More from Shonda on the Season Premiere Episode “Time Has Come Today”…

Original Airdate: 9-22-06

(A word to our Canadian friends: you may not want to read this if you don’t want to know what happens.  I’m sorry.  I’m so so sorry that happened to you guys.  We can’t wait for you to catch up with us next week.  Also, I know many spoilers are being posted out there in web-land about next week’s episode but, you should know, we won’t be posting them here.  I can’t control what happened but I’m not gonna add to it in any way…)

So, it’s good to finally be able to TALK about the episode instead of NOT talk about the episode.  I have been dying to discuss this with you all and find out what you think.

This episode for me was really a chance to deal with the things that had been haunting me all summer.  Especially Izzie.  I’d been pretty worried about her, you see.  She was in such pain when we left her.  And let me tell you, I watched that final scene in Denny’s room where she wouldn’t get out of the bed more times than is probably normal for someone who WROTE the thing.   I couldn’t help it -- Katie Heigl’s amazing performance sucks me in every single time. 

Anyway, I was worried about Izzie.  And I knew that she was going to really be suffering when we see her again this season.  But I wasn’t sure how to make it clear that she was grieving without having a funeral.  And I really didn’t want a funeral – I see them on TV and they never have the impact that a real funeral does.  They never have that surreal, horrible sinking feeling you get when sitting at the funeral of someone you care about.  There’s a distance to a funeral with TV for me.  You sit at a funeral and you find yourself re-living all these moments in time and regretting things…

Which is why this episode is about time.  And being stuck in a moment.

So Izzie is stuck.  On the bathroom floor, unable to bring herself to move.  Because taking off that dress?  Means Denny is really gone.

George and Derek are stuck in the locker room, quarantined.  Where they end up discussing the merits of love and saying “I love you.”  George and Derek are the last two people you’d expect to connect but, here, in this situation, they do.  And I think a wonderfully unexpected parallel is drawn between George and his feelings for Callie and Derek and his feelings for Meredith.

Bailey is dealing with Omar who is stuck in a room alone, grieving for his wife.  And she’s feeling all the guilt in the world over what happened to Denny. 

Meredith is stuck at home.  Taking care of Izzie and feeling trapped by what happened with Derek.

And Addison is walking around with a pair of black panties in her purse.  Stuck with a group of teenage girls and their parents who won’t claim a newborn baby found in a trash can.

Everyone is stuck.  And everyone, EVERYONE, is plagued.  By the past. 

The flashbacks were something I’d been wanting to do for a while.  I really felt that we needed to see Addison and Derek and the moments after he discovers her in bed with his best friend Mark.  Because what Addison did to Derek is SO much worse than what happened between Meredith and Derek in that exam room at the end of the season.  I wanted us to remember that she betrayed him long before he betrayed her.  And that Addison herself is suffering over her choice to have an affair.

I also wanted very badly to reveal the first moment Meredith and Derek meet.  It is the night before the interns’ very first shift.  And if you remember the first episode of Season One, there was a mixer that night.  And there’s Meredith – with her (as George described in the pilot) “black dress, slit up the side, strappy sandals” in the bar.  And she meets Derek.  And they are so fresh with one another, it’s all so new.  There’s none of the baggage that they have now.   I just love when Meredith says “so if I know you, I’ll love you?” so SURE that she never will.  That he’s just another guy.  And when Derek asks Meredith what her story is, she says “I’m just a girl in a bar.”  And we KNOW that she’s not – we know about her mother and her daddy issues and her soft spot for sleeping with inappropriate men.  But here, she’s just a girl.  And Derek says he’s just a guy.  But, unlike the first episode of Grey’s Anatomy, we know about his wife.  And we just saw his pain at discovering Addison’s infidelity.   And this is the “split second”, the moment they meet, that has changed the course of their lives forever.

It was a conscious choice on my part to not show Burke until the end except for the flashback at the mixer.  Because I wanted you to watch the episode and either a) pine for his presence or b) forget about him – until Cristina walks into his room at the end of the day.  Then I wanted the power of what he means to Cristina to overwhelm us when he asks her how she is and then she begins to cry. 

“Don’t ever die” is one my favorite Cristina lines ever.  Look at how much she’s changed since that night at the mixer.

Richard and Ellis and Adele – the relationships are changing.  You only (purposely) get a taste of what’s to come in this episode but I think it is a potent taste.  To have Adele walk out on the Chief…what is he gonna do?

And finally, I just want to talk about Callie and her “high school with scalpels” speech:  Y’all know how much I love Callie.  And how much I love how she loves George.  It was really fun to be able to give her these words because it is what I’ve been saying is part of the premise for this show all along – these people are socially stuck in high school because they’ve been science geeks for so long. 

Okay, my brain is fried from the stress of hoping people watched the premiere so I’m going to stop writing now.   Maybe I’ll write more later after I read your thoughts.

Thank you for watching.  Thank you for checking back in with us.  I’ve gotta get back to work so you all have some more episodes to watch!!!

Comments

[Kathy]

I love the change from what we thought of Addison at the beginning of Season 2 to what we think of her at the beginning of this season.

[Andrea]

I thought the premiere was fantastic...As I was watching it I had moments where the I would smile, be sad, and have hope. It lived up to the anticipation and it was great. It is nice to see where things started and what got the doctors to where they are today. Looking forward to a great season. Thanks!!

[Cup]

Thank you, Shonda, it was AMAZING

[GingerSnap]

i totally loved the flashbacks...since i am an avid fan, i'm the only one of us in my dorm room (there were about ten of us) who understood it.
and the high school with scalpels was my favorite wuote of the episode, because everything is high school to an extent, just to what extent is the question...
but anyways, i loved how everything tied in....and its better because my season two dvds just came in the mail today.

[Emily]

I have been waiting all summer for this. The show was amazing. I love how you called Mer dark and twisty! She SO is. And poor Christina at the end with the "Don't die" to Burke. Finally! I was crying right along with Meredith when Mcdreamy told her that he's in love with her. That smile he had...JEEZE LOUISE! Amazing show. You are amazing. :) Thank you!

[justafanofgreys]

I think I cried more during this episode than I did during the season two closer!

Great work on everyone's part -- so looking forward to another great season!!

[Colleen]

I'm hoping this won't be a long comment (we'll see) but I wanted to say that I have been waiting, waiting, waiting, WAITING all summer for this premiere and I was so filled with love when it ended (and sadness, b/c it meant another week before I could watch it again) because it filled all of my hopes and expectations and then some. I cried literal tears many times last night (and I am not a crier) and I loved all the flashbacks, but my two favorite scenes were with Callie and Finn and Cristina and Burke. As much as I was waiting for the Mer/Der/Addison/Finn resolution, Cristina and Burke were what I spent the whole episode thinking, "Come on! What's going on with them!!!" and I love Callie. I am Callie. It was so scary to see someone who is so much like me on the screen, who was saying all the things I would've said when I was there. (Damn you, Shonda, for being in my head!). And thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for making the beginning of this season just as wonderful as everything before.

[Erika]

Great show! Loved the fash backs. I hope Mer chooses Der.

[Lisalot]

It was all so lovely and so sad and so real I cried along with all of them. I love these characters, despite knowing it's all fiction, I adore them. Thank you. I had the worst day today, heartbreaking as it was, seeing this made me smile. So thanks, really...I was Izzie once, I got up as well.

[Alizabethsmom]

OMG, so good, so good! I think that I actually stopped breathing when he walked into the kitchen. The show is amazing as always, and are you so proud that you beat CSI? Go GA!

[Sandee]

YES!!! i KNEW Grey's would TOP any other shows easily on Thursday nights to come in at #1 in the ratings!!!

I just read that they trounched the competition!!

keep up the good work!

[Jenny]

I LOVED the season premiere... it really touched me as someone who recently lost someone she loved. It was just such a realistic depiction of grief. Keep up the great work!

[Heather]

Thank you for yet another amazing episode! I can't wait to see what you have in store for us. :) And congrats on winning the thursday night ratings!!

[Kristen in San Diego]

Shonda -

Thank you. GA is just such an amazing show. I love seeing how the characters develop and unfold, and the journey that their decision (right *and* wrong) send them on. It's a blessing to be able to follow them along.

[Kim]

Great show. LOVE Meredith and Derek. Please let those characters have some happiness, even for just a little bit. The flashbacks were awesome. Told alot about each character. The Addison/Derek scene was so real..and heartbreaking. But I totally agree that Addison did a way worse thing than Derek. At least derek is admitting he loves Meredith...now Addison can move on to McSteamy cause she stayed with him after the affair. What did make her come to Seattle? You should write about that. Tell us about Addison's life after Derek moved to Seattle and she stayed in New York. Anyways, great show. Please let Mer/Der get back together.

[TAM]

I think, just maybe, I be starting to like Callie. Something in this episode made her likeable and as if she is beginning to meld into the group.

It was a good episode; a great start to a new season. Thanks for entertaining me.

[Kristine]

Shonda,
You are brilliant. I know that we had to clear up a lot of stuff in the first episode, so now that its all out there, you can breathe!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the Meredith/Derek scene. The way he tells her that he loves her, that he's loved her all along, that he CHOSE WRONG...are the words she's been needing to hear the whole time. The look on his face, the release, the happiness...is so beautiful. I cant believe it happened...i was screaming!!!!
And I loved the flashbacks. Especially the addison/derek one...because it was really powerful to see wehre they both were coming from. To see their brownstone in Manhattan, to see their life, to see how she made it fall apart was brilliant.
Thanks again

[Kammommy]

LOVE IT ALL! A few of us gals got together to watch last night and we were glued to the show. Darned commercials...we just wanted to get back to the good stuff. Thanks for a great season premiere and I cannot wait until next week. And thanks for showing Derek happy again with that great happy smile.

[Bethany]

Great writing as usual! Had to go get DVR to watch this season since Thur nights are bad for me.

[Joanna]

The scene where Izzie gets up from the bathroom floor was filled with such strength and hope!

Sharon - Since as you said all the characters were 'plagued' was it intentional that contagious disease that Derek and George were exposed to was 'The Plague'?

[kade]

Shonda, loved it... esp addeck flashback. could you answer this question abt the flashback. There was a report somewhere (http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/en...625880000.html)
that the flashback was no doubt difficult to film as it would take both an emotional and physical toll on any actor, but did Patrick actually make Kate "burst into tears." What was the on-set atmosphere like after the scene wrapped? just curious

[Wendy, Boston]

Shonda it was an amazing premiere!!! I loved the flashbacks, the theme of time and being stuck in a moment, and just everything about it!!! I'm dying to learn more about these characters that I love so much! Izzie stuck on the bathroom floor just broke my heart, lying there so beautiful in her prom dress but totally devastated by denny's death. I could go on and on. It was amazing! I can't wait for next weeks episode.

[Ann]

Beautifully, beautifully done.

i wish we got to see more of burke. i love him with christina so much!

the flashbacks were awesome!

i hope mer/der end up together soon...it's dragging out too long. and i hope addison ends up with mark and happy soon too!

[Lucy]

I loved, loved, loved the first episode!!!
I am counting down the days until next show.