The Baby Name Game

Calzona Review 10x22 “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

It’s  name game time in Calzonaland!

They’re thinking of baby names! Ahhh... exhilarating  to just say that out loud.

  

Am I the only one cheering the fact that they have indeed come a long way from  “She’s the woman Arizona slept with last night.”?

Twenty-two episodes after,  they’re thinking of  uber cute names for their future bundle of joy! 

Before I go on, it would be a supreme disservice if I do not mention how I think this is one of the best if not THE best written episode of the Season. 

That I cried a river because of the Mertina and Japril moments is an understatement.

And yes,  it was  Callie and Arizona who took over the  comic relief reins for the episode-- and that is just fantabulous.

The voice over was not connected in any way to Callie and Arizona’s name game, though..

“Sometimes you just need to get out of town, get a new perspective. But you can’t always see that you need a new perspective because you need a new perspective to be able to see that. It’s complicated”

The Appeal

The hospital is in danger of losing grants. The meeting of the managing board, as called by Richard,  was about their proposal to make an appeal on the decision that  their doctors are not entitled to win  Harper Averies.  This is where  Calzona make their first appearance in this  excellent episode.

In their capacity as members of  the Board, Callie and Arizona had to take an active part in deliberations for the appeal.

Arizona: I’m sorry am I missing something? What situation?

Meredith: No one in this hospital will ever win a Harper Avery. Catherine Avery told that to Richard.

Owen: Richard thinks we should appeal.

Cristina: You mean I should appeal. I don’t want to humiliate myself further

Richard: This is not about you, Yang. This is about the hospital being able to get money, for research and attract more surgeons. We’re already losing top talent.

Derek: Russell’s a loss but he’s no Cristina Yang

Arizona: Cristina Yang can’t be Cristina Yang if we lose funding

Callie: The NIH fund winners, people with track records.

Mer: People with Harper Averies

Derek: Appealing the decision is not the worst idea in the world

 Much as I want to, the Harper Avery award issue is not to be tackled in a Calzona-dedicated blog.

The only standout observation I have on this scene is the double-dose hairporn of  our lovelies Callie and Arizona.

Each contributory sentence from them, Arizona with two short lines and Callie with one, only made me observe that they’re always seated side by side in meetings like this. Sorry but the only thing I noticed is the perfection of both. Their combined gorgeousness in this scene was too much for the screen.

Shared brain matter

In the next scene, we see a large group of doctors gathered around the Shepherd neurosiblings Derek and Amelia.

Callie is part of the large group that will perform the delicate surgery for the conjoined twins.

Derek and Amelia were showing complex brain scans of Annie and Liz Cooper,  conjoined twins who shared the same brain matter and separating them will be complicated.

They chose GSMH to do the surgery because the hospital has been getting good at it because  they’ve done so many of it. 

It was tricky because it involves the brain. Almost forty doctors were to work on them to cut into their memory centers.

The question was, which twin gets to keep that saggital sinus (that provides supply to the brain) and which twin gets the graft.

Callie easily stood out from the crowd. She looked  fresh. She was absolutely S.T.U.N.N.I.N.G.

She explained her role in this surgery..

Callie :  will make a mold of the cranial bone flap so then we’ll be able to replace the missing flap of the skull

They have to turn it with the least amount of deficit

Little Tiny Humans

Arizona drops in on work-deluged Jo who, after  being assigned a task by Owen, was intercepted by Arizona,

Arizona: Oh, no you won’t.  3922 needs her jp drain removed and the delightful but demon-like girl next door also needs a new feeding tube. 

And they’re kids, little tiny humans, and we don’t make little tiny humans wait for things like feeding tubes and drain removals, do we?

Jo : No we don’t

Arizona: You’re awesome

And she flashes that  sunshiny super magic smile.

Arizona Robbins strikes again. She knows the way to leverage on the emotions of a work-deluged resident. Who wouldn’t have the heart to prioritize the little tiny humans?

I’m guessing pretty soon, what, we’ll be back to the days of  her wacky  “authority issues “ scenes?  That'll be cool.

I will forever be comparing Arizona’s present condition from when we started Season 10,  when she was all listless, guilt-ridden, broken, and erratic. 

The old Arizona is really back. Completely. Even her signature term “tiny humans” is back! 

When was the last time she even said that?  9x24?

Isn’t this what we have all been waiting for, many episodes ago?  That she get back to being the Arizona we knew?

The powers-that-be  granted  our wish and I would never  want to  take that for granted. 

What Shonda taketh away, she giveth back. Sometimeth.

Tracing it back,  it started with them wearing their necklaces again.

 Then Arizona said  Kaleidopy. I mean Calliope. 

Then the comeback of the wheelies.

Then this one -- Arizona saying “tiny humans”

Old Arizona is back, I’m going to  say this repeatedly.  And it’s always a great thing to celebrate.

Brother and Sister Shepherd

When the Shepherd neurosiblings preside over the group of doctors in preparation to perform surgery on the Cooper twins, they  were engaged in trivial sibling bickering as they discussed surgical procedure. 

This caused Callie to release that perfect raised  eyebrow look , as dissenting reaction to the Shepherd siblings.

I wish the neurosiblings did this a lot, just for the cute Callie raised eyebrow stunt. Made her even more perfect.

Child abuse

Arizona walks into April and  we bump into the famous Calzona Name Game  Challenge.

April : Hey Rainbow Williams on bed three needs an abdominal exam to rule out appendicitis.

Arizona: Oooh, Rainbow, I’m gonna add that to my list of baby names.

April: Really?

Arizona: Yup. Right after Bubba, Tulio, and Agamemnon

April: Agamemnon,  that is, that’s pretty

Arizona: No it’s not. It’s  child abuse. But Callie keeps shooting down all the cute names that I suggest. So my new strategy is to bury the cute names in a sea of terrible ones. So, Zamboni, Hashtag, Derp…

April: Oh you guys aren’t even pregnant yet and you’re so

Arizona: Crazy?

April: No,  no,

Arizona: imagine how insufferable I’ll be when there’s an actual baby to talk about

The enthusiasm for these unlikely baby  names by Arizona was hilarious really. 

She wanted to win this war. She was listing down the best baby names classified as  child 

abuse when used.  Let’s see if Callie thinks so too.

The Middleman Mechanic

The Brain Mapping Dream Team come together again. 

Derek had complimented Callie on her seamless work

Callie: It took hours of meticulous work to perfect these pieces, Derek, Amelia better not screw it up.

Derek: Why would you think that?

Callie: You treat her like she’s the village idiot.

Derek: I do not

Callie: Yes you do and I need you to tell me that she’s not

Derek: She is not…the village idiot.  Wouldn’t let her near the Coopers if she weren’t exceedingly  capable. Hey, is that the…

Callie: Ah fully functioning robotic leg? Yes it is.

Derek: Oh I thought my absence totally stalled the progress

Callie: It did. So I kinda took it in a diff direction. I redirected the peripheral nerve signals to send commands directly to the prosthetic leg, eliminating your sensors entirely. I cut out the middleman

Derek: Oh so I’m a middleman

Callie: No I still need you to connect the nerves

Derek: I’m just the mechanic

Callie: Kinda, but I would never let you near it if you weren’t exceedingly capable

Count on  Callie Torres to get away with a sarcasm-stained remark like that with Derek Shepherd. She noticed and apparently objected to Derek’s treatment of Amelia, and she called him out on it.

Hooray for Badass Callie. 

What's great was that  this conversation led to  positive results. We learned later in the episode that Derek  recommended Amelia to Callie, who needed an exceptional neurosurgeon for her project.

Toxic Jo

Jo had her  hands full, attending to multiple patients when Arizona caught up with her and admonished her about forgetting about the tiny human patient.

Arizona: Wilson, do you know you still haven’t done the drain removal on 3922? I gather you know that cause for some reason

Arizona was evidently disappointed at Jo’s neglect of duty. Rare that we see Arizona plainly pissed off. Here, Arizona's work ethic is again brought to fore.  From this I gleaned,  that for her,  the job can never be done by half measures. Arizona expects full focus.

She loved Agamemnon

Then we reach the last scene, the charming elevator scene.

See, in Calzona history,  Calzona elevator scenes were either fun or romantic. So this is classified as  one of the fun ones. 

(Uhm, excuse me but please don't even think about the Laurzona elevator scene. It is not even qualified as a Calzona scene. And it wasn't even a fun scene nor romantic one. It was the worst traumatic elevator scene ever. Oops, sorry for the memories).

Arizona had  apparently  given Callie the name choices.  Callie was amusedly giving it some thought , then suddenly blurted out,

Callie: Agamemnon,

Arizona couldn’t hide the smile on her face, 

but then changed her expression when Callie unexpectedly adds,

Callie: hmmm I kinda love it.  Then Callie smiles widely, 

while Arizona’s smile faded

Then the elevator door closes, and that signals the end of the very short but expected less than three minute combined screen time of Calzona.

The episode closes with the heart-tugging lines of this voice over.

“Open your eyes, what do you see? More possibilities. Does your new view give you more hope? That’s the goal. Although it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes a shift in perspective just makes you see what you’ve lost.”

Imminent changes will be happening soon. And as much as there are bountiful rewards toward new paths, the losses are now slowly being realized.

  

Notes:

Calzona were all-fun and fun-tastic  in this episode, which was, for the most part, drama-filled.

Callie and Arizona were the comedic part of the show.

It was utter enjoyment to watch Arizona letting April in on her ploy to outsmart Callie in winning with choosing the baby’s name via “child-abusive” name ideas.

Callie got the last laugh, though. She didn’t think Agamemnon  was considered  child abuse at all. She loved the name . After all, her own given names were culled from  Greek Mythology characters. Interestingly,  Agamemnon is the father of Iphigenia. Her middle-namesake.

Baby names will always be a good source of debate, but knowing these two, they'll agree on something soon. So it's safe to assume it's going to be a boy because they're thinking of boy's names? Okay. 

Just as April observed,  seeing Arizona’s zealous preoccupation with the baby names--listing and collecting them on her phone, it was obvious our beloved couple couldn’t contain their excitement for the baby. With Arizona even trying to outwit Callie, however the strategy works.

This second Calzona kid,  the second of ten, will be surely blessed with an excellent name. The mothers are doing  a good job at trading wits at coming up with a good name.

They can just pick one from all the choices, then use the unchosen names for the next eight kids.

Now, analyzing Arizona’s initial choices:

Rainbow

Agamemnon

Hashtag

Zamboni

Derp
Bubba
Tulio

I personally like Hashtag. Because it's what I use everyday. Just kidding. I think the best would be Rainbow, of course. Callie though,  has taken a liking to Agamemnon…so let’s await the final decision.

Funny that Arizona  completely  didn’t expect Callie would like it so I guess it’s back to square one for her . She needs a new strategy to get her way.

It's all about the baby for them. It's the  preparation stage.   

Now time to gear up for the  next episode.  The episode where Callie receives terrible turned devastating news.

After the lightness of this episode for them, roller-coaster style, we are programmed to get ready for some drama this time.  

Whatever happens, though, I just still hope that whoever gets to carry, i only hope for a happy, healthy Calzona baby. 

 We all are friendly neighborhood  Shondaland peeps. It’s always good to  cherish the fun times in this happiness bubble. As long as it lasts.

 I guess that in the next episode, the happiness bubble pops. For them and for us.  So at least we’re ready,  thanks to the synopses.

Forecasting  that the  last two episodes will be tense and intense. That’s code for:  stock up on tissues.

Whatever happens, best to just stay positive.

Time and again, no matter how difficult the hurdles they face , Callie and Arizona had always been  strong enough to overcome these together.

We know that for sure.

Uh oh, it’s Intense o’clock once more. Time to say this again:

Hashtag CalzonaStrong.

*Note: Today marks the r the Third Anniversary of airing of the momentous "White Wedding"  or the Third Wedding Anniversary of our beloved Callie and Arizona, one of the most popular and groundbreaking same-sex couples on prime time television.

Today we celebrate the third year of their wondrous union. A union bound by love. A love that has been tested yet strengthened by time.  We only wish marital bliss for them, always.

Here's to forever. 

Cheers.

Calzona Forever and Always. Calzona Always and Forever..

Twitter:

@GAFan8



P.S. Bonus feature above: Photo of Gold Plated head is The Mask of Agamemnon. For reference only.