Debora Cahn on "Scars and Souvenirs"...

Original airdate: 3-15-07

Izzie and George sleep together.

Izzie and George sleep together.

And what does sleep mean, really, it could mean anything, which is what you figure’s going through Izzie’s head when she pulls up the sheet to check if she’s wearing anything, and the answer is, “No.  Nothing at all.  You’re naked in a bed with your best friend, and it sure as hell looks like he’s naked too.  Everybody’s naked and in the bed and have been for a while and they have bed head and are naked.”   So sleep could just mean sleep, but probably doesn’t.

The moments you wait for, in a job like this, are ones like when Shonda calls you into the writer’s room and says, “You know how we talked about how maybe George and Izzie sleep together?  Put that in your episode.”  That’s when you smile, and try to be cool, and say, “Oh, sure, I can find room for that.” And then you leave the writer’s room and do the biggest happy dance you’ve ever done, and it goes on for a while, until you realize somebody from the script department is standing nearby and watching and now thinks you’re epileptic. 

Izzie and George sleep together.

Well it was bound to happen, right?  Best friends.  They get each other like nobody else gets them.  They share everything.  It’s easy.  It’s natural.  It’s like gravity, how can you fight it?  How can you not fall?  Okay, there’s a way to not fall.  Lots of people don’t sleep with their best friend.  In fact, I’d like to take this opportunity to assure my husband that I’ve never slept with any of my best friends, and I don’t plan to start any time soon.  But it makes sense, in a way, right?  Isn’t that the fantasy?  That the guy and the best friend can be the same person?  That Izzie and George, who have shared every minute of the most intense time in their lives, turned to each other in every success and every failure and every breakup and every triumph, with every piece of gossip and every bit of pain, should share…everything?  Share their hearts and their souls and… all their other parts?  It makes sense, right?  Right up to the “he’s married” part.  That’s where it all kind of falls apart.

Oh Callie.  Callie gets a pretty raw deal around here.  She’s tough.  Which is good.  She needs to be.  But she gets a pretty raw deal.  More on that later.

Back to sleeping with your best friend… We’ve spent some time here today wondering if this is going to encourage a whole bunch of people deciding to sleep with their best friends.  And who knows what would come of that.  All I’ll say is, if your best friend’s married, I don’t recommend it.  But if your best friend’s single, and so are you, and you always kind of thought of them as the guy you go to for advice about guys, maybe you should tilt your head to the side and see if they look a little different.  Roll the dice.  Who knows?  Maybe the best relationship you’ll ever have…you’re already having.  Let us know how that works out. 

But George is married.  So there’s not really a way this can work out well.

Oh Callie. 

Now, to be fair, Callie is not some innocent, trod-upon martyr.  She lied.  About something kind of big.  And then flew off the handle when she found out George told his friends.  And she flies off the handle at George a lot.  The whole, “Why am I always the dog getting whopped on the nose with the newspaper” thing?  I think he’s really got a point there.  Callie was into the relationship first, and pissed that George wasn’t there faster.  Callie was in love first, and pissed that George wasn’t there faster.  There’s a lot of Callie being pissed for George having feelings different than hers, and he’s allowed to have his own feelings.  She doesn’t have to enjoy it, but she can’t really blame him for it, and she does.  A lot.  He’s apologizing, a lot.  And that’s just got to be exhausting.

Still shouldn’t turn around and sleep with his best friend, though.  That’s not cool either.

Izzie and George. 

I’m not going to get into the Meredith, and the Derek, and the dinner, and the father, and Cristina and Burke and Colin, who we love, not just for his dashing British accent, but it certainly doesn’t hurt, and Alex, and the tragically deformed Jane Doe, because I rambled endlessly about all that on the podcast I did with Betsy yesterday and I don’t want to repeat myself. (My first podcast.  Very intimidating.  Kind of horrifying, really, though Betsy is just masterful, and I think in a few years will have her own talk show.)  And because I’ve now taken up about all the real estate they want to give me on the Izzie and George.  But I’m okay with that, in the end.  I think I am.  Because… you know… Izzie slept with George.

Comments

[Rachel]

The episode was amazing and I thought I would be disgusted by the GIzzie thing but I really wasn't--it was kind of humorous actually and I am so thankful that you didn't actually show them doing the nasty. But seriously can we please have some MerDer scenes!!! They get like 0.7seconds of screen time and ugghhh it's not fair!!! Please please we need MerDer and we need some hot sex cause all of us fans deserve it for making us wait through McVet and the drowning and ahh I think I might go crazy if we don't see more MerDer. Please just write some actual scenes for Meredith and Derek that is all I am asking!!!

[Alyssa]

Okay seriously? This lack of Mer/Der has to stop! The 4 minute scene in SKOM was bad. I don't care if they have sex or not. Just give them SOMETHING. Let them talk about what happened, how much they love each other. But this 4 second scenes where they say like 5 words to each other is pathetic. All the other couples have more to say to each other.
Mer/Der and the actors who play them have such amazing chemistry and you are letting that go to waste! We fans are not asking for much. Just something more then "hey" between them.

[Christine]

When I finished the episode...I was completely conflicted. I couldn't decide if I liked the idea of Izzie/George romantically...but the more I think about it, the more I GET it. It works and it makes sense. It looks like a path that's confusing as hell, and bound to be bumpy, but in the end could be really, really great.

I can't believe you did that to us! Izzie and George should NOT have slept together. Izzie should be taking more time to grieve over Denny. Don't you people realize that there are a great deal of people out here who are still trying to come to terms with losing him? It seems to me that all you writers care about anymore is coming up with new people to sleep together.

[Erin]

For the love of everything holly i am so upset!!! and not for what you're probably thinking... i dont really care about George and Izzie cause i kinda saw it comming.. although i am interested to see how the hell you're going to fix it........... Anyway the reason i am upset is because i cannot stand what you are doing to the merder realationship i mean they are going to have to work out all their problems and when they do it will probably explode into a big thing.... but we all know it is comming but could you atleast make their relationship cute and fun until then with a lot of passion and love and not to mention some SEX!!! because if you are just going to break them up over a stupid fight later i am pissed that you wasted their time together with dumb meaningless stuff!!!

[Kayla]

I have to say Shonda...You're probably going to get alot of haters about this...but...

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! *dances with you and everyone else happy about George/Izzie!*

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I totally get it. When that connections there, sometimes sleeping together is a powerful emotion.Been there, done that. Our friendship kinda recovered. Haha.

Anyways. I'm not dancing with you over not having Addison/Alex though. I'm burnt still..Crispy. Fried.

LOL. Good eppy though!

~Kayla

[meagan]

i loved the episode :)

[carli]

OMFG!!!! GIZZIE!!!! Seriously? Seriously!?!

To quote Addison... That makes me vomit a little in my mouth.

Okay moving on... Let me jsut say that a big WOW for Sara Ramirez in that big fight scene between Callie and George. She was AMAZING!!! And so was T.R. Knight, but George made me mad, so.

And again... Gizzie?? Seriously?!?!

[McDark&Twisty]

Okay, one more comment for tonight. I promise.

um... I forgot what I was going to say. Hm...

Oh yeah. As always, great great episode over all. A bit of a lighter one, which was what we needed after Meredith drowning. And dying. And coming back to life.

Kick-ass episode, marvolous writing as always... I can't think of what I can tell you guys that you don't already know.

So... you rock! Now go write me some of that good GA writtin' :D (coughniceBurktinastuffcough)

[Tess]

Ok I am sure this is going to be completely redundant and annoying, but please, please give us some MerDer action! Anything! It has been a season full of a lot of nothing for these two, and they are the biggest appeal for a lot of people, including myself. Overall it was a great episode. Just please give us more!I miss the spark that started my addiction to this show!

[qab]

i so want cristina and burke to break up. she so deserves someone better. and that person is not burke nor collin. she needs someone younger and hooooooottttttttt.

[Adrienne Phoenix]

I knew they were bound to sleep together. I am excited to see the fall out of this event. And I love Colin Marlow he is a great character I hope he sticks around for awhile and for all you West Wing Fans out there he is the same actor who played Lord John Marbury. Once again Christina and Meredith bring it home every time. ANd we can see how Meredith's incident is affecting Derek and the way he is handling his patients. *UC Berkeley loves Grey's Anatomy

[Vanessa]

Wow, after waiting for three weeks for a new episode after all of that hype, wow...disappointment. I mean, we see Derek rescue Meredith out of the water, we see him heart broken in tears thinking that he is going to lose Meredith and then we barely see him outside her bed and this week almost nothing? Why is it that George and Callie and Christina and Burke get actual conversations and we see zero between "Shonda's favorite couple." It is not the lack of sex, it is the lack of intimacy. We never see the real issues at hand. We get this emotional, "You don't get to call me a whore" scene and Derek never finds out that she did not sleep with Finn, or did I miss that on Joe's blog? This couple has never said "I love you", we wait weeks for a new episode and zip. The only part of this episode that I enjoyed was Alex. I am absolutely in love with him. Over the next three weeks, I am not going to get my hopes up. I want my Grey's back.

[LAUREN (GREY'S BIGGEST FAN!)]

Ok so I doubt by the time I done that I will be the first comment but that's ok. First of all, congrats on a FANTASTIC episode =) You have no idea how much I freaking missed you guys!! Second of all, before I go rambling about the episode I just wanted to tell you that you are probably going to get a lot of complaining people on here saying 'how can izzie and george sleep together' and 'what the hell were you thinking!?' but I just wanted to tell you that I actually liked it - it scared me that I didn't have a problem with it -> I screamed, but it was more of an 'omg that's freaking hysterical' scream =) So... don't doubt yourselves - you just tell your fantastic stories! =D

Now on to the episode...
The whole Mer/Der/Thatcher/Susan dinner - FREAKING FANTABULOUS!!! great performances all around and I absolutely loved what Derek said about Mer (She's worth it) -> OMG ! Dr. Marlowe (sp?) totally copped a feel! LMAO! I was literally lol -> Although, could this spell the end for Burktina!? I have to say, I am upset if this is the case. Burktina was kind of always like that port in the storm - if you could realy on anyone it would Burktina (except maybe during 'tremorgate') To not have Burke and Cris togther... wow

Loved that Cristina slept in Meredith's bed =) I was expecting to see Derek and there was Cristina! lol

Loved Derek's storyline with Helen Crawford - a little gory for my taste but still great =)

THE ATTENDINGS NEED A TIME OUT!!!
You have done a great job leaving us guessing about who will become Chief, every five minutes I thought it was going to be someone else.

Callie... oh callie... Debora, I have to tell you that everything you said about Callie is completely true and made my undestand more how George was feeling... but oh boy! MARCH 29TH CANT COME SOON ENOUGH!!!!

I'm guessing we know what "My Favorite Mistake" is now ;)

Thanks everyone!! CONGRATS ON ANOTHER ABSOLUTELY AMAZING EPISODE!!!!

[Not amused.]

It's official.

You didn't just jump the shark ... you jumped rope WITH THE SHARK.

It was a decent episode until the last few minutes. George's character has been assassinated. Izzie has now become insufferable. And there are no redeeming qualities left on the show.

I would threaten to sell my dvds on Ebay, but seasons one and two are still the best and most amazing hour long episodes of televison, but this? Izzie/George? That's just too much.

I don't care how fast Callie fell or how much she chased George - this is just wrong.

And there's nothing really left for me to salvage in this huge, huge mess.

i love Greys and i love the characters, but Izzy isn't a good bestfriend if she sleeps with him when he is having marriage issues. Every couple has issues, that doesn't mean you jump in the sack with someone else. And it bugs me because Izzy was horrible to Callie the whole time and now she got what she wanted, she probably put a big dent in the marriage that she didn't approve of, even though it wasn't her life.

[grey'sfan?]

Too bad you didn't go into all the other stuff...it was the only good stuff on the show!! I really wish George and Izzie hadn't slept together. Yuck!

[Electra]

It was a good episode. You're killing me with Burke and Cristina though. Are those two ever going to just be happy? They deserve it. Not make it easy . . . but just happy. Just for a little while.

Go Callie. She was my third fav (behind Burke and Cristina) tonight, followed closely by Alex.

It was a well written episode.

As much as I love BANG/Burketina, my favorite part of the episode was Burke and Derek's little exchange at the OR board. Classic.

Anyway. More Burke and Cristina. "Please and thank you."

[Danielle]

First of all, I use to have so much respect for this show. It stayed outside the box. Now,are you jumping the shark much? This show is becoming cliche. This is not shampooing our hair. we don't need wash, rinse, repeat. You have done the adulterous affair thing. You have done the patient and doctor in love thing. You have done the friends having sex thing. Are you guys that uncreative? As a writer myself, I strive to be as original as I possibley can be. It seems to me that you guys need to stop going in circles. The only way to keep this viewer is have it be naked and asleep. A big sigh of relief that they didn't actually go there. Other than that, I am done. Which means nothing to you people. I believe it was Krista who said in a blog once that whether or not the viewers like something doesn't matter. Sorry. I think it should matter. Piss on us one to many times and you don't have a show anymore.

[Janelle]

IZZIE FREAKING SLEPT WITH GEORGE!

ok. I'm ok. So what about Mer and Der? We all want a little more. please...

PS--great show tonight =)

[Keely]

I thought this show was Grey's Anatomy. Not General Hospital or Friends. Are you that hard up for storylines? Come on people! You guys are seriously starting to suck ass!

[cababe]

NOOO!!! Izzie and George do NOT belong together!!!

[Renee]

I love Grey's and I love the characters, but Izzy isn't a good bestfriend if she is sleeping with George when he is having marriage issues. Every couple has problems, that doesn't mean you jump in the sack with someone else. What bugs me even more is that Izzy was horrible to Callie the whole time, and Izzy got what she wanted to put a bid dent in the marriage that she didn't approve of, even though it wasn't her life!

[Patrick]

Can we please bring back what worked in Season 2? Because so far season 3 is losing out badly to Ugly Betty. Totally lost it's sting.

[Sarah]

What is going on with this show? I have been passionate about Grey's Anatomy for so very long, the kind of passion where I plan my week around it, but now what is going on?!? We have three episodes of a Meredith death crisis with Derek having a meltdown, and now it's a mere afterthought. They barely even speak. They never kiss. They aren't even affectionate. And what was with Derek's patient, the old friend from New York? I never did understand why he cared so much about her. I like both Izzie and George, but they've never even been remotely attracted to each other. At least when George slept with Meredith, we knew that he was in love with her. Please quit trying to do shocking things every week and get back to the chemistry and great storylines of the first two seasons.