Grey's Anatomy 10.05 Review: Back to the Beginning

Anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, titled ‘I Bet It Stung’, then I suggest you either do so now or exit the screen. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Decent episode this week, much better than the two hundredth episode of last week, which was lackluster for such a monumental occasion. There was some good progression with a lot of the characters, most notably Meredith, and her friendship with Cristina, as well as Richard, Edwards with Jackson’s mom, and Callie. It was great to see that argument between Meredith and Derek at the end, especially since she had valid reasons. It was also really great to see Callie’s development toward being a happier person with her own life. No, it’s not possible to go backwards in time, but you can try to be the person you were at a happier time in your life.

There were some nice, easy, funny moments to this episode. The first was most the randomly peculiar moment at the beginning of the episode when Meredith kisses Callie goodbye much the same she does with Derek. The other comedic moment was the cliché meeting between Edwards and Jackson’s mom. I knew it was coming, but it was still a light moment to the episode that spiraled into drama. The third one was the whole thing where Arizona couldn’t remember what had happened the night of the gala with Murphy. The whole bit where she gave Arizona coffee but April got nothing was great.

It was nice to see the growth of Meredith’s character come to a head. The constant battle for women to decide what do they give themselves more to: work or kids. I definitely think she made the right decisions, that her kids come first, much better than a lot of the mother’s on this series. Which is why it was such a valid argument between her and Derek at the end. He’d chosen his surgery, something that wasn’t a once in a lifetime experience like Meredith’s, and had the nerve to say it wasn’t his fault that she’d had to give up her’s. I most assuredly look forward to seeing how that comes across next week.

So, there are still a lot of interesting things going on in Grey’s Anatomy, but a lot of it is becoming tired. No, the writing is no where near as bad as The Vampire Diaries, or even this year’s American Horror Story: Coven, but it’s not at all close to how ripe with intrigue and drama from years past. I did think it was a very My Sister’s Keeper moment when we learned the other sister was a donor baby, but I suppose we haven’t seen that on this series yet. I do wish this series had ended a few years ago, though. Still, I think as long as Meredith’s in it a lot and McDreamy’s still there, I’ll stick around.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“I named my son after you, you can’t be mad at me.” – Meredith tells Bailey.

“Besides, she’s not going to be alone. She’s going to be with me, who she loves more than her own parents.” – Karev says to Meredith, referring to Zola.

Okay, I’m off to watch The Crazy Ones now. Stay tuned.

Nashville 2.02 Review: A Time for Letting Go and Moving On

All right, let’s keep this brief. If you haven’t watched last night’s episode of Nashville, titled ‘Never No More’, then now would be the time to do so. Otherwise, it’d be a good idea to exit this blog, as there may be spoilers pertaining to the episode. I repeat, THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Beautiful episode, all around. The character and story progression, the realness to these people’s situations, all of it felt so genuine. I know that this is a drama series, and at times those shows can get a bit soapy, but this series isn’t feeling like that to me. All of what happened in this episode felt like something very possible, and not at all outrageous.

First, let’s consider Scarlett. She just had some fabulous scenes with Deacon. I really feel like her character has grown in strength since last season, particularly since she found her own footing after her split from Avery. The progression she has found within merely a year’s time is simply astounding. Her awkwardness with Gunnar was spot on, and her brief encounters with Avery were wonderfully well done.

Then there’s Gunnar, aside from his moments with Scarlett, I really liked his interactions with Zoey. Although I really hope they don’t go the route of a romance between these two, because that really would become soap opera territory, I’d like to see a friendship bloom between these characters. Just the real ease they seemed to have with each other, despite not really having spent any time alone together was really nice to see.

It was really nice to see Juliette this week, opening up. Though it’s likely just as a PR stunt, to see any real emotion from this character other her usual territorial, climbing for the top emotion, was a nice change. While I can completely see where this character is coming from, getting to see anything into her past is an oddity, but she is easy to get.

When it comes to Avery, his interactions with Juliette were really nice. Although it’s clear he still loves and wants Scarlett, and that he’s not going to fall for the fame thing again, I like seeing this new kind of friendship with her character. She normally doesn’t have anyone she can really trust to be there for her and for her fame, and it’s enjoyable to be able to see that he’s just there for her. And I also really liked his brief moments with Scarlett; he really looked like a boy crushing on a girl. The writers really seem to have a handle on his character this year, more than last.

Okay, was anybody else thinking that when Will signed onto Edgehill Records, he was doing it self-sacrificially for Gunnar? When he spoke with Gunnar, about not being an artist, just being a performer, it felt like something was clicking there and that he was going to suggest him as his alternate with Raina. I really thought that was going to happen. But maybe he just thought he could grow best with the conglomerate record company, rather than her artist oriented company.

For once, I really liked Maddie in this episode. She really seemed to be a much less annoying character. While her sister really isn’t all that great, being that she doesn’t have much of a role, she is very much becoming her own person. The way she voiced her issues to her mother about her true parental lineage was phenomenal. Not only did she make that instance believable, it also didn’t make me want to scream and bitch slap her across the face. So I really hope they keep going this route with her character. Also, keep the glasses away from her; her face looks much better without them.

Then we get around to Raina. I can see how her near death experience has really gotten to her. She really does have this fresh outlook on life. While I completely agree letting go of Deacon is the right thing to do, I’m still hoping this isn’t the end of their relationship. But they definitely do need some time apart. And I would really like to see a Raina in charge of her own record company because she may have built Edgehill Records, they don’t really seem to able to grow her anymore, as an artist. I really do like this Raina, just trying to leave her life, and keep on looking forward.

Finally, there’s Deacon. His encounters with both Scarlett and Raina have seemed to kind of really put him on the right path, particularly his exchanges with Scarlett. He finally seems like he’s going to move forward and become the man he needs to be, on his own two feet, not with Raina. This character really needs to grow up, get passed his addiction, and become the man he always should have been. Only then will he be good enough to be with Raina, and be the father he should have been.

Overall I really loved this episode. It progressed the story perfectly, and the music fit quite well. All of the character interactions, particularly with the two new characters of the episode, were intriguingly done, and I look forward to the way this show goes with all of them. I’m not beyond excited for next week, but I am looking forward to it.

My rating: 4 out of 5.

There were no particular lines that jumped out at me this week, although there were a few well-written speeches, specifically the ones between Raina and Deacon, and Teddy and Raina.

Okay, ladies and gents, I’m off to watch the show I was most looking forward to this week. The one, the only, Revolution. Check back here in an hour or so for the review on that.