Didn't We Almost Have It All | Air Date: 05/17/2007| ABC guide
Meredith tells Cristina that her marrying Burke is a sign that "women
like us" can really have it all. Cristina wants to scrub in but Miranda
orders her to go home since she's getting married in less than 12
hours.
Richard is indignant that, since he's still Adele's husband, he was not
notified she was in the hospital.Addison finally tells him Adele might
behaving a miscarriage. Adele comes to and is flustered to see Richard
at her bedside. Addison leaves Richard alone with her. He wants to know
why she didn't tell him and she snaps at him that he must have work to
do. He insists on staying right where he is.
Rina, Joe and Walter's potential birth mother, needs to have
her twins delivered immediately. She's upset because she hasn't made a
final decision on who to give her babies to and they assure her that it
doesn't matter right now. When the babies arrive, they each hold one.
With
the fourth hiker, Lonnie, found alive with an ax in his head, Derek
demands to know what really happened on the mountain. The three hikers
say that Lonnie insisted they climb back down, not up, to camp for the
night. Since they were all tied together, when he started down, they
all fell. One of the men swung his ax to try to catch a rock, but
caught Lonnie's head instead. "It was an accident," they insist, and
swear they thought he was dead when they left him behind.
During surgery, Derek discovers that the ax wound is clean, meaning it
was no accident. He tells Lonnie's friends that he knows the ax would
was deliberate and that if they won't tell him the truth, they can talk
to the cops. One of the hikers finally reveals what happened: They were
so sure Lonnie wasn't going to make it that he tried to put him out of
his misery. "He's my friend," the man sobs.
Rebecca's husband, Jeff, shows up at the hospital and has trouble
recognizing her after her plastic surgery. He holds his daughter,
telling Alex that she looks like Rebecca, or at least what she used to
look like. Alex demands to know why he didn't come looking for his
wife, since the ferry crash was all over the news. Jeff says he thought
she'd left him. "I didn't look for her when she was missing," he says,
"but what's worse is I didn't see her when she was there." He tells
Alex he still loves her.
Derek tells Meredith about the pretty woman who offered to buy him a
drink last night. He says nothing happened but she wants to know if she
should be worried. He tells her, yeah, she should be worried that
flirting with that woman was the highlight of his week.
Richard meets with all of the attendings to tell them whom he's
selected to succeed him. He thinks Mark only wanted the job to compete
with Derek. Addison says she needs the job as a reason to stay in
Seattle and because she's 39 and alone. He says that's why he didn't
pick her, because she shouldn't need a job to give her a new life. Even
though Richard wants to give Burke the job, he says he can't because
Burke let him down.
Callie tells George all she can think about is having a baby and George says if she really wants to, they can try.
Mama Burke pressures Cristina into wearing a choker that was
worn by "five generations of Burke women" on their wedding day. She
says she'd initially thought Cristina was selfish, but that she admires
the way she's given into all of Burke's wishes. Next, she wants to know
what Cristina intends to "do" about her eyebrows -- and Cristina ends
up with none! Cristina begs Miranda to let her operate, because she has
no eyebrows and no dignity left. "One cut," Miranda says and then sends
her off to get married.
Addison asks Burke if he's nervous for the wedding. He says
he's excited, but admits he's uncertain about the vows he wrote
himself. Addison urges him to practice them on her, Izzie and the
nurses. In his vows, he doesn't promise to love or honor Cristina,
saying those are vows for people who are optimistic and hopeful and he
is neither of those things. "I am sure," he says. "I am steady." He
goes on at rapturous length and when he is done, Addison jokes, "I
think I speak for every woman in this room when I say, dump her and
marry me!"
Izzie, emboldened by Burke's vows, corners George and tells him because
she's his best friend, that if he's in love with Callie, she will do
everything in her power to make his marriage work. But she's in love
with him and she hope she's in love with her too. Before he can answer,
the other interns barge into the locker room, in a rush to prep for
Cristina and Burke's wedding.
Just then, a nurse arrives with their test results. They all announced
that they passed, even Meredith. She's preparing to leave when Derek
shows up, so she stays behind to talk to him. She tells him if he wants
to break up with her and see other people, to just tell her he doesn't
love her anymore. "I do love you," he says. "You're the love of my
life." He can't leave her, but she's always leaving him, so if she
doesn't see a future for them, to please end it because he can't. She
answers that she really needs to go make sure Cristina walks down that
aisle.
Alex shares the good news about passing his exam with Rebecca
and she tells him she and the baby have been discharged. Medically,
there's no reason to stay, but she wants him to give her one. Jeff is a
good man but he knows her as Rebecca and she doesn't know if she's that
person anymore. "I was more me as Ava than I'll ever be as Rebecca,"
she says. He tells her her husband loves her and she should "stick with
the decent guy."
Adele starts to crash and Addison informs her she might have a
placental tear due to the accident and they need to operate on her
right now. Addison saves Adele, but not the baby. Richard rushes in to
see how she is and asks if she wants to call someone. She admits that
the father didn't even know she was pregnant. "I misjudged him. He's a
much better man than I thought," she says. He slowly realizes she's
talking about him and they tearfully embrace.
At the church, Burke congratulates Derek on being named Chief
and he tells him that Richard didn't pick him. Derek confides that he
and Meredith might not make it but that today is all about Burke.
Alex sits next to Addison and asks if she wants to grab a
drink after the ceremony. "You don't want me. You want Ava," she says.
He tells her Ava's not Ava anymore and she tells him to go after her.
Miranda is devastated to see that Callie has been chosen for Chief
Resident instead of her. George skips the wedding and commiserates with
Miranda, who tells him she is so sorry that he's failed his exam. He
now has two options: Walk away from being a resident or repeat his
intern year.
Izzie looks for George in the church and Callie tells her he's
going to be late, since it was a big day for them: She was named Chief
Resident and they've decided to have a baby. The music starts to play
and Cristina panics when she realizes that she no longer has her
wedding vows written on her hand since she scrubbed in. She orders
Meredith to give her the advice Cristina herself would give if their
positions were reversed, so Meredith threatens to kick Cristina's ass
if she doesn't walk down that aisle.
After a noticeable delay, Burke goes to talk to Cristina and she
assures him she's ready. He says he knows she doesn't want to do this,
but that she was only doing it because she loves him. And that if he
really loves her for who she is, instead of who he wants her to be, he
wouldn't be waiting for her at the altar, he would be letting her go.
Meredith informs the guests that the wedding is off, saying, "It's
over." She follows Cristina to her apartment. "He's gone," Cristina
says. "I'm free."
Meredith helps her tear the choker and the dress off
and holds her as she sobs.
Alex rushes back to the hospital, but Rebecca is gone. George is joined
in the locker room by a fresh batch of interns. One of them, the pretty
girl who asked Derek for a drink, asks him for advice. She introduces
herself as Lexie Grey. We find out that in Derek's interview with
Richard, he turned down the position of Chief of Surgery. "You're the
best man for this job," he tells Richard.
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Music Guide: Didn't We Almost Have It All
guide
TITLE: Roboxula
PERFORMER: The Jealous Girlfriends
LABEL: Indie
|
The
song plays as Callie copies Cristina's vows onto her hand, Izzie and
Meredith play toilet paper bride. Bailey tells Mark and Derek that they
found the fourth mountain climber.
|
TITLE: Falling Or Flying
PERFORMER: Grace Potter
LABEL: Hollywood Records
|
Song plays as Cristina is unable to sleep, Alex watches Ava and her husband talk, Derek talks to Meredith about his night.
|
TITLE: Hold You In My Arms
PERFORMER: Ray Lamontagne
LABEL: RCA
|
The
song plays as Burke practices his wedding vows, Callie and George talk
about having a baby, Alex talks with Ava's husband while he holds the
baby.
|
TITLE: Closer
PERFORMER: Coburn
LABEL: Indie
The song plays as Cristina operates. Izzie helps George with his tie and declares her feelings.
|
|
TITLE: Within You
PERFORMER: Ray Lamontagne
LABEL: RCA
|
The
song plays as the interns get the results of their intern test results.
Ava asks Alex to giv eher a reason to stay. Meredith and Derek have a
heart to heart.
|
TITLE: Eulogy
PERFORMER: The Hereafter
LABEL: Indie
|
The
song plays as Alex talks to Addison about Ava. George and Bailey talk
about his results. The girls get ready for the wedding.
|
TITLE: Explosions
PERFORMER: The Mary Onettes
LABEL: Indie
|
The song plays as Cristina readies herself for the aisle & Burke goes to check up on Cristina. |
TITLE: Keep Breathing
PERFORMER: Ingrid Michaelson
LABEL: Indie
|
The
song plays over the end of the episode as Alex looks for Ava, Meredith
helps Cristina, Callie watches Izzie, George meets Lexie and Richard
talks with Derek. |
___________________________________________________________________________________
Original airdate: 5/17/07
So the third season began with Meredith helping Izzie remove her
prom dress and ended with Meredith helping Cristina get out of her
wedding gown. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but…I like a little
symmetry.
This season was important to me. It wasn’t as light as Season Two
and for good reason – our characters were in a darker place. I needed
to put Meredith’s mother to rest, Izzie’s grief to rest, and the race
for Chief to rest. George needed to grow up on a monumental level and
then come full circle to where he was when we first met him in the
pilot. Meredith had to finally try to face the fact that she’s damaged
when it comes to relationships. I wanted to put Bailey on the path of
questioning her standing as The Chosen One. Both Burke and Derek
needed to hit a relationship wall, each in their own ways. And then
there’s Cristina…
Oh, the Cristina of it all. What this season is about most of all –
for all of our women – is the idea of “having it all” is a myth. And
that was true for Cristina more than anyone. Slowly, over the course
of the season, we’ve watched as hard-nosed Yang sliced off little
pieces of herself to accommodate Burke. From helping Burke hide his
tremor to Colin Marlowe telling her she’s not the woman he knew to
prepping for the wedding, she slowly morphs from kickass surgeon-girl
into a woman we don’t quite recognize in that wedding dress with
penciled eyebrows. I wanted you to have the feeling in the finale
that she’s become this painted doll – beautiful, everyone’s fantasy
bride, but a painted doll all the same. No longer our Cristina.
There’s that wonderful moment where she begs Bailey to let her cut
because a part of her knows she’s becoming someone she doesn’t
recognize. And then, just as she’s lost almost all of herself standing
there in that gown ready to walk down the aisle, Burke is telling her
that he can’t marry her. Because even Burke realizes that this
Cristina is not his Cristina. It’s devastating. I hope you noticed
that in the beginning of the episode Cristina talks about a heart as a
purely anatomical thing (“it pumps blood”) and then Burke’s vows are
all about the heart as an emotional thing (“I promise to lay my heart
in the palm of your hands”) and it’s so sad to realize that they have
completely opposing views of the world. I feel for Burke and you
should too because he knows that, in a way, by leading, pushing,
cajoling her down this path to being together, he’s done this to her –
he’s changed her. That the only way to save her from disappearing
completely is to set her free. And then in that wonderfully painful
moment (how much do we love Sandra Oh and her incredible talent?) in
the apartment, Cristina turns to Meredith and says “He’s gone. I’m
free. Damn it.” And it’s so nuanced and so layered and so tragic
because she’s relieved and terrified and heartbroken and suffocated all
at once. Watching her journey back from this is going to be amazing
next season.
George and Izzie and Callie: you all have your opinions, very
strong opinions, on how you feel about this love triangle. I’m glad –
strong opinions mean you care what happens. In the finale, Izzie’s
declaring herself and Callie’s fighting for her rightful territory.
That moment when Callie casually lets Izzie know that she’s not only
been named Izzie’s boss but that she and George are trying to have a
baby is very interesting. Callie’s saying “don’t mess with me” in the
only way she knows how. About the baby thing – for the record, I am
very strongly against anyone trying to have a baby to save a
relationship. It’s crazy because it never works and I highly recommend
you don’t do it. Plus it goes against every feminist bone in my body.
But it is also human to delude yourself into believing that you’re not
having a baby to save your relationship, that instead having a baby is
a way of taking your relationship to the next level. And Callie gives
that great speech about her hormones and her body. I’ve been there and
I know that it is real, this sudden baby rush that happens and, if you
are firmly into your career, it freaks you out. Callie’s just being as
honest as she knows how to be with George. Because she can’t bring up
Izzie again – not when the last time she brought it up, George called
Izzie a supermodel thereby suggesting that Callie was, well…not.
George is interesting is this episode. Did you notice that after he
looks at his test scores, his entire demeanor changes? How he’s
vulnerable in a way that we haven’t seen in a long time? My favorite
moments for him are in that scene with Bailey where he says he can’t
repeat his intern year over again. He just can’t. And then when that
girl in the locker room (Lexie Grey! Lexie Grey!) asks if he has any
advice, he says simply “No.” I love that. Because he doesn’t have any
answers. He thought he did and then he fails his intern exam and Izzie
has to go and tell him she’s in love with him. He has no idea what the
future holds. His whole future is one big question.
Alex and Ava. My heart beats for them. How amazing was Ava in
those scenes? And Alex…I’ve said before that Alex is Meredith’s mirror
and I’m saying it again. He’s too screwed up to give Ava a reason to
stay because he doesn’t think he’s good enough. And it’s no
coincidence that this scene comes right before the MerDer scene where
Derek is asking her, all pained and raw, to put him out of his misery
and Meredith is WAY too screwed up to give him an answer. They’re
damaged people, Alex and Meredith.
What I love is that for Meredith, Cristina getting married has
become this incredibly important thing – this sign – that maybe she and
Derek can make it through. That she can be healthy enough to let
herself have this, have him. She keeps saying to Cristina “you can do
this” and she needs it to be true. She needs it desperately.
Meredith, the girl with no family model for how a relationship works,
looks to her best friend. So when Burke shuts the whole thing down,
Meredith is almost as devastated as Cristina. She does that long walk
down the aisle, gets up in front of the wedding guests and tells them
it’s over. And she doesn’t just mean the wedding. She means
everything she hoped could be true. She means the fairy tale. She
means the MerDer of it all. It’s over. It’s so over. Because she no
longer believes.
Bailey’s got a lot to contend with next year. She thought she was
going to be Chief Resident – she really believed it. After all, the
Chief spent the season practically anointing her with Chief Resident
oil. But he also spent the season warning her. Because from his own
life, he knows what it is to get so caught up in a job that you neglect
your family. And he wouldn’t wish that on anyone. That is a lesson
Bailey’s not ready to learn – the fact that there may be a choice
between family and career isn’t something this generation of women has
been raised to believe. It’s not something I’m ready to believe. But,
like I said, what the women start to see this season is that maybe they
may not necessarily be able to have it all. Because maybe having it
all has a price. Is it fair that Bailey has to pay this price?
Absolutely not. But isn’t it ironic that Bailey’s got the strong
family and (in her mind) a shaky career while Callie’s got the solid
career and the shaky family life?
The Chief. Aah, my Chief. I love his full circle journey this
season. His wife starts out leaving him and now she’s come back. And
Derek hands him back the Chief job. Which opens all sorts of
possibilities. Because if he’s going to do it all over again, how will
he do it differently? Is it possible for him to have it all? Will he
get Adele back if he chooses to stay Chief? I love the wonderful
moments with his wife, when they’ve lost the baby and he’s there for
her. For me, in the face of the supposed fairy tale playing out with
Burke and Cristina, this is what real love is. After years of mistakes
and pain and problems, real love is two people standing together,
choosing to be together, despite all that has gone wrong. It is very
grown-up, the Chief and Adele of it all.
Derek. Poor Derek. He’s done his best to pull Meredith forward.
He’s done his best to be in this relationship and help her be in it
too. He has tried to be the best man. But it wasn’t enough. He can’t
save her. And so in that last moment, when he’s sitting with the
Chief, and he tells the Chief that he can’t take the job, it is about
so much more than just the job. It is about his belief in himself. I
adore the moment in the locker room when he tells Mer that she’s the
love of his life. Mainly because Patrick says things like that better
than anyone I’ve ever seen. But also because he’s desperately trying
to get through to her. And when he says that he can’t leave her, he
won’t leave her, because he can’t – it’s sad. And she looks at him and
just sort of…freaks out and and he pleads with that one word
“Meredith”…it’s all so…the way he puts his head back as they leave the
locker room…He can’t be more of a best man. Where he’s going next
season is going to be interesting to watch.
Last but not least are Addison and Mark. We don’t see a lot of them
in this episode. And for good reason. Their stories were done,
finished, earlier. For Addison, there’s a brand new future ahead over
at Private Practice (Wednesday nights at 9 pm!). For Mark, he starts
fresh over at Grey’s next year. Without Addison. He’ll get to stand
on his own and I think you’ll enjoy seeing it.
So that’s it. That was our season. I did my level best to burn it
all down this season, to burn it to the ground so that we can have a
place to build from next season. Burning it down was hard. But next
season…oh, next season is all about the fun and the pain and the new
beginnings. Because our interns are going to become residents.
Because everyone is single again -- well, there is the little matter of
Izzie and George and Callie…but still…
…the future is wide open, people.
Special thanks to Tony Phelan and Joan Rater for writing an
excellent finale. And to Shoots With No Script for...well, shooting
with a very long script.
Have a good summer.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Personal Opinion:
Wow, what an amazing episode. Sandra Oh defiantly deserves an award for her performance. It's taken me a while to actually sit down and write about this episode, now after watching it for the second time, I think I'm finally ready. It's absolutely breathtaking, every moment of this episode had me singing the praises of the writers.... and SCREAMING them at the same time! It still leaves me questioning where is this all leading, are both George AND Burke leaving Grey's? What will Bailey be like after the disappointment of not being chief resident? Where does this episode leave Cristina and Meredith in the path of the future? I can not tell you how much I just "boo-hoo" tears with big sobs at the end of the episode. I think that's what makes me most like Meredith, for me I wanted them to make it ... so at least SOMEONE on the SHOW would have a good relationship to look at as an example, but... I guess that's what makes it TV drama. I was so heartbroken for her...(I'm also starting to PMS, tmi for most of you) but, you get my point. GOODNESS, I am so excited about Lexie Grey coming to the cast. The other interns look retarded, I hope they don't keep any of the ones playing with the crap in the locker room besides Lexie... :) This season was filled with everything that makes this show great....
yay for Season 3 of Grey's Anatomy!!
Comments
I love your recaps. They're so thorough and fun. :)
Totally agree with you on a lot of stuff, especially the Meredith thing. I really wanted Mer and Der to work, but I find myself getting sick of Mer a lot lately. I dig her and I get her whole damaged thing.. 'cause I can relate to a lot of it.. but that scene where McDreamy told her, "You're the love of my life," and she basically blew him off really pissed me off. I'm just tired of watching Derek get disregarded by her. Maybe next season, she'll realize what she had and things will be fixed and repaired between them by the end of next season.
I just think for all the trouble they've gone to for each other, she oughta be a little more.. I don't know.. interested in him. For all that "hold a boom box over my head" love she had for him, y'know. LOL.
And I totally second the note on Sandra Oh. That chick is one hell of an actress. I'm constantly awed by her. The scene with the breakdown in her and Burke's apartment was incredible.
Also, I read on a gossip blog that Isaiah Washington isn't returning to Grey's next season. "Insiders" from ABC have supposedly let it leak to outside sources that he was fired, but I read something else that the negotations to have him back next season simply haven't been completed. We'll see. I love Burke, so I'm hoping they don't axe him.