Bye George

-Lauren

Can Grey’s get its groove back? On the heels of a season marred by preposterous storylines (ghost sex?!!), I went into the season 6 premiere with more than a little skepticism. I can’t say definitively whether or not my fears were unfounded, but there are certainly signs of promise.

The two-part season opener, titled “Good Mourning” and “Goodbye,” picks up immediately where the finale left off, with both Izzie and George flatlining, Izzie from complications of her melanoma and George from his injuries after being struck by a bus. To the surprise of no one who kept up with T.R. Knight’s much-publicized career announcement made over the summer, Izzie survives while George sadly winds up brain dead.

As expected, the main focus of the premiere surrounds George’s death and the remaining characters’ attempts to deal with the shocking loss of one of their own. Ordinarily, the death of a main character, and a much-loved one at that, inspires an episode with the emotional equivalent of a category 5 hurricane. Many shows pull this off effortlessly; however, I feel that Shonda Rhimes missed the mark somewhat with her farewell to Dr. O’Malley. Some may blame this on the fact that we knew all along that George would be the one to die. The problem, in my opinion, actually lay in the fact that many scenes that should have been ripe for potential drama ended up falling flat. The needless debate over whether or not to donate his organs and the oddly brief funeral scene are two moments that come to mind as wasted opportunities to truly explore the heartache of George’s death and, save for Callie and Bailey, few of the characters’ reactions held any real resonance. As was pointed out during the aforementioned badly-written funeral scene, there’s something off about the fact that the girl whose life he saved and who never even actually met him acted more devastated by his death than those who called him friend. That’s not to say that the storyline did not have any good moments: George’s mother, the always-wonderful Debra Monk, had a beautiful and tender scene with Kevin McKidd, as Owen told her about the great doctor and even greater man her son was; Bailey’s grief was palpable as the loss of one of her “babies” left her barely able to function. All things considered, though, George’s sendoff just didn’t do it for me and in the end he wound up being treated more like a Patient of the Week rather than a beloved character whom we have followed since the series inception. George, and T.R. Knight deserved better. Shonda Rhimes did, indeed, throw him under the bus.

Amidst their grief (which was arguable), the rest of our docs continued about their lives as several plot threads carried over from the previous season and were addressed as the episode as a whole chronicled a period of 40 days following George’s death. Meredith and Derek’s Post-It “wedding” still stands and the couple has yet to show signs of having a legal union conducted anytime soon. Well, to each their own. But, as several characters pointed out in an echo of the sentiments expressed by the majority of viewers, marriage via a yellow sticky note is not a marriage. Nor is it a viable or even reasonably interesting plotline, but I digress. Legally binding or not, our central couple seems to have no qualms about consummating their marriage—wherever and whenever. Of course, all of this off-screen nookie was just an excuse to have Ellen Pompeo away from the cameras to hide her then-pregnant belly (she and husband Chris Ivery welcomed a baby girl a week before the premiere aired), and Meredith’s lack of screentime was definitely noticed. Izzie, meanwhile, is discharged from the hospital as she is no longer in imminent danger with her cancer, but she still has cancer. It’s obvious she did not anticipate this—she figured she would either lose her battle with the disease or be cured. She did not expect to be a person who lives with cancer, and it’ll be interesting to see how she and Alex handle this new challenge. Izzie’s first challenge, though, will be getting her husband to open up to her. Alex is completely shaken by the fact that Izzie, for all intents and purposes, died in his arms in the finale and is still so terrified by the very real possibility of losing her that he now can’t bear to touch her. Love hurts.

Cristina and Owen, whose relationship was one of the few redeeming aspects of the fifth season, are working out their problems and addressing Owen’s PTSD and the choking incident in therapy sessions with Dr. Wyatt (Amy Madigan). Dr. Wyatt theorizes that Owen cannot make progress with his issues unless he can address them openly, and so she recommends the couple remain abstinent until such time as his relationship with Cristina distracts him from having to make an effort to do so. In other news, Mark moves into a new apartment, conveniently located directly across the hall from Cristina and Callie’s place—much to the dismay of Lexie, who is not particularly comfortable with her boyfriend in such close proximity to his “hot ex-sex friend.” Callie, when not inadvertently undermining Lexie’s confidence, is so infuriated by the Chief’s passing her over for an attending position that she opts to bid adieu to Seattle Grace and transfers to Mercy West—where the Chief winds up when he gets into a minor car accident. Chief Webber’s a little distracted these days. The Seattle Grace board of directors, led by Mitch Pileggi in a return appearance, has plans for Webber to step down as chief of surgery, seeing as the hospital’s ranking of number 12 has not improved and Webber is nothing more than an ineffectual boob in a corner office. Okay, I added that second part, but let’s call a spade a spade: Webber has become utterly useless. Someone really needs to tell him that sitting in his office and pouting about needing to make changes is not the same as actually changing anything. But he’s about to do something now—after assessing the apparent well-oiled machine of Mercy West, he comes up with a “plan” to save Seattle Grace. Namely, having the two hospitals merge, which means some people are going to be handed their walking papers in order to make room. Ineffectual boob no more, eh?

In all, I’d give the season premiere a B-minus. Considering this was supposed to be the Big George Episode, I actually enjoyed all of the scenes and the storylines that didn’t involve his death more. Will Alex and Izzie’s marriage actually work out? For that matter, will Derek and Meredith even get married for real? Given this show’s track record for marriage, it’s probably for the best that they don’t.