| My Review of 6.23 & 6.24 - "Sanctuary" & "Death and All His Friends" |
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| Written by Admin |
| Tuesday, 25 May 2010 23:00 |
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The ratings for the season finale were fantastic, as Grey's got a 5 million bump from the previous week and beat the other season finales airing on the same night. Hope that carries over to the season 7 premiere. Read on for my full (and incredibly long) review.
What an explosive season finale. It was shocking. It was violent. And it was REALLY good. I don't remember the last time I was so completely captivated by an episode from beginning to end. I'm not sure how I stayed conscious during the two hours because I am convinced that I was holding my breath for minutes on end. Shonda really outdid herself this time, but her script couldn't have come alive without the absolutely outstanding performance by the cast. Emmy's for everyone, I say! And more importantly, what a satisfying conclusion to the season for Callie & Arizona fans. We indeed got our happy ending that Shonda & Co. and the spoilers alluded to.
Aside from the Callie & Arizona resolution, I really enjoyed the episode as a whole. Shonda & Co. succeeded in making it intense and thrilling; it felt real because we are so attached to these characters. The best part was not knowing whether the gunman was going to shoot or spare each person, which was also dependent on how each one reacted to the gunman and the situation in general. Particularly interesting was the insight into how each person behaved in extenuating circumstances and what each really wanted deep down, having gained the clarity that going through such a crisis would provide. I also liked that the lockdown conveniently segregated the characters into their respective storylines (i.e. an entire episode of Callie/Arizona interaction because neither can run away from the problem, finally). And because of that, all the storylines pretty much got resolved, which is a relief. Sure, there were little things (i.e. plot contrivances) that one could nitpick on, but overall, the storyline was believable, which is in large part due to the credible performances. If the actors had overacted, it could've easily become a horror spoof, but everything felt very real and I was sucked into the terrifying situation.
And now, to recap the storyline...
It's the start of another day for the doctors at Seattle Grace Mercy West - Derek begins by surveying his hospital with pride from his perch on the catwalk, Lexie nearly loses an eye (courtesy of Alex) when her pager goes off, Richard sips his morning cuppa joe at Rhimes Cafe, Mer pees on a stick and discovers that there is a mini-McDreamy sprouting from within, and Callie and Cris are commiserating over the smoldering wreck that is their love lives while sitting side-by-side at the breakfast bar. Callie's clearly been at it for a while, with her puffy eyes, tear-stained cheeks, and the circle of snot-encrusted tissues surrounding her bowl of cereal. As Callie starts a fresh round of sobbing, Cristina, in true Cristina fashion, eyes Callie incredulously and demands, "Dammit, will you stop crying?", except that she breaks down herself even before finishing her sentence. Callie stares back at her, unimpressed, and retorts, "You stop crying". Cristina is now sobbing uncontrollably while stuffing cereal into her mouth, which causes Callie to succumb to another fit of sobs. Nothing strengthens a bond between roommates like bickering over who should stop crying. Sad, but also highly entertaining.
Gosh, we don't see Callie and Cristina in scenes together often enough. Sara and Sandra are comedic gold. I know I should feel badly for Callie and her broken heart, but the hilariousness of this scene was too much. As sadistic as it may sound, I'm pleased to see Callie crying her eyes out over Arizona, which is at least consistent with her reactions to her previous relationships ending.
At the hospital, Arizona breezes into the ER after being paged by Lexie. Her patient, Ruby, is a young girl who has a fever and is experiencing pain in her abdomen. Arizona checks her belly and confirms that she has a very "angry appendix". The parents look concerned that their daughter will need surgery, but Arizona assures them:
Arizona: Yes. She does. But the good news is it's the easiest surgery in the world. I mean, <motioning to Lexie> she's a baby surgeon and she can do it. Lexie: <with naive hopefulness> You're going to let me do it? Lois: You're going to let her do the surgery? Arizona: Oh no, no, no! No, of course not. I'm going to do it... I'm kind of fabulous at it. And Ruby, you are going to be out of here by tomorrow with a teeny, tiny, little scar and a very good excuse to have your parents feed you ice cream every night of the week. Dr. Grey, admit her to Peds and make sure she's comfortable while we get an OR.
Hee. Arizona is such a tease, saying that even a baby surgeon could do the surgery (to assure the parents) and then shooting Lexie down in the same breath. Gotta love her fabulousness.
As Arizona walks away, she nearly intersects a grumpy-looking Callie (who gives cut-eyes to the back of AZ's head as she passes) who has been paged by Karev to look at a patient with a tibia fracture. Callie barks at him, "What?" Karev tells Callie and she could be nicer to him because the kid peed his pants and he cleaned it up before she got here. Callie relents, "Sorry, good man, Alex". At that moment, Arizona, whose chirpiness at work knows no bounds, approaches Callie and Alex at the nurses' station and greets them with an exceedingly perky "Hi!", looking at both of them with a big smile on her face. Karev, who is too cool to be friendly like that, merely scowls at Arizona. Callie, on the other hand, gives her an icy look before turning around and walking off, leaving Arizona baffled. I don't blame Callie for her crankiness at all. How irritating it must be to see her ex who appears to be completely unaffected by the breakup and acting all "lez be friends", while she is depleting her supply of Kleenex at home.
Unbeknownst to everyone, Mr. Clark, the widower with a grudge against Derek and all who were associated with his wife's case, has returned to the hospital to seek revenge against Derek. But before he can find Derek (because no one has time to point him in the right direction), he starts inflicting damage on anyone who sets him off. Reed makes the mistake of being bitchy and unhelpful to the wrong person, and pays the price of having her brains blown out. Poor Reed, I hardly knew ye. Alex, whose misfortune is walking down that particular isolated hallway at the wrong time, takes a bullet near his armpit. Alex, bleeding profusely, drags himself into an elevator in hopes that someone will discover him.
As the gratuitous violence is occurring on another floor, Callie bursts through the doors into Peds and catches the eyes of one Dr. Robbins, who is looking deep in thought over a chart (but not really over the chart) on the nurses' ledge, with her chin propped up by her left arm. When AZ realizes that she's been caught staring, she quickly lowers her eyes back to the binder. (Aside: my eyes are weirdly drawn to the plastic frog and the stuffed Panda sitting on the ledge beside AZ. Having them plopped beside a brooding AZ just makes an infinitely adorable picture.) Callie ignores her and asks the resident about her patient with the tibia fracture. Arizona is getting antsy and asks the nurse to page the younger Dr. Grey to get the appy moving, just as the nurse picks up a phone call. The nurse hangs up the phone and tells AZ that they're on lockdown. Arizona asks if it's a joke or a drill while Callie gives a disgruntled "C'mon...". Just then, everyone's pagers start beeping:
Arizona: Okay..it's no joke. Everyone...everyone. We're sealing the floor. I don't know why and it doesn't matter why, but nobody goes in or out past the double doors. You check on your own patients, and then you come back and see if there's any others in NICU. We don't have a lot of hands on deck. And people...do not alarm the makers of the tiny humans. They will eat you alive.
Bwahaha! "The makers of the tiny humans"... Arizona's work persona is nothing if not consistent. The way she runs her Peds unit, it really does feel as though they are in a Kingdom far far away, of Munchkins and magic dust. And Arizona taking charge and shouting commands is the Hotness. It's swoon-worthy, really.
As the staff scatter, Arizona picks up the phone and casually remarks to Callie, "I really thought it was a joke". Callie, without bothering to look up from her Blackberry, scoffs, "Sick joke..." Arizona asks, "Excuse me?", to which Callie replies, "Uh..nothing". Arizona huffs, "What? You can't be stuck on the same floor as me? That's a hardship for you?" Callie retorts, "Yeah.. frankly it is" and walks away from Arizona, who's taken back by her attitude.
As the crazed gunman continues to roam freely in the hospital in search of Derek and leaving a trail of bodies behind in the process, things in Peds become a little frantic as there are a lot more kids than staff available. Callie comes up with a brilliant idea to corral (er...I mean, relocate) all the kids into the playroom so that they could be supervised en masse. Arizona is grateful for Callie's suggestion and thanks her, but Callie blows her off with a "Whatever!" while AZ stares at her in disbelief.
Shortly after, and still oblivious to the bloodbath taking place, AZ is calmly wheeling a little girl with glasses who's holding onto a stuffed bunny towards the playroom, telling her, "The bad news is, there is less privacy. The good news is, is that your bunny can make friends with a very attractive bear from down the hall." Judging by the expression on Arizona's face, it appears that she is more tickled by that prospect than her young patient is; in fact, so much so that she almost crashes into the patient whom Callie is transporting. Callie is unamused and tells AZ to watch it. After apologizing for her wild steering, AZ turns to Callie:
Arizona: I thought we were going to be friends. Callie: <annoyed> You want to talk about this now? Arizona: Well, we're stuck here. We have to be together...so yeah, I want to talk about this. Callie: Okay. Fine. I tried being friends, rising above. I tried that, and now I'm over it. I'm going to go the traditional route, of totalling hating your guts. Arizona: <jaw drops in shock> Ugh!
Hm...Callie has apparently decided that hating Arizona with a passion sure beats crying over her daily bowl of Mueslix.
Callie parks her patient beside another boy and introduces them: "Okay~~ Christopher? Tyler. Tyler? Christopher. You both hate chicken. Discuss." before walking off. Snort. Callie's never going to let AZ live down that chicken comment, is she?
As Callie storms off, Arizona runs after her and blocks Callie's way:
Arizona: Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa... I don't deserve this, okay? I have treated you with nothing but respect, and love... Callie: Oh no, see, that's the thing! You think you have, but you haven't! Arizona: I'm sure it feels great to act like I'm the bad guy, but that is the biggest load of "you-know-what" that I've ever heard. Callie: <seething> I just spent the last month trying to convince myself that I don't need kids to be happy. Really trying... giving lectures to myself, saying it out loud to you and to Mark and turning myself inside out to want what you want what you wanted, and then I stopped for a second, and I thought, "Did you ever try? To imagine what it would be like to change for me? Because I don't think you did. What you did was you dismissed my dream.. my dream! Which says to me that you don't give a rat's ass if I'm happy. I never understood squat about who you are, and now that I do, I don't like it! <tries to walk past AZ> Arizona: <walks backwards to block Callie's way and says defiantly and sarcastically> Oh really? Really? Really?? I'm supposed to change for you? Why? 'Cause we're in love? 'Cause you fall in love all the time.. men..women...
Whoa. The frustration's finally boiling over. And about time we get to the heart of the issue because we only have an hour left of the season to make up. Callie is understandably angry and hurt to see the lack of effort on Arizona's part to try to salvage the relationship. It's apparent to Callie that AZ does not care enough about it or her to try to compromise a little in order to save the relationship. And that hurts if she feels like she is the only one giving it her all. And at this point, before the subsequent revelations, I can totally understand where Callie is coming from and her resulting resentment towards AZ. If that's all she understood about her, that she's just unwilling to even consider changing for someone she loves and appears to be so selfish and bending, I'd be lashing out, too.
Upon first viewing, I was a little taken aback that Arizona is so defiant in the face of Callie's accusations. Not only does she not try to consider changing for Callie, AZ is questioning why she should even change for her in the first place, just because they are in love. She even seems resentful that Callie tends to fall in love easily. It's not just about wanting or not wanting a baby anymore, is it?
Before they can delve further into the argument, a resident wheels Ruby's gurney towards them, with Ruby complaining about her pain and they rush to help.
Meanwhile, mayhem continues in other parts of the hospital. Bailey tries to get help for Percy to no avail because her floor is now deserted, and Teddy and Owen try to transport their patient to the ICU despite the lockdown.
In the relative safety (for now) of the Peds floor and still blissfully unaware that their colleagues are dropping like flies, Callie and Arizona continue their overdue verbal confrontation as they work together to treat Ruby:
Arizona: <as Ruby writhes in pain> Her blood pressure is 90 over 60 and dropping. Let's hang some more fluids. Resident: <comes running> I have the portable ultrasound. Arizona: All right. Check her appendix. I will be right back. <runs down the hallway and turns the corner into another hallway with a supply shelf> Callie: <follows AZ> When are you going to forgive me for not being a good enough lesbian for you? Arizona: When you do things to convince me that you are falling in love with me and not with being in love. When you do something to convince me that I'm different than George O'Malley, Erica Hahn, Mark Sloan, the girl at the coffee cart.. I mean, you have a huge heart and I love that about you. But I don't trust you. Why would I? As Callie stares speechlessly at her, the resident appears and tells Arizona that Ruby's appendix just went "pow", and they both rush back to help.
When these girls engage, they really engage. Love their no-holds-barred rumble (Rawr!) - it only means that they both give a damn. That little heated argument just pried open a giant can of worms. A giant can of worms called 'insecurity'. Now we finally discover that the root of the issue is that Arizona is not sure that Callie thinks of her as "the one"; she's afraid that she's just one person in a long line of people whom she has fallen in love with or will fall in love with in the future. And that fear alone is enough to hold her back from considering changing the way she envisions her future. It seems that we have come full circle (as Shonda so loves to put it), back to the "newborn" issue from way back when. And knowing that Shonda plans the finale first and works backwards, it now becomes obvious that they planted the glimpses (albeit oddly placed at the time) of AZ's insecurity throughout this season and even going back to season 5. Her knee-jerk reaction was to not date a newborn in the first place, from which we can speculate that she could've had a bad experience with someone (for lack of a better phrase) using her as an experiment. And as confident and as in control AZ appears, she's shown to be insecure in ep 5.22, after Callie bolts from the expensive dinner, which led to AZ's freakout over Callie being over the relationship. Then in 6.03, AZ is unsure about the status of the relationship and asked Callie if they were girlfriends when it's clear as day to Callie that they have been for some time. In 6.12, AZ being scared that the relationship will go kaput once "the sexy part of things" is over. And most recently, her instinctual reaction that Callie's breaking up with her over Mark.
To be fair, Callie has not done anything specific to deserve Arizona's mistrust. It's just that from what we've seen to date, there hasn't been an opportunity for Callie to show that her relationship with AZ far surpasses her previous ones, nor did an instance come up where she needed to prove it. The only thing questionable that the audience has seen is that she volunteered to help Mark raise Sloan Sloan's baby without consulting with Arizona first, but we are not even sure if she ever found out. To me, AZ's insecurity is really a function of Callie being a passionate person known to fall in love easily and AZ's own issues, which may have to do with her past experiences with "newborns". Aside from her possible bad experiences in the past, I'd like to take a deeper look at how AZ's insecurities may have come about in her relationship with Callie.
First of all, AZ has taken the initiative in almost everything, from approaching her at the bar bathroom to being the one to say "I love you" first. She's been the navigator of the relationship. And yes, this suits AZ just fine because she likes to be in control of the situation, but the pitfall is that you never know that if you hadn't suggested or done something first, if the other person would have done the same thing. By being the initiator, it is more difficult to gauge how the other person really feels or is reacting to what you started. So Arizona, while appearing to be the one holding the reins in the relationship, ultimately is uncertain where she stands in Callie's life. And when someone is as passionate as Callie, who loves life, loves her friends, falls in love so easily, it is hard for an already insecure person to deal with.
And as much as she wants to act like Callie's close friendship with Mark does not bother her (because she knows that he is her best friend and she wills herself to put up with it), it really doesn't inspire confidence when Callie runs to Mark about her relationship problems with Arizona. It's almost as if Mark is sitting right there, waiting in the wings with the Sloan method and the ability to create babies with Callie should something go wrong between Callie and Arizona. Add to that Callie letting Mark share their bed, it's hard to see where Arizona would feel more important to Callie than Mark does. Someone with as big a heart as Callie does tends to be passionate in her relationships with many people, which could make it difficult for her significant other to feel that she stands above the rest, that she is more important to her than other people are. And this is exacerbated when her significant other already has inherent insecurities.
To me, AZ is not the type of person who will make a decision based on blind faith. She will not take a giant leap and change her whole vision of her future for someone unless she knows she's the one. It's a scary thought to consider changing, and giving up a piece of herself for a relationship that may not pay off. Thus, she requires proof to show that she is indeed the one in Callie's life. And yes, some people would say that Callie cut ties with her family and gave up her trust fund to be with Arizona. And no doubt that if Arizona wasn't there at the time, she would not have done that. But that to me was more about Callie standing up for who she is (whether she was dating Arizona or some other girl), and choosing to cut ties with her family if they didn't love her for herself.
So given all of her insecurities that have not been addressed, I can see why she wasn't ready to consider changing for Callie. On the flip side, as Shonda said in her podcast, Callie's biggest fear is that she is not a good enough lesbian for Arizona. She hasn't figured out what she can do to show Arizona that Arizona's "the one". I don't see it as either Callie or Arizona's fault, really.
After Mr. Clark shoots Derek but spares April because of her Oprah-inspired ramble, he sees five SWAT team members enter the hospital and flees the catwalk. Lexie is sneaking around and ends up being face-to-face with Mr. Clark, who recognizes her as the one who pulled the plug on his wife. As he is about to shoot Lexie point blank, a SWAT team member hits him in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. What happens after that is slightly mind-boggling as the SWAT team does not move in on Mr. Clark, which allows him to roam some more in this hospital (which ultimately led to having my wish granted).
Back on Peds floor in one of the rooms, Arizona is giving Ruby an injection while Callie holds Ruby's hand. As perverse as this may sound, I desperately wanted Callie and Arizona to have an encounter with the shooter. They needed a life-threatening situation to snap them out of it. Plus, for the sake of equality, why should the lesbian couple be spared, heh? Indeed, I got my hurt/comfort fix. And what a breathtakingly brilliant and complex scene at that.
Arizona: You're going to feel a poke and it's going to hurt, but only for a little while. No squirming. Ruby: It hurts! Callie: Squeeze my hand...squeeze my hand. Tight tight tight.. Arizona: Got it.. Arizona: ...tight tight tight..come on. Oh, wow. You're strong. <Arizona smiles at Callie> Callie looks up and sees Gary Clark and the door and freezes. Arizona notices Callie's expression and spins around and notices Mr. Clark's gun. Arizona: <to Mr. Clark> There are only children here. <spins back around and shields Ruby, with her back facing the shooter> Mr. Clark: They shot me... Arizona: <sobbing and chanting> There are only children here...there are only children here...there are only children here...there are only children here. Callie: <slowly stands up, with her eyes wide in fear> Mr... um.. Mr. Clark: Clark. Gary Clark. Arizona: <continuing to chant softly with tears streaming down her face> There are only children here...there are only children here... Callie: <slowly and deliberately walks towards the gunman> Mr. Clark... here are some bandages. Arizona: There are only children here...there are only children here...there are only children here...there are only children here. Callie: Press them to the would and it'll stop the bleeding. Ruby: I want my mommy. Arizona: There are only children here. Callie: Okay? Just take them. Take them. <slowly puts the bandages in Mr. Clark's hand with the gun> Take them and go. Ruby: I want my mommy. Arizona: There are only children here. Mr. Clark: Thank you. Arizona: There are only children here. There are only children here. As Mr. Clark slowly backs out of the room, Callie quickly slams the door shut.
Ruby: I want my mommy! Ruby: <cries> I want my mommy! Callie: Alright, okay. I know you do... I know... I know you do. And she's going to be back soon. But you know what until she gets here you have the best doctor in the whole world with you right now. Arizona: <remains in a daze with tear-stained cheeks and still whispering> There are only children here. Callie: Yeah! Dr. Robbins is the best doctor in this entire hospital... I think in the whole world. Yeah, people feel so much better after she helps them. <Arizona still frozen> Sometimes people feel better after she walks in the room cause she has got this super magic smile. Yeah.. <looks up at AZ meaningfully> when she smiles at you <Arizona looks back at her> everything gets better. You don't know it 'cause you have your back to her right now, but she is giving you...she's giving you her best super magic smile. Isn't that right, Dr. Robbins? Arizona: Right. <looks at Callie> I am, Ruby. I am. Callie: <to Arizona> I'll call the police and let them know what happened, okay? Arizona: <nods> I'm.. I'm good. <Callie caresses on Arizona's face tenderly as Arizona closes her eyes at her touch> I'm good... Callie: Alright.
That 3-minute scene was probably the most poignant one between them to date, not only because of how they reacted while the gunman was in the room but the revelations brought about after he was gone. It's a real turning point in their relationship.
I love that Arizona instinctually throws herself over the child to protect her and Callie putting herself in harm's way to protect them both. Callie's raw courage and her propensity to sacrifice for those she loves just rendered me speechless. I have never loved or respected Callie more than I did at that moment. In addition to staying calm in such a dire situation, selflessly putting herself between the shooter and Arizona and child was unequivocally the ultimate act of sacrifice for someone you love, and Callie did that pretty much on instinct. Callie's humanity really shone through in this scene. Not only does her big heart compels her to protect AZ and Ruby, she also touched Mr. Clark emotionally when she offered him the bandage. I know she was just trying to get him to leave by handing him the gauze, but I'm not sure people without as big a heart as Callie's would have thought to offer it to him in that situation. It's because of that gesture that she managed to save them all. And at that point, they felt like a family unit to me. I later realized that Shonda made reference to "the family unit" in her podcast, but I felt that resonating with me loud and clear when I first watched the episode.
After the shooter has left, Callie comforting Ruby and Arizona so tenderly just tugs at my heartstrings. The way Callie looked at AZ adoringly when she described her "super magic" smile, and AZ looking back at Callie with the kind of faith that was missing before. Her eyes expressed the realization that she can trust Callie and that her heart and life are safe in her hands. Arizona closing her eyes and drawing comfort from Callie's caress just touched me deep inside.
It's interesting that Arizona turns her back to the shooter, as though by doing that and reciting that there are only children will make the problem disappear. It's actually consistent with the way she has dealt with the baby issue so far. I know that some people are disappointed that AZ was frozen with fear and expected her to take control of the situation, but just because AZ is usually authoritative doesn't mean that she will react the same way in an extenuating circumstance. She is authoritative when she is in a familiar environment, which has no correlation to how she reacts in a life-and-death situation. Unless she's been in a battlefield situation like Owen or Teddy, one cannot really predict how she would have reacted. In addition to that, for practicality reasons, Callie had to be the to "prove" her love to facilitate the reconciliation.
AZ can now see that even in the darkest moments, Callie is there to catch her. She now knows that she can let go of her need for control, her fears, appear weak at times with Callie, and it will be all right. Most importantly, AZ now has the proof that Callie is "all in", given that she was willing to die for her. To be fair, I think AZ wasn't looking for proof as extreme as this, but anyway.
After the Peds floor has been evacuated, Callie and Arizona are outside, seeing off an ambulance that's transporting their patient to another hospital. Their expressions have softened considerably from before and they exchange meaningful looks for a few moments. After some unspoken words seemingly pass between them, Arizona finally says, "I'm going to see if kids need help finding their parents" before turning around and walking off.
Callie: <calls after her> People died. <AZ spins around to look at her> People are dead. I... I don't want to have kids if it means I can't be with you. Arizona: <looks at Callie for a moment and walks towards her> No.. no.. We'll have kids. We'll have all kinds of kids. And I always thought that I wasn't cut out to be a mom. But..you'll be a great mom. You'll be.. an amazing mom. And...I love you so much, and I can't live without you and our ten kids, and- At that, Callie steps forward, grabs AZ's face with her hands and kisses her passionately, cutting her off.
Even before any words were uttered, the looks of love they gave each other was unmistakable. What an incredibly moving scene, as they realize that life is too short and fragile to not try to work it out in order to hold onto the love that they found with each other. But beyond that, it's AZ finally seeing that Callie is truly in love with her, and because of that, AZ is willing to give all of herself and willing to compromise for this relationship.
Once again, it never ceases to amaze me how much Sara and JCap are able to convey through their facial expressions. They are particularly masterful at giving each other the "look of love", which is unrivalled on television as far as couples go. After sending off the ambulance, we already know that they are willing to give in to the other just from their eyes alone. I particularly love the way Callie went from furrowing her to brow to pleasant surprise and hope when it starts to sink in that Arizona is actually saying to her what she had been wanting to hear for weeks. Arizona's profession of "I love you so much and I can't live without you and our ten kids" has become my favorite Grey's quote. It's so incredibly sweet and uttered so adorkably as only Arizona could. And JCap has this uncanny ability to deliver the most powerful and potentially melodramatic lines so understatedly and so earnestly that it gets to me every time. And clearly, it got to Callie, too, because she moved forward to plant a huge kiss on AZ to cut off her cute little ramble. Hooray for prolonged kisses! The fact that it was said to Callie of all people, who has suffered so much in the love department, makes it all the more satisfying. And as far as I'm concerned, Sara and JCap can go through an episode without any dialogue and I'll still understand what they are trying to convey. They are that good.
It doesn't bother me that AZ decided to walk away instead of saying something. It's actually consistent with her character in that it takes her a while to process something. It doesn't mean that her feelings haven't changed. Callie, of course, is the type to seize the moment. It's also good for Arizona to have that final reassurance that Callie would rather be with her and have no kids than to choose someone else for the sake of having kids.
I do still believe that AZ preferring to not have kids is her real preference. I believe her when she maintained all along that she liked her life the way it is. Plus, she did say that she didn't consider herself cut out to be a mom. The only difference now is her willingness to compromise to be with Callie, which is strengthened by the ability to envision what a wonderful mother Callie will be.
Shonda mentioned in the podcast that the kids issue is not settled, which is not really the point of the storyline anyway. It is more about compromising for someone you love to make your relationship work and to grow together. I don't think the kids things will come up a long while. Shonda also mentioned that Sara and Jessica talked a lot about the ending with her. It makes me giddy to hear that they are so invested in their characters and care about the storyline. Knowing that they give their input on things makes me enjoy their scenes and respect the two of them even more. No wonder they are so meticulous in their delivery; it's because they are so committed to it.
All in all, I'm satisfied with the resolution. Yes, it took a while to pick up steam and the whole pining part of the breakup was condensed into one ep, but at least the conclusion makes decent sense to me and the insecurity issue doesn't feel that out of the blue. I like that it's not AZ changing her mind on having a baby as much as she's changing on her mind on the possibility of compromising for Callie. And knowing that no matter what issue comes up, they are willing to work it out is good enough for me. What an incredibly beautiful and moving ending scene to last us for four months.
Random thoughts:
Chandra Wilson absolutely blew me away, from her extreme fright (at the mercy of the gunman to the frustration and finally resignation that there was nothing she could do for Percy). In fact, it's amazing how everyone who was supposed to look scared pulled it off. Really really impressed by the caliber of the cast. They deserve the best ensemble acting for this ep.
When I watched the episode the second time, I noticed that after Derek collapsed on the catwalk after being shot and Mer was at his side, she also said, "I can't live without you". I like that the same line was used between Mer and Der and Callie and Arizona in the same episode. Just another sign that they are the lesbian equivalent of MerDer. It's kind of good that unlike the MerDer angst, the Callie & Arizona drama is condensed because I don't think I can put up with 5 seasons of back and forth.
Loved the Mer and Cristina friendship in this episode again. Cris determined to protect Mer and Mer determined to protect Derek, and in the end, Cristina risking her life to save Derek. And Mer throwing Cris against the shelf to get past her and allowing Cristina to witness her telling Derek about the baby without a second thought when Cris told her that she just broke up with Owen. This, to me, was the funniest line of the night: "So are we happy or are we exercising the legal right to choose?"
I liked the twist in the OR to fool the gunman into thinking Derek's dead. Although, I guess if he was really vicious, he could've just pumped another bullet into him.
They did everything right to make it suspenseful. One scene that comes to mind in particular was when Owen shows up in the OR and sees Mer and April. They don't know what's happening in the OR, and neither do the viewers, until we see Owen enter the OR and confronts the gunman.
Really liked the scene where the Richard is standing outside and listening in on the 911 calls from the various doctors. I can't explain it; I just found the way they did it to be really engaging.
I guess they are saying that Owen "chose" Cristina, but it's not really that clear-cut to me. It's not like both Teddy and Cris were in dangerous situations and he had to pick someone to save. Teddy was already outside, and Owen going back into the hospital was really the right thing to do given how much they have been through and he at least owed Cristina that much. Meh. Doubt still lingers in my mind but please, whatever to put an end to the triangle is fine with me.
Shonda's toying with our emotions by making Percy more likeable in the last moments of his life. And dammit, it worked on me. I felt kind of badly about his death.
Mr. Clark was written pretty multi-dimensionally, I thought. Interesting to see that he spared some of the surgeons depending on how they behaved towards him.
Necklace update: Not surprising, neither was wearing their necklaces. I have no doubt they will re-appear next season. ;D
Final thoughts:
It seems that I have been afflicted with the disease called verbosity. Just wanted to say that on the whole, season 6 has been very satisfying for us, being able to see Callie and Arizona's relationship blossom into a deep and loving one and getting some pleasant surprises along the way. It's been a pleasure reviewing the episodes for everyone (from describing their various juicy scenes in minute detail to stretching out those that are only like 5 seconds long). It might be quite noticeable that my reviews became longer and longer as the season went on, in large part due to their amazing storyline in the latter part of the season and your encouraging feedback. Just wanted to thank you all for reading and for all of your comments. Here's to a great season 7 for our favorite couple. Cheers.
Comments (144)
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You're welcome.. it's been a lot of fun running the site.
You say stuff that I didn't notice in the episode, but makes their love even more cute and lovable!
O for awesome review once again meg!!! absolutly loved it! u nailed every scene and expression lol im gna miss readn ur reviews over the hiatus =( hopefully ull do some of season 5?? pleaseee. but for now i think well have Bre's letters to entertain us haha