So I finally got to see the whole post-Superbowl episode of Grey's Anatomy. (My PVR only taped the first half because of the game running over, and I couldn't stay awake for the West coast feed.)
It's a funny way to watch tv -- an enforced break of sleep at the half way point. It used to be that I would never, ever stop watching something til the end. But you get older, and, you know...sleep. Sleep is awesome.
*There's gonna be some spoilers coming, so if you haven't watched and still intend to...well...git.
I have to say that after the first half, I hadn't really seen any evidence to get me out of my usual "post Superbowl episodes are always overrated" box. Christina Ricci is a cute guest star. The shower scene was a cute (if obvious) tip to the post-Superbowl berth.
But once the primary plot asserted itself, my heart sank.
Because I've seen it before.
And if you haven't seen it before, then there's an episode of TV you need to go get.
A few years ago, Homicide: Life on the Street won an Emmy for a truly moving episode called "The Subway." The guest star was Vincent D'Onofrio, and the setup was truly horrible. A man gets knocked onto the subway platform by an incoming train. He's trapped between the train and the platform. His lower body is twisted beyond belief, and the pressure is the only thing holding him together. When they move the train, he will die. Period. Andre Braugher's Pembleton and Kyle Secor's Bayliss arrive on the scene, confronted with the paradox of trying to investigate a homicide, where the victim is still alive. (If he was pushed, it's homicide, right?)
Anyway, the show is basically a one-act play between Braugher and D'Onofrio -- and it's one of the most exciting, moving, and devestating hours of TV I've ever seen. It's everything that made Homicide great.
So initially, when I went to bed, I was a little disappointed. The girl with the hand on the bomb in the body cavity just seemed like a pale version of The Subway episode to me.
Then yesterday I watched the second half of Grey's Anatomy.
Wow.
Not just the delayed-too-long sex between Alex and Izzie, but the great scene about the Pink Mist...a nice, nice piece of writing there...and then the great twist at the end with Meredith.
They pulled it off. The streak is over. A post-Superbowl episode worked.
All that, and that great duet version of Joseph Arthur's In the Sun by Michael Stipe and Chris Martin from Coldplay. A great Katrina Hurricane-relief single -- go buy it on Itunes, and while you're at it, check out Joseph Arthur. This is a guy who deserves to sell a lot more albums.
Anyway, I think Grey's is really hitting an amazing stride. And I still think that George is the heart of the whole show.
4 comments:
I love George. By far my favorite character.
I'm the opposite of you, I missed the first half of the show saw just the second. Still intense, but I wish I had remembered it'd be on at a weird time.
I think you're right that Grey's Anatomy is batting 1000 as far as viewers are concerned; talk about a surprise swat at Desperate Housewives.
As far as post-superbowl primetime fare, I tend to agree that it's usually overrated drek. That said: a couple of years ago, Alias got the sweet spot after the superbowl, and it was one of the best episodes of television I've seen. The episode landed some complicated tricks.... two twists back to back; a surprising double cross and a completely unexpected death of a main character. It's best for a show to pull something like that when it's hot. Too bad that since then the show has basically spiraled into crap.
Signs also used the trope of the person kept from death by pressure -- in this case the hero's wife, mortally wounded by a truck that's also the thing keeping her from dying.
There are a few minor, minor plotholes, like stupid are these geeks that one stands in front of a bazooka; how did they get explosives to make an explosive shell; a bazooka shell is simply not that powerful (the room would contain it). But okay, aside from the logic holes, pretty cool ep. Thank God for bittorrent, 'cause my DVR screwed up the recording, of course.
Am I the only one who thought the Meredith twist took the drama out of the cliffhanger? I mean, since Ricci was a guest, they might turn her into mist, but I'm thinking they're keeping Meredith around (unless she's leaving the show - I don't follow it, usually, but watched the repeat based on Denis' post).
And, uh, they couldn't have switched hands simultaneously, so the explosive couldn't be THAT unstable...(and why hasn't the bomb squad simply COVERED this guy and Ricci in protective shielding? Maybe she loses a hand. If the explosive is THAT powerful, then why put on anything at all? ...Am I over-analyzing here?)
I thought it was an interesting hour up until then.
Maybe I'll watch next week to see all the emoting that happens prior to getting Meredith free.
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