Grey's Anatomy: What the Heck is Going On Here?

[PKTrekGirl]

NOTE: Spoilers for seasons 1 - 5!!!


Well, obviously, my first question is whether or not anyone on this board besides me watches this show. I never see a thread about it, so I guess there is a limited audience for chick shows around here. But in any event, being fixated as I am on Patrick Dempsey, I'm still watching. Or more accurately, I caught up on the entire series (and Private Practice as well) on DVD over the summer and am now more or less watching Grey's and Private Practice in 'real time'.

But I gotta say...this year they have some pretty weird-ass plotlines playing out on Grey's. I can't decide which is weirder - the interns forming a club and operating on each other for 'practice' (actions for which they should all be booted out of the program, IMO)....or Denny Duquette coming back from the grave as more than just a run-of-the-mill-I-can't-touch-you ghost (not that Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Denny isn't, like the cutest guy ever to hit that show outside of McDreamy himself...but I digress ).

I guess what I'm worried about here is that this show is in the throws of shark-jumping. The flood-on-the-surgical-floor episode was stupid. I assume the cabal of idiot interns will be caught - but not kicked out ( ....I could do without Little Grey)...and I assume that Izzie is really & truly going nuts and that Denny is NOT here to turn Grey's into the first scifi medical show ever.

However...on the plus side, I do like the addition of Owen. As much as I dislike the actor, I do think the character of Preston Burke added an edge to the show that has not been regained until this year's addition of Owen. Hahn was intended to add that hard-ass edge...but I was bored with her all the way back in season 2 during the heart transplant fiasco with Denny.

I also really like how Derek and Mark Sloan are pretty much best buds again. Sloan can be an ass...but I find him interesting because he is very much capable of being a nice guy too, when he wants to be. I STILL think that Kate Walsh was a huge loss to that show - Private Practice doesn't provide her nearly as interesting material as does Addison's relationships with Derek, Mark and Meredith. But I think they have tried to make Sloan into a viable charcter in his own right, aside from his being 'the guy Addison cheated with'.

So...does anyone else watch this show? And if so, what do you think of what is going on this season?

 

[Mistral]

I like the new doctor a lot(closet Journeyman fan here). I'm glad Hahn is gone-I disliked her from the word go. They could have handled it better, though. I am starting to like Little Grey but they really need to drop the continuous "I love George" plotlines. Little Grey would be more fun without that part of the story.

Sloan is under-used. Badly. And Bailey succumbs to softness at the oddest times-I much prefer the floor nazi aspect of her personality. As for Private Practice-you can keep it. Watched just enough to realize it was weak, with unlikeable characters. IMO.

 

[Top41]

I'm still watching (though I haven't seen last night's ep yet)! I do think the show has run out of steam a little bit...I remember just being so hooked in seasons two and three, but lately it feels kind of repetitive. I do love the evolution of Meredith's character, though. For a while I truly couldn't stand her, but now I feel like I kind of get her, and I really like her. Even if I don't always agree with her or she pisses me off.

I really like the new doc, too. Owen Hunt is cool, and I agree that he brings a bit of what Preston Burke added to the place. I did like Hahn, but the relationship with Callie never clicked for me, more because of Callie than Hahn.

I like Lexie, but I totally agree that her being in love with George is just kind of pathetic. I wasn't one of the ones who hated George and Izzie together, but the idea of George attracting women left and right is, well, unlikely. Don't get me wrong, I like him, but he's not that guy everyone falls for, so trying to make him into that guy is just a little unrealistic.

I think they need better medical cases this season; I can't think of one that's been a true grabber. Remember the people who got run through on the train and stuck together? Or Meredith and Derek's brain tumor clinical trial last year? That stuff was good--more of that, please!

I watched a few eps of Private Practice, and while I love Addison, I think moving her to that show was a mistake. For one, she was great on Grey's and two, PP is kind of shallow and the characters are all annoyingly self-involved. Because Grey's is so life-and-death, the characters' self-involvement sometimes comes secondary to the cases, but in PP it seems so front and center...and annoying.

 

[Teelie]

I've been watching it for some time but it's started to bore me too. Instead of getting more interesting with the stories, they just get weirder and not in a fascinating way but a "What the hell is this crap?" way. And they kept jumping back and forth on Grey/Shepherd.

And now they've brought in Mary McDonnell (President Roslin from BSG) as a heart surgeon with some weird personality tic. Interesting for a temp but I hope it doesn't last. She'll get very annoying very fast. In fact she's already annoying me 15 minutes in.

 

[Othello]

I've watched it from the beginning and last season was really blah to me but i am enjoying thi season so much more. I like some of the new characters that ave been brought in and it seems to be getting much better than it was last season.

I'ev never liked the Izzie chracter all that much but her going nut seems an ok plotline to me. I REALLY don't like that hahn i off the show though, THAT nnoys me as she was a good conflict character and, quite frankly, was very right in being as pissed as she was in lat weeks epiode. She was traeted HORRIBLY by ABC.

 

[Othello]

BTW_ for the record I like little Grey much better than older Grey. She's hotter and much less of a whiner.

 

[Teelie]

It's "Big Grey" not "Older Grey" actually.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

*slaps forehead*

You guys make an excellent point about the continuous 'I-love-George' plotlines. In fact, I'm surprised I forgot to mention that in my original post because George has become sorta a major issue for me....and I am alot less generous than either of you are about him!

IMO, he is an annoying, weak, wishy-washy, clueless loser dweeb of a character who in real life would never have a chance at a woman in a hospital full of McDreamys, McSteamys, Karevs, Burkes and Owen Hunts. I have pretty much disliked him right from the start - from that whole I-refuse-to-admit-she's-obviously-fixated-on-McDreamy attempt to force Meredith into a relationship in season 1 (or 2 - can't remember as season 1 was so short), after which he had the nerve to blame HER, when clearly he was the one forcing an issue that any sane individual wouldn't have forced.

Callie, Izzie, Little Grey....I just find it incredible that these women would find him even remotely attractive. He's not a man - he's a weenie of ginormous proportions. And when you consider the male competition...that whole ongoing plotline where the biggest loser on the show had all the girls falling all over him is just absurd.

Also, good point about Sloan being underused. They could really grow that character alot more than they have. At least they got him and Derek back on best buddy terms - that was a good move. But I'd really like to see him grow through his experiences on that show into less of a wolf. It would be easy to do...and I think they are doing it somewhat...but they could create some really great plotlines where Sloan learns that being a womanizer is not all it's cracked up to be.

I'm also beginning to think you are right, Top41, about Private Practice. Kate Walsh's character (and to a lesser extent, Tim Daly's character and that woman chief at the hospital) are really the only ones worthwhile on that show. And yeah...the rest of them are all really self-involved - especially that woman shrink. Jeez, she can be annoying!

Plus, divorce trauma or no divorce trauma, I just don't buy Addison Montgomery in a practice where she has only 1 or 2 patients a day - not even as an 'escape' from her past. Part of the greatness of that character was that she was so utterly and completely incredible at what she was - a world-renown and brilliant neo-natal surgeon. And now she's sitting around all day trying to help people get pregnant and deal with their personal problems at the same time?

Meh! The Addison Montgomery we came to love on Grey's would never waste her talent like that...in a job that any run-of-the-mill GP could do. Plus, if you are trying to cope with a failed relationship, the last thing you are likely to throw away is the one thing you are REALLY, REALLY good at. You might change your life and try to 'find yourself' or whatever...but you don't throw away the one thing you get alot of your self-esteem from - being incredibly skillful at what you do - to the point where you know for sure that because of you, lives have been saved.

From the ratings, it looks like Private Practice is not long for this world. I hope when it fails they bring Addison back to Grey's. She was actually my favorite female character on Grey's before she left, and I'd love to see her back.

 

[Alpinemaps]

I'm pretty much on board with everything that's been said so far. (I haven't seen last night's episode yet, either!)

Some thoughts from me:

- Meredith has bugged me since day one. I much prefer Lexie. The only problem with Lexie - she's in love with George, and not me! *sigh* (I've had a crush on that actress since she was on 7th Heaven!)

- The interns shouldn't be kicked out of the program. Richard needs to be fired (and I love the character, btw). Let's face it - SGH's rating is falling through the roof, and the interns feel like they aren't getting trained and need to steal bodies to get the proper training? And Bailey yelling at them for it? Let's just look at ourselves here - you're not at least interested in *why* they did it?

- Addison is a shell of her character on Grey's. Loved Addison, and wish she was used much better on Private Practice. (Or, even better, wish she wouldn't have left Grey's). Charlotte (the head of surgery) is very one dimensional - I'm a tough bitch who likes sex and gets what she wants. *blah* (Plus, I *hate* her accent). That character annoys me. The other characters - I'm *meh* about.

- The whole lesbian story line has annoyed me, too. I didn't see a need for it. Seems like yet another way to make us hate Hahn. I would have rather have seen them make her likeable. For the record, I have no problem with lesbian relationships, I just didn't like this one. For someone that was as religious as Callie, who was so against getting divorced, entering a lesbian relationship causually just didn't make sense to me. If it had been two lesbians, that would have been one thing, but this relationship just didn't work for me.

Oh well, I'll still watch. You've got to suspend your disbelief for more than sci-fi sometimes, ya know!

 

[Aragorn]

I still watch, but have no idea what they're doing this season. Izzy and Ghost Denny? The building flooding which only happened because the chief's intelligence level was reduced to the speed of plot? Christina doing zero teaching which results in them practicing on each other?

Never liked Hahn so I won't miss her, but they could've written her out better. And she was right about Izzy -- after the Denny/heart fiasco, she would've been booted and probably prosecuted.

If Mary McDonnell's character doesn't have a speedy character development, she could really bring episodes to a crashing halt. Melissa George is hot, but is she supposed to be the new resident psycho?

 

[Alaedhros]

I watched Grey's Anatomy once. After getting a friend of mine to watch a couple episodes of Buffy, which is not her usual genre but which she ended up liking, she convinced me that it was only fair to give one of her shows a chance. So I did. I haven't asked her to watch any Buffy since then.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, though, I'm quite glad that you all like the show. I'm all for live-and-let-live in that regard. You might even have enough people for a weekly review thread--and then it's a simple jump over to QSF to petition for your own forum!

 

[HighteeHeller]

I'm happy this thread was made, i've been wanting to talk about the Izzie/Denny storyline with someone.

Is she going mad? Like maybe some kind of tumor or disease symptom? Its not like they haven't touched on the afterlife before, or near death experiences, but she actually touched him, so i have to think she is sick.

The question is, will she check herself into the hospital?

 

[shivkala]

BTW_ for the record I like little Grey much better than older Grey. She's hotter and much less of a whiner.

I gave up on the show last year when I realized that I liked little Grey better than bigger Grey.

Meredith is just a train wreck of a human being and it stopped being interesting and started to be grating after she tried to drown herself and then ended up drowning.

 

[Aragorn]

Denny is real. There is going to be a November sweeps crossover with both Supernatural and Watchmen.

Alex keeps getting screwed with by Izzy. First Denny, then George, now Ghost Denny. Alex should've jumped Addison when he had the chance. Or drop Izzy and go for Melissa George.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Denny is real. There is going to be a November sweeps crossover with both Supernatural and Watchmen.

Well, glad that's settled.

Actually, I happen to really love the character of Denny and would love to have him in the show permanently. If he wasn't...oh....say....DEAD.

Grey's is wishin' hard they were a scifi show so that they could easily bring back dead characters - and in particular, this one very popular dead character. But wishin' don't make it so...and bringing back Denny for 'real' is just too much of a stretch for me on a medical show.

Alex keeps getting screwed with by Izzy. First Denny, then George, now Ghost Denny. Alex should've jumped Addison when he had the chance. Or drop Izzy and go for Melissa George.

I was actually hoping Alex and Addison were gonna hook up. She's alot older them him...but after all the drama with Izzie, he deserves someone who is marginally sane.

Poor Karev - Izzie messes with him....then psycho "Ava". Good lord that guy has no luck at all.

But then, he shouldn't expect to have any luck at all with the women of Seattle Grace, given the ever-so-studly George O'Malley, Chick Magnet, as his chief competition.

 

[Aragorn]

This thread needs an Alex Karev appreciation photo:

 

[PKTrekGirl]

This thread needs an Alex Karev appreciation photo:

Hilarious!!!!

 

[Aragorn]

"All for one, and a coronary artery bypass for all!"

 

[Emher]

This thread needs an Alex Karev appreciation photo:

Hey The Musketeer! I remember that little flick. Not neccesarily a god movie but I'd totally forgotten that Justin Chambers was in that.

As for what the hell is going with Grey's in general...I've already admitted that the series is my guilty pleasure. I watch it every week with a cup of tea and a bit of chocolate and usually laugh several times an episode. As long is keeps me entertained I'm watching. Keep in mind that this comes forma person who still watches ER.

 

[HighteeHeller]

The doctor my friend works for also thinks Izzie has a brain tumor. That seems to be the only way whats going on can make any sense, unless there really will be a crossover ep with Supernatural...which i doubt.

Also, my friend said that Izzie is being written off the show, is this true? I hadn't heard that anywhere.