgeons. Kinda morbid to me, but it wouldn't bother me too much as long as it's not Derek who dies. And I might laugh at the irony if it's a character that I don't like, because I'm just mean like that when it comes to fictional characters I dislike. It also seems kind of contrived, but I doubt it would be worse than ER's "Helicopter: 2, Viewers: 0."

It was more the identical tattoos and steak knives thing that made me doubt AZ. Yes, I believe that AZ dated someone who wanted that, because Callie knew about it, but AZ could've been lying about it being Callie's date who did that. I definitely wouldn't put it past her to lie out of jealousy. And yes I know that would mean she's lost that lie for Callie's future dates. I've never been an AZ fan, so I'd love to see her get caught lying.

PATRICK!!!!! For me, that alone made the episode an improvement over recent ones. It was nice to see calm Bailey tonight. I enjoyed her supporting AZ and Jo, and especially liked her still mentoring Alex by telling him not to go after Jo. Am I the only one who thinks AZ is lying to Callie about her ex/Callie's date because AZ is jealous? ETA: I had the opposite reaction. I immediately thought of Ellis when Ben was clearing his throat during surgery, because I figured Richard would be concerned about telling Maggie. I had completely forgotten about Adele having Alzheimer's.

That's my guess. The last one of PD's races I went to (last summer), he missed the first 1.5 days of the event because he was held up on Grey's. And he always has to leave the track as soon as the race is over so he can get back to LA for Grey's. He always has a car waiting for him in the paddock after the race, and it's the only time I see him not stop for fans who want his attention (but he's still polite and apologizes and explains that he has to get back to LA). In regards to killing off Derek before the series finale... There are ways to bring deceased characters back besides ghost sex. ER did it with Romano and Greene by putting them in an episode which focused on a current character's back story. However, even with Shonda's amnesia, I'd be very surprised if Derek died before the series finale, given his lines to Mere about dying in her arms at 110 years old and reminding her who he is if she gets Alzheimer's and forgets him. I actually feature the latter happening in the series finale--Mere has Alzheimer's and is remembering her life with Derek's help filling in the gaps.

That makes complete sense. Thanks for the explanation! I also wondered about what Photo Fox mentioned about the E911. I don't think it was stated, but logic would dictate that Ruby and her mom had to be pretty close to Seattle for GSM to be a reasonable choice of a hospital to call and for the rescue helicopter to take them to. Yes, I know Grey's isn't logical, though. I'd be surprised to learn that the Seattle area does not have E911. I'm sure Shonda & Co. wouldn't bother to research that, though.

You're right. I was thinking spoiler or episode description even though it was a side. My bad. I'm sorry about mixing it up. I would agree with Windsprints that the side did refer to Herman, but was changed.

I have a couple of questions regarding Ruby, her mom, 911, and the earthquake, because, like many of you, I'm bothered by the inaccuracies that Shonda tries to get away with... Question 1: Was it established that Ruby's mother's fall and subsequent injuries were caused by the earthquake? I'm trying to find out if the earthquake even hit their area. Question 2: Is it possible for an earthquake to affect the ability to trace a cellular phone location? Cellular technology is satellites, so the only way I can see this happening is if the ground equipment that the satellites communicate with was affected by the quake. I'm trying to figure this out, because I don't buy that the inability to locate them was only because of them being in a remote area. I'm physically disabled, so I have one of those Personal Emergency Response Systems/Lifelines/"Help I've fallen and I can't get up." systems. Mine is a more advanced system that works anywhere via a portable receiver that uses cellular and GPS technology. I've been in rural/remote areas with it, and every time I've tested it in those areas, the operators were able to pinpoint my location. Knowing how quickly and accurately my PERS responders were able to locate me really makes me skeptical about the Grey's story line unless there was more to it than I picked up on.

No, this exact scene was not in the episode. But as Windsprints said a few posts above mine, Grey's occasionally uses alternate scenarios in the sides. IMHO, this one could translate into the scene with Geena Davis and Arizona after the last MRI. Geena Davis would be Ms. Clauson and Arizona would be the assistant.

Ha! Totally agree! I recently rewatched Tocantins as well, and I have no idea how Sierra and Erinn didn't become homicidal towards Benny and Tyson. I also just finished rewatching Africa, and I'm adding Lex to my least favorites. Rupert almost seems tame in comparison to Lex in terms of being a self-righteous, entitled gasbag. The witch hunt over 1 stupid vote was asinine! And so much for his gut always being right considering that it wasn't Kelly who voted for him. What a D-Bag!

I sure wish wish people would start telling Mere that she's not the sun! Unfortunately, I suspect that the only person that there's even the slightest chance she would listen to is Cristina. And, unfortunately, I think hell will freeze over before Shonda will admit how bad that line was. Is it too much to hope that, since the sun is a giant ball of gas, Mere will explode into pink mist and we can be rid of her?