Grey’s Anatomy Review: If/Then

Once again I have to tip my hat to Shonda Rhimes.  She manages to come up with innovative ways to freshen up Grey’s Anatomy every time.  I don’t think all of her attempts are successful, but the willingness to deviate from the norm is greatly appreciated.  This week the show takes a look at what would happen if just a few things in the past had gone down a little differently.  Concepts of chance, fate, and destiny have always intrigued me.  Using Meredith’s dream as a set up, we see Seattle Grace as if we’re in an alternate universe.  Let me explain.

What if Derek and Addison stayed together?  This scenario is presented, along with some much more implausible ones.  Let’s be honest, even if you made a different choice in life, that wouldn’t change the essence of who you are, would it?  Maybe it would.  Before she started dreaming, Meredith thought: what if my mother had never been sick?  Ellis Grey was a world-class surgeon, before she was stricken with Alzheimer’s.  Last Thursday’s episode showed what it would be like if Ellis Grey remained in her prime.  In Dreamland, Ellis and Richard are married and Meredith is Richard’s stepdaughter.  As a matter of fact, her name is Meredith Webber, not Grey.  How bizarre!  Owen and Callie are married, and Alex and Meredith are a couple.  Kepner is one of the cool kids, and Charles Percy is alive! I loved it.  The episode also showed hints of how some things were always meant to be.  Even though Owen and Callie are married, she and Arizona make a connection over shared surgical success.  There is a faint glimmer in their eyes as they look at each other, but of course their lives don’t allow that connection to develop.  Owen is still shell-shocked from the horrors of war, but we see what it would be like for him with a different support system in place.

It was most interesting to see well-established characters acting completely differently.   Miranda Bailey and Derek Sheperd are two of the most ambitious, brilliant doctors at Seattle Grace.  Could you imagine them being meek, passive, and underachieving?  This parallel universe shows a timid Bailey who is too afraid to confront Ellis with an oversight she made in a patient’s evaluation.  Ellis is arrogant and pushy, and her influence remains unchallenged.  She and Richard display favoritism towards Meredith, even offering to bump her rival Cristina from a surgery in order to give Meredith the opportunity.  That’s right, Cristina and Meredith are rivals and enemies, not “besties.” 

Unbeknownst to Meredith, her fiancé  Alex is cheating on her with Kepner.  When Cristina spitefully spills the beans about the affair, Alex’s golden ticket of marrying Ellis’ daughter is ruined.   The episode ends with Meredith and Cristina sharing a drink and becoming unlikely friends.  Despite the fact they are operating in an alternate reality, we see that maybe Cristina and Meredith’s friendship would have happened anyway, even if other circumstances were different.

In “real” life at Seattle Grace, Derek is an ambitious doctor and a loving, supportive husband who maintains clear professional boundaries between himself and his wife.  In Dreamland, he is the opposite.  He’s a skilled surgeon, but a petty individual who is mean to his wife Addison, even though she is pregnant with their baby.  Instead of nurturing and supporting her, they bicker constantly.  His face is covered in stubble and he looks like a burnout.  As a matter of fact, the residents don’t call him McDreamy.  With his sour disposition he is known as McDreary, a gloomy Gus who sucks the joy out of any room.

I think it’s a difficult task to keep a venerable series like Grey’s Anatomy fresh and new.  I’m satisfied with the strong writing and character development I continue to see each week, and I don’t think the show needs to resort to gimmicks to keep loyal viewers like me interested.  Having said that, I appreciate the writers’ willingness to play around with different ideas and have fun.  We all have wondered “what if, “ at some point in our lives.   What if we had taken the other job, or gone to the other school, or chosen the other guy.   Can we change destiny, or are some things going to happen no matter what?  It was nice to see the writers shake things up a bit.  Keep up the good work ABC!

Season 8, Episode 13: “If/Then” (original air date February 2, 2012).

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC and Vivian Zink.

 

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Hope for the Hopeless

This week was a little different on Grey’s Anatomy.  Usually I need to break out the Kleenex, but instead of feeling weepy I was angry.  There was a lot of frustrating behavior this week, and by episode’s end the proverbial powder keg exploded.  Talk about major role reversal: the “stable” couple is on shaky ground and the formerly heartbroken couple is overjoyed.

Teddy (Kim Raver) has stopped torturing Cristina (Sandra Oh) and now the two are on a surgical tear.  They have been relentless, and it’s obvious that Teddy is escaping her pain by throwing herself into her job.  Cristina still feels guilty and indebted to Teddy, plus she really does enjoy all the surgeries.  It’s a match made in heaven for them, but hell for Owen.  When they try to horn in on someone else’s cardio patient, he has to intervene.  He orders the pair of them to take a break and get some rest because they are a liability issue if they are running on fumes.  Teddy and Cristina defy his wishes, and this leads to a huge fight between Cristina and Owen.  More on that later.

Meredith is the only fifth year resident who hasn’t decided on an area of practice.  Everyone is encouraging her to follow in the footsteps of her legendary mother, renowned surgeon Ellis Grey.  Bailey makes her pitch for general surgery, because that way Meredith wouldn’t be limited to just one organ or area of the body.   Webber (James Pickens Jr.) is performing a liver transplant, and Meredith will assist him in the procedure involving two bickering sisters.  He’s celebrating a great milestone: his 10,000^th surgery.  The transplant surgery is very special, but things take an unexpected turn when his wife Adele (Loretta Devine) shows up unannounced at the hospital.  Her Alzheimer’s has worsened, and she was found wandering by a neighbor.  April tries to soothe Adele, but she is agitated and demanding to see her husband.

April ends up taking her to the surgical gallery so she can see Webber, but she turns on the speaker and interrupts the procedure.  I though Kepner should have handled the situation more effectively instead of potentially distracting Richard with a personal and very distressful domestic situation.  Kepner is still very underwhelming as Chief Resident, because she’s not tough enough.  Fortunately, Meredith (having lots of experience dealing with her mother) was able to advise Webber of how to calm Adele, who is hysterical at this point.  He recalls a positive memory they share and begins singing “My Funny Valentine,” as he did on their wedding day.  In a touching scene, she sings along with him and is comforted.

The aforementioned scene normally would have made me cry, but mercifully my tear ducts remained dry.  I mentioned earlier that Owen (Kevin McKidd) and Cristina had a major difference of professional opinion regarding Cristina and Teddy’s surgical binge.  They defied his orders and laughed behind his back, and Owen tries to put his foot down by banning Cristina from Teddy’s surgical rotation.  She is vehemently against the idea, and an argument ensus.  The problem is that they decide to have this discussion at Zola’s first birthday party.

Cristina blasts Owen, telling him that his mishandling of Henry’s death is the reason they are in this position in the first place, and that Teddy gets whatever she wants.  Owen charges that Cristina is selfish and always gets her way, and their tempers really start to flare.  As Owen details her past selfish behavior he does the unthinkable: he brings up the abortion.  He yells at Cristina that she killed their baby, and her jaw nearly hits the floor.  This makes perfect sense though.  Owen was extremely hurt by their decision, mainly because his input seemed insignificant.  He tried to stand behind his wife through a decision that he opposed with every fiber of his being.  It looks like he has repressed his feelings all this time and that he and Cristina may be in real trouble.  I can’t WAIT to see what happens next week!

Season 8, Episode 12: “Hope for the Hopeless” (original air date January 19, 2012).

Grey’s Anatomy airs on Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC and Randy Holmes.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: This Magic Moment

One good thing about Grey’s Anatomy is that the writers always manage to include a degree of realism.  There are all sorts of interesting medical anomalies that can befall the average person, at any time. It might seem far-fetched, but it makes for good television and it’s technically possible.  Thursday’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy featured conjoined twins and an opportunity for the doctors of Seattle Grace to distinguish themselves from their counterparts.

It was all hands on deck as the doctors worked to separate the twins in a career-defining procedure.  It’s a “peeds” case, so Arizona (Jessica Capshaw)is front and center, but all of the alpha personalities are present, including Webber and Sheperd.  They practice the surgery numerous times on dolls before the actual procedure.  Arizona finds it difficult to defer to her colleagues, and eventually Callie has to firmly put her in her place.  The surgery is ultimately a success, but there were some interpersonal bumps along the way.

Karev (Justin Chambers) has loads of pediatric experience and has worked with Arizona extensively.  He should’ve had the inside track on the surgery, but he allowed Webber to psych him out.  His mistake during the practice sessions cost him a role in the surgery.  After the twin girls were successfully separated, one of the babies went into kidney failure.  Karev came up with the idea of taking a kidney from the baby’s sibling, and Arizona was going to let him scrub in.  While scrubbing in, Webber (James Pickens Jr.) manages to get in Alex’s head AGAIN, and guilts him into giving up the surgery.  Webber feigned disappointment and regret at feeling like his career was on the downswing, so Karev gave up his spot out of sympathy.

Meanwhile, Webber knew exactly what he was doing by playing upon his sympathy.  He basically yelled “gotcha!”  I felt bad that Alex was duped.  He rarely shows kindness to his counterparts, and I think the fact that Webber is former Chief Resident played a large role in his decision.  Later, Webber acts as if his betrayal was intended to be a teachable moment – but I thought it was a dirty trick and that Webber was above that sort of behavior.

Derek and Meredith are settling into their roles as parents, and couldn’t be happier.  Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Cristina, Teddy, or Lexie.  Teddy is understandably grappling with Henry’s death.  She hasn’t taken any time off and is still performing surgeries.  She is subjecting Cristina (Sandra Oh) to the torture of reliving Henry’s death over and over by repeatedly asking her to describe what happened in the O.R. in painstaking detail.  Whenever she is summoned, Cristina finds Teddy and dutifully recites what happened, always ending with the time of death.  It’s almost as if Teddy is looking for someone to blame, but eventually she obtains a modicum of closure and accepts Cristina’s medical explanation.  It will be difficult, but now maybe she can begin to heal.  The same can’t be said for Lexie, who can’t seem to get over Mark even though he has a new girlfriend.  I think she was crazy for dumping Avery, but I guess it was for the best if her feelings weren’t true.

Best of the episode: A successful surgery for the conjoined twins.

Worst of the episode: Webber’s double-crossing.

What to look for next: Trouble on the home front as Owen and Cristina bump heads.

Season 8, Episode 11: “This Magic Moment” (original air date January 12, 2012.)

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC and Kelsey McNeal.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Finally Some New Episodes!

After a lengthy holiday hiatus, Grey’s Anatomy is back in action. 

When we last saw the crew at Seattle Grace, things were looking dicey.   Meredith and Alex had been dispatched to transport an infant from a smaller hospital with less equipment to Seattle Grace.  Their ambulance stalled on a remote road in the rain, and when the driver went for help, the stationary ambulance was stuck by another vehicle.  Alex, Meredith and the baby girl emerge relatively unscathed, but when they exit the ambulance they see that five people have been thrown from the other vehicle.  Things have now gone from bad to impossibly worse. 

Each victim from the other car has varying injuries, except for a teenaged girl who seems largely unhurt.  While Alex and Meredith administer to her family, she is tasked with caring for the ailing infant.  It’s an intense scene as we survey the carnage.  We learn that one victim is unaccounted for, and I fear that he may have been ejected from the vehicle.  He’s actually pinned under the car, and Meredith tries desperately to free him as yet another vehicle approaches the blind turn.  Just when we think that they’ll be struck again, we see that it’s another ambulance arriving to the rescue.

Back at Seattle Grace, Teddy (Kim Raver) is still performing heart surgery on the patient that Torres and Avery nearly killed in their negligent orthopedic surgery.  No one has told her that Henry is dead, because she’s still in the middle of a delicate procedure and a patient is depending on her.  It seems cruel that she is carrying on cheerfully with her duties on what will end up being one of the worst days of her life.  She wants Cristina to assist in the procedure and won’t take no for an answer.  Owen asks Cristina to do the impossible.  He needs her to operate alongside Teddy knowing that her husband is dead.  In an amazing display of fortitude, Cristina does what is required. 

It’s almost sadistic to watch Teddy bop around happily in an effort to perk Cristina up for this “dream” surgery that’s on her bucket list.  She even asks Cristina about Henry periodically, which was painfully awkward.  When the surgery concludes, Cristina immediately pulls Teddy aside and breaks the news to her.  She did it compassionately but deliberately, and Teddy seemed to appreciate it.  If she had waited for Owen to tell Teddy (which is what he wanted), it would have been unnecessarily prolonging something that had gone on long enough.

This was an intense episode all around.  The people injured on the side of the road with Meredith and Alex were a family returning from a camping trip.  A grandmother and mother end up dying, leaving a 17 year old to tend to an injured younger brother and sister.  Her father is on life support, and she ultimately must grow up overnight and make some very adult decisions.  It was heart wrenching to watch someone so young endure so much tragedy in rapid succession, but I suppose it happens every day. 

One of the accident survivors ended up being treated by Mark’s new girlfriend, a gifted surgeon at a neighboring hospital.  She works with Derek to salvage the girl’s eye in a complicated procedure.  Begrudgingly, Lexie (Chyler Leigh) realizes that Mark’s new girlfriend is a good catch and actually very likable.  I wonder if Mark’s unavailability will make her regret her choices with Avery.

They saved the best for last, and at the end of the episode, after a long day – Derek and Meredith get the most wonderful surprise: Zola is back!  We’ll have to wait for an explanation, but it looks like the Sheperd family just got bigger.  What a great episode! I was beginning to have withdrawal.

Season 8, Episode 10: “Suddenly” (originally aired January 5, 2012).

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of Richard Foreman and ABC.

TV Supercouples: Who They Are and How They Work

Back in the seventies, a new term was coined – “supercouple.”  It began as a reference to soap opera pairings – those couples that no matter how many times they broke up and reunited – would always be “destined” for each other. The original supercouple was Luke and Laura from General Hospital, whose wedding gained the most viewership of any daytime TV program to date.

But what does “supercouple” mean outside of the soap opera? And do they still exist?

To the second question the answer is – totally.  But the first is a bit more complicated.

The main ingredient for a TV supercouple is audience devotion. The second most important component, plain and simple, is drama.  Supercouples are those romances that last for years and years, through marriage and divorce, breakups, betrayals, passionate reunions, and tragedy. They are couples the audience will root for no matter what happens between them, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that the two people involved are meant for each other.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of the supercouple. It’s a long-standing institution that continues to work today, just in different ways and through different forms of media. Supercouples are troubled, they don’t get a happily ever after until the end of the series – if then – and they tug at the viewers heartstrings.

Buffy and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are a great example of a supercouple. On another end of the spectrum, so are Ross and Rachel from Friends. Both couples dealt with many obstacles, separated multiple times, but ultimately still managed to convince a large audience that they were meant to be together.

There are a handful of supercouples on current TV shows as well.  Chuck and Blair from Gossip Girl come to mind automatically as a couple that, despite many breakups, still maintains audience love and support. Meredith and Derek from Grey’s Anatomy are in the same group, having been together, on and off, for the past several years of the show’s run.

Then there are would-be supercouples that just don’t work for one reason or another. Maybe it’s that the stakes aren’t high enough. Maybe it’s just a lack of chemistry. But no matter how many times they break up and reunite, these less-than-super combinations just fail. Finn and Rachel from Glee fall into this category. Don’t get me wrong, I love Glee, but it’s just hard to invest in Finn and Rachel as a couple and have that intense desire for them to be together.

So now that you know what a supercouple is, do you have any that you love? Any that you hate? Right now I’m digging Barney and Robin from How I Met Your Mother as my comedy supercouple and Chuck and Blair from Gossip Girl for drama.  So who are you cheering for? Who do you hope split up for good in the second half of the season? And who do you think will become a supercouple, given some time?  Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Photos courtesy of ABC Photo Archive, The CW Network, CBS Corporation.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Dark Was The Night

Last week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy was pretty intense.  There were multiple storylines that had my heart in my throat.  As a matter of fact, it was one of the more heart-breaking episodes we’ve had in a while.

For the past few weeks Meredith and Derek have tried to regain custody of Zola in the aftermath of Meredith’s monumental lapse in judgment when she interfered with Derek’s Alzheimer’s trial.  I wonder if she would make the same decision if she had it to do all over again.  I thought things were looking up for them after Alex managed to wrangle a hearing for them in front of a judge; but the social worker notified Meredith that their journey is over.  It’s a crushing blow to the couple, and it looks like Meredith is giving up on the idea of motherhood, at least for now.  Derek feels like he pushed her into the decision and is now afraid of losing Meredith.

Meanwhile, Henry (Scott Foley) has been admitted with very serious complications.  He’s always been ill, but his recent respite probably made Teddy forget just how grave his condition can be.  They have been blissful, but his health troubles threaten to ruin their happiness. He needs to have the tumors surrounding his lungs removed, and Webber doesn’t know how to perform the surgery with a laser, which would be most efficient.  Understandably, he doesn’t want his first time to be on his colleague’s husband.  Teddy has performed the procedure before, but of course she can’t operate on her spouse. That leaves Cristina, who Teddy is confident can perform the procedure just as she would.  They recently performed an identical surgery, and Cristina is the only one who can do it.  Webber is on board, but Owen is hesitant.  As Chief Resident and Cristina’s husband, he thinks the stakes are too high. They all agree that if they can conceal Henry’s identity from Cristina, she should be able to perform the surgery dispassionately and successfully.

While this very intense storyline is at the forefront, there are two other nail-biters playing out.  Callie and Jackson (Jesse Williams) must come to terms with a costly patient error.  A patient who had spinal surgery is near death because one of the screws they inserted in her spine is poking through her heart.  Jackson is still a resident, and he’s going to make mistakes.  Callie makes him feel like he screwed up royally, and he did – but it’s her job to oversee him.  Maybe if she wasn’t reading a magazine while he was operating, she would have noticed something.

Meredith also deals with a patient in dire straits.  She hasn’t had long to think about Zola when Arizona calls her into action. She and Alex must travel to a nearby urgent care center to transport a newborn baby needing surgery.  The weather is terrible, and the ambulance breaks down before they return with the baby.  She needs her tubes and incubator, but it is dangerous for them to remain in the broken down vehicle on a poorly lit road in a thunderstorm.  The paramedic leaves on foot while Meredith and Alex quibble about what to do.  Their ambulance is struck by an oncoming vehicle, and we see the accident from their perspective, in the inside of the ambulance.  They are thrown against the ambulance wall as the vehicle appears to flip over.  Great. Just we need.  The umpteenth tragedy.  My anxiety was eventually alleviated, as Meredith and Alex emerge from the accident largely unscathed.  It looked bad initially, but when they step outside they see just how lucky they actually were.  Three lifeless bodies lay in the road – the occupants of the ill-fated vehicle that struck their ambulance.

Back at Seattle Grace, things take a turn for the worse.  Cristina (Sandra Oh) has no idea that Henry is the patient, so at first she’s all “been there done that” about it, but she ultimately does the best that she can during the surgery.  Things continue to go south and Webber has to intervene the old fashioned way and crack open Henry’s chest.  Their efforts prove futile, and Henry eventually dies on the table.  Webber gave it all he had, and Cristina did a fine job with the laser.  It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but they will have to tell Teddy that her husband is dead. In an awkward moment, Owen must pretend that Henry is still alive, because Teddy hasn’t finished her own surgery yet on the patient that Callie and Jackson botched.  The episode ends with Teddy still thinking that Henry pulled through.  How sad!!

This was another great episode.  Things haven’t been that intense in a while, and it was a reminder that Grey’s can be equally suspenseful as emotional.  I look forward to seeing if Derek and Meredith re-commit to starting a family or if they accept what has happened to them.  See you next week!

Season 8, Episode 9: Dark Was the Night (original air date November 10, 2011)

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC and Jordan Althaus.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Heart-Shaped Box

In this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy the residents find enlightenment in the oddest of places.  Derek and Meredith have moved beyond their differences and are a united front in their efforts to regain custody of Zola.  Unfortunately, Meredith has not returned to Bailey’s good graces just yet.  O’Malley’s mom has been admitted, and Bailey is determined that she will leave the hospital as good as new.  It’s sad and a little awkward for everyone to be reminded of George, as things are drastically different now as compared to their first two years of residency.  Callie particularly feels odd about telling her former mother-in-law about her new life, which includes a wife and baby girl.  Eventually she opens up about her life and finds the older woman genuinely happy and supportive.

The good vibes continued to flow freely as Mark (Eric Dane) further displayed his apparent man crush on Avery.  Gone are the days when Avery was a lowly resident scrounging for surgeries.  Mark has taken quite a liking to his brilliant student and makes an effort to mold his protégé.  You’ll recall that Avery’s mother warned him about Lexie and Mark, and Avery’s seen enough to know that she harbors residual feelings for her ex.  He’s so uncomfortable about the situation that he withdraws from a complicated nerve procedure for which he’d been preparing for weeks.  It would be the perfect feather in his cap on his record of wins and losses if he could successfully perform the surgery.  Instead, he pawns it off on Karev to avoid Mark.  More on that in a bit.

The episode opened with a failed heart transplant.  The heart’s recipient died before the organ could be transported, so Seattle Grace was basically left with a perfectly good heart that was “all dressed up with no place to go.”  They put the heart in a box connected to valves that kept it pumping.  It was a creepy but fascinating sight, especially as the heart became a sort of oracle throughout the episode.

Last week Teddy (Kim Raver) told Cristina to submit a list of dream surgeries, and promised her that she’d do her best to make sure she got to perform them.  Webber takes a look at Cristina’s list and scoffs at her choices, telling her that she needs to talk to the heart in a box.  She’s confused at first, but eventually she makes a breakthrough by looking at every procedure on her list and comparing it to dealing with the heart in a box.  If it’s less cool than the heart in a box, it’s eliminated.

Webber (James Pickens Jr.) is a big believer in the heart’s power and tells Avery to consult it too.  He sits before the heart and eventually gains clarity about Lexie.  The episode ends with him choosing the “Plastics Posse” (Mark) over Lexie.  He explains that he’s aware of the feelings she has for Mark and that he can’t continue to avoid Mark because of the awkwardness those feelings cause.  He can’t afford to hurt his career, and he chooses Mark.  In a great moment, he asks Lexie if she can tell him to choose differently…and she can’t. Great scene!

Lexie got dumped, but at least she fared better with her patient.  She’s still adjusting to working with her brother-in-law, but things are getting better as they continue to perform impressively difficult surgeries.  This week their patient is a stubborn author with more than one active aneurysm.  Alfre Woodard made a guest appearance in the role, and she did a great job, as always.  She refuses to get the surgery until she finishes her novel, and so Lexie ends up taking dictation to speed up the process.  The woman’s story parallels Lexie’s own love life with Mark and Avery, and it’s obvious that Avery’s suspicions are right.

The episode ended on a high note for everyone, except Teddy.  Looks like Henry is sick again.  Bailey and Meredith finally made up, but more importantly – we’re left to wonder if Lexie and Mark will reconnect now that she’s free and clear.  I liked Lexie with Avery, but that may be just because he’s so darned cute.  I can’t deny that she and Mark once had something good.  Next week’s episode promises to be another great one – stay tuned.

Season 8, Episode 8: Heart-Shaped Box (original air date November 3, 2011).

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of Randy Holmes and ABC.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Good Teams Are Drunk Teams

Much like Derek Shepherd, I’m here pinch hitting. I’ve never reviewed Grey’s Anatomy for Poptimal before, but I have been a faithful viewer since Season 2. I know. I didn’t watch Season 1. Sue me.

The gang is supposed to play a softball game against a rival hospital, and it came as no surprise (at least to me) that none of them are very good (or terribly interested) in playing. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) get drunk in the outfield, Teddy begs for the chance to pitch, and everyone generally complains about how they have better places to be.

Except Mark (Eric Dane) who is busy making out with an eye doctor from the opposing team. If you’ll recall, last week Callie (Sara Ramirez) put the kibosh on him and Arizona’s (Jessica Capshaw) excessive bonding time in the kitchen. She told him he needed to start having sex again, and apparently he took her advice, which makes everyone happy.

Or almost everyone, because Lexie (Chyler Leigh) doesn’t seem to be enjoying it much at all.

Owen (Kevin McKidd) is struggling with the new chief position, and sees the softball game as a chance to bring his staff together as a team under his leadership.  He takes his coaching skills back to the hospital as well, putting them to good use when Derek (Patrick Dempsey) turns down a patient. A mother brings in her daughter (who has a brain tumor) and requests a standard procedure. Derek believes he can try something new and remove the entire tumor, giving the girl a life she never expected to have, but at a much higher risk. When the mother doesn’t want to gamble with her daughter’s life, Derek advises them to return home and get the standard surgery from any number of competent neurosurgeons.

Hunt disagrees, telling Derek “we don’t send people home. That’s not who we are. It’s not who you are.”

It seems the Zola situation is affecting Derek more than he lets on, even though he and Meredith have managed to maneuver their marriage at least somewhat back on track (still with the understanding they don’t talk about work.)

For her part, Meredith is still secretly helping with Bailey’s trial, unable to let her mother’s research go until she has figured it out. She does, but Bailey (Chandra Wilson) continues to be a hateful you-know-what about Meredith being anywhere near her lab. To be honest, this whole storyline bothers me, because it’s out of character for Bailey to be so unforgiving. Yes, everyone knows Meredith screwed up. But everyone forgave Izzy for way worse back in the day.

Their feud explodes on the baseball field, Meredith being drunk enough to ask Bailey what her problem is to her face. Ex-Chief Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) puts a stop to it, insisting that whether or not they like each other right now, they need one another to get the trial back on track – which is the most important thing. Looks like Bailey and Meredith will be working together (getting Meredith out of those “ridiculous pink scrubs”) at least for the foreseeable future.

Callie is pretty much the only doctor at the hospital who continues to connect with her patients, and her story this week is endearing and heartfelt. A garbage man falls from his truck and is crushed by a car, leaving his hand demolished. Which would be a sad thing to begin with, but turns out the man’s passion is woodcarving – something he’ll no longer be able to do if he loses his fingers. Callie works her crazy ortho-magic and ends the episode with a beautiful message about the things that let us live and the things that are worth living for.

Poor Avery. I have to say, he’s been growing on me this season. I’m not sure I’m even on a Mark and Lexie bandwagon anymore, but it’s clear from this week’s episode that’s where Shonda is taking us. Lexie is having a jealousy issue with Mark and his new girlfriend, even though Derek assures her it will last no time at all. When she loses her cool during the game and beans the girl in the chest (Lexie, um, thought she was stealing), Avery calls her out. He (and everyone else) realizes there’s something between Lexie and Mark, and it looks like we’re going to explore just what that is in the weeks to come.

If you’ll notice, I’ve pretty much wrapped up this review and I’ve yet to mention Alex (Justin Chambers) once. He wasn’t around the hospital much, because he was busy trying to track down Zola’s adoption records and find out what was going on with her case. He bribes a public official (illegal) and tries to influence a federal judge (also illegal) to put the baby back in MerDer’s care because of her medical issues, if nothing else. It seemed as though his little quest failed, then at the end of the episode the judge agreed to set a hearing date for their case. Looks like we’ll be moving forward on that storyline soon as well.

Tidbits:

* Cristina finally pleased Teddy by letting April take the lead on a cardiac case. It looks as though she’ll be returning to her old form soon. On the downside, she and Owen are still not talking about her abortion, a fact that surely will blow up in their faces soon.

* Henry (Scott Foley) was around, getting the bad news that his eyelet device might cause diabetes since they’re having trouble with the trial. I hope he doesn’t die. I love Scott Foley.

* Next week George’s mom is returning to the hospital. Interested to see what old feelings she stirs up in everyone, as well as a potential Mark and Lexie reunion!

Season 8, Episode 7 “Put Me In, Coach” (original airdate October 27, 2011)

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursday nights at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC/RICHARD CARTWRIGHT.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Cristina and Alex Play Chicken

Our residents thrive off competition, that’s one thing we know for sure of the doctors of Grey’s Anatomy.  Last season it was the race for Chief Resident that dominated their daily lives.  This season they are in their fifth and final year of residency, and it is the most difficult.  Each surgery will count on their record, and they will be defined by this final year.

It’s a bit disheartening to think of doctors trying to preserve their win-loss record like a college football coach.  Their patients are real people with families, not just numbers on a stat sheet.  Even the best surgeons lose patients; they’re not God.  That being said, the residents still want to keep the losses to a minimum.  To that end, they are trying to end up on rotations that will challenge and impress without being too risky.  Adversity doesn’t just build character, it reveals it.  Some of the residents did themselves no favors by playing it safe.

Cristina (Sandra Oh)  ends up with Callie in an orthopedic surgery involving a patient with permanently poor posture.  Say that three times fast.  The young man’s neck is permanently in a downward position, as if he’s looking at his feet.  Cristina thought she’d have a routine fracture procedure or hip replacement, but Callie assumed that Renegade Cristina would welcome a challenge and thus presented her with a very complicated case.  The neck surgery will actually entail three separate procedures and is far from routine.  Cristina clams up when she sees that it won’t be the cakewalk she imagined, and when things get dicey during the procedure – she chickens out by asking that her name be taken off the procedure.  When the patient is out of the woods it’s too late for her to attach herself again.  No guts, no glory.  If you’re too afraid to get the losses then you don’t deserve the victories either.  Callie cautions her that she may be losing that part of her that made her a good surgeon in the first place by playing it safe.

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) has recently been working in Obstetrics, which is considered a monumental downgrade.  Her peers chide her for sporting scrubs from the “vagina squad,” but she ignores their good-natured ribbing.  Meanwhile, Little Grey has taken her place with Derek in Neuro.  She’s not finding him too friendly of a boss, but that changes when she brings him a patient with a challenging brain tumor – a woman for whom Meredith just delivered a baby girl.  The woman and her husband must decide if they should proceed with the risky procedure or be content with what little time they have left.

While some are taking risks, some are playing it safe.  Alex (Justin Chambers) has always been pretty ballsy, but the fifth year jitters are getting to him too.  A patient presents for open heart surgery, and is concerned about the scar that will be left after the procedure.  He asks about another procedure that will be just as effective, but will not leave a scar.  It’s called a “tavi,” and it’s a lot riskier than the standard procedure.  Alex wants to minimize his losses and doesn’t want to perform the tavi.  Teddy is supervising him, and ultimately it is she that performs the procedure because Alex seems unwilling.  Just like Cristina, Alex punks out.  It was good to see more depth of character in this episode.  Alex and Cristina are known as two of the more gutsy residents, but they chickened out when the chips were down.  Will they over-compensate next week by taking unnecessary risks?

This was another great episode.  One thing to watch out for in the coming weeks is Kepner settling into her role as Chief Resident, and whether or not Meredith is able to mend fences with Bailey, who has not forgiven her for costing Richard his job.  Stay tuned!

Season 8, Episode 6: “Poker Face” (original air date October 20, 2011).

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC and Ron Tom.

Grey’s Anatomy Review: Dr. Mom pays a visit

Last week’s episode was more proof that Grey’s Anatomy is one of the best shows around.  There are times when it’s a little too sappy and corny for my liking, but for the most part it’s consistently well-written and acted.  This high standard was reinforced with a great guest appearance from the wonderful Debbie Allen as Dr. Catherine Avery, renowned surgeon and mother of Jackson Avery.

The elder Dr. Avery presents a unique opportunity for Seattle Grace with a cutting edge surgery.  She reveals her patient, a young man named Ryan.  Ryan was fortunate to beat penile Cancer, but it left him without a penis.  Seattle Grace has the chance to make history as the first hospital to successfully perform a penis transplant.  The residents are chomping at the bit to be selected to assist with the procedure, and the winner will be chosen by skills lab performance.  Mark takes the lead because he views the procedure as one best suited for Plastics, though he thinks the patient should get a prosthetic penis instead.

The elder Avery is like most mothers: prying and doting.  Jackson (Jessie Williams)  sent Lexie out of town for a couple of days, in preparation for his mother’s visit. He didn’t want her to have to answer a thousand nosy questions. Catherine is a brilliant doctor but meddlesome mother.  Jackson tells the others that she has a problem respecting boundaries.  She also berates her son for his choice to work in Plastics with Mark instead of with Derek in Neurosurgery.

If Jackson wants his mother to respect his professional choices, he’s going to have to prove that he’s becoming a better surgeon.  He gets his chance during the transplant surgery.  He and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) win the skills lab battle and are chosen fair and square, so there are no concerns of nepotism when Jackson assists his mother.  When  Meredith is called away from the surgery,  April fills in.  She later makes a critical error that threatens the transplant, and Jackson saves the day with a complicated procedure that he learned from Mark.  This pretty much shuts Catherine up and validates his choice to work in plastic surgery.

The most intense storyline involved Derek and Meredith.  They haven’t heard anything about Zola from the social worker, and Derek is getting anxious.  Meredith tells him to be patient, but things take a turn for the worse when Alex (Justin Chambers)  receives a page during the skills lab.  The page is for Zola, who has been admitted with seizures.  She has a high fever and a distended abdomen.  Alex wants to page Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and Meredith, but Arizona and the social worker tell him there’s no way he can do that.  It would be a breach of confidentiality and it could jeopardize the adoption, which is already on shaky ground.  Alex wrestles with the decision because he feels like he’s already ruined Meredith’s life once when he tattled on her, and he doesn’t want to mess up with her again.

Alex tells Cristina that Zola has been admitted and the two of them agree to tell Derek and Meredith.  Derek goes crazy and wants to intervene, but Meredith is the cooler head.  It takes Owen, Arizona and Meredith all to convince Derek to let Arizona handle it.  He fears that the shunt he implanted is causing a problem and so he’s the one that should fix it.  He will have to trust Arizona to heal Zola while he and Meredith wait.  This ordeal brings them closer together, although I’m sure they would have preferred different circumstances.  At the close of the episode they find out that Zola will be fine.  They run into their social worker while she waits for the elevator, and she can see from their faces that they’ve shed some tears.  She realizes that they knew about Zola but didn’t intervene.  Maybe that will be considered in their favor when a final custody determination is made.

This was another entertaining episode, and although last week was a nice change of pace, I’m glad to return to the regular format.  Although Mama Avery was nosy, she picked up on Mark’s residual feelings for Lexie when he attempted to tell her how lucky Jackson was to have her.  Is Mark still holding a torch for Lexie?  I’m sure that’s something that will resurface this season.  Stay tuned!

Season 8, Episode 4: Loss, Love, and Legacy (original air date October 13, 2011)

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.

Images courtesy of ABC and Richard Cartwright.

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