“Grey’s Anatomy” — A Change is Gonna Come
Shut up, Lexie.
Let me introduce myself: I’m Liz, and I’ll be writing about Grey’s Anatomy here because I don’t have enough time to run my own TV blog.
I am always hesitant about first episodes of returning series because they never seem to live up to my expectations. (The upcoming new season of The Wire, you are excluded.) The months between May Sweeps and the new fall TV season hold such promise, mainly hinging on how cliffhangers will be resolved? Grey’s Anatomy, as expected, ends its seasons on emotional cliffhangers rather then physical ones—unless you count Meredith turning her head back and forth between whatever love triangle she is involved with at the time as a physical cliffhanger. So where did we last leave our hot doctors…
The previouslies catch those who immediately deleted May’s awful finale from their DVRs up to speed: Mer, Christina, Izzie, Alex, and George are heart broken and exhausted. But the poppy indie rock and beautiful shots of Seattle want you to forget all of that. It’s a new start here at Seattle Grace! We are quickly introduced to the new batch of interns—including Mer’s half-sister, Lexie, and a repeating-George—who our Resident Foursome will pass on their medical knowledge of sleeping with their bosses, sticking their hand inside a guy with a bomb in his chest, and falling in love with patients for the next year (or three seasons, whichever comes first). Christina starts her day as Bailey 2.0, as does Izzie, and Alex … oh, I see where this is going. In nice call back to the pilot episode, the Resident Foursome do The Nazi proud in schooling the newbies with the five rules of their internship.
In fact, this episode was all about attempting to reestablish the show to its former glory. The Resident Foursome recapped their 17 days off in their basement hallway hideaway. A reference to Derek’s habit of smelling people in the elevator (trust me, it’s kinda hot). Pick-me-up visits to the hospital nursery to see babies when you are having a bad day. Bailey’s awesomeness. Christina’s awesomeness. And stares between characters held just long enough it makes you wonder when they will hook up.
But then there were the “IEs†that prove my first episode theory: George & Izzie and Grey, Lexie. Grey’s Anatomy is a more of a soap opera than a drama, I get it, but when George and Izzie started on their 4eversoulm8s drama-o-rama last year, I was immediately repulsed. While I would have been disappointed if it was not addressed in this episode, having George admit he loves Izzie, too, is not the way to go. He’s married to Callie, love her instead; and she had a bad day, too.
Lexie Grey is just too damn plucky, even more so than Izzie. I could go more in-depth about what is her real purpose on the show and how she is the “bright and shiny†to Mer’s “dark and twisty,†but she annoys me too much to care. So in the words of my roommate and I, “Shut up, Lexie.â€
As for the medicine practiced this episode, the victims of a car accident provided the drama:
- Christina and Derek save a guy whose brain stem was almost detached from his spine.
- Alex and Bailey operated on Callie’s patient, a guy who eats anything within his reach including scissors and coins.
- Mer calmed a young, expectant mother whose arm was reattached by McSteamy and George delivered her baby.
- And Izzie saved a deer. Seriously.
And Mer and Der broke up and had sex.
Not the strongest start to a supposedly revived Grey’s Anatomy, but it still gives me a reason to drink wine, paint my nails, and watch a soapy drama on Thursday nights.
And, one more time, “Shut up, Lexie.â€
