From Shonda: It's the end of the episode (as we know it)

Original Airdate: 2-12-06

So Dylan’s dead. 

And I have to admit, I’m a teeny bit relieved.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Kyle Chandler.  He was great as Dylan.  Smart, funny, cute, and very much in charge.   I was, in fact, a little bit in love with Dylan.  Not as in love as I am with McDreamy or Burke but…you know, there were moments during the filming of the episodes when Dylan would be saying something bossy or helping Mer down the hall, pushing that gurney and being all bomb squad-y, moments that I was thinking, hey, maybe he doesn’t have to explode.

But still I am relieved.  Why?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  Here’s why:

At the end of Act Five, there is a scene.  Scene 52.   I wrote this scene about fifteen minutes before I had to print out the script and hand it over to production.  It reads as follows:

INT. OR CORRIDOR -- CONTINUOUS

Meredith leans her head out.  Sees Dylan heading down the hall.  She's just about to open her mouth...

...When the ammo explodes.  When Dylan explodes.  Fire, shattering glass.  Meredith is thrown backwards.

Okay, that’s…what?  An eighth of a page?  A sixteenth of a page?  A tiny fraction of the script, right?

The ammo explodes.

Dylan explodes.

I wrote those words and was actually ignorant enough of the horrors to come that I gave it to the production team and then slept the sleep of babies and angels for several nights in a row.

The ammo explodes.

Dylan explodes.

Seriously?  SERIOUSLY?

All of the sudden, you find yourself in meetings with real live bomb squad guys and special effects guys and a very tense director and everyone is asking you things like “When you say, bloody rain…you actually want bloody rain or just like, some blood spatter?”  And things like “When Dylan explodes, you wanna see chunks of Dylan or do you want like, a Dylan vapor?”

These are thing I don’t want to think about.  These are things that make my head hurt.   The ammo explodes.  Dylan explodes.   It’s in the script.  I wrote it.  I know that.  But I don’t want to think about Dylan chunks or bloody rain.  I don’t want to think about it at all.  I like to write things and have them happen.   I like to keep myself in a kind of stalker-ish fog in which I believe my characters aren’t characters but actual people.  It’s how I can write them.  So when you ask me about Dylan chunks, my brain gets all twisty and shuts down.  Because Dylan’s a person, a very real person to me and I love him and it’s not my fault he has to die and besides…yuck. 

But I’ve got Rob Corn on my ass.

Rob Corn doesn’t care if I try to kick everyone out of my office when they bring up bloody rain or he doesn’t care if I try to pretend I can’t speak English when someone asks me about bloody chunks.  Rob Corn is the producer on our show and it’s his job to make things happen and, if I am stupid enough to write Dylan explodes on a piece of paper, Rob Corn is damn well going to make sure that Dylan explodes.  Behind his back, I like to call Rob Corn Bossy McBossy.  It doesn’t sound affectionate here but in real life, it’s really sweet and kind.  Trust me.   Anyway, Bossy McBossy told me that we had to do tests so we could figure out how exactly Dylan explodes.

Tests?  Dylan explodes.  What’s there to test?   HA!  I’m clearly an idiot.

They built this model of Dylan’s body and one day I am herded out onto the back lot of the studio at the request of Bossy McBossy Rob Corn.   Then I have to stand and watch as 20 or 30 really happy guys (testosterone is a powerful thing) position the model of Dylan just right and explode it into tiny little pieces.  Twice.  It is very loud.   Wow.  Dylan explodes.   I’m all, “great, thanks, way to go, very manly.”  And I turn to flee, prepared to head back to my office, happy that the Dylan explodes part of this is over so I can pay attention to the other stuff, the estrogen stuff, the fun stuff like Bailey and George giving birth and Derek describing that kiss to Meredith…

…But Rob Corn raises an eyebrow and very gently says, “Uh, Shonda?” and I go really still with horror.   Because I suddenly start to realize that a) that little test was only the beginning and b) that, for the rest of my life, I was going to regret ever typing the words Dylan explodes into my computer.

They blew up test dummies.  Tall dummies, dusty dummies, dummies with helmets, dummies without helmets.  They blew up test dummies filled with fake blood.  They blew up pieces of our set.  They set off an explosion on the set of our operating rooms.  They used stunt girls and stunt guys.  Ellen let them pull her through the air.  I think there were blue screens and green screens and animated pieces of debris and glass.  The genius special effects guys added fire and smoke and things I can’t imagine but things that made it amazing.  The sound guys added over 100 layers of sound elements so that, if you have HD and you watch with surround sound speakers, the explosion flies at you and passes you and swirls around you.

Dylan explodes.

The explosion was beautiful. Amazing work and truly impressive.  I told everyone so.  I can’t believe the amount of talent and energy that come together to make this show happen.  But next time I get a Super Bowl and post-Super Bowl time slot, I’m gonna write something different.   Something a bit easier.   Something less time-consuming and expensive.  And without so many bloody chunks. 

Dylan puts the ammo down and goes to have a sandwich.   

Enough about Dylan, may he rest in peace.  I want to tell you about the difference between the first episode titled “It’s the End of the World” and the second episode “(As We Know It)”.   

I tried really hard to make the first episode very male and the second episode very female.  I wanted them to fit together, like puzzle pieces.  So that I could have two episodes about the same thing but that felt very different from one another.  The first episode is all amped up energy, all naked girls and screaming and bombs and running down hallways and men saying things like “Get out of my OR.”  The second episode is all long pauses.  Long pauses and sitting and pushing out babies and kissing in linen closets and lots of discussion about how the hell this is all going to end.  The first episode is what happens when danger strikes.  The second episode is how we deal with danger when it strikes.  The epicenter of this episode is the hallway/gurney scene.  It’s the first scene I envisioned at all when thinking of these two episodes.  I kept saying, “there needs to be this scene where Meredith and Cristina move down the hall really slowly with the ammo and Dylan and talk about boys.”  And everyone kept nodding very politely with tight smiles the way they do when they are sure you have gone off the deep end.  But Elizabeth Klaviter (she’s our super smart medical researcher) got on the phone with the bomb squad guys and the doctors and she got them to tell her how this would be possible.  How I could get that gurney rolling so Meredith and Cristina could discuss the state of Cristina’s relationship.  I needed that discussion which, for me, is really just a big old metaphor for how we deal with the tragedies in life.  You’ve got your hand on a bomb but you don’t want to talk about it over and over, you don’t want to face it – so you talk about something else.  Most of life is talking about something else.  Plus, I found this really cool song by The Greenskeepers that I was dying to use.

George is a big key to this episode.  If you pay attention, he’s the one who serves as our witness.  Through most of the episode, he wanders around, a bit bewildered.  He’s the one who feels the most helpless.  And then he has that moment with Hannah where she talks about the nature of cowardice, where she says that to do nothing is to be a coward.  And he acts.  He helps Bailey through giving birth.   In the first episode, he’s fantasizing about what it would be like to see three women in the shower.  In the second episode, he sees what three women in a shower is like in reality.  Because, guys, women don’t just climb in a shower and start soaping each other up for no reason.  Hello!?  Life isn’t porn.  Life is Meredith, bloody and battered, being gently cleaned off (chunks of Dylan) by her best friends.  And so he leaves.  Because what he is seeing is too intimate. 

The last thing I want to say about this episode has to do with Meredith.  Because all she really wants is some kind of reason to live.  I’ve heard a lot of talk about Meredith being whiny but the truth is, she’s got a mom with Alzheimer’s, no other family to speak of, and the man she loves is married.  She’s pretty freaking lonely, people.  She’s got a right to get her whine on.  So, when she falters, when she doesn’t want to pull her hand out of Mr. Carlson, it’s partly because she’s got nothing to hang on to.  As she says in the first episode, she needs a reason to go on, she needs some hope.  Which is why she has to picture Derek to get through it.  And at the end, when he shows up at her house (and he shows up just to see for himself that she is alive), she has to ask.  She has to ask him about their last kiss because if she’s ever going to get out of that bed again and keep going, she needs a reason.  She needs to know there’s someone out there for her.   She needs some hope.  And Derek (can Patrick Dempsey be any more amazing?) describes that last kiss, the last kiss they had as a happy couple, in such perfect detail that Meredith knows she’ll be okay.  Because he wouldn’t remember that kiss so well if he didn’t love her.  He couldn’t.  It’s her sign.

He loves her.  Even if he can’t be with her.  Even if he has a wife. 

He loves her, people.

I told you, there’s hope.

I can’t promise you anything because, like I said earlier, the characters are alive for me and thus, I can’t make them do anything against their will.  But my fingers and toes are crossed for the Mer/Der love…

Once again, thanks for watching the show.

Comments

[N.M]

Great episode ! Although I'm really disappointed that Kyle Chandler's character was killed off. I thought it would have been cool to have him around for a few episodes. It would have been great to see him and Meredith hit it off and to see McDreamy's reaction to that.

Not to mention that Kyle is GORGEOUS ! I love McDreamy too, but let me tell you, if I had Kyle Chandler standing in front of me, I definitely would not be fantasizing about McDreamy or any other man !

The only other thing that I didn't like, was that no one mentioned that the bomb squad guys lost their lives. We just saw the explosion and then it was not brought up again. That was really sad because they risked their lives to help everyone and no one even seemed to care about the fact that they died in the line of duty. I am hoping that it will be addressed in the next episode.

Keep up the great work ! Grey's Anatomy is my favorite show and I look forward to it every week !

[Tina]

You're show is absolutely beautiful. You have amazing writing talent and you really make a connection with the characters that makes them so real. At the risk of repeating what everyone above me has already said: Thank you thank you thank you for making such an amazing show. It is what gets me through my tough weeks as a biomed student. I thought Desperate Housewives was the most amazing show I had seen...I stood corrected.

[LD]

Shonda
I am so thrilled about tonight's episode. I really loved it. It hit so close to home on so many levels and touched every viewer. Made every viewer think, what would I do with my last day? And I think that's a wonderful ability to have in a world full of craziness and going from one materialistic pointless thing to another, that we actually get a sense of reality and bring us down to earth and say hey, this could really be my last day. So that was a very important show and I admire you so much the way you were able to put it together. That's a great talent. My heart went out to every one, it was so real. The characters are so real, I want to know them more, I feel like I know them, and then i start to feel pathetic that the highlight of my life is based on a television show. But, it's not just a television show, it allows us, the viewers, to connect to it and then connect the show to our lives and realize what truly is out there. And to realize, this is life, it's not always going to be perfect, you have ups and downs. So thank you. This was a wonderful episode, touch my heart and hit so close to home. I absolutely love all the actors in the show, they're all so gorgeous and I just can't get over it. They're all so very talented and I'm just in awe at every single one of them. The way the play their characters is phenomenal! The growth of the characters is also so wonderful, I love just seeing where each character is going on his/her quest. I can't tell you how much I love this show. Mer/Der - *SIGH*. It's everyone's hope of love. Real Love. A love that looks so good, but there's so many difficulties and imperfections within it. Like real life. It's amazing.

[Shannon]

When I was younger, someone once told me that the more you cry, the longer you live. If that’s the case, then Grey’s Anatomy is going to be the reason I live to be 300 frickin’ years old. I love this show. I love the characters. I also love the music on this show. I love that other people love this show. It’s Love Fest 2006 right now. Thank you.

[WOW,,,]

Dear Shonda,
Incredible. Thank you for your brilliance, and for these characters (mostly for casting Patrick Dempsey as one of these characters). :)
The episodes came together beautifully. As long as you keep giving me hope, I will watch. I have been a fan from episode one and I cannot wait for Tuesday when I can own Season 1!
Looking forward to seeing you at the Paley Festival!!

~Kati

[nt]

Shonda,
I can't tell you how much I love this show. It went from something I watched sometimes to something I must watch every Sunday. This episode was out of this world. I was riveted. And I cried. I always cry when I watch Grey's, but I cried a LOT this time around. Thank you.

[amy k]

I LOVE GEORGE!!!! cant help it, when he handled Baily, and made her see what she was capable of,WOW, beautifully written Shonda... well done. I cried.of course I cried through all the other parts too, so its kinda amazing I could even see the television at all.please please send addison away.... mer/der need to be back together.... he loves her so much. bummer about Kyle Chandler..Ive always liked him. maybe he can come back in dream sequence or somethin.he is so darn cute... not mcdreamy cute, but pretty close. did I mention I LOVE GEORGE!!!!

[Shonda]

I just want to say, I simply love this show. And these past to episodes were the best. But one thing that caught my attention. Dr' Baily had manicured nails. Being a someone that works in a hospital, and a retired professional actor. I'm a little OCD at catching details. Doctors are the main people that have beefs about manicured nails in hospital workers. But over-all this was the best episode so far. What a way to spend a snowed in evening.

[Erik]

Best show ever.

Seriously?

Seriously.

[Tiffany]

I'm glad I found this site. I needed..um..resolution I think is the word..after Dylan blew up. I needed something where people talked about it - since I become way too emotionally involved with characters and would've thought about his sudden death for HOURS on end. What I stumbled upon was so much better. ^_^ I got the comments I was looking for, and so much more information thanks to you, Shonda; check me out! Now this page will live in my Favorite Places.

What I liked best was my mom's reaction to the shower scene. After the Super Bowl, she was all extra-offended when she was suddenly assaulted by three naked women soaping each other down. But then, in tonight's episode, she appreciated the reality of the actual shower; women helping women - it was beautiful.

I am absolutely in love with the show. I think I'm supposed to love Sundays for church or whatever O_o - but let's just be honest - it wouldn't be nearly as exciting if it wasn't for Grey's Anatomy. Cheers.

[Keren]

this episode was amazing. i love greys anatomy.

please find a way to get mer and der together...they are meant and while i might feel bad for addison, maybe she should have thought when she was cheating on der and she knows that der loves mer.
ah.
i hope in the next episode she messes up

[Kevin]

That was freaking insane. Absolutely freaking insane. The funny thing was, just yesterday I watched the Lost episode where the guy explodes after he waves the dynamite around, so I was kind of expecting it. Then I said "Nah, Grey's isn't that kind of show..." No sooner had those words come out of my mouth... BOOM. Dylan explodes. Chunks of Dylan. Very good episode, even though it didn't seem like usual Grey's, but hey, every TV show needs a few explosions every once in a while to keep the blood racing.

[Kimmy]

WoW. I'm still holding my hands to my head. And have already watched it twice (thanks tivo) just to be sure I caught all the details. Wow.

[kokopellirain]

Shonda,
My mom has never tolerated listening to "warmed over t.v." b/c both of us are movie lovers, but c'mon, until recently, VERY recently, t.v. was doomed to go down the wayside. However, I am proud to report that she enjoyed my character sketch reviews. this is the woman who loved m*a*s*h and I used to watch it with her as a kid. I told her Grey's is a combo Seattle (we're close), mash, ER, and the wit, verve, intensity of storyline is amazingly satisfying. the only thing I would change would be getting rid of the commercials! Maybe run a two hour special now and then for GA gluttons! Anyway, I think she's goingto buy the first season dvd for the road trip she and dad are taking to go visit my little bro. Thank you for having such a richness and musically friendly show! Please include more outside shots of Seattle when the gang is not at work! Us Seattle folks love it! I'd be happy to tell you a few romantic Seattle secrets that would be visually appealing and might be something fun for you to work into your storyline! Take care!
Cheers,
kokopellirain@msn.com

[Justeen]

I loved your commentary, reading it was awesome and really helped me to understand the story. Thanks for a wonderful episode. I love how the shower scene tied it. It was beautiful how this week's episode reflected last weeks and how they worked together to create the best episodes!

[Michelle]

Dylan explodes!? That was so depressing. T___T

I just want to know how in the world something like that could happen to a man and...NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT! Why wasn't Dylan even mentioned?
The guy blew up! The hall was recked, Mer had "Dylan chunks" on her! ...I just don't understand how something like that could slide. How "Dylan" got so little, no, ABSOLUTELY no closure.

He saved everyone in the room by taking the bomb away and talked Mer through taking it out, and that's the thanks he gets...to be VAPORIZED.

It just ruined the ep for me.

[Danielle]

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! Shondra not only are you a great actress but a phenomenal writter. I have loved this show for the beginning and just think everyone has done a wonderful Job. I am not one to become obsessed with shows but I just can't help myself with Grey's Anatomy. I do hope to see Mer/der get back together someday!

[Mindy]

Shonda,

I am in awe. You capture these characters in all their glory and despair. I just love to watch this show. I'm proud to say that I've been an addict since the first episode and I am so happy I tuned in. Great writing. Thank you.

[Anna Maria]

Bravo!Bravo! What a great ending. Once again, congratulations to you, Shonda and everyone that makes Grey's Anatomy an uplifting, addictive show to watch. I am not a sicko but I was hoping that there would be some sort of explosion. Well, the entire episode was explosive (great writer(s), special effects, great acting, great director, yadda, yadda, yadda). Thank you...
Thank you for making sure reality is not forgotten, that you remind your audience that life is about laughter, tears, death, birth, love, hate, sex, no sex, fantasies, deepest secrets, desire, hope and challenges. I hope ABC realizes that "Grey's Anatomy" is their "Jewel in the Nile". What a show! Thank you, Shonda, thank you writers, editors, researchers, FX guys, actors, actresses, and extras for a wonderful, inspiring and absolutely entertaining show. My respects and compliments goes mostly to the writers for without the story, the actors/actresses wouldn't have those great lines, especially Sandra Oh's...

Just a quick suggestion: How 'bout George and Hanna getting together? I think Cristina and T.R. Knight have great chemistry onscreen. Whatcha think? Possible???

[Wallflower72]

Pink mist... as soon as she handed him the bomb - I knew - pink mist. The flaming pink sheets of paper were like that scene from the Matrix where the piece of paper blows between Neo and Smith. It's the sign that something has changed in the universe. The look of terror when asking for "she" couple with the look of anguish in Der's face when the wrong "she" came running. And then there was George... I was emotionally exhausted when this episode was finished. Do it again! Do it again!

I have loved a lot of shows in my time. But this is the first one that has grabbed me both mentally AND emotionally in such a tremendously wonderful way. Don't stop Shonda. Keep doing what the characters tell you. It just proves you're not crazy after all.

[Megan Harrell]

Hats off to an absolutely AMAZING two episodes. Seriously. You all seriously rocked these two shows. Definitely superb writing and out of this world acting from your cast...you have no idea how many times I said, "Oh my God," and was shocked to silence in these two episodes. They were amazing. Not that my opinion matters much Emmy wise, but these two episodes and "Into You Like a Train" are, in my opinion at least, definitely Emmy worthy both writing wise and acting wise (not to mention "Break on Through" because Ellen totally rocked the material you guys gave her).

I have to say, I didn't start watching until this season, so I had the advantage (or disadvantage...however you want to look at it) of not seeing Meredith and Derek in the first season, so I chose my loyalty to them based on the pure chemistry and writing I've seen this season (and now going back and season season 1, I know I made a very wise choice and can see why there is such a hardcore fanbase, of which I am very proudly a member!). I love how you guys make it so realistic. Derek is trying to be the good guy and work on his marriage...he really wouldn't be McDreamy if he didn't try. So many people who have been cheated on are willing to honor their marriage vows and give people another chance, despite everyone saying they should get over it. My cousin did it (of course his wife cheated on him a second time, but that's beside the point). I love how you show that Derek really is conflicted between his head and his heart, how you putting the little bits of his true love for Meredith into the episodes (and major props to Patrick for the phenominal "eye acting" thing he nails every single time). It's scenes like the end of tonight's show where Derek just HAS to see that Meredith is alive and okay for himself to really believe it, it's the fact that he could recall every detail of their last kiss perfectly, the wording of how it was "like a habit" and "like something they could do every day for the rest of their lives"...that scene in the closet in "Break on Through" that make me fall even more in love with the couple (and shows just how really dreamy McDreamy is and how he totally deserves that nickname).

I also want to thank you for doing this blog thing on here. It's so amazing as a fan to be let in on the little things like you and the other writers do. Seriously, I don't know another show who does it (granted I've never really checked the other ABC sites for shows...not much else on ABC holds my attention to be honest). I think it is amazingly sweet of you all to take time out of your busy schedules to "dish" with the fans and to read all of our comments, be it whining or not.

I know that you seem to be very big on metaphors and symbolism and all that cool writer stuff; well as a writing student with a theatrical background myself, I can assure you that I sit and analyze episodes, tyring to figure out the metaphors and speculating on the symbolism of why a scene was written like it was, what it truly means, why a certain song was picked and which lyrics play in certain scenes with what's going on (seriously, amazing song choice for the closet scene in "Break on Through"...not sure if you chose the song for that one or not, but the lyrics were amazingly fitting there especially). It's just as a writer I can totally appreciate the metaphors and have fun figuring them out and speculating. Like that scene from the beginning of last episode with Meredith and Derek alone in the OR with her hand in the exact position it would have been in the body...I knew that was definitely foreshadowing of a scene to come, although I didn't expect it to play out like you did it (which was very, very creative and actually made a lot of sense once I thought about it) and sure enough, there was the scene played out in this episode.

Anyways, totally awesome writing, superb acting, amazing directing, phenominal special effects...just overall two completely shocking and moving episodes. If it's this good in February during sweeps, I cannot wait to see the season finale in May!

Oh yeah, don't feel bad about the characters being real to you...you've made them very real to a lot of us. And I totally agree with you on the Meredith whining thing. It's like the sky opened up one day and decided to just dump all it's crap on poor Meredith. I totally sympathize with the girl...between her mom, her stress as an intern, the man she loves choosing his cheating wife over her...she's more than entitled some time to whine and have a lot of difficulty.

Man, I got long winded...I do apologize for that. It tends to happen when I start writing. Keep up the great work!

Megan~

[MeredithF]

Beautiful show, I love it really and not just because the main character's name is Meredith or Patrick Dempsey is all sorts of yummy. It's the kind of show that I can watch and be satisfied and every now and then just cry over. And I love the music. Every week I have to check out the music credits on the site so I can go and grab it. Wonderful job!

[suz]

oh. my. G-d. absolutely the best. forgot to breathe for a while. ahhhh. thanks for bringing the best ever show to tv. can't wait for more!

[Amanda]

Please make sure you send your mom and dad special cards for their respective parent's day this year - they have created an amazingly talented writer!! This show is my OBSESSION, the only show I get to watch all week - otherwise my 3 year old demands cartoons. I am so thankful for G.A., it is everything I've been looking for since S&TC ended. George is my absolute favorite, TR is gorgeous and doesn't everyone know that sweet guy you overlook, only to have him surprise you in the end? I think Hannah and George should get together - George seriously needs some lovin and Mer does not deserve him. Sorry, I love Mer, but not for George. Anyhow, this episode was just fantastic, I whine everytime a commercial comes on! I want more! And thank you for proving my husband wrong when he said it was all going to be just a dream - thank you, that BOMB exploding was real! Although I would have liked for Dylan to sweep Mer off her feet for a few episodes, c'est la vie. ABC needs better Grey's Anatomy stuff in their store....I want more Tshirts (like a "Seriously?!" one would be awesome!), but they just don't have much, and I need something to fuel my obsession to get me from one Sunday to the next. Thank you Shonda, your show is just absolutely brilliant. I love, love, love Bailey - she may seem so hard on the outside, but when the time is right, she shows us the soft woman inside....Vajayjay aside (that was frickin awesome! LMAO!) Ok I'll shut up now. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please don't ever let it end.

[madi, northridge, ca]

i have been a true devoted fan from the very beginning..the tears have not stopped flowing as of yet...shonda, these two episodes were beyond amazing, these episodes made me think. and i think its going to be a while before i can actually get some sleep.

thankyou soo much