To add on to what is above this is the general outline for a surgical residency : first year you intern as a general because most prefer getting experience in various areas.

In the second year you become a resident. At this point some may transfer to other departments ie. Callie to Ortho or Alex to Plastics (eventually). However it is still a surgurical residency non specialized. They get mentore by doctors in said department (ie. Chief to Addison ) until their 5th year in which they apply for their fellowships which will become even more specialized.

Fellowships depend on the specialty

But if you are at a teaching hospital you will probably still perform other procedures to benefit the interns you are teaching if you are in your residency.

On re-watch, it is indeed.

The Keeper of the Timeline and the Continuity Fairy are having a dirty holiday on the beaches of Phuket. In their absence, has anyone been able to sort out where we are since prom night? There was a lot of talk about Mark's sudden appearance, and Izzie in the prom dress, and how long it took Derek to tell Addison that the marriage was absolutely over and that he wants out.
But every time I try to actually work it out in my head, I get lost again. Some things seems like they're hours apart, others (Burke's recovery springs to mind), seem to be occurring at warp speed.

I have said that is why I couldn't enjoy the last episode the timeline was all over the place.

George says Callie has been there for over a week. (so are we a week from the last episode)

Then Cristina says to Burk you have only been doing physical therapy for 3 weeks (so now we are 3 weeks from the shooting)

Addison is telling Mark it was a booty call like it was the next day.

Derek asks Meredith out like its their first date since she told him & Finn in the bar that she wants to date.

The possibility of a Meredith pregnancy would have to be 3 weeks minimum out.

Would Addison take a 3 week leave of absence.

So if someone can figure out this timeline please clue me in. It's like every story line has its own times.

Egads! swimmom, I've heard of "stream of consciousness" but looks like Shondaland is an island surrounded by a friggin' sea of it!

In fairness, the characters try to move the timeline by saying things like last week/3 weeks ago - don't forget Bailey's conversation with Addison was [supposed] to establish that Towel Gate was not "last night".

Things get complicated because there isn't enough variety in locale/costuming to support the movement of time. Even surgeries seem to help with whacking out the time - but this is not an unusual occurence when you heard into soap opera territory. How many times have we seen a transatlantic flight completed in the space of a realtime conversation?

That said, take a deep breath because I think we are supposed to be *at least* three weeks from prom, "sans resolution" on multiple storylines, I might add.


ETA: I wonder why they dropped the time-stamping of the pilot episode? For me it helped set an urgency to the action and there was no disputing it.

And then there's Izzie, who is now attempting to come back to the hospital. Which leads me to believe that at least a few weeks have gone by.
Another thing, not sure if it's exactly timeline, but what about Denny's funeral? Of all things, I would have expected Izzie to attend, even have a hand in planning. But, nothing. Unless weeks really have gone by and she did go and we just don't know it yet.

geminigirl789 there was no funeral as per Denny's request - he was to be flown to Memphis for cremation. The preview at least tells us that he has not gone the route of many-a-forgotten storyline.

Thanks mariposa06, I think that I knew that, but wouldn't you think that Izzie would have accompanied the body, or gone to pick up the ashes or something? I just find it strange.
I saw the promo, so I know that Denny's dad comes to town with an envelope for Izzie, so presumably Denny and his dad were in touch while Denny was hospitalised. Though I can't imagine not visiting your DYING SON, no matter what the son's wishes were
Back to the timeline-do we know what time of year it is? Because, as swimmom said, each story seems to have its own peculiar timeline, and I'm thinking that seasons might be one way to track it.

I gave up trying to sort this out. Prom is typically May or June. So that would put us in June or July? But they are wearing sweaters and coats. I know it's Seattle, but still. And wouldn't that make their intern year almost over? Except not, according to Shonda. *bangs head on wall*

The ankle-transplant patient was also hoping to be done recuperating in time to participate in a June 12 triathlon.

Missed that completely!
Of course, my timeline ideas are completely blown out of the water. Proms are in May/June, so even if this particular prom were in early May, to do an ankle bone transplant on someone who's hoping to recover to do a triathlon in mid-June? I can't see the recovery and rehab on something like that taking only 6 weeks. I'd have thought more like 6 months. But that makes prom in December, and we already had a Christmas episode in S2.
I give up, this is making my head hurt.

Not to mention, they were all watching the NCAA basketball tourney at Joes in (I think) the knitting episode.... which would be late March/early April, which lends itself to Prom in May.

See, I told ya. It's bad for the brain cells.

What confuses me is the timeline of Bailey's pregnancy. Are we supposed to assume that Bailey was pregnant before the interns even began and just didn't reveal the information to the hospital? Because if not, I don't see how her pregnancy could be accurately reflected in the timeline unless she delivered a seriously premature baby, which it appears she didn't.

Wow, I now understand what you mean about your head hurting.

Why would this not be the case? She was obviously reluctant to tell the Chief...I assumed that she had been pregnant before the interns got there and either didn't know yet or decided not to tell the Chief.

I think if it has actually been three weeks since the shooting it oculd be third week of May (some highschools have proms earlier in the year in April. It depends on location).

Except.... Bailey was gettin' her drink on at the Doctorpalooza. Yeah, I know, CW wasn't actually pregnant then, so it wasn't written in the show. I'll give the Timeline Fairy a pass on that one.

Since this season started with Izzy still in her prom dress, I'm thinking we're still in spring/early summer in Grey's time.

Yes, but like a poster upthread said, this doesn't explain their clothes. In 303 Alex puts a pretty thick coat around Izzie's shoulders, and she's already wearing a woollen sweater.

I've decided that I'm going to ignore Cristina's comment about Burke being in PT for three weeks (you don't start PT until like a week after your surgery, right? And that would make it a month since prom, which is...not happening). That way, even though it's still screwed, the timeline makes a tiny smidge more sense.

But will still have Triathlon guy who was having an ankle replacement, and wanted to be able to compete on 12 June. That's what throws me off, because you have to recover from that, and then get back in shape to compete. And I don't think you have the surgery and are back running 10k the next week. So I thought more like 6 months (prom at Christmas), but there's no way that's accurate in Shondaland. And then there's the whole clothing thing, but maybe that's due to the weather in Seattle?
We know Shonda and the writers read boards. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll read this one and help us out.

If you noticed, there is a blooming tree behind Izzie when she is standing in front of the hospital..May?
Climate is really mild in Seattle..Some people are wearing shorts all year round; I know, it's weird, but true. Sometimes you meet a postal man in January in shorts and jacket, not unusual at all. No thick jackets in May, not for young men anyway. It could be chilly in the early morning, but most people are wearing summer clothes..windbreaker or just suit jacket..No leather jackets or thick (winter) jackets..(Alex).
ETA some trees are blooming in early April..I am not sure what kind of tree is behind Iz. Apple tree?

Here is my theory on the timeline:

Prom - early May
Last week's episode (Addy returning to work, Mer/Der's date) - 1 1/2 weeks after prom night
Burke's PT line I'm going to forget about, because all other storylines seem to take place a week after the previous week's ep (Izzie baking muffins, Towelgate, etc).

Seasonally - I'm going to believe we are fast-forwarded into TV-time. Sometimes when shows reappear in the fall, the timeline goes with them. I believe we are actually sometime in the fall in Seattle. Yes, this requires some suspension of disbelief, but would keep us in line with the Thanksgivings/Christmas/New Years shows the networks like to do, even if we have to overlook the fact the interns would have bypassed their first year anniversary. With this timeline, ankle guy would have approx 9 months to train for her triathalon.

This isn't exactly a direct or even authoritative source, but it says here that prom season begins the last week of March and runs through May. If they were watching March Madness in the knitting episode, I think it's plausible the prom was in April and we're now in either April or May. It would be interesting to go back and figure out exact time references between the knitting episode (or whatever episode the March Madness-watching was in). But now that I think about it, how do we know it was March Madness and not just a basketball game? Basketball season runs all winter. Maybe that was supposed to be Februaryish, they had an earlyish prom in March and we're only in April? The Mayo Clinic says ankle replacement surgery recovery time is 2-3 months will little PT needed, and since this guy is a triathlete, I'm guessing his recovery time will be on the short end. So based on all that, I'd guess we're in the month of April. But I'm sure Shonda will do something in tomorrow's ep that will make that completely impossible, bringing us back to square one.

This is the only thing I can think of that makes a modicum of sense. The timeline details from the earliest episodes are not as fresh in my mind, so I'm going in broad strokes. It's really based on four events we can pinpoint for sure: the start of their internship, Thanksgiving, Christmas and March Madness.

mid-May: Derek finds Addison with Mark, moves to Seattle
end of June/beginning of July: events of "A Hard Day's Night"
early July-late November: events of "The First Cut is the Deepest" through "Thanks for the Memories" (13)
early-mid Dec: events of "Much Too Much" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
late Dec (i.e. Christmas): "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"
early Jan-mid Mar: "Begin the Begin" through "Superstition" (9)
midish Mar-lateish Mar: "The Name of the Game" through "Damage Case" (3)
end of Mar: "17 Seconds" through "Losing My Religion" (3)
early-mid April: "Time Has Come Today" through "Sometimes a Fantasy" (3)

I'm assuming that the triathelete can recover in 2 months, though I'm not sure. Is that 2 months recovery until you're back to *normal* activity, or 2 months until you can put your body through a punishing triathalon? I think the former, but we'll go with the latter and so assume this has to be mid-April. Some things seem to indicate only a week has passed so far this season, but then we have the three weeks of PT thing. So I split the difference and assume that 2 weeks have gone by. That puts the prom at the very end of March. It currently being mid-April also fits the tree in bloom behind Izzie. It does not fit the need for heavy coats. And the pre-show timeline is funny too. Derek told Meredith he'd been in Seattle for 6 weeks, but his "Joe's bar" story implied it had been less. So it was no earlier than mid-May that he found Addison with Mark, which doesn't explain his need for that truly horrible coat he was wearing in that scene. And once again, I'm rusty on the earlier timelines since it's not as fresh in my mind. So there could be many reasons why that doesn't work either.

So obviously, we can still poke holes. We have to smooth out/ignore A LOT to make it work. It's interesting how time seems to be slowing down. First, it took 13 episodes to make 4.5 months go by. Then it took 9 to make 2.5 months go by. Then it took 9 episodes to make 1 month go by (from midish March to midish April). If their first intern year won't end until the end of this season, that means they have ~20 episodes to make 2.5 months go by. Given this, my personal feeling is that they started out intending to make the show roughly follow real time. But then, for whatever reason, Shonda decided she hadn't dealt with the intern stuff enough, probably because she wasn't sure how long the show would last at first. So now we're trying to shoehorn in a billion episodes into a relatively small frame of time.

At least The OC had the common decency to tell its viewers the truth. "Yeah...we weren't so much knowing how long the show would last, and now we realize we need to milk more drama out of their highschool years. So we're going to repeat their jr. year. Thanks!" Replace "highschool years" with "intern year," and you get the idea.

The coat thing isn't ridiculous for scenes at night. According to weather.com, average lows in Seattle can dip down into the low 40s in April. It could be chilly after dark, which is when Alex puts the coat on Izzie. The jackets in the day are another story.

Most people (busy adults) usually drive..they don't need a warm (thick) jacket to get from a parking lot to the hospital or to the mall. Of course, dog walking in the morning in the park is a different story.

Except Alex "runs baby" - so it makes sense that he has a coat in his locker/needs one. No idea where Alex lives, but it should be fairly close to the hospital, but slightly longer than average walking distance, hence the need to ward off the elements.



ETA: In "Sometimes a Fantasy", Burke requested and received a leave of absence from the hospital. Next episode, he is being evaluated by Derek and cleared for surgery. Are we to believe that at least three weeks have passed?

BTW - this appears to be what's happening this season - things are advancing in approx. 3-week spurts, and we may yet get a very special Thanksgiving/Christmas episode.

I did a timeline on how much time has passed since Callie and Mark had slept together! Trying to see about the potentail Who's the Daddy" if Callie is pregnant! This was based on clues I took from each episode since Epi 4! This is just my take!

“What Am I“, Mark and Callie meet a Joes, they leave together! DAY 1

“Oh the Guilt” Next Morning ,Callie and Mark in bed together. Meredith tells Derek she dumped Finn DAY 2

“Let The Angels Commit“- One week later, since Meredith tells Derek that it had been a week and he had not called - DAY 9

“Where the Boys Are“- Should be the within a few days (3-6 give or take), also Papa O’Malley at SGH let’s say DAY 15

“Starring At the Sun” Derek and Meredith in the tub, to me it was the next day. DAY 16

“ From a Whisper” Next Day or two, since George’s dad in hospital-Day 18/19

“Don’t Stand So Close” Thinking next day going by Burke/Derek and Cris/Bay talking to chief about Burke’s hand- DAY 20

“6 Days PT1” Picks up next day, George‘s dad surgery/Burke Surgery-DAY 21

“6 Days PT2“- Two Parter covers 6 Days- DAY 27

“Great Expectations”Alex states one week not seeing Addison (Thks Gib), Callie and George back to sex-Day 34

Wishin & Hopin”- Callie/George married were gone a week. Izzie Clinic took 8 days (GIB) Ellis not lucid Meredith upset- DAY 42

“WOW” Picks up right after W&H Mer in the tub-DAY 43

“DODL” Same DAY 43

“SKOM” Same DAY 43

“Scars and Souvenirs“- ABC promo said 8 at first I will go 2 weeks, retched SEX with GAG- DAY 57

“My Fav. Mistake“-Next morning after horrid Sex- DAY 58

So it's been about 7-9 weeks overall from my putting it together!

I Love Thursdays, thank you for putting that together! May I hand you some aspirin?

Just a quick addendum - Great Expectations takes place at least one week after George's father dies (Alex confronts Addy about avoiding him for over a week)

Also, Wishin and Hopin takes place 8 days later - with Izzie talking about the 8 days and 8 million dollars.

Agreed :)

LoveThursdays - that was an excellent analysis. Shonda may well come and wreck it to hell in a podcast with one "because I said so", but it's a great effort. May be an oversight, but only your first paragraph needs to be spoiler tagged, no?

LoveThursdays, Great job!!! For weeks we've been trying to get some kind of perspective on the timeline. Thanks.

Gib...yes I just realized that since I watched GE after I did it, Alex did say it...as well I remember the 8 days too. That's sorta why I went 7-9 weeks...it's pretty close regardless.

Ya I thought about the spoiler tag! Just figured I cover the bases incase. Didn't want to ruin it for anyone not in the spoiler know. Better safe than sorry :)

Thanks for the analysis, LoveThursdays. But I have to say that while this individual storyline makes sense, it doesn't tie in with what's been going on in the other characters' lives:

Except that it can't be the next morning really, because Meredith is back at work following her appendectomy (and that would've made it at least a couple of days). Making this the longest one night stand ever (Mark is just that good, clearly). Obviously, though, the writers intended us to only think of the M/C thing in regards to timeline, though, not M/D. *sigh* I don't care if it doesn't make too much sense overall anymore, but I hate contradictory storylines going on in the one episode.


Or something stronger, like Vicodin? Because piecing all that together, you'd've needed it. :D

Well, didn't Mark remind Callie that there had been three "very cheerful times" or something like that? I always figured (in hindsight) that the "morning after" we saw was maybe..."morning after the third time". Maybe.

I don't know about it being the morning after the third time, since George called her that morning and it seemed like it was the first time Mark realized that she may have been involved with someone. Also, George came over with chicken like nothing had happened. If she had been giving him the cold shoulder at work I don't think he wouldn't have realized that she had broken up with him.