Chris Van Dusen on "My Favorite Mistake"
Original airdate: 3-22-07
By now, you all know that this blog is a pretty scary, intimidating, daunting place for us writers. Unless your name is Shonda Rhimes. If your name is Shonda Rhimes, you’re not scared of the fans who are asking for your head because of that whole George and Izzie sleeping together thing. You’re not intimidated by the millions of people wanting – no, demanding – that Mer-Der sex. You’re not daunted by the task of getting Cristina Yang to walk down an aisle wearing a big, white, frilly wedding dress…
Of course not.
But, if your name is Shonda Rhimes, you’re able to casually saunter by a guy who’s staring at a blank computer screen, attempting to write his very first writer’s blog for his very first episode of television – his brow furrowed, eyes glassy – and casually whisper the words: “Just blame me.”
Let me tell you, the day after we see Izzie and George have sex is a pretty frightening time to come on here and try to explain why Izzie and George woke up in that bed next to each other. Some of you are really, really angry about that. And, Shonda is insisting that you – yes, all of you – with your scrunched up noses and your crossed arms and your loud, infuriated sighs – you all should blame her for Izzie and George.
“Izzie and George sleep together,” our fearless leader said. “IZZIE AND GEORGE SLEEP TOGETHER!”
It was pretty amazing. It’s still pretty amazing. And, trust us, we’re taking Izzie and George to some pretty amazing places. Because, just like the theme of this episode, we have a plan.
We know you’re shocked. We hear you. Television watchers without pity: We get it. But, here’s the thing. You know who’s even more shocked than you? Izzie and George.
They didn’t see this coming. They didn’t mean for this to happen. I mean, they’re FRIENDS. They’re BEST friends. They spend most of their waking hours together. They have many things in common. They confide in each other. They look out for each other. They stick up for each other. They worry about each other. They care very deeply about each other.
Wait a minute.
Izzie and George are already in a freakin’ relationship! They’ve been in one for a really long time.
Okay, so, up until now, it was a sexless relationship. But, Izzie’s been mourning Denny all season long. George has been fighting left and right with the woman he married in the wake of his father’s death. And, of course, Izzie and George drank a lot of alcohol. So, the sex happened.
The really, really good sex happened…
The sex that makes Izzie think she has deeper feelings for George? It happened.
The sex that officially puts Izzie in the Dirty Mistresses Club and classifies George as an adulterer? IT HAPPENED!
Both Izzie and George are wrong for the sex. It was a mistake. It wasn’t part of the plan. George is married. To Callie – who, at the moment, I feel so incredibly sad for. There she is – thinking that she married the perfect husband. The only man who has ever stood up to her father. She’s deeply in love with George. That scene, after lunch, when Mr. Torres comes to the hospital and tells George to protect Callie with his entire being – Wasn’t that scene just heartbreaking? The look on Callie’s face, so proud of her husband…
George – We torture the hell out of him in this episode. He kinda deserves it, don’t you think? You know, for the whole adultery thing. So, he’s incredibly hung over. He remembers the sex during lunch with none other than his wife and his father-in law. And, in the last scene of the episode, he’s horrified, left speechless, just staring at the ceiling. So, so lost. He’s not getting any sleep tonight.
And, neither is Izzie. One of my favorite scenes of this episode is Izzie and George in the linen closet, right after George has remembered the previous night’s transgression. There are no spoken words, yet it’s almost like you hear what Izzie and George are saying. It’s painful. Heart wrenching. I don’t know about you, but, in that moment – I wanted Izzie and George together. Without the complications. Without the mistakes. Without having to totally destroy Callie. The sex, it was wrong. But that last look between Izzie and George in the linen closet? It was so, so right.
Because… Izzie and George? They’ve got some intense feelings for each other, those two. It’s obvious. It’s amazing. There they are, in that linen closet, NOT DRUNK AT ALL, and it’s apparent that the sex – the really, really good sex – it could happen again – right then and right there. So George rushes out, leaving Izzie all alone. Neither has a clue what to do.
George. Is. Married. We see George banging the linen closet shelves, Izzie looking so confused, both of them pacing around like caged animals. Izzie and George are so incredibly flawed. But that’s what makes them interesting. That’s what makes them human. That’s why, even though they did a terrible thing, we still love them. And we want to see them get out of this okay. I’m talking about all parties involved: Izzie, George, and Callie.
Okay, some of you will remain angry about this Izzie-George thing. Go ahead. Be that way. But, HOPEFULLY you found some joy in the MER-DER SEX you saw at the end of tonight’s episode…
It’s been a long time for those two. Cut Mer-Der some slack. I mean, Meredith was dead for an afternoon and Derek has been busy running around the halls of Seattle Grace making sure there are no large bodies of water left for his woman to fall into. Which, according to Meredith, is a big problem.
Meredith doesn’t want anyone looking out for her right now. Her mom died. She’s fine. She’s ready to move on. But, everyone around her – namely, Derek – won’t let her. He’s going around trying to protect her, but it’s coming off as extremely manipulative. Meredith wants to fight her own battles. She’s wants to be a surgical machine. She has a new plan. So, it really pissed her off when Derek talked to Mark about the Jane Doe surgery. The troubled look on Derek’s face when Meredith tells him to shut the door on his way out – he just wants what’s best for his girlfriend. Maybe what’s best for his girlfriend, though, is a little space.
We see how much this affects Derek when he’s unable to give his board interview the focus and attention it deserves. Burke is doing Power Point. Addison is rehearsing her introduction. Mark… Well, Mark is being Mark. And, to everyone’s dismay – particularly Bailey’s – Mark ends up winning the race for Chief (for today, at least). And, what’s Derek doing? Not concentrating on his board interview. Instead, he’s worried about Meredith. Hovering. Pacing. Which is starting to affect his job. Which can’t be good. Now, I’m worried.
But, in the end, Meredith and Derek put their differences aside for a moment and finally go back to being the couple we all want to see. It looked like all of that fighting led to a pretty passionate night…
Let’s not forget about Burke and Cristina. Tonight, we got a glimpse of Cristina’s first ever musings on her upcoming wedding. Hey, at least it’s good to know that the wedding is still on. Because when Colin Marlowe showed up in the last episode, things got pretty intense in Burktina-land.
Colin’s arrival threw a serious wrench in Cristina’s plans. And, over the course of this episode, no matter how bad Cristina wanted things with Burke to go back to normal, she realized that they can’t. Because Burke isn’t interested in that. He wants to move forward. He wants Cristina to commit to this wedding. He basically wants Cristina to change her ways. And, she does. A little. Because, much like Cristina’s diabetes patient, Doug, she doesn’t have much of a choice.
When Cristina tells Doug that, even though he lost his foot, he still has a lot left to lose – she’s talking about herself. She realizes she’s got to give Burke something, because she’s in grave danger of losing him if she doesn’t. So, that’s what Cristina’s doing with all of that talk about City Hall and mosquito netting…
There’s another scene in tonight’s episode that’s worth talking about. It’s when Alex presents the different faces to our Jane Doe. Wasn’t it nice to see Alex in a new light? It’s interesting to see him have a real relationship with a woman that isn’t based on sex. This is a real connection with someone Alex isn’t linked to romantically. And, finally, Jane Doe gets a real name and a new face. Ava. All thanks to Alex.
Well, there’s so much more to say, but that’s all the time I’m going to take away from you. I’m just as excited as you to see what lies ahead for our characters. I hope you enjoyed tonight’s episode!
