“Grey’s Anatomy” recap: “Dark Was The Night”

By Joe Dyton (thedytonian@yahoo.com)

Last night’s midseason finale? Now, that was an episode of “Grey’s”! After a few weeks of watchable, but unsubstantial episodes, we finally got something we could sink or teeth into yesterday. There was tension, high stakes, decent comic relief; these are the things that make “Grey’s”, “Grey’s”. I still wrestle with is it worth it to sit through uneventful episodes to get a big payoff like last night. I still think I’d rather have some excitement every week and a strong payoff episode rather than go through nothing going on for episodes at a time and one or two big POW! episodes a season. I understand every episode can’t be like last night’s; if you keep the pedal to metal full-time, you’ll burn out the engine. I’m just looking for a few more speed bursts. Anyway, this isn’t about the season so far, it’s about last night’s show, so let’s get to it.

I have to applaud the “Grey’s” writers’ room; they got me to care about Henry’s well-being. Just last week, I said I had a hard time emotionally  investing him because he was married to a third-string character. That changed when Cristina was put in charge of Henry’s surgery. Now, we were getting somewhere. Cristina tasked with saving her mentor’s husband’s life? That’s good drama. Although, I felt Henry’s fate was sealed when Teddy passed up on Richard’s decades’ worth of OR experience in favor of a fifth-year resident just because Cristina knew how to do a more state-of-the-art procedure. After that decision was made in the elevator, I wrote in my notebook that Henry was finished. I know hindsight is always 20/20, but I don’t think keeping Henry’s identity secret was the best way to go. Her cavalier, just another patient attitude might have made her a little sloppy. From all we’ve seen from Cristina, the pressure of operating on Teddy’s husband wouldn’t have gotten to her. She operated on her best friend’s husband at gunpoint for crying out loud. It doesn’t seem like Henry had much of a chance anyway, and by not telling her it set up the great, but painful scene where Owen broke the news to her who it was. Putting that scene behind the glass and out of earshot was a good idea, and well-executed. A small part of me wishes we could have heard the conversation though. In seven-plus seasons, how many times have we seen Cristina lose it like that? Off the top of my head, I can only think of two times; when she lost her and Burke’s baby and when she begged Meredith to take of her wedding dress after Burke disappeared. Again, it was a small part of me that wished that; I think they made the right call.

I thought losing Henry on the table was painful enough, but then they go ahead and make us sit through Teddy talking to Owen as if he made it through the surgery fine. I felt so bad for Owen as he was battling through his Chiefly duties and his friendship with Teddy about whether to tell her not. You could see the wheels turning in his head. Richard was right; that news couldn’t be delivered as she was trying to save a patient’s heart. It just stunk that he had to lie to his friend. He probably would have been better off avoiding her OR all together. For the first time in a while, I can’t wait to see what happens next on this show. Will Teddy blame Cristina? How will she react when she finds out Owen lied to her? The rest of the episode could have been bad, and I would have been OK with that because the writers found a way for me to care about a Teddy storyline.

Speaking of the rest of the episode, I was actually kind of surprised that the McDreamy’s aren’t going to get Zola. At least it doesn’t look that way. Until they get an official word, I’m not writing that off just yet. It’ll make for a more interesting story in terms of Meredith and Derek’s relationship if they don’t get her though. Will Mer blame Derek like he thinks she will? On the flip side if they do get Zola, I’m sure the writers can get plenty of mileage out of Derek and Meredith being parents, so it’s a win-win there. I liked the domino effect that Jackson and Callie’s mess-up started, even if leaving equipment in a patient was already done on “Nip/Tuck”. If that doesn’t happen, then Teddy’s not in surgery and she’s probably watching Henry’s surgery and all the backlash from the dishonesty wouldn’t occur. And of course, there was Alex and Meredith trying to get a newborn back to the bigger, better-equipped Seattle Grace Mercy West. You’d think hospital ambulances’ engines would be checked so often, they would never break down like that, but what are you going to do? We have to let some things  slide for the sake of entertainment, right? Anyway, they were just lucky the thing didn’t blow up when they got hit like the driver said they might. My goodness, that was an eerie ending with the passengers from the other car just lying in the road, but what a way to end the last episode of 2011.

OK a few more thoughts and I’m finished…

*I enjoyed watching Mark and then Arizona try to sell Derek on him and Meredith co-parenting Sophia (I guess they’d be parents four and five, so would it be quint-parenting?). That was nice comic relief to a somewhat heavy episode.

*Between what happened to Callie last season and the passengers that hit Alex and Meredith last night, is “Grey’s” the best “always buckle up” PSA ever?

*I was shocked when I saw this was “Grey’s” midseason finale. It aired on November 10!!! Couldn’t they have had one more episode next week before Thanksgiving? No new episodes in December? That just seems early to me.

 Line of the Night: “She’s a baby, not a timeshare in Cabo.”

*Honorable mentions:

-“I have Alzheimer’s in my family history, what’s your excuse?”

-“I think we should get another surgeon.”

-“I’m not her valet.”

-“I knew what J-Lo wore to the coffee house. That’s what I was doing.”

-“She’ll never forgive any of us.”

Well, that’s all that I have. I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did. That’s a wrap for “Grey’s” in 2011. We’ll reconvene about this show next year. Have a wonderful weekend!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC and a freelance sports reporter for the Frederick News-Post in Frederick, MD. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

“Grey’s Anatomy” recap: “Heart-Shaped Box”

By Joe Dyton

Like the last couple of episodes of “Grey’s”, I thought last night’s wasn’t bad, just weak in terms of story content. There was nothing that really took me to the edge of my seat, or had me anxiously awaiting the return from a commercial break. It was a serviceable episode, but it would have been nice if there was just one hook during the 60 minutes.

The crown jewel of the episode of course was the return of Mama O’Malley. It wasn’t so much what she did, but her presence helped remind me of how good the show was. I enjoyed Mer, Cristina and Alex (sort of) reminiscing about great George moments like when he flew solo in the elevator. Mrs. O’Malley’s also gave us the great scene when Bailey admitted she had been so hard on Meredith because her behavior, even when she was doing the right thing was, “maddening”. Bailey telling her what to wear to her court hearing was a nice touch. We also got Alex to admit he only called George a creep because he reminded of him of Izzie, which made Alex sad. An Izzie mention? How about that? And of course, I can’t forget the comical scene when Callie freaked out when she saw her ex-mother-in-law and introduced her wife to her as Dr. Robbins. My favorite part of the episode came when Callie went full disclosure on her life and all Mrs. O’Malley wanted to see was a picture of Sophia. That storyline saved what was more or less a mediocre episode.

I also got a kick out of the Chief playing Jiminy Cricket to Cristina and Jackson, but rather than telling them to let their conscience be their guide, he told them to look to the heart in the box. I was wondering how the Chief was going to stay relevant now that he’s not technically the Chief anymore, but it looks like he will be more of a guidance figure. Until the writers realize the show’s at its best when Richard’s in charge and give him his job back, of course. The Chief’s advice seemed to work though; Cristina came up with a quality wish list, and Jackson realized learning from Mark was more important than being with Lexie. I can understand why Jackson did what he did, but I feel like the writers missed an opportunity by rushing the break-up. It would have made for much better theatre if he continued to date Lexie while learning from Mark and then something ends up happening between Mark and Lexie. Then there’s a great inner-conflict; could Jackson still want to learn from the guy who messed around with his girlfriend? That’s better than what we got; Jackson deciding whether or not he could learn from the guy who his girlfriend still pined for.

The rest of the show didn’t interest me very much. I felt more was going to happen with the peds fellowship interviewee Arizona was dealing with. She kind of came and went, and just happened to mention on the phone that Arizona kept going on and on about Alex while he was in earshot. I felt there was going to be more there; maybe an actual encounter with Alex or something. Did they really just bring her in so we could find out Alex is the frontrunner for the fellowship? I wish I could be more interested in Teddy, but I can’t. Her and Henry arguing about him going to medical school? Zzzzzz Honestly, I thought it was a cool ambition on his part. There was some drama at the end when he was coughing up blood, but it’s hard for me to emotionally invest in the husband of the show’s third-string head of cardio (behind Burke and Hahn). The writer in me found the storyline with Lexie and McDreamy’s patient somewhat interesting (plus Alfre Woodard was excellent). Of course the love triangle in the books paralleled what Lexie was going through; she had the right a guy, a nice guy, but she can’t fight the pull towards the flawed one.

OK a few random thoughts and I’m finished…

 

*The heart in a box was a cool apparatus, but watching it beat on its own freaked me out a little bit.

 

*Sorry I didn’t get a chance to write about last week’s show. Overall, I felt the same way as I did about this week’s episode; not bad, but not engrossing either. I will admit, ABC’s promo department got me good. The prior week’s preview had me thinking we were in for another Cristina-Teddy blow-up and break-up. All they did was reshuffle their conversation to make it look like Teddy was saying Cristina was done in a negative way. In reality, she was graduating her! Good job, ABC, you got me hook, line and sinker! I also wanted to give Alex a thumb’s up for his efforts to get Meredith and Derek’s adoption case in front of a judge. The softball scenes were very funny; although I can’t believe in that big of a hospital, Owen couldn’t put together a team of 10 staff members who could actually play. I did especially like Lexie pegging Mark’s new girlfriend with the ball, even if that was what led to Jackson and Lexie’s downfall. And, during that episode, there was a “Private Practice” promo that called it, “TV’s most provocative medical drama”. Umm…did “Grey’s” pass that torch and I just missed it? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but that felt like a slight on “Grey’s”.

Line of the Night: “She let a starving person loose in a grocery store.”

*Honorable mentions…

-“She’s all dressed up with no place to go.”

-“The Plastics Posse!”

-“I’m picking Mark.”

-“I have a reputation for arrogance.”

-“Want me to drop a note in his locker?”

That’s all I’ve got for this week. I hope you enjoyed the show. Next week’s episode looks pretty tense, but I thought the same thing about last week’s, so don’t take my word for it!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC and a freelance sports reporter for the Frederick News-Post in Frederick, MD. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.

“Grey’s Anatomy”: “Love, Loss and Legacy”

By Joe Dyton

Thursday night on “Grey’s” the heartbeat of the episode was obviously Jackson’s mother, Dr. Catherine Avery, popping in to perform a high-profile operation (let’s just leave it at that). Overall, I thought the storyline worked. Debbie Allen was great in role, not that it was any surprise. I think what I liked most about her being there was her presence wasn’t just about Avery. It was funny to find out that she and April were Facebook friends, that she always carried a torch for Richard, and of course it was great to watch her go toe-to-toe with Mark Sloan.

Mama Avery also gave us a look at how Ellis and Meredith’s relationship would have been if Ellis had been lucid when the series began. I have to imagine Ellis Grey would have been just as hard on Meredith as Jackson’s mother was on him. Nothing would have been good enough. Although the difference, in my opinion was Catherine was tough on Jackson out of caring, while Ellis was just tough to be tough.

I wasn’t sure how to react about Alex letting Derek and Meredith know that Zola had been admitted. As a human being and a friend, I totally get why Alex did it. On the other hand, doesn’t professionalism have to take priority there? It was explained very clearly what was at stake if Derek and Meredith were made aware of what was going on. I always wonder if the rules are as fast and loose at other hospitals as they are at Seattle Grace. I’m trying to think about a time when one of these docs had a dilemma like Alex and actually decided, “You know what? This is going against the rules. I want to do it, but I can’t.” If anyone can think of a time when one of the doctors did the right thing, please refresh my memory. Given this is the place where Izzie cut Denny’s LVAD wire to move him up on the heart donor list, my guess is morality hasn’t conquered all too many times.

I love Bailey, but I wasn’t all that interested in the love triangle thing she had going on last night. At first, maybe I thought it was because I just prefer Bailey in a professional setting, but I remembered that I found her marital woes with Tucker interesting. I guess I wasn’t as emotionally invested in watching her struggle between Ben and Eli because there wasn’t as much at stake. There was still plenty of funny stuff that came out her triangle; I enjoyed the scene with Henry when it was revealed that Bailey never invited Eli to the dinner party (always an awkward situation). I even liked her scene with Teddy when she told Bailey how to break it off. When I like a Teddy scene, it has to be somewhat decent. Anyway, any Bailey is better than no Bailey, so I’ll take what I can get. I just hope she’s in more interesting storylines (interesting to me at least) from now on. My guess is now that “Off the Map” crashed and burned, Ben will be back in Bailey’s life pretty soon?

A few other thoughts and I’m done….

*I loved April’s over-enthusiastically “Woo!” when  Jackson’s mother asked who was excited to make history. I also got a kick out of all the strategically-placed heads around the auditorium when her patient was on stage.

*Another good running gag was Richard trying to guilt-trip Bailey into asking Meredith to help out with his trial. I feel like he’s pumping a dry well there. If there’s anyone who actually cares about following rules at that hospital, it’s Bailey.

*I was certain that the combination of Catherine finding out that Richard was still married, Mark and Catherine’s bickering and Mark longing for Lexie, that Mark and Catherine would, ahem, “get together”. It just seemed like the perfect storm for Jackson’s mom and mentor to go there.

*Line of the Night: “Your left hand is shaking like a motel bedspread.”

*Honorable mentions:

-“You have a mom, Jackson and I have surgeons who procreated.”

-“I have to serve dinner to  a dead man walking?”

-“I am using my powers for good.”

*”Grey’s” is going to need a new lead-in; I just saw that “Charlie’s Angels” has been canceled. I don’t think anyone was surprised by that. I think we’re about four aside for new shows that have gotten full-season pick-ups versus shows that have been canceled. ABC will burn off the rest of the “Angels” episodes that have already been produced.

That’s all I have for this week! Again, sorry for the delayed delivery. Have a great weekend!!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC and a freelance sports reporter for the Frederick News-Post in Frederick, MD. He is a former assistant editor for The Dealmakers real estate magazine in Hamilton, NJ and a former sports writer and copy editor for The Trentonian in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at thedytonian@yahoo.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dyton99.