Grey's Anatomy writer Bill Harper, who penned last night's episode, has posted his thoughts on "Beat Your Heart Out" on the show's official writers' blog for the fans.

Below are some excerpts, with a link to the full column at the bottom ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I felt especially close to Derek as he spends the day trying to plan the perfect proposal. (Can we just take a second here to say DEREK’S GOING TO PROPOSE. Who would have thought that a drunken tussle on Ellis’s living room rug would lead to this? Not Meredith, I bet.)

And while Derek’s twisting himself inside out to keep this surprise for Meredith Grey, trying to find exactly the right way to do it, all of his efforts are actually backfiring, sending the wrong signals and sending her into a panic. Romance and Panic Attacks.

As this episode began taking shape in the writer’s room, it became clear that these two main factors that would be at work. Either people were experiencing one or the other, or one was leading directly to the other. Romance and Panic Attacks.

Which go together, I thought at the time, like peanut butter and clams.

Start with Cristina and Owen, who have maybe the most romantic day I’ve ever seen. Shonda was very interested in the hotness of the chasteness between these two. We had lots of discussions of the tortured sensuality of the Victorian Era, where a hand placed next to another’s hand could be so electric, so concentrated, that it was actually better than sex.

To go further, to consummate that kind of compressed excitement, would be to risk losing it. And I loved that in Seattle Grace, where people famously steal into on-call rooms between surgeries, these two were living a bodice-ripping romance novel under everyone’s noses. Cristina doesn’t even have words for what this is. So they choose to long for each other for a while. And it’s painful, but in that way that you sort of don’t want it to stop.  It’s clear they’re both loving it.

Meanwhile, Mark and Lexie, at the height of romance, start to crumble under all the secrecy.

Follow the link to continue reading Bill's blog ...

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.