S13.E08: The Room Where It Happens

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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A critical surgery brings back pivotal memories for Meredith, Owen, Stephanie and Richard as they band together to save a life.

Promo:

[Adeejay]

A McDreamy sighting.  Squee.  Did Patrick make an actual cameo or was that a flashback?

[Ohwell]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Amethyst]

Wow, a Derek sighting and the kids?  Goodness!  Well, two of the kids and possibly a flashback, but I'll take it.

Yeah, we're definitely gonna see Megan in the flesh.  Not feeling that hair color on Bridget Regan.  Can't believe that's Dottie from Agent Carter.

Knew exactly who Gail was when Richard mentioned her kids.  

[Greysaddict]

Its too bad the timing of this episode was awful because the episode itself was fantastic.   The direction was really great and so was the acting (little Stephanie- so cute!).  It really is a shame that they scheduled it one episode before the mid-season break, and at a time where basically all the storylines have already been stalled for several episodes. 

I’m guessing since they introduced us to Megan Hunt, we’ll be seeing her again real soon.  I loved the scene of Meredith telling the kids that Derek had died, but I kept thinking how much happier the general fandom would have been for that or a similar scene was show back in S11.  But, regardless I did think it was gut-wrenching and great. 

I sort of wonder if they stuck in this episode randomly because they had an extra week/episode before the finale this year.  Seasons 11 and 12 only had 8 episodes in the first block.  It was definitely filmed out of order, like many others this year, because the title was originally thought to be episode 5 or 6 I believe. 

They clearly couldn't have cared less that Bailey aged 2 years in Meredith's memories.  LOL

15 minutes ago, Adeejay said:

A McDreamy sighting.  Squee.  Did Patrick make an actual cameo or was that a flashback?

definitely a flashback but I don't remember which episode. 

Edited November 11, 2016 by Greysaddict

[TVAddict]

OMG, this was such a mess of an episode.  I hate retcon and I hate when they show attending and chief surgeons who are impaired due to ridiculous overwork.  Combine those two things and I really hate it.  And I hate strident overwrought Meredith, even if she did make up for it at the end. 

[readster]

Problem was with this episode, everything was just thrown out. Even though we got a lot of back story on Richard, Steph a long delayed flashback with Meredith. The showing up of Megan just reconfirms she is going to show up as soon as Riggs comes clean about him and Meredith. Also, so much retcon with Owen: "I don't upset." Oh bullshit, all he has been since day 1: "I can't marry a woman who wants kids." "I blame everyone else for things they didn't do ruining my life." "I can be an administrator, because it's too political." "Damn, I should have seen in a PTSD shrink since I left." "Why be honest, I just need to lose my mind in the middle of crisis." Oh shut up!

[Court]

I went in expecting to hate this episode but I thought it was fantastic. Loved little Stephanie, McDreamy, and the ending scene between Mere and Richard.

[kurtz]

With all its flaws, I still enjoyed the episode. I didn't need to multitask whilst watching. A good stand alone.  

[Gladrags]

Too much screaming and shouting and interrupting for me. You ever notice how shrill every character on this show is when they're stressed and/or angry? 

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, Greysaddict said:

They clearly couldn't have cared less that Bailey aged 2 years in Meredith's memories.  LOL

Right?! Wasn't Bailey still little enough to be in a stroller in the Derek-dies episode?

[Emily Thrace]

This episode felt oddly like clip show. It had some good moments but I didn't feel like the whole thing gelled. Owen flashback was weird tonally. Although now that I know Bridget Reagan is Owen sister I'm actually excited to see her on the show.

[upperco]

This offering was simply constructed and more character-concerned than prior one-off gimmicks, but its inherent power was negated by a pretentious and ostentatiously self-important style. I would have preferred watching a contentious realtime surgery without any of the overbearingly "arty" trappings; as always, more proved to be less, even if the intentions (rooted in character) were noble this time. 

Edited November 11, 2016 by upperco

[WhosThatGirl]

I felt underwhelmed by the episode honestly. There was a nice Meredith moment there but otherwise eh. Maybe this is just a week where my overwrought emotions are actually sadly in real life right now, it's hard to muster any of my feelings towards this show anymore.

And Owens sister by the way is totally a tv forum poster ("you should have married her! Then you would have had the family you want").

[chocolatine]

3 hours ago, Amethyst said:

Yeah, we're definitely gonna see Megan in the flesh.  Not feeling that hair color on Bridget Regan.  Can't believe that's Dottie from Agent Carter.

She's also Rose/Sin Rostro on Jane The Virgin. I'm so used to her playing an over-the-top murderous villain on that show, it will be hard to buy her as the exalted Megan Hunt.

The flashback with the kids rang false, and not just because Bailey was suddenly aged up. I didn't buy the kids taking the news so calmly and just quietly hugging Meredith; both of them would have already been close to melting down from being cooped up in a strange place for hours past their bedtime (IIRC, it was already dark when the cops showed up at the Bainbridge Island house). I guess the Grey-Shepherd kids are the lowest maintenance children of all time, at least that's something the show is being consistent with.

The other flashbacks left me cold.

Edited November 11, 2016 by chocolatine

[Muffyn]

I am not comfortable thinking surgeons are having full audio and visual hallucinations while operating.  Thanks, show, for that nightmare scenario.  

[Chas411]

Whether or not the episode was great and I'm sure it was it's just furthers my opinion that Shonda has her favourites and not every character/actor on the show gets these opportunities. It's so disappointing. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This episode felt like the show was trying too hard to do a concept episode. Although it was nice to see Derek again and it was also nice that the show remembered Meredith has kids, this episode just didn't do it for me. But thanks, show, for making me paranoid that if someone ever operates on me, they will be hallucinating about past patients and dead family members while ripping my innards to shreds and arguing with each other.

[berwoman]

When I saw the slow-motion, stylized entrance, I thought "Oh crap, they're all going to sing again..." 

[Joana]

So, Stephanie was sick as a child, Owen's sister is missing and Meredith's husband died - WHO KNEW???!! Too bad Jo wasn't in this episode to remind us that she used to live in her car. And they're all such good people and care SO much about their patients even when they're dead tired. God, this show. Whose brilliant idea was it to have a filler episode right before the winter finale after literally nothing has happened all season long so far? I swear I might finally give in and throw in the towel after the winter finale if they pull off something ridiculous, like I fully expect them to.

And yeah, if Bridget Reagan is Owen's sister, it should definitely mean we'll see more of her. I too know her as Rose on Jane the Virgin, so I kinda hope she'll reprise her role as a homicidal sociopath here as well. Because, why not. Certainly can't get any less interesting than this nothingness.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Joana

[BaseOps]

I thought this was a nice break from the current storylines, honestly. At first I was a bit weary of the gimmicks, and some bits were a little cheesy, but it worked nicely overall, especially the ending. Meredith talking to Zola about Derek dying was a real gut-punch, and seeing Derek at the end was a nice surprise. I didn't mind that Bailey and Zola had aged, because it seemed like Meredith was imagining them as they are now rather than as they were the day Derek passed. I also loved seeing Richard get some focus. 

I liked following one surgery a bit more closely - as someone said, it's easy to forget that these surgeons are usually standing over an open body for hours. I also liked seeing little Steph, because it helps justify to me why Steph is such a star in her resident class. I think Jerrika is a really great actress, so I wish they had done more like this for her character earlier on. I've always found it really hard to connect with her. 

Overall, I thought it was a solid. Next week should be a interesting, for sure. 

Edited November 11, 2016 by BaseOps

[Biggie B]

It was sort of nice to have an episode that didn't have 875 different characters in it (although it did introduce a new one, Hunt's sister).

The child who played young Stephanie was excellent, and truly looked like adult Stephanie. Good casting that highlighted and supported that thread of the story.

Yes, seeing Zola and her brother as older than they were when Derek died was quite a goof that ruined the moment for me.  I understood its purpose and that its emotional impact would not have been as intense had the kids been truly too young for Meredith to actually talk to them in the way she did, but the inconsistency in their ages was a distraction that took me away from the scene's content.

Another glimpse of Derek, perfectly done, completely right for that moment - rang totally true for me, just as it did when Meredith and Riggs had a discussion of seeing/hearing their deceased loved ones.

I found Richard's flashback too tedious. Unlike Owen's and Meredith's, in which we knew instantly to what and to whom they were flashing back, I didn't really appreciate or get into the "game" of Richard's flashback. Some people figured it out within a moment that she was his mom, but I did not. Thus, I didn't connect with Gail and she had less of an impact on me. I liked Owen's sister - she was giving him shit (or, as a hallucination, I suppose he was giving himself shit), saying stuff he didn't want to hear. I look forward to her arrival, I just hope she won't have amnesia or something - I want her as I saw her here.

Overall, an OK episode - a breather leading up to next week's winter finale, in which all hell appears to break loose.

[dmc]

Man, this is why shows shouldn't have 12 seasons because there is a point where you told every story there is to tell and all you get is repetition. 

This episode wasn't horrible by any means but nothing new.

Things I would like to see happen:

Jo and Alex talk and resolve things (this doesn't mean I want them together because I don't).  But it's legit unbelievable that they work in the same place and used to be engaged and haven't had one real conversation. 

Address Meredith and Riggs...I mean WTF happened there?  I don't care about them as a couple because BLAH but still...don't act like it didn't happen.

Stop with whining Owen...I mean does anything good or enjoyable happen to Owen...can we see him without some sort of angst for one episode...he gets no lighthearted scenes?  I mean can I get an Owen scene that just involves watching the game or hanging with Alex...not bogged down by PTSD or Amelia or whatever. 

I am glad Stephanie got a story line because I actually enjoy her

[Primetimer]

Four doctors, one complicated surgery, and a series of imaginary visitations results in a valuable lesson learned.

View the full article

[Mama No Life]

I was hoping Little Stephanie would die.  Because she was annoying as hell.

 

This show is sooo done.

[photo fox]

Shut the fuck up, Richard.  Geez!  If I'm on the table and people have their hands inside me, please stop distracting them by making them create tall tales about me.  Treat me like a bag of organs.  I'm fine with that, as long as that means they're actually concentrating on that bag of organs, and not people who aren't even in the room.

Shut the fuck up, Owen's sister.  See my note above to Richard.

Little Steph can stay.  She was adorable, and actually, you know, helpful.

I generally dislike Meredith, and Ellen Pompeo doesn't do much for me as an actress, but she killed me in that scene with Zola.  Full on tears.  (And I don't even cry watching This Is Us.)

[StaceyNotStacie]

I didn't mind the back stories, but I really didn't care for the episode as much. It seemed to drag on a bit. The only thing I can think of with Meredith and the kids was that she was thinking of the patient's children and her kids were used in the moment. I did get a bit teary eyed when they showed Derek. 

It did concern me that they had so many surgeons working on such little sleep. 

[Biggie B]

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It did concern me that they had so many surgeons working on such little sleep. 

That is indeed a scary thought...bad enough you're having emergency, life-saving surgery, but to think it's being done by people who are physically and mentally compromised makes it even worse. As with likely many people here, I've had several major surgeries, but all were scheduled in advance, so in theory anyway, my surgeons arrived fresh and ready to roll. Only one of my surgeries was done in the late afternoon (5 p.m.), and yes, I did worry about the surgeon being tired by then. When Meredith said at the end that she just pushed through it, I believed her, but still...

[DearEvette]

I wasn't sure what I thought about this episode.  But after it was done I decided I liked it.  It was different and a little pretentious in some places, but I liked the tight focus on one surgery and I liked spending time with just a small number of people.  I probably would have swapped Owen out for ... Riggs maybe, but only because I am not a big Owen fan.  But even he didn't bug me too much.  It is nice to get away from the Jolex this and the Japril that and the Omelia something or other have a stand alone to concentrates a little bit more on medicine and method.

Looks like next week is gonna be a doozy!

[timimouse]

21 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I wasn't sure what I thought about this episode.  But after it was done I decided I liked it.  It was different and a little pretentious in some places, but I liked the tight focus on one surgery and I liked spending time with just a small number of people.  I probably would have swapped Owen out for ... Riggs maybe, but only because I am not a big Owen fan.  But even he didn't bug me too much.  It is nice to get away from the Jolex this and the Japril that and the Omelia something or other have a stand alone to concentrates a little bit more on medicine and method.

Looks like next week is gonna be a doozy!

These are my exact sentiments. I wasn't sure at first because the episode didn't fit with the rest of the season. But overall, I didn't hate it. I really liked focusing on just a few people as opposed to everybody getting 2 mins of screen time. And I also am not an Owen fan, so would've preferred anybody else but him. The acting was good though, even if the script may have been a bit weak at times. I love Steph so I'm glad they're showing her strengths. I am growing wary of Richard though, I think it may be time for him to take a seat. 

[h8omb]

As a standalone episode this was... fine. Not terrible, but nothing memorable. There are so many characters who have backstories I would love to learn more about and Meredith, Richard and Owen aren't among them. Alex had a mentally ill parent and grew up in foster care and group homes. Jo apparently also grew up in foster care and ultimately ended up living in her car and putting herself through medical school. Arizona grew up gay in a military family and lost her brother in combat. Jackson grew up in a wealthy, powerful family with biracial parents and was abandoned by his father when he couldn't handle the pressure of his life. Maggie was adopted at birth and was some sort of child prodigy who was bullied in school and ended up graduating college at 18 or something outrageous like that. Riggs has an interesting backstory (albeit closely tied to Owen's) but I barely even remember that he's on the show anymore.

There is so much untapped potential in so many characters. I love Richard, like Meredith, and am indifferent at best on Owen, but we've already looked into all of their pasts in detail. They were all strange choices for this episode, in my mind.

[iMonrey]

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The showing up of Megan just reconfirms she is going to show up as soon as Riggs comes clean about him and Meredith.

Wait, what? Isn't she dead? Is this speculation or are there spoilers out there somewhere? Good grief, a character coming back from the dead? I know this show is basically a medical soap opera but sheesh. Next thing you know someone will have an evil twin.

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Shut the fuck up, Richard.  Geez!  If I'm on the table and people have their hands inside me, please stop distracting them by making them create tall tales about me.  Treat me like a bag of organs.  I'm fine with that, as long as that means they're actually concentrating on that bag of organs, and not people who aren't even in the room.

That was basically my reaction- I spent the first fifteen minutes just annoyed as hell with Richard. This seems more like the kind of training technique you would use when medical students are working on cadavers, and time is not of the essence. Clearly they had an emergency situation on  their hands, and Richard wants them to slow down a play a little game? WTF? No wonder Catherine wants to fire him.

Once they got into Owen, Stephanie and Meredith's daydreams/flashbacks, I was able to get into it a little more. But the catalyst for getting there was clunky and irritating. 

[St. Claire]

8 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Wait, what? Isn't [Megan Hunt] dead? Is this speculation or are there spoilers out there somewhere?

She's only assumed dead. The helicopter either went down or disappeared, and bodies of the people onboard were never found. So many viewers have been bracing for when she reappears.

[Joana]

16 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

That was basically my reaction- I spent the first fifteen minutes just annoyed as hell with Richard. This seems more like the kind of training technique you would use when medical students are working on cadavers, and time is not of the essence. Clearly they had an emergency situation on  their hands, and Richard wants them to slow down a play a little game? WTF?

That was exactly my reaction and just what I was thinking. It was such a bizarre situation - those were grown ass surgeons who had done literally thousands of surgeries in their lives, in the middle of a high pressure emergency procedure, and he randomly wanted them to become more sensitive about the patient's personality? OK then. Honestly, it looked like dementia kicking in or something, but of course that's not what the writers had in mind. 

I was 100% behind Meredith when she snarked at him in the beginning, although she too inevitably turned around and saw the light. 

[Cementhead]

5 hours ago, berwoman said:

When I saw the slow-motion, stylized entrance, I thought "Oh crap, they're all going to sing again..." 

I have never even seen the infamous singing episode and I thought so, too.  And then when I pulled up the info on my tv screen and saw that it was going to be one of those 'special, stylized' episodes, I quickly changed the channel because I am not a fan of those ever.

[WhosThatGirl]

I mean.. like I said I was so underwhelmed by this episode and the styling didn't help it at all. It bugged me. Plus the previews from last week and the opening of everyone complaining about lack of sleep/more coffee made me think something else was going to be happening in this episode. Like someone makes a mistake or something.  Not what we got. 

I didn't like it. It was just boring to me. Like I said maybe I've just had an emotional week in my real life I can't be forced to actually put emotions into the show.

[Biggie B]

2 minutes ago, WhosThatGirl said:

Like I said maybe I've just had an emotional week in my real life I can't be forced to actually put emotions into the show.

I feel pretty much the same. It's been a wrenching week and I pretty much watched this episode in a daze, as merely brain candy and little more. That said, I still didn't feel this was a terribly emotional episode, even if that's what it was supposed to be - the revelation of Richard's mother's untimely death; Owen's inner turmoil; Stephanie's rough childhood; Meredith's tragic loss of the great love of her life and its impact on her and her children - I saw what they were going for, yet felt relatively unmoved by any of it (except the Derek sighting!). Each of these vignettes were, I guess, supposed to make the surgeons feel a deeper connection to the person whose body lay gaping on the table, and sure, it worked, but I didn't feel any differently about Richard, Owen, Stephanie, or Meredith than I did before seeing into their psyches.

[windsprints]

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Next thing you know someone will have an evil twin.

Benny Duquette could show up in the finale. They've made a point of mentioning the clinic is the Denny Duquette clinic. I'm kidding about this but I agree that Megan will be showing up since no body was ever found.

[Nobodysfan]

OMG!!! Loved the choice of actress for Megan Hunt.

I was totally surprised.

I thought the actress Bridget Regan would play  a patient and I saw her in photos with black hair.

They really shocked me with this.

I think she will definitely be back, I saw some comments on twitter from fans to the actress - I dare to say 100% were beyond excited.

Lovely performance, a very stylish lady.

But the short scene with Meredith seeing Derek got me honestly the most. Such nostalgy to see McDreamy again

It was like a goodbye just like Hunt went to the vent room, hugged invisible Cristina and then started dating Amelia.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Nobodysfan

[iMonrey]

I'm pretty sure they needed Patrick Dempsey's permission to use him in that clip, so at least he wasn't a dick about it. I guess he doesn't have hard feelings about the way he left the show.

[Chas411]

Would they need his permission if they're using old footage?

[windsprints]

I'm not positive if they would need his permission for old footage but I think they would need to pay/credit him. I'm sure there's some SAG rules but I don't know what they are.

[Canada]

I turned this off after 15 minutes, it was so bad.  I'm actually grateful, though, because I've been looking to dump this show for a while and now I can.

I know Grey's has never been accurate in its portrayal of medical stuff, but this episode was fundamentally flawed for two reasons.  One, if I have a patient dying in front of me, I'm trying to save them regardless of what their name is or what their story is.  I don't need to know all that shit in order to want to save them.  Second, knowing all that shit makes it that much harder when they do die.  So all of Richard Webber's pontificating was such a load of crap.

[LisaM]

I enjoyed this episode a lot. I recalled that Stephanie had sickle cell anemia as a kid so it made sense that she was in bed reading a lot. 

As someone who had emergency surgery in the middle of the night, I'm sure my spectacular surgeon was likely tired as hell. I hope he wasn't hallucinating about a dead relative. 

[statsgirl]

12 hours ago, photo fox said:

Shut the fuck up, Richard.  Geez!  If I'm on the table and people have their hands inside me, please stop distracting them by making them create tall tales about me.  Treat me like a bag of organs.  I'm fine with that, as long as that means they're actually concentrating on that bag of organs, and not people who aren't even in the room.

This.  I couldn't get past it, that he was making a game out of pretending who the patient is.   Does it matter if it's a nice person with a big fake background?  Just shut up and do your job.

[JessePinkman]

I liked this episode quite a bit actually but I also know that realistically it was created to help the budget and allow the other actors to film other scenes in other episodes.  Those are the logistics of the TV business.

[TVForever]

Anybody wonder why Owen sounds Scottish but his sister sounds like she's from Iowa?

And I too thought Little Stephanie was great. Her segment actually gave me some insight into Adult Stephanie. Kinda wish Jo was in the room with a similar type of flashback segment. As much as I love Richard, there's nothing about his segment that gives any insight into the Richard that we've seen for the past 13 years.

[Joana]

It's funny, when Jo suggested that Stephanie's drive, determination and professional success might have something to do with her childhood struggles, Stephanie nearly chopped her head off. 

[TVForever]

2 minutes ago, Joana said:

It's funny, when Jo suggested that Stephanie's drive, determination and professional success might have something to do with her childhood struggles, Stephanie nearly chopped her head off. 

I think that was probably a case of "she doth protest too much". If I remember that episode correctly, Stephanie was pretty upset with Jo because Jo seemed to have touched a raw nerve by bringing up Stephanie's illness. It was almost as if Jo was trying to find an excuse for why Stephanie was just plain better. Jo was partly right, but it was like she was making it the whole truth.

[timimouse]

2 hours ago, Joana said:

It's funny, when Jo suggested that Stephanie's drive, determination and professional success might have something to do with her childhood struggles, Stephanie nearly chopped her head off. 

I agreed with Steph almost chopping Jo's head off. Stephanie's good at what she does because she chooses to be IN SPITE of being sick, not because of it. Wouldn't most 8 year-olds with that much time on their hands be playing games and, if they do decide to read, wouldn't it more be along the lines of Archie Comics or Nancy Drew or something like that? I was an avid reader and so at 8 I was finishing John Grisham novels, however, I was not at all interested in my fathers medical journals. Stephanie was obviously interested in medicine and I understand and agree with her for getting upset with anyone that wants to blame her cutthroat nature and drive to succeed on a previous illness, when it boils down that being who she innately is and probably always would have been, with or without sickle-cell anaemia.  Christina was also ruthless when it came to her career and (if I recall correctly) she didn't have a sappy sad backstory that she attributes to that.

Edited November 12, 2016 by timimouse