ALL THE SHADES OF GREY...............................................................................
This was the episode we'd all been anxious to see, for a multitude of reasons. For one, it was the much spoken-about spin-off episode, which is being used as the backdoor pilot for Kate Walsh's Private Practice. Also, we knew someone would die close to Meredith. We pretty much all figured out who it would be. And we knew someone would slap her. We all figured out who that would be. But what would be the circumstances? What would happen in the aftermath? And, most importantly, how hot does the cast of Private Practice in LA look?

And all of these questions were, in fact, answered. But that is to come later. Can only handle so much at a time.

So. Two hours of Grey's Anatomy. TWO HOURS! It's all of our fans' dreams. Except, come to find out, that 90 out of those 120 minutes were used setting up...Private Practice. OK, I'll admit it. I actually really enjoyed the spin-off plotlines. They were what you freaking Grey's fans have been begging for - more patient involvement, etc. The cast was hot and fresh. Except that some of the actors [*coughTayeDiggsandMerrinDungeycough*] seemed a little...stale. But there's some real potential there. The "talking" elevator had me CRACKING UP. I thought it was hilarious how Addison thought she was going crazy. In fact, the episode was a lot more hilarious than I expected it to be. It was pretty dang funny. It was really interesting to see "Grey's" take place in a different location, because we've pretty much never seen any of the characters outside of the hospital, Meredith's house, Derek's trailor, or Burke's apartment. So, honestly, yah. I enjoyed the spin-off parts of the show. Do I want it to come to fruition? I haven't decided yet.
Now on to the actual Grey's portion of Grey's Anatomy. There was only a total of one half-hour of actual Grey's last night, but what was there was pretty good, all things considered. It's really, really obvious how they cut a lot of the SGH stuff out of the episode to make way for the spin-off. I mean, seriously! In the promo pictures released for the episode, there were a LOT of pictures from way more footage that was meant to be in the wedding-dress shopping portion of the episode. It was cool to see Cristina's mother back, but I felt she got blindsided when she should have been a bigger part of the episode. And I despise Burke's "Mama" even more for making Burke now doubt his marriage to Cristina. And then...the end of the episode came. George and Izzie kissed - no made out - in the elevator. That was smoking hot. Like, seriously. I am really liking this couple. So hot. And for some odd reason, I don't feel bad for Callie. I think, unfortunatley, it's because of the way that Sara Ramirez plays Callie and her attitude that I just don't feel sorry for her, like at all. But arguably the biggest moment of the night was not the hot Gizzie kiss, not the marriage doubts (the scene between Burke & George was hi-larious!), not Tim Daly and Kate Walsh's steaming kiss, nope. None of that. The biggest moment was Susan's death, and what came after it.
Thatcher already looked a little...well...insane to begin with in the episode. And then Meredith. Poor, sweet Meredith who's been through so freaking much (I mean, seriously, tell me how many people you know find their McDreamy, then find out he has a wife, tries to recover, then cheats with him and breaks up a marriage, then has to choose between two mean, almost blows up, and drowns, dying, and then coming back to life. Seriously!) who's standing there crying (because HELLO! She did care about her Fake Mommy!) and can't hardly bring herself to tell Thatch that his wife is dead - gets slapped. S-L-A-P. Thatcher is officially my least favorite character. You don't go slapping Meredith. And then, WTF? Chief, Bailey, AND Derek see the freaking thing (and I mean, that was a hard freaking slap!) and don't do ANYTHING. Bailey doesn't try to console (that shocked me), the Chief says nothing (which, honestly, isn't surprising), and Derek DOES NOTHING. Not a freakin' frakkin' thing. WTF? McDreamy has officially become McAss. Especially after seeing the promo for "Testing 1-2-3." Ugh...so frustrating. Which means it's good. A show ain't good if it doesn't frustrate you.
Anyways, I think the one thing that bothered me about the aftermath of the slap was how when we later saw Mer she seemed almost somewhat happy. Granted, that was probably hours later. But still. Something about that seemed off. And then ugh. The tequila is back. And Derek saw and didn't do anything. He walked away.
And Addison went back to Seattle.
And Meredith drank tequila.
And Derek...well...Derek walked away.

SEATTLE RAIN™........................................................,,,........................................