Having found out that Owen has in fact cheated on Cristina she proceeds into 818 The Lion Sleeps Tonight, presumably as the sleeping lion, giving Owen the silent treatment. Should I continue with my disapproval of this cheating story arc? I am none the wiser about it as the episode ends with Cristina finally giving Owen some attention by throwing her usual cereal dinner over him. I really enjoyed the Teddy/Cristina bonding in this episode and the parallel story about growing new hearts. Both of these women are hurting. They don’t lean on each other in the obvious way two women in pain might. They lean on each other in the best way they know how, through heart medicine, wiping them clean til they’re blank. These small parallels make this show. Cristina trying to come to terms with Owen’s infidelity and Teddy trying to move on in her grieving process.
Owen, in the meantime, chooses to engage Meredith in his domestic dilemma, wrongly assuming that she already knows the facts. But Meredith knows better. If Cristina doesn’t talk then she is trying to regain some control of the situation herself. I wonder how Owen imagines Meredith is going to in any way help him. The person who does, of course, is Bailey. Bailey sees it for what it is. An affair that operates within a whole lot of other circumstances.
Mark is getting serious with Julia and Lexie is discovering that she’s jealous. In another ill judged attempt by one of the doctors to seek guidance from an unlikely source she persists in getting that guidance from Derek. You can’t blame her for trying. The only relationship the writers have developed for Lexie this season is with Derek. He is the only person she can legitimately go to for advice. I really don’t know what to make of this story. Unlike with Meredith/Derek, Callie/Arizona and to a certain extent Cristina/Owen the Lexie/Mark relationship does not have the writers attention. Shonda is ambivalent about their future. Julia appeared, and like Ben operates a relationship in the background but too much is going on off screen for us to have any faith that Julia is to stick around. But hey, that’s how Callie and Arizona started, low key (well excepting the bathroom kiss), absent for a few episodes and suddenly they’re an item and Arizona is being introduced to Callie’s dad. So who knows where Mark and Julia or Mark and Lexie will end up. But the chemistry that was so present in Season 5 and 6 is markedly reduced. Do we care anymore about Slexie?
A huge element missing from the show has always been Arizona’s past. It’s always been assumed that her first day at SGMW was taking over from the doctor who fell over dead in front of his liver transplant kid. It was implied but never confirmed. It turns out that it wasn’t her first day. Arizona’s past showed itself in the shape of a nurse called Colleen and sent Callie into a fit of jealous anxiety. This was a joy to see. It’s frankly about time that we see some of Arizona’s past and see Callie fighting with her green-eyed monster. Did Arizona sleep with all those women? Probably not but my guess is she does have along list. I suspect she was a player – she kissed Callie in a bathroom remember? The disassembling of the Calsloana threesome has been executed throughout Season 8. It’s been done full of humour and jocularity. To do it any other way would have been counter productive, even if I’d wanted it (and I didn’t). I wanted Arizona and Mark get on. And they do. I wanted Callie to stand up and kick him out. And she did. I wanted Mark to recognise Arizona as an equal parent to his daughter and he has. I know the method and means has not suited many fans but it has me. In 818 all of these elements came together. Mark for all his swagger stood in front of Callie and reminded her of her own past and how that past is a constant in her life with her wife. He’s acknowledged Arizona’s role all season but in this episode he solidified it to Callie:
“That woman wakes up everyday, sees my face in her kitchen holding her kid, a kid that you and I made together”
In addition it’s not lost on me that we have gone 18 episodes into season 8 before we’ve seen a scene with just Callie and Mark together discussing their personal life (or actually anything). Shonda is into symbols and this is one of them. I’m pleased. If I have a criticism though it is that in trying to be true to Mark’s character and introducing jokes about him being the golden boy of the hospital the writers and director reduced the gravity of Callie’s new found insight. Cast your mind back to Africa and Mark talking to Callie about boob jobs. That scene was Mark making a serious point with a crass analogy. It worked very well. This latest scene, not so much.
The appearance and attack of the lion of the title provide us with fake comedy with the lovely Webber and the tool Jackson. I’ve little to say about this except when Webber says “sometimes we have geniuses on our table and sometimes we have idiots. I for one am partial to the idiot” I translate this in my brain to “sometimes we have geniuses in this show and sometimes we have idiots. I for one would be grateful if Shonda would get rid of the idiot.”
Didn’t you just love it when Webber saw the lion tooth. He’s like a little kid!
Ava, I’m sorry, Rebecca, shit, no, Morgan! is still around and still making puppy dog eyes at Karev. He’s finally seen it and he doesn’t want it. I can’t say I blame him. Take the kid Karev! Leave the girl. He learns a lesson of course, practicing the art of tough love. Wouldn’t it be nice if he was learning new lessons rather than dishing out the old ones. A friend said to me this evening “he never gets his day, it’s never gonna happen”. I’m beginning to believe that.
The Lion Sleeps Tonight was a solid episode full of quirky medical cases surrounding a pet Lion and effective addressing of some issues. I enjoyed it. And it set us up for the Cristina and Owen show down.
Written by brouhaha aka @pipmaxine
Apologies again for the time lag in reviews. Life and all that!
