Allan Heinberg on "Testing 1-2-3"

Original airdate: 5-10-07

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but, sometimes, terrible things happen on GREY’S ANATOMY.  Wonderful things happen, too.  People fall in love.  They have the best sex of their lives.  They have epiphanies about life and love and surgery and so forth.  But mostly on GREY’S ANATOMY people accidentally puncture their surgical gloves with their fingernails during a heart surgery.  Or they sleep with the wrong people -- again and again.  Or they die.  Occasionally they die and come back to life, but for the most part they die, and it’s devastating:  George’s father; Meredith’s mother; Meredith’s step-mother.  It can make for compelling television drama, but it’s not entirely unlike real life, where terrible things happen to us, to our friends, and to the world around us without warning or explanation.  And we’re human beings, most of us, so when terrible things happen, we want to know the reasons why.  We want the suffering to mean something.  And when the meaning isn’t immediately evident, we assign meaning as a way of comprehending, if not controlling, what seem like random acts of terribleness.  When bad things happen, we make sense of them by calling them tests.  Tests we either pass or fail before moving on to the next level of experience, but ones we hopefully learn from either way.

As Season Three hurtles toward its shattering, emotional conclusion, the interns at Seattle Grace face a very real and terrifying test:  a written exam, which will determine whether they become residents next season or whether they’ll be dropped from the surgical program altogether.  The attendings, too, are now just one day away from discovering the results of their season-long test.  Tomorrow they’ll find out whom Richard has recommended to become Chief of Surgery -- the same day Bailey and Callie discover Richard's choice for Chief Resident.

As usual, however, the professional challenges the doctors face are nothing compared to their personal ones.  Cristina and Burke are twenty-four hours from their wedding.  Izzie's bracing herself, about to lose George to Callie and Mercy West.   Alex discovers Ava has been concealing her true identity from him.  Derek feels he's losing Meredith in the wake of Susan's death.  And Meredith feels like she’s already lost everything:  her career, her relationship, and her family.

Meredith’s first test arrives before this episode even begins in that she has to decide whether or not to attend Susan’s funeral.  After the way Susan died, and Thatcher’s physically violent reaction to the news, Meredith would understandably harbor some ambivalence about going.  Especially on the day of the intern exam.  But in a surprising show of strength and resolve, Meredith doesn’t whine or deliberate over her decision.  She simply puts on her black dress and sets off for the funeral.  Even when Cristina gives her the out of asking the Chief to let her take the exam another day, Meredith refuses.  She doesn't need to reschedule the test.  She's ready.

What Meredith isn’t ready for, however, is her father’s showing up drunk and angry at the hospital and publicly humiliating her all over again.  At which point Meredith simply shuts down.  She sinks under the weight of her own life -- and her own perceived failures -- just as she did when she drowned.  Faced with her mother’s dismissing her life as merely “ordinary” -- and her father’s brutal rejection -- Meredith seems to will herself out of existence, failing to complete the intern exam and to communicate with Derek.  That is, until her friends intervene.  Confronted with the prospect of losing one of their own -- a test in and of itself -- the interns set aside their own conflicts and concerns and fight together for Meredith.  In the end, Meredith’s biggest test isn’t whether or not she fails or succeeds as an intern.  It’s whether she can allow herself to be helped -- to be taken care of -- to be loved -- by others.  When her biological family casts her aside, Meredith’s Seattle Grace family is there to support her unconditionally -- and, though it’s obviously painful and difficult, especially where Richard is concerned (“You’re not my father.”), Meredith ultimately lets them.

For Derek, who’s consigned to having to watch Meredith go through all this from the sidelines, it sometimes seems as if his entire relationship with Meredith has been a test.  And what's the right answer at this point?  To take her at her word that she's fine?  That she needs to go to Susan’s funeral by herself?  Or should he worry and hover -- making sure she’s still breathing -- as he’s been doing since she drowned?  In the end, Derek listens to Meredith -- he gives her the space she’s asked for -- but as a result, the distance between them grows wider than ever.  Derek ends up walking away from Meredith as she re-takes the intern exam -- leaving her in the care of her waiting friends -- but does that mean he’s failed her?  After all, he doesn’t succumb to the temptation of accepting the drink from the girl in the bar.  He remains true to Meredith, even if he remains excluded from her experience.  Again.  But for how long?

As for Cristina, the intern test seems to pose little or no challenge for her.  She has Callie’s cards and… she’s Cristina, she’s going to be fine.  And it’s not even her relationship with Burke that’s testing her at the moment.  It’s her relationship to the wedding itself:  the ceremony, the ritual, the vows -- all of which, in Cristina’s mind, have nothing to do with her and Burke.  But the demands of the wedding itself continue to test her patience and resolve.  And her sense of self.  Is she the sort of person who vows to love and cherish and honor till death do us part?  Burke knows she’s not.  Yet, in spite of himself, he’s expecting her to go through with it anyway.  Burke, too, faces the challenge of not judging Cristina's commitment to their marriage by the way she's participating (or not) in their wedding.  But in his mind, aren’t they one and the same?  Does her reticence to commit herself to him in public betray a deeper reluctance to commit to him at all?  According to Burke, it will all come down to the moment he sees her walking toward him down the aisle.  At which time, he’ll know.  He’ll know the answer to the question, “Do you, Preston, take this woman, Cristina, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

But with some tests, there are no right answers.

Ava lies to Alex, concealing her true identity, and in doing, she fails him.  She betrays his trust.  But it seems she does so for Alex.  She keeps her identity a secret so that she can remain with him at Seattle Grace, rather than return to the marriage she was trying to escape in the first place.  It’s not the right thing to do, certainly, but it is an act of love.  In the end, even Alex can see that.  But how much will he be able to trust someone who lied to him?  Even if she did so out of love?

Addison's test is played largely for comedy in this episode as she struggles to come to terms with her infertility in the face of a seeming army of pregnant women.  And at no time does she ever put her personal struggle above the needs of her patients or her friendship with Callie.  She passes this test several times over, but she does so, it seems, at the risk of her own long-term happiness.

And it’s far too late for Izzie and George to do the “right” thing with regard to each other and Callie.  George and Callie’s marriage has already been compromised.  And no matter how real or deep Izzie and George’s feelings for each other are, their relationship has been compromised, as well.  And up until this point in his life, George has considered himself a highly moral person.  He’s not a man who cheats on his wife.  So what is the right answer for George, at this point?  Does he remain at Seattle Grace and continue to try to deny his feelings for Izzie?  Or should he tell Callie the truth, even if it means hurting her and ending their marriage?  Or does he stay the course by keeping silent, recommitting to the marriage, and sparing Callie’s feelings?  There is no right answer at this point.  George is a highly moral person doing his utmost to be the best doctor -- the best friend -- the best husband he can be.  But people, no matter how well intentioned, make mistakes.  If life is a series of tests, there is no perfect score.  You do the best you can and try to learn from your mistakes, because before you know it, life has another test in store.  And another.  And then one after that.  Not unlike episodes of series television. 

Speaking of which, we have only one episode left of GREY’S ANATOMY this season, and it’s epic.  And we’re already well into our work on Season Four -- talking about how far the characters have come in three seasons and where they seem to want to go next. 

Thanks for reading,
Allan Heinberg

Comments

[Cruz R.]

i seriously hope the bar slut does not stay long during season 4, or so, according to the rumors. i love this episode and i love what ur doing with izzie and george although i miss their friendship as true friends and not as lovers. great episode, cant wait for the season finale and for the dvd release!!!!!!>< i want to watch all over from the beginning!!!

[flowerbudd]

I'm trying to have faith. Because Grey's is my obsession. Strangers even know this about me.My week involves hours and hours of Grey's msg boards, news, fan fiction and waiting for the next episode. I apply GA logic to real life. And I live through GA, because I need that magic Meredith and Derek feeling, and I don't get it in my real marriage, but I used to get it from them. They were my fantasy, my relief.
Yet everything he's ever said to her has become a lie. And he's become worse than my own non-romantic, nothing in common w/ me husband.
My McDreamy is no more.
I can't be as emotional about this show as I am, and keep watching it go down. And tolerate you ruining these people who I love.
If you end this season without giving me back my Mer and Derek, I won't be able to keep watching. Because it messes with my head. It makes me cry and unable to concentrate on things I need to concentrate on. I no longer can escape from reality for a lil while and enjoy my friends at SGH under these circumstances. SO please.. suprise us.
Let me end the season in estatic tears of joy like I did last year. Looking forward and pinging for all. Stop the insanity, or I'm going to have to hop off the train for my own emotional well-being.

[Shannon]

This is just to painful to watch. Seriously how much can one person take? Yes life isn't fair sometimes but come on, Meredith has suffered more in three seasons than anyone in a life time!! It has become just to unrealistic, why can't you find someone else to pick on? Don't you think Meredith deserves some happiness in her life? What about letting her and Derek experience a real relationship and be truely happy? I don't care what happens with anyone else at this point but if Derek doesn't step up to the plate and decide Meredith's worth it then I for one am done watching. Why would I want to put myself through it anymore, unlike Meredith I speak up and say enough is enough. I swear every week after I watch Greys I feel melancholy. If Derek and Meredith are not together at the season final, I won't leap with you. I leaped with you to season 3 and have been very disappointed. Greys has lost what it once had, sad but true. The writers have taken the most amazing televison couple and ruined them, its ridiculous and just doesn't make sense. What happened to McDreamy? I want him back and if he is gone, then so am I. I'll start watching CSI again with my husband

[ali]

Thanks for a great episode. Really, it was just... wow.

Richard said in the pilot that only so many interns would make it to become surgeons... and here we are, three seasons later, seeing who makes it. So being here, now, at this point that was so far off; well, it's just something to see what our group has gone through that first day of residency, and where they are now.

So speaking of where they are now? I'm worried. Still. About everyone. Because Adelle is on the floor bleeding, and Derek and Merideth are still having trouble communicating, and Izzie was crying in that closet...

But it's Grey's. So of course, while I was-and still am-hyperventalating about those 12, the episode also made me laugh and sent shivers up my spine with the warmth of these relationships.

Looking foward to next season, and seeing where they may go (like Addison? Maybe seeing a little more California, with different medical fields--a little less blood and gore?). I love these characters so much. I have you guys to thank for that (and yes, really, thank you).

Thanks for an amazing episode.

[Nicole]

Bring back Sara Ramirez next season! She is so amazing
TEAM CALLIE all the way!

[KCS]

GREAT blog (not sarcastic)

Thanks for the life lesson about reality in the beginning...guess I'll live my "real life" rather than watch "real life" on greys (yes...sarcastic) i wasnt feeling that comparison...i understand trying to keep things real and TV drama...but you guys have run us throught the mud this season...its been real rough...and the luster is still gone for me....not in a "real life" kinda way...a this-tv-show-is-gonna-kill-me kinda way if i keep my heart in it.

tell you the truth...i do like watching TV for the un-real moments...the mcdreamies of TVland...i have to many mcregular guys floating around my "real life"....the romance that once was meredith and derek was touching...even in season 2.....it was a different kinda torture...now....it's just painful...

"that's real life though!!" you say???? i don't watch TV for "real life"....i live life for "real life"....i watch TV to take a break....from "real life"

i meant it when i said the blog was good...and the acting was on par as usual...love the funny parts...these actors really know how to do funny. i'm just still very hurt by issues on greys that have yet to be understood, explained, or finalized (meredtih and derek...and that god-awful izzie and george junk...talk about ruining 2 characters...izzie really needs a muzzle)...

i've posted before i'll be with you guys to the end...but i have to express what i feel...we're all in this together anyhow

AND FINALLY....BIIIIIG props to Callie...she rocked this episode...since izzie and george continue to diss this woman...i have to pay her the only respect for this epi even though i loved so much more about it....but SHE WAS AWESOME....if anyone can give bailey a run for her money....its Callie.

I hope to see this dynamic woman in S4.

c ya next week....unless i feel compelled to comment again :)

goodnite

p.s. thanks for being so fast too :) :)

[Kari]

Allan - I must say that after WEEKS of silly, a little irrational episodes, this episode felt real and cohesive. Even though I don't necessarily agree with the direction you're taking the characters, it was a good, solid hour of television.
I'm a huge Meredith/Derek fan though and it is killing me that you are breaking them up. They are the core couple on your show. They were the first scene, of the first episode of season 1. They are what people fell in love with and want to see. NO one is real life goes through the kind of crap they've gone through. I mean, a regular person would be in a mental institution after what Meredith alone has endured. And now in her truest time of need, Derek isn't there? His season 1 character would've been there. His season 2 character would've been there. Where have his balls gone in season 3??? Where is freakin' McDreamy? What have you done to him? Please bring him back. Let him be there for Meredith. Not to save her or breathe for her but to be her equal partner in life. She needs someone. She has her friends (which I love too) but she needs the love of her life back. Please give him back to her. Let them have a heart to heart and get things out on the table. That's what happens in real life when things get tough. You yell and then talk and then the air is clear and you can move forward. Let the fog clear for them so that they can move forward and find some happiness. Seriously.

[Carly]

"I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but, sometimes, terrible things happen on GREY’S ANATOMY."

Sometimes? This season has been all terrible and miserable things.

Depressing week in and week out.

[Elle]

I just have to say, this is an EXCELLENT writer's blog. Too often the blog writers drift on and on about topic after topic which have little to no bearing on the episode that we just watched. I can understand how doing the writer's blog must be difficult, probably intimidating... that's why it's so great to see someone get right to the meat of the episode, the stuff we want to know about, and provide the insights that make the whole viewing experience that much better.

I was disappointed by last week's episode, but this week I am right back there with Meredith and everyone crying out "oh no!" and "those are her people!" and remembering why I love this show-- the highs and the lows. There were a lot of layers in this episode and in this blog as well. Great episode, and GREAT blog. A+

[Marcia]

With the exception of George and Izzie, who have turned into despicable characters, thank you so much for a great episode!

[LovingAddison]

Since you insist on making Addison move to LA please send Callie with her! I'll convos! And once this whole ridiculous Izzie/George thing blows open Callie is gonna need Addison!!! They are just awesome.

Also should Meredith be seeing some sort of professional or on some sort of drugs? The girl is not normal

Im so hoping for an Addison/Mark "friends with benefits" hookup

oh and I hope Alex apologizes or explains himself to Addison

[Becky]

So, tonight's episode gave me a little (and I don't mean much...) hope that I might be able to stick with this through the next season. THANK YOU for having some things not go all the way wrong for Meredith. And thanks for letting Derek not cheat on her. I'm still annoyed by Gizzie, but it seems like, thank goodness, you guys are moving that plot along somewhere soon. I am still not sitting on the edge of my seat like I was last season with the Denny crisis, I am still not caring nearly as much as I did, but I will probably tune in for the whole epi next week instead of taking breaks and doing other stuff (like tonight). I just want all these characters to have a chance to grow a bit, and not just keep getting beaten over the head by their own poor decisions and random tragedies. And yes, I know bad things happen to people, but, seriously, after a certain point things also tend to calm down, and people have a chance to take stock and make new, happier choices. That's life too, and I hope you will try to portray that more.

[Lauren]

Excellent recap and Grey's seemed more like itself this week. Thanks for giving us the window into the writer's thoughts so we can connect the pieces better.

[Tess]

This might sound random, but I want Izzie and Alex back together. Could you put in a good word with Shonda for next season? :) Thanks!

[mdc]

Well done!!!. I love this episode. Ellen rocks. She rocked this episode. I have watched her scene three times.
Meredith is my favorite character. There are a lot of people like her in real-life and not on television (Thanks Shonda).

Meredith and the chief were having a father-daughter moment instead of a boss and subordinate moment.

The chief gave Meredith exactly want she needed- a parent that she could lean on. That what has been missing in her life. That what she longs for-even though she wouldnt admit it.
I felt so bad for Derek. I did not like his reason for not having a drink with bar HUSSY. What is he trying to prove?
He does not want to breathe for Meredith but he is sad when she does not run into his arm. He needs to get a clue. That not who Meredith is.
Derek need to take a lesson from Susan and the chief. When Meredith pushes you away-push back.

P.S
Shonda, in your new show I think Naomi is a stronger character than Addision. I liked it that way.

[Rosa]

Either put Meredith and Derek together or put them apart. Just pick one already and lose the contrived angst of her sister hitting on him in the bar and Derek being all shut out.

[Macy]

I felt so bad for Callie tonight. She wants a baby with George and he is going to hurt her so much...ahhhh so sad! Fabulous episode though.

[Jamie]

Great Episode!

My Poor Addie. Why did you have to throw it in her face that she could not have kids? Everyone popping up preggers, even Adele. WTF? Seriously. Of course, my sweet strong caring Addie held it together for her patients.

The bar scene was the best! I love the attendings interactions. Addison walking in and sitting with the guys priceless. Love the "I am not going to strip." haha.

I Love Kate Walsh. She is the highlight of this show. She will continue to shine on her new show.

Congrats Kate Walsh!!!

Does she always have to look so freakin gorgeous? Sheesh.

[Laura M.]

I love Addison and Callie. That's about it.

Oh yeah, and Bailey.

Isn't Callie a 3rd year, not 5th? What gives?

So Meredith became a mistress, almost blew up, had her dog die, almost died herself, had her mom die, had her fake mom die, got slapped by her dad, and almost failed her medical exam in ONE YEAR "not entirely unlike real life." Sure why not.

Now it makes more sense how Izzie can fall passionately and deeply in love with 3 people in the same time frame.

Remember when Izzie used to have a backbone and didn't spend every episode breaking into sobs. How she was going to defy the flighty model doctor sterotype? What happened?

The Gizzie fiasco has completely ruined George and Izzie for me. It just doesn't seem right for people more akin to siblings to be having creepy, incestous, romantic-chemistry lacking, "true love" thoughts about each other. I've begun to fast-foward through their scenes.

I was thrilled when Izzie seemed to haven given George up and then she had to pull her "woe is me" crying routine.

I love Grey's Anatomy and I have hope that the heart of the show will come back but I don't think I can handle watching much longer. I'm holding out to about the 2nd episode of season 4 and if nothing is better I'm officially done.

[notreadytoleapyet]

Jeez can't mer catch a break just once?!? do you WANT her to keep being suicidal?

If you people expect me to sit through another season of mer/der non-relationship, you can kiss this formerly loyal viewer goodbye.

Fun = Happy. This season? NOT happy.

George/Izzie makes me want to poke my eyes out. Please, ya'll, make it stop!!!

Addison and I are BFFs. I hope she doesn't leave SGH because she and Alex are pretty much all I have left to care about.

[Janice]

Meredith and Derek's relationship are the heart and soul of this show and you're putting a astake through the heart. No they don't have to be Happy, bright and shiney 24/7 but can they get a fighting chance? Can Derek be allowed to prove his love. Can Crisitina disappear and let Mer/Der be together without her interference? Let Mer/Der grow together. Let Derek be the knight in shining what ever and let him show up!!!!!!

[TA]

What did Meredith ever do to you? Or Patrick Dempsey for that matter. What a way to drag his character through the mud. Her friends are persistent. That is why they get through to her. Derek doesn't even try to break through Mer's wall. And now mystery bar girl shows up that I'm sure will end up being Mer's... ok I won't say it. I don't want to give you any ideas. Cut Mer some slack. Sure crappy things happen to people all the time, but this is over board. You say the finale will be shattering and emotional. I just hope I don't end up shattering my TV screen after I throw my remote at it.

[Miks]

P.S., thanks for the blog. all the opinions about storylines don't matter to me so much as the writer's comments. whether you love or hate a character's story it is impossible to hate it to much because it's too realistic. we all know someone exactly like every character that has made the same decisions, whether right or wrong, selfish, selfless,immature...etc. I continue to be amazed at the quality. Hopefully Season 4 will continue in the same vein!

[KWisHOT]

I would have died happy seeing Kate Walsh strip on TV. Addison so should have done a strip tease for Burke. Kate Walsh is so Hot!

[Katie]

So this is why I haven't seen a Young Avengers issue in a while, eh?

Fair enough.

I have to agree with the poster above: if Bailey doesn't make Chief Resident, all y'all are dead to me. Just so you know.

Also, nice to see Izzie get over herself and put George's career ahead of her feelings. As much as I love the character, Dr. Stevens of the Perpetual Suffering was getting to be a drag.