From Mark Wilding, writer of "17 Seconds"

Airdate:  May 14, 2006

Okay.  You obviously saw last night’s episode.  And in a minute or so, I want to talk about it because it looks like Izzie has done a very, very bad thing.  Like a going to hell bad thing.  I want to talk about that bad thing and other bad things that people did in my episode.  I do.  But first…

…There’s a couple things you should know.  First, you should know that I’m okay with the fact this blog will have a very short lifespan.  And I mean short.  Barely 24 hours.  That’s what happens when a two hour finale follows on the heels of your episode.  That finale is tonight.  Not next Sunday night,  TONIGHT.  So cancel your plans to watch “Two and a Half Men.”  Ditch studying for that sociology final.  And forget about going to bed at 10:00 o’clock because you’re tired from staying up late to watch last night’s episode.  Because tonight is when things heat up even more.  I simply set the table for tonight’s feast.  And that feast is going to be… well,  I don’t want to give anything away, so let’s just say it’ll be very, very entertaining.   And Shonda is definitely going to have a few things to say about it in her blog tomorrow.  So really, this is just a pre-blog.  An appetizer you can digest until they bring out the roasted wild boar and thirty pound lobsters and flaming baked Alaskas (or whatever dessert lights on fire).

The second thing you should know is that I have two sisters.  I also have a brother but I’m not talking about him today.  He’s a good guy, he’s just not pertinent to this particular discussion.  Since this particular discussion involves Denny and other things in the show that my brother pretends not to care about.  But mostly it’s about Denny.  One of my sisters lives in Montreal and the other one lives in New York City.  What do they have in common besides the fact they both live back east and they’re both lucky enough to have me as a brother?  Well, they both watch the show and they both LOVE Denny.  They LOVE him.  As does my wife.  Who finally got to visit the set a few weeks ago and, with all the wonderful cast members we have, the one person she REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted to meet was Denny, aka Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  She met him and, guess what, he’s also very charming in person.  I mean,  CHARMING.  As in I would understand if my wife left me for him charming.  I wouldn’t like it but I would understand it.  Luckily, that hasn’t happened.  If and when it does, you’ll be the first to know.

Anyway, my New York sister wrote me a letter a couple weeks ago that said if anything bad happened to Denny, she would never watch the show again.  Ever.  So, is what’s happened to him bad?  And more importantly, is Izzie bad for doing it?  Is she tremendously irresponsible?  She cut the LVAD wire for love so does that make her action understandable?  Or just crazy.  I mean,  Denny’s still alive, right?  (Sorry, I can’t even tell you that – tune in tonight!).   And Izzie does have a plan so it’s not like she hasn’t thought this all out.  Or has she?  Is bad, well… relative?  You see, all these questions I just asked -- they’re the things we talk about in the writers’ room.  And we don’t always have the answers.  Because too often those answers aren’t black and white.  They’re grey and they fall into cracks and it’s hard to get a hold of them because they keep just slipping out of reach.  Here’s another one -- if you do a bad thing for a really, really good reason – is it still a bad thing?  Does my sister understand that?  Or has she already stopped watching the show?

As for the other thing that might have caught your attention at the end of the episode – namely Preston Burke lying on the ground with a bullet in him – that was a bad thing.  At least none of our interns did that.  At least, directly.  Indirectly’s another story.  After all, it was Izzie’s misbehavior that led to him rushing back to the hospital.  Of course, he was being bad at the start of the episode -- punishing Cristina for falling asleep during sex by telling her she couldn’t go get the heart.  Still, it’s not like he deserved to get shot.  It’s funny, you write an episode with a theme in mind (in this case, anger management) and after you’ve filmed the thing, you start thinking about other possible themes.  Like, say, “men behaving badly”.  Petey the shooter behaves badly, Neal the bullet ducker behaves badly, Brad the boss behaves badly, Burke behaves badly and Derek is still behaving badly towards Meredith (and Addison for that matter).

As for Mer/Der… that silent scene in the elevator at the end where they have so much pain and they can’t talk to each other – well that scene originally had words.  Many words.  But Patrick Dempsey thought it would play stronger without words and he was right.  The scene started out being about anger – hence the many words -- but if you combine anger with love, you really get pain.  The pain of hating someone while still loving them.  We’re told that to hate someone is bad.  But if you love them at the same time, is it still bad?  I once had a girlfriend who used to throw tantrums in restaurants.  Yes, public tantrums.   Embarrassing, horrible public tantrums directed at me.  It was traumatic and yet it was also a little bit exciting.  The result being I loved her and hated her at the same time.  However, in the end, I just hated her.  I mean, come on, public tantrums?  That’s just bad.  By the way, my wife doesn’t have public tantrums and for that I love her.  Although, I do wish she’d get off this Denny kick. 

Anyway, I can’t talk about Burke or Denny or Meredith and Derek anymore because the more I talk about it, the more I’m tempted to give something away.  Also, these are Shonda’s characters.  “Grey’s Anatomy” is her novel.  We, the other writers, try to get into her head as best we can, but at the end of the day, she’s the one that should have the last word.  And tomorrow, she will.

And that won’t be all bad, will it?

Comments

[Bay]

Mark Wilding, that was a beautiful episode. Please pat yourself on the back for writing it. I stayed up late just to see this blog post so I could tell you -- I cried so hard at the end of this episode, I hiccuped like a little kid. I don't want to know what happens next; these characters are so real, they are both knowable and unpredictable. Good job!!!!

(OK, I really hope Burke is OK... but that's as much as I can allow myself to say.....)

[Redfern]

I know you all love Denny, and he's cool. But he's not Burke. He's not George. He's not Derek. He's great, but there are other great men on the show I've cared about longer.

[kelly]

First of all, I totally agree with the comments made by Joanna and deejah.
Secondly, this episode made me so mad! I can't believe how addicted to this show I am. Why would Izzy do that why can't Derek just love Addison? Why? Ahhh now I'm the one experiencing the anger.

[Ellie]

Oh-My-God! I actually SHOUTED it out loud. Then covered my mouth and stared. What a wonderfully tightly woven story.
I was smirking at Burke and Christine waiting for them to come explosively together. They have that passion.
Mar/Der/Add oh so sad and painful! I can't believe you helped me stop cursing Derek out so fast. All week I have been cursing Derek every time I thought of GreysAnatomy and now? ManOhMan!
Burke! Denny! No please don't kill off Burke! Denny, beautiful Denny. How can we not be in love with Denny? It is so easy to climb inside Izzy so we can climb in next to Denny.
And with her girlfriends so blinded by hurt and anger, they couldn't see where she was going. How many times has a girlfriend kept us from doing something stupid-crazy!

Some one said it earlier OH My God! OH MY GOD! Oh My God OhmyGodOhMyGodOhmyGodohmyGOD

[Mara]

*whimpers* Burke..

So.. Izzie went on the crazy train... Woo-woo...

I may just have to get a couple boxes of tissues for tomorrow.

[Caroline]

OH
MY
GOD

i sat there with my mouth hanging open for awhile.

like wow.
too good.

can't wait for tomorrow.

[Jayce]

Mark -
What an episode!!! I've watched it twice now and I'm still freaking out. Between the piece of chocolate cheesecake I ate and all that happened on tonight's episode I can't sleep!

I'm so glad Addison finally let loose on Derek. He's had that coming. And, being a Mer/Der fan I'm so glad Mer heard it. The elevator scene without words was great even though I was dying for them to say something or have eye contact. Mer and Der both looked like they could barely contain themselves. I can't wait until tomorrow. Though I have to feel sorry for Finn because it's so not about the dog! My guess is that Finn's a pretty perceptive guy and he's got to have figured something is going on between Mer and Der after the earlier visit to his office.

You showed how much Callie loves George when she sucked it up and was nice to Meredith. It was perfect how you left that "I love you" hanging in the air for tomorrow.

George had just the right thing to say to Kendra's parents. It reminded me of the way he was with Bailey when she didn't want to have her baby. But, then he gets in Denny's room with Izzie and he looks like a deer caught in headlights. I guess he's in shock that she's that flipped out. Can't wait to see how that ends up.

Burke being shot, I sure didn't see that coming! This ought to knock some sense into Christina about how much she cares for him. I don't know how anyone is going to be able to focus at SGH with all that's going to happen in the finale.

Congrats on a nail biting, heart racing, screaming at the tv episode!!

[Sarah Sanderson from WA]

AH! I think I just about died. I wanted to cry and laugh at the excitement. Laughing not in a good way but laughing because there were and are way to many emotions running through me. I can't stand it, and it really does kill me like some of the other viewers to have to wait until september after tomorrow of course (I'm on west coast time). I wish the time would just pass by so quickly but it won't because I have school tomorrow and housesitting and then after a lengthy amount of time being home it will FINALLY come on and either I will absolutely love the characters and the writers or I will loathe you, not hate you but be angry with you. I hope that doesn't happen. PLEASE PLEASE don't let Burke die, and Izzie. Oh my gosh.
Denny, I like Denny, but he had a choice and Izzie made a choice for him. He only committed because of her love for him. I think what she did was...I don't know was it bad? She thought Burke was coming so at the time maybe it wasn't, but she needed to think of the circumstances, she needed to see beyond the initial effect and to the broader spectrum of what all could go wrong. What if he didn't get the heart anyways?
I'm rambling, I should stop, but I'm excited, so terribly excited.
TV shows aren't supposed to do this to me, they aren't supposed to make me so excited that it feels like real life (figuratively of course). AH!

[Mare]

I hope I'm wrong but I think Denny will die in the Monday night finale and if Denny dies because of Izzy's desperation, Izzy will die too. I'm not speaking of a "physical" death but more of an emotional or spiritual death. How will she ever recover? Tragic...
On a lighter note, the whole Meredith/Derek thing has really gotten way old. I'm so sick of the both of them! If they ever got back together, how could we ever take them seriously? On the other hand, maybe they deserve each other. Ick!

[Chelsea]

Thank you for blogging.
And for an amazing episode.

But, Addison?! I love her so much! And I wish that her husband loved her back.

So much. So so much!

And I called Burke getting shot, well, weeks ago when the spoiler hit.
But, oh, to make it Izzie's fault (yes, it is); I can't wait to see Cristina freak on her.

And, why on earth did everyone stand by while Izzie freaked? Mer&Cris aren't to blame, as doctors, but as her friends?!

Seriously.
I need to be sedated until tomorrow. Thanks. :)

[Amber]

I will not and can not allow this show to leave me hangin', flapping in the wind, for the rest of the summer....I just want to let the writers know that I will go crazy. Y'all have created a show that is as addictive as crack, yet nourishing to the soul. About this episode...I just don't know what to say...I lie. Yes I do.

First, Mer/Der - a lot of people are becoming collateral damage in this little fight of theirs. Not cool. I almost don't want them together anymore. Finn is dee-lish and deserves better than what Mer is prepared to give him. Boo. And, all I have to say about Addison, is "I think it's time to go home to New York."

Second, I love George. But while I AM the president of his fan club, I don't like how he's playing Callie to the left, making her feel as if she needs to "earn" her way into their clique. Not cool.

Third, Izzy totally flipped. 'Nuff said. All I can do is shake my head about that.

And finally, Christina and Burke shouldn't be fighting in the first place. Burke knew what kind of girl he hooked up with and should be ready to deal with it. But, with Burke being shot, maybe Christina will show how much she really loves him now.

[Nikki from BK]

Excellent ep...but...

SHonda, if you don't make Izzie have some real consequences for her actions, this show will lose all credibility (especially for those in the med field who watch the show) and will officially jump the shark. This is my favorite show...please find a way to come back from this!!!

[Pam in Janesville]

Bravo - not only does it make it crystal clear about Mer/Der, and Addison's ability to actually see what is there.....Meredith hugging Finn and having him say "I know you love him" and Meredith standing there, not actually hugging him and saying "I love him so much".....and leaving no question that it is Derek that she is really speaking of, not to make Doc less in her heart, but the pain speaks. Izzy has lost her perspective in a dangerous way and I hope Denny does not pay the price for loving her and trusting her. Thank you for bringing intelligent television back !

[Margo]

So really... it's finals week here at Chapman, and we just got yelled at for breaking quiet hours with our screaming at the tv at the end of the episode. I could hear my other friends across the quad too. Like seriously! omg. that's really all I could say. We were freaking out too much to see the previews for tomorrow, so I for sure thought Burke was dead... then we watched it cause we always always tape it. Thank goodness there's still a chance! Can't wait for tomorrow!

[cdav]

stunning. i wanted to applaud, strangle, scream at, and high five the ever-so-crafy writers... it's a tv show and yet it has become such an integral part of my otherwise hectic life.

stunning...

[Jon]

To tell you the truth, I think you went off the deep end.
If Denny really needs a heart transplant, then why put Izzie through a career-ending decision? If you were always going to have Burke shot, it just wasn't necessary. The whole argument over the donor heart could have been so much more interesting if Denny had actually been crashing. With so many patients in the hospital, Izzie could have been the only intern responsible for trying to keep Denny alive until Burke got back with the heart.
And you killed the dog. In any episode when you announce a death sentence for the family dog, you don't need any unnecessary theatrics.

[Emma Buktenica]

Seriously... you can kill Denny as many times as you want, but you kill Burke once and I will seriously begin thinking about writing an angry letter. I could never stop watching, even if you killed George... DON'T GET ANY IDEAS :)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is charming, but he's just a guest star. We all know that while they bring a certain sparkle to the program, guest stars are disposable. BURKE IS NOT. In any way.

The End.

[Kimeleon]

Oh, btw, I KNOW Burke isn't going to die b/c that would just be WRONG! I know I said I was starting to not like Derek and that he was no longer McDreamy but I think I am changing my mind. The old McDreamy peaked his head out in the elevator with Meredith. Thank you writers for that.

[Sarah M.]

But what about Addison?

What about Addison?
No one ever mentions Addison and Derek in these threads. No one says a thing about them on the pod casts.

I hate Meredith and Derek together. Perfect couple? There is no such thing.
Derek didn't sign the divorce papers, and while that doesn't mean that things will be happy again. It does mean they are still married, and a little recognition from Derek about that marriage, and from the actual writers of the show.. would be nice.
I am mad.
Mad at you, the writers.
You go on about Izzie, about Burke, about Callie, George, Alex, Christina, Meredith, Finn, Denny, Bailey, The Chief, McDreamy (always in relation to Meredith) but I ask again...
WHAT ABOUT ADDISON?

[GREY'S ADDICT!]

holy crap that was a stressfull episode. This show probably has the best writing I have every seen for a television series, ever. I don't even like medical shows and I am seriously IN LOVE with your show. I also love the podcasts, Shonda Rhymes, you seem like such a cool person. (and kudos to Mark Wilding, for this excellent, albeit tremendously stressfull episode)

One thing I love about Grey's is the realism of the characters. They're so NOT stereotyped-they all have their quirks and their faults and their stereotypes. Also, kudos for the most well-done cultural diversity on television. So many shows either seem unrealistic because they are all white, all black, etc, and so many seem to have "the black guy" " the gay guy" "the mean one". Grey's anatomy is extremely well reprsentative of real life (well at least in a city like Seattle) and the character's reactions are HUMAN. people on this blog were commenting on what so and so said and did and how they didn't like it. Well, you know, you don't always like what your friends say and do, so you know, not everything can go your way! Like Izzie "not being a strong woman anymore" Things happen, and you don't always have control over your emotions! I mean, I get really annoyed with Meredith NEVER getting over mcdreamy and moaning all the time, but there are people like that out there!

Finally, this week's episode. OMG (those were the only words I was able to utter for a good 10 minutes) I nearly had a panick attack. By the end of the show, I was jumping up and down on my couch, throwing pillows at the television, and doing everything I could to try and convince Izzy NOT to cut the wire! (Izzie, NO! GOERGE, STOP HER! BURKE!!!! NO!!!!! IZZZZZZZIEEEE NOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO-no, not a psycho, just an addict) Obviously, I have no impact, but I just love the characters on grey's. I know this isn't healthy, but they're like friends of mine. When Burke got shot, I was shocked, as if I knew him. I was like NO, NOTHING CAN HAPPEN TO BURKE! I think he's amazing. He's sexy, and talented, and hes nice, and compassionate, and smart, and hes not in your face lovely like mcdreamy is, although I LOVE mcdreamy also, I think he is probably the sexiest man alive, but you know. If Burke dies, I will be incredibly sad for a very long time. Well I don't want anyone to die! I have a feeling even more people will get involved tomorow...it's a scary feeling...Everyone on Grey's Anatomy is incredibly talented and the characters are all great and incredibly well written. Kudos to all. Now if you could only tell me what is going to happen tomorow! But I must say I am very relieved I only have to wait a day (god, it'll probably be the longest 22 hours of my life) and not a week. Just tell me the ending of tomorow night's ep won't be worse than tonights! Because I couldn't face an entire summer wondering if Burke is ok, if Izzie got fired, etc etc. But that's what you're going to do isn't it...damn cliff hangers! Oh, and might I add, I find the relationship between George and Callie very interesting. Cause for a while, Callie had like the dominant role-she gave George her number, threatened that he waited too long, and was basically the more confidant one of the two. And in tonight's ep (and a bit of the end of last week's) she's the weaker one who needs George, and she's stopped acting like it's the other way around. And then finally tonight, with the "I love you". I dunno, you just understand that this whole time Callie was SO into George, just like Mereidth was with Mcdreamy, but you were kind of seeing it from the other side (George's) so it wasn't as obvious, and she doesn't share her feelings much, but really, she wanted him so much more than he ever wanted her, and she finally shares her true feelings with him, and she has to face the fact that no matter how wounded, and nice, and funny George is, he doesn't see her as the person he wants to spend his life with, and there's nothing she can do to change that, and she will always have meredith to compete with, just like Adisson will always have Meredith to compete with, even though Meredith isn't even involved with either of these men! Anyways, I could write a lot more, but I'll stop myself here-I'm sure you allready know how excellent your show is, and what makes it excellent, but I am continuously telling my friends/parents all this stuff (and the structure is so good! and the narration has a great arc, and the music just cuts to the images so greatly, and it's funny, and serious, and sad...) so I thought I'd share it on this blog. TOMOROW CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH! I AM LITTERALY COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS! (18 1/2, as of now)

[Maryann]

I agree with someone above - Izzy has lost her mind. Addison deserves better, and I like Finn. I thought he was a keeper.

I predict that the bit**y #2 heart doc is going to fly over there herself and plop that heart into Denny's chest and save the day. But I can't figure out how Izzy's career gets saved. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe she just runs off with Denny in the sunset.

We are watching 24 and recording GA so we can savor it as many times as we want to. How many hours left til the next one?

[Magdalene]

My daughter and I were just yelling at George: "Do something!" "Grab her and stop her!"; but he just wouldn't listen.

Ahhhhhhh!!!!

I'm going to have to have two TVs going tomorrow night....one for "24" and one for "Grey's.." I didn't know the finale was going to be on Monday....it's not fair! My brain is going to explode in more parts than the bomb squad guy's.

I love this show.

[Greyz fan]

Okay so I started writing my comments on last week's blog. Some of us are still up at 2:00am, 3 hours after it aired, going... OMG.

You know I get in to these debates with other grey's fans on forums. We get tidbit morsels of rumors. Like Ellen Pompeo slyly dropping in the press that "one of the interns is leaving the intern program." SO we chew on it and think "not the show, just the intern program."

At the time Alex was still having to pass his practical and fans that it would be him. Later it surfaced again and this time, Alex was taking heat from Burke about his bedside manner with his patients. Polls were posted on who would go. Most voted him.

I've held out that it would be Izzie or Bailey (because at some point Bailey is at the end of her residency; residency ending her 7 year internship). I thought Izzie going all the way back to everything she did to find the brain dead patient's family on Dead Baby Bike race day. Bailey chewed Izzie out for making it personal with the psychic guy. Addison went out of her way to teach Izzie a lesson about this as well. Enter Denny Duquette and Izzie still attatches to her patients. So I expected she was a candidate because it affects her decisions as a doctor.

I never thought it come to that, where Izzie would lose it the way she did. Have to given Katherine Heigel for looking like she was at the end of her rope, like that.

Shooting Burke??? This will test Christina's bedside manner when it's someone she's involved with at the hospital. That was genius, Burke's big boast at the start of the show was that he has "the lowest mortality rate." Chief wasn't impressed, because the idea was he would do enough and only perform on patients that would live. I think about this as you guys put his mortality in the balance.

Yes, I got it right away when Izzie was about to cut Denny's support to his heart; that Burke would not be there if he wasn't clued in that Izzie has beyond crossed the line. I missed the part where George told the braind dead patient's parents that "he doesn't have any children, but has a family, whose friend's boyfriend needs an organ (and doesn't match, he checked) they could let her save lives." So now Burke is shot and yes, we're wondering if his injuries are such that he'll need an organ transplant as well.

Either way, I'm relieved it's not just Meredith's issues week after week that are being tested with the show. Brilliantly executed and the irony everywhere, I tripping over irony on my keyboard with this episode. Comparing Derek to an incubator, brilliant.

That being said, I think people are true to their nature. Whether Derek is more angry about the consequences of his decisions, and dismisses dealing with that by fixating on Meredith's choices and spinning that it's not him that is conflicted, she just gets around...doesn't sell me that they should be together, any more. I think that is who Derek is. He avoids dealing with Addison in New York, he flees when confronted with his absence. He blames Meredith for his decision to pursue her, despite his being her boss and despite being Meredith. He continues to be-friend Meredith and makes an passive effort toward his wife. I mean it's Addison again that is forcing his hand to deal with it. Even if Derek were with Meredith, can you imagine if they ended up together? He's still going to behave the same way, looking for someone else to blame or dump on for his inner conflict. That's who he is. I'm a fan of Finn because unlike Derek who avoids the truth or runs from it, Finn puts it out there. He's real with her about we're all a little damaged.

I guess fans will get what they want - Meredith with Derek finally and her regretting what she's done leading in to the next season. Does she pick Finn or Derek?

Either way, I'm hoping that Addison finds some happiness. Hoping that Burke and Denny survive the chain of chaos that Izzie has set in motion.

Can't wait until tomorrow - well tonight for part 2.

You guys totally surprised us all with Burke taking a bullet. I look at the tv and said OMG!!!!! No they didn't. Damn. That was good.

Congrats.

[Lena]

Seriously??? Seriously???

KILLING BURKE AND DENNY WOULD BE VERY BAD FOR MY HEART.

I can't... just... go to bed now! I will be lying awake all night thinking about this. Not to mention tomorrow during class, at work, in the library, my brain going, "Please don't let Burke die." At least with Denny, I've been sort of preparing for him to die (though wishing he won't).

During the whole Izzie-gone-crazy thing, I kept thinking about that time Izzie sat in the kitchen angry at Meredith because she was throwing away her reputation to sleep with McDreamy, and how unlike Meredith she went to a state school and grew up in a trailer... and fought to be where she's at and now she's throwing her CAREER away for a man! What is going on in that girl's brain?

Sidenote: The hospital is under the space needle? How is that possible???

[Sarah]

P.S. What was with Burke being on the ground floor? Didn't he fly in from Mercy West in a HELICOPTER? Which means he'd be taking an elevator down from the roof. Not landing in front of the hospital to be shot by a looney.

Just curious. Kinda ruined the whole dramatic suspense when I realized it was completely twisted just so you could kill him. NOT COOL. If you're going to do something so amazingly horrid, don't do a crap job of it because you can't figure out how to make it valid! Seriously...