There is a grand tradition of Grey’s Anatomy season finales. Addison’s arrival left millions of viewers speechless and uncertain. Denny’s death is remembered as one of the most emotional moments of television in years. Christina’s wedding should have earned Sandra Oh an Emmy and sent Burke off on exactly the right note. So when last night’s season finale rolled around I couldn’t wait to see what brilliance Shonda and co. had prepared to throw my way. But after sitting through the 2 hour episode, however, all I was left with was the simple question “what was that?”.
Firstly, there was no stunning moment of cliffhangery goodness. There was no Emmy-worthy emotion (except perhaps from Justin Chambers, who continues to be the most underrated actor on TV) and nothing that I really cared about. If Alex had broken down about Eva/Rebbecca last year I would have been invested but she’d grown so tiresome by the time Izzy finally sent her to the psych ward that I’d lost all interest and thus couldn’t sympathize when Chambers delivered the performance of the night.
Secondly, Meredith and Derek are back together and we’ve been promised that they’ll stay that way. But their final moments together of the season seemed so incredibly forced that I lost all interest. It takes a lot for me to invest in these 2 in the first place, but I had by the end of the episode, and then it got ruined by the over-romanticizing that went on instead of a subtler and sweeter coming together.
Thirdly, there are 2 friendships on this show (Meredith and Christina, Mark and Derek) that’s all. If Meredith and Christina hadn’t kicked off the show with a brilliant “you’re my person” scene this rant would be way longer than it is but why can’t anyone be friends? I understand Izzy and Alex, it was always about them in a way and it wasn’t so much a romantic hookup as a comfort one- psychologically more complex, OK Shonda, I’m on bored. But what about George and Lexi? Once this thing plays out the man will have slept with more of the principle cast than anyone else, why can’t he keep a friend? and Callie and Erika- a little more complicated. I’m fine with it, they have great chemistry and it’s nice to get a homosexual couple on the show who are featured in more than 2 episodes. But I have the same issue with this storyline as I had when Willow was an all-of-a-sudden Lesbian on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We’ve already witnessed Callie fall for “her McDreamy”, George. If the seeds of her homosexuality had been planted a little sooner I’d be a little happier. But hey, Callie is a little more understandable than Willow because of her close friendship with Hahn, the questions brought up by Addison and the flames fed by Sloan. This is the last you will hear of me complaining about that slightly out-of-the-blue story line.
As for the week’s cases, I found cement guy traumatizing. I was freaked out by the thought of it more than by any case we’ve seen so far. Lola was horrid and the kid would have been so much more sympathetic without her but the story line served its purpose I suppose. The other case was much more interesting. Meredith and Derek’s 2 tumor patients and their love story were very endearing (even if completely predictable).
Oh, and good on Christina. Way to learn from Hahn’s bad example and teach Lexi. A very good Christina episode in all.
So in the end we fade to black as everybody (Meredith, Derek, Alex, Izzy, Callie, Erika, Richard and Adele) makes out, Sloan is left alone and Lexi pictures George naked. Comparatively, not exactly their strongest ending to date.