Grey's Anatomy Season 12 Finale - Review Written By Maxine at Spoiler TV

Recently I have had little time to write for my blogs, as life has taken over, and while I used to write my own Grey’s Anatomy reviews, as well as Person of Interest reviews, I find that the writers at Spoiler TV do this so much better than I. So starting with the Season 12 Finale, I am posting some of Maxine’s reviews for the fans to enjoy. You can also read them on Spoiler TV.

Spoiler TV is probably the best TV site to get all information related to your favourite scripted shows. They also have some of the best writers working there. Anyway let’s get to the review.

Grey’s Anatomy bowed out of season twelve last night with a low key yet satisfyingly powerful season finale. There were no catastrophic multi-casualty dangerous external events. This will not be a finale we will be talking about in years to come. Instead you might say that this episode was more about understated human drama and conflict. It reflected a closeness to real life as much as any Grey’s episode might without wandering into melodrama territory. After last weeks masterclass ensemble episode my expectations were suitably lowered that the finale might not live up to that. It didn’t but nevertheless I felt pleased at the end. Or perhaps that satisfaction is more to do with the rather low key cliffhangers. There is not a lot for us to panic about over during hiatus.

“Family Affair”, written by William Harper and directed by Debbie Allen was exactly that, a very family affair. Indeed the stories were so interwoven both in directing and writing that the majority of the cast felt like family to one another. Within the major stories there were subtle hat tips to family; take Bailey gently telling Jackson how strong April is, or Owen unknowingly giving Alex some brotherly advice, or Webber trying to be the gracious groomsman. This was a gentle finale where the medical drama in the hospital was secondary to the one going on on Meredith’s couch. It offered up something for everyone, closed down a number of open plot lines and opened up some fresh ones ready for season thirteen. While those new stories look to be very appealing I worry that by not giving us too much to think about over the next four months they may not be strong enough to hold the viewers that this old timer show needs to hold.

The finale opened with Meredith and Alex flaked out on a lawn discussing the whys and wherefores of true love. Is it possible to have more than one? This brother and sister moment finally confirmed to us that Izzie is a thing of the past. It can’t be possible that Alex only gets one true love. A lot goes on for Meredith in “Family Affair”. The journey that she’s been on to come back to herself or the version of herself that she’s comfortable with post Derek has reached the point where her three worlds are in some kind of equilibrium - her work, her love life, her family. At the end of season eleven Meredith was moving in with Alex and now she has a household running, collecting strays, and hosting births. Maggie and Amelia have established themselves (several times in the case of the latter) as both her roomies and her sisters and through the ups and downs of sisterhood they have found their own bickering reality. A year ago Meredith was telling Alex “I hurt her feelings and she’s mad at me. I forgot I’m supposed to be her sister”. It would be easy to say she hasn’t moved on. Her treatment of Amelia has been woeful recently and last night Amelia called her on it in a big pre-wedding showdown. In Amelia, Meredith sees herself. And in herself perhaps she sees Cristina - for she was channeling Cristina forcefully. The speech itself was important because it established more than a sisterly bond between Meredith and Amelia. Cristina’s relationship with Meredith went beyond sisters. They were soul mates. Amelia will never be that to Meredith but Meredith has recognised that she has it within her to bring others into her world in the same kind of way. Being a twisted sister, being Amelia’s person on the day, being FAMILY, reinforced the idea that this new Grey’s era is about family and about sisters. While this episode was titled “Family Affair” so the show is now a family affair.

This started a very funny, rather lighthearted ‘Bridesmaids/Hangover’ style segment with Maggie the romantic neurotic, Meredith the rebel with a cause and Amelia the indecisive chaotic. Poor Owen knew nothing but it is a credit to him that he waited patiently for reason, love and romance to prevail.

Amelia moves back and forth in her pursuit of a decision on what to do, eventually believing that it’s possible to have more than one true love, more than one chance.

I was disappointed with the way they portrayed Mrs Shepherd. Her character, played previously by Tyne Daly, though only shown briefly in seasons past (Season Five), was a strong force for good. She believed in Meredith even when Meredith didn’t believe in herself. She believed in Mark despite his teenage hormones and it’s a shame the writers have her not believing in Amelia.

What does this mean for Season Thirteen Amelia: I can’t help feeling that this is foreshadowing or at least more significant than it appears. I wonder if Owen’s calmness through the pause in the proceedings will come around to backfire when life and work start to interfere with their marriage. Or maybe they get their happy season. Every couple gets a happy season before the proverbial crap hits the fan again. It would be good to see Mrs Shepherd visit and make peace with Amelia.

It turns out Meredith and Riggs had quite the night in her car and if Riggs has his way there would be more, a lot more than four more. Well I love Riggs (look at those eyes!) but I’m not sold on Riggs with Meredith. This is one of two major stories bedded in for season thirteen. In trying to be all things to all people Meredith has a quiet friendly word with Owen about Amelia. She can do this, she has permission from Cristina, though I think it a little unfair of her to suggest to Owen that he needed to discuss his remarrying with his ex-wife of some years now. She has been told quite clearly by Owen that “we hate Riggs”, yet jumps on him to the tune of four times with possibly more to come. Maggie, the ultimate romantic has found someone she quite likes (who by the way happens to be her subordinate) and of course tells her sister that she’d quite like to have a go four times with Riggs (okay, she didn’t say four times but we know he’s good for it). Riggs delivers the rings to Owen, and sort of makes some peace though we all know that really the situation is just plain AWKWARD. And so we came to the cliff hanger. Well not really. While the episode made me smile and the final shot particularly so I was let down by this rather tepid ending. The narrative being that Meredith and Nathan would be friends with benefits rather subdued the drama with Maggie. She quite fancies him, and Meredith is sleeping with him with no commitment. It could’ve been …Maggie’s in love with him and Nathan’s in love with Meredith who is just sleeping with him…or something similar with more edge and more drama.

It’s rather a mess. A good mess though. We haven’t had a love triangle in a while. This should be interesting.

What does this mean for Season Thirteen Meredith, Maggie, Riggs and Owen (and Amelia): oh my goodness this will be good. Of course Megan will show up, she's a doctor, a surgeon even, and already she is an absent antagonist. She'll show up right when Maggie is laying into Meredith for sleeping with Riggs. The reason we haven't seen her yet is so the writers could prepare the ground to be as churned up as possible; this finale was doing just that.

So this is the second finale in a row where April turns into a superhero. The woman is immense. Her character development over the recent seasons has been phenomenal, topped off with a superb performance from Sarah Drew. Circumstances arise where Ben is put in the unenviable situation of giving April a c-section without pain killers, anaesthetic or even a piece of wood to bite down on. This is the same Ben who four months previously was responsible for making the decision to cut open a woman in a hallway which led to her death and that of her child. The same Ben who is on suspension. Do you remember my mantra people? All Grey’s regulars are redeemable. All of them. Ben is no exception and here was his moment. Though seriously in a house full of doctors there isn’t one clean sharp scalpel. With Miranda’s blessing he cut into April and delivered the baby, saving both their lives. It redeemed him and his marriage and provided a very teary moment in my house.

As for April - Owen’s best man - she showed up with superhuman strength and voracity. Though the birth was dramatic and painfully intense it was nice to see that both mother and baby were fine at the end. Jackson’s own mini birth with his dementia patient added a poignancy to the episode it would have lacked otherwise. Though the scene at the end with him holding his baby was simply too delicious for words.

What does this mean for Season Thirteen April and Jackson: I wonder if Sarah Drew’s or Jesse Williams’ contracts are up for renewal. There was a finality with their final family scene which could easily be the end of the road for them…or just the beginning.

It turns out that Arizona very clearly has not run out of grace as she VERY graciously handed Sofia over to a surprised yet grateful Callie. Did Callie deserve such a magnanimous gesture? Probably not but the enduring character redemption of Arizona continued as she gave up Sofia once again. The moment was heartwarming and a fitting conclusion to this story line.

What does this mean for Season Thirteen Callie and Arizona: This storyline was quite clearly designed to exit Sara Ramirez gracefully (really?) from the show if indeed she decides not to sign on for the following season. It will be a great shame if she doesn’t as she has been arguably one of the strongest characters the show has. We know that the exits of Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey have not been the catastrophic disaster some predicted so the show can clearly recover from her exit. This exit being designed to facilitate her to return in the future if mutually acceptable. Allowing Arizona the opportunity to shine in these last couple of episodes has set her up positively and independently for the next season after perhaps too much negative fan reaction. If Ramirez decides to stay on board then the final ‘Calzona’ scene will give some hope to those desperate for their romantic reunion. It's perfectly feasible that Penny will present Callie with a pair of one way tickets back to Seattle with a stinging rebuff. Though I can’t help but feel that Callie’s reaction mid hug was “thank God I can get laid now” in contrast to Arizona’s which was more “I think I might still have feelings”. Cynicism aside my first thought on seeing Arizona’s face was this “If you love something set it free. If it comes back it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.”

In what has to be a wonderful example of miserable fail when it comes to covering grief (as I explained in the review for “At Last”) we have one very short reference to Stephanie losing Kyle. And even then the scene is not about her, it is, as per usual, about Jo whining. Even when she’s failed Alex she still has a whine about it. We now know the big secrets that Jo is hiding from Alex. And they are very big. She’s married…to a bully…and is not using her real name. In a rare moment of empathy from me for Jo, I can see why she’s held back from Alex and this was ably demonstrated the moment Alex walked in and saw Andrew virtually on top of a drunken and giggling Jo. It’s easy to see why he saw red but also easy for us to imagine that if he’s willing to beat the hell out of one man for believing he’s bedding his girlfriend imagine what he will do to a man who physically abused his girlfriend and scared her into living a lie.

What does this mean for Season Thirteen Alex and Jo: Again, as with Maggie and Meredith, there is little to concern us over hiatus. We know all the cards so we know there will be resolution. This will be a problem in the build up to season thirteen because without mystery and unanswered questions there will be less of a crescendo to season premiere. Working through this problem will occupy these two characters for the first half of the season. I’m not sure if there is much the writers can do for me to consider myself a fan of Jolex but this is certainly a good start because it adds much needed depth to this very one dimensional character. I’m also imagining the husband might be killed with Alex up on a murder charge….ooh er….now that’s a storyline worth waiting for.

In other news Stephanie is sad but if there is grief or anger at Amelia we will have to wait for the fall out.

“Family Affair” was a heartfelt familial style episode. With the exception of the irritating editing cuts while Amelia was walking down the aisle it was well written and presented. Funny, endearing and satisfying it allowed us to see our favourite doctors working on each other and their relationships primarily over the sterility of patient care. I missed a big finish, a dramatic exit to build my anticipation for season thirteen but I can live with that. There is much to hope for in the new season.

Written prior to cast announcements.

Happy hiatus folks. I’ve ideas for a few one off articles and if life allows will post during the summer. Otherwise have fun and enjoy the Grey’s-drama-free months ahead.

Post Update - Friday am: Updated header picture - I guess this is the most pivotal scene in the episode though perhaps we didn't know it until the credits rolled. I must say Sara looks like she's had a good old cry in this scene. Look out for Callie Torres review coming soon....

By Maxine (Brouhaha) at Spoiler TV. You can read the comments about this review at Spoiler TV.

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Copyright © 2016 Janelle Coulton

Grey's Anatomy - How To Save A Life - Review by Maxine at Spoiler TV

"How to Save a Life Review by Maxine at Spoiler TV"

Due to writing commitments elsewhere I have not been able to write many Grey's Anatomy reviews, so I started linking to Maxine's reviews at Spoiler TV, a terrific site for all fans of Grey's Anatomy and Maxine is my favourite reviewer of this show. I wanted to link to her review and discuss it a little, because she makes so many good points regarding this episode.

Now I have had my little rants about this episode, mostly about how it was written. The acting was brilliant on all counts in my opinion, but Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey always do their best work, no matter how difficult the scene.

Maxine starts off by saying that she is in a state of shock, but not for the reasons the reader might think. See more below:

"I’m in a state of shock...but not, as you might expect, because Derek is dead. I am astounded at the crap way that Shondaland has exited one of it’s most pivotal Grey’s Anatomy characters.

With very little build up to what transpired to be one of the most momentous episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, not in the current season but in the entire eleven year history one might be forgiven for thinking that not being a season finale, 11.21, How To Save A Life would turn out to be just a horrible Meredith dream. Divorced from the usual ensemble episode format the viewer was taken on Derek’s final heroic journey alone, away from the hospital, his wife and separated from the entire cast in a piece of television which was not only tragic in outcome but unfortunately tragic in execution."


Read the whole review at Spoiler TV

Now if I had stayed away from Twitter and Facebook until this episode aired, it might have made a difference in how the episode affected me on watching it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to avoid being spoiled. Like Maxine, the thought also crossed my mind that Shonda gone the way of Meredith having an awful nightmare and she would wake up next week or next season. But in my gut I knew Derek's death was final, because I had heard he left the show. And, given the gossip I have read in the last two days, it would not surprise me if he was fired by ABC. Anyway moving on.

Two things Maxine and I definitely agree on is that it was necessary for Derek to die in order for the writers to exit the character and that Season 11 has been excellent and the writing has been outstanding. She moves on to discuss other deaths that have occurred on Grey's and how they compare. In my opinion it was not a creative episode by any stretch and the ideas were recycled. Maxine summarizes this here:

"The episode unraveled in the writing and execution. To put it bluntly episode 11.21 was frustrating, awkward and labored viewing. It was unoriginal – he died saving lives, remember George and the bus; he died trying to reach his phone in his car, remember Callie; he died by being switched off, remember Mark?" 


Read the entire review at Spoiler TV


I also have to agree with what Maxine said about Shonda Rhimes making the call to write out Derek Shepherd. This was a huge mistake, Stacy McKee should have written it. I am also suspicious that Shonda's script for "How to Save A Life" was dictated by whatever occurred regarding Patrick Dempsey's departure.

James Pickens Jnr recently claimed in an article that it was a shock when the rest of the cast found out Patrick was leaving. It would not be the first time that off screen drama has dictated story arcs and it also would not be the first time that the writing has come across as if Shonda is angry at the departing cast member. 


Maxine explains it like this:

"How To Save A Life, 11.21 was heartbreaking, tragic and scary. Scary because it signals a very uncertain and different future not only for Meredith’s life but also for the show’s life. However it was also an arrogant, unoriginal, self-indulgent episode which contrasted so sharply with the loving and well crafted departure of Mark, or by Lexie’s tragic ‘meant to be’. The smell of off screen shenanigans weighed heavily on the episode. The presence of so many inconsequential and uninteresting characters was continually in danger of swamping the dreaminess of Derek and the monologue narration style dulled what was supposed to be very high drama."


Read all of Maxine's Review at Spoiler TV


So, all in all this review was pretty spot on and gave me a lot to think about, if you do read it in it's entirety, make sure you read the comments as many of Spoiler TV's readers and Grey's fans had many thoughts on "How to Save a Life."

As always, a really great review. Thanks Maxine.






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Copyright © 2015 Janelle Coulton

Cristina and Owen on Grey's Anatomy - The Final Two Seasons

 

Cristina and Owen have many devoted fans, none of which were looking forward to seeing them say goodbye to each other in the Season 10 Finale. Their story; particularly the last two years has seen Cristina and Owen have many ups and downs. Did the creator of Grey's Anatomy; Shonda Rhimes succeed in closing their story in a way the fans would have been happy with? 

Given that Sandra Oh has called time on her role as Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy it is not likely that we will see Cristina and Owen resolve their issues and get a happy ending. Let's go over the background of their marriage during the last two seasons.

During Season 8 Cristina and Owen struggled with the reality of Cristina not wanting children. Having become accidentally pregnant in the Season 7 Finale; Cristina decided a termination was her only option. Her first mistake was to make the decision without really discussing it with Owen. When Meredith begged Owen not to punish his wife for not wanting a baby; he sought her out to talk, which ended with Owen agreeing to accompany Cristina to the clinic to have the termination. He then spent the next four months stewing about the baby that would never be. He did not talk about these feelings to Cristina.

Not long after Teddy's husband, Henry died (Teddy was Cristina's mentor and Cristina was the surgeon on Henry's case) Cristina elected to help Teddy steal a surgery from a fellow surgeon; as Teddy felt this surgeon was not qualified enough to perform the surgery. Owen has already ordered them to both go home and get some sleep, as they had been on duty for too long. He finds out that they went behind his back and is furious and this is what leads to Owen yelling at Cristina in Meredith’s kitchen, that Cristina had killed their baby. The entire hospital now knew their business, as Meredith had everyone over to celebrate Zola’s first birthday.

The surprising part about this exchange was that Cristina thought that she and Owen should put the abortion in the past and forget about it. Owen screaming at her was over the line. And Cristina can't really expect Owen to forget it, she should at least acknowledge his pain. Not long after this they went to couples counseling and things did not go well; this was the day that Owen got drunk and cheated; and later told Cristina who now believes that Owen cheated to even the score. In the closing episodes of Season 8, Cristina had decided she was leaving as she had been offered many fellowships at some of the best hospitals. She felt that the marriage was done.

In an interview just before Season 9 premiered in the US with Access Hollywood, Kevin McKidd said that he is expecting Christina and Owen to reunite in Season 9. However; he also says that he has no idea what’s in store for the couple. McKidd was quoted as saying that:“I think they’re gonna be OK. Nobody’s telling me, but I do think they’re the most complicated, in a way, of the couples, and the most tortured of the couples a lot of the time. On paper, they should not work as a couple, and that’s what I love about how they have written Christina and Owen — that they really get inside the heads of these two characters and sort of go, ‘Why are these people even together?’ And when they are, there’s a chemistry there that seems to work. And they struggle on and I do think they’re going to be happy and good for each other.” Sounds optimistic, but will their story be believable? And most die hard Grey's fans are worried about this. It would seem as though one of them needs to give up what they want in order to have a happy marriage.

It does seem like their problems are deal-breakers. If your partner wants kids and you don't, then getting married is really not a good idea. The problem with Cristina and Owen is way past the whole 'who did what to whom' scenario. They really need to figure out if there is a compromise to be made. It hardly seems like anything will be resolved with Cristina in Minnesota doing her fellowship, and Owen staying in Seattle. Cristina chose to leave despite the plane crash and Meredith begging her to stay. When Cristina left Owen also begged her to stay, however he needs to decide if he can live a life without kids, and Cristina needs to really think carefully about whether she may want a baby some day. Personally from what I've seen of her character, it's unlikely she will want to stop her career and have kids and if you listen to the many fans, not many of them want to see Cristina bend for Owen and give him children.

My interpretation of events at the end of Season 8 and what we saw in Season 9, is that Cristina and Owen will realize that they need to be each other persons' first and foremost and this happened in Season 9, and it was wonderful to see. During those counselling sessions in Season 8, Owen said to Cristina that she should be his person, and Cristina said the same thing. That was the clue that Shonda gave us about how they will reunite. She also said it could take all season on her Twitter page. So fans took this as more rough times for the Cristina and Owen fans. Another clue was when Cristina told Meredith that Owen was her person, and Derek told Meredith that she needs make decisions with him and not Cristina.

As for the cheating, well Cristina knew nothing about that until a while after the counseling session; in fact it happened that same day. Owen’s bad judgement in sleeping with another woman was hard to comprehend given their circumstances. The marriage is falling to pieces and he goes and does that! However this does happen in many marriages where couples are miles apart yet still live together and sleep together. They are not intimate, this is obvious, they are barely communicating, and are both miserable and lost. However; whether Owens’ actions can be forgiven is a different story. It would seem as though Cristina wants to forgive him; however when she realizes that he may have done it to even the score, she does seem to change her attitude. It was the cheating that really threw the Cristina and Owen shippers for a loop and it seemed like drama for the sake of drama. Cheating seemed to be out of character for Owen. And didn't they have enough drama already.

Their problems were made worse and it’s a mystery why Shonda sent Owen’s character down this path. Some fans who once liked Owen, do not like him anymore; and now to work at redeeming Owen in the eyes of the fans, seems like just more work than the writers ever should have had to take on. Many women hate cheaters, and have had their partners cheat on them, so most women in this boat would not forgive this type of behavior from their man. Until the cheating happened Cristina had no reason to distrust Owen. Now the trust in the marriage is gone too. Shonda may well have a message she is trying to send viewers via the cheating story, but I'm damned if I know what that is. Season 10 is over and Cristina is gone; and I still don't understand the point of having Owen cheat.

In Season 9 Shonda did manage to redeem Owen, at least in my opinion. He would not and could not stop blaming himself for putting his wife and the others on that plane and we see him deal with this and at the root of it all he was probably feeling awful about losing the love of his life. Cristina and Owen end up getting a divorce as Owen feels as though Cristina is done with the marriage, however he also realizes that if he and Cristina are divorced, then there will be no conflict of interest concerning the law suit.

On the day they are to sign the papers, she tells Owen that she wanted to try again, they go ahead and make the divorce official to remove their conflict of interest and Owen also believes that signing the papers means that they will not hurt each other anymore. They then seal this promise with a kiss and some hot sex. What I loved about this was Cristina's realization that Owen is indeed her person and so is Meredith, but in a different way. This was the break through I was hoping to see from Cristina. The friendship she has with Meredith is special, however it cannot take the place of her husband or marriage or in any way dictate what goes on in her marriage. I saw Meredith and Cristina really come to terms with this in Season 9 and it's about time.

The only way for Cristina and Owen to make it, is for one of them to give in regarding children. Owen would need to sacrifice being a father or Cristina would need to give in and have a child. I don't see it happening as you cannot fight what you truly believe and want. At the close of Season 9, Owen finds himself taking care of a ten year old boy whose family are both badly injured and unconscious. Cristina sees how much Owen cares for this child and realizes that he needs to be a father. She decides to end things in the Season 9 Finale.  Season 10 returned, and within the second episode, Owen and Cristina are in bed together. They elect to both start dating, which helps them both keep away from each other and work on what they individually want out of life. Owen meets Emma, a surgeon from another Seattle hospital and she seems to be just what Owen needs.

A few months into their relationship they are talking moving in together. Cristina turns up at Owens trailer to congratulate him on moving in with Emma, and give him a bottle of wine she stole from Derek. Of course they end up in bed and they are very aware of what happened, so there is no reading into things, at least on Cristina's part. Emma shows up a the hospital to talk to Owen about what kind of house they are looking for and to have the conversation about kids, when Owen hears that she intends to quit work to devote herself to her kids, something changes and he decides that Emma is not the person for him. The weeks and months roll on and Cristina and Owen are able to behave as friends without jumping into bed every time. When Cristina is nominated for a Harper Avery, things change again. Due to politics, Cristina loses the award and it is during the days when her loss has sunk in that she realizes that things have to change.

The night after the ceremony, she returns to Seattle and gets back to work. Meredith talks her into going to Switzerland to give a talk about her research. What she doesn't know is the trip to Zurich to give her lecture will dictate what she does next with her career. To her surprise and shock, Dr Preston Burke appears and asks questions regarding her work, he then invites her to see what he is working on. When Cristina finally confesses to Burke what it is she wants to do, he tells her to come and work in Zurich. He is leaving and could not think of a better person to run the hospital he is at. The people who own the hospital have tonnes of money that they put towards research for complicated medical experiments, surgeries and treatments. It's the chance of a lifetime. Meredith meet Cristina at the airport and as soon as she look into Cristina's eyes, she knows and says "You're leaving."

So for Owen and Cristina the dream of being together is over for them and over for their fans, unless Cristina comes back one day or Shonda gives Sandra Oh her own show in Zurich. In the Season 10 Finale, Cristina has been putting off leaving for weeks, feeling as though she is not finished. She gets drunk with Meredith the night before, and wakes up late, in the morning with Owen. Perfect ways for her to say goodbye to the love of her life, and her soul-mate and person, Meredith.

She arrives at the hospital later on and schedules a heart transplant surgery for one of her patients who has been waiting on a heart. It is the same family she was treating with the three kids who all had bad hearts. The new attending starts trying to boss Cristina around, telling her she cannot do the surgery, but Cristina is having none of it. In the end Meredith talks her into letting the new attending do the surgery and get to the airport before she misses the plane and puts it off for another day. She agrees and Meredith gets her into a taxi. I won't say anymore, so as not to totally spoil it for anyone who has not seen it, but when the taxi pulls away, it is not the last time we see Cristina.

As for her and Owen, their goodbye is simple, bittersweet and sad. I guess if there was a happy ending to their story, it is that they are great friends, who love and care for each other dearly. Hopefully for Owen, with Cristina gone, he can find the woman he needs in his life. When the news broke last year that Sandra Oh was bowing out and shortly after Kevin McKidd confirmed he would like to stay, fans knew that Cristina and Owen were not destined to re-unite. As far as endings go, I felt that Shonda Rhimes did a beautiful job of wrapping up Cristina and Owen's relationship and Cristina's many years working at what began as Seattle Grace and is now Grey Sloan Memorial.

Were you in tears when Cristina left? Were you hoping that she would suddenly change her mind or Owen would quit as Chief and go with her? I would love to know what you were thinking during Cristina's final episode. Hit the comments with your thoughts or follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

Sources:

Shonda Rhime's Twitter

Access Hollywood

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Copyright © 2014 Janelle Coulton

Grey’s Anatomy Post-Mortem – Dissecting Season 9

Was Shonda’s Season of Romance Seriously Good Or Did It Suck?

Well I have mostly positive thoughts about Grey’s this season; which surprises me because earlier on when all the stories were centered on the law suit and the plane crash victims buying the hospital, Shonda and her writers had begun to lose me. For the first time ever in the nine years that I have been addicted to Grey’s Anatomy; I actually missed two or three episodes and took my sweet time in catching up. And the thing is; I’m not the only one.

Ratings Were Not As Strong As Last Year

Ratings were down this year; especially for the finale; which is a little worrying. While last years finale certainly had more hype surrounding it and promotion; I still feel that ratings should have been better as there were so many reasons why ratings should have been higher for this season’s finale. It’s pretty clear that some Mark and Lexie shippers and the individual fans of both these characters have ditched the show given the tragic way in which Mark and Lexie were written out last year. So attracting new viewers or even the old fans back is going to be difficult for the network now given the show is nine years old. The numbers are not terrible, just going down steadily. Grey’s Anatomy averaged a 4.1 in the demographic ratings which makes the show as the highest rating drama in the 18-49 demo this year. 

While Season 9 revolved mostly around the recovery of the plane crash victims and their loved ones; it was also a season of changes for just about every character. The only part of the season that became tedious for me was the legal stuff, the sale of the hospital and Alex and Jo (which I will discuss later on in this post). A lot of my dislike with those stories was that they weren’t convincing and this is probably because there were so many other ways that these arcs could have been played out.

Anyway let’s talk about the characters’ and their story arcs for this season.

Meredith and Derek

I think most fans will agree that we have to start with Meredith and Derek. Their stories began pretty much as predicted last year. Meredith was holding it all inside and trying to support everyone else, which is what she does. Things came to a head for her in episode five, where she finally broke and took a moment to let it sink in that she had lost her sister. Not long after this there is happy news about the pregnancy, and I could not have asked for a better outcome for these two.

Happy MerDer 

Derek’s sister came into town to donate a nerve for Derek’s hand surgery and he stubbornly refused the surgery at first. It was his sister who finally convinced him that he needed the surgery. When they found out the Meredith had the Alzheimer’s gene, it came as no surprise. The birth of ‘fetus’ who was later named “Bailey” was wonderful, but the drama of possibly losing Meredith was way overdone. We all knew Meredith was not dying; so I found it to be a little ridiculous.

Cristina and Owen

Wow, this couple have had quite a season. It began with Cristina working miles away at her new fellowship position at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. She then returns after losing yet another mentor, Dr Thomas. His death told her that she needed Owen and her people and so back to Seattle she came. Owen filed for divorce partly due to the conflict of interest with the law suit and because he felt it was the right thing as he felt that they would just keep hurting each other.

Baby Issue Still Stands Between Crowen 

Cristina reveals that she wants Owen back and from then on we see Cristina really step up to be Owen’s person, which is what he asked her to be in counseling last season. However there is a case of two parents who are critically injured who have a ten year old boy, and it’s looking like this kid is about to become an orphan. Owen starts getting ideas about adopting the kid. It brings the baby dilemma into the lime light again and they realise they have to face this difference in needs and wants. Owen says he wants Cristina, but does not sound convincing. In the season finale Cristina walks away and Owen does not follow, therefore leaving fans wondering what will happen to them. More than two seasons of baby drama and it’s still unresolved. I have no comment here, except that I loved these characters this season and I love Cristina no matter what she does.

Arizona and Callie

Well this couple’s story threw everyone for a loop. No-one ever expected Arizona to cheat on Callie, at least until skanky Lauren showed up. And even when it happened in the penultimate episode, I still could not believe it. In the season finale, I totally got it and I am still trying to wrap my head around this. Bottom line is Arizona was in pain, emotional and mental pain, but she dealt with it in a very stupid and cruel way. I don’t believe she deliberately took revenge on her wife, like some are saying. But she made a terrible mistake acting on impulse like that. She and Callie need to go to marriage counseling for some serious therapy and finally deal with the ‘leg.’ Arizona is still blaming Callie for cutting off her leg, because they never dealt with it. What will happen here I wonder? I don’t think Lauren is going away anytime soon, since she deliberately revealed Arizona’s wedding ring pinned to her scrubs. So we may see more of Lauren trying to break up Callie and Arizona. Not sure I want to see that.

Calzona's Troubles Are Just Beginning 

Alex and Jo

While I love seeing Alex in a happy place I am worried where this story is going to go. It is about time Alex found love. He has not really truly loved someone since Izzie and she was better for Alex than this intern is. Izzie may have left him when all he did was worry about her pushing herself so soon after having cancer treatments and the like, however she did come back and wanted to repair their marriage. When Alex told her to go, I understood it; but I really felt that she was the one for him. Jo Wilson is not and she worries me. The assault on her ex boyfriend is a worry, she seems to have issues and I think Alex has had enough crazy. And why are the writers shoving that storyline under the rug? Or are we going to revisit it next season?

April Jackson and Matthew

While I like April and Matthew, I prefer her with Jackson. They look good together and they are best friends in every sense of the word. Jackson is more tolerable when he has scenes with April. Matthew has already figured out the she has something going on with Jackson, so that relationship’s days’ are numbered. Then it will likely be more of the same with her and Jackson. I hope not actually, I hope they get married. Jackson is in love with April, but he just could not handle the crazy way she carried on when she thought they were pregnant. He had decided he would marry her if it were they were pregnant and that’s when Jackson realised he was in love with her and could not deal with the crazy. She just does not get it and I think he believes she is not ready for marriage. But now that she got engaged to Matthew, he is likely having second thoughts.

Miranda Bailey

What to say about Miranda Bailey? She had quite an interesting year. He subsequent melt down over the infection to her patients surprised many fans. She married her darling Ben, which was lovely; although I thought that she was going to make a run for it early on in the piece. At the end of the season when she came through for Meredith and saved her life was awesome and brought her out of her funk, however I could have slapped her when she burst into tears before telling Derek and Cristina that Meredith was okay. No self respecting doctor does that; the first thing you say to a patients family is that the patient is fine. That was the writers’ attempt at creating more drama. We know Bailey has been upset, we know she would have felt overwhelmed operating on Meredith. We are not stupid, we get it. I know, it‘s TV; suspend my belief before I watch, but seriously it annoyed me.

Bailey Gets Her Ben 

The Interns

I can’t really say much here as I cannot make up my minds about them. I do like Heather and Leah. I just heard recently that they have all been offered regular contracts, so this tells me they are here to stay. The show needs them. Meredith, Cristina and the gang have to have someone to teach. That’s the whole point of the show. But does this mean that they will become the next Meredith, Alex, Cristina, Izzie and George. Are they grooming these guys so that the show can go on without the main stars? Grey’s Anatomy would not last past five episodes if there was no Derek, Meredith or Cristina. Anyway I don’t think that’s what they are doing. In any case I would love to see more of Heather and Leah, so bring it on. The others I don’t really care for.

Richard Webber

I’ve saved the best for last. Richard had an extremely interesting year and a heart breaking one too. His wife Adele passed on, and he spent months feeling guilty that he was not there. He stopped seeing Katherine Avery and she got concerned. Meredith dragged him back into an OR in the hope he would start to snap out of his funk. He was supportive of everyone this season, like a father figure is how it felt to me. So I really hope he is not dead, Bailey will be devastated and I don’t want to see that. Meredith will be devastated and I definitely don’t want to see her lose another part of her family and let’s face it Richard might as well be her father.

So that’s my wrap on the characters and their stories this season. As far as rating this season, I would go as far as saying that is was better than Season Seven or Eight and I thought Season Eight was pretty good. I’ve never been one to compare, but Season 7 was ruined with the Callie, Arizona, Mark baby story. Season 8 was fabulous, until the plane crash happened. Season 9 was really awesome, except for the law suit/hospital purchase. And as far as the Season of Romance, I felt that Shonda did give us the romance promised.

RIP Mark Sloan 

So fans, what do you think about Season 9? I would love to hear your opinion.

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