I repeat, if you have yet to watch last nightsGreys Anatomyfinale, stop reading now.
For the last time, if you have yet to watch last nightsGreys Anatomy, stop reading now.
Everyone else, onward and downward…
Say what you will aboutGreys Anatomycreator Shonda Rhimes (Baby killer!
), but the woman knows how to write a finale.
In this exclusive interview, Rhimes tackles the 20 most popular.
So what have the last 18 hours been like for you?
I know you were nervous about this episode.
SHONDA RHIMES:I was.
I wanted it to feel a little bit like a stand-alone movie, and I think it did.
One of the most controversial aspects of the finale was Merediths miscarriage.
Did you ever consider a different outcome?
So the pregnancy was all about the miscarriage?
RHIMES:It wasnt necessarily all about the [miscarriage], but itwasabout Meredith Grey being truly happy.
To me, thats the hero moment.
If you dont have that moment you dont really have the story of Meredith Grey.
At the end of the episode, she throws her positive pregnancy test in the trash.
What did that symbolize?
RHIMES:The death of the exciting dream that she had been holding on to all day…
I feel like you dont ever know how much you want something until its been taken away from you.
You once said Mer and Der would never have children.
Have you changed your mind about that?
RHIMES:[Long pause] Yes.
Ive written my way out of that I think.
So there may still be a baby in their future?
For me, this is thebeginningof the baby story.
RHIMES:The [episode] was not about aftermath.
And to me, to see Meredith and Derek happy with everything and fine was a scene of aftermath.
Will the season premiere be about the immediate aftermath?
RHIMES:I dont know.
So you havent decided whether there will be a time jump?
RHIMES:Weve talked about it.
Weve talked about it endlessly.
Weve come up with 40 thousand different scenarios.
The truth is, Im exhausted.
We just finished season 6.
I dont even want to think about season 7.
How does Meredith not revert back to dark and twisty Meredith after all of this?
RHIMES:I dont knowhowshe doesnt, but she doesnt.
I think in a lot of ways Meredith has become the mother of the group.
I dont think theres a lot of room for dark and twisty when everybodys been affected.
How did you arrive at the decision to kill off Reed and Charles?
RHIMES:It was both really easy and really hard.
I also really wanted [to lose] people who we barely knew.
Its sort of like what Charles says to Bailey: I know you really didnt like me.
And Bailey says, Oh, I liked you.
And then hes gone.
By the time we fell in love with him, he was gone.
To me, it was about what was gained and what was lost.
The real death of the episode is the miscarriage.
Had Katherine Heigl not left the show, what role would Izzie have played in the finale?
Would she have been killed?
RHIMES:I have no idea.
Talk to me about the decision to have Alex call out for Izzie after he was shot.
RHIMES:I really wanted to find a way to deal with how much Alex is missing Izzie.
Lexie confessed her love for Alex, but some fans arent buying it.
She didntreallymake a decision between Alex and Mark in that moment, did she?
RHIMES:I dont think she could have possibly made a decision in that moment.
The thing I think is interesting is that Alexdefinitelymadehisdecision.
So I dont necessarily know that theres a triangle there.
So I dont think theres a triangle.
In other words, hope is very much alive for Mark and Lexie?
RHIMES:Yes, theres definitely hope.
Lets shift gears to the actual crisis itself.
Igetthat theres a certain suspension of disbelief that comes with stories like this.
It looked like they easily could have gotten a second shot in there.
RHIMES:They didnt have a clear shot of him again.
But he was just laying there on the floor.
RHIMES:But Lexie was in between them.
And then she got up and wasstillin between them.
And shes running away and hes running away at the same time.
So I dont see that they could have gotten a clear shot.
Fans are joking that Seattle has the worst SWAT team in the country.
RHIMES:Thats a shame because we have these super awesome SWAT guys who talked us through everything.
And they said thats how it works.
And for me, it made it so much more horrible because that hospital is enormous.
When youre looking for a shooter, you dont have a bunch of people all spread out apparently.
Jessica Capshaw is pregnant in real life.
Arizona decides at the end of the episode that she wants to have kids with Callie.
Is there a connection there?
RHIMES:No although I love that Jessica is pregnant.
Its what we do now.
So the pregnancy wont be written into the storyline?
Where was Baileys beau Ben in this episode?
RHIMES:Ben was not working that day.
And I felt like, no, we only see Ben sporadically as it is.
Hes not at work that day.
I felt like you knew Ben wasnt there because you didnt see him there.
[But] I think theres going to [fallout] about that later.
RHIMES:I hope so.
You mentioned in yourblog post about the finalethat April and Jackson are part of the tribe now.
What did you mean exactly?
RHIMES:I dont have one.
RHIMES:I dont have one either.
Creatively, do you want them to stick around?
RHIMES:I do.
RHIMES:This whole idea that Teddy only exists [as part of a triangle is ludicrous].
Teddy is Cristinas teacher.
Derek would be dead if Cristina had not had Teddy around.
Thats how I look at it.
But it is my intention that we will see Teddy next year.
When Owen chose Cristina, hereallychose her, right?
He definitely chose her.
So that triangle is, for all intents and purposes, over.
RHIMES:That triangle is done.
But Cristina broke up with Owen in that episode.
RHIMES:That is true.
RHIMES:I tried really hard to get in an Owen-Cristina scene where he holds her after Derek survived.
There was a big fight about it and finally I had to go with the look.
You previously teased this episode as a game-changer.
How has the game been changed?
Its an incredibly traumatic event.
Its not like tomorrow they come back being the exact same characters.
Theyre all sort of fundamentally changed.
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