Jenna Bans on "There's No 'I' In Team"...

Humor me. Just for a minute. Look around you, and find a someone – husband, wife, friend, dog, goldfish, anyone. And ask yourself – would I give a kidney for this person? You have two – you only need one to live. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But it’s a loaded question. It’s major surgery. You could die. More likely, you’d just be a little sore for a few days, but still. Major surgery. I’m looking at my husband right now. He’s sitting next to me, having no idea I’m blogging about him, eating a turkey sandwich that he made with cinnamon raison bread. Gross, right? Who does that? At this moment, I’m so offended by the cinnamon/turkey combo, it’s a hard decision…but in the end, yes, I’d probably give him the kidney. You kinda have to when you’re married to someone. It gets trickier when it’s a stranger. Giving a piece of yourself to someone you have no connection with, no shared history, no obligation to – and suddenly forming a bond that rivals family. Forming a team. With a stranger. Would you do it? We talked about this a lot on set during filming. And the consensus we came to, after the director lovingly promised the script supervisor that she was next in line for his kidney after his baby girl, was that choosing your team, choosing your peeps, choosing the ones who you want to have your back forever isn’t a choice to be taken lightly. It’s a huge decision. And we watched a lot of our characters struggle with it in this episode.

Especially Derek and Meredith. What I love about “The Shepherd Method” (how awesome was that American Neurosurgery magazine – props to the props people!) is that both Meredith and Derek have completely valid arguments. Meredith, as Bailey points out, did work her ass off on that clinical trial. And it was totally her idea. However, Derek is the attending and in the medical journal world, would absolutely get the credit. So it’s a classic professional standoff – complicated by the fact that these two people share a bed. Now if Meredith did the clinical trial with say, Erica Hahn, could we see her getting all riled up about the credit? Think about that. Not a chance, right? (Not like anyone in their right mind would ever pick a fight with Erica Hahn anyway) So it’s not just about the medicine, it’s not just about the principal of the thing, it’s also about Mer’s hurt that Derek never even said thank you. There are major miffed feelings involved. Big picture point is, when you fall in love and move in with your sort of boss, the personal bleeds on over into the professional, and it gets messy.  And happily for us writers who are constantly looking for ways to exploit the Mer/Der drama, there’s no easy way out of that.  As Bailey tells Derek in the end, he’s gonna have to learn to live in the mess. It’s not simple. But it’s fun to watch. And if anyone can wade through it and make a kidney in a jar look all fun and sexy, it’s these two.

Izzie and Alex, huh? I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt that kiss coming on for weeks.  Like a good flu.  Iz takes a huge leap of faith tonight – telling Alex, I’m on your team and I’m not going anywhere.  That’s a brave lady. ‘Cause saying that to someone who is as emotionally traumatized as Alex…watch out. There is a very good possibility he will slam the door in your face. And he tries - but Izzie doesn’t let him. Not tonight. You can trust me, she says. Which we know is not something Alex does easily. Especially after the saga known as Ava/Rebecca. But the truth is, Izzie’s always had his back – even when he’s down in the dumps and treating her like a pile of poo. So, to me, it was high time that that guy man up. And that kiss? That was some good man-ning up.

How incredible was Lexie in this episode? Chyler Leigh just kills me. She’s been quietly on George’s team for weeks now, just waiting for him to notice her. And when it finally becomes too much she explodes on him in the locker room. One of my favorite moments in the episode. That “you don’t see anything” speech is sort of what I wanted to say to every boy I quietly loved from afar in junior high. But never did. I’m proud of Lexie for finally having the cajones to tell George it’s not okay to treat her like an invisible doormat. And the look on George’s face is pretty priceless – that guy has no idea what’s been going on under his own roof.  Granted, he’s been all wrapped up in catching up to the others, becoming a resident, and getting his own interns. But dude needs to get a clue. ‘Cause even though Lexie seems like the kind of girl who’d wait around for him forever, I think somewhere deep inside she has more backbone than we give her credit for. 

So the Callie/Erica saga got a little interesting, hmm? I have to say, Shonda and I got more a little crap for “The Sloan Method” – or as some people interpreted it, the idea that Callie Torres had to go to a man to learn how to please a woman. But that wasn’t the intention at all. Here’s the thing. To Callie, Mark Sloan is not just a magic manwhore, he’s a person. He’s her person. And who do you go to if you’re going “down there” for the first time and you’re freaking out and you need some good old-fashioned sex advice? You go to your best friend. Which for Callie, HAPPENS to be Mark Sloan. Who HAPPENS to be a man. A man who HAPPENS to have an excellent reputation between the sheets.  That’s all it is, I swear. We’re all pro women getting down with women over here at Grey’s. We’re pretty much pro anyone getting down with anyone. Yay, getting down!

You know who’s not getting down? (segue…) Cristina Yang. And Cristina Yang…I gotta be honest with you, Cristina’s feeling it these days. She’s lonely. Really lonely. And can you blame her? Meredith’s all happy and relationshippy with Derek, her roommate Callie’s hanging out with Erica Hahn 24/7…I have a feeling that for Cristina, there’s been a lot of drinking alone at Joe’s lately. And that’s okay. Somehow it makes me feel better as a human to know that even someone as strong and steely as Yang isn’t above throwing a little pity party for herself sometimes. There’s no shame in it. And then just as she’s about to throw a Molotov cocktail at Joe’s and take out all the “lame interns and weird lab techs” in a fell swoop …Kevin Mckidd as Major Owen Hunt walks in! Blink and you’ll miss him – it was practically a cameo.  But I love that look on her face at the end – it’s like a combo platter of yay/oh, crap, I’m in trouble now.  Which she totally is, by the way. In trouble. Oh, it gets good…

One last thing before I go. To me, this was Bailey’s episode. A love letter to Bailey. Because with all the different kind of teams you may find at Seattle Grace – I believe Bailey is the ultimate coach of all of them. This domino kidney swap, this was her project. Her baby. In her final scene with the Chief in the conference room, we ended up cutting a couple lines for time that for me, epitomized Bailey’s journey in this episode. I will re-enact them for you now. It went something like this: Chief: “Oh, and Dr. Bailey? You’re not gonna drag us all the way back from number 12 by yourself. But you did a hell of a job trying today.” And Bailey says “Thank you. Sir.” Translation, this number 12 ranking thing hasn’t just rattled the Chief – it’s rattled Bailey too. Deeply rattled. But at the end of the day, it’s gonna be okay cause Bailey knows the Chief’s got her back. And Richard knows he’s got Bailey on his side, in his hospital, working her little heart and soul out for him. They’ll get through it. With each other. Which brings me back to the point - we all need our team. To give us kidneys. To make us feel better when we drop kidneys. To push us on when life becomes humiliating and painful. Or just to greet us at the door with offensive turkey sandwiches. I hope you all have a good one in your corner, rooting you on. Thanks for watching!

Comments

[Matthew Rushing]

Thank you for delivering another awesome episode. Loving it!

[Adam]

Jenna -
Thank you SO MUCH for such an AMAZING episode. It is seriously one of my favorite episodes EVER - in my list of top five, for sure. The whole thing was absolutely magical and I just... well, to be honest, I'm not sure how to express just how I felt about your episode tonight. It was just simply magic. And I do so look forward to seeing more episodes from you!
Again, thank you thank you thank you for one of the series' best episodes ever and making me proud for running the web's #1 Grey's fansite - it's episodes like these that make it all worth it.

Thank you! =D

[Mary from Washington]

Hey Jenna,
Great episode. I had read a number of weeks ago that you were going to be taking a shot at writing for Grey's and I think you did a wonderful job. Obviously, you know the characters because their actions tonight were spot on. MerDer as usual were as lovely as ever. And may I say thank you for incorporating their scenes throughout the episode. Usually we get one at the beginning and one at the end, but it was nice to have them dispersed throughout. Also, I loved the scene you wrote for Lexi. I love memorizing Grey's dialog and that speech she gives to George is already working its way through my noggin. I do this in all of my posts but I just want to thank you for being a writer because without you the characters we love so much would not exist. You give them the words we love to watch over and over again. Thanks.
---Mary

[Kat]

Ahhh (: loved the end. I literally gasped. I wasn't expecting to see Dr. Army again.

[PamelaJaye]

Hey,

I haven't seen your name before, so

Welcome!

I love that the neurosurgical breakthru was not forgotten, though it never occurred to me that Mer would not be included.

I'm sad for Lexie, but really, even in season 1, no one was sleeping with their *resident* - it's better if she isn't his intern. interns should sleep with attendings ;-) (oh right, she already slept with Alex...)

Loved what Derek gave Mer to say sorry.
And there was this part where Mer said that at her age her mother was twice the surgeon she was and I just wanted to say "yes, but not even half the person you are"

Yay Izzie! for saying some people are just broken. and then taking the lead anyway. Good for her. I hope that this time it works out and we get to get more into what happened to Alex. This ep was a lot like ep 2 of season 2 as far as Alex and the patient. I would have hoped we'd grown from there, but let's do it now.

And the dropped organ. 3 second rule?? I saw a heart kicked around an OR on Chicago Hope... by your crazy cake-eating cancer lady, come to think of it.

Wonderful episode. So glad the medical breakthru was not forgotten.
Looking forward to Journeyman. :-)

Busy watching ER right now. More tomorrow. it's after 1 here.

(oh and someone should tell Lexie about the way George was crushing on Mer in season 1. Izzie maybe. Perhaps we could prevent round two of fallout. and btw, love that Cristina calls her Lexopedia and wants to keep her too!
(though I still need my Lexie/Mer moments, please?)

[ali]

FANTASTIC episode. I loved the structure that the 12 surgeries offered: it was cool to see everything come together in what felt like a very real way.

Really, I'm just so excited to see where all these relationships are going... Callie and Erika, Alex and Izzie, Christina and Dr. Hunt, George and Lexie and Meredith and Derek.

Again, I like that we're exploring new territory. Breaking new frontier... I've been rewatching season 2 recently, and so it was interesting to watch George on the opposite end of an unrequited love. But it doesn't feel like the Mer-George scenario in reverse. It's something new, which I really appreciate.

So excited to see where we head to next. Thanks for a phenominal hour.

[sapient]

I love love love love loved this episode. Thank you. Last week was kinda a bit of a let down, but I knew it had to be a set up for a great one this week. Oh, and Dr. Army, so glad he's there. Just what Christina needed. Great writing, I hope you do more for Greys. I kept waiting for Mer to say, "yeah, but she didn't have a kidney nightlight either" at the end. That would have cracked me up.
Wonderful episode, one of the best of the season for sure.

[Catie and Tammy]

Tammy likes Alex and Izzy, Catie's not such a big fan! Alex better do WAY more manning up (and I mean WAY) before I (catie) endorse this couple. I lovelovelove George and Lexie though! GOOD call. Catie ALSO thinks that the clinical trial was aLL MEREDITHS Idea and she should have at least been mentioned in the article! Not fair.

Oh and I (Tammy this time) Think the whole "5 second rule!" thing was hilarious!! I laughed pretty hard. One of my favorite things about this show is the humor. Love it!

That's all our input for now! Keep the good...no, GREAT episodes coming! Love you guys!!!
Catie and Tammy

But the truth is, Izzie’s always had his back – even when he’s down in the dumps and treating her like a pile of poo.

Um... almost. When he slept with Olivia that first time, there was no way she was on his side - she only did it for Mer. Aside from that, though... Izzie was in her own little world for a good while there. Mourning Denny, baking muffins, getting food on millions of dollars, eating tubs of butter and falling for George. But when she did notice Alex again (and when she could) she was there. I think. I hope. Anyway, he was there for her when Denny died. Picking her up, physically, and doing grand gestures, and saying it would get better.

THANK YOU FOR WRITING A GOOD BLOG as we haven't had a lot of those this season, and it's appreciated. And thanks for mentioning the hubby and his sandwich. I can almost see you sitting there, in your house/apartment/whatever, writing to us.
Whoever you are :-)
Thank you. (and for the cut lines too! Instant gratification, no need to wait for DVD (I have season 4 but I forgot to watch season 3 and when I'd finished that, season 5 was here. DVR is so much easier. But I do have them and love the uncut eps.)
More later (I know I had more thoughts reading it but I forget.)

Oh right! Loved the 4am pre-round mention. I miss that. The thought of interns sitting at home having coffee with the sun shining seems just so odd. Season 1 was so more real than what came after.

You all seem to be giving us back our good Grey's. Keep it up!

[PamelaJaye]

oh and, I saw Journeyman's name in the opening credits, so he wasn't quite a surprise. But I'm glad he's back.

(and oddly or not, i'm sad that Addie,

SPOILERS FOR LAST WEEK'S PRIVATE PRACTIC

over where she is, is not staying at the hospital, doing all those surgeries. she's a surgeon - darn it! and I like the hospital - any hospital - better than a practice. though i did like Violet yelling at Naomi for using Violet as her Addison.)

[Jasmin]

Excellent episode. Hope you will be writing more episodes.

Thank you for taking the time to write this blog, I think it and Krista's are the best we have seen. Truly a reflection of the excellent episodes you both delivered.

Sorry to say this, unlike last week's blog, to give some credit to those of us that take the time to watch and read tis blog. We are not simple minded folk as it was made to appear last week, don't tell us you're too busy to write a blog - simply don't write one.

Now, I don't agree with all the directions the show is taking, but even in the way you wrote the blog, we are being addressed as viewers with an IQ higher than 12! Not so the last blog.

Congratulations on your writing. I was ready to throw in the towel last week.

[kim]

great episode!!

[Liz]

I forgot!

I felt so proud when Mer said she wasn't half the surgeon her mom was, she wasn't really upset, because at the end of the day she sleeps in the arms of a great man who loves her and who she loves.

I'm pretty sure Ellis never had that. And look how she ended it.

As the very wise Bailey once said, all means nothing you're alone.

[Jenny]

Awesome episode Jenna. Loved it all. Loved how respectfully you treated the Mer/Der characters after 3 eps of the two minute clips you gave them depth and substance. Thank you. Loved to see all the characters used to their fullest extent. Just like old days of GA. Thank you, Thank you.

[Rachel]

Wonderful episode, very well written. I'm looking forward to see the direction in which these storylines are going.

LOVED Bailey. She's always been a favorite and she's been especially on her game lately. I loved the way she talked What'sHerFace into going through with the operation, and I loved that she showed her the woman who got her kidney at the end. I thought that was really touching.

I also loved Alex and Izzie. This is the first time I've liked Izzie (and George, for that matter) in a very long time and I'm glad to see her standing up for herself and growing a backbone. I think she'll be good for him and that they're a good fit.

I'm still a little bit on the fence about the "Sloan method" in regards to Callie. In some ways, I understand completely- it's new, it's scary, she's not sure if she likes it or wants it, so she wants to keep her options open, compare and contrast, if you will. It makes sense, it's realistic, and I can see why you've chosen to go this route.

But man, my heart breaks for Erica because she seems to be on a totally different page than Callie. I'm guessing she probably wouldn't react so well to Callie's promiscuity because this doesn't appear to be a casual thing for her. I'm guessing she doesn't do this often- the whole relationship thing- and that when she does it, she's in it 100%, just like she is with everything else in her life. She doesn't strike me as the type to do casual relationships. The look on her face when Callie told her she couldn't was heartachingly sad. And kudos to Brooke Smith for a lovely portrayal. I just wish we got to see more of her POV, and I hope Callie doesn't hurt her too badly.

Best line of the night? "FIVE SECOND RULE!!"

Excited for the return of Major McHottie. Mmmmmmmm. Yum.

[Miss Kensington]

Thank you!!!!!!!!! Best Grey's since season 2 and the first one I've really, truly enjoyed since early season 3. You've made my week! Here's to hoping the great writing continues. xx

[McSteamy Fan]

When is Mark going to get a real storyline?

[Kalli]

YEAY, YEAY and a million more YEAYs for Izzie and Alex!!! FINALL!!!!
I was so happy when she told him she cared about him I started dancing around - it's so great to see that the original concept of Grey's is not forgotten...the people we invested into are still there...a million thank yous for that!

[mamaloa]

Jenna, you wrote a wonderful blog, thank you.

[Cristie]

Great episode. I agree with others - this is top 5 maybe or at least top 10 best ever.

There as a little something for everyone. It flowed, was funny, sad, touching, and just completely entertaining. I haven't said that about Greys for A LONT TIME.

I love the mer/der stuff. I'm sure you writers wil feel pressuerd to ramp up the drama, but I love every little interaction between those two. It is so nice to see them behaving as a real couple. I'm sort of worried you won't let that last.

I'm on the fence on the whole Callica stuff. I like the idea on paper, but I'm not feeling the chemistry between these two. But it is an intersting storyline. I look forward to this new sadie character stirring the pot.

I don't love Christina and Meredith. I know changes are coming for those two and I'm glad. I hate the way Chrsitina sort of bullies meredith. I want Christina to have to face her own emotional crapola instead of judging everyone else.

Did I mention how much I love Mer/Der. Seriously guys - please don't mess those two up or break them up again or anything like that. They are working and they are a big reason season 5 has been great so far.

Kudos on the episode. VERY WELL DONE.

[Barbie]

Great episode! I'm glad Derek took advice from Bailey. When Meredith is dark and twisty it always seems like it's her fault and that Derek is just perfect. Nice to see that he realizes he isn't. What's up with Mark? He needs a friend, and not Callie. I miss George being a part of "Bailey's interns". Hopefully now that he's a resident, he'll be part of their group again.

[Erin]

Alex and Izzie - finally THEY KISS!!! OMG!!! I was waiting so long for this to happen. Next time I hope she will say "I love you" instead of "I care about you!" This is what she really meant.

[Kendra]

I'm glad the old izzie is back, and I don't mean the Alex thing, I mean how she is finally acting smart again. for a while she was such a ditz. And thankfully, Merideth has more depth. for a couple seasons she was so whiny and mousy. I really like her again.

this episode was really good. thanks

[Linda]

Loved everthing except the Erica Callie story line really do we have to see women making out. Enough already.

[helen]

GREAT EPISODE.

& Jenna, welcome!