grey's anatomy season 7 finale: Unaccompanied Minor

'Grey's' Anatomy: The Seventh Season's Finale

what decisions the writers made and how they're flawed
evaluating "Unaccompanied Minor"
spoilers

All right, I suppose my last post proves that I watched 'Bones' last night instead of 'Grey's'. Honestly, it was kind of a toss-up, but I knew that the 'Bones' fans would be reacting like crazy online, and I knew there would be no way to avoid seeing the answer to the sex question somewhere. And boy, was I right. Almost immediately after the episode EW posted an article and the link literally contained the words 'pregnant'. I'm sorry EW, but placing spoiler alerts in your article isn't really good enough when you're going to give everything away in the title of your link...see-->http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/20/bones-season-6-finale-pregnant/.
All right, now that I'm done with that rant I'll get on to discussing 'Grey's'.

First of all, this is FULL of spoilers. So, if you don't want spoilers, don't read on. Seriously.

1. Meredith--She messed with the Alzheimer's Trial. That's an unrefuted fact. And, lucky for us Meredith is willing to own up to that. What she's not willing to own up to is the fact that it may not have been a good decision. This drives Derek crazy.

2. Derek--He finds out Meredith has screwed with his trial (and honestly, she really, really has, I mean all of his hard work is no longer scientifically valid). He says she's going to be a bad mother. Storms off. And refuses to answer her phone calls.

3. Alex--He was upset last week about Meredith's tampering with the trial and let his knowledge slip (drunkenly) to Owen. He is still pissed at Lucy (Understandably!). At the end of the episode Lucy tells him to ask her to stay and he says "go to hell". Thank you, Alex! After all if she had really 'agonized' about stealing that job out from under you then she wouldn't have to even say that to you. And what kind of a power trip is that woman on that she thinks she can screw up your life one minute and be the love of your life the next? I seriously dislike her character, and she has not done one thing to make her the least bit likable. Alex is getting drunk again at the end of this episode, which makes me wonder if the writers are setting him up for some sort of a depressed/abusing alcohol situation next season.

4. Owen--He's all kinds of wrong in this episode. First, Owen tells Alex he didn't get Chief Resident because he ratted Mer out. But we know that Alex did the right thing here. And isn't part of being Chief Resident doing the right thing? And disciplining your peers? (Avery even states this later in the episode). So why did Alex's slip cost him Chief Resident? Sure, he did it in a stupid way, but that's kind of beside the point. And Owen seems to suggest that being Chief Resident is a popularity contest, and that Alex can no longer do it because they all dislike him for what he did to Meredith. BUT Kepner is not at all popular (no one even congratulated her after she won!), and her peers don't think she deserved it...so I don't understand Owen's rationale at all. Of course, Owen's rationale is completely screwy the whole episode: see below.

How Owen's Anti-Women
When Owen finds out that Cristina is pregnant and that she doesn't want to keep the baby he goes off on her. Despite the fact that she has always, always said that she does not want children, he throws the whole 'marriage is a partnership' thing in her face. Owen, Cristina has always said she doesn't want children and you knew that when you married her. What? You think you're so special that your desires should have overpowered hers already? Plus, I don't even want to talk about your pro-life rant at your obviously emotionally distressed wife. What I found truly remarkable was the fact that Owen kept on saying that it should be their decision, when what he clearly meant was that Cristina should do what he wants. He kept on asking her to be quiet, and to listen to him. And she actually did (which is unusual for her, and shows that she does consider him). Besides, she clearly values what he has to say, because last week when he told her she was never going to be Chief Resident, and gave her a valid reason, she accepted it. She wasn't mad, she thought about what he had to say, and she agreed. But in this episode when she repeatedly came to him and said she had thought about it and she still wanted an abortion, he kept throwing "we're a couple, we should make decisions together" into her face. I'm sorry, but who is the one who will be carrying the baby? And whose career will be put on hold for nine months, and then really (to a certain extent) forever. Cristina points out that she's not coldhearted or anti-children, and that she knows that if she has a child she will love it (and consequently change her career path, life, etc.). And Owen laughs her off! Then, at the end when Cristina comes to him with tears in her eyes and says she is having the abortion he kicks her out! It would be one thing if Cristina had told him at some point that she wanted children one day and was then making this decision. She has always always said she never wants children, and Owen married her anyway. If children were so important to Owen he should have married someone who wanted them. What, Owen? You think that women can't have unchanging values or opinions? Oh wait, I forgot that women are idiotic creatures who have constantly changing life values, and who always do whatever their husbands want.

Problems with the Derek and Meredith Situation (Version 7.0):
I take issue with two things. For one, how does Meredith making a stupid decision about a research trial have anything to do with her being a bad mother? She says to Derek that he shouldn't see things in black and white, and that she agonized over the decision. Now, while I think we're pretty much all in agreement that she made the wrong choice, that doesn't mean that she's going to be a bad mother. Umm, Derek? Teaching your kids that decisions are hard and there isn't always an easy answer isn't exactly bad parenting.

And what I really don't understand is Meredith's reaction to their discovery: 'I can't tell you anything because if I don't tell you whose drugs I switched than it won't invalidate the trial'. Well, that would sort of make sense if this was a blind-trial (for those of you who aren't researchers...a blind-trial is when the physician administering the drug has no idea if it is a placebo or the real deal. This is helpful because later when he examines the patient and writes whether or not the 'drug' is working he is not biased by the knowledge that the patient did or did not receive the real drug). But we know for a fact that it wasn't a blind trial! Every time Derek administers the meds Meredith opens the envelope, everyone holds their breath, and then Derek reads whether he is administering the real deal or not. Which calls to question, who the hell designed this research study? Yes, I understand the random selection of who is receiving the drug so that personal favors/the person who 'needs' the drug more etc. don't play a role. But, honestly, if the study isn't blind I'm not sure how they can truly measure the progress of their participants. Sorry for that medical researcher's rant. Maybe ABC should hire me so that we can have a real discussion about how to conduct clinical trials! Also, Derek shouldn't be so upset at Meredith because his whole trial isn't valid anyway.