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!

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!

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!!

Alright, the goal for these recaps this season is keeping them concise, so let’s get to it…

There were a couple of scenes that really stood out for me last night, but my favorite was during Cristina’s appendectomy. I laughed out loud when it turned out holier-than-thou, “know the basics” Teddy couldn’t help Cristina through the operation because she drew a blank too and their scrub nurse had to bail them out. That was one of those great, comic relief moments the show used to give us consistently to break up the melodrama. More of that, please! I also enjoyed watching Cristina grill her interns for an appendectomy step-by-step under the guise of teaching when in reality she was the one who needed the lesson. Felt bad that she made her one intern cry though. Also on the Teddy-Cristina front, when Teddy told Cristina that questioning her every move never gets old, all I could think was, “Yeah, actually it has gotten old.” It’s never good when a plot device like that has worn out its welcome two weeks into a season.

Obviously, the biggest development from last night was Richard stepping down as Chief of Surgery and handing the reigns over to Owen. Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to avoiding spoilers because I read so much about TV. I read about this over the summer, so I wasn’t surprised about the announcement. I wasn’t expecting it to be so unceremonious though. Couldn’t we have at least seen when Richard offered Owen the job? Also, let the record show this is the third time Richard has stepped down or planned to step down from the post. Is the time it actually sticks? It will be interesting going forward to see how Owen and Cristina’s relationship goes with him having the big job. Between that and Cristina’s recent life decision, there is a lot going on there.

The Teddy-Cristina scene was the funniest (in my mind) scene, and Richard stepping down was the biggestdevelopment, but the best scene was Derek and Meredith’s quasi-blowout at the end of the show. I say quasi because Meredith was pretty calm during the whole thing. I was glad to see Derek finally let it all out; everything he said was right. Meredith does just jump in without thinking and never really suffers any consequences; she’s like an “Entourage” character. I liked that Derek admitted he was sticking around because of the promise he made and all the things about Meredith that make him want to pull his perfect hair out are what he loves about her as well. It’s great to see this couple become interesting again.

OK a few other thoughts and I’m finished…

*I got a little nervous when I saw the “No animals were harmed…” disclaimer before the episode, but last night’s pig operation was not nearly as jarring as it was last time. Speaking of, when everyone was asking Alex if they could borrow his pig was one of the funnier scenes. Do they just have pigs lying around the hospital for practice??

*Has the pressure of being a fifth-year resident and flying solo gotten to Alex? His bedside manner was pretty bad last night. I never remember him being a “cut ‘em open, fix ‘em up and move on to the next” kind of guy. Also, I thought it was going to take Alex a little longer to get back in everyone’s good graces for tattling on Meredith. Usually, I complain when “Grey’s” drags things out, but this would have seem like a logical time to extend a situation four or five episodes.

*The one thing I really didn’t like about last night was Arizona scaring Jackson out of performing his cleft repair. I understand she wanted the kid to have the best set of hands possible working on him, but her tactic felt a little underhanded. She had already told him she was going to have Sloan to do it, why did she then tell him he could do it, just to scare him out of it at the end?

*I also thought the writers got good mileage out of Owen trying to get on Bailey’s good side. Callie’s right; that’s the one person you don’t want against you. I was also wondering if Callie’s crash-and-burn as Chief Resident was going to come up as April tries to stay above water; glad that wasn’t forgotten. Nice moment between Callie and April there. 

“Line of the Night”:

“Are you guys the slow class?” 

*Honorable mentions

-“That wasn’t very Chief-y.”

“Can I have your pig?”

“Good luck with that, MacGyver.”

“Call the morgue, moron. He’s dead.”

That’s all I have for this week. I hope you all enjoyed the show. Until next week…

But, back to Thursday’s show. The biggest problem for me was much of the hour was fueled by the Chief Resident race, and I don’t really care who wins. Not to mention, this just feels like a repeat of the race to succeed the Chief when he was planning to retire a few seasons ago. So when a storyline that a) I’m not that interested in and b) has been done before is carrying the hour, it’s not going to be best viewing experience for me. On this storyline though, it looks like the race is down to Alex and April, right? Cristina is out, Jackson dropped out and Alex more or less push Meredith out with his end of the episode bombshell (more on that later). Is Lexie in the race too? I honestly can’t remember. For comedy’s sake, it would be great if April won the gig; can you imagine the rest of the residents having to report to perky, rules-following April?

As for the non-chief resident parts of the show, what can I say? Now that Callie and baby are both healthy, Arizona and Callie are married and Arizona and Mark are getting along alright; there’s not much to feed that storyline anymore. I’m not sure where Arizona and Callie go from here; I guess they’ve had their time in the spotlight, and they’ll now take Meredith and Derek’s spot as the show’s happy, harmonious couple (I can’t imagine things staying sunny between Mer and Der if/when her tainting their trial comes to light). At least there’s some hope for Mark if he and Lexie find their way back to one another (poor Jackson).

Speaking of Jackson, I thought he asked off of the Chief’s diabetes trial to focus on surgery because he thought that would be better his chances for a shot at Chief Resident. I never would have guessed he did it for selfless reasons; dropping out because he didn’t want his name to hurt the Chief’s chances of winning awards was pretty noble. Who knows, maybe Owen will take that selflessness into consideration when he makes his pick.

I wish I could get more excited about Derek and Meredith’s plans to adopt. It’s great that they want to, but just like I was indifferent about Meredith getting pregnant, I don’t think my enjoyment of the show will be made or broken if they get to adopt Zola. When Meredith was talking to the social worker, I wanted to root hard for her to do well, but honestly, I just wanted to show to move on to something, anything more interesting. It’ll be interesting to see if Meredith’s messing with the trial with hurt their adoption chances.

I don’t think it was much of a surprise that Teddy’s situation was going to get messy eventually. It was inevitable that Henry was going to develop real feelings for Teddy and Andrew was going to return, right? Hey, after seven seasons, it’s tough to keep the surprises coming, so I can’t beat up the writers too badly for this plotline. Does anyone think Teddy is really going to go to Germany with Andrew though? I’ve heard nothing about Kim Raver leaving the show, so if she did head off to Germany, I’d be somewhat surprised about that.

On the medical side of things, I’m torn on the Teddy-Cristina debate. I can understand Teddy being mad that her subordinate went over her head, but I agree with Cristina too. Yes, she defied her boss, but she saved the patient’s life. I do think there’s a little truth to Cristina’s accusation that Teddy is threatened by her. Why else would she overreact so badly? I have to bring out my Logic Police badge for a second though; aren’t there other cardio surgeons that Cristina could work under? Is Teddy the only heart doctor in the hospital? As for Cristina’s case; the tree in the lung was pretty interesting. No surprise that April was going to sell her out to Teddy though. It’s all about the checklist and protocol after all. You know what, never mind; I don’t think I could take it if April wins Chief Resident.

Alright, let’s move on to the two most interesting parts of the episode; at least for me anyway. I loved the Owen and Cristina showdown near the end of the episode. The best part about it was everything Owen said was right; Chief Resident would be nothing more than a resume highlight for her. She’d hate the administrative part of the job (where April would excel actually), and want to quit no sooner than she got the gig. The same thing happened to Callie, remember? It would have been an interesting story for Cristina if she did get it though; she’d have to deal with that doubt about whether she was Chief Resident because she earned it or because her husband did the picking.

And then there’s Alex. Oh, Alex. I will admit, I was surprised about how the Lucy thing turned out. I assumed that once he turned down the Africa job, she was going to say she took the job at Baylor. Then we’d have the classic TV “I gave up a good job for you, why didn’t you do the same for me?” argument. What a great job by the writers taking it a step farther and have Lucy not head to Texas, but take the exact same job that Alex turned down. That was just push Alex needed to go into destructive mode. Well, that and Cristina telling him that he doesn’t stand a chance against Meredith for Chief Resident. There was no way Alex was going to play fair and square; he just needed a reason to play the “Meredith cheated” card, and he got two. Can’t wait to what happens next week, and it’s been awhile since I said that about “Grey’s”.

A few other random thoughts…

*Sorry I didn’t do a recap for last week’s show. I was out of the office on Friday, went home for the weekend and didn’t get to watch it until Wednesday. Overall, I thought the episode was kind of bland for having two main characters getting married to one another. Also on that point, I was shocked about how close-minded Callie’s mother was. I remember her dad was the same way; I thought him finally coming around would have rubbed off on her too. Other quick thoughts…I was kind of surprised Meredith and Derek would miss Callie and Arizona’s wedding; did they really have to pick that moment to get officially married?…I can’t figure out Stark; he’s mostly a jerk, but then he turns around and gives April a glowing recommendation for Chief Resident…last week was the second episode in a row that Bailey had to talk Callie off the edge; she’s like her fairy godmother.

Line of the Night: “Meredith messed with the Alzheimer’s trial.”

Honorable Mentions:

“My mom was a nurturing as a steak knife.”
-”No time for mommy (stuff).”
-”I have everything I ever wanted…almost.”

*I was kind of surprised next week’s finale is only an hour; the reaction to Meredith’s deceit and the fallout from the Chief Resident selection could probably take up the hour itself. That’s fine with though; I’d rather there be fewer, stronger storylines in a shorter amount of time than a bunch of filler storylines in a two-hour finale.

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.

Before we get into last night’s “Grey’s” Season Six finale, let’s step back and take a deep breath. I don’t know about you, but I had quite a time trying to breathe while watching that episode. Holy cow, that was intense. It’s been well-documented in this space that I thought the last few episodes of this season (save last week’s ep) weren’t very interesting. At some point, I finally accepted the fact that “Grey’s” creator Shonda Rhimes was saving the very best for last. I didn’t care for that strategy; it didn’t seem right to bore us for the sake of having an explosive finale, but after seeing it I had one thought:

It was totally worth it. 

I’ll be honest; I was worried that the finale wouldn’t live up to the hype/anticipation because of how mediocre the last few episodes had been. But it was everything it was cracked up to be and more. I always felt the best episode of the series was the post-Super Bowl “Code Black” one from Season Two. That episode didn’t come close to the suspense that was in last night’s show. Alfred Hitchcock said in horror movies that the terror isn’t in the boom, but in the anticipation of it. That’s how I felt about last night’s finale; anytime a doctor went into the hallway or somewhere they shouldn’t have been, I felt myself climbing towards the edge of my seat. There was plenty to rave about in the episode, but I thought its biggest strength was how well the suspense was built up in each scene. And that was established from the get-go. Reid getting shot was brutal, but she’s a recent addition to the cast. It didn’t surprise me that she was hit; she was expendable But when Alex, who’s been here since the pilot, was shot just a few seconds later; it made the audience realize no one was safe. I thought it was smart to establish that fear right away instead of dragging it out for the first 30 minutes or so.

I was also pleased that even though the finale was two-hours, it didn’t feel like it. Very little time was wasted. There have been a few times that “Grey’s” was extended by an hour and it felt like a chore to get through, but last night that wasn’t so, thank goodness. To be fair, I started the show about 30 minutes in, so maybe it didn’t feel long because I didn’t have to sit through any commercials. But I think I would have felt the same way if I watched it all live. At times, I actually felt like I was watching a movie; it was that tense.

So, that was my quick, introductory view of the finale. To review the rest of last night’s epic episode in more detail, I’m going to break out an old format for a special request I got earlier this week. Without further ado, here are some Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down from last night’s show.

THUMBS UP: To the Chief. Not Derek, Richard! I initially gave him a Thumbs Up for receiving his six-months sober chip, but that was just the beginning for what was a great two hours for him. I admired his bravery and how he was able to sneak into the hospital. There was no way he was going to let his hospital get taken hostage without a fight. And what can I say about his final standoff with Mr. Clark? I loved his “I’ve lived” speech and I really loved how he poured his flask contents on the floor. I have to admit, if I was in Richard’s position, I probably would have taken a sip. No one could blame if he had.

THUMBS DOWN: To the ABC Promo department. Last week’s previews gave away the results of Meredith’s pregnancy test and her reaction to Derek getting shot. Granted, they didn’t show Derek get hit, but when they showed Meredith screaming and Cristina holding her back in that preview, was there any doubt what she was reacting to? I won’t come down on them too hard for showing Bailey being pulled from her hiding spot, because that gave us an idea for what we were in store for, but the other two reveals were inexcusable.

THUMBS UP: To Special Guest Star Mandy Moore’s performance. In the beginning of the episode, she didn’t bring much to the table; she was just good ol’ Mandy Moore. But as the episode wore on and things got tenser, I became more and more impressed with her dramatic acting chops. She really sold how scared her character was when the big emergency was revealed and when she had to assist Bailey in keeping Charles alive.

THUMBS DOWN: To the morbid foreshadowing. I cringed when Derek was complaining about all of his paperwork and wished that something would get plunged in his head just so he could be in an OR. Was there any doubt Mr. Clark was going to find him after that? And then when Cristina joked that she hoped Meredith and Derek would die so she could fulfill her godmother duties, I had a feeling we were in some trouble.

THUMBS UP: To the other strong performances from last night. I thought Chandra Wilson was excellent; but she’s always excellent. She played scared very convincingly as well; and her “The elevators are off” freak-out was very passionate without going over the top. I also thought Ellen Pompeo was great too. I’ve never been overly impressed with her acting; she’s not bad, but over these past six seasons, I’ve never really watched her and thought, “She should turn that scene in for Emmy considerations.” Last night, she got to put on a nice display; of course there was the reaction to Derek getting shot, but she was also good in the OR when she thought Jackson and Cristina gave into Mr. Clark’s demands, her “Eye for eye” bargaining speech was very good as well as when she told April about how it took her a long time to find/want/want to have kids with Derek.

And speaking of April; I have to give Sarah Drew a “Thumbs Up” for her performance too. She was good when she was in shock after finding Reid and even though part of me was hoping Mr. Clark would fire a warning shot in the ceiling to shut her up when she was giving her life story; she was awesome in that scene too. It’s tough to have a bad episode when there’s a good story followed up with good performances like the ones given by Wilson, Pompeo and Drew.

THUMBS DOWN: To the personal storylines during a time of crisis. This Thumbs Down is two-pronged. Part of it goes to Rhimes for putting it in there; to me it was the only weak link in the script. I know she really couldn’t let the season finish without resolving some of that stuff; but when a shooter is roaming around the halls of Seattle Grace-Mercy West; I don’t want to see Cristina asking Owen if she loves her or Teddy, or Mark asking Lexie if she thought more about his proposal and especially Callie and Arizona picking up where they left off on the baby battle. Like I said, I understand why Rhimes put that in there; if the whole two-hours focused on the shooter, the episode would have been even more heavy-handed than it was. Just for my viewing pleasure, I could have lived without that.

The other prong goes to Arizona and Callie. At least Mark and Lexie and Owen and Teddy put a lid on their drama when they realized there was a crisis. It blew my mind when Arizona brought her and Callie’s troubles again once the hospital went into lockdown. I thought Callie said it best, “You want to talk about this now?” I couldn’t have said it better myself. This was the pimple on what was otherwise a flawless episode.

And finally…

THUMBS UP: To Charles’ final words. It was a heartbreaking scene, but I thought it was a great send-off for a character I didn’t care for very much. Remember this is the guy who shamelessly used Izzie to get ahead when he first started there. Anytime someone can make me feel for a character I don’t like, they’ve done good work. I felt awful when he asked Bailey to tell Reid how he felt about her knowing that she suffered the same fate.

OK a few more random thoughts and I’ll see you in September…

*I can’t help but wonder if Lexie really loves Alex or if she was caught up in it all. She didn’t seem to be bothered when he called for Izzie, so maybe she does. I was definitely impressed with Mark’s ability to keep Alex alive while having to watch the gal he loves pour all of her emotions out over someone else. Talk about a true professional.

*Believe it or not, Rhimes said in her original script, Mr. Clark shot Bailey, but she couldn’t go through with having the soul of the show being wounded, so she re-wrote it. Here’s a link to more of her thoughts about the episode: http://www.greyswriters.com/

*I did not see Mr. Clark ending up in Derek’s OR coming. Not one bit. When Owen got there and just nonchalantly said it looked like Cristina had things under control and he’d check in on her, I assumed Cristina was obviously having trouble, but he didn’t want to alarm Mer. I couldn’t believe it when Mr. Clark was in there and forcing  Cristina’s to stop operating. To me that was easily the most suspenseful scene of the episode; Bailey and Charles hiding in Mary’s room was a close second.

*It would have been nice to have seen Meredith and Derek’s reunion at the end of the episode. After him being shot and her miscarrying (another shocker; given that she found out on the same day) and us sitting through two hours of nail biting suspense, wouldn’t it have been nice to end things with Meredith giving McDreamy a big, “You’re OK!” hug? I’d be shocked if the Season 7 premiere picks up where this one ended, so I guess we’ll have to imagine how that scene played out. Speaking of Meredith, I was impressed by her strength. She threw Cristina aside like a rag doll. I guess we all get a little stronger when the person we love is in danger.

*Line of the Week: “I’ll be your eye for an eye.”

*Honorable Mentions for “Line of the Week” (Strongest considerations are in bold.)

-“I’m a nurse.”

-“You stop crying.”  (I think I liked the exchange more than the line actually.)

-“I hope it has his hair.”

-“Don’t alarm the makers of the tiny humans.”

-“Did he weep like a (witch) baby?”

-“I wanna see the (witch) baby tears.”

-“I was doing charts, now I’m shot!”

-“Correction, (I) loved it here.”

-“…because that would be the worst break-up ever.”

-“There’s no hum.”

-“Me or you.”

*I was a little surprised Arizona gave in and decided she’s ready for children now. Much like Lexie, I wonder if she got caught up in all of the day’s events and said something she didn’t mean.

*So, given the fact that Owen ran back into a locked-down hospital (nice job by Teddy getting in the way of the cop by the way), entered an OR with a armed man and took one to the shoulder, I guess it’s safe to say he loves/chose Cristina?

*As for final thoughts on Season Six, I thought it was a B, B minus. It started out strong with the mourning of George, but lost its way a bit when the Mercy West crew came in (it just added too many characters and unnecessary plot lines), the stuff with Sloan’s daughter, not to mention the back-and-forth with Izzie. There were some strong episodes along the way, but the second half of the season rarely gave us too many quality episodes consecutively. The last few episodes heading up the finale were tough to sit though from an entertainment standpoint, but the finale more than made up that. This season was a like a college kid who did OK in a course all semester and then aced their final exam that counted for 50 percent of their grade. They saved their best for last, and at the end of the day, I’m OK with that.

I hope you all enjoyed the show and this season as a whole. Thanks for taking the time to discuss the show with me. I look forward to more of what’s to come in the fall.

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. 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.

Well after six years, 119 episodes and a two-hour series recap/retrospective, the series finale of “Lost” finally arrived. I still thought it was odd that ABC opted to air the finale on Sunday when it was on Tuesday all season long, but whatever. I guess the network couldn’t have turned the evening into a five and a half hour extravaganza on a weeknight. But that is a very, very small drop in the large bucket that was the last ever episode of “Lost”.

When it comes to series finales, often times viewers are more interested in the ending than the actual episode itself. “Lost” co-showrunner Carlton Cuse made a good point, the only thing a lot of people remember about the last episode of “The Sopranos” is the ending when the screen just went to black. So, going into last night’s show, I was curious if Cuse and his co-showrunner and co-writer on the finale, Damon Lindelof would be able to put together a memorable episode and not just an ending. Looking back, I think they won in that respect. Honestly, I was more satisfied with the episode than the ending. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t mind the ending, it’s just that part of it left me ending, which I’ll get to shortly.

I’m going to be honest; a two and a half hour episode is a lot to muddle though, but I’m going to try to touch on everything. Last night was really about two things: the show and the end of the series. Let’s dive into the episode first….

I thought there was plenty to like about the finale. Things got off to a great start when Kate smirked at the name, “Christian Shephard.” Hurley’s throwaway line about Jacob “Being worse than Yoda” was classic, along with his noticing that Jack and Kate’s “moment” would have been really sweet, “if they weren’t about to die.” I thought most of the “letting go” flashes were great; I liked Sun and Jin’s the best; mainly because after they were killed off, it was nice to see them have such a sweet recollection of their time on the island. It also provided some comic relief when they both picked up their ability to speak English again and just grinned from ear to ear when Sawyer was worried for Sun’s safety. Not to mention the great exchange between Jin and Sawyer: “I guess we’ll see you there?” “See you where?”

The other memorable flashes belonged to Kate, Claire and Charlie (it’s tough to get more powerful than them re-imagining Aaron’s birth) and of course Locke wiggling his toes and Jack finally letting go by touching his dad’s long-lost coffin. Sawyer and Juliet’s didn’t do as much for me, but it was still sweet, especially when Sawyer told Juliet he had her. The only reason I said I liked most of the flashes was because I wasn’t a huge fan of the Sayid and Shannon one. It was almost too manufactured: Boone intentionally taking a beating so Sayid could come to his and Shannon’s rescue felt cheap compared to the rest of characters getting flashes through twists of fate. I was happy for Sayid of course, but I always felt Shannon was a non-entity to the show and brought nothing to the table.

On the island, we finally got the plane survivors vs. Un-Locke showdown we’d been anticipating for weeks. Fortunately Jack was right and Desmond turning out the lights in a sense made Un-Locke venerable long enough so they could take him out. I enjoyed the Jack-Un-Locke fight, even if it looked liked it was ripped from Superman-Lex Luthor showdown in “Superman Returns”. I mean we have the hero going toe-to-toe with the bald villain in the rain on a crumbling rock and the villain stabs the hero? I can’t help but wonder if the “Superman Returns” scribes were watching that last night and thinking, “Hey!” Anyway, luckily Jack’s Lois Lane (Kate) had his back and put one through Un-Locke so he fell over the cliff instead of the weakened Man of Steel. My only complaint about the fight scene was before the commercial break prior to it; I thought Jack jumping through the air fists raised and the screen going black was incredibly cheesy. It didn’t give me high hopes for what was to come after the break, but the scene redeemed itself nicely.

On the other side of the rock, the suspense wasn’t as great, but it was fun watching Miles, Richard and Lapidus put the plane together. As always, Miles gets a least one great throwaway line, “I believe in duct tape.” I couldn’t help but think of the scene in “Major League” when the pilot was duct taping one of the propellers of the team plane while all of that was happening. Anyway, everyone wondered what was the point of keeping Lapidus around; he seemed like another non-entity. Well, our question was answered last night; without him, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Richard and Claire never get off the island. I applaud the writers for giving what was such a non-factor of a character a heroic sign-off.

As for the ending, I’m kind of at peace with it. I like that we got to see what happened with all of these characters, I do. I just felt that after six years and a TWO AND A HALF HOUR finale, we could have gotten some more answers about the island. I saw a pre-show interview with Cuse and he said they aimed the finale at character resolution (which I felt they did an excellent job with) rather than the island’s mythology. With the time they had last night, couldn’t they have concentrated on both? Did it have to be one or the other? Part of me feels they put all of this mysterious stuff in the first season and didn’t have any satisfying answers, so they Cousin Oliver’ed all of it and just made the show a character-driven series where strange, unexplained phenomenon occur. It just felt like they took the easy way out there. So, while I was OK with how things were wrapped up, I would have liked a little more. Maybe that makes me greedy, I don’t know. One-hundred and fifty minutes seems like a lot of time to just abandon one-half of what the show was all about.

OK a few more random thoughts and we’ll call it a series….

*I went into last night’s show with zero expectations (it’s the only way I knew I wouldn’t be 100% let down by the ending). The only thing I wanted was for the flash-sideways this season to have a clear-cut explanation, and I guess I won in that sense. However, in the grand scheme of things, the flash-sideways were kind of waste, weren’t they? I liked that they were revealed to be the characters’ after life and Desmond was working to get them all to their destined meeting place, but unless I missed something those scenes didn’t have much bearing on what was happening in the island-universe. Think about it: Seasons one through three gave us flashbacks to show us the events that got everyone on the plane and to the island (with the exception of the Season 3 finale, which was a flash-forward), Season four was all flash-forwards that showed us the Oceanic 6’s lives off of the island and how/why they went back and even Season 5’s wacky time travel let us see the island through the years. This season, the flash-sideways pretty much were independent of the island action. That caught me off-guard.

*I was glad we got a least some explanation of the island’s powers. That light everyone seemed to want looked like it’s what kept Un-Locke invincible as well as what kept Richard from aging. I believe it was after Desmond “turned off the lights” that Richard got his first grey hair, and he couldn’t have been happier. The only thing more I would have wanted was to see how Jacob’s brother turned into the smoke monster when he was thrown down that tunnel.

*Juliet being Jack’s son’s mother had to be one of the biggest “No duh” moments in the series’ history, right?

*I hate to say it, but last night’s episode felt like it was two and a half hours. It kept my interest most of the time, but the pacing felt slow. Maybe that was because it was the last episode and I just wanted to get to the end so badly. Either way, I felt like some fat could have been cut to get it back to at least two hours. I was more than happy to see Rose, Bernard and Vincent one last time, it wasn’t necessary in the long run; same goes for all the time Sayid and Hurley spend in the Humvee waiting for Boone and Shannon to come out of the bar.

*At some point, when I’ve let this show digest, I wouldn’t mind going back and watching Season Six again. Mainly because I want to see how much interaction the characters had with people other than themselves in the flash-sideways. It was almost like a “Sixth Sense” thing going on there where they didn’t realize they were deceased until they touched someone else from the island and had that flash. But there was definitely interaction with other people; where they all deceased too? (i.e. the nurse who asked Jack what was wrong with his neck or even the airport security guards who questioned Jin and Sun about all the cash they had).

*I liked how the series came full-circle; it opened with Jack’s eye opening and finished with it closing. It doesn’t get anymore cut and dry than that.

*While I was somewhat at peace with the flash-sideways ending, I would have liked to have gotten a little more out of the island ending. Mainly with Sawyer and Claire; they never left the island in the show’s six seasons. It would have cool to see their reaction when Lapidus landed them in L.A. or wherever they were able to go with their fuel supply.

*So just to be sure, let’s see if we have all of the main characters’ fate from this year straight: Jack: died saving the island; Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Richard, Lapidus and Miles: made it off of the island on the plane; Ben, Hurley, Rose and Bernard: stayed behind on the island; Sayid, Sun and Jin: died in the sub explosion.

*My personal highlight of the evening was when Un-Locke mentioned for Jacob’s way of doing things that Jack was “Kind of the obvious choice” to replace him. Gotta love those winks to the audience.

Well, I think that’s all I have; I double-checked my four pages of notes, but I probably still missed some things, hopefully nothing too big though. J

I enjoyed this show; I am very grateful I jumped on the bandwagon. Thanks to those who pushed me to do so, you know who you are. The finale may be been imperfect and incomplete, but I’ll definitely remember it as a whole and not just for the ending.

Thanks for following along with me!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. 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.

For starters, let me just say, FINALLY. After a few weeks of being stuck in neutral, I felt last night’s show actually moved forward with a few things. I guess with only one more episode to go, the writers had no choice. Like I said last week, I understand all the good stuff is being saved for next week’s finale, but did we really have to be bored until then? Last night’s show was by no means perfect, but it was definitely more interesting than the last few episodes. 

I spent the last few weeks pointing out the bad about “Grey’s”, so let’s start out by focusing on the good this time…

*It was good to get a decent-sized dose of Bailey last night. Episodes are better when she’s involved. I loved her opening scene with Ben, it’s nice to see her get involved in the romantic side of things after being on the sidelines the last five seasons. I got a kick out her and Ben singing the same tune on the elevator the next day; and the look on McDreamy and McSteamy’s faces when they put the pieces together. Her “I don’t have time to play games” speech was excellent as well. I’m glad that her character hasn’t changed just because she has a love interest. On the medical side of things, I liked her telling her burn victim patient it was OK to cry; her disappointment in seeing Ben flirt with a nurse was the fuel behind that speech, but it was a good speech nonetheless. And I guess, I have to mention her asking Sloan if one woman is enough for any man. I mean, could she have asked a worse person that question?? 

*While Bailey may have gotten the game ball from me last, night I thought Alex was great as well. Professionally and personally. On the work side, I was impressed in how determined he was to prove his young patient wasn’t crazy. Where’d that motivation come from? He usually doesn’t make the time of day for that kind of research. Maybe it was because like he said he’s lived with and dated crazy. Or perhaps Lexie is bringing out the well-rounded doctor in him. Either way, I liked his passion. On the personal side, I liked that he eased Lexie’s concerns by saying they were a thing, but I thought that was established last week. Anyway, I’m happy to see him going back to nice Alex (has a character ever yo-yoed personality-wise more than Alex in the history of TV?), and my heart will break for him if Lexie chooses Mark next week.

*Ah, Mark. He cracked me up yesterday. I still can’t believe the took Reid home; or maybe I can, who knows. I guess it’s safe to say that whenever he’s in a compromising situation, he’s going to come out of the bathroom with steam coming out of the door while he’s putting on a towel. Isn’t that exactly how the scene played out when Derek went to see Addison a few years ago? I was blown away by his quasi-proposal to Lexie at the end of the episode. I don’t doubt he loves her, but I wonder if he would have made such a bold gesture if Teddy hadn’t walked in on him. It was like he needed that push (along with a timely pep talk from Callie) to go for what he wanted. Besides the main storyline for next week (I won’t say what it is for those who don’t like to watch previews for next week), I think Lexie’s decision is what I’m most looking forward to seeing resolved in the finale. 

*I also found Meredith’s predicament interesting. I thought for sure she was going to go against Derek’s wishes/orders and tell Cristina why she thought there was something going on between Owen and Teddy. I was shocked that she was able to bite her tougnue for the whole hour. I liked her explanation to Cristina, “It was you and me for a long time, but now it’s me and Derek too.” It makes sense to me; especially considering Derek isn’t only her husband, but her boss too. It’s funny when I was watching that scene last night, I realized Meredith isn’t very interesting or compelling for the lead character in a big drama like “Grey’s”. But maybe that’s a good thing; the strength of the show is the ensemble, her character’s last name just happens to be in the title. Speaking of Derek and Meredith, what was party they were having for anyway? Was it just a pre-housewarming/groundbreaking party for the house they’re going to build?

*I also enjoyed the love story between the two elderly patients; especially since the woman was played by Marion Ross, aka Mrs. Cunningham on “Happy Days”. I liked how their story motivated characters like Callie and Mark to take a chance and made Cristina question her situation with Owen, but I liked it independent of all of that too. It was just nice to see two patients have not only have a happy medical ending, but a personal one as well. 

*The only thing about last night I didn’t care for was the Cristina/Owen/Teddy stuff. I felt like Cristina and Owen’s relationship has been spinning its wheels for too long now. I was happy when Teddy was brought on and thought her throwing a wrench in the works would make Cristina and Owen more interesting. It had its moments, but overall I could still care less what happens there. I will say that storyline picked up a little momentum when it was revealed that Teddy overheard Cristina and Owen’s argument about her, but I am still hoping that a whole lot of time isn’t spent on them next week. Just sayin’.

*I didn’t have a ton of standout lines that I liked, but my favorite exchanges were between Derek and Mark, “Go Bailey.” “Indeed.” and Derek and Meredith, “I hate your job.” “I love you.” 

Well, in an effort to keep this relatively short as promised, I’m going to wrap up here and save energy for next week’s finale recap. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. 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.

Last week, I applauded “Grey’s” for getting back to its roots and focusing a little bit more on the medical side of things. Sadly, it only took a week for the show to revert and focus more on the doctor’s personal lives. I didn’t think last night’s show was bad (it rarely is), but I realized I like this show so much more when it goes the way of a medical drama as opposed to a nighttime soap. I’ve got the new “Melrose Place” and “90210” amongst others if I need that fix.

The sad thing about last night’s show was that the key medical case (trying to remove a near-inoperable tumor) was fascinating, but the writers made it more about Richard and Owen’s competition than the medicine of it all. They were so darn competitive about it, I almost forgot what their medical reasons were for how they’d operate. I did enjoy the competition somewhat, it allowed from good comedic moments, especially watching Cristina go from spy to double-agent. And I liked Meredith reminding Owen that she and Cristina are a team and he better not hurt her. So there was some good stuff there, I just would have preferred if creatively it was handled differently.

I also felt Teddy’s surgery was marred by personal stuff as well. Any medical show that deals with a man getting implants in his chest makes for interesting TV. I thought the writers did a decent job of showing how the patient was dealing with the thought of having implants, but again the focus seemed more to be on Teddy and Mark’s mating dance. Again, that was all well-executed, I just would have preferred the emphasis had been more on their patient. I did get a kick out of the role reversal; Mark wanting a serious date while Teddy was just looking for a “candy bar” experience. And it was very interesting to see Owen was a little jealous, which Meredith correctly called him out on. These two could be an interesting pair, but I have my own thoughts on Mark’s romantic destiny (more on that later).

The third medical case of the evening actually showed why the writers so often wedge the docs’ personal lives into their surgeries. Arizona’s case with the kid with the ruptured cyst, was a very cut-and-dry, focus on the family storyline. From a medical standpoint, it was very interesting and touching that she was able to save him, but it doesn’t always make for the best TV. That’s why this show is at its best when medicine and personal are balanced; too much of one or the other can make for a rough episode.

With that said, I did like Bailey’s storyline, which was completely on the personal side. It was comical to see how frazzled she got after Callie told her that the third date was “the big one.” For five years, we’ve seen Bailey be so self-assured and confident; it was interesting to see her a little off of her game for once. And one of the top moments of the episode was her “surgical area” rant to Callie. There were too many good lines in it to write down, but she delivered it brilliantly.

My second favorite part of Bailey’s story was her actual date with Ben. He’s right, most people are afraid of her, so she can get away with lecturing him or her with out being interrupted. I loved how he politely told her he wouldn’t be lectured, but that they’d have a conversation. I was even more impressed that she was willing to be OK with that. I also thought their conversation was nice. And although it’s a little strange for me to see Bailey getting hot and heavy, I think it’s great she’s getting in on all the fun the other doctors have had for the past five seasons.

OK, on to the random thoughts and I’m finished….

*I wish we could have had one more week of the old Sloan. I thought having him go from getting together with drug reps and nurses in on-call rooms to looking for serious dates and wanting marriage and kids was a little quick. I know deep down he wanted that all along, but I feel after his break-up with Lexie, he probably would have done the single thing a little longer.

*Kudos to Chandra Wilson for a great job of directing last night’s episode and playing a marvelous Bailey as usual. Game ball definitely goes to her.

*If I were a fortune teller, my crystal ball would be a little cloudy right now. But I can see something, it’s cloudy, but I think I see a man, handsome, a doctor, specializes in plastics. I also see a woman, gorgeous, also a doctor who cracks bones for a living. She has a partner who doesn’t want kids. Now I see this man and this woman who have history and great chemistry realizing they want the same things and…darn my crystal ball has clouded up again.

*Honorable mentions for “Line of the Night.”

-“I’m with Webber.”

-“Mark is like candy, you eat and forget about it.”

-“Who treats people like that, like an object, like a piece of —“

“All the years I’ve seen you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat.”

-Anything in Bailey’s “surgical area” rant qualifies as well.

*I was a little surprised by Lexie’s reaction after she found out Mark asked Teddy to lunch. She obviously was doing her best to move on given her exploits with Alex. Did she really think Mark wouldn’t try to do the same at some point? I would have had a little more sympathy for her if he left her and she saw him moving on. But since she left him and she moved on first, I really couldn’t feel too sorry for her.

*How long before Richard takes over as Chief of Surgery again? I’m happy that Derek is getting some storylines outside of her and Derek, but I like the old chain of command better. I always thought Derek would get the post at the end of the series when Richard retired.

So overall, I thought last night’s episode was alright. I felt it was more of a table-setting episode for more exciting things to come. It would have been a perfect episode to have on in the background while you were doing other things due to the lack of eventful happenings. In two weeks though, it looks like we’re going to get some interesting insight into Owen’s past. Stay tuned.

I hope you all enjoyed the episode. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.

Joe Dyton is a marketing copywriter in Washington, DC. 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.