KnitsWithRaceCars

Maybe they'll do a shout out to PD and make it a "Transformers" thing. :-) This was the first PD info I've seen since Derek went to DC. I hope you're recalling correctly that he's in 11x16!! You can say that again!! They should change this season's tagline from "The season of Meredith" to "The season of recycled storylines!!" I think that the only formula for life that Shonda knows is "Wash, rinse, repeat."

I saw a picture of Patrick on the set on Instagram last night. He's filming again. According to the person who posted it, it's episode 11x18 that's being filmed.

Mere has now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is NOT the sun. The sun fulfills its responsibilities of being a source of warmth and light. Derek and the kids don't deserve her and she certainly doesn't deserve them. Derek, Zola, and Bailey deserve way more. Mere deserves Nothing! @Lakelover, once again your post deserves an infinite number of likes for all of Eternity!

Thanks Windsprints! I hadn't seen the CTV promo. Mer has a strange look on her face in the hotel room part. My curiosity is piqued...

It's the hospital elevator in both the promo and sneak peek. The promo stuff is just a shortened version of the sneak peek. I'm considering the Alzheimer's possibility because of all the Ellis flashbacks and parallels this season.

I was thinking that it might have something to do with Alzheimer's as well. Either a test, or she got confused and ended up somewhere besides Seattle or DC for the weekend. Or maybe she forgot what was happening and just wandered around the Seattle airport all weekend. My other thought is maybe she went to Boston to try to get more info about Ellis and/or Maggie.

@LakeLover if I could give your post an infinite number of likes for all of eternity, I would. I wanted to reach in my TV and beeyotch slap Meredith all the way to Washington DC. Count me among those who were immensely relieved at Debbie Allen's unusually understated performance. I too cringe when I see that she's in front of the camera. I'm not sure who's worse, Debbie Allen or Sally Field as Abby's mother on ER. I also very much like Debbie Allen's short hair. Regarding death certificates: I have copies of the death certificates for many of my relatives, having obtained them while doing family history research. My most recent one is my grandfather's, and he died in 1996. I cannot recall seeing a family member's signature on any of them--they all just have signatures from doctors. I think that April and Jackson having to sign the death certificate was either another Shondaland mistake or something they thought they could get away with and use for dramatic effect.

Worst. Episode. EVER! We got a Cristina ghost, but no Derek ghost/flashback/"Previously"?? This episode may be the beginning of the end of me being a viewer, as Patrick Dempsey is/was the only reason I continue(d) to watch. I wonder if Shonda learned from her Season 4 mistake (**cough**arrogance**cough**) with Isaiah Washington, and it's now legal for her to use actor/character likenesses when they're no longer on the show. If she was smart, she would've put that in all the actors' contracts after IW busted her, but who knows. ETA: I kept waiting for #CureDeath to show up on the screen during the tumor surgery. And I'm surprised that the tumor wasn't a giant sun when Mer lifted it out of the patient. /sarcasm

OK. I agree that the memory task should've been right up the dentists' alley. I got hung up on your 4 years comment. Misti very much struggled with the sandwich memorization roadblock early in the race, so apparently rote memorization isn't her thing, at least not when she's under pressure to do it in as little time as possible. It seems as though, just like the Surfers, they made a mistake in not anticipating the final task being a memory one. Misti should've done the stunt jump so that Jim could do the memory task.

The Scientists are graduate students pursuing their PhDs. A PhD degree is a minimum of 4 years, and often requires longer than that. Therefore, if the dentists have more schooling, the only reason is because they started theirs before the scientists and have completed their degrees. Although now that I think about it, Jim most likely has more education than Misti and potentially more than the scientists will because he's an orthodontist. Orthodontics is a specialty that requires education past the DDS degree. Stunt People and film crews are union. I think that Phil was just playing into the "Hollywood" theme and being cliche. He also told Brooke and Robbie that they had missed their call time. I really thought it was Phil who did the stunt jump that the wrestlers watched. When they re-aired it after the commercials, I looked really hard to see if there was some way he could've done it. The person who did the jump rolled off the mat on the side where Phil walked out from, so it's possible that it was him and changed clothes, but they edited it to look like he walked out right after the jump. I also didn't think Bethany was rude to the fireman. I thought she said "sorry" when she explained that she was in a race, but maybe not. Even if she didn't apologize, at least she explained that she was in a race and had to hurry. She didn't just ignore being recognized or say anything rude, unlike how a lot of celebs behave. To me, that's like saying that if you're married for more than 3 months or so then you're no longer in the "married" category. It's the name of a whole stage to me. Dating, engaged, married. The term "dating" comes from going out on dates, although engaged and married couples still go out on dates. I am so happy that Amy and Maya won!! I cheered when they got out of the taxi at the finish line and laughed at Maya jumping on Phil. Now Madtown is 2 for 2 on TAR, and I believe that WI is 2 for 3. The 3rd team (the Grandfather/Grandson team--I can't remember which season) went pretty far as well.

These posts make me wish that there was a "Like to Infinity and Beyond" button that I could use to show how much I like and agree with them! These cut-ins totally take away from the atmosphere and strip me of my ability to lose myself in the show. And they are nothing more than Jeffy being self-serving and trying to meet his needs that stem from his form of "Attention Deficit Disorder." Honestly, I would rather have to sit through twice as many commercials than even the slightest segment of these cut-ins. And I hate commercials. I wish Survivor could do for the finales what some serial shows have done--find a single sponsor who would agree to a limited commercial interruption Survivor finale in exchange for some product placement. The only thing I will give Jeffy credit for this time is that at least he stated that the questions were viewer questions rather than moronically asking them like he didn't know the answers. Just like his "What's your name" questions during the premieres. He looks and sounds so utterly stupid when he tries to act like he doesn't know these things. Oh, they definitely know ahead of time who is going to make the grand speeches. I've seen a lot of YouTube videos of talking heads with the jurors prior to FTC and the jurors are giving their perspectives on the F2/F3 and what their mindsets are in terms of addressing the finalists. That's how the likes of Spencer Bledsoe and David Murphy get to make their great speeches which are immediately followed by the voting. Of course, I'm giving TPTB the benefit of the doubt that the jury THs are actually before FTC. I agree with whoever mentioned Kim Spradlin and Denise Stapley. Sorry I didn't quote that person. I know some people argue that Kim's competition was weak, but she dominated from start to finish, and I'm more than willing to wager that she is smart enough and has more than enough social skills to take on the best of the best and dominate them. She is the kind of player that other players want to see go far in the game--like JT in Tocantins. Isn't Denise the only winner, female or male, to have survived every tribal and won? She is a true Survivor in the literal sense of the word. I disagree with Sophie Clarke being a strong winner. Her social game was so abysmal that she was lectured by Ozzy about being an entitled brat. The only things she did right were winning final immunity and aligning herself with players whose social games were even more abysmal than hers. And she had the benefit of having one of her allies being a returning player, so she had a very good idea of how he would play. I consider that an advantage that substantially weakens her ranking against other winners. Nat is definitely right up there as a strong winner in my opinion. She played against quite a few loose cannons and handled them masterfully. UGH!! I'm calling it now: The "White Collar" tribe will be the second coming of the Cagayan "Brains" tribe and will self-destruct in no time because they're all used to being the leaders who make decisions and give orders, so nobody will listen to anyone else and "demote" themselves to being a doer. Or they'll be totally inept at doing things, a la Garrett and J'Tia. The "No Collar" tribe will be so wrapped up in their "I do what I want when I want" mentality that nobody will do what needs to be done before not having it done is a huge detriment. On the upside, it should be entertaining for the viewers, provided that the players aren't overly obnoxious. It's to be expected that Nat got so little time to speak at the Reunion. She's female, and Jeffy is a sexist, misogynist pig. The only winners who get any significant amount of attention are the alpha males. Remember how much time Jeffy spent trying to redeem Tony during the Cagayan finale. IMHO, that would be the second worst F3 in history. The South Pacific trio of Sophie, Benny, and Albert is the worst one in my opinion. Slack-jawed Alec was the Venus Flytrap of Nicaragua. Tongue-out Wes was the frog on his lily pad snagging innocent flies that flew too close. If anyone had told me at the start of this season that I'd be cheering for a Twinnie at the end, I'd have thought they were crazy. I cannot stand people constantly bickering and screaming at each other regardless of any other traits. I don't find that kind of "drama" to be at all entertaining. But I never questioned the Twinnies' intelligence, strategic abilities, or competitiveness when they were able to work as a team. The right Survivor definitely won this season. I'm 1 for 1 on desired winners so far this season. Here's hoping that TAR brings me to 2 for 2 with a win by the Surfers or the Scientists, the Dentists finishing 3rd, and Brooke finally getting her karmic comeuppance by having to watch the Scientists in particular but also the Surfers cross the finish line.

HUGE congrats to Nat!! She played a fantastic game. It's great to have another strong, smart female winner!

Yeah, that would make for an easy season for John Kirhoffer. Every challenge could just be about who can illegally block the most disabled parking places, access zones, and ramps, and who can do it the quickest and most efficiently. UPS and FedEx drivers excel at those things and are some of the most prolific offenders. The competition between them would be cutthroat.

Definitely disgusting. Remind me not to be eating during this episode! I believe I've heard of something like this also, though. While the medical cases on Grey's do tend to get outlandish, I believe that, like ER, they are always based on true medical cases.

He was medevac'd, and for good reason. He had an allergic reaction to all the bug bites he had and was having trouble breathing. It was a legitimate medevac, not a medevac used to quit like some players (*coughColtoncough*). Edited because, while bug bites can be big, "big bites" are not necessarily the same as "bug bites." That's what I get for posting when I'm super tired. :-)

I'm also a spoiler ho. Would someone please PM me the content of the promo? Thanks!

I think there's a high probability of seeing Brooke's picture next to the definition of "mean girl" in a phrase dictionary. The longer she's been in the Race, the more I've wanted her gone. Here's hoping she gets a swift and very hard karmic kick in the pants and doesn't make it to the final leg!

I haven't noticed any uptalk from Bethany, and she definitely does not "baby talk." I paid extra attention the past couple of episodes in case I was missing something. Her sentence structure, word usage, and grammar are fine, and I don't hear her sounding like every sentence is a question. I think she just has a higher pitched voice that, at the same time, is very mellow, and she speaks slowly. As Lingo said, it's not immature or "baby talk," and as Riley702 said, it's just the way she talks and people do not all talk the same way. Adam sounds pretty "generic Midwest America" to me, even though I consider Kansas to be more a part of the Great Plains than the Midwest. The speech in the 2 regions is very similar, though. I don't pick up on Adam having some of the idiosyncrasies of the Upper Midwest speech like I know I have (I've lived in IL and WI all but 3 years of my 40+ years), but he sounds pretty much like the people I've been around most of my life.

Do you find that ice cream "revigorates" and "injuvenates" you? I remember thinking how scary it was that Mama Weevil was home schooling the kids because she seemed so uneducated. Rolly is the boy's name--a contraction of Roy Lee. He seemed like a decent kid. Mama and the girls were cray cray, though. It was the episode with the bus ride down south that it showed the most, as someone else noted. Mama and the girls were complaining that the Race was holding them prisoner on the bus and they had no right to do that. They made the bus driver stop at a restaurant so they could eat, then Mama and the girls were running and jumping in the parking lot. I seem to remember that they were recruited for the Race after all the national attention from the husband/father being killed. Season 5 is near and dear to my heart because it's the first one I watched. Mirna and Schmirna are one of my least favorite teams of all-time, though. Especially Mirna. She even came across as a bully towards Charla, IMHO. The hourglass twist was called the Yield. This is also the first season where there was a penalty for coming in last on an NEL.

I believe that both ferns and begging are against TAR rules now. I remember there being some discussion of ferns being disallowed sometime in the "teens" seasons, and it's been many season since any team has been shown using them in the traditional sense of having them essentially be tour guides. I know for sure that paying taxis to lead you when you're driving yourself was made illegal awhile back--there were clips of teams specifically saying that they couldn't do it. I also know that teams can no longer use non-monetary items to pay their taxi drivers--there was a team that accidentally did it and they received a time penalty. I absolutely despise Jeffy. I'm female, and I have zero tolerance for misogyny from anyone, so him being so blatant about it infuriates me. That said, if the day ever comes that those rumors come to fruition and Rob hosts the show, that will be the day I stop watching. I'm with you about BvW. I think my biggest problem with it, though, is that it gives so many more opportunities to Jeffy to be a melodramatic tool. And we've seen even more misogyny this season with all the "protect your woman" garbage. Interesting about R/A on TAR. I don't recall that, probably because I try to forget them as much as I can. I just remember being ecstatic that they were eliminated.

Thank you. That is what I meant. Unless the woman from DC was the female incarnation of the ghost of Denny Duquette, the job offer itself was definitely real. I just thought the way Derek was talking made it seem like he was faking the phone conversation. Also, he's tried to set up Meredith before. He did it with the dream house plans when they broke up in season 4. Therefore it wouldn't surprise me if he did it again.

He was pretty awesome. IMO, it will be hard for anyone to beat my all-time favorite, though... "Welcome to Booooodapest, Hungary!" *Cracks whip* Why? Honest question. Is there something I don't know about Malta? I'm singing loud and clear in the chorus of "STFU Brooke!" I was so glad when Robbie finally told her to knock it off. KF appears to be hitting hard. Even the normally calm teams got flustered. The nicknames were funny. Jim momentarily redeemed himself with me by choosing "Molar." And I adored "Cookies and Cream." Which team was it that acknowledged Phil when they ran by him? I've enjoyed seeing Phil and racers at the tasks at the same time. It's a behind-the-scenes view type of thing that shows how much production has to scramble to be at the right places at the right times. I fear for Amy and Maya's longevity in the Race because they're so nice and I like them so much. I'm torn about who I'd rather have win--these ladies or Bethany and Adam. I relate so much to Bethany and Adam, because I share their faith and because of having physical limitations to overcome like Bethany does. But Amy and Maya are so adorable and I love how much fun they're having and how much they appreciate their opportunity to see the world. The Friday night time slot really works well for me. I love not having it delayed by sports I don't give a crap about. Overall a great season thus far. The best in several years.

I think April's pregnancy may have even aired before Sarah Drew got pregnant. I know for sure the storyline started airing at least before SD announced her pregnancy to the general public. They also didn't write in Ellen Pompeo's pregnancy. Hers was the reason for the storyline of Meredith donating part of her liver to Thatcher, then being home in bed recovering from surgery. There's a scene in the first episode of that storyline where Meredith is pacing around trying to decide whether she's going to help Thatcher. While she's pacing, she has her hands in the pockets of her lab coat and is pulling her lab coat out to both sides and forward. She is also being filmed from a distance that I estimated to be maybe 25 feet, and it's from Derek's and Cristina's POV as they're watching her. I think the lab coat position and the distance were to allow them to show more of EP/Mer while still hiding EP's pregnant belly. I didn't say this in any of my previous posts about this epi because I wasn't sure I was really seeing and hearing this, but a rewatch earlier tonight made me more certain... In the last MerDer scene, did Derek's phone dialing and the pace of his end of the phone conversation seem rushed and off to anyone? It really did to me. There weren't enough key tones when he was dialing for what I would think would have to be a number that included an area code. I know this is a common goof on TV, but it ties into my overall observation and wonderings. Then when he was supposedly having a two-way conversation with the woman from DC, the pace of his lines sounded to me like the woman he was supposedly speaking to didn't have time to say the things that Derek was supposedly responding to. It seemed very unnatural and fake to me, which leads me to wonder if Derek really was faking the whole call in an attempt to see if Mer was bluffing about telling him to go to DC. I'm sure Derek was angry and probably hurt when he was doing that, and I guess that could account for it seeming off, but it seemed to me to be more off than that. Thoughts anyone?

I have a sinking suspicion that it's leading back to her OCD. Health is a known potential obsession for those with OCD. She's been a bitch since last season when the whole Washington deal started. I understood it then, because he did go back on a promise, but now, IMHO, she's being totally unreasonable. In her eyes, he can't do anything right. I totally agree about him taking the kids. He's a far better parent.

Thanks for the link, Windsprints. Unfortunately, based on what I've seen before, I suspect that there are a lot of 12 year olds crying right now thinking that MerDer is over. And what makes it worse is that they're giving Shonda the exact reaction she wants and feeding her ego. That's a big part of the reason I tend to be so blunt and cynical. I can't stand drama queens.