The inspiration for this puzzle came to me while driving my wife Barbara home from EYE_SURGERY (17-Across)—more specifically, CATARACT_REMOVAL (45-Across) on her right eye—that had taken place earlier in the morning of May 5, 2014 (i.e., Cinco de Mayo).  I had been listening, not all that attentively, to the post-operation instructions, which included the usual caveats about not driving or using heavy machinery, along with advice to "take it easy" [bringing to mind the canonical question that the youngest asks at every Passover seder], and emphasizing the overall need to stay in the presence of another adult (that would have to be me) for a minimum of six more hours. Somehow, the idiomatically typical cautionary advice of WAIT_AND_SEE (59-Across) flashed across my mind as subject to a different interpretation under those circumstances [with potential for bonus wordplay on patience vs. patients].  Finally, I have always been fascinated by how unintuitive the spelling of OPHTHALMOLOGIST (28-Across) is, and was delighted to notice that it had the optimal length (15 letters) to allow for symmetrical insertion into a crossword grid.  I reasoned that keeping an eye (or two) on Barbara (and before that, on the road) would not require all of my intellectual energies, so as soon as we got home, I pulled out my crossword construction hardware and software, and got to work [for the record, CRYSTALLINE_LENS is also of the optimal length, but I was unable to pack in that extra layer of theme material].

My original draft of the puzzle, which went out to beta testing right around the time that I went back to my day job, had a number of clues that required some knowledge about Barbara and the rest of our family (more about that below).  But more problematically, it had the word PLATY, which refers to this aquarium fish that even the most diehard cruciverbalists on my team have not heard of [calling it a "pus leader" (thinking of this Australian mammal) is not only verboten by the crossword gods, but in bad taste to boot].  Moreover, the "T" crossed the Alaskan island of ATTU, which is quintessential crosswordese despite any number of interesting geographical and historical facts about it.  So, I threw in two more "cheater" squares, reworked several sections of the grid, eased off on some of the more difficult clues, and removed all specific references to my family so that the puzzle could work with a general solving audience.

I had some fun brainstorming for a title, as well as for an image that could go on the puzzle's main webpage.  Useful resources included this and this.  Some research indicated the existence of a character called "Black Queen of Sergo" in Barbarella [sort of appropriate, wouldn't you think?] but I had difficulty finding a good image.  Reflecting on the fact that—for about a day—Barbara had a white eyepatch over her right eye, I settled on an image of a character called Elle Driver from a movie franchise that I have never seen (nor would ever endorse) called Kill Bill [I will however vouch for the actress Daryl Hannah, whose performance as a mermaid I very much enjoyed 30 years ago].  Shown below are some other finalists ... how many of them can you recognize and place?  [answers all the way at the bottom of this webpage].