KnitsWithRaceCars

Preach it! This is "the girl with abandonment issues" and she is driving Derek away?! I really hope Derek takes the kids, because he sure cares about his family far more than Meredith does anymore. What a witch! Unfortunately, I suspect she will play the victim. After all, she is THE SUN. Gag me! I am so PO'd! My stupid ABC affiliate aired POTUS--the only network in my area that did--so I missed about the first 15 minutes of Grey's and have no clue what happened to the girl patient or the soldier. I am not against the President's right to address America or anything like that. It's just par for the course for the local ABC affiliate to be the only ones to air it. They are totally greedy, arrogant, and ratings motivated, as well as delusional because many times they'll preempt shows (including Grey's) for football games because they truly believe that everyone in the state is a fan of the team. Sorry for the rant. It just bugs me.

True. Good point. I can see why DC would do that. I'm in the Midwest and hoping that won't happen here!

For those of us who are in Central and Eastern time zones... A friend emailed me this morning and told me that she heard on the radio that Obama is only going to be on cable networks. Hopefully that is correct!

IMHO, the only reason they did so well on TAR the first time is that they used ferns almost every leg. Their second time, when they didn't use ferns, they were out early.

In either season 9 or 10 there was an episode where one of MerDer's kids got passed from doc to doc to doc, including the interns, because the daycare was closed. At the end of the episode Bailey gave Mer her list of "Tuck Tested and Approved Babysitters." Now every time there's a scenario where the kids are seemingly unattended or unaccounted for, I can just convince myself that they're being watched by one of those babysitters. Given Zola's and Sofia's friendship, I can also convince myself that said babysitters would care for Sofia too. I do agree, however, that the occasional mention of a babysitter or nanny would be reassuring.

I'm willing to bet that Shane would've voted for Terry, based on his FTC comments. He said that Terry was the true Survivor and should have been sitting in the F2 rather than being a juror. I'm paraphrasing very loosely, but that is the gist of it. Was there anything revealed later that would contradict this? I just watched this season over the summer, but it was my first time seeing it, so I don't remember as many details. I do know that Jeffy did his usual show-of-hands poll at the reunion about who would have voted for whom if it had been Terry/Danielle rather than Aras/Danielle. I don't remember the results, though. Does anyone know?

I've always been under the impression that the girls are very close to the same age. Sofia was born a couple of episodes before the African orphans storyline began. Zola was an infant less than 1 year old when she came to SGMW--her first birthday was celebrated in mid season 8. So they're less than a year apart in age and likely at the same level for starting school. Does anyone know who the actor who played Papa Shep in the flashbacks was? He looked so familiar to me, but I can't figure out who he is. My cat and I are offended that Maggie (and apparently Shonda!) thinks that females who own cats and live alone are losers!

I have serious doubts about the money statement. He does what he needs to do to take care of himself and his family, but in no way is he the typical greedy, egotistical Hollywood star.

I was dreading all the "Bailey evaluates her lifestyle" or whatever it was, and at first glance during Thursday's episode I was relieved. But now the same dread is back... I SO, SO hope that it's not leading back to an OCD storyline. I cannot take any more of that over the top, horribly written story.

TAR has made it into my knitting... Also, a more general, but (IMHO) very cool example of TV and yarn work meeting... http://designedbydiana.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-hooker.html

Preach it! I find the nice, quiet teams like these ladies and Adam and Bethany far, far more enjoyable than scenery chewers.

I saw her in a commercial when I was in a Dr. office waiting room on Tuesday, and it's been bugging me because I couldn't remember what the ad was for. I'm glad you knew, TahitiGirl! I wonder if it's a new commercial that's being aired now to coincide with her TAR appearance. Still loving this team and I hope they continue to do well!

I love Jaybird! He'd get my vote for sure! He's adorable, and unlike Pete, was actually nice on the show, which is a huge selling point for me. Maybe he can win over the one judge by saying that he's "bum puzzled" about why she wouldn't want to see him advance in the competition. :-)

Interesting that you interpreted Meredith's expression that way. I saw the look as well and thought the exact opposite--that maybe she was realizing that she was reacting to Derek out of jealousy. We did see her admit to her envy of Cristina last season. Twice, in fact. Time will tell, I hope. I'm very glad that you asked and someone answered! I didn't know, and I was wondering as well.

Yup. Lead actors in a mega-hit show have a lot of influence, especially around contract negotiation times. I don't have a link or quote, but I know that Patrick and Ellen both went to Shonda during season 4 shooting and asked her not to break up MerDer or bring in Rose. Patrick and Ellen are smart, though, and know how to be diplomatic and not "bite the hand that feeds them." This in contrast to Heigl's diva act which has led to her being a Hollywood has-been.

Yeah, I think she's supposed to be. It's something shows do to try to make characters believable. Apparently show runners think the viewers are dumb and won't notice it. Shonda did it with Rose in season 4. Rose materialized out of nowhere in one of Derek's surgeries and we were later informed that she'd scrubbed in a number of his surgeries. I don't recall it really fooling anyone then either.

Outside of the race, there is no reason why she wouldn't be able to drive. There's technology to adapt vehicles to make it possible for almost anyone with the necessary cognitive, visual, and auditory abilities to drive. I drive an adapted vehicle which is a standard "assembly line" car that had the adaptive equipment installed 13+ years after it rolled off the assembly line. On the race, however, it could be a problem because adapted vehicles aren't readily available. As a disabled person, I don't like the fact that the praise about Bethany is necessary, but if it acts as a stepping stone towards it no longer being necessary, I'm okay with it happening.

Learn how to focus in environments filled with distractions. "Mind over matter." The Karma/"What goes around, comes around."/"You reap what you sow." factor increases exponentially on TAR. Therefore, "Pay it forward." and "Do Unto Others..." are the best practices in interpersonal situations. Overconfidence, bragging, etc. is a HUGE weakness. "Pride comes before a fall..." See: Karma, etc. YOU are the "stupid foreigners," not the people in the countries you visit! "Slow and steady wins the race." Set out to be the "tortoise" and you'll likely end up as the "hare."

I'm having difficulty finding a way that this season's tribe swap could have been rigged unless there was something marked on the buffs' wrappers or something else (not so) subtle that couldn't be revealed because of all the non-disclosure clauses in everyone's contracts. However, I'm finding the way the new tribes ended up with one almost exclusively blood and one almost exclusively water to be suspiciously convenient and related to the season's BvW theme. Is anyone else finding it suspicious?

Thanks for clarifying! That's a relief to me.

I have a very big fear that Jeff is going to do something unbelievably unethical, even for him... In the whole season preview at the end of the first episode, Partial spoiler tag in case a season preview might be considered a spoiler. My fear is that Jeff says someone has to make the sacrifice of quitting the game so that the rest of the tribe can have food. I would think that would open up the network, show, Jeff, etc. to a TON of potential litigation, but I'm not an attorney. Can anyone weigh in on possible legalities?

I know you were being funny, but there is the difference that, as far as we know, Derek and his sisters have always known each other. As a Patrick Dempsey fan, I think it would be a fun Derek backstory to explore what led them all to be doctors and choose their respective specialties, especially now that Amelia is on Grey's. Mods, is this something that can be discussed in the character threads if anyone else is Interested? Meredith said something about research a couple of times. According to this episode, she is also The Email Whisperer. Email would have been a much better way of introducing herself. For the record, in case Shonda tries to rewrite this too, she definitely didn't inherit that skill from Richard. He is very much not internet savvy. "Twitter?! What the hell is a twitter?!" "I'm looking at Bailey's teats on the internet." That one still cracks me up. He also mistakenly sent Jackson suggestive email that was intended for Catherine, and IIRC, he did it more than once. It was Season 2, after the hospital scenes. You might want to try the link again. It worked for me within the last hour. Maybe the site was overloaded or down when you tried it. Good point about little Meredith, especially since in 1983 "No non-essential people" was still pretty much the norm in delivery rooms. Someone as little as Meredith almost definitely wouldn't have been allowed. But this is Grey's Anatomy, and that wouldn't be an interesting enough story. Regarding Ellis Maidenname (LOL!), I agree that Ellis Grey was a Brand, and it was a Brand that she would not want tarnished by being the mother who abandoned her daughter.

Had to check and see if I was watching TAR or Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, ... Day by about 20 or so minutes in. Karma kicked Jim in his too-white teeth, and I loved every second of it! This has been a week of fantastic TV episodes for me! But why oh why did it have to be an NEL? Speaking of which, did Phil mention a Speed Bump for Misti and Jim on the next leg? Was it Brooke who illegally parked in the disabled spot and called it the "handyman" spot? Whoever it was is now forever on my sh*t list because I'm disabled and do not find it at all amusing when I can't get an accessible parking place because some sh*t wad has illegally parked. The editors disappointed me. I wanted to hear crickets chirping when the wrestlers were talking about their memories not being very good and Brooke pointed to her head and said there wasn't much there. Continuing to love Bethany and Adam and the Scientists. They're quiet, polite, respectful, supportive, and fairly competent--my favorite types of Racers. Loved Phil and the Scientist doing browsie at each other. Shelley and Nici both annoyed me this episode. Nici was being a brat, but risking elimination to teach a lesson wasn't cool on Shelley's part. I wanted that too! Maybe Phil needs a few negotiating and meanness lessons from Probst. Jeffy would've done that without a second thought! Does the Save really have the effect of eliminating the next-to-last team as someone upthread mentioned? I thought it just made the leg essentially an NEL by keeping the team that used it from elimination.

I got my laugh, and it was quite enjoyable!

1. Agree. His voice was dripping with venom when he said that. 2. Very strongly disagree. Derek accepted Lexie. In season 5 he tried to protect her from Mark. In season 8 he was shown as a great "big brother" to her, as well as a professional mentor to her in Neurosurgery. And he had a very anguished reaction when he found out that Lexie died in the plane crash. So it's completely in line with his character to accept another Grey sister. I also think that his smile, overall facial expression, and hug for Maggie were out of relief and understanding of what was going on with Meredith. His saying "Meredith isn't good with sisters." also showed that it was a relief and understanding type of reaction. Did anyone else pick up on Ellis' last words before the video of her cut off? "Where were we?" I wonder where she was in her career and Alzheimer's onset when she was giving that speech. I think that was intended for a kind of "Whoa..." or "Wow" reaction, which is exactly the reaction I had.