Perfect Little Accident/Grey Matter

Pete Nowalk on "Perfect Little Accident"...

Original Airdate: 3-4-10

I got in a car accident while we were filming this episode. Don’t worry, it was just a fender bender, no one was hurt. And even though it wasn't my fault there’s some part of me that blames myself. I chose to write an episode about accidents. One of which happened to be a car accident. It's the kind of logic that makes me wish I wrote about love or money or cupcakes that burn fat and build muscle.

That said, this episode was actually about HAPPY accidents, so I have a little confession to make. In those first few moments after the crash, when I was sitting there, dazed, wondering what the hell just happened, a very small part of me was hopeful that the guy in the other car was actually the love of my life and this was one of those stories you submit to the NY Times marriage column after your fabulous barefoot wedding in the Maldives. Sadly, that fantasy died the minute I realized the guy who just hit me was actually drunk at 10:15 on a Friday morning. Not husband material. But there was still hope! The witness. A very polite, well-groomed gent who pulled over to check if I was okay. This is it, I thought. It’s just like people always say. You can't go looking for love, it happens when you least expect it. Sure, this was advice I’d normally hate to hear (especially when it comes from happily coupled up friends), but in this moment there was no denying they were right. My witness and I were going to have so much fun in the Maldives!

The witness, though very nice, was not into me. Or so I gathered when he took off two seconds after I shouted “I’m fine!” across the street. By the time the hairy tow truck driver with the tribal tattoo and chewing tobacco breath arrived I realized I had to give up. This car accident was just an accident, nothing happy about it. And trying to turn it into a manhunt was clearly a sign that I needed to get out more. I’m kinda like Teddy that way… (Yes, I just did a lazy segue. Get ready for more).

So. Teddy. Poor girl came to Seattle for one reason. Owen. Even if she didn't admit this to herself. But then she got here and reality set in. Owen didn't invite Teddy here because he loved her. He brought her here because he loved Cristina. That's gotta suck. I'd probably be on the first plane back to Iraq. But not Teddy. She stuck to her word and stayed through her contract, even if that happened to be torture. And slowly, with time and hard work, she's seeing that there's more to Seattle than just Owen. There's a great job. Good people (like new BFF Arizona). And there's this amazing student – Cristina. What I love about these two is that they're like an old couple. They fight, make up, fight, make up...and it makes them both better doctors. Cristina's a maniac when it comes to surgery, stealing lungs and taking crazy risks in order to do something that will go down in the record books. Teddy's brilliant, but more careful and experienced. Together they're a force to be reckoned with. In this way, coming to Seattle for Owen and getting Cristina instead is Teddy's happy accident.

What was Cristina's happy accident in this episode? Well it could've been getting to operate on Harper Avery's bowel obstruction but homegirl screwed that up the minute she treated him like a batty old man in the ER. Like all of you, Cristina didn't know that Jackson's grandfather was Harper Avery (a family tree dreamed up by Shonda way back when we were planning out our new Mercy West characters). Jackson wanted to keep this little tidbit a secret. He's like Meredith that way. Both of them were born into surgical legacies, a twist of fate that makes them both very lucky. But with that luck also came some crappy parenting. Ellis was a bulldog of a mother and Harper Avery seems to be the same kind of grandfather. You don't become one of the world's most successful surgeons by being nice. You claw your way to the top, working nonstop and neglecting your personal life to get there (as we saw Ellis do in the last episode). I imagine it'd be pretty hard to turn this killer instinct off when you step into your house each night. There might be some residual meanness left over for your family. If you're Mer or Jackson you can deal with this in one of two ways – become resentful and angry, or be all half glass full and grateful even though you'd rather just whine. I love Meredith for knocking some sense into Jackson at the end of this episode. Harper Avery's old and set in his ways. Dude's not gonna change so why not just give in and take him for who he is – an arrogant jerk who can teach you MANY MANY things. Sadly, I'm not sure Meredith would've been able to say this to Jackson if her mother were still alive. Dead parents put crappy parents in perspective. Whine all you want, but you're gonna feel pretty dumb the minute they're not there to kick around.

Let’s move on to Mark, who is nothing but a hot mess these days. He’s sleeping around, yelling at Alex, taunting Derek... He’s old Mark basically, which is understandable considering he just had his heart broken. Twice. Lexie dumped him and Little Sloan took off for God knows where. If the guy didn't have abandonment issues before, he's definitely got them now. Still, as much as he's trying to find pleasure in his old, bad habits, Mark's a changed man. He's no longer satisfied by rolls in the hay with strangers. Heartbreak was good for him. Don't believe that? Watch what happens with Mark in the next few episodes.

What other happy accidents did we see in this episode? Well there's Richard, who's slowly beginning to realize that getting ousted as the Chief can maybe be a great thing for him. As Harper Avery reminds him, he's more than just a great Chief. He's an innovative surgeon who does groundbreaking research – research he'll now have more time to work on now that he's not bogged down in board meetings and contract negotiations. Lemons into lemonade, people. You know, just like hearts in vaginas…

Okay, worst segue yet, but I need to move on to Lexie. A girl whose heart lives in her vagina. Krista Vernoff gets credit for this line (as well as Cristina's follow up, "My heart lives in my scalpel.") It came from the idea of whether it's possible to have sex without feelings. We'd all like to believe this is possible, and for some people, it definitely is. But not Lexie. Girl's as touchy feely as you get. The anti-Meredith really. Which is why I love her. Because even though Lexie's going through this episode acting all blonde and badass and feeling-less, there's no doubt she's a feelings-kind-of-girl. Look at her face in the scene when Alex says, "I'm all about not feeling." She knows he's talking about Izzie – about all the crap he's been through in the past few months, years, life... And she feels terrible for him. Same goes when she sees Mark's face after catching her with Alex outside the on call room. As much as she can pretend to fight it, Lexie is nothing but one big ball of mushy feelings. In fact, I’m guessing that’s why she didn’t make it to Girls Night. She needed to go home and have more feelings.

I love me some Girls Night. In fact, Girls Night pretty much sums up my adolescence. And college years. And...well my entire life really. So you can imagine my excitement when Shonda pitched a Girls Night baseball scene as the way to end this episode. A location shoot! At night! With the ladies!! I was psyched. But then came the rain.

"It never rains in LA." That's the lie people tell you when you move here. Just like the traffic's not that bad. Bull. Cause it does rain and there is A LOT of traffic. What really sucks, though, is when it rains and you're scheduled to shoot at a baseball field. Cause that means our amazing Exec Producer Rob Corn comes to you on set and very gingerly asks if there might be an alternative setting for your Girls Night scene. One that can take place inside, for instance. Everyone on the crew had ideas. Bowling, mani pedis, pool, game night, pottery night, cooking class, sex class...and pretty much every other activity any normal group of ladies would do for a night on the town. Our ladies aren't normal though, which is why it really had to be baseball. One, because this was a callback to episode 603, when Owen, Derek, and Mark took the girls there to get their mind off the merger. Two, because I don't believe Cristina and Meredith would ever agree to do anything the rest of the world would do. Spa day? Clubbing? They'd rather be operating. Fortunately, the rain soon ended and thanks to a very accommodating, adventurous crew we made it to the muddy baseball field a few days later. We got to see Bailey swing a bat, Arizona complain, and Teddy knock the hell out of the ball…without any accidents happening. I, for one, was happy with how it all turned out. You?