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shadowkatJust finished watching last night's Grey's Anatomy which I loved to pieces. It's been very good this year, and apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so - EW even put it on it's must watch list and it's been climbing steadily in the Nielsen ratings. I'm at a point in my life in which stories with emotional themes resonate for me far more than one's that do not. Political allegory, philosophical/metaphysical theme, or dysfunctional themes about bad parents...are starting to slowly grate on my nerves. There are however a few exceptions, for political allergory and feminism - nobody does it better than The Good Wife, for metaphysics, religion and parental dysfunction - the prematurely canceled Caprica rocks the proverbial boat. True Blood does both political and religious satire quite well. For raw emotion? There's Supernatural (bro-romance and father/son, brother/brother issues like whoa! Plus a deft examination of raw right-wing Christian mythos) and Vampire Diaries (the angst of being alone) and the angst of wanting love and to be loved.
But Grey's...sigh, it really captures how people react to a traumatic event in different ways. No one does it the same. And it avoids stereotypes. Each character is uniquely drawn and often goes against what you might expect. I find myself rewinding during it, rewatching bits, and well, falling in love.
To fall in love with a piece of art is a rare thing...a special thing. Just as falling out of love with it can be a painful and grating thing, which is separate post. In tonight's Grey's - each character was explored and furthered...in detail. Plus Amber Bensen had a small and rather interesting part - as a patient's long lost daughter. Amber, who once played Tara, looks different, thinner in the face, older, her hair shorter. But she plays that warm insecurity very well. Not only were the character's explored through their workplace duties, but also through their relationships. Admittedly the reason hospital/medical dramas work so well for me is that
I know next to nothing about medicine, avoid hospitals like the plague, and hated biology (ew).
Being a doctor or nurse was never an ambition. Candy stripper was bad enough. Hospitals tend to make me nervous and scare me. Don't like them. Which is why I love medical dramas. Legal and criminal procedural dramas on the other hand bug the beegesus out of me - because I actually did pursue a career in both fields and actually do know quite a bit about both, more than I want to.
I'm weird, I like to watch tv shows about things I don't know much about...
Was a bit surprised by this week's episode...
Callie apparently is not being written out, but Arizona is (to deal with Jessica Capsaw's maternity leave - hope it's not three years, but something may happen who knows). How they dealt with it - actually worked thematically on an emotional level. Mark Sloan of all people puts it into words - telling Callie that she shouldn't go to Africa for Arizona, she should go to Africa because she wants to go to Africa. But it's not so simple. Doing something, giving up a part of yourself to help or save or be with someone else...never is.
* Cristina it is revealed blames Meredith for her inability to enjoy or deal with surgery. "How come you are fine, but I'm not? You - with the gun in your face, trading your life for Derek, etc...while I...if it had been anyone else on that table, I would have just walked away, and if I had, I wouldn't be here now."
Cristina who can't deal with being afraid all the time. Terrified her patient will die. Terrified she'll do the wrong thing. Through her eyes, we see how risky it is to be a surgeon. She feels her patient's pain and anguish more now than ever, and she can't handle it. The fear is paralyzing.
And she's there out of love, out of an act of love. Unselfish, yet selfish at the same time. She
risked her life to save Meredith's husband, and Meredith. Operated on Derek with a gun pointed at her head. A moment she can't and doesn't want to remember. Surgery she associates with having a gun pointed at her head, with death.
Frozen in that moment, Cristina can barely move. She no longer wants to be Cristina. And she resents and hates Meredith for putting her there. Derek ironically has finally come between them.
It's irrational, but emotion is. Often.
* Bailey - who can't figure out what killed her patient. Her patient who survived the traumatic events of the shooting, but not a routine surgery that Bailey has done a million times and went well. Why. Bailey wants answers, but there are none found in the autospy. The autospy is inconclusive. And Bailey feels as if she failed, that she lost two people.
* Lexie Grey who projects her own issues onto the patient getting a big butt - because the patient wants to be able to fit into a pair of jeans, to look hot in a pair of jeans. And not just wear a sun-dress. Lexie believes she's getting the grabable butt for some guy, but no..it's for herself.
Lexie who has done everything for the guy and lost him anyways - from moving in with him, when she wasn't ready, to dying her hair...
* Derek who wants to save Meredith from something that may never happen. Alztheimers. But finding a cure...requires that Meredith not be involved - if she's involved, she will be all he can think about. He's doing it for her? Or for himself?
Selfishness is put down, but here it is shown to be necessary - in part for survival. It's not a bad or good thing. It just is.
And never quit. That's the other theme ...never give up, never quit. Hold tight. Avery wants to quit, but Owen pulls him back to the Trauma Certification Unit - forces him to try. Cristina does quit. Avery and Cristina both ruined by the same event. Brilliant surgeons prior to their operation at gun-point on Derek, now both jumping at shadows. Both quit in this episode, but Owen is able to bring one back, the other...the one he loves, he can't because he leaves her to Meredith and Kim Raver's character...he's too close to her.
When characters are written well you feel them in your gut, your bones, your heart. You hold them to you. In them you see your own pain, your own fear. And through them...life feels a bit easier, a bit more doable. If they can do it, so can you. Characters written well inspire us. Give us hope.
Characters written badly...depress and bore and aggravate.
Stories, the good ones, feature well written and multi-dimensional characters, who rise above stereotypes and resemble our friends, nieghbors, co-workers, family and ourselves. They speak to our minds and hearts, and their stories we find ourselves breathing not just watching or reading, their stories we will replay a million times over in our heads when they are long gone.
This episode of Grey's Anatomy worked on those levels. It made me happy. It gave me hope.
Overall Rating - A+
But Grey's...sigh, it really captures how people react to a traumatic event in different ways. No one does it the same. And it avoids stereotypes. Each character is uniquely drawn and often goes against what you might expect. I find myself rewinding during it, rewatching bits, and well, falling in love.
To fall in love with a piece of art is a rare thing...a special thing. Just as falling out of love with it can be a painful and grating thing, which is separate post. In tonight's Grey's - each character was explored and furthered...in detail. Plus Amber Bensen had a small and rather interesting part - as a patient's long lost daughter. Amber, who once played Tara, looks different, thinner in the face, older, her hair shorter. But she plays that warm insecurity very well. Not only were the character's explored through their workplace duties, but also through their relationships. Admittedly the reason hospital/medical dramas work so well for me is that
I know next to nothing about medicine, avoid hospitals like the plague, and hated biology (ew).
Being a doctor or nurse was never an ambition. Candy stripper was bad enough. Hospitals tend to make me nervous and scare me. Don't like them. Which is why I love medical dramas. Legal and criminal procedural dramas on the other hand bug the beegesus out of me - because I actually did pursue a career in both fields and actually do know quite a bit about both, more than I want to.
I'm weird, I like to watch tv shows about things I don't know much about...
Was a bit surprised by this week's episode...
Callie apparently is not being written out, but Arizona is (to deal with Jessica Capsaw's maternity leave - hope it's not three years, but something may happen who knows). How they dealt with it - actually worked thematically on an emotional level. Mark Sloan of all people puts it into words - telling Callie that she shouldn't go to Africa for Arizona, she should go to Africa because she wants to go to Africa. But it's not so simple. Doing something, giving up a part of yourself to help or save or be with someone else...never is.
* Cristina it is revealed blames Meredith for her inability to enjoy or deal with surgery. "How come you are fine, but I'm not? You - with the gun in your face, trading your life for Derek, etc...while I...if it had been anyone else on that table, I would have just walked away, and if I had, I wouldn't be here now."
Cristina who can't deal with being afraid all the time. Terrified her patient will die. Terrified she'll do the wrong thing. Through her eyes, we see how risky it is to be a surgeon. She feels her patient's pain and anguish more now than ever, and she can't handle it. The fear is paralyzing.
And she's there out of love, out of an act of love. Unselfish, yet selfish at the same time. She
risked her life to save Meredith's husband, and Meredith. Operated on Derek with a gun pointed at her head. A moment she can't and doesn't want to remember. Surgery she associates with having a gun pointed at her head, with death.
Frozen in that moment, Cristina can barely move. She no longer wants to be Cristina. And she resents and hates Meredith for putting her there. Derek ironically has finally come between them.
It's irrational, but emotion is. Often.
* Bailey - who can't figure out what killed her patient. Her patient who survived the traumatic events of the shooting, but not a routine surgery that Bailey has done a million times and went well. Why. Bailey wants answers, but there are none found in the autospy. The autospy is inconclusive. And Bailey feels as if she failed, that she lost two people.
* Lexie Grey who projects her own issues onto the patient getting a big butt - because the patient wants to be able to fit into a pair of jeans, to look hot in a pair of jeans. And not just wear a sun-dress. Lexie believes she's getting the grabable butt for some guy, but no..it's for herself.
Lexie who has done everything for the guy and lost him anyways - from moving in with him, when she wasn't ready, to dying her hair...
* Derek who wants to save Meredith from something that may never happen. Alztheimers. But finding a cure...requires that Meredith not be involved - if she's involved, she will be all he can think about. He's doing it for her? Or for himself?
Selfishness is put down, but here it is shown to be necessary - in part for survival. It's not a bad or good thing. It just is.
And never quit. That's the other theme ...never give up, never quit. Hold tight. Avery wants to quit, but Owen pulls him back to the Trauma Certification Unit - forces him to try. Cristina does quit. Avery and Cristina both ruined by the same event. Brilliant surgeons prior to their operation at gun-point on Derek, now both jumping at shadows. Both quit in this episode, but Owen is able to bring one back, the other...the one he loves, he can't because he leaves her to Meredith and Kim Raver's character...he's too close to her.
When characters are written well you feel them in your gut, your bones, your heart. You hold them to you. In them you see your own pain, your own fear. And through them...life feels a bit easier, a bit more doable. If they can do it, so can you. Characters written well inspire us. Give us hope.
Characters written badly...depress and bore and aggravate.
Stories, the good ones, feature well written and multi-dimensional characters, who rise above stereotypes and resemble our friends, nieghbors, co-workers, family and ourselves. They speak to our minds and hearts, and their stories we find ourselves breathing not just watching or reading, their stories we will replay a million times over in our heads when they are long gone.
This episode of Grey's Anatomy worked on those levels. It made me happy. It gave me hope.
Overall Rating - A+