Post by Leanne on Dec 5, 2008 12:14:20 GMT -5
'Grey's Anatomy': Time to Vent (EW)
By Tanner Stransky
Hello, Grey's Anatomy TV Watchers! Let's put this right out there: I'm not Jennifer Armstrong. Your usual recapper is out of the office this week, so I'm filling in — digesting last night's juicy hospital sudser, natch. You might know me from such illustrious TV Watches in the present and past for shows like Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and Veronica Mars. Now, this is my first crack at Grey's, so be nice, y'all.
Despite that plea for novice sensitivity, I've decided I'm going to start bold, and I hope you're on the same page with me. It's official: Grey's Anatomy has gone off the deep end. Seriously. Well, maybe that happened a while back. But in terms of the Denny-Izzie heinousity we're continuing to experience, it's certainly the case. And I'm saying this as a person who's got quite a bit of restraint. I have a high tolerance for pain — and awful storylines. (Hello, I suffer through the soon-to-be departed Lipstick Jungle and Dirty Sexy Money each week!) But this is just too much. Last night, there was a scene where Izzie found herself kissing, you know, her actual boyfriend Karev (what a novel concept — kissing a guy who's real!) and the dead-but-magically-alive Denny gets in a bit of a jealous rage and yells, ''Enough!'' Exactly! What he said — that's all I could think. ''Enough'' of this dragging, crazed-out reappearance of Denny.
The only thing that makes sense in this whole situation is George's suspicion, even though no one is ready to listen to it yet. Sure, Izzie has always had a bit of fanciful and whimsical personality, but can't even her closest friends — paging Cristina and Meredith! — see that she's clearly losing it? First there's the talking to herself, then there's the sketching out all the time — oh yeah, and all that sex she's having with no one. No one! Cristina should have rung the alarm when Izzie went to talk to her about the solo surgery and instead went into a creepy, maniacal rant about how she was having ''really, really, really good sex.'' No, no, and no, Izzie, I can guarantee you you're not having sex with anyone or anything. Not even Karev.
Naturally, Izzie's spiraling into total wackiness happened just as Karev said ''I love you.'' I repeat: Karev actually said ''I love you'' to Izzie. Did you all honestly think we'd see the day that Karev would say those three words to Izzie? But, in all reality, this turn — Karev getting mushy and lovey-dovey — totally falls into line with the normal cycle of men on Grey's Anatomy. Right? With Derek leading the way, the men on this show are in touch with their feelings more than any man I've ever encountered. It's like all the water at Seattle Grace is spiked with estrogen.
In other news of previously introduced characters who were back on the show last night, the uber-awkward Dr. Dixon rolled back into the hospital, this time with Cristina as her liaison/chaperone/personal resident. The woman is clearly a more than capable doctor — and the chief is doing his best to woo her into a permanent position — but as a character on this show, I honestly don't think she works. In every hard-hitting scene that she was involved in, she made things strained — whether it was shattering a devastated girl's hope about her sister's life or making a weird groaning noise in response to Cristina answering a question. I get it: She's got Aspergers and has no filter. I guess maybe I'm just torn about how I'm supposed to feel about her character: Am I supposed to feel sympathetic? Uncomfortable? Mad? Everyone around her seems to be dealing with her as best they can, but they also seem to be constantly biting their tongue.
At least Meredith had the gumption to ask Dr. Dixon to leave after she so clearly upset that poor girl whose sister turned out to be brain dead. (Speaking of that storyline, how heartbreaking was it? I have a slew of siblings who I fought with all the time when I was younger. And unlike so many of those Grey's weirdo special cases, this is something that seemed plausible. Maybe that's why it struck so close to home.) In the end, I suppose Mary McDonnell is serving the purpose producers want her to in the fact that she's eliciting responses from viewers like me and bringing a new dynamic to the show. Pretty sure it's not a good one, though.
One dynamic that's different but not so different for the show that I'm really digging is the potential relationship between Sadie and Callie. Yeah, I'm still sad about the departure of Dr. Hahn and in some ways it seems like the producers just exchanged an older, somewhat acerbic possible lesbian for a younger, cuter possible lesbian. But anyway, we can't do anything about that switch now. But I think Sadie and Callie could be cute together. That is to say, if Callie doesn't first start some sort of more serious relationship with Dr. Sloan. (Goodness, can't you just imagine the threesome between Sadie, Callie, and Sloan? You know that idea has been kicked around the writer's room. Guarantee it.) But, oh wait, on the Sloan front.
He hooked up with Lexie last night. That gets a big ol' fat ewwwwww from this camp. Especially when Lexie rolled into Sloan's hotel room, I was dying. ''Teach me. Teach me. Teach me,'' Lexie kept repeating, and weirdly enough, I just kept hearing her older half-sister Meredith say, ''Pick me. Choose me. Love me.'' But the situation is totally different. The thing that seems pathetic is that Lexie seems to want to use this sex-with-Sloan thing to further her career. Or it almost seems that she feels she has to go to bed with him to make up for her mistakes at work.
What I'd like to say to Lexie is: Don't you know Sloan's history with women? That he's basically slept with every female doctor at the hospital? But, sigh. As much as I think this pairing is somehow wrong, I did enjoy seeing Sloan squirm as Lexie turned up the heat — her little ''I would rather just learn today'' flirty speech — at the hospital. Even funnier: When Lexie acted like she didn't know what Sadie was talking about when she said the only time the doctors ''even bother with us is when they think they can get us in bed.'' You tell it, Sadie! That certainly has been the case with this class of interns — most of the doctors are too busy bedding Meredith and Cristina's class of residents to pay the newbies any mind.
Cristina certainly had a very busy episode, between shepherding around Dr. Dixon (which I already mentioned), picking the winner of the solo surgery, and, of course, making out with Dr. Hunt over a steam vent in the hospital's basement. Taking a look back after this fun little excursion to the steam room, the foreshadowing was sweet. Early in the episode, Dr. Hunt was on the cardio floor of the hospital and told Cristina that he was there to explore. ''What else is there?'' she responded. ''The OR, the ER, the place with the food?'' Ha! A very Cristina comeback, but Dr. Hunt's response reveals his desire to open her mind a bit: ''Someone has got a lot to learn.'' The next lesson was obviously the basement steam room. As silly as it was — those two standing there giggling and making out as a bunch of hot air blew up their scrubs — it was also sweet and carefree. Even if just for a minute in one episode, carefree does suit the usually cranky Cristina.
Cristina was also grappling with picking the resident to do the solo surgery. My question: Why do we even see these other residents from their class who are supposedly in the running for it? Was there ever a question that she'd pick anyone but Meredith, Karev, Izzie, or George? It's just so funny to me that all of these other crazy residents have been coming out of the woodwork lately. I just don't care about them. The world of Grey's does not need to be expanded anymore — especially not but a bunch of no-name characters who have no personality and add nothing to the show. End rant.
My favorite part of the campaign to get the solo surgery was the pleas that Cristina's four friends made to her. They were all just so very perfect for each of the characters. George with his earnestness: ''I know you still see me as 007. But that was day one. I've grown a lot since then. And learned a lot. I'm a fighter.'' Izzie with her realistic view, citing the fact that Cristina would probably pick Meredith and that'd be ''boring'' and ''slightly corrupt.'' Meredith with her practicality: ''So you know I deserve this.'' And then, the winning Karev with his no-bullshit stance: ''I can kiss ass when I have to but not yours.'' This — those five great characters and their individual quirks — is what made me fall in love with Grey's in the first place. And truly, despite any heinousness with Denny and Izzie, it's what makes me still tune in nearly five seasons later. End sappy moment. And end TV Watch.
But what do you think, TV Watchers? Did Cristina make the right decision by awarding the solo surgery to Karev? Where are you in the love-him-or-hate-him debate about Denny? How'd you feel about the Kanye track that closed out the episode? And: Have you ever made out over a steam vent that's steaming?
www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20244547,00.html