S15.E22: Head Over High Heels

[MarylandGirl]

19 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

And on top of that, blonde is recessive so even if Meredith gets her blonde out of a bottle, it’s still believable that her kids would turn out blonde. Mr. EB’s sister has dark brown hair/brown eyes and his brother had blonde hair/blue eyes. Their parents both have dark hair, as do all of the parents’ siblings. 

Yep, my husband is a redhead, I'm a brunette, and our daughter is blonde (dark blonde, but still). And H has blue eyes, I have brown eyes, and D has hazel/green eyes. Genetics are fascinating. 

As for the ep...yeah, didn't care about many of the story lines. And Contacts can do much better--HAOG seems like an a-hole.

[ForeverAlone]

For the life of me, I can't figure out why these women are supposedly hung up on Owen. Why in the hell would Amelia would be hung up on Owen when she has Linc to play with? I just don't get it and I never will. The ONLY reason I could get behind Owen and Teddy finally hooking up is if they both leave the show. Otherwise, if Owen will remain on the show, Teddy can do better, and has a man who unabashedly wants her. 

As for the rest of the couples, I still don't see any chemistry between Jackson and Maggie, but the show has spent so much time trying to get the audience to root for them. Alas, I doubt I ever will. 

I can only watch in apprehension as Jo spirals further downward. While I can understand why she would be struggling emotionally, that doesn't mean I want to see her spin her wheels for the rest of the season. So I hope the writers have some sort of plan to resolve this, hopefully positively. 

I can see the writers also seem to either want to implode Nico/Levi, set up Nico's exit or they just want to push some horrible rift between the two of them, but if they want to maintain that relationship, they write some horrible stuff to make that possible. 

So who knows what the hell the writers/producers are thinking with this, but we only have so many episodes left in the season. 

[displayname]

I'm entirely sure they only hired HAOG for the shirtless scenes, so IDK why y'all are criticising the acting.

[doLLish]

Could something have possibly happened to Jo in Pittsburgh off camera? Because her behavior and the situation at hand as we know it do not correlate. It’s very weird.

[ams1001]

14 minutes ago, doLLish said:

Could something have possibly happened to Jo in Pittsburgh off camera? Because her behavior and the situation at hand as we know it do not correlate. It’s very weird.

If so, and if they want the audience to sympathize, they need to get on with telling us what. Because at this point I'm having a hard time caring.

[doLLish]

3 hours ago, ams1001 said:

If so, and if they want the audience to sympathize, they need to get on with telling us what. Because at this point I'm having a hard time caring.

Agreed.

[marykat71702]

In regards to the hair thing, I was blond as a child, but it started getting darker when I was in the second grade, and is now brown with natural blond highlights. Also, one of my daughters had very blond hair as a child, but it also turned brown as she got older.

I still hope that Meredith and Deluca are just a fling, and she ends up with Tom.

I do think that Owen and Teddy will probably end up together.  You know, baby-bonding and past history and all that...

I don't get Jo's reaction to the whole thing about her mother.  Would she have been ok if she had found out that her mom was broke, living on the streets, or in some other dire situation?  If so, why? Why is it such a big deal that your bio-mom has a good life now, especially after finding out the details of how you came to be?  Finding out that you're the product of rape sucks, for sure, but she could have had you aborted or thrown you away where you wouldn't be found and taken care of.  I don't blame Alex for being irritated and wanting to know what's going on. 

[Eqahan]

On 4/21/2019 at 12:21 AM, PepSinger said:

Word. The Jo meltdown wishes it were the April meltdown. I don't understand why Jo is acting the way she is. Instead of feeling sympathy for Jo, I feel anger and annoyance towards her. She is not the who was raped. She is not the one who had to endure a violent and evil attack. She is not the one who had to carry a child she didn't want for 9 months. Jo is making her mother's attack ALL. ABOUT. HER. with no sympathy for the woman who was actually raped! It's truly infuriating. Also, since she's not talking to to anyone, we have no idea what's going on inside her head. It's terrible. Alex deserves better than this and so does the audience.

I hope that the HAOG guy is leaving. He is a terrible actor. His final scene where he's yelling at Contacts and then sits for his interview made him look like a sociopath, and it's 100% the acting.

Totally agree! It looks like Krista wanted to repeat the HYPE/BUZZ from April’s meltdown last season (the only amazing story arc happened in s14) but MEHHHH...April’s storyline was more believable as compared to Jo’s. Jo is too much in this case.. are we supposed to feel sorry and bad for her? I get it but why she has to be that mad, down or what so ever as if like she has been through something really really horrible (huh?). I believe what makes April’s story was so good and more relatable was because the acting is also contributed so much to the success of telling a good storyline. Lets be real, the more we feel and believe what these characters have been through the more we feel relatable to the story and feel represented. I think Jo’s meltdown storyline is just a dragging to make sure She has a continuation story arc after the 15x19 episode but it is a weak writing and execution. 

The nico actor is soo sooo horrible and I feel shame just watching him. I know The casting team chose him is just for a hot good looking guy and good abs but he is NOT. This also proved the show has been a downhill. They had casted so many great actors before but now they just doing it for fun and as long as it running till the end of its era. 

[RedbirdNelly]

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 5:50 PM, Joana said:

Jo's enormous disappointment could have made more sense had she always been portrayed as dreaming to reunite with her birth parents, but it was literally never mentioned before she randomly decided to search for her mother, so why she feels like her life is meaningless now truly is a mystery. And I have a feeling they've kinda written themselves into a corner because there's no easy and quick way to fix this and unless they want this to keep going into the next season (which, God, no), they're running out of time.

this 100%. I actually had forgotten what Jo's backstory was besides she somehow ends up living in a car. Never forget that. But how she ended up there was a blur and nothing I cared about. They did not build the backstory for this at all.

[readster]

12 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

this 100%. I actually had forgotten what Jo's backstory was besides she somehow ends up living in a car. Never forget that. But how she ended up there was a blur and nothing I cared about. They did not build the backstory for this at all.

The writers have piled more and more and rewritten Jo's history so much, how can they expect NOW to feel something for Jo. She is acting like she went through the exact same thing as her mother. Or they go into her rant with: "I was bounced around from home to home and then decided to live in my car and then was beaten by a guy who said he loved me." 

  You think like after all that and saying: "I have a job I love, a husband who loves me." Oh no, she goes into: "I can't tell you, I need to go drink now." "Don't go to Pittsburg or I'll leave you!" Where the hell is it coming from? No, this isn't a woman who is feeling her life has been shit since day 1, she is basically going: "I'm a product of my circumstances" instead of: "See how I rose above it and got a life I enjoy." It's forced drama and trying to repeat April's situation and it JUST IS NOT WORKING!

[moonorchid]

7 hours ago, Eqahan said:

Totally agree! It looks like Krista wanted to repeat the HYPE/BUZZ from April’s meltdown last season (the only amazing story arc happened in s14) but MEHHHH...April’s storyline was more believable as compared to Jo’s. Jo is too much in this case.. are we supposed to feel sorry and bad for her? I get it but why she has to be that mad, down or what so ever as if like she has been through something really really horrible (huh?). I believe what makes April’s story was so good and more relatable was because the acting is also contributed so much to the success of telling a good storyline. Lets be real, the more we feel and believe what these characters have been through the more we feel relatable to the story and feel represented. I think Jo’s meltdown storyline is just a dragging to make sure She has a continuation story arc after the 15x19 episode but it is a weak writing and execution. 

The nico actor is soo sooo horrible and I feel shame just watching him. I know The casting team chose him is just for a hot good looking guy and good abs but he is NOT. This also proved the show has been a downhill. They had casted so many great actors before but now they just doing it for fun and as long as it running till the end of its era. 

I feel like Sarah Drew was immensely under appreciated by krista and grey’s anatomy. People who didn’t even like april felt for april during her spiral last season, and I think it was for a few reasons: 1. We had a firm grasp on who april was so when she was acting so very out of character, when she broke down in the supply closet and just cried out of despair, we felt that! 2. A loss of faith is something that is a little more tangible to grasp even if you don’t have faith. The notion of losing something that was the core of who you were, people can get that. 3. Camilla is fine but Sarah Drew is a better actress imo, and has a way of conveying her feelings on her face and exuding outward what her character is feeling. 4. April was alone in part by choice cause she was pushing the one person who tried away and by circumstance cause no one was “oh man, april is looking bad, let’s notice and try to help” like they are doing for Jo. Jo has already had triple the amount of people trying to help and notice her plight than April so we the audience end up feeling exasperated (at least I do). 

I cant imagine the mind f*** jo experienced learning what she learned. What I’m having a hard time with is the, pardon my terminology I can’t think of a better one, the psycho look in her eyes. It felt like at any moment she was gonna get physical with someone, and she tends to look mad more than anything else. I think that’s where some disconnect comes in. 

Finally, I do think this is Krista thinking she can get the same result as April’s arc with an actor and a character she actually likes. The arrogance in that notion irritates me to no end.

[Janie430]

15 minutes ago, moonorchid said:

It felt like at any moment she was gonna get physical with someone, and she tends to look mad more than anything else. I think that’s where some disconnect comes in. 

The thing is, one of the early things we learned about Jo was that she had gotten physical with people.  It was kind of lost when they started talking about her abusive ex-husband, but when her boyfriend Jason grabbed her arm, she beat him up (probably because she thought he was like her ex husband).  And I think there were a couple of discussions with Stephanie before that about hitting people.  So it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up getting physical with someone.  It would in fact be an awesome story if she did, because it would really talk about the cycle of violence.  

[moonorchid]

4 minutes ago, Janie430 said:

The thing is, one of the early things we learned about Jo was that she had gotten physical with people.  It was kind of lost when they started talking about her abusive ex-husband, but when her boyfriend Jason grabbed her arm, she beat him up (probably because she thought he was like her ex husband).  And I think there were a couple of discussions with Stephanie before that about hitting people.  So it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up getting physical with someone.  It would in fact be an awesome story if she did, because it would really talk about the cycle of violence.  

This would be really interesting especially since we know of how Alex feels about women hitting men and he seems the type to just take it and not tell anyone. This may skew a little more grey than Krista wants to go in terms of survivors of domestic abuse but this would be an interesting way to go with jo and something not only grey’s has ever done, but something you don’t see on network television often. 

[GSMHvisitor]

1 hour ago, moonorchid said:

This would be really interesting especially since we know of how Alex feels about women hitting men and he seems the type to just take it and not tell anyone. This may skew a little more grey than Krista wants to go in terms of survivors of domestic abuse but this would be an interesting way to go with jo and something not only grey’s has ever done, but something you don’t see on network television often. 

This will never happen for the exact reason you said. It's too grey for Krista. Plus she's all about female empowerment and thus would most likely never make a woman do something that problematic.

[taanja]

On 4/20/2019 at 6:19 PM, MarylandGirl said:

Yep, my husband is a redhead, I'm a brunette, and our daughter is blonde (dark blonde, but still). And H has blue eyes, I have brown eyes, and D has hazel/green eyes. Genetics are fascinating. 

I'm not disputing the fact that Derek and Mere's children could have the straight blond/dirty blond/ brown hair-- I am just making an observation that  TPTB decided -- on purpose perhaps????? -- to NOT chose any little actors that resemble Patrick Dempsey.

[Bort]

21 minutes ago, taanja said:

I'm not disputing the fact that Derek and Mere's children could have the straight blond/dirty blond/ brown hair-- I am just making an observation that  TPTB decided -- on purpose perhaps????? -- to NOT chose any little actors that resemble Patrick Dempsey.

Or maybe they just picked the ones that cry the least.

[Layne]

1 hour ago, taanja said:

I'm not disputing the fact that Derek and Mere's children could have the straight blond/dirty blond/ brown hair-- I am just making an observation that  TPTB decided -- on purpose perhaps????? -- to NOT chose any little actors that resemble Patrick Dempsey.

It's an interesting observation for sure. 

[PepSinger]

2 hours ago, Layne said:

It's an interesting observation for sure. 

It’s just odd. I actually said aloud, “Those kids look nothing like Derek” when I saw them. LOL. The Grey genes are mighty!

[Biggie B]

On 4/18/2019 at 10:13 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Sushi burritos are delicious. They're like a portable poke bowl.

Totally read this as "puke bowl." 

I now hate Jo more than ever. Good god - would it be possible for her to say, "I found out something extremely traumatic from my birth mother, and I am struggling like all hell to process it." ? Apparently not! That's still not enough of an explanation for her HUSBAND, but if she said that to 99% of the other people in her life, they'd likely back off and respect her space. But to not say one single word to Alex is completely insane. Alex should've just gone to Pittsburgh directly! For crying out loud, Jo - take a pencil and write, "My birth mother revealed that I'm the product of rape." Slide the paper over to Alex. Then at least he will UNDERSTAND your severe traumatic state - which is actually understandable.  But to completely leave your husband floundering in the dark is just incomprehensible. At this point, I'm almost actively rooting against her! Yes, I may have ice water in my veins, but to leave Alex twisting in the wind, when he's the one person who will be the absolute MOST supportive is not something I find in any way interesting or compelling to watch.

[displayname]

2 hours ago, Biggie B said:

Good god - would it be possible for her to say, "I found out something extremely traumatic from my birth mother, and I am struggling like all hell to process it." ?

You are expecting rational thought from someone who just found out something traumatic?

[RedbirdNelly]

9 hours ago, displayname said:

You are expecting rational thought from someone who just found out something traumatic?

Yes, to a degree, yes--and maybe not the day she learns it or the next, but seems like days have gone by. Most people could buy "I've learned something traumatic but am not ready to discuss it" but seems like she can't even say that. It would be more understandable if she had not known she was adopted and suddenly discovered this out of the blue. But, as we all know, she lived in a car. She did not have a stable upbringing, so the possibilities of why, what happened, had to have run through her head over the years. Learning the truth would still be traumatic but less traumatic than if the thought of it had never occurred to her.

[Biggie B]

10 hours ago, displayname said:

You are expecting rational thought from someone who just found out something traumatic?

By now, yes. It's been more than just a day or two. I don't care if she has to say it in tears, but she can choke out, "I'm very messed up from finding my birth mother," or even, "I am so fucked up from finding out some shit."  

I guess the woman with two uteri served no purpose other than to show that DeLuca likes kids. What an odd way to show that - and not even a follow up line from Bailey or anyone about her unusual physiology. It would've been interesting for one of them to say, "Only 1 in xxx women have two uteri - it's amazing we got to see this!" 

[Bort]

6 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

It would be more understandable if she had not known she was adopted and suddenly discovered this out of the blue. But, as we all know, she lived in a car. She did not have a stable upbringing, so the possibilities of why, what happened, had to have run through her head over the years. Learning the truth would still be traumatic but less traumatic than if the thought of it had never occurred to her.

Yes, this. I would imagine any kid who was adopted or in the foster system from infancy has to wonder about the circumstances of how they came to be and there's no way that "product of rape" doesn't occur to them as they ponder. Jo is acting like this is so shocking and out of the blue and, well...

[dvr devotee]

On 4/19/2019 at 10:38 AM, sadie said:

We get she has the sadz, but she is acting like an insane person. I get learning something traumatic is bad but I can’t tell if they are trying to tell a serious story of depression, murderous anger, brain tumor or what? None of her actions make sense as a whole.  Ugh. Make it stop.

On 4/19/2019 at 1:41 PM, ams1001 said:

Thank you (and everyone after you) for saying that! I was trying to say something similar without coming across as insensitive to how it might feel to find out your birth was the product of a violent act, but she's talking like she's suddenly lost everything. "I had a marriage"...um, you still do and your husband is wondering what the hell is going on. "I had a job"...um, you still do. You're having this conversation at work. How long has it been since she came back? Fucking talk to someone already and stop acting like the people who are worried about you are the bad guys!

I could have quoted more of these same comments through the thread, but then I'd be quoting like 85% of the thread.

I struggle with major depressive disorder, and, honestly, how Jo is behaving is pretty much the same way I spiral when something bad happens in my life. I was going to say that the portrayal of Jo drinking bothers me because it blurs the storyline between alcoholism and depression, except I just realized that I used to use alcohol as a coping mechanism, until I quit drinking altogether.

When I am depressed, I can barely be bothered to shower or even brush my teeth more than once a week. I push away the people who love me and refuse to talk about what I'm going through, because nobody else could possibly understand (or so the depression tells me). I hate myself and often would turn that outward (especially while drinking) and unleash on those who love me, saying terrible things. And, oh, the anger! I'd be furious with myself for making the decisions leading to my current situation, which would often lead to me snapping at others. If anyone said they would give me consequences for my actions, my response would basically be "go fuck yourself, I don't care." And I truly didn't. I felt I didn't deserve anyone's love and that I was a burden on everyone (again, that was the depression talking). I would do everything I could to sabotage everything good in my life, because the depression told me I didn't deserve any of it.

So Jo's behavior rings true to me. The problem is, that's a really hard story to tell in 3-minute scenes at a time, when the depressed person doesn't want to talk to anyone and tell them what's in her head. The last time I spiraled, I finally broke down and realized what I was doing wasn't working for me after I had two anxiety attacks--which had never happened to me before. So I think they are moving towards her having a break down of sorts, since being drunk at work is an escalation of behaviors. But since it's so hard to explain to the audience what she's going through *right now*, the break down won't necessarily be as satisfying and cathartic for the audience.

Jo has had a lot of trauma in her life and she never has gotten help to process and heal from those things. Achieving so much despite the odds does not magically heal all the trauma. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to learn that you are the product of rape, but I could see how that would trigger you to feel that the violence of your conception means you deserved all of the terrible things you've experienced in your life. So now that her life has good things in it, she thinks she doesn't deserve those things and is sabotaging it all.

Those above who said that this isn't going to wrap up by season end, you're right. Even though the writers have not done a great job with this part of the story, I think (hope!) once her breakdown moment comes, they will find it easier to write the rest and do this story justice. I could see Jo in therapy next season, working through all the trauma she's experienced in her life. Also, I don't see her leaving Alex--even though this show can be totally ridiculous, I can't see Alex's second wife disappearing from the face of the earth just like his first wife.

Edited April 29, 2019 by dvr devotee
Punctuation

[Friendly kitty]

Oh, Joe is still broken. Again, Alex will go in a circle. Why is he so unlucky in love? After all, they still had a good time, but now ... It’s not a fact that Joe will be able to become what it was before. Most importantly, she does not want this. She doesn't care about Alex's feelings, that's sad. 😓And by the way, nobody knows what's with the actress ??? Somehow she does not look good ... Or just gained weight ???

But for Owen is very happy! Well done, that went to a psychologist. His technique is very original and working. I hope that the doctor will help him and he can be happy with Teddy. Because they are the perfect match. Because they have true love, no matter how they deny the obvious.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Friendly kitty

[statsgirl]

If anyone is seriously considering using a neuro emotional technique for therapy, take a look at the outcome research here.

Quote

There is concern by clinical psychologists of the adoption of TFT as an unvalidated and pseudoscientific therapy by government bodies and the public at large...

Lilienfeld, Lynn & Lohr also use TFT as an example of a therapy that contains some of the hallmark indicators of a pseudoscience. Specifically, they note its evasion of the peer review system and absence of boundary conditions...

The only study that I found using it as a trial was never published completed.

I know that this is a soap opera masquerading as a medical show but they should not be using a fake therapy and suddenly having Owen cured.

[Tallulah7606]

We’re behind in the UK so this episode has only just aired this week. Can someone PLEASE tell me Jo stops being such an irritating, self indulgent, self pitying arsehole?? I’m getting incredibly sick and tired of her constant ‘face like a smacked arse’ expesssion and treating Alex like crap. It’s got so bad I have to fast forward her scenes. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Tallulah7606
Autocorrect let me down....