S11.E14: The Distance

[MilkMachine]

This is a nitpick for sure, but.

 

I found the fake Geena Davis face mask in the OR to be a little distracting.

 

Then when she was in recovery, they would cycle through the scenes with different lighting to show the passage of time. Most of the time it was the fake mask, but the evening lighting you could tell it was really GD. And it switched back and forth a bunch of times. For some reason I found that hilarious.

 

I am not sure if I would have noticed with another actor, but Davis does have a pretty famous face.

 

Speaking of her face, I feel like she's had more movement in her face in the past 3-4 episodes than she did when she first came on the show.

[RedheadZombie]

This is so true. A friend's father was asked to be a military consultant for a hugely popular movie. He told them about the proper procedures, pointed out errors in the script, etc. and then the producers chose to ignore his advice anyway. If it's frustrating for us as viewers to see huge holes in logic/glaring errors in protocol and logic, I can only imagine how much more annoying it is to be the consultant who told them they were doing it wrong and then see them DELIBERATELY choose to do it incorrectly anyway.

 

Some things don't bother me, like sheets that are blue and side rails all down.  But to this day it drives me crazy when a cannula is in wrong, empty IV pumps are parked next to the bed, and the monitors are making noises that I know mean they are disconnected from a patient.  They get a lot of the language right, and I think the technical things they do in surgery are very realistic.  Where they lose me are in ethical and privacy issues.  It's then that I have to remember that this is a night time soap opera.

[Eolivet]

I am in no way Amelia's biggest fan, so I went into this expecting to hate it. I actually liked it -- even more surprisingly, this was the most I've liked Amelia since...before the "winter finale?" I think because for the first time, she acted like a person (as much as anyone on Grey's does), and not just this soulless line-reading of neurosurgery knowledge and dead baby backstory. I found the surgery itself extremely underwhelming after all the build-up, but for once, I didn't think that was Amelia's fault. I found myself wishing they'd never done the last episode (or last two episodes) -- that we had been kept in the dark with how Amelia was going to approach this, or just heard bits and pieces about her approach. Because she played it so cocky in the last two episodes (and that's saying something, for this show) that it wasn't so much unsettling as it felt like poor character development to see her fall apart in the middle.

 

I think it was an extremely bad combination of short-handing character development by combining a sad Private Practice backstory with "I am a neurosurgery GOD and everyone bow down to me for attempting this impossible surgery" that made Amelia seem less like a fully formed character in her own right. But if they'd presented her more like she was here -- anxious, but confident, overwhelmed and vulnerable and finally sort of a big quirky dork -- I would've liked her more. She actually felt human, and not a poor imitation of the "strong woman" caricature she's been for the last couple weeks.

 

I don't care if her instinct is to stand like a superhero before and after a surgery -- it tells me more about her personality than all of her sanctimonious lectures about the humanity of tumors last week. Again, those seem like two entirely different people, and I like the former a lot better.

 

And if it hasn't been said enough, Geena Davis is a national treasure. I will miss her so much. Reaching for Robbins' hand...when I think of how far they've come in four and a half months... Now that is how you do character development, Grey's. So I know you haven't forgotten entirely.

[mojito]

Something I noticed in this episode and the last couple is how many times Arizona said "I can't". She said it in front of a patient, too, which I thought Hermann would get on her case about. She had confidence going into surgery, but then lost it again when it came to having to make decisions for Hermann. She must be the only doctor on this show who has doubts about herself.

 

Richard and Hermann seem to be the only ones on the show who look believable as experienced, wise doctors.

[Nobodysfan]

I am in no way Amelia's biggest fan, so I went into this expecting to hate it. I actually liked it -- even more surprisingly, this was the most I've liked Amelia since...before the "winter finale?" I think because for the first time, she acted like a person (as much as anyone on Grey's does), and not just this soulless line-reading of neurosurgery knowledge and dead baby backstory. I found the surgery itself extremely underwhelming after all the build-up, but for once, I didn't think that was Amelia's fault. I found myself wishing they'd never done the last episode (or last two episodes) -- that we had been kept in the dark with how Amelia was going to approach this, or just heard bits and pieces about her approach. Because she played it so cocky in the last two episodes (and that's saying something, for this show) that it wasn't so much unsettling as it felt like poor character development to see her fall apart in the middle.

 

I think it was an extremely bad combination of short-handing character development by combining a sad Private Practice backstory with "I am a neurosurgery GOD and everyone bow down to me for attempting this impossible surgery" that made Amelia seem less like a fully formed character in her own right. But if they'd presented her more like she was here -- anxious, but confident, overwhelmed and vulnerable and finally sort of a big quirky dork -- I would've liked her more. She actually felt human, and not a poor imitation of the "strong woman" caricature she's been for the last couple weeks.

 

I don't care if her instinct is to stand like a superhero before and after a surgery -- it tells me more about her personality than all of her sanctimonious lectures about the humanity of tumors last week. Again, those seem like two entirely different people, and I like the former a lot better.

 

And if it hasn't been said enough, Geena Davis is a national treasure. I will miss her so much. Reaching for Robbins' hand...when I think of how far they've come in four and a half months... Now that is how you do character development, Grey's. So I know you haven't forgotten entirely.

I can´t believe you like Amelia, this episode only cemented my detest of her.

[gunderda]

I'm glad to see I am not alone in my feelings for Amelia... I have never warmed up to that character and really not sure why.  But I wish she would go away. 

they need to bring back some of the veterans and give them more exciting storylines again. 

What was with April when they were leaving the hospital? I wasn't completely paying attention but it was foreshadowing to something - are they trying to write her off??

She seemed like she was scared of the hospital now.

[Diana Berry]

Just watched this episode and a little confused.

I know Hermann realized the tumor was causing vision problems before the surgery. Did Amelia , before doing the surgery, know that Hermann would end up being blind? Or did Amelia do something during that caused the blindness during surgery? Her reaction when testing Hermann after waking up appeared that she wasn't expecting the blindness.

Also, when looking the scans , they catch that a stoke happened. Did the stroke have anything to do with causing the blindness or was that just the cause of Hermann being slow to wake up?

Thanks in advance.

[pennben]

As of now, we don't know the answers to those questions.

[WearyTraveler]

I think they discussed several risks to the operation in previous episodes.  Anything from leaving Herman paralyzed, deaf, blind or mute if Amelia cut too much. 

 

From what I gathered during the episode, Amelia was not expecting blindness because she was sure she had cut out the tumor and nothing else.  I thought they implied the stroke, and not the tumor, was the cause for Herman's eyesight problems before the surgery, in which case it wasn't anything Amelia did during surgery.  Herman was going to end up blind or with a diminished eyesight anyway.  Also, I think another implication might have been that because of the stroke, parts of the brain were not receiving enough blood during the surgery.  But I'm not sure about that last one.

[windsprints]

I thought they implied the stroke, and not the tumor, was the cause for Herman's eyesight problems before the surgery, in which case it wasn't anything Amelia did during surgery.

 

I thought the vision problems before the surgery was the cause too (not sure when the stroke happened). During the surgery Amelia said she cleared the optic nerve so I'm unsure how that could have blinded Herman.

[Muffyn]

I think they were implying the stroke caused Dr. Hermann's coma.  At the time they spotted it they were focusing on why she didn't wake up post surgery.  Since she waited until the tumor affected her eyesight, the blindness was more likely caused by the surgery since Amelia would have to cut very close to the optic nerve.  The implication here is that, if Dr. Hermann had done the surgery earlier, she would have a better chance of having kept her sight.  

[WearyTraveler]

I think you're absolutely right, Muffyn!

[Catherinewriter]

There was once a character on Grey's named Christina. Remember her? God, I miss her.

[LakeLover]

I loved Cristina, and I am surprised at how much I don't miss her. However, if I could trade Amelia for her I would in minute.

Speaking of minutes, those are what I'm counting waiting for Derek Shepherd to return.