Grey's Anatomy Season 6: "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked"

Spoiler Alert: This whole entry is full of spoilers.


Now that that's out of the way, let's review. In this installment of Grey's Anatomy, The Chief finally, finally, gets kicked out of his job. Izzie comes back, Karev dumps her, she leaves again. Christina and Owen continue to struggle but stay together through adversity, which may be the only thing keeping me clinging to this show. That and boredom. And Lexie and Sloan reveal their mutual semi-infidelity, which makes Sloan hurt and sad and sexier than ever.

First, The Chief. Can I just say, I have been done with him for quite a while. I know the show is trying to present him as the cause of a mire of conflicting emotions to the characters around him. The typical case for the alcoholic: "We love him, he's nice, we don't want to force him to face the consequences of his actions. But we need to give tough love. It's best for him and for everyone around him."

I get it, except for the fact that lately, he has simply not been all that lovable. The writers didn't do a good job of making a strong case FOR liking The Chief. He selfishly did the merger when his job was on the line, saving his own ass and screwing everybody else over. Like, why was everyone not super pissed about THAT? Instead they get all sad that he's not doing surgery and missing Bailey's big chemo presentation. They selectively neglect his responsibility in the biggest plot event of the whole season... poor writing, anyone?

Sorry, I've been disgusted with The Chief for a long time now. And all his inspiring "It's a bad economy and it's out of my hands" speeches have been making me even more sick to watch him on the show. His "impossible" choice was do the merger, or the let the board takeover and give his job to Derek. Being a leader is just so hard nowadays.

Owen and Christina are continuing to stay together despite various hits to their relationship, which may seem sappy but I'm totally eating it up. He messes up their first date, chokes her, has a lingering fiance, and has a romantic history with her boss. She has trouble opening up in therapy, is generally impossible, and then stands by choosing "her gift" over him.

Yet at the end of the day, he comes home (after drinking for hours and maybe wandering? who knows...) and tells her she's flawed but she cannot avoid the truth that their relationship matters, and they kiss passionately. Honestly the only reason they are together is sheer will at this point (and you know, love). But I don't care, I think it's awesome. More "Owen being intense" scenes, please!



And on a final note: is anyone else getting really sick of the Grey's Anatomy formula for dramatic character breakthroughs? "I am repeating this line over and over because it is important" ZZZ. Today's installment:


Christina: So you get it. You didn't have to do that. But you did. You get it.

Teddy: What are you talking about?

Christina: I choose surgery over a guy. I'm not going to apologize for it, especially to you. You didn't have to save his lung. The right thing would have been to remove it. But the patient was clear that he didn't want to live without his gift, and you get that. I choose my gift. I wanna be great, and I want to learn from you. I choose my gift.


So.. the main point is "I choose my gift." and "You get it." What a moving piece of dialog that is... especially when we consider that we never hear Christina repeat things over and over and over and over....

Summary: this episode was satisfying to me in that The Chief got booted. It was annoying in the ways Grey's Anatomy usually annoys me.


-Rachel

First Post

I created this blog so that I have a place to express my reviews/opinions about current episodes of TV shows I watch. I mainly watch TV for entertainment, but sometimes a situation arises in which an episode moves/angers/upsets/impresses me. And as I've slowly become more interested in the pop culture TV scene, I've watched great shows get canceled, flawed shows gain popularity, and even favorite shows give up on any kind of planned-out plot or significant writing. I've realized that quality writing/acting/art in TV is sometimes undermined, and sexist/racist/destructive stereotypes are frustratingly played out over and over again. I think about it, get angry, complain to my friends who are sick of hearing about it, and then think more about it. And I've come to the conclusion that sometimes these thoughts are actually important, and need to be said. So here I am, creating this blog, so that I have a place where I can criticize or praise the creative cultural art that I believe TV can be. Hopefully through this process I can have some tiny impact on creating a more informed TV audience and participate in raising the standards of TV. (Even if I only end up with 5 or 6 readers....)

Since I'm just getting started, my first goal is to keep up with current episodes and update as I watch. In the background, if I have extra time on my hands I will try and rewatch old episodes and write some in-depth critiques on the classics of some of my favorite series. Also, so you know what kind of tastes I have, what follows is a list of my favorite TV series, past and present. The order is not really significant:


Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Veronica Mars
Arrested Development
Stargate SG1
The Office
Dollhouse
Rome
Angel
Bones
30 Rock
The Colbert Report
Heroes (Season 1)

That's just off the top of my head. Anyways, stay, enjoy, read. If I say something that makes you mad, please comment. I learn more from open discourse than just blogging my first impressions.

-Rachel