The Time Warp/Grey Matter

Zoanne Clack on "The Time Warp"...

Original Airdate: 2-18-10

Lectures. Shonda told me at the beginning of the season that she wanted an episode on lectures, and I was the one to do it. Since my life was spent in lectures. The first two years of med school I practically lived in a lecture hall. Or the library. (Or at least that’s the story I like to tell, really I spent a lot of that time reading scribed notes from the lecture hall ‘cause I just couldn’t take all those lectures!) But even so, I felt well equipped for the job. But considering I had a problem making lectures interesting in my own life, how the heck would I make them interesting for millions of people? This was my dilemma. Then came a big break.

RICHARD!!!

I admit, I have a bit of an obsession with Richard… an addiction, if you will. He’s always suave, always collected, and always, coool. Even when he’s drunk in a bar doing the electric slide, he’s cooool. And SO MANY people have asked me what is to become of him now that he’s drinking again. I only hope this episode serves to address at least some of your many concerns.

In the writers’ room in previous seasons we had talked about someone giving a “last lecture,” a la Randy Pausch’s last lecture. The thing I loved about Randy’s last lecture (you can look it up on youtube, he was a Carnegie Mellon professor who was dying of cancer) was not the fact that he talked about how to achieve your childhood dreams. That was great, but the thing that resonated most with me was the fact that at the end of it, he revealed that the lecture was not for the students, not for faculty… but for his kids, his family. It was for his legacy. I figured Richard should have that same opportunity: a chance to make his legacy great, to reignite his fervor for medicine. Two episodes ago, he was disillusioned, sad… ready to chuck it all. If he was going to give a last lecture, it was important that he give it on a topic that was heartfelt – something that was not just about teaching the residents, it had to be something that was all about “getting his groove back” (and not in Stella’s kind of way).

Here at Grey’s Anatomy, we had our own lecture series at the beginning of season six (which other writers have talked about in past blogs) to give creative presentations of season six ideas. Krista Vernoff’s presentation concluded with a motivational speech that called for us to stand and repeat her call to glory over a rousing rendition of “Gonna Fly now,” the theme from the movie “Rocky” (which apparently came on completely by accident because it happened to be the next song on her ipod). We left re-energized, ready for our upcoming season of work. I wanted our residents to have that feeling coming out of Richard’s speech, which immediately led me to the Hippocratic Oath which all new doctors say upon graduation from med school. But when I was looking for it on the internet, I realized it’s actually a bunch of latin words and weird oaths swearing to healing gods and stuff. Not at all what I remember saying at my own med school graduation. Even the modern version seemed dry and out of touch. I had to keep looking for something that resembled what (I think) I said, and finally found “the Physician’s Oath,” which was adopted by the World Medical Association in 1948. THAT sounded right. And THAT is what Richard says.

But what case would he talk about? We’d always talked about doing a flashback episode, and from day one, season 1, Shonda had always emphasized that Richard and Ellis got together at least partially because of the fact that they were the only Black and the only Woman surgical resident in their class. Being the outcasts, they were naturally drawn to each other (and passion did the rest). They were residents in the early 80’s and of course the BIG thing about the early 80’s was that weird new disease they eventually called AIDS - I think one of the most chilling lines in the episode is when Young Richard says, “They could find a cure for this tomorrow, or next week,” because you know he probably really believed it… and here we sit 18 years later with no cure… (but at least it’s manageable now). What better case to highlight Richard and Ellis and their irresistible draw to each other. There was nothing that could keep them apart, and a patient like this, an outcast himself, could only pull them even closer together. And, as one of the crew members put it, what a cool way to tackle racism, sexism, and homophobia in one fell swoop!

Side-note: It was so fun to recreate 1982!!! The crew worked SO HARD to make this happen and did an AMAZING job. We COMPLETELY RE-DID our whole set. Walking onto the stage was like walking into our very own time warp. Everybody’s clothes were different (though a lot of those styles are coming back!), hair (hopefully not coming back), decorations, charts, tv’s computers... and can you believe smoking in the hospital (not even in just designated areas) WAS STILL ALLOWED???!!!

How great was it to see the Young Richard/Young Ellis dynamic? Ellis was a force to contend with. Shall we say she was … a “maneater?” (If you don’t get this reference you either didn’t listen closely during the episode or you were born much too far into or after the 80’s.) There were basically two categories that were prevalent among female surgical residents in those days: feminine, or macho. I’ll give you one guess as to which one Ellis was. She was a surgeon first and only incidentally female. She put her defenses up immediately against any challenge to the way she thought the world should be, and lashed out whenever her plan was interrupted. Is it any wonder that Meredith ended up so dark and twisty? But through it all, I feel like her bond with Richard gave her a chance to let her guard down.

But it’s not all about 1982. We also get to see Richard as he became Bailey’s mentor, helping to shape little Mandy Bailey into the Miranda Bailey we see today. Remember the episode in season 4 where the bus full of high school students flooded the ER (“Forever Young”) and we saw Bailey crushing on Marcus King? We wanted to answer to question of how Bailey went from “geeky Mandy” to “Bailey the Nazi.” As short-sighted as her nemesis resident Nicole was, I think she taught Bailey a thing or two about how to be tough.

And the Richard we saw in 2006 makes Callie shake in her shoes a little bit. Not enough to stop what she’s planning on doing, but enough to maybe think twice about it (although not for too long – she’s bullheaded and headstrong which is why we adore her so). This was the Callie that existed at Seattle Grace as a ghostly figure that didn’t know or interact with our original Fab Five, who were interns at the time. She existed right under our noses as Derek chose Addison, Burke and Cristina were going public, and Alex and Izzie were trying to make things work. But hey, now that we know that Alex had a little “chick on the side,” is it any wonder that he couldn’t really commit?

And speaking of Alex, Alex is a man who knows what he wants and somehow figures out a way to get it. He talked and flirted his way onto the coolest of the cool surgeries – a guy with polio. He picked up on the fact that Callie was a little impressed… one might even say, “obsessed,” by the “heart in the elevator guy” (remember when she first met George? That girl had a thing for the “heart in the elevator guy!”). So once Alex weaseled himself onto the case, he could see what a badass she was, and that, I must say, did not fail to turn him on. He had to get on the case because polio is nonexistent these days in all but like 4 countries in the world because of the massive immunization campaign that went on after the vaccine was invented. This would probably be his only chance to be face to face with it. So over a period of months, they were able to untwist Sunder’s legs, straighten them out, lengthen them, and make him actually walk again, like he could when he was a child. And confident Callie was at the helm.

Okay, rewind, back up… “confident” Callie? Where was “confident” Callie on that stage? My God, I’ve never seen such a bad case of stagefright in my life. I felt like a little piece of me died up there with her. Didn’t you just want to rush up to her and help? Hold her hand? Push her off the stage? Can you imagine being in that audience? Hello! Breathing salts! I love the dichotomy of how together and badass Callie is but public speaking takes her down. In 2009, public speaking was rated the number one out of American’s top 10 fears. NUMBER ONE. Above heights, enclosed places, planes… way above drowning. Which involves DEATH. Public speaking made Callie it’s bitch… until Alex saved her. Arizona tried to save her, but alas, it was Alex who ended up saving her like she saved him in 2006 when their surgery got harrowing (despite the web of lies he had spun to get himself on the case in the first place). When she started to just have a conversation, mellow out, and talk directly to Alex, she got more comfortable and was able to turn into our 2010 Callie. I think this public speaking fiasco helps to reveal that she has her own doubts and fears, and that even the seemingly insurmountable ones can perhaps be overcome.

And so, to all you fans, to all of you loyal followers, I hope you enjoyed the cut away from the traditional Grey’s episode, and that you caught the many references to past seasons that are scattered throughout like fairy dust. And to those of you who did not appreciate this foray in to the lives of the adults (vs. the kids – the residents), we’ll be back to normal with the next new episode. Until then…

…Let’s do the Time Warp again! (Rocky Horror fans out there? Anyone? Anyone?)