Grey's Anatomy: Grey Matter

Mark Wilding on "Desire"

Original airdate: 4-26-07

Desire.  It can wreck your life.  It can be, as Izzie rightly says, your Penis Fish.  It can crawl up inside you and… yeah, you pretty much know the rest… So that’s what I’m gonna talk about in this blog.  Desire and the metaphor we came up with to represent it.  The Candiru.  Or Penis Fish.  I won’t call it a Candiru.  I’ll call it a Penis Fish because that’s a lot funnier to say than Candiru.  I’m not sure if Penis Fish should be capitalized, but if you had one in you, you’d probably think it’d be worth capitalizing.  In fact, ALL the letters in it probably deserve to be capitalized.  PENIS FISH.  However, I don’t want to be accused of sensationalism so we’ll just keep it at Penis Fish.

First some background.  My personal desire has been to do this story for a long time.  In fact, it’s been the whole writing staff’s desire.  We actually had the story in a couple of previous scripts but it never quite worked out.  It either didn’t work with the theme of the episode or we’d just done a show with someone having penis troubles and we didn’t want to do penis overload, as it were. 

Second, the Penis Fish is a real thing.  It’s more of a parasite than a fish.  It likes to swim up the little eddies created by a fish’s gills.  Then it stops and latches on to the insides of the unsuspecting fish.  The unsuspecting, unlucky fish.  And then it, well… feeds.  Yeah.  Very yucchy.  It’s found in South America.  However, unlike, say, telenovellas, it’s not coming to America anytime soon.  You will not find it at your local swimming hole or the YMCA.  It’s strictly Amazon.  But it does exist.  Look hard enough on the Internet and you’ll find a picture or two of the thing.  It’s thin enough to get in your urine stream, slippery enough to avoid capture and agile enough to work its way inside you.  Where it gorges on your blood or tissue.  And gets bigger.  So when the Chief pulled it out at the end, that’s about what it really looks like.  Hey, we do our research.  The Discovery Channel even has some web site where they do a re-enactment of the thing swimming into some poor guy.  Even that fake re-enactment gives you the willies.  At least I hope it’s fake.

So George and Izzie make the mistake of thinking they can somehow quench their desire.  That by ignoring it and saying it’s not there, they can simply move on.  Be best buddies again.  It’s not that nothing happened.  Something did.  But they think they’re strong enough and wise enough to deal with it.  It was a one time thing.  A simple mistake that can be rectified by their own determination to put it behind them. The trouble is… their desire keeps getting in the way.  And that’s why George has hit upon a new way to deal with it.  Go West, young man.  In this case…Mercy West.

It’s not just George and Izzie that suffer from this affliction.  All our couples in this episode suffer with some form of metaphorical Penis Fish – a desire that’s hooked into you and won’t let go.  Look at Derek and Meredith.  They got what they desired.  Each other.  But once you get what you want, is it really what you want?  Because, unfortunately, love isn’t just about desire. At some point it’s about other stuff, too.  Getting through the day to day.  Putting up with your partner’s snoring.  Wondering if they have, well, some kind of death wish… 

Those things tend to complicate relationships.  Eat away at them.  Make you wonder if you’re getting out of it what you put in.  How many problems can you take before the taking gets too hard?  Derek tells Meredith he doesn’t know if he can keep breathing for her.  It’s not just costing him the chiefship, it’s also…wearing him out.  She’s his Penis Fish.  Does he want to get rid of his Penis Fish?  That’s impossible, right?  It’s Meredith and Derek.  It’s just a bump in the road.  Or is it?  Well, all I can say for now is stay tuned…

Addison and Alex have been desiring each other for what seems like forever.  And we finally pay it off with a tryst in the on-call room.  How about that?  THEY FINALLY DID IT (now that deserves all capital letters).  We’ve never done a tally of the various places where our people have done it in the hospital.  I have to think the on-call room leads the way, with storage closet a close second.  But Alex clearly has major issues with girls who like him.  So he detaches himself pretty quickly from any possible entanglement.  He won’t let Addison be his Penis Fish.
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And finally Burke and Cristina.  Burke wants his relationship with Cristina to work.  He wants her to choose that wedding cake.  We know what that cake means to him when he sits down with Izzie in the conference room at the end of the episode.  This cake.  For this day.  With this woman.  And in the end, Cristina does choose a cake.  The red one.  The red velvet.  And Burke has hope again.  He’s wanted this wedding all along.  And he’s thinking, hell, maybe now she’s finally on board.  Maybe she finally wants this thing just as much as he does.  Maybe, just maybe, they’re finally heading in the right direction.  The question, of course, is does Cristina feel that way?  She loves the guy enough to have made little compromises along the way (see Stacy’s great episode last week).  But is this whole wedding thing her Penis Fish?

Okay, even though I said this blog would just be about desire and the Penis Fish, I lied.  Only because I really liked the scene at the end with Bailey and the Chief.  Where he’s leaving for the night and he runs into her filling in surgeries on the OR board for the next day.  And he’s told her earlier in the day that she has to delegate and she just can’t.  SHE CAN’T.  It’s not in her.  And, truthfully, it’s not in him either.  The question is, will Bailey suffer for that?

The answers to that question and a lot more will be coming up in the next three weeks.  I promise, it’s going to be a GREAT ride.  Next week’s our two hour episode and it’s moving and funny and all things Grey’s Anatomy.  And that’s not even the finale.  In the meantime, if you find yourself in the middle of the Amazon and you have to take a pee, stifle whatever desire you have to go in the river… and just find a nice thicket of trees or a large bush.  And that way, you can avoid being what no one desires – being another odd medical story on the Discovery Channel.   

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Stacy McKee gives you some "Time after Time"

Original airdate: 4-19-07

Ok. Before I get into the whole George slippity slipping on Izzie’s scrub pants and Derek needing to choose: Be the Chief or Be With Meredith and DAMN – did you notice that Richard can TOTALLY bust a move ??--- I just want to say…

Welcome back, you guys! It’s been a little while since the last new Grey’s Episode… And it’s been even longer since I’ve had a chance to talk to you! That was Waaaaay back in November, back before George was married (let alone falling for Izzie!), back before Meredith was (almost) dead (and talking to dead people), HECK – back before the boys went camping! THINK of how much has HAPPENED!!!

I know – lately we’ve had a few repeats, and you’ve all been very patient, but now… here we are. This week marks the first of the final few Season Three episodes and – MAN. I can say this because I know what’s going to happen next… I seriously envy you guys. You are about to have SO MUCH FUN. All new episodes. Funny episodes. Heartbreaking episodes. Supersized episodes. Cliffhanger episodes.

This is it. The beginning of the end of the season. So, brace yourselves.

Now, about THIS episode…

I want to talk about mothers. (I know – it sounds boring, but just stick with me for a second here.) Love ‘em, hate ‘em, miss ‘em, or try very hard (only to be unsuccessful) to fool ‘em – we’ve all got some kind of mother somewhere. Even if we’ve never met her. Even if she’s not related by blood. Even if she’s haunting us from the grave. Even if, when we went to college, she secretly recorded things onto our computers like: “Words of Wisdom from Mom: Never have unprotected sex on days that end in the letter Y” -- We all have a mother. Whether we like it or not.

(And yes, my mom DID record that onto my computer when I was a college freshman. And, no – I never could figure out how to erase it, so… every time I misspelled a word for the next four years, I was reminded to use a condom. True story.)

There are a whole lotta mothers floating around tonight’s episode.

Ava meets her faux mother. This poor girl has no memory, a new face, her only real friend right now is Alex and she’s about to become a mother herself – and suddenly the cruelest thing imaginable happens to her. She is first claimed by, then rejected by her “faux” mother. When Ava’s “mom” walks through that door, Ava believes that her life, the very history she can’t remember, is about to be restored -- only to have that hope yanked away from her – it’s horrible. It’s devastating. And Alex is the one who has to deliver the news. Alex, the guy who has been there, looking out for Ava, from the very first moment he pulled her out of that water – he’s the one who has to tell her that “those people” are not HER people. No wonder she lashes out at him. Stupid faux mommy.

And then there’s Meredith – trying to figure out how to react to HER Fake Mommy. I swear, if anyone could use a little motherly nurturing, it’s Meredith Grey.

I was secretly thrilled when I realized I was going to have Susan in my episode. I love Susan. Sure, she’s a little pushy (what with the whole bringing groceries over uninvited thing – and chatting up Derek before Meredith has even stumbled her way downstairs…) but Susan is, mostly, just a very caring, very genuine MOM. The exact opposite of Ellis. It’s the kind of mother Meredith has never actually experienced first hand, and it’s the kind of mother Meredith (clearly) desperately needs – even if she isn’t sure how to accept Susan’s kindness quite yet…  There was a line that had to be cut for time that I loved: “I’m not used to moms of any kind before my coffee.”

But don’t be fooled – Susan’s not squeaky clean and perfect. Her “gestures” aren’t coming out of a solely kind and generous place… they are also brought on by some good old fashioned guilt. Susan feels responsible for the fact that Thatcher was so absent from Meredith’s life. Susan’s known about Meredith for years, for her entire marriage – and yet, it was a very recent chance meeting at the hospital that finally prompted Susan (and Thatch) to become a part of Meredith’s life…

No wonder Meredith is a little cautious. In Meredith’s experience, mothers ALWAYS have an agenda, and it’s usually not a generous or thoughtful one…Which is why Susan is so important. She has the potential to help heal a few of those wounds for Meredith. Susan is like a happy little beacon of motherly hope for Meredith and her future… even if she DOES stop by unannounced.

But, of course, the Grey’s universe has to even itself out. We can’t have the potential of a happy, hopeful motherly Susan relationship on the horizon for Meredith without a little dark and twisty Dead Mommy love haunting Meredith, too – even from the grave.

And by haunting, I mean messing with Meredith’s McDreamy.

Richard says to Derek that he made a promise to Ellis. Richard told Ellis, on her deathbed, that he would look out for Meredith. So, as unfair as it seems, Richard intends to make good on that promise. Which means he’s willing to pass up Derek as the next Chief in order to make sure Derek will be available to focus on Meredith.

What’s so interesting about this is that – it’s not that Richard is punishing Derek for having a relationship with an intern. Or, in fact, trying to force Derek to choose between his relationship with Meredith or a shot at being Chief… Actually, it’s a vote of confidence from Richard. Richard clearly thinks Derek is good for Meredith. Richard wants their relationship to succeed. And he knows – firsthand – that nurturing a relationship properly is nearly impossible given the professional demands of being Chief. He thinks he’s doing Derek (and therefore Meredith) a favor. Richard is protecting Meredith. He thinks he’s doing exactly what Meredith’s Dead Mommy would want him to do…

The question is – how will Derek respond to all of this? We see him there, at the end – lost in thought. What’s he thinking about? Is he questioning whether or not Meredith’s worth all this trouble –  Is he thinking about what Bailey just said to him – that if you can’t be with the person you love, then all the rest of “this” means nothing… ?  Yes and Yes. Derek’s not being a jerk by not answering the phone. He’s being human. He’s trying his best to work through his demons – in private – so he doesn’t take them out (unfairly) on anyone (like Meredith) in public – he doesn’t WANT to hurt Meredith; he loves her. And, he’s just been told that she’s the one thing that will prevent him from achieving his life-long professional dream. Cut the guy some slack. He’s allowed a broody night all alone in his trailer, don’t you think?

Then of course, there’s Bailey. She always knows when one of her “kids” needs her. She just can’t help herself… And right now, that kid is Izzie.

The Izzie bone marrow story has been swirling around our writers room for a while. In fact, I’m pretty sure that as soon as we figured out Izzie had a daughter – we also figured out that one day, that daughter would get sick. She would need bone marrow. And that would bring her to Izzie.

The question has always been – WHEN do we bring Izzie’s daughter back? There have been a LOT of possibilities, but suddenly – in the wake of this new Izzie/George relationship… At this very crucial moment, when Izzie is mourning the loss of her closest friend, and when Goerge is having trouble even looking Izzie in the eye… SOMETHING needed to happen that would bring them together—privately. Intimately. Perfectly.

Hello, Izzie Jr!

The thing I’ve always loved about this story is that it’s not about Izzie or George. Their tension, their fling, their awkwardness – it all gets put on a back burner the moment something much more important falls into their lives. They have to set aside their weirdness, step outside of themselves and their screwed up lives, and – just hold each others hands.

It’s like that moment, just before the hematologist starts to drill into Izzie’s hip, when Izzie and George’s faces are just inches apart, and nothing else matters. It’s just George being there for Izzie when she needs him most – it’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s one of the most meaningful moments – for both of them. Well… that and the scene with the scrub pants…

SIDEBAR: Can we please talk about George and Izzie’s scrub pants??? Is it just me, or was that moment charged in a way that made me both a liiiiittle bit uncomfortable AND incapable of breathing for – well – the rest of the scene? I’m telling you – this whole George/ Izzie thing? I’m as conflicted as you are. I see a scene like that and I think to myself – Oh my goodness, they belong together. Right NOW. Make it happen!! Until I see Callie a few scenes later and… well, I get mad at myself for forgetting all about her. Because I love Callie, and I hate the idea that George might hurt her – REALLY hurt her… Callie’s blameless here. She loves a man who really really seems to be… falling for his best friend?!?!?

Alright. Enough already. I’ve been talking way way too long – plus, I still have to call MY mom and find out what she thought of the episode… I tried calling her last night (I’m in LA and she’s two hours later in Houston) – and I very carefully timed it so she’d be done with all her work (she kicks butt as a realtor there) so we could chat… and when I called, she answered with: “Now, Stacy. You KNOW I can’t talk to you right now. The Chief just told some woman that he’s ‘a FRIENDLY guy.’ I have to go!!”

And then she hung up on me.

(sigh.) Moms!

Stay tuned...

Hope you all enjoyed last night's episode!  Stacy's blog entry is on the way...