Calzona Review 10x08 “Two Against One”
In a few
words, Calzona in Episode 8 : Funny. Disgusting. Revealing. Shockingly frustrating.
In this episode, Calzona are moving on. Period.
That’s the only thing worth writing really, and that’s what
happened. The End.
I’m shielding all of us from even remembering what happened. It’s better to stay in the safety of the good ol’ reliable denial bubble, when the last Calzona scene in our minds was the trick or treat scene.
It’s a lot better to just accept a simple review instead
of going through every detail, some of them too despicable to even write about.
Junked hypotheses
Many of the common hypotheses for this episode were junked.
Mainly:
1 > It isn’t a staging of the 9th episode as it was expected to be.
2 > There was no intense Calzona scene (we wrongly expected) but the Calzona issue in this
ep was very intense
ep was very intense
3 > Daddy Torres was not the returning character. It was Ben and Matthew.
4 > We were not yet given any initial explanation of Arizona’s actions
5 > Arizona was NOT referring to sex with Callie in the promo
video when she said “Awesome”
I was very curious about this episode, because Kevin McKidd directed it and he said that it was to be “really intense” for Calzona. I was also interested because the writer, Meg Marinis, also wrote 9x19 (the one with Callie’s TED speech) and 6x20 ( pre-1st Calzona breakup), which I both liked.
Picture this. Right after watching episode, your heart is filled with weird emotion. You can’t think straight, you turn to twitter and everybody’s feeling the same way as you.
So you just leave all your gadgets behind, close your eyes and try to make sense of what’s happening in the world of Callie and Arizona. You don’t know if you’re angry, if you’re sad, if you can still be hopeful.
Then again, you try to make sense of it all.
A lone question pervaded my mind: Why did she have to say the sex was awesome? She could have said it was “okay.” WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ARIZONA!!? Oops. That’s the possessive me talking.
I’m actually tempted to just talk about Mer’s printed fork
and their ensuing issues rather than talk about this but we all have to grow up and face the music.
Moving on.
Calzona scenes
The episode had one very brief Calzona
scene, and alternating Callie and Arizona individual scenes , with almost all
Arizona scenes giving us pain, and the Callie scenes giving us fun moments.
It
was like Arizona was in charge of the heavy, and Callie was in charge of the
lightness in this episode. Well at least let's appreciate the balance.
The "Ex" Word
We first see Arizona doing a walk and talk in the hospital
hall with maternal fetal surgeon applicant Emma Marling (Owen’s current love
interest), and is telling her about how she’ll be interviewed by the board, in
this case, Callie Torres.
In their conversation, we see how Arizona perceives Callie
at this stage in their separation:
Emma: So, anything you wanna tell me about Dr. Torres?”
Arizona: She’s great! I mean she’s my ex so ….
Let us all please take a moment to note that she called Callie her “ex”. Let’s absorb that and accept. Breathe and accept.
They are to cross paths with Callie and Owen, also doing the
walk and talk, with Callie, lightly giving unsolicited assurance to Owen that in
the course of the job interview, she’d
be on the lookout if Emma is girlfriend material.
We could sense in Callie’s dialogue with Owen that she’ll be
in her “wacky, aggressive, fun Callie” mood.
Owen: Her resume really speaks for itself. It’s more of a…
formality
Callie : Oh and maybe an opportunity to learn a little more
about the one you’re dating
Owen: Not necessary
at all
Callie: she’s probably not an axe-murderer but if there’s
something there, I will give you a heads-up
Owen: Please don’t
And bump! there we see the one and only scene with both
Callie and Arizona in the same frame.
Yes! Five seconds of being in one
reeeeally intense scene. Please note my sarcasm.
Well it’s my fault really that I assumed
we’ll get a real intense Calzona scene.
Reckless assumption.
Calzona had about less than five minutes total combined screen time in this ep for the info of those
interested.
The Job Interview
So Arizona introduced Emma to Callie in less than 5 seconds and we see the next scene-- Emma’s job interview.
It tickled me no end that Callie was more interested in
digging up Emma’s personal details, more than hearing about her qualifications
for the job. Sara was at her comedic finest, perfect comic timing and facial
expressions. Triple hats off to the multi-talented Sara Ramirez!
Emma: There were so many great opportunities out here in Seattle
Callie caught that and was immediately interested .
“Really?” And she does that knowing, sly probing look.
Emma :And there were some personal elements that played too.(Callie continues her funny look) I was going through a divorce. We both worked at the clinic
and that became untenable, It was affecting my work so I made the move
Callie: Yeah, right, I get that
For a minute there, It crossed my mind that while Callie was "investigating" Emma for Owen, she incidentally picked up some similarities between Emma's experience and her own. I sensed she somehow wanted to trade notes.
Callie asked, “Was that hard for you? To give up your
job? Not your city. Your ex?”
Okay, let’s take this moment again to absorb that Callie
said “ex”. She referred to Emma's ex but of course, she seemed to be asking about the "ex", while thinking about her experience with her own ex.
May I just note that the”ex” word has gotten double exposure in this episode.
My take on this scene is that through the Emma interview, Callie’s leading questions unintentionally reveals questions that are at the back of her mind. She’s curious and needs information on how other
couples handle separation, in Emma's case, divorce.
In my impression, Callie’s still groping her way through her new
situation.
The Awesome Sandwich Spread Scene
Then comes my 2nd least favorite scene. The
sandwich spread scene with April and Arizona.
While Arizona contentedly prepares her sandwich, April asks her
for advice on her own Matthew problems.
Arizona: What exactly are you asking me?
April: How do I resist? Remember when you had that flirtation with
intern Murphy and you decided not to take it any further?
Arizona didn’t expect that was April’s impression and she
corrected April “Oh yeah, I took that
further”
April was surprised “You had sex?”
Arizona: Yeah
April: Was it…
Arizona: Awesome.
I can’t forget the
“amused with herself” look on Arizona’s face when she said that, that.... word. That's why even if I can, I won't make this pic bigger. It's not worth remembering.
April walked away. She just did not expect this answer
from Arizona and this was not the advice that she wanted to get. “I have to go away from you now”
And left the “eager to kiss-and- tell” Arizona nonchalantly puzzled.
This answered the big question most of us had after
the promo. I could not believe what I just heard Arizona say and I did not
understand how I felt.
I was shocked, heartbroken, angry, I did not know what
else, but I was feeling a medley of emotions. I actually did not know what to
feel. Anger ruled, though.
I’m an Arizona lover, but I‘m overwhelmed by disgust. I’m
not judging Leah’s capability to share good sex. I know this may be subjective or maybe inappropriate or
maybe even irrelevant but sorry, I cannot help but think : Why was it awesome? How could Arizona say that it was?
In a nutshell, as the song goes, "and all my dreams were
shattered all at once."
Emma and Callie, on kids and feeding the soul
The light and funny Callie-Emma interview scene continues
and thankfully, it provides such relief from that disgust from Arizona’s scene.
Callie sways the discussion to Emma’s leisure activities and
this humorous dialogue had me in stitches:
"What’s a typical Saturday like for you?"
Making Emma assure
her that she has no problem working weekends and Callie pushes on
with her
Owen-campaign and here comes her line which she does in her funny deadpan
style that sends me doubled up in laughter, "Oh yeah, I’m just wondering what you do for fun? What feeds
your soul?"
When Emma talks about how she likes to read, cook, love movies and mentions her German Shepherd, too, Callie asks what she really wants to know (for Owen),
Callie: But no kids, from your previous marriage?
Enma: Previous marriage?
Callie: No I’m just uh, just sayin is, uh is kids something down the
line that you see in the future? Do you want kids?
Emma: I’m sorry, I don’t think you can ask me this legally in a
job interview
Callie doesn’t push it “Oh, of course not, of course not,
you know what? forget I asked.”
So funny to see Callie
with her close- to- intrusive personal questions to Emma in the guise of
a job interview.
It’s nice to see too
that she’s concerned enough about Owen as a friend to do this for
him.
The Owen-Callie friendship is such a good friendship to watch out for.
Callie was taking note that Emma likes to have kids, when Owen interrupts to see how the interview was
coming along and Callie, while
Emma wasn’t looking, gave the thumbs up to Owen “I love her."
So funny how Callie signalled to Owen when Emma wasn't looking, and when Emma was looking, told Owen in a feigned formal
official manner “Yeah, we’re making progress” Hilarious!
Seriously, what can’t Sara Ramirez do? She can make us
cry, she sings like an angel, and makes us laugh so much. Sara Ramirez is a QUEEN!
Sort of Separated
Next we see Emma talking to Arizona after the interview and
this dialogue goes,
Arizona:Callie loves you
Emma: She’s very nice, very thorough (Ha!) but very nice. How long have you two
been divorced?
Arizona: Well I don’t think that we are, We’re sort of
separated, I guess “ And Arizona noticeably holds on to her necklace, which
makes Emma notice her ring.
Emma: you still have the ring, but you’re seeing other
people obviously
In this dialogue, we sense Emma is now trying to trade notes
with Arizona, as Callie was trying to trade notes with her earlier, and unknowingly, they drift into personal questions
Arizona : Um, yeah, we are
Right here, even if she was uncomfortable with Emma's question, we mark this moment of Arizona’s formal
confirmation of their status. (Aside from what we've heard from Jessica and Sara in previous interviews that divorce never really comes up.)
Arizona did think for a minute there, obviously, she was caught
off-guard. She knew she was seeing other people, but didn’t know if Callie was.
In this dialogue that confirms a lot about the current
Calzona situation, from the way Arizona replied to Emma, we find out that it
seems nobody has ever directly asked Arizona about their marital status. It was
a new question to her. We can also assume that they really have not talked about
divorce. They are separated but not
divorced.
I see it as positive because there is no finality to it.
Divorce is a lot more serious. It’s legal. There’s a period attached to the end
of it. Calzona’s status is “Separated”. Meaning it’s still open ended, there is no
conclusion. Fluid, but has no finality.
The Emma Factor
Through the separate talks
we’ve seen of Callie and Arizona with Emma, we are given some answers to what we have been asking ever
since.
About their status (separated), about divorce (they
haven’t talked about it) , about seeing other people (Arizona confirms that she is,
obviously) about how Arizona thinks of Callie as her “ex” .
It’s the “Emma Factor” that assists us in seeing the status
of Calzona through their separate dialogues with her.
They continue:
Emma: I'm so sorry, that was way too personal. I just got out of a job interview that was more intimate than most
rectal exams
This was a way too funny line and I loved how for a while
there, Arizona’s reaction was ambiguously strange. She squinted, and paused for
a second and I was trying to imagine a hint of a little suspicion there.
Arizona replies “You should come work here because we do way too
personal on a daily basis”
Torres, Walk with Me
Then I see a very uplifting scene, I don’t know why.
“Looking good and feeling good” Richard Webber, who has
finally been up from his long hospital bed confinement is now making an effort
to walk, seems to have expressed a subtle uplifting message to Callie, whom he sees across the hall, in a very casual charming
way: "Torres. Walk with me.”
I don’t know why this touched me. It was so nice to see
Richard, considered a pillar of the hospital, who had just risen from an
affliction, is now on his way to recovery and also wants to get himself back.
It’s a casual invite for Callie to walk the hospital halls with him,
but it evoked nice feelings to see him invite Callie to
join him, with the viewers knowing what Callie
has been through all this time.
I saw it as symbolic.
As if he was asking Callie to join him on his journey to recovery. Notice the
parallelism. Both of them have been down and out, now they’re ready to move on, to get themselves back, and start on their road to healing.
It was just so refreshing to see the Plantains together again.
I felt a sense of reestablished bond of friendship, of support, and of consolation for Callie. I hope that Richard and Callie, a.k.a Julio and Calliope Plantain, do walk tall through their journey.
That Scene
I don’t want to continue on to the next scene, I don’t think
I can. It’s the biggest scene of the episode and everybody knows what happened.
So this ends here.
Oh okay, whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I’ll just close my eyes while I type. You may close your eyes while you read.
Shower
We see Arizona in front of the bathroom mirror.
There seems to be nothing strange with that, until we see Leah, who apparently had turned the shower on, peers through the shower door and asks Arizona if she’s coming in yet. If this is not heartbreaking, tell me what is.
It was bad enough to hear that the sex was awesome earlier in the episode, but when you actually witness a scene like this, it is utter torture, and pain beyond words.
Arizona, with a seemingly artificial smile, says she’ll be there in a minute, and we see
her actions step by step
>stares at herself in the mirror, sees the necklace
> guilt and sadness on her face,
>she sighs heavily, a sorry sigh
> holds the the necklace, with the ring visibly still on her finger
>Slowly takes the necklace off
It said so many things. Arizona was sad, guilty, but awesome sex was waiting for her, she took a deep breath as if trying to fend off sadness.
Does the person in this photo look like a happy person? Does it even show a person who's the least bit excited for some shower sex?
OMG. Just thinking about them about to have a shower together, I want to vomit. And I want to cry and cry and cry.
The sadness that I see on her face, as she holds the necklace,
seems to tell me that she loves the person she made the commitment to, but this
person doesn’t want to have anything to do with her.
And she seems to have this
need for this “awesome“ thing right now to cope with the sadness and
loneliness,
I don’t know if she is at all guilty, because even if
they’re not divorced they are separated, so it’s not infidelity. I feel it’s
more of sadness that instead of having awesome sex with the person she loves,
she’ll have awesome sex with her sex buddy.
I'm not happy at all with this sex buddy setup. I could feel she was not happy that she was going to do
it. She knew she was doing something that was not good.
The Necklace and the Ring
There was a sizable amount of screen time given to Arizona taking off
of the necklace. Rightfully giving it the significance it deserves. It has made a lot of us very emotional.
It is the very first
time we’ve seen her do this. But it never was really explained if she ever routinely took
it off before bathing.
For now, it’s safe to be on the side of ambiguity, and just
have these questions in mind:
Will she wear it back
on?
Is there a finality that she took it off? Did she take it
off because of guilt?
Or did she take it off because the necklace would get wet? (trying to think of all the lame excuses possible)
Noticeably, she still had the ring on and since it was not shown, I assume she didn’t take it
off.
That gave me a semblance of hope.
The fact that Emma made special mention of the ring when they were talking, I'm sure that if ever Arizona did take off the ring, they would have shown it too, instead of just showing she took off the necklace.
So assuming that the ring is still on, I do not understand why she left
the ring on, but of course that's something to be happy about.
She carefully and lovingly placed the necklace in its precious box.
I was so sure that at that moment, all the viewers' eyes were glued on that necklace and where it was to go.
All of this transpired with no dialogue, just Arizona, the
necklace and the background music, and Jessica's flawless acting.
Were they playing with our minds? What were they telling us? Did it mean there was a finality to it?
The fact that she did not take off the ring, does it mean she really still loves Callie even if she's having awesome sex with another? I am hopeful.
The fact that she did not take off the ring, does it mean she really still loves Callie even if she's having awesome sex with another? I am hopeful.
What is the matter with Arizona?
Initially, this episode brought me devastation. I don’t
honestly know where they will go from here.
I’m also thinking about Callie. She’s been through so much.
Seeing Arizona indulge in her “awesome” shower sexcapade, and seeing Callie just
striving to do her work and being a good friend to Owen, I can’t help but feel
sorry for Callie.
Many have been saying Callie doesn’t deserve this. That she
can by all means look for somebody better. I just hope that the majority of disappointed fans still
believe in TeamCalzona.
I was blind-sided because first, I never thought Arizona would ever say she had awesome sex with somebody else. Secondly, I did not expect she'd take the necklace off because she didn't when she had the easy peasy thing in Ep7.
All I can think of was, what have the writers done to Arizona’s
character? To put it aptly, her character has been mercilessly diminished.
What We Hope For After Eight Episodes
Eight episodes have gone by. That’s two months of suffering
the actions of a much-revered character on Grey’s Anatomy.
That’s eight
episodes of disappointment, of waiting for answers, waiting for an explanation
why she even cheated with Lauren, why she seems all-slutty. I’m not cringing at
saying this anymore because sorry to say, what we had feared has come true.
She has succumbed to whorishness, and even Leah has too.
I’ve been hearing a lot of reactions from the fandom,
expressing their disappointment, anger, disgust, blaming the writers, Shonda,
for ruining a beloved character as Arizona.
So many accusations and insinuations have been out there on
why it’s happening, but there are still those who still hang on to every bit of
hope that Calzona will get back together
again.
Lest we forget, and as I have written here many times before
in the past seven pieces, Arizona and Callie need to heal. What we are seeing
in every episode, is still part of the healing process.
As we wait for the revelation of the PTSD, as we wait for a
glimpse into Arizona’s personal history,
and as we await the flashbacks on the unknown details about the
Calzona
marriage, we have to bear what is happening now. And even if it is a bitter
pill to swallow, we have to go through it.
We should have understood this from the very beginning. That
it will be a rough journey. It was expected. And if we think about it
objectively, we know deep in our hearts that these are necessary rites of
passage.
They may not be as mild as we expected, because
Shonda and her troops have never
failed to surprise us with each and every
episode.
On the creative side, I think they have given us really unexpected
twists, but in line with staying true to
the nature of these characters, they may have already gone overboard in as far
as the audience can tolerate.
Honestly, I’m not even worried about Leah. I always remind
myself, she is still just a necessary circumstance. I’ve never even seen them
kiss onscreen. Why? Because it’s not meant to last.
And I just want to reiterate how Arizona wasn’t even happy when she was about to go into the shower. It’s all lust. It’s
a mutually beneficial sex buddy relationship. No love. It’s all superficial. It’s
only meant to satisfy both of their temporary needs.
I hope that eight episodes of waiting for clarity and
answers are enough.
In Defense of Arizona
We need explanations to Arizona’s strange behavior. We
thought she was a “Good Man in a storm.” In this episode though, sorry to say, she was just a plain lustful woman who was to take a shower with a young sex buddy.
I am a Good Fan in a Storm.
I protect the characters I love. As a loyal Arizona fan, I will stay loyal even if I am so
disappointed with her actions. I keep the faith there will be a perfect
explanation to all this.
I wish that Arizona’s character will gain the redemption
that it needs.
I wish that they start to give us clarity in Episode 9. We NEED the explanations.
Fine, they already gave us eight episodes where they sufficiently established
the current state of Arizona’s character.
After the crash, we discover she is a
cheater, that she cannot stay alone,
that she easily gets lonely, and that she needs to be intimate with other
people, not attaching emotions to sex.
That fresh from a broken
marriage, she can easily have sex with anyone whom she doesn’t even love.
I'm hoping both Callie and Arizona, as they still go on with
their journey, both heal. They have their own wounds, they both need to heal.
Arizona, we want to get to know her better.
We want to know what details we have not been privy to about
their marriage. These will at least shed light on why she is doing all these
disappointing things, add to that the PTSD.
And I think and hope we
will know about all these things in
Episode 9.
We are disappointed right now. As with anything in life, no situation is perfect. This is a necessary journey that we have to go through.
I do not know if it's even legal to relate Calzona to this narration in this episode, but I cannot help it. I can really relate it to them, specifically to Arizona.
“Glioma, Fibroma, Blastoma. Whatever the tumor, people
assume you approach it the same way.You find Its hiding place in the body, and
open the patient up,and you cut it the hell out.
But you’re not just
fighting the one tumor. You’re
actually at war with over a billion cells.”
“Despite how hard you
try and fight to stay in control, When it’s all said and done, sometimes
you’re just outnumbered.”
[It's easy to find the flaws in Arizona. It's easy to judge her right now, and we can easily say she can just heal that horrendous flaw, and cut out that tendency to act like a tramp.
Maybe we can try to be open to the fact that Arizona may not be in struggle with just one issue internally. There may be countless other issues that she is facing by herself and she is just helpless to fight it. Much as she wants to, sometimes, maybe she's just not strong enough to avoid acting in a way that greatly disappoints us.]
Yes, I have to defend Arizona. Because I am a Good Fan in a Storm.
I hope we all survive Episode 9.
Keeping the Faith for Team Calzona till the end of Season
10. And for as long as Grey's Anatomy exists.
Twitter: @GAFan8
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