Grey’s Anatomy 5x05 Review
Nov. 4th, 2008 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThere’s No ‘I’ In Team
This was an okay episode as an episode by itself but so many things in the episode really bugged me.
Izzie/Alex patient anvils and Lexie being where she isn’t supposed to be and her final rant at George were both irritating. I wasn’t entirely pleased with how Callie’s reactions to sex with Erica were played. And then there’s the big one – Meredith/Derek. I hated their entire storyline. It’s seemed as if I’ve been disliking Derek more this season then usual and this episode bares that out because I hated him in this episode. From taking all the credit for his and Meredith’s trial (which is really more hers then his) and not realising why that’s wrong to his silence at the end I just wanted to smack him in his smug face. God. And it’s not like I hate Derek more than anyone ever – sometimes I do like him. Sometimes I even like him in scenes with Meredith! But this episode made me kind of hate him. The whole thing just really made me mad which of course impacted how I liked the episode.
• I’m on Meredith’s side on this and not just because I like Meredith and dislike Derek but because this sort of thing really irritates me.
Meredith came up with the idea on her own, then she researched it on her own and then she approached Derek to go in with her because as he says she is a student. She knew that. But at that point she didn’t just leave it up to him. She was there the whole time – in on the surgeries, dealing with the candidates, doing the paperwork and in the end she risked her career by lying to get the final patient in – even though Derek had already given up. She is the reason why this trial even happened and in the end, despite it being due to Derek’s skill that it happened, they wouldn’t have succeeded if Meredith hadn’t been there. So, yes, I do think that it should be called the Grey-Sheppard or, fine, Sheppard-Grey technique and the fact that it isn’t doesn’t just bug me I think it’s very wrong. The fact that she could be cut out of the credit simply because she is so young and is still a ‘student’ drives me crazy especially since I know that it happens all the time in the real world though all vocations.
And the fact that Derek doesn’t recognize why that’s wrong, in fact thinks that this is exactly how it should be, gives me yet another reason to dislike him. He came off sweet at the end with the apology and I did genuinely like him giving her one of the kidneys instead of flowers or something similar and thought it was actually pretty sweet. He was thinking about her there. I do appreciate that. But... he still thinks that she shouldn’t get any credit for the study. Shut up, Derek.
“I don’t even want the credit but the clinical trial was my idea and I had to beg him to do it. More than once.” – Meredith
“It’s okay that you want the credit. I would want the credit.” – Izzie
- Yes, thank you Izzie! I don’t like Meredith being all ‘I don’t want the credit’ because she deserves some credit and she shouldn’t feel like she shouldn’t get it.
- “You can’t call it the Sheppard-Grey Method because then people might think you had help!” – Meredith to Derek before walking away. Yay for Meredith being all snarky. I loved this line and I loved how she said it.
- “If Derek needed a kidney I wouldn’t give him one. He’d take all the credit. He’d say that he magically grew it himself.” – Meredith, Cristina smiles. And another snark by Meredith! I’m loving this. What I really liked about this one was Cristina’s reaction. But then she would smile since its Meredith making fun of Derek and Cristina does have the good sense to dislike him.
“I do hate it when he’s right.” – Meredith
“No, he’s not right. Stop caring so much about what he thinks. It makes you seem desperate.” – Cristina
While I really like that Cristina spoke up and said that Derek wasn’t right I wish she had gone in a different direction and stated that Mere deserved credit and she shouldn’t let him make her feel like she doesn’t. Also that she should allow herself to push for this.
- I really liked Meredith in this episode. I loved how snarky she was throughout. But I didn’t like that she decided that Derek was right, that she accepted his apology so easily and I really didn’t like that she left Cristina sitting at the bar. She should have stayed.
- “I’m not half the surgeon that my mother was.” – Meredith, Derek kisses her shoulder. Seriously, Derek? Nothing? You have nothing to say to that. God.
• I hate that Meredith dropped the kidney. Now I don’t think that it’s impossible, that she would never do something like that, because accidents do happen. I’m fine with the concept and even if they’d had it happen in another episode. I hate that they had her drop it in the same episode as we have the brain tumour study results dealt with – ie. Derek getting all the credit. And the fact that no one had an issue with this. So, of course, Mere had to drop the kidney and screw up to show that Derek was right and she is just a student, because it’s not like attendings ever screw up, and she doesn’t really deserve any credit for the study. Really. ...Whatever, show.
• I liked the scene with the four residents sitting around and critiquing their interns. I love scenes when they’re all on the same side or being friends or just being together (and being a made-family). I also loved how close Cristina and Meredith were sitting together. They have like no personal boundaries with each other and I love it. This scene just made me happy even if they were being mean.
• So this show has always been heavy with connecting the doctor’s personal lives and relationships to their patients. In fact fairly often it’s like an anvil to the head. This episode’s Izzie/Alex storyline was such an anvil. Sometimes these connections actually work, and sometimes they are subtle (for the show), while other times they make me shake my head or roll my eyes and then there are the times that they fall flat on their faces and just don’t work. This episode’s Izzie/Alex storyline did not work. The idea that Izzie would compare her relationship with Alex – dated for a couple weeks, roommates, occasional friends, co-workers – and all only within the last two years to the fractured relationship between Kurt and PJ – father and son – is so ridiculous and stupid. And even though it’s the writers and their anvils it only serves to make Izzie look self-centred and idiotic. She knew nothing about the situation between Kurt and PJ beyond the fact that there’s animosity on PJ’s part and that Kurt desperately wants to reconnect. From that she feels able to diagnose it as PJ being broken? That it’s not Kurt’s fault (how the hell does she know that?) and to give the advice that he should try not to care so much (about his son?) so he can’t be disappointed? I just wanted to yell at her and Alex to talk it out or scream at each other instead of playing shrink to their patient who they really know nothing about.
I was really surprised that they didn’t stick Meredith on this storyline. A similar aged person with a difficult and estranged relationship with their parent who is now in danger of dying... it’s like it was made for her. And they could have used this opportunity for Meredith to let go of a few more of the ghosts of her relationship with her mother. Having her heal and grow slowly episode by episode.
• I’m really hoping that the Alex/Izzy kiss at the end means some forward movement between them. If next week ends up with Alex back to being an ass to her I am not going to be happy.
• I really hate how they keep shoving Lexie in where she doesn’t belong. She’s an intern not a resident and I don’t care if she’s a title character if as an intern she shouldn’t be there then she damn well shouldn’t be there. In this case it was Lexie being in with all the residents as Bailey shows them all their giant case for the day. I didn’t hate the scene itself but the fact that Lexie was even there really irritated me. Another explanation could be that some of those people were the interns but I hate that idea even more. Our residents have enough interns between them that everyone in that crowd was either a) ‘our’ residents and their interns, or b) all the surgical interns (they exist!) with Lexie for some unknown reason stuck in there. I’m going with b because a makes me sadder.
• I didn’t really like the final Lexie/George scene. Should I be feeling sorry for Lexie because she’s been so desperately playing bestest best friend ever and doormat in order to get George to see her in a romantic way? First, I hate her playing best friend and being so nice and considerate to George not because she is his friend but because she wants to be with him and is passively-aggressively trying to win him over. I hate it when guys do it to woman and it’s no better when it’s a woman doing it to a guy. She either needs to be his friend because she’s his friend – which actually seemed to be where they were going with this storyline – doing the George/Meredith storyline reversed with Lexie longing from afar but just being a good friend because that’s what their crush needs/wants. Instead with her rant she reveals that she’s being so nice to try and catch his romantic attention – or she needed to come out and say ‘I like you as more than a friend. Do you think you could?’. Instead she does all this nice stuff. Is super sweet to him and then when he shows (in her mind) just how much he doesn’t see her like that then she lets loose in a rage (well, a rant). In this situation I’m with poor oblivious George – he really didn’t see it coming and didn’t really deserve it.
I also didn’t like in the scene that George just stood there with this perplexed look on his face. There were several opportunities where he could have said something – without even interrupting her – but he didn’t. Anything from ‘The Chief picked my interns’ to ‘What the hell?’ would have worked. Oy. So I don’t blame him for missing Lexie’s passive-aggressive campaign to woo him (after all she was disguised as a friend) not for not returning her feelings but sometimes he’s just so… so… I don’t. This. It’s kind of annoying.
• Richard was the best he’s been all season this episode. After Richard’s bizarre and out of line rant at Meredith a couple episodes and his blaming her for his own failures it was not only nice but so very welcome to have him comforting her at the end of this episode. Based on his behaviour this season it wouldn’t have be out of character for him to have yelled at Mere for her mistake. Him not doing that and going the extra little bit to try and comfort her and to show that he isn’t mad at her was really nice to see. “Forgive yourself.” Aww. A touch on the shoulder would have made me really happy. Maybe there’s still the chance to have a Richard/Meredith close familial type relationship? (I mean she has been all about made family versus blood family, so I want Richard to be her substitute father!) The one moment that I didn’t like from him was during his final conversation with Bailey about the surgeries where he was understandably happy about the success of it but came off far too glib about the fact that Kurt is in really bad shape. He wasn’t wrong that five out of six is a good scorecard and that they saved at least five people but just his manner rubbed me wrong. He, at least came off, caring more that he now has something else to wave around to show that his hospital, and him, is one of the best in the country then with a patient.
• So Richard chose Bailey’s interns... hmm. Which means he chose to give Meredith, Ellis’s daughter, to Bailey, his favourite resident. I’m thinking that was definitely on purpose.
• I actually find what they’re doing with Callie and Erica kind of interesting. The take they’re going with is very different than any that I’ve seen before which I rather like. Callie being totally into Erica mentally and emotionally and yet being so uncertain and resistant towards the physical side of things - of being afraid of it actually does work from me. The fact that their first time was bad for Callie and good for Erica is also quite different and I find it to be a really interesting direction for the show to take.
But there needs to be some physical attraction on Callie’s part towards Erica. I got at the of the last season that Callie was sexually attracted to Erica (jumping Mark after Erica kissed her, imagining Erica while having sex with Mark) but that seems to, strangely enough, have disappeared this season as things got more serious between them. Callie being apprehensive about sex and wanting to take it slow would work for me (and does) but I’d like to also think that she does find Erica attractive and she does love kissing and touching her (if not below the Maison-Dixon line of Erica’s pants just yet) and yet I haven’t really been getting that.
I don’t like that they have Callie apparently wanting so much to try again because she never fails and refuses to fail at this (which is what she told Mark) instead of because she really cares about Erica and wants to be in a relationship with her and is determined to get over her sex issues so the two of them can have a full relationship together. I really wanted to get the latter but... I didn’t. I think that they’re very cute together, that Callie obviously really likes Erica as a friend and that Erica is very possibly completely infatuated with Callie but I want a little something more from Callie, as far as her feelings towards Erica being more than friendship and I want Callie to want to touch Erica because she just wants to touch her.
All that said, their last scene made me smile and Callie was all confidant and sexy and I’m hoping in the next episode it’ll be revealed that the sex was great and Callie can be shown as being all sexually attracted to Erica.
• I see some rocky times ahead for Callie and Erica once it comes out that Callie slept with Mark today. And this is TV so of course Erica’s going to learn the truth. Even if he just preformed cunninglinguis on her that still counts as sex and Callie and Erica are still dating. There was no break up. Which... I don’t understand what she was thinking. Did she and Erica have an agreement that they have an open relationship? I mean I guess I could see Callie feel open to sleeping with Mark if it was just that she’d only gone on one date with Erica but they’d slept together and it seemed as if they’d been a even more dates since the previous episode. So...wouldn’t it be cheating?
• I was really surprised that Mark didn’t suggest a threesome. I mean wouldn’t it be a more affective learning experience if Callie was the one performing it while Mark told/showed her how. Because how much could she really learn from having it preformed on her? And also if that was enough to make the difference between good sex and bad for Callie I guess then that her whole issue here isn’t so much a fear of vaginas but rather fear of not knowing what the hell she’s doing. Which I suppose is good. It’s just not entirely what I’ve gotten from her storyline this season.
• I was surprised that Brian didn’t contact Lindsey at all after the surgery. I mean they were together for three years so regardless of everything else they were serious. It wasn’t just Lindsey. I would have figured after his wife learning the truth and her reaction that he would want to keep him options open. Lindsey gave a kidney for him and it’s clear that she’s in love with him so why wouldn’t he keep the door open on their relationship in case his wife does leave him? Or is he that committed to trying to save his marriage?
This was an okay episode as an episode by itself but so many things in the episode really bugged me.
Izzie/Alex patient anvils and Lexie being where she isn’t supposed to be and her final rant at George were both irritating. I wasn’t entirely pleased with how Callie’s reactions to sex with Erica were played. And then there’s the big one – Meredith/Derek. I hated their entire storyline. It’s seemed as if I’ve been disliking Derek more this season then usual and this episode bares that out because I hated him in this episode. From taking all the credit for his and Meredith’s trial (which is really more hers then his) and not realising why that’s wrong to his silence at the end I just wanted to smack him in his smug face. God. And it’s not like I hate Derek more than anyone ever – sometimes I do like him. Sometimes I even like him in scenes with Meredith! But this episode made me kind of hate him. The whole thing just really made me mad which of course impacted how I liked the episode.
• I’m on Meredith’s side on this and not just because I like Meredith and dislike Derek but because this sort of thing really irritates me.
Meredith came up with the idea on her own, then she researched it on her own and then she approached Derek to go in with her because as he says she is a student. She knew that. But at that point she didn’t just leave it up to him. She was there the whole time – in on the surgeries, dealing with the candidates, doing the paperwork and in the end she risked her career by lying to get the final patient in – even though Derek had already given up. She is the reason why this trial even happened and in the end, despite it being due to Derek’s skill that it happened, they wouldn’t have succeeded if Meredith hadn’t been there. So, yes, I do think that it should be called the Grey-Sheppard or, fine, Sheppard-Grey technique and the fact that it isn’t doesn’t just bug me I think it’s very wrong. The fact that she could be cut out of the credit simply because she is so young and is still a ‘student’ drives me crazy especially since I know that it happens all the time in the real world though all vocations.
And the fact that Derek doesn’t recognize why that’s wrong, in fact thinks that this is exactly how it should be, gives me yet another reason to dislike him. He came off sweet at the end with the apology and I did genuinely like him giving her one of the kidneys instead of flowers or something similar and thought it was actually pretty sweet. He was thinking about her there. I do appreciate that. But... he still thinks that she shouldn’t get any credit for the study. Shut up, Derek.
“I don’t even want the credit but the clinical trial was my idea and I had to beg him to do it. More than once.” – Meredith
“It’s okay that you want the credit. I would want the credit.” – Izzie
- Yes, thank you Izzie! I don’t like Meredith being all ‘I don’t want the credit’ because she deserves some credit and she shouldn’t feel like she shouldn’t get it.
- “You can’t call it the Sheppard-Grey Method because then people might think you had help!” – Meredith to Derek before walking away. Yay for Meredith being all snarky. I loved this line and I loved how she said it.
- “If Derek needed a kidney I wouldn’t give him one. He’d take all the credit. He’d say that he magically grew it himself.” – Meredith, Cristina smiles. And another snark by Meredith! I’m loving this. What I really liked about this one was Cristina’s reaction. But then she would smile since its Meredith making fun of Derek and Cristina does have the good sense to dislike him.
“I do hate it when he’s right.” – Meredith
“No, he’s not right. Stop caring so much about what he thinks. It makes you seem desperate.” – Cristina
While I really like that Cristina spoke up and said that Derek wasn’t right I wish she had gone in a different direction and stated that Mere deserved credit and she shouldn’t let him make her feel like she doesn’t. Also that she should allow herself to push for this.
- I really liked Meredith in this episode. I loved how snarky she was throughout. But I didn’t like that she decided that Derek was right, that she accepted his apology so easily and I really didn’t like that she left Cristina sitting at the bar. She should have stayed.
- “I’m not half the surgeon that my mother was.” – Meredith, Derek kisses her shoulder. Seriously, Derek? Nothing? You have nothing to say to that. God.
• I hate that Meredith dropped the kidney. Now I don’t think that it’s impossible, that she would never do something like that, because accidents do happen. I’m fine with the concept and even if they’d had it happen in another episode. I hate that they had her drop it in the same episode as we have the brain tumour study results dealt with – ie. Derek getting all the credit. And the fact that no one had an issue with this. So, of course, Mere had to drop the kidney and screw up to show that Derek was right and she is just a student, because it’s not like attendings ever screw up, and she doesn’t really deserve any credit for the study. Really. ...Whatever, show.
• I liked the scene with the four residents sitting around and critiquing their interns. I love scenes when they’re all on the same side or being friends or just being together (and being a made-family). I also loved how close Cristina and Meredith were sitting together. They have like no personal boundaries with each other and I love it. This scene just made me happy even if they were being mean.
• So this show has always been heavy with connecting the doctor’s personal lives and relationships to their patients. In fact fairly often it’s like an anvil to the head. This episode’s Izzie/Alex storyline was such an anvil. Sometimes these connections actually work, and sometimes they are subtle (for the show), while other times they make me shake my head or roll my eyes and then there are the times that they fall flat on their faces and just don’t work. This episode’s Izzie/Alex storyline did not work. The idea that Izzie would compare her relationship with Alex – dated for a couple weeks, roommates, occasional friends, co-workers – and all only within the last two years to the fractured relationship between Kurt and PJ – father and son – is so ridiculous and stupid. And even though it’s the writers and their anvils it only serves to make Izzie look self-centred and idiotic. She knew nothing about the situation between Kurt and PJ beyond the fact that there’s animosity on PJ’s part and that Kurt desperately wants to reconnect. From that she feels able to diagnose it as PJ being broken? That it’s not Kurt’s fault (how the hell does she know that?) and to give the advice that he should try not to care so much (about his son?) so he can’t be disappointed? I just wanted to yell at her and Alex to talk it out or scream at each other instead of playing shrink to their patient who they really know nothing about.
I was really surprised that they didn’t stick Meredith on this storyline. A similar aged person with a difficult and estranged relationship with their parent who is now in danger of dying... it’s like it was made for her. And they could have used this opportunity for Meredith to let go of a few more of the ghosts of her relationship with her mother. Having her heal and grow slowly episode by episode.
• I’m really hoping that the Alex/Izzy kiss at the end means some forward movement between them. If next week ends up with Alex back to being an ass to her I am not going to be happy.
• I really hate how they keep shoving Lexie in where she doesn’t belong. She’s an intern not a resident and I don’t care if she’s a title character if as an intern she shouldn’t be there then she damn well shouldn’t be there. In this case it was Lexie being in with all the residents as Bailey shows them all their giant case for the day. I didn’t hate the scene itself but the fact that Lexie was even there really irritated me. Another explanation could be that some of those people were the interns but I hate that idea even more. Our residents have enough interns between them that everyone in that crowd was either a) ‘our’ residents and their interns, or b) all the surgical interns (they exist!) with Lexie for some unknown reason stuck in there. I’m going with b because a makes me sadder.
• I didn’t really like the final Lexie/George scene. Should I be feeling sorry for Lexie because she’s been so desperately playing bestest best friend ever and doormat in order to get George to see her in a romantic way? First, I hate her playing best friend and being so nice and considerate to George not because she is his friend but because she wants to be with him and is passively-aggressively trying to win him over. I hate it when guys do it to woman and it’s no better when it’s a woman doing it to a guy. She either needs to be his friend because she’s his friend – which actually seemed to be where they were going with this storyline – doing the George/Meredith storyline reversed with Lexie longing from afar but just being a good friend because that’s what their crush needs/wants. Instead with her rant she reveals that she’s being so nice to try and catch his romantic attention – or she needed to come out and say ‘I like you as more than a friend. Do you think you could?’. Instead she does all this nice stuff. Is super sweet to him and then when he shows (in her mind) just how much he doesn’t see her like that then she lets loose in a rage (well, a rant). In this situation I’m with poor oblivious George – he really didn’t see it coming and didn’t really deserve it.
I also didn’t like in the scene that George just stood there with this perplexed look on his face. There were several opportunities where he could have said something – without even interrupting her – but he didn’t. Anything from ‘The Chief picked my interns’ to ‘What the hell?’ would have worked. Oy. So I don’t blame him for missing Lexie’s passive-aggressive campaign to woo him (after all she was disguised as a friend) not for not returning her feelings but sometimes he’s just so… so… I don’t. This. It’s kind of annoying.
• Richard was the best he’s been all season this episode. After Richard’s bizarre and out of line rant at Meredith a couple episodes and his blaming her for his own failures it was not only nice but so very welcome to have him comforting her at the end of this episode. Based on his behaviour this season it wouldn’t have be out of character for him to have yelled at Mere for her mistake. Him not doing that and going the extra little bit to try and comfort her and to show that he isn’t mad at her was really nice to see. “Forgive yourself.” Aww. A touch on the shoulder would have made me really happy. Maybe there’s still the chance to have a Richard/Meredith close familial type relationship? (I mean she has been all about made family versus blood family, so I want Richard to be her substitute father!) The one moment that I didn’t like from him was during his final conversation with Bailey about the surgeries where he was understandably happy about the success of it but came off far too glib about the fact that Kurt is in really bad shape. He wasn’t wrong that five out of six is a good scorecard and that they saved at least five people but just his manner rubbed me wrong. He, at least came off, caring more that he now has something else to wave around to show that his hospital, and him, is one of the best in the country then with a patient.
• So Richard chose Bailey’s interns... hmm. Which means he chose to give Meredith, Ellis’s daughter, to Bailey, his favourite resident. I’m thinking that was definitely on purpose.
• I actually find what they’re doing with Callie and Erica kind of interesting. The take they’re going with is very different than any that I’ve seen before which I rather like. Callie being totally into Erica mentally and emotionally and yet being so uncertain and resistant towards the physical side of things - of being afraid of it actually does work from me. The fact that their first time was bad for Callie and good for Erica is also quite different and I find it to be a really interesting direction for the show to take.
But there needs to be some physical attraction on Callie’s part towards Erica. I got at the of the last season that Callie was sexually attracted to Erica (jumping Mark after Erica kissed her, imagining Erica while having sex with Mark) but that seems to, strangely enough, have disappeared this season as things got more serious between them. Callie being apprehensive about sex and wanting to take it slow would work for me (and does) but I’d like to also think that she does find Erica attractive and she does love kissing and touching her (if not below the Maison-Dixon line of Erica’s pants just yet) and yet I haven’t really been getting that.
I don’t like that they have Callie apparently wanting so much to try again because she never fails and refuses to fail at this (which is what she told Mark) instead of because she really cares about Erica and wants to be in a relationship with her and is determined to get over her sex issues so the two of them can have a full relationship together. I really wanted to get the latter but... I didn’t. I think that they’re very cute together, that Callie obviously really likes Erica as a friend and that Erica is very possibly completely infatuated with Callie but I want a little something more from Callie, as far as her feelings towards Erica being more than friendship and I want Callie to want to touch Erica because she just wants to touch her.
All that said, their last scene made me smile and Callie was all confidant and sexy and I’m hoping in the next episode it’ll be revealed that the sex was great and Callie can be shown as being all sexually attracted to Erica.
• I see some rocky times ahead for Callie and Erica once it comes out that Callie slept with Mark today. And this is TV so of course Erica’s going to learn the truth. Even if he just preformed cunninglinguis on her that still counts as sex and Callie and Erica are still dating. There was no break up. Which... I don’t understand what she was thinking. Did she and Erica have an agreement that they have an open relationship? I mean I guess I could see Callie feel open to sleeping with Mark if it was just that she’d only gone on one date with Erica but they’d slept together and it seemed as if they’d been a even more dates since the previous episode. So...wouldn’t it be cheating?
• I was really surprised that Mark didn’t suggest a threesome. I mean wouldn’t it be a more affective learning experience if Callie was the one performing it while Mark told/showed her how. Because how much could she really learn from having it preformed on her? And also if that was enough to make the difference between good sex and bad for Callie I guess then that her whole issue here isn’t so much a fear of vaginas but rather fear of not knowing what the hell she’s doing. Which I suppose is good. It’s just not entirely what I’ve gotten from her storyline this season.
• I was surprised that Brian didn’t contact Lindsey at all after the surgery. I mean they were together for three years so regardless of everything else they were serious. It wasn’t just Lindsey. I would have figured after his wife learning the truth and her reaction that he would want to keep him options open. Lindsey gave a kidney for him and it’s clear that she’s in love with him so why wouldn’t he keep the door open on their relationship in case his wife does leave him? Or is he that committed to trying to save his marriage?
