A Gabblers Babble
A Gabbler’s Babble: A Review of 9.24 by @allie_gg
Friday, May 17th, 2013“I had this badass professor in med school. She seemed invincible. Then one day she needed her gall bladder out. And the surgery killed her. Her platelets stopped clotting. She bled out on the table. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Surgeons have a name for it. We call it a perfect storm. Funny, never thought it would happen to me.”
As I sit here, a full day after the season 9 finale has aired, I’m still in shock. I’m talking emotionally hangover and straight up physically drained. Shonda wasn’t kidding when she advised viewers to hug a friend! (For me… I chose to hug a bottle of wine, which thinking back could be the reason for the hangover….) Annnnyyyyways…. a lot happened last night. And when I say a lot, I mean a crazy ton of information, dialog, feelings, and storylines were crammed into 42 minutes of television that I’m still not able to fully process, even after watching it 3 times since. As a result, I’m approaching my recap from a different angle this time around and strongly encourage you all to chime in with your thoughts, feelings, and opinions on what went down in the finale. Let’s round-table-discuss this if you will. Bare with me folks…. I’m still in recovery mode from the “drama and thrills” JCap referred to. Speaking of which, anyone else find themselves in the fetal position this morning or was that just me??
At the top of the episode, Owen bids Ethan and Paul farewell as the helicopter arrives to take them to an alternative hospital for safety before the brunt of the storm hits. In the elevator, Cristina calls Owen out by admitting she knows he took an interest in adopting Ethan, prior to Paul coming out of the coma. Cristina sternly reminds Owen that while she knows he wants kids that is something she will never give him. Owen continues to reassure her that he loves her and wants his life to be with her but Cristina points out that although he may love her, he may also end up resenting her for keeping him from having the family they both know he wants.
At the end of last week’s episode we see an excitedly nervous Meredith and Derek get the surprise of a lifetime as Mer’s water broke while they were prepping to wait out the storm at the hospital. It comes as no surprise to Cristina when Meredith goes into labor as the super storm heads their way, but nonetheless, she’s in labor and they have to figure out a plan. Quickly! As the OB assesses Meredith’s condition, she diagnoses the baby with face presentation, a position in which the baby is coming out face first. Due to the risky nature of the birthing process under those conditions, the OB informs Meredith she will be giving birth by Cesarean section. As if that wasn’t enough for Mer and Der to process, the lights suddenly go out and the hospital is out of power. Great. Is there anything else that could go wrong? Wait, forget I asked! Meredith reluctantly agrees to proceed with the C-section and before long; a beautiful McBaby boy arrives into the world. At first, he doesn’t cry, leaving Meredith to believe something was wrong. Alas, he was just a little tuckered from it all and needed a little extra monitoring, just to be on the safe side. Derek leaves with their newborn son while Shane stays behind to close up Meredith but something’s not right. Meredith begins to suffer from internal bleeding from the fall she took earlier but manages to talk Shane through the process of locating the source and controlling the bleeding. (PS…. Can we say rockstar? I mean who else do we know can walk their intern through a surgical procedure that’s being performed on themselves?? Genius writing, Stacy. Epic acting, Ellen!) Shane continues to operate on Meredith, using her as his surgical how-to manual until she loses consciousness from lack of blood. Before she goes under, she gives Shane strict instructions to let her die if she arrests for more than 9 minutes. Um, whoa. Not the easiest of work conditions to perform under, eh Shane? I mean, no pressure, right?!
A Gabbler’s Babble: 9.23 “Readiness Is All” Episode Recap
Monday, May 13th, 2013Hey Gabblers!
Check out allie_GG’s take on last week’s episode of GA!
S9E23: Readiness Is All
“They hit you out of nowhere. When bad things come, they come suddenly. Without warning. We rarely get to see the catastrophe coming. No matter how well we try to prepare for it.”
At the top of the episode, we see a bruised and battered Jo being comforted by Alex after she gives him the cliff note version of what happened in her argument with Jason. Through a teary-eyed confession, Jo confirms it was Jason that hit her and Alex’s eyes immediately radiate with anger. Alex makes a quick exit to hunt down Jason and the next scene takes us back to the hospital where we see Alex asking Derek for help after bringing in a pulverized Chest Peckwell. One could only assume it was Alex that put him on his death bed. Word spreads in the hospital of Jason’s condition and Meredith and Cristina sit Alex down to lecture him of his wrong doing. Alex tells them it wasn’t him who left Jason this way, that he found him like this after he went looking for him. As expected, neither Cristina or Mer believe him when Jo comes running in, admitting it was her that gave Jason the ole’ one-two. Derek and Mousey discover Jason’s condition is worse than they thought, finding a brain bleed that needs immediate attention. Jo insists that during their fight, Jason fell, hitting his head on the fireplace which in turn caused the brain bleed. Alex tells Jo to leave the hospital quickly since the police have been called and now it’s up to him to cover up Jo’s mess.
Owen gets word a dangerous storm is coming and immediately takes action to prepare the hospital for the worst by ordering all elective procedures be canceled and rescheduled for after the storm. He puts April in charge of stocking the ER with supplies while Bailey volunteers to print hard copies of patient’s charts in the event the computer systems shut down should they lose power. Bailey still feels uneasy about stepping foot in an OR so she gladly occupies herself (and Shane!) with administrative work, but not for long! Richard asks Bailey for assistance on the surgery with Owen but Bailey is quick to turn it down. Unhappy with Bailey’s response, Richard takes ownership of the surgical assistance and leaves Bailey and Shane to continue on with their paperwork. Later, Richard confronts Bailey, and in a stern tone, informs her that she’s not a file clerk but if she chooses to be one versus being a surgeon, then she needs to leave the hospital because they don’t need her. Richard’s rough talking approach works and moments later, Bailey is back on her feet assigning herself to surgeries in the OR again.
After Alex tells Jo to make a run for it, Meredith runs after her in the stairwell to warn her of Alex’s tendency to take the fall for people he cares about. Jo insists she would never let Alex do that as Meredith eyes her cautiously. Mer turns to make a quick return to the OR and as she does so, slips, falls and takes a scary tumble down a flight of stairs. As she lay there trembling, she (along with all of the viewers) are scared to death for her and her unborn child’s safety. (So… be honest. How many of you stopped breathing at this point??) Soon after, Meredith sees an OB to make sure the baby is okay and after a thorough check up, Meredith and the baby get the all-clear.
Meanwhile, Owen is still keeping close watch over Ethan as his father has still not come out of his coma. Ethan reveals to Owen his fear of living with a foster family but Owen reassures him it won’t be as bad as he’s imagining. Cristina tells Owen she spoke with Nancy, Ethan’s grandmother, about withdrawal of care and Owen is none too pleased to hear it. Cristina proceeds to further examine Paul’s, Ethan’s father’s, case and after reviewing his scans another time, discovers he has a brain clot that is blocking blood flow to a major artery. Despite the risks of surgery to repair the clot, they proceed with the operation in hopes this will be what brings Paul out of his coma.
A Gabblers Babble: A Review of 9.22 ” Do You Believe in Magic” By @allie_GG
Friday, May 3rd, 2013S9E22: Do You Believe in Magic
“There’s no such thing as magic, as far as we know. And while, as surgeons, we study the secrets behind the human body’s intricate network of cells, tissues, and organs, when things go wrong… horribly, horribly wrong… there are only so many tricks we have up our sleeves to put a body back together. But there is a kind of power, more of a spell really, and when we get it right, it can be pretty damn magical.”
The top of the episode introduces a fresh face to the show when Hilarie Burton’s character, Lauren, bumps into Arizona at the local caffeine hub in the hospital. Arizona mistakenly grabs Lauren’s coffee and over-saturates it with loads of sugar before Lauren could claim the java as her own. In return, Lauren grabs Arizona’s coffee and sips it, proudly reenacting the gesture. Thus begins what Arizona later finds out to be the beginning of a flirtatious course of events! The promo that aired last week of this week’s episode gave the viewers an inkling that there may be trouble coming for Calzona… trouble in the shape of a craniofacial specialist named Lauren that is! Turns out Arizona’s coffee run in with Lauren was the first of many she would have with her. Jackson flew Lauren in to help with a ped’s case in which both Arizona AND Lauren will be working on. Over the course of their interactions with one another, Lauren makes it known how intrigued she is by Arizona, going so far as to flirt with her in front of Callie! Arizona although flattered and entertained by Lauren’s amorous attempts, makes it known to Lauren she is married to another female doctor in the hospital and awkwardly adds she has one leg. Fully prepared with a quirky comeback, Lauren tells Arizona she already knows these facts…. giving credit to having found only one Arizona Robbins on the internet. Yowza! After the brief elevator encounter with Lauren, Arizona, bemused with Lauren’s flirtatious approach, appears contently satisfied and as the elevator doors close we see a playful smirk confirming she’s definitely got her mojo back! Calzona fans: Hold on tight… this looks to be a bumpy ride! :S
Miranda, officially cleared to operate, continues to cope with the ruling of the CDC investigation. Unable to grasp the reality of the outcome, she locks herself in her genome lab, closing herself off from her friends and colleagues. The teams of doctors try a number of ways to get her to open up even so far as trying an intervention when she comes out of the ladies room! The attempt goes south quickly when the doctors unsuccessfully pull her from her zombie-like state. Naturally, the only person left that can help snap her out of it is Richard, right? Wrong. And Richard knows it too. Instead, he calls Ben, Bailey’s husband, to fly in for back up. When Miranda sees Ben, the flood gates open and she reveals to him, that although clear of the staph infection, she still blames herself for the deaths of her patients and can’t shake the “dirty” from her hands. Ben does what he can to reassure her it’s not her fault and we see a tearful Bailey fall apart in his loving and supportive embrace.
A magician’s act goes horribly wrong when he attempts to saw a woman in half… with a chainsaw. Needless to say, the act ended in a trip to the ER and Shane, Meredith, and Richard scramble to save what’s left of the woman’s scrambled insides. To make matters a bit more interesting the magician’s other assistant (the fully intact one) is in love with the woman on the OR table, which coincidentally happens to be the magician’s wife! Amidst bickering between the magician and his other assistant over the love they both share for this woman, Meredith puts them both in check and tells them to get over their differences for the sake of the ailing patient. In time, the magician backs off, surrendering his marriage to that of the love the two women share for each other and in that moment, we see Richard regain a sense of clarity towards Bailey’s frustration and anger towards him after the CDC investigation.
A Gabblers Babble a Review 9.21 By @allie_gg
Monday, April 29th, 2013Infections are like sleeping monsters. You can’t see them. You can’t feel them. But you must do everything in your power to contain them. Because when the monsters wake up, they’re out of control.”
This episode gave us quite the ‘welcome back’ from a near month-long hiatus, wouldn’t you say?! In fact, some would even say the episode left them feeling downright heartbroken, confused, and even a little frustrated! Shonda wasn’t messing around when she told us to hug a friend!
After sweating it out for what seemed like an eternity, the outcome of Bailey’s CDC investigation confirmed she fell victim to hosting a strain of staph, which ultimately led to the deaths of three patients under her care. Fortunately, her diagnosis was not directly the cause of the deaths but the defective surgical gloves that facilitated the transfer of the infection during her surgeries. Bailey was no longer at fault, was released from further interrogations and told she could return to work as soon as she is treated and cleared of the infection. Finding no real relief from the final verdict, Bailey was still devastated and felt betrayed, judged and alone having gotten hardly any support from her fellow colleagues and friends. To make matters worse, the one person she felt would have her back didn’t: Richard Webber. Richard’s attempt at consoling Bailey took a turn for the worst when she called him out on his betrayal and lack of support. What are your thoughts? Is Bailey right? Does Richard put the well-being of the hospital before that of his friends and loved ones? Should he have done more and stuck by her when no one else did?
An innocent game of tug of war goes horribly wrong at a family reunion and multiple victims arrive at GSMH’s ER…. without their fingers! The race is on to match the severed digits to their rightful owner and amidst the chaos, Callie and Arizona are paired with a patient named Frankie, a young journalist-in-training. While the hospital is trying to keep Bailey’s CDC investigation under wraps, Frankie gets wind of the breaking news and tries pitching to Callie and Arizona the idea of publicly publishing the story. Fortunately for the hospital (and Bailey) there’s no story to tell after Bailey’s case closes and finds her not at fault. Phew! Grey-Sloan: 1 Bad Press: 0.
We see a different side to Alex in this episode and we’re not the only ones that notice. Cristina, being the playful bully she is, pokes fun at Alex and his love for Jo but sets him straight when it comes to getting his girl. “You could punch him and take back your girl!” So it may not be the most sensible way to do it but it is the most effective! What’s more heartwarming is when we see the friendship between these two take a more serious turn. Alex’s brashness and Cristina’s snarkiness fade away and the two meet in the middle forming an amazingly awesome bond. How is it that it’s taken 9 seasons for this friendship to finally come to light?! Regardless, Alex makes an effort to keep the peace for all involved by telling Jo’s man, Jason, that he and Jo are only friends that have bonded over stories of their childhood. Turns out Jason was in the dark about Jo’s past and she had every intention of keeping it that way…. at least until she was ready to fill him in. Having gotten word that Alex divulged in such sacred info, Jo calls him out on it and pretty much puts the kibosh on their friendship. How long do we think that will last?
Speaking of friendship, the Twisted Sisters are back at it again providing some much needed comic relief surrounding Bailey’s staph infection speculations. Meredith tries persuading Cristina to be in the delivery room with her when she gives birth so she can maintain her natural birth plan without Derek’s overly sensitive & supportive ways interfering. In true Cristina-fashion, she makes it pretty clear she’s not a fan of the idea mainly because she doesn’t want to witness her best friend poop on the table, as most birthing mothers apparently do. Um, yeah. Nuff said Cristina! :/
Lets Discuss The Final 4 for Season 9 – Panel of Grey
Thursday, April 25th, 2013
Gabblers- Welcome to Lets Discuss the final 4 for season 9- now beware you could consider this to be a bit spoilerish but these are the opinions and feelings of this grey group of gals that we have chosen. We have our reviewers: @allie_gg who discusses GA every week here at GG, @pamfier who writes GG’s MerDer reviews, @silverscwolf whose name is Amanda and is one half of TSG Podcast who writes GG’s Jolex reviews and our love @sportsfan12921 who gives GG the weekly scoop on Calzona. We also called in some of our grey friends as we want to get you all perspectives possible of what is to come- we have the amazing @kayright who is the other half of TSG Podcast ( she has the hot French accent), Our dear friend that wants to be referred to as “L” but make no mistake Miss “L” knows Greys all too well! And @safeaudme aka Sam who speaks Greys fluently!! We compiled a list of questions and want to know what these gals think is going to happen in the final 4 episodes and what shall Shonda bring at the end of episode 9.24?? Here is what they have to say:
What are your predictions & hopes for the season finale 9.24?
@allie_gg: As with most die-hard fans, you hope for something that will leave your mind at ease while it anxiously and impatiently waits for the show to return in September. Alas, that is not how Shondaland works…. prediction? A cliffhanger that leaves the fate of one of the originals in danger…. Note I say originals, not newbies. I’m not sure fans are truly committed to the interns yet, enough that they would care if something dreadful happened to them anyway… Alex’s storyline has been extremely “quiet” lately. Just sayin.
@kayright: Shonda said that 9.23-9.24 was a 2 parts finale and I want them to be bookends to the outstanding amazingness that were 901 and 902. I feel like this season has done a great job at serving a well-paced season arc and I want the finale to pay homage to the character growth that was done this season. I also want to finale to push the focus on the characters that will be front stage in season 10. Hopefully Alex is one of those characters.
L: Can no one die this season? Please? Seriously. I’m still not over Mark. I hope that we see a Cristina/Owen talk by the end of the season about a family and see them moving forward beyond the ‘in limbo’ relationship they have now. I also hope we see a moment of ‘full circle’ from the premiere with all of the characters in the finale at some point.
@safeaudme: I hope that the major theme of Season 9 (“Reclaiming happiness in spite of loss”) has closure before we set up the new theme of S10. They can do it in a lot of ways, but I hope to see it done in parallel stories of McFetus and GSMH.
@silverscwolf: Meredith will be trapped while in labor. Derek won’t be there. I want Alex to deliver the baby, but I don’t think he will. I hope that Jolex are TOGETHER by now. If not, I hope that they will at least be set up to be a driving force for next season. Crowen will be settled by 9.23 and written light. Same with Calzona. Japril will reunite in the chaos. Jackson will struggle in crisis. Bailey will save the day.
@sportsfan12921: for the finale my prediction is that other than board business, Calzona will be fairly quiet. My hope: Final closure about Mark: they sell both apartments and buy a house with a yard and chickens!
What was your favorite story line of the season?
@allie_gg: Strangely enough, I truly enjoyed Arizona’s storyline as an amputee. Although heartbreaking and cruel at times, her journey throughout the season was beautiful. From first struggling with her painfully upsetting fate, to accepting it and then coping with it, it was all very real and extremely well written and played out. Kudos to JCap for successfully executing such a challenging storyline.
@kayright: Arizona’s amputation storyline was the most satisfying for me. The acting was flawless, the moments were powerful, the pacing was realistic and respectful and it did a good job of including other characters, for instance Bailey and Owen.