Derek and Addison still married:
Okay, for those of you who truly know me, you would know that my OTP (One True Pair...Tumblr lingo), has always been Derek Shepherd and Addison Montgomery-Shepherd. I started watching Grey's when it was in the middle of its second season, and at that point they were still married (they got divorced in the beginning of the third season) and I had no previous knowledge of the whole Derek and Meredith Grey thing that had previously gone down. So when people would tell me that Derek and Meredith really belonged together, and not Derek and Addison, I was just like "Pfft...whatever." Ha yeah. Anyway, in tonight's AU episode, my OTP was supposed to be still married and expecting a baby together. When I found that out I literally could not stop hyperventilating, like literally, just ask my roommate Arielle. It was pathetic. Anyway, all day today I could not sit still because I just could not wait for tonight's episode. My couple, together at last, having a baby. My dying wish (okay not really, just dramatic effect here).
Little did I know that about halfway through the episode we found out that my dear Shepherds were in fact not really in love with one another. They were still married yes, Addison was pregnant yes, but were they happy together? No. Well fuck. And to make matters worse, in the last like, ten minutes of the episode we found out that the baby wasn't even Dereks! It was Mark's! (Mark and Addison had an affair previously in the real show, which in turn drove Derek to Meredith in the beginning of the first season; but apparently that affair went a little bit further in this AU episode). FUUUUUUU- ...no okay actually I have toyed with the idea of Mark and Addison as a couple, but no, they're no Derek and Addison. So right now what I'm feeling is just, ugh. Like, why? This was supposed to be an AU episode, couldn't they just be happy one time?? Gah. But yeah, that's what happened. Derek and Addison were still married but unhappy, she was pregnant with someone else's baby, and everything just went to hell in a hand basket. So that was fun. I guess I should start looking for a new OTP now.
Meredith's mom, Ellis, not contracting Alzheimer's:
In the real show, Meredith Grey's mom, world-class general surgeon Ellis Grey contracted Alzheimer's before the show even started and then passed away from something (I don't really remember what) related to it in the middle of the third season. In tonight's AU episode, however, we got to see a world in which Ellis never got sick. Personally, I loved it. I loved getting to see her and Richard (the man she fell in love/had an affair with as an intern, but ended up not being with because he wouldn't leave his wife for her) together, and actually getting to see her be a surgeon. It was amazing. And to see her and Meredith actually (somewhat) get along towards the beginning was good. In the real show, they rarely did, regardless of the fact that she was sick. The fight at the end, not so much, but whatever, their relationship was at least...okay. But yeah, that part should have actually happened on the real show.
Meredith and Alex's engagement:
Really, like what the hell? Yeah, the previews made it seem all fine and dandy that these two were getting married, but once the entire episode was finished, just...Umm what? That was pretty much the only reaction I could come up with. In the real show, Meredith and this guy Alex Karev were both interns together, basically the only guy/girl combo who stayed "kinda friends" without ever sleeping together. So obviously it was a little bit of a jaw-dropper to see two people who so clearly should not be a couple, be a couple. But it was really cute at the beginning; you see, Alex is normally this really hard-ass "I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks-of-me" kind of guy, but not in this episode. In this episode he was kind of that hot, nerdy/geeky kind of guy that a lot of girls typically like. Again, it was cute. And then we find out that he and Meredith were engaged, and once I picked my jaw up off the ground, I kind of grew to like them. BUT THEN stupid Alex had to go and cheat on Meredith with her AU best friend April (who in the real show is like the exact opposite of Meredith's best friend, Cristina), so then that also went to hell in a hand basket. My, there were certainly a lot of hand baskets in tonight's episode.
Callie and Owen married (with three children):
In the real show, you would have to be completely out of your mind to put these two together. They are so not even compatible at all. For one thing, Callie is actually bisexual and currently married to a woman, a Peds surgeon named Arizona Robbins (who by the way was on tonight's episode too, and there was so much sexual tension between her and Callie regardless of it being AU that I almost had to leave the room), and even before Arizona the type of men she was with were totally not Owen. She has a baby with Mark (yes, Addison's Mark), and was married to an intern named George in the third season. But anyway, in AU Callie and Owen were married. Owen was an Iraq War Vet (and is in the real show too) who was still struggling with PTSD but didn't want to say anything to Callie. Basically it was the same situation he was in when he came on the real show in the hmm...fifth season I think it was, or maybe the sixth, I don't remember. The only difference was, Callie was the one going through it with him, rather than Cristina (Meredith's actual best friend and Owen's current wife). It was just kind of awkward. But their kids were cute so they get brownie points for that.
Miranda Bailey...shy:
In the real show, Dr. Miranda Bailey is anything but shy. She is a force to be reckoned with, an amazing general surgeon, and probably one of my favorite characters. As an intern she was shy, but then she grew out of it later into her residency. In AU however, Bailey was freaking shy, like, painfully shy. It was weird, and I don't think I liked it very much. And then at the end she got fired, which was also weird. It just made me...sad.
Lexie as a coke addict:
This honestly didn't really phase me too much; in the real show Lexie Grey is Meredith's little half-sister, who is also a surgeon. They share the same dad, the dad who didn't really help to raise Meredith (because her mother didn't want him around), so instead remarried and had Lexie, and raised her. But yeah. In AU, Lexie was, instead of a surgeon, addicted to coke and God knows what other drugs, and was admitted to the hospital after ODing. Yeah, I felt really bad for her, because in AU her dad also wasn't a very decent dad, but in the end, it again didn't really phase me too much, because I don't like Lexie in the real show anyway.
Mercy West Hospital people being...alive, and all best-friendy and stuff:
That wasn't too bad, except for the whole April and Alex thing. In the real show, Mercy West is Seattle Grace's competing hospital, and in the fifth or sixth season, due to budget, the two had to merge. In AU, there was no merge, but a couple of the Mercy West doctors worked at Seattle Grace instead - April and Charles. At the end of the sixth season, the season finale was of a shooting that happened at Seattle Grace, and Charles got shot and died. But in AU he was still alive, which I liked because I always thought Charles looked like a big teddy bear. April is still alive in the real show, but to be honest she's kind of a pain in the ass. She's just kind of, there. But like I said before, I liked her in AU, until of course she helped Alex to cheat on Meredith.
The end:
At the end of the episode you could kind of see the relationships that exist in the real show start to play out; the Meredith / Cristina friendship forming over a surgery, and then the Derek / Meredith relationship forming while sitting at a bar. And mind you, these scenarios actually happened in the first season. I guess it was good...my friend and I were chatting not too long ago about the AU, and we came to the conclusion that the underlying theme was that you can't choose who you love. Who you love is who you love. Hence the Derek / Meredith relationship forming, the sexual tension between Callie and Arizona, and even the interesting two-minute interaction between Cristina and Owen. Long story short, I have never appreciated the actual show as much as I do right now. As much as I might have hated the writers for tearing apart my OTP, I now realize that they did it for the right reasons (
The actual season 8 cast: (L to R) April, Mark, Callie, Alex, Arizona, Lexie, Derek, Meredith, Richard, Cristina, Owen, Miranda, Avery, Teddy.
AU cast: (L to R) Addison, Derek, Callie, Owen, Miranda, Richard, Arizona.
AU cast: (L to R) Callie and Addison.
AU cast: (L to R) Meredith and Alex.
AU cast: (L to R) Addison and Derek. My OTP...sigh.
AU cast: (L to R) Callie and Owen.
AU cast: Addison and BABY.
AU cast: Ellis.
AU cast: (L to R) Miranda and Richard.
AU cast: (L to R) Avery, Charles, Cristina, Meredith, Alex, April.
C'est tout, les gens!
But on another note!
For those of you who forgot, today was Groundhog's Day! And did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow, do you ask? Yes he did! So, we get six more weeks of winter. Don't believe me, just ask the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/groundhog-day-2012-punxsutawney-phil-shadow-means-6-more-weeks-of-winter/2012/02/02/gIQAriw2kQ_story.html
Told you. Now keep gathering your winter garments, says Phil.
Phil.
...Holy Mother. I want a pet groundhog.
And finally, today was also my good friend Haley's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALEY! I love you and miss you tons, and hope Oregon State is still treating you well :) Also, I really just wanted to mention you in this post because I know that the subject matter of about 75% of it is just bound to make you roll your eyes at me ;) But enjoy being 20!
8th grade grad: Haley and me.
..............
~Erin
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