Calzona Review 10x19 “I’m Winning”
This was how every Calzona fan's brain looked after watching this episode. Just look closely at our pleasure center.
Sigh......I say that with a smile. That’s how wonderful this episode
was.
For us Calzona fans, this is what we can call, "The Episode of the Unexpected", and that’s apt.
I started 10x19 with
a huge smile on my face and ended it with a huge smile in my heart.
In my opinion, this episode was the most enjoyable of Season 10, mainly
because the ensemble cast had almost equal screen time and each character was a
pure delight to watch.
Most of the scenes in the episode had the upbeat atmosphere of the Grey’s episodes
of old, meaning it had its share of drama, but the fun parts were all too
familiar.
With 10x19 as living example, It was like Grey’s had
completely gotten its groove back. I’m
sure many will admit, many of the scenes felt so much like Vintage Grey’s, I'm having goosebumps
as I type that.
Best of all, it was that kind of episode where Shonda dished out a sweet
surprise for the Calzona tribe. See, she
had pulled off extremely painful surprises on the Calzona story in the recent
past, I guess this is our rainbow after the many recent storms.
It started with that
very fun vibe--It instantly felt good right from the very first scene. The
twisted sisters in that oh-so-adorable sleepover
scene, waiting for that Harper
Avery call, add to that Cristina’s
lipstick at 5:02am. And it ended so very sweetly.
Overall, it was a pure pleasure to watch. And we have Joan Rater and Kevin McKidd to thank for that. In my humble opinion, it was
brilliant.
“The Harper Avery is
the highest award a surgeon can earn. They always make the calls to the
nominees on the same Friday of the same month at 8AM East coast time. Five am
in Seattle.
My mother was
nominated five times. Ive been through this before. If the phone rngs,
everything changes. Youre a superstar. If it doesn’t, I don’t know. My mom was
a superstar. She always got the call.”
Harper Averies and babies
After that rousing opening scene, Derek shows Callie and
Arizona a picture of when Cristina
answered the phone call, which Meredith took.
Callie: Cristina got nominated!
Derek: This is her getting the call
Callie: Shes wearing lipstick at 5am?
You can always count on Callie to notice that. That's my Callie.
Derek: I’m gonna get these guys into daycare, I’ll see you
at the MEG
Arizona notices Frankie, the sister of Arizona’s patient,
Arizona: Hey Frankie, We’re doing rounds soon so don’t be
late
Then we catch Callie and Arizona in their first exclusive
scene.
Arizona: You guys got a MEG?
Callie: Yeah it’s gonna make screening patients for a
trial more efficient
Arizona: Doesn’t that cost like a jillion dollars?
Callie: Yeah, Derek working
with the government has its perks
Arizona: Oh and you want a Harper Avery?
Callie: I wanna make an amputee walk using robotics. And if
I won a Harper Avery in the process, I
wouldn’t turn it down.
Arizona: You have the time. Sofia’s almost in school ....,
the time consuming baby days are over
Callie: Unless they’re not..
Uhm, what is this I hear? Callie is teasing about having a
baby? Testing the waters…testing the waters…
Arizona: Oh I say let’s quit while were ahead
Callie: Yeah Sofia’s pretty perfect. Why tempt fate
Arizona: I can actually finally have a thought
Callie: Is that thought towards my Harper Avery?
Arizona: Ooh, hey, maybe, maybe..
Their smiles in this exact moment was making it hard for me to breathe.
Okay, halt! The teasing at the end of this scene was too
adorable. Arizona doing that cute shoulder circling motion…uhm…
Their teasing about this matter was teasing my Calzona
instincts and those of the Calzona fandom’s. (Insert naughty toothy smile
emoji)
Crowenzona
Now we follow Frankie as she beats Owen to a race into the room where her brother and
sister are attended to by our awesome Crowenzona trio.
The main patient, Linc, had end stage heart failure
awaiting transplant. Was on ECMO, had protein S deficiency, and was stable. Linc was at the top of the transplant list, and they
were aggressively looking for other options.
As Cristina had mentioned, Stanford was doing animal testing
for a drug eluding pump to prevent clotting, and the fit may be right because Linc was a little kid, and it could work.
Outside the room, Owen, and Arizona were slightly
badgering Cristina about the Harper
Avery call
Owen: So that’s how you’re gonna play this? Act like It’s just another day at the office?
Arizona: See, I need details. What did they say?
Cristina: Congratulations
Arizona: And then what did you say?
Cristina: Thank you. It’s just a nomination. I'm happy about
it but I’ve got a ton of work to do. I wanna focus on that. I really don’t want
to make a big deal out of it.
Given this stance by Cristina, Owen and Arizona try to stop Cristina from
going through the door, where the whole GSMH gang was waiting to give her a "SURPRISE” toast
Owen : Hey hey let's go this way, breakfast.
Arizona: yeah
Arizona and Owen conniving was a joy to
watch. It was interesting to see Arizona and Owen and Cristina working together in many scenes.
Cristina: I brought chips
And the surprise happened, and how could we miss Arizona flashing that charming goofy Arizona smile.
Derek's New Toy
In line with what Richard Webber described as Innovation, Imagination, Excellence going on all around the hospital, we see brain mapping dream team Derek and Callie, checking out the new
machine that reads emotions, that has applications for their joint research. Ortho protege Jo was on the MEG (Magnetoencephalography) , she was the first one to be
tested.
The MEG, Derek explains, is a machine needed before
he drills into a human brain, because they have to make sure the patient is good for a robotic fork. To be motivated,
stable and neurologically healthy. The machine gives them a window into all that.
Callie: You’re gonna be our baseline. We're gonna show you
some pictures and you’re just gonna look at them.
They checked her pleasure center, and in the reading, they
discover Wilson is a “hater”-- surprisingly
a hater of cats and the beach
Then when Callie got a page about a fractured patient in the
E.R., this produced a positive response
from Jo
Derek: Look at that, took a broken arm to make her happy
Then Callie further tested Jo:
Callie: Hey Wilson, you wanna set that arm yourself?
Positive results of course! Team Ortho at work. Callie just knows what makes Jo click!
She’s her Ortho soulmate after all. And Callie just loves Derek’s new toy!
Experimental heart
Right after Cristina's phone call with a rep from Stanford, as she was campaigning for a passionate release of the experimental heart for her patient Linc, who was on Day 10 of ECMO, we witness Arizona and Cristina
and Owen attending to Linc, who had clotted out and was not responding to
fluids.
They could not get the experimental heart because of a
problem with the FDA , and needed six months more for approval.
Arizona: Ok so what do we do?
Owen : We hope UNOS calls.
Arizona: Today
Cristina: Yeah
Callie is not happy?
Derek and Callie tried to test the wonder brain- reading machine
on Callie. The engaging Q&A session
revealed an unexpected twist.
Derek: What do you do for a living?
Callie: I’m an Orthopedic surgeon
Derek: You enjoy your work?
Callie: I love it (she said this with so much gusto, I loved it)
Derek: You married?
Callie: Yup
Derek: You have kids?
Callie: Ah one!
Derek: Would you consider yourself a happy person?
Callie: Extremely
Derek: And you want to participate in this project?
Callie: I do.
Derek: No
We were as shocked as
Callie….
Callie: No, what?
Derek : Judging by these results I’d say you are depressed
and I’d turn you away from the study
Callie laughs and we laugh too.
Callie: I'm not depressed
Derek was objecting
Callie: I’m not depressed!
Show me the kitten.
Callie was funnily becoming defensive. She needed to be
shown the kitten to prove she wasn’t depressed. No such thing.
Callie: See? I'm happy. Am I not happy?
Derek: Nope
And the machine was lifted off from above her head and
Callie was hesitant
Callie: No, why are you….?
I really do love kittens. I do!
Yes, Callie. We understand. The MEG and Derek however, were
conspiring against your claim to being happy.
Comic relief, ably provided by the wondrously talented Sara
Elena Ramirez.
Her best was bad
In the next scene, Crowenzona were explaining the clot to
Linc’s parents.
Father: You said he was stable. You said he had at least one
more week on Ecmo
Arizona: We thought we had it under control. And we didn’t
expect for him to clot.
Mother: And six months ago? I didn’t expect any of this. I
was in a carpool line. Picking up my three happy healthy kids from school. And
now I have two kids in end-stage heart failure, and one being kept alive by a
pacemaker. You guys can’t tell me why my kids are sick? And now you’re
scratching your heads telling me there’s nothing more you can do for Linc except wait?
Then suddenly Frankie blurts out
Frankie: I thought you were supposed to be some award
winning doctor? My parents keep saying you're doing your best. But your best is
bad
A wildly moving scene.
Callie Wants a Rematch
What follows is our favorite cafeteria scene, which almost
always means fun.
Mer, Cristina were seated with Callie who was continuously
sipping her drink
Then when somebody walks over to the table and congratulates
Cristina, she tells her off. Then April
joins them and offers them meatloaf she had days before and is upset that Jackson doesn’t eat leftovers.
Through all this, Callie
was continuously slurping away at her drink. It was puzzling but funny. I was close to assuming she was continuously sipping because she just didn't want to join her colleagues' conversation.
Cristina then requests Mer, “ Make her stop” ( referring to April and her meatloaf
monologue)
All this time, Callie was just slurping away and it also irritated Cristina
Cristina: Her too (referring to Callie and her hilarious
Slurping Spree)
Then Derek arrives
with Webber.
Turns out, Callie was still
defiant of his results, she wanted a rematch.
Callie was aggressive. “It was low blood sugar, Shepherd.
Take that food to go. We’re gonna do this again. C’mon c’mon! lets go!”
I was howling with laughter. Callie is too adorable for
words. I looked up synonyms for adorable, and she was all that and more.
So that was why she was madly finishing off her drink. She
was filling her system with sugar. She was determined to ace the test this time—via
the sugar-filled way.
This time, she was not
going to be labeled unhappy because she was NOT depressed at all. She was
happy! And that machine was getting on her nerves. How could a machine know
better? She knew herself more than any other stupid machine.
Cristina’s clout
Next scene, Owen was raving about how Cristina had this sudden
clout, explaining to Cristina how he
pulled some strings by mentioning Cristina’s Harper Avery nominee status, which
helped them get approval
Arizona announces at the doorway,
Arizona : Parents signed consent
Owen: They put the device on the next plane I got Wilson
coordinating with the airlines.
Arizona: How the hell did you talk the FDA into doing that?
And Arizona and Owen raved and gushed at thewonders of
being nominated for a Harper Avery, but Cristina was distracted
Owen: Youre not gonna believe this. It was a No. It was a
hard No. And then…
Cristina: Quiet, Please I’ve got about four hours to get
through all their research can you
please take the party outside?
May I just note that it was amusing to watch Owen and Arizona in the same frame. They were cute to watch.
I'm sensing experimental new work partnerships being explored within GSMH by the Grey's creative team. Arizona and Owen registered well on screen together. And I mean that in a non-crackship type of way. Just plain old wholesome work chemistry.
Then Jo storms into the room and announces that commercial flights had been grounded
in San Francisco which was fogged in, flights will be delayed for a couple
hours.
Arizona was worried about Linc, “ He’s getting worse I don’t
think he’s got that kind of time”
Owen: Lets go
So Owen and Arizona spring into action and leave the room
and the TV screen.
Richie Rich Saves the Day
Then we see a sort of war room scenario. The GSMH way.
It was an interesting
mix of GSMH doctors, trying to search for flight possibilities for transporting
the experimental heart for Linc.
Leah was trying to search for flights and Arizona was behind her, had hands on hips. You rarely see Arizona this
way. Means she’s tense. Pressured, I guess.
Jackson was insistent: "Im telling you a private charter will
be the only way this will work"
Then Jo got a private jet ready to fly but
Jo: I got one! It’s $25,000
Arizona: So who pays for that?
It was glorious to see multiple characters in one scene,
characters who haven’t been seen
together much. It was nice to see them all huddled together with one goal, and that is, to help a
patient in dire need. Owen, Arizona, Alex, Jo, Leah, Jackson. It was one
interesting mix.
Jackson: Now I need board approval for that one
Owen: You're the board!
Arizona: Well you call an emergency board meeting cause we
have to. Come on we gotta do it!
Jackson:Just use this. Okay? Put it on my card, I’ll sort it out
with the board later. It’s fine.
Arizona: Thank you, Jackson.
Round Two with the Machine (The Quest for Happiness)
It was not rage against the machine. But Callie had something to prove. Bent on beating the machine this time.
The screen greets us with Callie, doing a
monologue with the machine atop her head. She was actually reciting how she fell in love with Orthopedic
surgery, and it was an interesting bone-y story:
“T’was the night that you took me into the finals. This poor
freshman. Fell when blocking a three
pointer. It was such a freak injury that tibia was shattered in two places, the
bone was sticking out like six inches from the skin, it was totally disgusting
but I assisted the attending in the O.R. placing the rod and the screws. It
probably took like seven hours…I fell in love.”
It was ortho all the way,"
And she said that with a very wide
plastered grin on her face. Happy. It was evident, Callie was deeply in love with her profession. Orthopedic surgery is her first and only love.
But then we see that Callie's overflowing love for Ortho did not register a positive reading with the machine.
Derek: I know you don’t wanna hear this but…
Callie: Oh Come on! Nothing?!
Derek: A lot of people are depressed.
Callie: Im a happy person!!!!
Derek was submissive to his wonder machine’s results.
Despite Callie’s objections, and denial…
Derek: I have a number for you. This guy’s great. He helped
me through a difficult time
Callie : My life is is perfect. I'm married to an amazing
woman. We’re raising an adorable little girl. Im at the forefront of
groundbreaking medical technology with robotic limbs, not to mention im a
homeowner. I mean do any of these things sound depressing to you?Maybe ….the
machine’s broken
Then Mer with cute Baby Bailey visit daddy at the
machine control center and Callie catches sight of mother and child, and this
triggered a change in her brain reading !
It was beeping like crazy
Derek: I think you have a crush on my wife. Meredith walked
in and your pleasure center just lit up.
Derek stated this nonchalantly and then it hit Callie.
Derek: It's still lit
Callie: Nope, It's not Meredith.
It was a certified dramatic moment, I could
not take my eyes off Callie. And Sara as Callie, had that ultimate natural sincerity in her gaze. Only genuinely talented actors can pull this off without effort.
She was like mesmerized with her own thoughts, staring at baby Bailey, with that glint of happiness in her eyes. Then my eyes rebounded to the McDreamies, then
rebounded back to Callie and the McMachine.
When Derek said that Callie had a crush on Meredith, I was thinking, Callie? A crush on Mer? Yeah, she accidentally kissed her
goodbye that one morning at the Merder mansion, right? Was that a Freudian slip?
Then I remembered how we
have all suspected since earlier in the episode, that maybe she really wanted a
baby. And this gem of a scene confirmed our unified suspicion. Callie was
longing for a little one. A new baby. For her and Arizona.
Don’t anyone dare not say her heart did not melt at this
scene.
So at the commercial gap, Calzona fans were trying to recover from this heart
tugging scene. It was truly touching.
Cristina and Arizona's surgery
Arizona and Cristina started to work on Linc. And it was charming that Arizona was very
supportive of Cristina, actually hovering over her, about being nominated for
the Harper Avery. Their bond as friends has been reconfirmed several episodes back.
Funnily though, Cristina was being her usual Cristina Yang self and
was not interested.
Arizona: Hey have you googled on the other nominees?
Cristina: No.
Arizona: Well I have. You wanna know what I think?
Cristina: No.
It was amusing how Arizona good-naturedly accepted Cristina's reply. She was
after all, proud of Yang, and was used to Cristina Yang's charming no-nonsense attitude. As
we all are.
.
Arizona turns pensive
Owen, Cristina and Arizona were in Linc’s room and his
mom was apologetic to Cristina
Mom: I’m sorry that we doubted you. We shouldn’t have.
Cristina: Doubt is normal. Get some rest.
Then upon Owen and Cristina’s exit, Arizona was left in the
room, staring at the sleeping kids, with a sad stare.
Aside from sympathy for the kids, she seemed to be in very deep thought. There was much sadness in Arizona’s face in that scene. It puzzled me. That lingering scene will have
to mean something. I could not figure it
out at first, for these kids were not even Sofia’s age. I was guessing she was thinking of Sofia, though.
Interestingly too, it was a fine parallel to what we saw earlier with Callie. Who also had her own lingering stare. The difference was, Callie had a sprinkle of happiness in her eyes, Arizona had a touch of sadness in hers.
They're gonna have another baby!
Having seen all those wonderful scenes, I had had my fill of
Calzona for this episode.
It was totally okay if the episode were to end with that. It was one
hell of an episode, it was very engaging. One of those rare episodes where every
minute was not to be missed
I was ready to
call it an ep. I was ready for Scandal. But I was just not ready for this next scene.
Right after the Seattle nighttime skyline transition scene, I see my beloved favorite characters onscreen
Quick shot of an anxious Callie then the camera panned to
Arizona coming up the hospital outdoor steps
Arizona: Oh, hey hi! I didn’t know that you were waiting.
Callie :You’re gonna kill me.
Arizona: Why?
Callie: You are. I cant believe I'm even...
The suspense was
building, My lips were swollen as I was biting my lip because of this scene…
Then Arizona dropped a bomb of a question
Arizona: Did you sleep with someone else?
Whoa! If Callie was jolted, I was even more so. Wait, what?
Where did that come from? More on this later.
Callie: What? No!
Arizona Thank God you scared me.
Callie: I want another baby.
Arizona: What? (The "what’s" are aplenty in this night’s episode)
Callie: Look, I want my life back too and I want time to
have a thought and do my work, but also …wait, why on earth would you think I
would sleep with someone else?
Arizona: Because you said I was gonna kill you.
Callie: After everything we have been through, how you could
ever…even for one second think that I would sleep with someone else, is crazy.
Then Arizona says something
even more unexpected.
Arizona: I wanna have a baby too.
Callie: What?
Arizona: I don’t want Sofia to bury us alone or nurse us
through some horrible long decline by herself. She should go through that with
someone else.
Callie: That’s morbid and awful.
Arizona: Or practical.
Callie: Awful
Arizona: Well you want another baby too!
Callie: Because I love babies! They're adorable and
delicious.
Arizona: And you just realized this this afternoon?
Callie: Yeah, I forgot! I saw Meredith and her baby and…wait,
why are we arguing?
Arizona: Oh…we’re gonna have another baby
Callie: We are!
Arizona: I love you so
much
Callie: I love you so so much
And then they hugged. The awesome, wonderful, amazing, loving, comforting, joyous kind of hug. The kind of hug that will make you sleep soundly at night because you feel so loved.
Not to be missed is the unmistakable chemistry of Jessica and Sara. They excellently executed this scene where they had to convey transforming emotions.
I was too dazed to
fully absorb what just happened.
We were
not expecting this at all.
We usually blame Shonda for doing something so negatively
unexpected. Like the sudden arrival of a potential Arizona lover, then a resident who turned out to be her ten plus times sex buddy etc.. (Apologies I had to bring them up)
And when she suddenly pulls off a positively unexpected
twist, we're initially clueless on how to react.
Of course we want to thank her. But maybe after
we get over the happiness and shock.
We had always been wishing for this. We were
batting for baby Oscar, that they hopefully
adopt him. That was actually the maximum we could wish for then, because we were
doubtful Arizona would again try carrying another baby after the miscarriage.
But then this happened-- we see them BOTH wanting a baby! And BOTH so excited! This was
more than we ever expected, and sooner than we ever expected. I was thinking
this would happen toward the end of the season.
So this is what
Shonda was referring to in her tweet of not so long ago about the reference to
the miscarriage.
Hey, we’re not complaining at all. We’re too happy.
I started the episode with a huge smile on my face and ended it with a huge smile in my heart. And the fact that I watched it 87897 times, my heart still smiled as many times.
By tradition, I include the closing voice over here, even as it may be applied to Calzona in the future yet, when each wins her own Harper Avery.
"My mom didn’t think she’d win. She thought it was a popularity contest and she wasn’t popular. She was a woman, and a fellow, and her arrogance could rub people the wrong way. She hadn’t allowed herself to imagine the possibility of winning cause she wanted it too much.. And when they called my mom's name, she was genuinely shocked. It was validation of all her hard work and sacrifice. She came home and told me she didn’t win the Harper Avery. She earned it."
Analysis
Both Callie and Arizona have had their individual realizations and came to a mutual decision to have another baby. This is how in sync they are. Although with different ways of reaching this resolution.
It was heartwarming to discover that both Callie and Arizona want a baby, even after the trauma of the miscarriage. Callie had voiced out her desire to try for another baby after the miscarriage happened, but it was Arizona then, who was hesitant, probably because she had a bigger trauma as she was carrying the baby then.
Callie's desire for a baby was reignited by seeing Baby Bailey. Funny that it had to take a brain machine's help for her to get reconnected with her authentic self, and realize what was missing in her otherwise happy, fulfilled life.
Arizona, was in my opinion, being realistic and practical, when she thought of Sofia's need for a brother or sister. It truly is hard to think about your child not having siblings but have to go through challenges in life, especially of caring for their parents alone.
Arizona's Question
After the rejoicing, being the frail humans that we are , we
like to analyze, and look for things that make the moment not perfect. Naturally, the first thing that comes to mind, is why Arizona even thought
of asking: “Did you sleep with someone else?”
What was that all about?
One angle to this would be that she has much guilt that she
had slept with other people, and maybe at the back of her mind, she has that
fear that her mistakes will someday bite her in the ass.
On the other hand, it could have been just a teasing line by the
writer. Not to cast a doubt on Callie’s fidelity in the future, but to make
light of the biggest challenge that the Calzona couple faced in the recent
past.
It was some sort of a funny take on an otherwise very serious matter.
It was honestly cute to see Callie’s reaction to this when
she said "After everything we
have been through, how you could ever…even for one second think that I would
sleep with someone else, is crazy."
It addressed our hearts’ covert need for reassurance,
that Callie does not even consider such a thing.
It would be a shame and destructive to even think about this as: Callie has
a right to sleep with someone else because Arizona had already done so. Now it
can always be Callie’s turn. She forgave Arizona, and if she ever thinks of
doing it, Arizona must forgive her too.
Now this is a very nearsighted and shallow way of thinking
about it, because we would rather focus
on Callie’s natural kindness as a
person. She’s too good to even consider that. Not saying this can't happen in the
future, (maybe as one interesting plot twist of Shonda’s) but so far, the writers
have always upheld Callie as the sincere, loving and devoted wife that she is.
It’s unlikely she’ll veer from this in the near future.
Baby names
Among us fans, baby names are already being coined. There have been
suggestions that the baby would be a boy and they should name him Mark or
Timothy (Arizona’s bro) or the combined Mark Timothy.
Who gets pregnant
Also, people are speculating on who gets pregnant . So
far, in my survey of tweets, votes for each has been considerably equal.
The promo for next episode shows Callie and Arizona flipping a coin. Heads, Callie gets pregnant; Tails, Arizona does. It's funny how they plan to decide this by flipping a coin, probably because both of them are willing to do it and they just want a fair way to reach a decision.
I would rather not question this nor judge this till I see the episode.
We have five more episodes to go. Of course we want to wish for Calzona happiness all the way, but we know Shondaland better than that. Maybe one episode of a conflict is good to get ready for. Grey's is a drama, after all. And by now, we have nothing to be worried about because we have seen how strong Calzona had been after the storms that befell them.
Let's just bask in this happiness and hope for the best for them, after all they have been through in the recent past. We will always say they deserve happiness this time around
We're very happy that they're happy now. They have gotten back together, patched up their differences, are displaying a new kind of openness and honesty to each other, they live in a new house (which we want to see more of later on). We truly hope the good times continue.
The legal marriage, I still hope for that, but maybe for next season.
Demanding much.
Till the next episode, Happy Calzoning!
Twitter:
@GAFan8
I loved that scene! Her asking that question made me laugh. It reminded me of their first baby conversation. Where Arizona asked if she was sleeping withMark.
ReplyDelete