S14.E07: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story

[AriAu]

Good episode-made me smile a few times, but no tears. Like everyone else, loved the flashback to the old music that followed the cold open-why did they get rid of that? I also liked the less obvious testaments to the departed like the picture on the wall of Mark with Callie,  Arizona and baby Sophia, much more than the obvious, beating us over the head, speech moments.

Personally, I liked the gimmick of having Baby Xtina, Georgie and Izzie-clever way to flashback especially with Greg being a sorta sad sack and Cleo being a Christina personality clone.

I also liked that they have not forgotten Christina is alive-both the "one of a kind" comment from Owen and the facetime at the end. Would have been beautiful if she flew to Boston to surprise Meredith only to have her not be there. Christina could have accepted the award and told Meredith that she was definitely NOT "nothing more than average".

Question-on the ferry boat, who was Alex asking about when he said "was he jealous"? Think that was Burke? What other he is out there.

 

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I guess since she is now referring to Maggie as Jackson's sister, she is going to acknowledge that Zola is kind of family too? After all, Zola is Katherine's stepdaughter's half-sister's child!

If you have any doubts that Grey's is, at its essence a soap opera, please read what is quoted above!

Edited November 10, 2017 by AriAu

[Qoass]

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Question-on the ferry boat, who was Alex asking about when he said "was he jealous"? Think that was Burke? What other he is out there.

I think she was on the ferry to commune with Derek.

[Zipper]

I loved everything thing about this episode.  Nearly cried when the original opener music/visuals played.  By a fluke, I caught It's the End of the World / And We Know It yesterday afternoon, so this was some crazy, beautiful deja vu.  Lord I loved seeing Ellis in the gallery.  This show... man, thank you, Shonda.  

[Blonde Gator]

Maggie was actually age appropriate on last night's episode.  They had her playing against a 7 year old, which forced her to act her age for once, and it was a terrific scene.  The part I liked the best was when Zola asked whether Maggie missed her mom, and then Zola told her how she thinks of Derek.  It was a great scene for both of them, kids losing parents that young is always so hard for everyone concerned (we lost my sister when her son was only five). 

Perhaps the Avery Foundation realized what a huge mistake they'd made by not allowing any of their foundation-funded doctors (they have other hospitals) to win the Harper-Avery, so they changed the policy.  The only pitfall is that they must make sure the winner, if from an AF funded hospital, must absolutely, positively be the best, most ground-breaking technically, so the award maintains its exclusivity.  It would be nice if they'd at least mention like that in passing ("Dr. Yang was robbed, on reflection, we decided to make changes")....or perhaps have Katheryn mention that the AWARD Selection Committee of the Foundation has been spun off into a separate entity, or something. 

[jschoolgirl]

27 minutes ago, AriAu said:

Question-on the ferry boat, who was Alex asking about when he said "was he jealous"? Think that was Burke? What other he is out there.

We were to infer that Alex accompanied Meredith to Bainbridge Island for a visit to Derek's grave. We were also to infer that Meredith "talked with" Derek about the award.

[Jillybean]

Will someone please refresh my memory about Izzie's departure? Didn't she just kind of "ghost" Alex in S6? I didn't remember a cordial split and was wondering why his memories were so fond. I must not be remembering this correctly. 

[Qoass]

She ghosted him but then came back to explore a reconciliation which he shut down. She then sent him divorce papers.

[Chas411]

I think originally he's hosted ill feelings towards her but I felt the point was that he's happy now and mature enough to want her to have had the best life even though they didn't work out (and even though she treated him like crap jmo).

[TVForever]

It was nice seeing Zola-she's such a cutie! Would have been nice to at least acknowledge Mer's other (2?) children, even if we weren't going to see them.

[scarlettudor]

VERY disappointed.  I had heard the old characters would be back and they were, just not the beloved actors who played them.  I felt quite cheated with look-alikes.  Darn!  If they could have pulled this off ~ actually bringing back the originals for the 300th show ~ it would have been great.

[bonniejmac]

2 hours ago, Qoass said:

I felt a little bad for April on the outside looking in as Meredith and Alex reminisced about absent friends since two of her friends got mortally shot on the same day at the hospital.

I thought about this too. Not so much the deceased Mercy West-ers, but that April (and Jackson) never even met George, he was dead well before the merger. And they only barely knew Izzie, as she was in and out with her illness/ditching Alex mess and left for good before the shooting, which is when April & Jackson really were accepted into the gang.

[llewis823]

2 hours ago, TVForever said:

Did something happen to Callie? That scene with Sofia saying she missed her "mama" and Arizona saying she missed her too, and then the closeup of the picture of Mark, Callie, and Arizona with baby Sofia- it just felt so sad. It just felt like Callie is gone. Did I miss something?

I was wondering the same thing. All I remember is a few episodes back, I thought Arizona said her daughter had decided to come back and live with her. Can someone clarify if I (and TVFOREVER) did miss something about Callie's fate?

[dmc]

1 minute ago, llewis823 said:

I was wondering the same thing. All I remember is a few episodes back, I thought Arizona said her daughter had decided to come back and live with her. Can someone clarify if I (and TVFOREVER) did miss something about Callie's fate?

Callie is in NY with Penny.

[pjammies]

I do not post a lot but I have to show love for last night's episode.  It gave me all of the feels!  I was hooting and hollering and, at times, a bit teary-eyed.  I sure do miss those who are no longer on the show but last night was beautiful and fun.  Waxing nostalgia for the 300th episode!

 

Can George have a twin?  Christina....please come back.  Izzie.....damn, that chick last night did a great 'shadow' job.  And the mentions of Dr Burke, Dr McDreamy, Torres, Dr McSteamy. Lexie!  I loved it so much!

[Biggie B]

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Callie is in NY with Penny.

Yes, we know, but some of us are wondering why Sofia is suddenly coming back to Seattle. As I wondered in an earlier post, it's pretty disruptive to pull a child out of school once the school year has begun. 

[taanja]

1 hour ago, TVForever said:

It was nice seeing Zola-she's such a cutie! Would have been nice to at least acknowledge Mer's other (2?) children, even if we weren't going to see them.

**Sticking fingers in my ears going--- lalala***  No! It still bugs me after all this time that Mere has any children!  I can kind of sort of accept Zola, but the others? No. Shackling the character with so many kids was overkill. And unnecessary. And actually a burden because now the audience expects to hear about them and see them sometimes . IMO.

Anyway, I loved all the callbacks to the original characters.  And other's we have lost along the way--  because you know-- that's how real human beings are-- they remember their loved ones and actually talk about them sometimes. They even have pictures of them on their walls! right?

The new interns are blah. But I see what TPTB are doing -- trying out new characters to fill the void when the originals leave. But I don't care about them. I don't care about Deluca and his long lost fuck. That was all just weird.

LOVED the ending with Mere and Alex and Cristina! (ok she wasn't really there-- but she was in spirit!) Sigh. That was satisfying. 

Edited November 10, 2017 by taanja

[Qoass]

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The new interns are blah. But I see what TPTB are doing -- trying out new characters to fill the void when the originals leave. But I don't care about them. I don't care about Deluca and his long lost fuck. That was all just weird.

I'm hoping one of them may turn out to be interesting but I think introducing characters one at a time as they did with Callie and Mark and Arizona is more effective than when they plop a bunch of new people into the hallway and then (literally) kill off the ones that don't work.

[MrWhyt]

1 hour ago, scarlettudor said:

VERY disappointed.  I had heard the old characters would be back and they were, just not the beloved actors who played them.  I felt quite cheated with look-alikes.  Darn!  If they could have pulled this off ~ actually bringing back the originals for the 300th show ~ it would have been great.

But they weren't.

[tinderbox]

17 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Ha! The old opening song!!

I thought one of the paramedics was going to be April's ex.

I wish they would have kept Kate Burton's name off the opening credits so her appearance would have been a surprise.

I didn't notice it so, for me, she was a pleasant surprise.  I was hoping for a glimpse of Patrick Dempsey, too.

[Efzee]

Enjoyable episode. Didn't realize this was a special ep, so was pleasantly surprised.

 

One thing really bothered me though: I haven't seen Alex happy the way he was smiling at FakeIzzie and her baby and later fantasizing about Izzie's current life in years! I'd forgotten the actor could pull off more than grumpy and sulky with the occasional smile and joke. I'm no fan of Jo and the way he was acting around FakeIzzie all episode, made me think that they were going to break up Alex and Jo (especially after her vehement denial about kids, which was in contrast to his behavior), so I'm a little surprised with how they ended that. Alex seemed happier thinking of Izzie than I've ever seen him with Jo... Not saying he should go back to Izzie (totally went off her after the whole Denny/tumor thing) or shack up with Mer, but I definitely feel like he deserves better.

[Chas411]

Just now, Efzee said:

Not saying he should go back to Izzie (totally went off her after the whole Denny/tumor thing) or shack up with Mer, but I definitely feel like he deserves better.

Funny I feel the opposite, Jo is obviously not as popular a character as Alex but in regards to their relationship I've definetly felt she's the one who deserves better especially between season 11-13 when he was Merediths lapdog (similar to how he was Izzies lapdog for most of season 5/6)

As for his smiling, I Moreso thought he was fondly remembering a significant person from his past at her best because he was happy enough with how his own life had turned out to not want to hold onto the bad memories.

[funnygirl]

2 hours ago, Biggie B said:

Yes, we know, but some of us are wondering why Sofia is suddenly coming back to Seattle. As I wondered in an earlier post, it's pretty disruptive to pull a child out of school once the school year has begun. 

I think Sofia just wanted to go home to Seattle. 

And, besides, who would want to live with/around Penny? lol 

[OtterMommy]

Up and down, but the scales probably tipped towards underwhelming for me.

What I did like: I'm probably alone in this, but I loved the scene with Maggie and Zola--that was the one that made me cry.  I also wish we would see more of *that* Maggie, and not the sort of bumbling lovelorn Maggie.

An Ellis Gray sighting!  

That Sofia is 7 and not 17.  I'm not sure why she came back to Seattle, but I hope she stays...I think motherhood would be a good aspect for Arizona to explore.  Also, I thought the original plan (at the end of season 12) was for I her to alternate school years...which sounds like a freaking nightmare for her.

Jo is not someone I like or dislike, but I did like her in this episode and the fact that she didn't go jealous on Alex (even if I didn't buy the baby Izzie bit).

That Deluca FINALLY has his own story line.  Of course, I'm not sure if I actually like the story yet.  I kind of get the feeling that they are trying to set up Mer/Der 2.0 with him and Doctor Dance, which is a yawn for me.  But, the fact that they had a prior relationship makes the fact that he's her superior a bit less yucky to me.  And I would never have guessed that he was a dognapper.

Minimal Carina and minimal Jackson/Maggie.

What I didn't like:

The baby Cristina and Izzie.  I actually could get on board with baby George--George was the one that they "lost."  But Izzie is still alive...somewhere, and Cristina, even though she's not on the show, is still very much part of Meredith's life, so the idea of "ghost" of her didn't make sense.  I think they could have more effectively told this story with just the George-alike.

That Meredith won the Harper Avery.  It's not so much that she won, but that the history had already been established that no one from GSMH could win it, and now they've taken a big crap on it.  Plus, what is it with Jackson and his own award?    That's just bizarre and stupid and I really don't want to waste my time watching it.  At my old job, there was a situation where there was a certain environmental award that a large corporation in our community was not eligible to win for whatever reason.  So, that corporation got the company I worked for to create an award for them to win.  That's what this is like.

This was an episode that really reminded me that Ellen Pompeo is probably the weakest actress, in my opinion, on this show.  When Cristina was on, it wasn't as noticeable as Sandra Oh was so good.  And, since she's left, the show seems to have become less about Meredith and more about the ensemble, but this one was about Meredith...and it just didn't work for me.

ETA: A huge eyeroll for Ben's justification to go play firefighter.  First of all, I think he's technically too old to do it...at least here there is an age limit for someone becoming a firefighter.  Secondly, he is old enough that him leaving medicine for a while and then coming back to it, which it kind of sounds like is his plan, is completely unrealistic.  He's already a decade or so older than his fellow residents, which makes him a decade or so farther out of medical school, which makes him a decade or so less employable if he wanted to come back.  I wish he'd just said that his heart was no longer in medicine and he wanted to do something different.

[iMonrey]

I didn't think "baby" Cristina or "baby" Izzie looked anything like the originals beyond the power of suggestion, but the minute I laid eyes on  "baby" George I thought "My God he looks exactly like George." It's uncanny they managed to find someone with such similar facial features.

I didn't notice the opening guest-starring credits so seeing Ellis up in the gallery was a nice surprise for me.

I didn't understand, though, why Meredith couldn't have accepted the award through close-circuit TV. They had enough time to set up a feed between the award ceremony and the hospital but . . . only one way? This is 2017 after all. Don't these people have Skype?

[AriAu]

By the way, nice fake leg on Arizona-they are truly acting like it never happened.

[Ohwell]

29 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

ETA: A huge eyeroll for Ben's justification to go play firefighter.  First of all, I think he's technically too old to do it...at least here there is an age limit for someone becoming a firefighter.  Secondly, he is old enough that him leaving medicine for a while and then coming back to it, which it kind of sounds like is his plan, is completely unrealistic.  He's already a decade or so older than his fellow residents, which makes him a decade or so farther out of medical school, which makes him a decade or so less employable if he wanted to come back.  I wish he'd just said that his heart was no longer in medicine and he wanted to do something different.

I agree he does seem kind of old to be playing firefighter.  The "sensible" thing for him to do would be continuing on as a (very well-paying) anesthesiologist.  However, I can understand him wanting to follow his passion, and I can't help thinking that he's also tired of working with his wife and her being his boss.  Sure, he could have transferred to another hospital, but I think that would have opened up another can of worms with Bailey being upset that he wanted to get away from her, work-wise.

[OtterMommy]

Just now, Ohwell said:

I agree he does seem kind of old to be playing firefighter.  The "sensible" thing for him to do would be continuing on as a (very well-paying) anesthesiologist.  However, I can understand him wanting to follow his passion, and I can't help thinking that he's also tired of working with his wife and her being his boss.  Sure, he could have transferred to another hospital, but I think that would have opened up another can of worms with Bailey being upset that he wanted to get away from her, work-wise.

See, THIS is probably the most believable reason for him leaving his residency (I'm not sure it justifies him becoming a fire fighter, but whatever).  Instead, we get this whole misspent youth crap from a man who too far away from youth to claim it. Not that he's old, but he is old enough to make this career change unrealistic.

[Ohwell]

5 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

See, THIS is probably the most believable reason for him leaving his residency (I'm not sure it justifies him becoming a fire fighter, but whatever).  Instead, we get this whole misspent youth crap from a man who too far away from youth to claim it. Not that he's old, but he is old enough to make this career change unrealistic.

I've felt for some time now that their marriage wasn't as solid as Shonda would have us believe, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they're separated by the end of the season.   

[Bort]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I didn't understand, though, why Meredith couldn't have accepted the award through close-circuit TV. They had enough time to set up a feed between the award ceremony and the hospital but . . . only one way? This is 2017 after all. Don't these people have Skype?

That wasn’t really a “feed” they set up, that was more like the awards were being broadcasted somewhere (on the internet at the very least) and they hooked up the OR televisions to it. 

[Joana]

1) I don't like "Meredith is the Sun" episodes

2) I've never bought Meredith as this great medical genius

3) I'm extremely over the Harper Avery Award crap 

So, naturally I had big issues with most of this episode. Still, it wasn't unwatchable. It was cute to remember the good old times, although all the references and shout-outs to past events and characters were becoming a bit too much by the end. Also, as OtterMommy said, the idea of "ghost" Cristina didn't really make sense because she's clearly alive in the show's universe and presumably still in touch with most of them, so I don't know why anyone would be so freaked out that a young woman would vaguely look like her. Actually, I found Owen's reaction to her by far the most realistic.

At this point, I have to think we've collectively hallucinated Meredith's biological children and Arizona's fake leg.

It's been a long time since I really felt Alex and Jo as a couple like in this episode. I hope they keep it up like this.

So, De Luca finally gets his own storyline. Of course, it's mostly nonsense and almost entirely sex-driven. But, whatever. He's still pretty.

I swear a couple of episodes ago Sofia said she wanted to move back to Seattle. Now she acted all bummed out and like she didn't really want to be there. What's up with that? 

[anna0852]

I'm assuming Sophia's reaction is simply that of a 7 year old who just flew cross-country and is presumably missing her mother. Yes her other mother is right in front of her but that doesn't mean she doesn't miss her other parent. She's in a place she hasn't lived in for a year and is a bit discombobulated. I don't think anything happened to Callie, that was simply Arizona sympathizing with her daughter that she understands that she misses her mom.

[Biggie B]

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I don't think anything happened to Callie, that was simply Arizona sympathizing with her daughter that she understands that she misses her mom.

 

But we still don't know why Sofia is even in Seattle in the first place. No clue. You don't just yank a very young child out of her school, home, and routine, ship her cross country and plop her into a new school unless there is a really compelling reason that she couldn't stay in New York. Certainly her two moms had a schedule worked out as part of the custody arrangement, but this seems random and sudden - Arizona seem surprised when she first learned that Sofia was returning. So I do think something is amiss with Callie; this doesn't seem like a regularly scheduled visit.

[OtterMommy]

1 minute ago, Biggie B said:

 

But we still don't know why Sofia is even in Seattle in the first place. No clue. You don't just yank a very young child out of her school, home, and routine, ship her cross country and plop her into a new school unless there is a really compelling reason that she couldn't stay in New York. Certainly her two moms had a schedule worked out as part of the custody arrangement, but this seems random and sudden - Arizona seem surprised when she first learned that Sofia was returning. So I do think something is amiss with Callie; this doesn't seem like a regularly scheduled visit.

The custody plan, as was stated at the end of season 12, was that they would alternate school years.  So, according to that, it would be Arizona's year to have her.  However, that's a terrible custody plan and it didn't sound like that was what happened, with Arizona getting a text saying Sofia wanted to come back.  I think it was a case of Vernoff wanting Arizona to play the mother role and that's what happened.

Also, there was talk of SORASing Sofia, but it seems like they actually got a *younger* actress to play her.  She seemed older when we last saw her in season 12.

[Joana]

6 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

I'm assuming Sophia's reaction is simply that of a 7 year old who just flew cross-country and is presumably missing her mother. Yes her other mother is right in front of her but that doesn't mean she doesn't miss her other parent. She's in a place she hasn't lived in for a year and is a bit discombobulated. I don't think anything happened to Callie, that was simply Arizona sympathizing with her daughter that she understands that she misses her mom.

I don't think anything happened to Callie either, but the thing is that it didn't look like Sofia was having mixed feelings about the whole situation, which would be completely normal. Instead, she didn't even seem that glad to see Arizona. Somehow it felt like she was forced to return to Seattle because something had happened in NY/to Callie, which obviously wasn't told or even hinted at. And what makes it extra weird is that it was Sofia herself who supposedly initiated the move a few episodes back.

I dunno, I just found the whole thing odd.

[Biggie B]

I guess I was assuming that it is late fall on the show, just as it is for us viewers. Even if Arizona and Callie are alternating school years (which is ridiculous beyond belief), the transition between homes would likely occur over the summer, so that Sofia would start school on time. So perhaps on the show, it is currently mid to late August and Sofia is returning to Seattle to begin the school year. It's hard to know exactly what month/season it is. Last week, the guys were hanging out on Jackson's new boat and it look pretty warm. And in this episode, Ben was driving his convertible with the top down. OK - so I guess it's not early November. Shame on me for thinking Grey's was following our own timeline, when we all know it's a year or two ahead of 2017.

Edited to add: when do new interns usually begin at their matched hospital? Do they follow a typical "school year" schedule?

Edited November 11, 2017 by Biggie B

[OtterMommy]

1 minute ago, Biggie B said:

I guess I was assuming that it is late fall on the show, just as it is for us viewers. Even if Arizona and Callie are alternating school years (which is ridiculous beyond belief), the transition between homes would likely occur over the summer, so that Sofia would start school on time. So perhaps on the show, it is currently mid to late August and Sofia is returning to Seattle to begin the school year. It's hard to know exactly what month/season it is. Last week, the guys were hanging out on Jackson's new boat and it look pretty warm. And in this episode, Ben was driving his convertible with the top down. OK - so I guess it's not early November. Shame on me for thinking Grey's was following our own timeline, which we all know it's a year or two ahead of 2017.

Also, it would be crazy to have a county fair in the Pacific Northwest in the fall, especially in the Seattle area.  The weather is too unpredictable after about Labor Day (heck, it was snowing in Seattle last week, which is unusual...but still!)

I've just come to accept the fact that Grey's operates outside of the time-space continuum.  When they seemed to forget their own time jump, I just gave up trying to keep track of when was when.

[Biggie B]

Yes - the fair - makes sense that it would be held in the summer. OK - so it's summer, and Sofia is back to begin second grade, or whatever grade she's going into. Got it! 

It still seems to me that Arizona is surprised and unprepared for Sofia's return. When she got the call, or text, she was flustered and kept blurting it out to her colleagues, as if it were some unexpected event. If this is part of the agreed-upon custody agreement, why is Arizona so discombobulated and disorganized that her own daughter is arriving?

Edited November 11, 2017 by Biggie B

[Bort]

15 minutes ago, Biggie B said:

Edited to add: when do new interns usually begin at their matched hospital? Do they follow a typical "school year" schedule?

July 1. So with the interns having just started, it’s probably mid-July show-time. 

[Joana]

9 minutes ago, OtterMommy said:

I've just come to accept the fact that Grey's operates outside of the time-space continuum.  When they seemed to forget their own time jump, I just gave up trying to keep track of when was when.

Absolutely. For all we know, in the GA universe, the year could be 2039 and the president Amelia wished she didn't know about is Kim Kardashian.

7 minutes ago, Biggie B said:

It still seems to me that Arizona is surprised and unprepared for Sofia's return. When she got the call, or text, she was flustered and kept blurting it out to her colleagues, as if it were some unexpected event. If this is part of the agreed-upon custody agreement, why is Arizona so discombobulated and disorganized that her own daughter is arriving?

Yeah, it didn't really seem like it was a part of their custody plan, otherwise Arizona would obviously be prepared for her return and she clearly wasn't. She hadn't even started making her room, De Luca had to move out in a hurry etc. I thought it was because Sofia started missing Arizona and her life in Seattle too much, but the way she acted in this episode, who knows anymore.

And this is my concern about this season. It won't help that they're sorting out the mess created in earlier seasons if they instead keep introducing new confusing storylines. Ben's utterly unbelievable career path can be excused because plans for that spin-off show were made earlier, but this situation with Sofia and Jackson's sudden personality change make me cautious.

[Pandorap]

I wish they wouldn’t focus on new interns. We are just getting back into having decent well paced story lines for the regulars. And I don’t find the intern comic relief funny (if that’s what the intention is, at this point I hardly pay attention to their scenes). 

I was just getting to like Deluca and would have liked to see a story line...I don’t even know...anything that didn’t involve bringing in a long lost love. Can’t stand whatever her name is, and that’s just because I’m irritated about the whole storyline not because of the actress or anything. 

Miranda Bailey used to be one of my favourite characters. Not so much any more.  No wonder Ben wants to run away and become a firefighter! I’ll miss him. I enjoyed his scenes with the other cast members. 

I  did not know that this was the 300th episode. So the whole  throwback to past seasons and Meredith winning the award really got to me I teared up quite a few times! Without a lot of the other stuff (firefighters, orgasm doctors,) it felt like it could’ve been a series finale, and in fact at one point I wondered what the heck was going on, thinking maybe I somehow missed something! Even though I complained a lot earlier in my post, I really enjoyed this episode, and I’m enjoying this season SO much more than the last few. 

[Joana]

I admit I have a problem with Meredith winning that award. First of all, I found her much more interesting while she was still trying to live up to her mother's name and I never saw another Ellis in her. But most importantly, her award feels so unearned. When Cristina was in contention, there was a proper story arc, we witnessed the process behind it and it was something that had been in the making for years. She was gunning for that award from the first moment we saw her. 

On the other hand, Meredith randomly pulled out a miraculous surgery out of her ass, performed it in a blitz and got the award like a week later. And that's without taking into account all that we've previously known about the connection between GSMH and the Harper Avery Foundation.

In principle, I wasn't against the idea of her getting that award eventually, but the way it was done left much to be desired IMO.

[moonorchid]

10 minutes ago, Joana said:

I admit I have a problem with Meredith winning that award. First of all, I found her much more interesting while she was still trying to live up to her mother's name and I never saw another Ellis in her. But most importantly, her award feels so unearned. When Cristina was in contention, there was a proper story arc, we witnessed the process behind it and it was something that had been in the making for years. She was gunning for that award from the first moment we saw her. 

On the other hand, Meredith randomly pulled out a miraculous surgery out of her ass, performed it in a blitz and got the award like a week later. And that's without taking into account all that we've previously known about the connection between GSMH and the Harper Avery Foundation.

In principle, I wasn't against the idea of her getting that award eventually, but the way it was done left much to be desired IMO.

THIS!!!!

I have no issue with Meredith getting one, I have issue with this show acting like it was mers by birthright. 

It feels hollow. When Cristina was nominated we went through the steps with her, so when she didn’t get it we were devastated for her. With mer, it happened to fast and too pretty and too easy. All so ellen and Krista can now say Meredith Grey is a Harper Avery award winner. 

I heard there are off screen explanations for why she’s able to get one when Cristina couldn’t...*COULDNT*...and this left Grey Sloan cause she felt hindered there. Krista should know better and should take the five second, one sentence scene to explain why. 

But, I did get choked up seeing ellis. That’s a serious nod back to when this show dabbled in magical realism. 

One other thing, I was glad to see Meredith tell April she wasn’t average. Cause when I saw the sneak, I was beyond livid that once again the show was defaulting to crapping on kepner for giggles and worse to prop Meredith. It’s not the first time and it infuriates me. But Jackson’s speech, “she’s not here cause she’s working doing a surgery she knew only she could do”...which is not true, april was there and april was more than capable. I hope that little scene is a precursor to April striving to push herself professionally and kick surgical ass. No one takes april seriously, including Jackson. 

[txhorns79]

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VERY disappointed.  I had heard the old characters would be back and they were, just not the beloved actors who played them.  I felt quite cheated with look-alikes.  Darn!  If they could have pulled this off ~ actually bringing back the originals for the 300th show ~ it would have been great.

I would doubt Katherine Heigl will ever be allowed to set foot on that set again.   

I'd also tell Bailey to grow up.  Her point about Ben randomly switching practices within his profession, and now suddenly wanting to be a fireman is well taken, but she's handling it like a child. 

I did like briefly seeing Ellis.  And yes, the ridiculousness of just how many of Meredith's close family members have died in the past 12 years made me laugh.  They didn't even mention that her quasi-stepmother (Mare Winningham) also died.   

[funnygirl]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

I would doubt Katherine Heigl will ever be allowed to set foot on that set again.   

And because of this, even female-led Shondaland isn't immune to misogyny. Isaiah Washington was welcomed back years later after being heinous to a fellow cast member with his words and outing said cast member, thus getting fired for it. Katherine Heigl speaks her mind about material she was getting, which I understand in a business full of narcissists from top to bottom was not the smartest move, and she all but gets ex-communicated. Shonda can be very petty, and she clearly holds Heigl more accountable for her situation than she ever did Isaiah. I actually think that the Isaiah firing was more of a call from the network and not Shonda. 

I feel like Meredith won her Harper Avery too soon. I agree with those who've expressed how fast it all happened, and I think this is something that would've been better served towards the end of the series. Now there's not really anywhere for Meredith to go career-wise, she already got the crowning achievement. I just feel like they took away a great professional storyline opportunity to really see Meredith work on something long-term to get her to the grand prize. 

[skermac]

I don't understand how Meredith won the award but Cristina didn't. I thought Catherine said no one on the board would ever win because it would look too biased, I'm happy for Meredith but I don't think she should have won, bad writing shonda!

[moonorchid]

40 minutes ago, funnygirl said:

And because of this, even female-led Shondaland isn't immune to misogyny. Isaiah Washington was welcomed back years later after being heinous to a fellow cast member with his words and outing said cast member, thus getting fired for it. Katherine Heigl speaks her mind about material she was getting, which I understand in a business full of narcissists from top to bottom was not the smartest move, and she all but gets ex-communicated. Shonda can be very petty, and she clearly holds Heigl more accountable for her situation than she ever did Isaiah. I actually think that the Isaiah firing was more of a call from the network and not Shonda. 

I don’t think it was as simple as she criticized the writing but if I remember correctly that was the worst of it, and see as Isaiah was allowed back and Katherine was very open with her thoughts about the Isaiah/TR situation, it’s not hard to see whose side Shonda eventually landed on. 

Its unfortunate, I know Katherine has been very outspoken on the writing for this show, going as far as refusing to put her work in for Emmy consideration, she was certainly bratty and “diva” like back then if I remember, but so much time has passed and Shonda and Katherine have both grown, seems ridiculous to still hold on to this grudge. 

Izzie got a lot of mentions and that was nice, but the greys Twitter had posted a tribute video to the top 300 greys moments and there were notable absences: izzie, Derek, George, and Burke.

[Crazy Bird Lady]

Here's my comment on the episode: ....bleh!

[KaveDweller]

13 hours ago, jschoolgirl said:

We were to infer that Alex accompanied Meredith to Bainbridge Island for a visit to Derek's grave. We were also to infer that Meredith "talked with" Derek about the award.

That is an awfully lot for us to infer.

10 hours ago, Biggie B said:

Yes, we know, but some of us are wondering why Sofia is suddenly coming back to Seattle. As I wondered in an earlier post, it's pretty disruptive to pull a child out of school once the school year has begun. 

Well, Sarah Ramirez got a job on another show, so maybe they decided Callie definitely wouldn't be coming back and they should write a storyline about Sofia without her? 

I am guessing we will be learning more about why Sofia is suddenly back in upcoming episodes. They didn't bring her back to have her with an unseen nanny all the time. like the other kids on the show.

[Black Knight]

4 hours ago, Joana said:

I thought it was because Sofia started missing Arizona and her life in Seattle too much, but the way she acted in this episode, who knows anymore.

Yeah, I was thrown by Sofia's initial attitude in her scene with Arizona (she cheered up once AZ rolled out the three flavors of ice cream). Now I think maybe the writers just wanted to have AZ say that she misses Callie, as a nod to the Calzona history and fanbase, and they couldn't think of any organic way to do it, so they just had Sofia set it up with her line. I grew to hate the Calzona pairing with a passion and couldn't have been more thrilled when Sara Ramirez left, but they were groundbreaking in some ways and meant a lot to people, and I do think the writers needed to make some sort of Calzona gesture, especially since they gave AZ the Mark speech earlier in the episode and one of the problems with Calzona writing-wise was how poorly they balanced Calzona and Mark - in Calzona's own freaking wedding episode, AZ's big emotional scene wasn't with her bride but with Mark. I think Vernoff realized it would be tone-deaf to have Arizona talk about Mark and say nothing about Callie. (Last night I was thinking of who else could've talked about Mark, and was depressed to realize how many characters from his days are no longer around. The only other remaining characters who really had relationships with Mark are Mere and Jackson.)

I enjoyed this episode. I watched a lot more of it than I typically do. The baby GIC cracked me up. I do wish they'd come up with something better for DeLuca though. And I would have liked to see an Addison mention, but only Amelia could really do it and having her do it would've pointed out the absence of Addison during the tumor storyline.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Black Knight

[ElectricBoogaloo]

5 hours ago, Joana said:

For all we know, in the GA universe, the year could be 2039 and the president Amelia wished she didn't know about is Kim Kardashian.

Ha! 

5 hours ago, Pandorap said:

I wish they wouldn’t focus on new interns. We are just getting back into having decent well paced story lines for the regulars. And I don’t find the intern comic relief funny (if that’s what the intention is, at this point I hardly pay attention to their scenes). 

Same here. I feel like we’re finally at the point where we are getting to a good place with the characters having decent storylines and screen time and now we have all these newbies I don’t care about.  It seemed like the only point of introducing the new class was for that last scene where Alex and Meredith kicked them out of the tunnel to celebrate.