819 Support System opens in flash back, flash back to the best parts of Owen and Cristina and flash back to the night of Owen’s indiscretion. Cristina wants to know. Owen doesn’t think it will help her. I get it. I get Cristina. She’s a person who operates in logic, things have rational explanation, she needs to understand to move on. Understanding how Owen came to cheat is the only way she can deal with it. It’s almost irrelevant that it’s painful. Whatever you might think of Owen’s cheating, the writing and directing of this episode allows the story to develop well. With the combination of flashbacks and dialogue we get to understand something of what happened. Cristina has moved from silence to constant questions, to sobbing and yelling and hysterical laughter. She’s confused and hurt. It’s less clear what Owen’s going through. His explanation is lacking. Indeed he makes no proactive attempt to explain himself. It is only at the end when the hysteria has died down do we really understand what might be going on. Tit for tat. Eye for an eye. You hurt me, I hurt you. Really Shonda? Did all the writers sit around the table in the writers room and say to each other “Owen has to do something bad and then all is equal, we can keep them together, they’ve each hurt each other, end of story”. I hope not. I really do. Deal with the real issue. Love is not enough if you haven’t got the same values or hopes and dreams for the future. Don’t over-dramatise the story with these soap suds. I don’t want perfect characters on this show, we are all flawed. I only ask for believable storylines. Both actors do well within the material presented to them and in all honesty it is very well written and directed but I’m struggling with the cheating.
The overarching theme this episode was support system and this pervaded throughout explicitly.
“Excellence is not an act it’s a habit” so says Chief Sloan who steps up to the plate to stand in for Chief Hunt whilst he has the ‘flu’. It’s possible I might be the only one who absolutely loved this story arc. Yes yes, you all know I love Mark but this story was inspired. It separated itself from all the relationship drama and took us back to the OR, with the very yellow man and the general surgeons. One of my favourite parts of Season 8 has been the maturing of Mark’s character. I don’t think any character has gone through such character growth in a while.
“Sloan turned out to be a good chief” – that's Derek at the end! Mark took it seriously. His failing being his perfectionism, and there are worst failings. This episode provided three of my favourite scenes of Season 8. The first: the OR with Webber and Sloan. Go back and re-watch this scene. Mark is humbled but not humiliated by Richard. The direction is brilliant. As the scene progresses we see the camera change its angle, it starts with Sloan looking down on Webber it finishes with the reverse despite the fact that Eric Dane is a taller man than Jim Pickins jnr. This establishes a balance of power between these two men. A recognition of Webber the Sloan has potential as chief. A recognition of Sloan that Webber, in this moment, makes the right call. The visual representation is excellent. These are the moments when I really love this show.
Sloan proves to be a determined inspirational leader – yes arrogant, cocky and a perfectionist – but also capable. Chief Webber will always be chief to me. But we have to live with Hunt. Sloan offered a nice temporary respite from Chief Miserable. And what of Jackson in this story arc...
“Sloan’s the Chief and I am the chief’s bitch, lucky me”. No Jackson. Lucky us.
The Torres method has worked and Meredith is ready for her boards. It seems that Meredith went into support overload this week. Not only did she rescue Lexie from the claws of desperate and somewhat immature residents (are these people really on the verge of being attendings?), she sets up her own early morning “Grey” method training sessions and coaxes Cristina out of her bubble of self pity and into boards studying. Meredith doing what she does best, delivering in a crisis. And all on top of providing the only support to the very yellow man. My next favourite scene is day care - parents Meredith and Derek enjoying a time out with Zola - who, by the way, looks somewhat disinterested in the fact her parents are visiting. Brilliantly written dialogue. I would have loved to be in the room when they did the read through. It’s exactly how I would imagine such a conversation to go. Half sentences and soft gossipy undertones. She can’t fix this – she can’t fix Cristina and Owen. Meredith honey, I don’t know who or what can. We had a bit of everything Meredith and Derek this episode and it was probably the first episode which showed a good balance of relationship and medical. We saw them as a normal couple and we saw them rocking it at work.
And what of the other residents where are they? All of them had somewhat of a back seat this week, manically studying, panicing and frenzied patient file theft. We’re building up to the big exams and they’re all on edge. Poor Lexie. She can’t get a decent story line and she’s forced into memorising chart after chart. Whatever. I was bored by the whole of this arc. And April. April has no story. Her pregnancy has killed her character. Where the writers worked very hard to integrate the pregnancies of Ellen Pompeo and Jessica Capshaw with Sarah Drew they’ve failed to sustain her character. They couldn’t NOT sustain Meredith. Arizona had an epic story line post pregnancy. April – nothing. I’m disappointed. I like April, potential crushed.
My other favourite moment was watching Bailey’s face as Ben imagines doing dirty things with her. Oh bailey. You go girl. I’m not a massive fan of Ben, but in this scene I so am. As usual for this character Teddy is left in the cold having lacked the development of any sustained relationship outside of her and Cristina. And let’s face it Cristina is no longer in a position to help Teddy through anything. Arizona and Callie, along with Bailey, produce a ladies night that none of them are interested in - well I got the distinct impression Arizona and Callie were interested in their own personal ladies night. What a shame for Teddy. I wonder what the last 5 episodes can provide for her.
I loved this episode. The story development within the episode, the directing and the acting were brilliant. But for a poor ‘resident’ story this would be one of my season favourites. Oh well, still plenty more left.
Great quotes – and they all come from Mark!
"I plant the seed of innovation, I nurture it and voila, you rose. Am I a fantastic leader or what!”
"Rise Shepherd, rise"
“Am I a fantastic leader or what!”
Written by brouhaha aka @pipmaxine
I disagree to be honest. I think the "tit for tat" thing actually makes sense. With all of the drama happening between Owen and Christina, their relationship has always seemed to be like a tug of war between happiness and absolute pain. She's put him through a lot, quitting her job, the abortion, all of that is very hard for him to take. It makes sense that he would reach out for something, even though he knows it's wrong, it's a way for him to feel like he's in control of his own life.
ReplyDeleteTheir relationship and their marriage is inherently flawed. I'm not saying that they don't belong together but I do think they need to tear everything down to the foundation and rebuild.
I'm pretty much in agreement here. The only thing I don't necessarily agree with is the idea that their marriage can be fixed. After all that they've been through, so many things are hanging over their heads - the abortion, the affair, Cristina quitting her job and floating in a sea of crazy... and sure, maybe they would have been able to work through some of that in time. But I still don't think they can ever get past the fact that Owen wants kids and Cristina doesn't. I can't see either of them changing their mind, as they're both incredibly strong-willed and vehement in their opinions, and I don't think that the marriage could survive that hanging over them for the rest of their lives. I think Owen would grow to resent her, and they'd end up stuck in a frustrating, loveless marriage. I think it's great that they're (hopefully) cutting their losses and moving on.
ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if their marriage can be fixed either but this is TV Land and people like happily ever after so I never say never when it comes to things like this.
ReplyDeleteI just think that this had to happen, they pull each other apart so many times in so many ways that they had to break down at some point.
Yeah, I can't argue with that - the wonderful world of TV does love its happy endings, contrived as they may be sometimes. And if Shonda does decide to keep them together, it's going to be really interesting to see how she tries to mend all the broken pieces.
ReplyDeleteAgain we disagree about the Cheating Arc- Tic for Tac is not uncommon for relationships while its childish Yes, it DOES happen. b/c of all the unresolved drama Cristina & Owen are going through it spills over into Owen being unfaithful. Which offers us as viewers another great performance by Sandra Oh! I pretty sure she went through all the levels of grief in this episode- to finally come out on the other side and realize If he is capable of hurting me this much I dont need to be w/ him and i have a lot more pressing things going on then tryna figure this un-salvageable relationship out. Not to say that Cristina is innocent but hey these are the consequences when u jump into long term relationship w/ people without a proper foundation.
ReplyDeleteOh Ladies night gave me such delight- I love love love the threesome that is Callie, Arizona and Bailey. OMG Bailey's facial expressions and reactions were so spot on. Can we say that editing said to hell w/ hiding JCapps stomach for the scene in the conference room lol that made me chuckle. I must say teddy has a weird choice in movies really Dirty Dancing im fine with but Beaches- that is the most depressing, make u want to slit ur wrist, lock urself in the garage w/ ur car on jump off a ridge movie ever. Y the hell owuld u bring that for ladies night. just not my first choice.
Mark as Chief um wow Annoying in the beginning but he grew on me towards the end. That scene between him and Chief Webber was brilliant. Webber totally cut Mark down to size but taught him in they same breath- "Stand down Mark, Stand Down"
Everything else in the episode was fluff but appreciated none the less.
if they get back together i think it would be a more tortured relationship then it is now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the writers made the relationship way too divisive with this baby issue. It's either going to end with a cop-out or either 1 of them will have to give in/surrender in order for the relationship to work again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments -
ReplyDeleteI absolutely believe that Owen is capable of cheating. And I would believe in this 'tit for tat' if the writers had brought me along with this story. But they didn't. Not only did they spring it on the viewer but they then had to tell the story in flashback in order to explain it. This is a departure from the norm for Grey's. They do not do this. Shonda is well known (and indeed is excellent at) planting seeds of stories, whether or not we agree with the stories and often we don't realise they are planted. She develops them,waters them and then exposes them. A classic example is Mark and parenting. Many didn't like the S7 story line with Callie and Arizona but one can't deny that it was all seeded as far back as S5. And we are used to being shocked about character actions but real shocks come in us understanding character back story (Addison cheating with Mark, Mark's long lost daughter, Owen's fiancé - but all these things were before the character appeared in the show in the timeline). Owen't cheating was not seeded. I can't think of any clues at all. And this is the frightening thing. It implies that the writers introduced this as an afterthought. And if they do this once and get away with it (and for me they didn't) they can do it again. And then storytelling goes down the toilet. This marriage is either over or it will continue with no credibility. The only way to continue is for one character to make an exceptional compromise. Either one who desperately wants a family will face life voluntarily without one OR one who desperately doesn't want a family will be coerced into having a child. Either render this marriage deeply flawed and loaded with issues. Cristina is no Arizona. Owen is no Callie. Cheating for me is irrelevant but it does touch on individual values. Are there any circumstances where cheating is acceptable or can be forgiven?
In my cynical mind I believe they've introduced the cheating as a cop out for Cristina. The abortion story is deeply unpalatable for many people. And being even more cynical her not wanting kids is also a difficult story for many viewers to understand. Setting aside the ethical or moral issue this story generates, go back to read comments from reviews and articles on the subject when Cristina did the deed and you will find as many people on Cristina's side for not wanting kids as on Owen's FOR wanting them. Owen cheating does a very clinical job for the writers. It gives Cristina an out. She has an effortless reason to leave the marriage that has nothing to do with family or her having an abortion OR there is this perceived parity in the marriage now - both have hurt the other - ok we're even now, let's move on. Yes, my mind leads to cynical. Whatever the conclusion of this story, for me the biggest crime was introducing it with no seeding and in flashback. That's what daytime soaps do. How are we to trust what we see our characters do in the future now that we know the writers can sneak up on us and tell us that something happened that we didn't see.
(For a view on Owen's character, SamSF has written some interesting observations in the review for 817)
http://www.spoilertv.com/2012/04/greys-anatomy-episode-817-one-step-too.html
Hello my dear! We are conflicting this week!
ReplyDeleteSee above for response to Owen't cheating.
I thought ladies night was very badly done. I agree that the three of them were great for comedy benefit but how are we supposed to care for Teddy if none of the characters do? Beaches is age appropriate for Teddy, though a better sobbing choice would have been Ghost. Beaches is a sad film but it's a classic ladies night film for her generation and when your emotions are piling on top of you, it takes movies or other peoples circumstances for the dam to break. I suspect Teddy needed something to break the tear dam.
Actually the point I was making was that Webber did not cut Mark down to size - that implies something aggressive. He doesn't do this and that's why this scene is brilliant. He calmly and logically yet firmly explains the situation without getting all humpty about it or territorial. Mark does this with Bailey and Meredith but Webber does not give him a taste of this medicine at all.
Are you picking up ongoing tension between Bailey and Sloan? Hmmm is this Season 9 seeding?
it is hard to care about someone when those close to them dont show an interest i agree. But eventually they came around some what lol
ReplyDeleteI love Beaches it is a great movie one of the few films that actually make me cry. But thats my point for a ladies night w/ a widow i wouldnt want to be sad- id want an escape like comedy or action not a terminally ill friend.
I totally got wat u were saying about Chief and ark- I was fixated on Chief telling Mark to stand down not aggressively but some authority like i kno what im doing ive been doing this for yrs type tone. I think this was another great scene/moment w/ the Chief teaching those around him.
I think there has been a bit of tension btwn bailey and Mark for a while not very subtle in past seasons but still there. This season its starting to fester a lil more. I rather enjoy t :)
i dont think either one can give in. Its asking too much of the person.
ReplyDelete