S11.E07: Could We Start Again, Please?

[windsprints]

I don't understand what happened to Derek's super-special research, so special that Obama wanted him in DC to do it.  Why isn't he continuing the research that got him all that attention from Obama in the first place?  Just because he decided not to go to DC to do it, why can't he continue his original research as planned?

I could not be remembering correctly but I think Derek agreed to move the entire research project to DC at the end of last season. It was moved there and setup in a new facility with Derek and Meredith ready to sign the papers for their new house. Meredith backed out and then Derek decided not to go. So, the research project still exists, its just in the facility the organization funding it wanted it to be, carrying on after Derek backed out.  He initially also had the research with Callie but he's no longer part of that after they (DC people) tried to cut Callie completely out.

Edited November 17, 2014 by windsprints

[kingshearte]

Well, Derek is the best person for the job only because as we saw, Amy was using her power to belittle her brother. She appears to me to be petty and sophomoric.

And he's not?

[LakeLover]

I don't think so, but then I don't hate Derek so there's that.

[KnitsWithRaceCars]

Neither do I, I just wish they would throw in a line about hiring a nanny or having someone watch the kids so that it doesn't look like they've just disappeared.

 

 

Which makes it even more unrealistic that they don't have someone helping with the school-run / after-school care.

 

I don't either, but I do want to see a sensible explanation for how we've gone from last season - when Meredith was so overwhelmed with being a mommy and a surgeon that Derek offered to step back from his job - to now, where Meredith is spending the evenings drinking with Alex and begging Derek to go to DC? Have they retconned a nanny in there somewhere?

 

Managing a dual-career household is one of the few relatable issues I see in this show, and I don't understand why Shonda and the writers can't handle it more intelligently.

 

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.

[oceanblue]

Is it any comfort that the children actors are actually with their real life parents?  I think we've beat this topic to death folks.

[taanja]

 

I think we've beat this topic to death folks

 

Not quite.

 

I admit. I am not a dedicated viewer anymore and more often than not I forget there are even children. But even I said to myself when Arizona walked into Meredith's (Ok Alex's) house --- Don't they have a child? who is watching their kid?

 

And then I remember that Meredith has not one but two! and I thought---who is with those kids? (<<<the answer to that was Derek sitting in the dark drinking ---that's who's home with the babies!)

 

Anyway.  I didn't get Derek's emo crap. What's the what with that? he tries and tries and he's so unhappy and ....what? Where did this come from? It made me feel bad for Meredith because true to Derek's nature --- he is going to drop the "I'm leaving you" bomb right into her lap---- probably as soon as the next ep. 

 

[PrincessTT]

Anyway.  I didn't get Derek's emo crap. What's the what with that? he tries and tries and he's so unhappy and ....what? Where did this come from? It made me feel bad for Meredith because true to Derek's nature --- he is going to drop the "I'm leaving you" bomb right into her lap---- probably as soon as the next ep. 

 

If he does leave her then I won't have sympathy for Meredith, the state of their marriage at the moment is largely her doing. 

 

Having said that, I hope that Derek snaps out of the state he's in soon. I admire his decision to turn down the DC job because he wants to be with his kids, but a happy dad that they skype/Facetime with every day and see at weekends would probably be better for them than being around unhappy emo dad every day.

Edited November 17, 2014 by PrincessTT

[taanja]

 

I won't have sympathy for Meredith

 

My sympathy is always with Meredith. Always and forever. She is the one character I like. (I miss Cristina!) And sure. She is being portrayed as kind of a shitty mother.

 

But hey! I always wondered how she got talked into have kids in the first place. She never seemed all that interested.

 

I know she always said she wanted to be better than Ellis--- but I find it kind of ironic and rather endearing if truth be told ---that she is indeed very much like her mother when it comes to ---well mothering! Kind of neglectful. I would love it if this show actually embraced that idea.

 

Not everyone should be a mother.

[PrincessTT]

Ever since the very first episode i haven't been able to stand Meredith, I don't like Derek either but he's more tolerable than her at the moment. 

 

I wonder if her desire to have kids stemmed from feeling almost like her body was failing her when she had the miscarriage and then the hostile uterus stuff. Like she wanted to get pregnant and have a baby just to prove to herself that her body could do it. Although she was the one who mentioned babies with Derek on a couple of occasions.

[LeGrandElephant]

Wouldn't Derek's "I don't know who I am" storyline been so much better after the plane crash while his hand was mangled and he didn't even know if he would be able to perform surgery at the same skill level, if at all? It feels so misplaced for where he is at in his life now.

 

Yeah, when they said he was at "rock bottom" I was like wait, THIS is rock bottom? What about the time you kept cutting pieces out of that woman's brain and then moped in the woods for however long? What about when you couldn't do surgery? Etc etc.

[SGfan]

I haven't read all of the comments yet, so I apologize of I'm repeating anything, but I was more than annoyed with the "rock bottom" response from Derek's sister. Ummm...you're a recovering drug addict talking about rock bottom with someone who I've never seen hit rock bottom except for maybe his hand issue after the plane crash, which is not rock bottom IMO. Who the eff are you to act all smart ass on your high horse to Derek, your brother, who as far as I can tell has saved your ungrateful ass more than once? That scene just didn't sit right with me. And I don't think Derek is perfect at all, but that was ridiculous.

[Guest]

I don't like any of the new characters. Maggie, Amelia, etc.  They alternate between being horrible and being boring. Sometimes, they are both at once.

 

This season is dragging.

[taanja]

 

44 minutes ago

 

I don't like any of the new characters. Maggie, Amelia, etc

 

I try never to even mention them when (and if) I bother to post. I am still in the denial stage with yet another sister for Meredith. Some of the other's I have never bothered to learn their names. The one living with Alex I call --that annoying child. And the one who is supposed to be Derek's sister? Oy! make her shut up!

 

[LakeLover]

[snipped]

 

Who the eff are you to act all smart ass on your high horse to Derek, your brother, who as far as I can tell has saved your ungrateful ass more than once? That scene just didn't sit right with me. And I don't think Derek is perfect at all, but that was ridiculous.

 

I'm glad you said this. Amy evidently 1) stole Derek's prescription pad to get drugs; 2) wrecked his car when she was high on drugs; 3) overdosed and Derek had to save her life; 4) wrote prescriptions for herself when addicted; 5) gave her/Derek's father's watch to her baby daddy; 6) sided with Addison after she cheated on Derek.

 

And Derek is the bad guy. I don't get it.

[oceanblue]

Derek deeply regrets giving up his dept head role and probably thinks Amelia should have offered to step aside when he decided to stay.  That's only human, as is not immediately taking the high road.  And as the poster above said, he's got a lot of resentment over her behavior when she was on drugs - he's expressed this before, and we know Derek has a very hard time expressing anger to Amelia.  There's a lot going on there, and I don't think there is a bad guy.

[izabella]

I thought it was the height of hypocrisy that the board members were looking at Derek as though none of them had ever hurt a loved one by doing something out of self-interest. 

[choclatechip45]

The only major issue I had with Derrick not defending Amelia is that he put her in an awkward place. She was given the impression he had let whomever needed to know about her past know it since he had hired it. So in that regards I thought he should of defended her.  Unless I completely misunderstood it which is completley possible.

[LisaM]

Maggie and Meredith seemed to have moved from being hostile to each other to being much more civil. When did this happen?

 

Board Member Arizona is opening up the hospital to potentially huge lawsuits for having knowledge of Geena Davis' character's brain tumor (can't recall the name) and failing to report it. Surely they could figure out a situation where the Dr continues to teach Arizona but doesn't touch patients, particularly in the OR? They are likely setting up a dilemma where the Dr is the only one who can save April's baby -- but may be precluded from operating by Jackson because of the tumor.

 

Really liked the final scene at Alex's house - reminiscent of early Grey's. Can't stand Jo.