| My Review of 6.12 - "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" |
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| Written by Admin |
| Sunday, 24 January 2010 16:46 |
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Grey's ratings were similar to the prior week's, with total viewers lower compared to before the holidays but once again coming in first among the 18-49 age group. Read on for my full review.
Wow… where I do even begin? This episode just blew all of our expectations out of the water. What an unprecedented amount of Callie & Arizona hotness… we got innuendos, action, and tenderness all rolled into one episode. Frankly, the makeout scene made the naked shower scene from the last ep look almost tame. I really had no clue what happened with the other characters after the first 10 minutes, so like many of you, I'm sure, I had to rewatch the ep.
Without further ado, let's just dive right into the Callie & Arizona goodness, shall we?
In the opening scene, Bailey is in the middle of using this newfangled procedure to treat cancer that involves injecting the heated chemo into the body and then massaging the patient's body to spread it. For a non-medical professional like myself, the whole thing looks eerily like she's marinating a piece of pork tenderloin. (Is it obvious that I was just watching the Food Network?) Irreverence aside, though, I hear that it's an important cutting edge procedure in the real world that'll help many patients.
The gallery is packed with familiar faces, some of whom are genuinely interested in observing the procedure (like Cristina), while others are there just to grace Bailey with their obligatory presence (yes, I'm looking at you, Callie). As Bailey's eagle eyes scan the deck and makes a mental note of who's there and who's not (whom she will hunt down later), Callie promptly declares (not without adding some flare with an A-okay gesture) that now that Bailey has seen her, she's leaving. Cristina is surprised, given that the procedure has only just started. Callie, apparently, has a headache and in need of some coffee. Arizona, who has been sitting quietly in the row behind them and having observed their exchange, leans in from behind Callie and whispers not-so-softly and in a pointed drawl that she "knows a cure for headaches that doesn't involve coffee." (and no, she wasn't referring to Tylenol)….Wow, Arizona rarely makes suggestive comments, but when she does… Yow!! How AZ can pull it off looking so sweet and innocent while saying something so saucy is beyond me. I have to admit that given the way they've been portraying AZ to be the consummate professional at work and a straight arrow, I did not peg her to be the initiator of on-call room sexytimes but I'm certainly loving this side of her. I guess all bets are off when you're in a relationship with Callie "Torrid Sex" Torres.
After taking in the proposition, the unmistakable self-indulgent smirk appears on Callie's face as she gives a quick nod. AZ gets up and practically streaks out of there, and Callie follows suit to get some… medical attention. Cris probably heard more than she wanted to, and looks both a little annoyed and incredulous at the same time. I reckon that she's only secretly jealous that their faces still look so fresh and intact with all the making out, because her own face and jaw are put through the spin cycle of a washing machine every time Owen puts his mechanical clamps (which he defines as kissing) on her face.
In the on-call room, Arizona wastes no time in administering her "cure", which apparently involves first slamming Callie against a wall (if for no other reason than to literally knock the headache out of her). Boy, AZ is really establishing herself to be the dominant one in these activities, isn't she? The song playing in the background certainly gives the sequence a raw and primal feel. They engage in some heavy lip-locking while Callie voices her approval by way of moans and giggles. If Callie's the vocal one, then Arizona's all action, as she repeatedly presses her body up and against Callie's and slides her hand down her behind.
Everything's good and sexy and hot… that is until Callie gets a little too hot:
Arizona: You're hot. Callie: You're hot, too. <kiss> Arizona: No, you're hot…<kiss> Callie: <giggles> Arizona: …hot… Callie: <giggles> Oh okay! Thanks! Arizona: <kiss> No..nono.. you have a fever. You..you have a fever.
Arizona repeatedly tries to pull away (well, half-heartedly at first) to check Callie's temperature, but when Callie's in the zone, there's only one thing on her mind, and it's certainly not going to be deterred by pesky things like symptoms. Even when Arizona notes that she has a fever, she's met with resistance as Callie keeps leaning towards her in an attempt to continue the kissing and reaches around AZ to not-so-gently tug her back towards her while ignoring her protests… Pffttthhh? What fever? Look what we're doing here - of course I'd feel feverish.
The sexytime grinds to a complete halt when Arizona discovers something decidedly unsexy - red spots on Callie's chest - and exclaims "oh my god!" She immediately pulls up Callie's shirt sleeve to examine her arm, and declares in a panicked voice, "Pox!! Pox!! You have chicken pox!!" Nothing kills the mood like bumpy red spots all over your lover's body. Arizona looks repulsed by the sight and literally shoves Callie's hand away. Callie looks down at her own arm and gasps loudly. I am amused and slightly surprised by Arizona's reaction to the pox as it was almost violent. It's bordering on being uncharacteristic but fits with the storyline in the rest of the episode, I suppose. Still, funny that in 2 seconds flat, Arizona went from swapping saliva with Callie to avoiding touching Callie's diseased hand like the…heh…plague.
By the way, is it my imagination or do JCap's lips look a little dry in the last shot? They must've had to do this sequence many times from various distances and angles.
Callie & Arizona are the epitome of hawt and cute combined. I love the way they go at it. Plus, they don't need to devour each other's faces for it to be hot. These two do everything right to exude sexiness. Let us make a checklist of things they do right. And Huntlet? It would behoove you to take notes.
So here goes Calzona's list o' makeout hotness: 1. Roaming hands everywhere, from shoulder to arms to neck to ass to back of the head. 2 Capturing each other's faces in-between their hands. 3. Moans and giggles of pleasure by a certain Calliope Torres. 4. Arizona pressing her body into Callie's, who already has her back against the wall. 5. The kissing being at the right intensity rather than have one person's face at risk of being inhaled. 6. Callie's sexy biting of her lower lip near the end, just as Arizona examines the spots on her chest.
I'm surprised that it was so long and intense. There's no doubt that there was a long silence in the Calzona fandom after the scene ended. I know my jaw was at risk of being permanently stuck to the floor.
The next thing we know, Callie's in a hospital gown and sitting on a bed grumpily as Arizona grandly slides open the glass door to present… Lexie! The "World Class Specialist!" Really, Callie, did you take Arizona's word for it when she said that she was going to get you a world class specialist for chicken pox? Arizona apparently snooped through Lexie's personnel file (oooh, badass…) and verified that Lexie's had the vaccination. Arizona, meanwhile, claims that she's never had the vaccination or the chicken pox.
Callie: You're a pediatrician. How can you never have had... Arizona: No! I'm a pediatric surgeon. I don't do little diseases on little people. I do big surgeries on… little people.
Callie Callie, you are just asking for trouble when you refer to your girlfriend as a pediatrician when she's clearly a pediatric surgeon. You know, with pediatric surgery being "as good as it gets" and the "the brass ring" and all.
Callie huffs that she's going home and hops off the bed in defiance. But this bravado is promptly squashed by Arizona's surprisingly effective "stop sign".
Arizona: Nonononono! Hey hey hey hey hey… hey! You are not…going…anywhere. You are highly contagious right now. You live this room and you're going to touch doorknobs and elevator buttons and then you'll be the…outbreak monkey.
Nothing saps the sexy out of your relationship by being called an "outbreak monkey". But clearly, desperate times calls for desperate measures. What comedic chemistry between Jessica and Sara here. What chemistry, period!
Callie: I'm going to kill you! Arizona: I love you…stop scratching, 'cos you're just going to make it worse, and then you're going to scar.
Wow, that was at once loving and patronizing. I think I like that. As for Lexie…well, she just looks like she'd rather be anywhere than in the middle of this lesbian drama.
By the time Lexie returns to check on Callie, she has apparently descended into lunacy, thanks to the inability to scratch her itch. She has resorted to leaning against the wall, which reminds me of a bear scratching its butt against a tree trunk (and the gauze paws really add to that image). Sara's performance - her command of comedic timing - coupled with the incredible lines in the tirade made this one of the (if not the) funniest scenes in the show's history. We expected Callie to be a drama queen, but she took the concept of hyperbole to a whole new level. The dialogue is worth transcribing here:
Callie: I don't care… scars are hot.. scars are badass… scars are poetic… I'm in pain…down to the core of my being. Pain, I'm going crazy pain. Scary, will-this-ever-go-away pain. Do you get that? D'you… d'you…d'you know what I mean when I..when I say that? Because this pain..is need to scratch an itch that I can't scratch…the pain of a thousand itches and it's making me crazy….Not funny crazy…it's bad crazy… it's dark crazy…it's make-a-suit-out-of-someone-else's-skin crazy, okay? Pain, Little Grey.. paaaaain…
Wow…melodramatic, much?
Lexie looks on helplessly for sometime, but suddenly blurts out that she had sex with Alex, hoping that it would help by relating to Callie's pain.
Callie: Why… are you telling.. me... this? Lexie: I'm in pain, too, is what I'm saying. I get your pain. Don't you see that? I do feel your pain because I'm in pain, too. Callie: ...I have pox between my butt cheeks. You "pain" <air quotes> does not begin to compare to mine.
Callie, like a madwoman, waves her gauze paws in the air frantically and yells at Lexie to get out!
The air quotes with the gauze paws kill me!!! Absolutely the highlight of the scene. Sara plays crazy well. By the way, Lexie looks strangely mousey in this scene. It's probably because she's fearing for her life… or her skin being made into a suit.
Mark swoops in to be with Callie and proceeds to climb into her bed and rub her body to relieve the "pain of a thousand itches". Some people see it as a best friends-bonding type of scene. For those who see it as too intimate for comfort, according to the podcast, this particular scene is based on Shonda's own experience. To paraphrase what they said, her friend showed up to relieve her itching (wait…did that come off sounding weird?). I feel that scene was there just to tell Shonda's story (roll eyes) and a plot device to get Mark to confess to Callie about his sleeping with Addison. Don't believe that it's meant to lead to anything.
And now for the scene that has generated the most debate:
Mark is still rubbing Callie down on her bed while Lexie looks on from outside the room. Arizona approaches and takes in the sight in front of her, sighs and says wistfully that "it should be her". Lexie tells her not to be jealous and that they are just best friends. Arizona then confesses that she has actually had the chicken pox before:
Arizona: I had the chicken pox. I told her I hadn't…because…I…I find her miraculous…breathtakingly stunning. Just.. I can't stop looking at her. And I was afraid with the ooze and the fevers and the scratching… I wanted to stay in the sexy part of things, so I lied to my girlfriend, and now…he makes scratching look sexy.
..…..……… ..………….. What?
Did Arizona just confess that she lied?
I am aware that opinions differ widely on whether this is out of character for Arizona. Some believe that it's realistic for Arizona to have a flaw and that it makes sense that she is afraid of losing that sexiness in their relationship. Some also say that Arizona's known to "call it wrong" sometimes, and she admitted as much after initially declining to date Callie. And then there are those that believe it's totally inconsistent with how she's been portrayed so far on the show and that she would never lie about something so trivial.
When I first watched it, it made me feel a little unsettled, just because the whole thing seems out of place. It would've made more sense if this issue came up earlier in their relationship. I mean, we've dealt with so many serious issues (i.e. Papa Torres, Callie being a tearful mess when George died) and Arizona has been nothing but supportive. And especially after her "good man in a storm" speech, it's hard to believe she'd suddenly be superficial about Callie's looks. Whatever happened to taking care of people when they are hurting? At the first sign of the bumps, she hands Callie off to Lexie.
I am all for Arizona having flaws; I just wished that the flaws would be a little more consistent with how she's been portrayed on the show to date, especially since she told Cristina that she hated being lied to.
I do want to note something interesting, though. The writers of this episode are Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, the same writers who wrote "I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me". If you recall, that's the episode where Callie wants to move to Portland and Arizona asks at the end if they are "girlfriends". And back then, it was a head-scratching moment - I felt the timeline was weird that they were just establishing themselves as girlfriends, just like now, this issue would make more sense earlier on in the relationship. It's like these two writers are a few months behind on the Calzona relationship.
Anyway, I would prefer to believe that the whole thing was concocted as an unfortunate plot device to get Mark and Lexie respectively to "confess" to Callie and to show that Arizona "grew" as a person in this episode. But really, it feels like they made her regress before the contrived "growth" in this ep. So I'm hoping that this is a just an isolated occurrence and that we can move on from this.
In the end, though, Arizona comes around and goes to be with Callie. She kisses a sleeping Callie tenderly on the cheek and Callie stirs. Arizona climbs onto the bed and snuggles behind Callie and wraps an arm around her.
Callie: What are you doing? You'll get the chicken pox. Arizona: So.. I get the chicken pox.
Arizona then softly kisses Callie on the shoulder and again on the back of her head while Callie takes a deep breath and looks completely at peace with Arizona there.
Okay, so Arizona lies again, though this time with a hint of remorse on her face and appears to regret her earlier actions. I can understand that confessing the whole thing at that moment would probably do more harm than good as Callie does not need a an emotional freak-out while she's sick. On the one hand, I do hope that after Callie recovers, Arizona fesses up at some point because their relationship should be based on full disclosure. I'd hate for Callie to live with the false assumption that Arizona braved the pox to be with her. On the other hand, Callie seems to believe that it's better to keep a dirty secret to yourself for the overall good of the relationship. After all, she did just tell both Mark and Lexie to keep their secrets to themselves. So maybe for Callie's sake, she's better off not knowing.
All in all, wonderful Callie & Arizona interaction in this episode. The things I discussed above are relatively minor and I doubt they'll resurface, so I'm not that bothered, especially since we got all that action. Thank you Shonda and ABC for giving the Callie and Arizona fans what we've been waiting for. And good job to Donna Dietch. Let's hope this is the start of much more hotness in the future.
Random thoughts:
In the last scene, you can see that Arizona's wearing sneakers as she is climbing onto the bed. Also, you can catch a glimpse of them when she's leaving the observation deck. Hard to tell if they are Heelys, though. But the fact that she's back in sneakers made me smile.
Chyler Leigh really does comedy well: "Alex and I… we've done it before. It was like...recycling. It was like…good for the environment".
Hope we can take a breather from Not!The!Usual!Love!Triangle! after this episode. It's been exhausting to watch.
Perfect amount of screen time for the lone Mercy Wester, which is about 20 seconds.
JCap's hair looks really good in this ep - a "looser" style to go with the theme of the episode, no doubt.
Comments (65)
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have too much time on my hands and C) am just crazy enough to write letters to these people and put them out in public. Thanks Chloe.
You got me laughing so hard i almost fell off my chair.
Once again , AWSOME review Meg
everytime I finish reading your review I watch the Callie-Arizona scenes again and love them even more 
You've done a great job with this review, made me see the details even better 
. I just wanted to say something about the part where Arizona says that she lied about the pox... Maybe we shouldn't judge her that much,it was just a little lie and she clearly made her point why she said that.It's obvious that she loves Callie very much and you can see at the end of the episode her expression when she climbs into the bed next to Callie. You can see her - very sorry and sad that she lied to her girlfriend - face. And when she says " So..I get the chicken pox " you can hear in her voice all the love for Callie.
Maybe I'm wrong, but then again, Arizona really felt guilty and in the end, she made everything better