Grey's Anatomy: Grey Matter

Joan Rater On "The Becoming"...

Original Airdate: 5-8-08

Hi everyone, this is Joan.  Tony and I wrote this episode, "The Becoming" and I'd like to share some of my thoughts about it with you, but first I'd like to say ... OH MY GOD!!!!  I just saw some stuff that was shot for the Season Four Finale (that Shonda wrote) and it's soooooo good.  I don't mean to torment you and I really wish I could tell you all the cool things that are going to happen, and you should know the great restraint it's taking me not to give you even the tiniest little hint of what's to come (keep an eye on that champagne bottle from tonight's episode) because I have a big mouth and am really bad at keeping secrets so I can really relate to Izzie in this episode.

But enough about me and the Finale because first we have to get there and getting there is really what "The Becoming" is about.  Becoming who you want to be, who you know you could be if you weren't quite so screwed up or preoccupied with kissing when you need to be thinking about surgery.  All of our doctors are trying, really trying, to become these people they see in their head, the versions of themselves who are strong and successful and happy, their best selves.  Izzie wants to be a good doctor and keep the news of Ava confidential.  But how does she do that and be a good friend to Alex who is changing his life for this baby that doesn't exist?  Alex wants to be a good parent, but he himself didn't have very good role models so he's scared that he won't be able to do it.   George is trying to be okay with the fact that he has to repeat his intern year, and Cristina is really trying to make the best of a bad situation with Hahn.  And then there's Meredith.

Meredith wants to be a great surgeon.  She wants to succeed at this clinical trial.  But she keeps thinking about Derek.  Particularly his tongue.  Thoughts of kissing him keep interfering with the surgeries she loves.  So can Dr. Wyatt please give her some tools to make the thoughts stop?  Because Meredith feels like she has to choose.  Career or love.  She can't have both. 

I went to see my first therapist in my twenties.  She was this nice woman on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who told me, when I started whining about my lack of career, that most people she sees in their twenties are either good at career or good at love.  Not both.   And it makes sense, both things compete for your attention.  You want to spend time with your boyfriend but your boss asks if you can do some overtime.   How to negotiate both successfully is hard.  And I think when my therapist said it, she was trying to make me feel better, sort of like, "Yeah, you have no career but at least your boyfriend sounds very nice."  But it didn't make me feel better.  It made me feel competitive.  Because when I said, "Really?  You never see people with a good career AND a good relationship?", she said, "only a few."  Only a few.  That's all I could think about after the session.  Who were these FEW and how could I become one of THEM?  It was a subtle shift in my thinking, but I began to think less about my problems and more about how to fix them.  I started to imagine the new me in my head - she was a woman of action!  She didn't sit around all day waiting for things to happen!  She made them happen!  I'm making it all sound very purposeful and dramatic when actually it was ten more years of therapy that included much whining and many more hours of inaction before I had what could even be called a career .... but .... I think that Dr. Wyatt knows that Meredith needs to be pushed into action.  So Dr. Wyatt basically tells Meredith she's being a coward.  Derek's with Rose and it's not heroic to let the love of your life go.  It's cowardly.  How's she gonna handle it?  Because no one can fix this for Meredith but Meredith.  What's she gonna do?  I wish I could tell you --

And what about Mark?  When Bailey defends him to the assembly of nurses by saying, "You knew he was a whore when you slept with him, now you can't act all shocked when he behaves like a whore."  As everyone walks away, did you see the look on Mark's face?  It's like he's realizing what a whore he is for the first time and he's so sad.  A sad, sad whore.  What's he gonna do about that?  I soooo wish I could tell you --

I will tell you though that the Mark Sloan story was originally much smaller and much more a comedic runner until we had the read thru and Eric Dane brought such vulnerability and depth to his scenes.  We just had to expand that storyline.

So ... "The Becoming."

Season Four is about change.  Letting go of the old and embracing the new.  Redefining who you are and struggling like crazy to be that better version of yourself that you see in your head.  Becoming is hard -- it hurts like hell and can cost you friends and lovers and career advancement.  And some of our characters will succeed, and others will fail.  But all of them will try.  Because the alternative -- standing still -- just isn't an option. 

Like I said at the beginning of the blog, there's such good stuff coming in the next three episodes, and I'd love to tell you what's gonna happen, but I've taken an oath and must observe doctor/patient confidentiality, so I gotta go all Izzie on you.  You're just gonna have to WATCH!!!!

Stacy McKee on "Piece of My Heart"...

Original Airdate: 5-1-08

I have a confession to make. About the character of Addison: I love her. Not vagina monologue kind of love – but love none the less.

I love her sense of humor. I love her friendships with Callie and Bailey. I love how she’s always known exactly how to call Derek out on exactly whatever it is he needs to be called out on. I love how good she is at her job. I love that she’s basically Sloan’s McDreamy – even if his feelings aren’t reciprocated. I love that she loves potato chips. I love that she walks the hospital halls in heels that any normal woman would twist her ankle in… I love Addison. And I love that this was her episode to come back to Seattle for a visit.

The nice thing about bringing Addison back right now is that – she’s been gone a while. She hasn’t been privy to most of the Seattle Grace shenanigans since her departure. So she’s uniquely qualified to walk back through the doors at SGH and call things like she sees them. She can react the way we’re all secretly reacting to Derek Christopher Shepherd pining away for someone OTHER than Meredith Grey. She can notice just how much her good friend Callie seems to jive with newbie Erica Hahn… and Addison can get Bailey to admit (the way Bailey would NEVER admit to someone she saw and  worked with everyday) that she is really struggling right now, just to keep it together.

Addison is a perfect sounding board because a lot of our characters don’t have sounding boards of their own right now. Addison is a safe confidant. She can take in everyone’s uncertainty, their panic, their pain… and take it right back to LA with her when she leaves. No one needs to worry about their friends and colleagues at SGH seeing the cracks in their armor. Which is good. Because right now – there are a lot of cracks.

For instance, Izzie.  She’s floundering right now. She’s all on her own and trying to figure things out for herself – but “on her own” is not exactly a comfortable place for Izzie to be… She doesn’t have the same kind of connection with George that she used to have; he’s got Lexie now, and all of his other intern friends. Izzie’s not at the top of her game professionally – she’s not finding her medical stride like Meredith or Cristina. Izzie’s doing the opposite; she’s hiding out in the clinic where even there her patients are requesting different doctors. Then there’s Ava/Rebecca/Jane Doe. Izzie learns Rebecca isn’t actually pregnant, but what can she do with that information? As George and Lexie would say – she’s coded. Hard.   

Cristina’s also starting to crack as Erica continues to shut her down over and over and over. The moment in surgery when Erica gives Alex props, and not Cristina – after Cristina is the one who massaged the baby’s heart back to life – for me, that has always been a turning point for Cristina. In that moment, I’ve always imagined that Cristina’s world probably flashes before her eyes– Cristina can’t help but compare her relationship with Erica Hahn to how trusted and encouraged she always was with Burke. The moment leaves Cristina a little raw, which is why she’s able to confront Hahn later at the bar.  But even when confronted, Erica’s explanation to Cristina isn’t exactly something Cristina can take a lot of comfort in…

Then there’s Callie – and Erica. And the vagina monologues, which – actually – I’m choosing not to blog about. This is one story you should just watch and enjoy. Anything I might say about it now will simply step on your enjoyment of what’s to come, so…

On to Derek.  Who is all sorts of conflicted over working with Meredith on this clinical trial. On one hand, Meredith is finally shining professionally – and Derek doesn’t want to let her down. He wants her to shine, he wants to help her if he can… but on the other hand, he knows the reality of this clinical trial; he knows there are ridiculous risks. He also knows that the closer he and Meredith work together, the harder it will be for him if he can’t help her make medical history. She’s expecting greatness, and he isn’t sure he can deliver on that, which only feeds his anxiety about performing this first clinical trial surgery.

By the way, I would just like to point out that I’ve been writing on Grey’s since Season One, and Phillip, the clinical trial patient, is the first patient I’ve ever killed in one of my episodes. I made the mistake of mentioning this fact in the writer’s room one day, and I’m pretty sure that had something to do with Shonda’s insistence that Phillip must die (never mind that the story really doesn’t work if he lives. This is all about me. Obviously.) At any rate, I am no longer a patient killing virgin. Just wanted to point that out.

Finally, there’s Alex. And Ava. Or Rebecca. Or whatever you want to call her… Here’s something you should know about this story – we debated a long long time as to whether or not we should reveal in this episode – or a few episodes down the line – that Rebecca isn’t actually pregnant. In fact, even at our table read for this episode, it ended with Izzie looking at lab results, and uttering a little “Oh my god” – but nothing else. And you should have heard the reaction – WHAT DO THE LAB RESULTS SAY?!?!? – which, ultimately, is part of why we decided to at least answer that part of the question in the same episode we introduce it.

This is a story about Alex. Not about an unwanted pregnancy. Not about some unborn baby. It’s about Alex and what he’s getting ready to go through emotionally. What he’s willing and not willing to do. This is about his journey through the rest of the season – so we didn’t want to tease you guys with some faux pregnancy story that ultimately just felt like a stunt. By letting you know now that Rebecca isn’t actually pregnant – then letting you watch Alex take his next few steps forward from this point on… Suddenly the entire arc has a much darker, more interesting underbelly. For instance – think about that last image of Alex reaching over and touching Rebecca’s belly… SO much more weird and creepy when you know what Alex doesn’t. It’s a moment that, for Alex, is filled with something tender and sweet and maybe even a little bit hopeful… only… for us, so not.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to draw your attention to something addressed in this episode - the fact that an HIV positive pregnant woman, with proper prenatal care, has less than a 2% chance of passing HIV on to her unborn baby. It's a piece of medical information most people don't fully understand or realize (I know I didn't) -- including a few doctors. Which is pretty remarkable, really. If you're interested in learning more, you can click here: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/perinatal/index.htm

And that’s that. Addison has come and gone. Ava’s pregnant, but not. Mer and Der are (sort of) killing terminal patients for sport. Callie may or may not be speaking vagina monologues. And – I just realized – if you’re reading this before watching tonight’s episode then… well… I just spoiled a bunch of stuff for you – which is your fault for reading the blogs before watching the episodes anyway! Two words: Ya Coded.

Zoanne Clack on "Where the Wild Things Are"...

Original Airdate: 4-24-08

Okay, before I start the blog, I wanted to mix this up a little in the spirit of the episode.  Let’s have a contest.  10 points for whomever tells me why Bailey’s carrying her baby around all the time.  25 points if you can tell me the name of the crazy tumor that Phillip ends up having (no cheating by going back and looking!!!  We’re on the honor system here!).  40 points for the guesser of the theme of this episode.  And here’s the motherload, the “medical mystery” if you will: there are lyrics to a song referenced within this blog (which also gives another clue to the theme).  80 points for the person who can name the song (and an extra 20 for the artist).  Answers are in spoilers at the end (remember: honor code people!).

Alright, you with me?  Let’s start this party right.  I know I, for one, have been a bottom-feeder for the last few months.  A scavenger sitting in the mud and spitting out rocks on the bottom of the fishtank, flipping through my TIVO and watching umpteenth re-runs, models modeling, mensa members losing to fifth graders, chefs making 20-course meals out of garbanzo beans, and stars doing everything from dancing to rehab to showing us their “other talents.”  Although I do admit that I have been crazy inspired by The Biggest Loser.  Love it.  Can’t get enough of it.  I sing the theme song to myself as I get up in the morning (What have you done today, to make you feel proud…?)  And the piece de la resistance:  Groomer Has It.  Animal Planet.  Feel the burn.

Did I mention I’m SO GLAD WE’RE BACK????!!!  So glad prime-time network TV is back and can fill my TIVO with sweet, yummy non-rerun fictional candy again.  Can I get an Amen?

So what’s been going on in the 6 weeks (tv time) since we’ve been gone?  I’ve heard a lot of speculation out there, but Meredith is absolutely.  Not.  Pregnant.  Not even close.  Hasn’t even had sex.  With anyone.  Meredith.  Our beloved, “have-sex-instead-of-problems”, “meet-your-soul-mate-and-sleep-with-him-after-picking-him-up-in-a-bar” Meredith.  She’s traded sex for… therapy?  Therapy?  Our Meredith?  She senses there’s something wrong, something really wrong.  But she can’t put her finger on it.  Or can’t admit what she’s already put her finger on.  Therapy is interesting because it’s the one place you get to talk about yourself incessantly and someone actually LISTENS.  They’re actually paid to listen to your drivel.  And occasionally give you mind-blowing assessments of your behavior.  But Mer’s not quite taking full advantage of that.  But it looks like there’s some movement at the end… we’ll see what she does with that.  Maybe it’ll help her actually start acting like a human being around Derek.  They haven’t spoken in the entire six-week interim.  Mer’s been totally avoiding him and he’s been avoiding her.  But they can’t keep that up.  They can’t handle that.  Deep, deep down, on their basest levels, taking intellect out of the picture, they belong together.  They need each other.  It’s instinctual, base, feral. 

But what if it’s not?  What if all of their instincts are wrong, like with Izzie?  She put all of her blood, sweat and tears into Cheech, I mean, Otis, and for what?  Poor Izzie.  It’s time for her to figure out who she wants to be and what kind of doctor she wants to be.  On her own.  Not emulating Cristina, not fighting for lost causes, something where she can take charge and find out what she’s good at.  Don’t you think?  Thank God Richard’s around to put everything into perspective for her.  Maybe her instincts weren’t great, but she’s human.  And being human ain’t so bad.

Unless you’re Cristina.  When being human is bad.  When being human means that you have to go against all your natural instincts to win at all costs.  When being human means you have to put your tail between her legs (figuratively speaking, of course) and sacrifice the win to get where you want to go in life.  To realize that sometimes in order to win, you’ve got to lose – you have to give up one thing to gain another.

What you gain can be what you need.  Humans need human connection.  And when they don’t get it, they tend to take it out on other people and not realize what they’re doing themselves.  Who could I possibly be talking about?  Maybe a little guy we like to call George?  George walking around like a wounded lion.  Pouncing on people left and right, trying not to show the scars of being left out of his peer group.  Poor Lexie got the brunt of this… little did he know he had a friend right there, the whole time, wanting to be there for him.  And frickin’ Lexie!  There’s someone who needs to be loved.  So sad.  So vulnerable.  Which kind of actually makes her strong in a very co-dependent kind of “please like me” kind of way.  She’s like a little puppy who works so hard to do right and please their owner (except that puppies don’t usually have the whole alcoholic father part).  Her pleasing puppy is in sharp contrast to Alex’s underdog, who’s always fighting to keep his head above water.  For him, it’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes him wonder how he keeps from going under.  There’s something going on with him.  With his past.  Something that doesn’t fully let him reach his ultimate potential…. Hmmm, maybe we’ll start finding out what that is soon.  Every dog has its day.

Humans also get jealous, and boy is that running rampant around Seattle Grace.  Cristina so wants to be in the Callie-Erica crowd and she’s so not.  Callie and Erica are like birds of a feather now.  They stick together.  And Cristina is not in any way a part of their flock.  And what about Mark?  He’s totally jealous of Derek.  It’s like Derek is the prodigal wolf that strayed from the pack and Mark’s been waiting for him to come back, but Derek’s not coming.  Mark thought they’d go back to the pre-Addison days where they were hunters on the prowl, spiders spinning their webs.  But Derek’s already moved on to new prey.  Already catching someone new in his web. 

And that somebody is Rose. During the time we haven’t seen them they’ve developed a bit of a mating ritual where she pretends she doesn’t care and tries to hold on to her iguana aloofness even in the face of the overwhelming cuteness that is McDreamy.  And for once, he’s not trying to hold back the McDreaminess.  Usually reserved only for Meredith, he’s weaving his web and it’s trapping Rose.  The more she resists, the tighter the web gets around her.  I don’t think she’ll be fighting it much more.  But will Derek watch her struggle in his web, store her up for later, or go for it?  He seems pretty determined… she wants what he wants.  She’s a real woman ready for a real relationship.  And despite Mark’s incessant taunting, Derek’s going to stay true to Derek.

As Bailey stays true to Bailey.  Taking care of the hospital, the residents, her baby, her life, and overall just being supreme ruler of the universe that she is.  But can she handle it all?  Is she superwoman or is she about to implode?  Or perhaps even explode.  I mean, she just went through one of the biggest tragedies of her life, feeling like she may have failed in protecting her own little bear cub.  Then here comes this literal mama bear that kills because her bear cub was just touched.  Overreaction?  Or simply just instinct?  Can Bailey’s instincts be as sharp as she thinks they can be?  I think she really believes she can handle it all.  She is woman, hear her roar.  She’s also a doctor.  And a chief resident. A wife.  A mother.  (CAUTION: SPOILERS (answers) AHEAD!)  She’s split up with her hubby and she’s trying to get as much time with Little Tuck as possible (10 points).  She’s a Mama Bear.  Which is how we got to our theme: Animal Instincts (40 points).  A freakin’ bear attacked Phillip because he had a malignant glioma (25 points – and I’ll give it to you if you guessed just “glioma”) that was causing him to go against his own natural instincts.   Not to mention our residents are running around the hospital like rodents, feeding off of the life (and death) of the hospital. 

And now for the ultimate.  The motherload.  The “medical mystery” of it all.  The 80-point monster:

The lyric was: It’s like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder how I keep from going under… And the song is called “The Message” (circa 1982). 

20-point bonus if you guessed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

How’d you do?  Max is 175…

GOOD MEDICINE...

Oh my God, WE ARE BACK!

We are.  Really.  SERIOUSLY.  Writers are writing away and we’re all very excited about getting back to our Mer and our Der and our Iz and our…well, our EVERYBODY. 

It has not been so fun to be away from our friends at Seattle Grace.  Remember when George walked the strike line?  It was kinda like that.  Only without the cuteness of George to make it fun.

But WE ARE BACK! 

Working to get episodes on the air for you!  Wha-hey!

Here’s the thing:  we have to write the episodes and the actors and crew have to shoot the episodes and the editors have to edit the episodes.  And it doesn’t matter how fast my beloved Bossy McBossy Rob Corn gets us to move, it’s still going to take some time.

Because my fingers only type at a certain speed.  And I have to say all the dialogue out loud to myself.  And ask McBossy weird questions.  Questions like, “McBossy, can you build a corn field over by the fake hospital and make it explode?”   Questions that cause him to furrow his brow and run from my office.  Plus, you remember that I need some time to lie on the floor and worry about the characters.  Which is why I try to drive Rob away with the questions.  So I have the lie-on-the-floor-and-worry time.

My point is, it’s going to take a while to get from my typing fingers to your TV screen.  Our first new episode will air at the end of April. 

What will you do until then to get your Grey’s on?   If only you could see the actors in person.  If only you could go see them on stage, in person, talking and laughing and yes, SINGING for charity…

YOU CAN!!!

For one night only, the casts of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice are coming together for a live performance!  An unforgettable evening of laughter and song to benefit crew members who were affected by the strike.

Because while the strike is over, it will be months before many crew members are back to work.  Millions of dollars in income were lost.  Many crew members are suffering.  And we want to do anything we can to help out.

So:

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, February 29, 2008 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA we are presenting GOOD MEDICINE.  A little singing, a little funny, a lot of raising money. 

Come on out and join the casts of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice.  See TR KNIGHT SING!  Hear Tony Winners Audra MacDonald and Sara Ramirez!  See Katie and Kate!  See Ellen and Sandra!  SEE THEM ALL!  CAUSE THEY WANNA SEE YOU! And help raise some money to help others!

Tickets are $85.  You can buy them on Ticketmaster.com or call the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310-825-2101.  Tickets are going to go fast and you don’t want to miss this one time event.

I hope to see you there!  I’ll be the one in the too-sparkly dress (I love sparkly to the point of tacky), looking pleased and proud of my kickass casts as they work to entertain you….

Stacy McKee on "Kung Fu Fighting"...

Original Airdate: 11-1-07

So – I have this group of friends. It started as just four of us – two of whom I’ve known since I was six years old… They all live in Texas (where I grew up) and I live in California – so we don’t all get to see each other as often as we’d like… A few years ago, we decided to start taking little trips together – just us girls. Nothing too fancy – just happy, silly girlfriend getaways – to Vegas or New Orleans or Hawaii… And (as a joke, really) we started calling ourselves “The Bad Girls.” Mostly because we’d find ourselves in Vegas on a Friday night, totally wiped after airplane flights and crazy work weeks – and we’d be ready for bed, perfectly sober, by 11pm. SO happy just to sleep.

Very sad. So NOT “bad” at all. In any way. And yet… the name stuck.

Pretty soon, all our other friends, our spouses, our parents – they all started calling us “The Bad Girls” too. Us. The most ridiculously tame “bad girls” on the planet – I’m not kidding. Our version of hardcore is getting henna tattoos – because they’re not permanent.  True story.

The strange thing is, it’s like we’ve inadvertently formed some exclusive club --- our husbands get jealous of our trips and try to invite themselves along. Some of us have been approached by other friends – they want to be Bad Girls too; isn’t there some way they can join in all the fun? They’ll do what it takes. They’ll get hazed. They can be bad; they can be hardcore… It’s a little like our own private Fight Club or something – only, with pedicures and martinis instead of all the blood and – well – punching.

We’re so not hardcore, and yet… we also kind of are. Hardcore comes in many shapes and many sizes. (And, yes, I know that sounds porny. You people and your dirty dirty minds.)

Let’s talk about Meredith. She ended the last episode by finally putting her mother to rest – by washing Ellis’ ashes down a scrub sink. And now – she’s reeling a little bit. Starting to reevaluate why she is where she is, why she’s being haunted by her past, why – after experiencing death and coming back from it – she’s still too scared to really move forward and go after what she really wants – what she really needs…

Meredith wants nothing more than to be strong and brave and… hardcore. And, in this episode, she comes so close. She’s lying there in Derek’s arms, and she starts to open up – to let him in. And, you can see it in Derek’s eyes. You can almost hear what he’s thinking in that moment – that this is it. He put himself out there two episodes ago, he told her that he wants a future – a real future – and he wants it with her… And finally, Meredith is about to answer him. With something other than sex in an on-call room. She’s about to let him in and admit to him that life is short, so fricking short. She wants that same future with him too. And yet…

She doesn’t. She stops short of actually letting Derek in and – as usual – shuts down. Just shy of REALLY putting herself out there. Almost hardcore, but… not quite. He knows it. And she knows it. Which is why she’s so messed up in the end.

Ah… the end. When Meredith opens the door to find Alex and Lexie getting sexy in the hallway. Love it. In fact, I pretty much always love Alex Karev – like when he’s heckling George or stifling laughter as they all watch the skydiver video. Alex is kind of the epitome of hardcore – he’s a bad ass without even trying. He was with Ava last episode, he’s with Lexie in this one… and he makes no apologies for that. He calls it like it is – no one can say Lexie doesn’t know what she’s getting in to – Alex couldn’t have been more clear. She may get laid, but she isn’t getting a boyfriend. Not from him. Which she is Ok with…

… Or, at least, she must think she’s Ok with it. Lexie’s struggling to be hardcore herself. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say, perhaps, this kind of struggle must run in the family, but… Okay. Fine. It must run in the family – because Lexie, though she’s very different from Meredith in many many ways, in this one way – they seem to be exactly alike.

Meredith and Lexie both want to succeed. They want to be strong. They want to feel normal. They want, so much, to be whole. But it’s a struggle – a genuine struggle for them. Being hardcore doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes, they have to fake it.

Which, in Lexie’s case, means getting sexy with Alex.

But my favorite incarnation of being hardcore in this episode, of course, comes in the form of the gentleman’s evening. Maybe because it reminds me of me and my Bad Girls. Or maybe because it’s so fun to see Derek and Mark try to figure out what the heck a gentleman’s evening actually is. (Monopoly is the perfect choice, by the way, because this is Richard’s gentleman’s evening. Remember – he’s the guy who brought a selection of soft cheeses with him to ‘rough it’ in the woods on the camping trip.) And maybe it’s because it’s just so great to watch Erica Hahn, on her first day of work at Seattle Grace, walk in, infiltrate the evening, and make the guys squirm.

Now SHE is hardcore. Clearly. A welcome addition to Seattle Grace. It’s been a while since a kick ass female surgeon stepped into the mix to shake things up. And the fact that it’s Cristina’s world she’s going to shake up the most? Even better. This is gonna be fun.

My point is – being bad, being hardcore? It’s all subjective. It’s a state of mind. It’s different for every single one of us. It’s an uber competitive game of Monopoly on Derek’s trailer porch. Or, it’s Lexie deciding she’ll take Alex up on his offer of uncomplicated, no-strings-attached sex. Or it’s George curling up next to sweet, frazzled Izzie, and deciding it’s okay if they just…sleep tonight. It’s staying awake for your own open heart surgery. It’s taking pride in your job, even if today that just means holding a bloody wedding dress, allllll day long… It’s giving yourself permission to take that rare day off of work so you can hop on a plane and spend some quality time with your Bad Girls. Even if the most debaucherous thing you and your Bad Girls do all weekend is fall asleep before 11pm and stay in bed the next morning till noon. That’s still TOTALLY hardcore. It’s not lame at all. Uh uh, no way. Sleep gives us strength. And you can’t be hardcore if you’re all tired and cranky with bags under your eyes and --- Ok, fine. Sleeping till noon isn’t exactly hardcore. Whatever. You guys know what I mean.