EXPLORE All The Shades of Grey

Remember way back to 2005 and 2006 when Grey’s Anatomy was in its first and second seasons? The “adored seasons.” The ones that are incredibly difficult to find someone who doesn’t like? Yes, well, I hope you are prepared to welcome those days back. Because they are returning to your screen starting tomorrow, September 25.
However, I will warn you right now: this episode will probably be completely different from what you are expecting. It was for me. But this isn’t a bad thing. It isn’t a bad thing at all.
The most peculiar and upsetting thing about the premiere, honestly, is that is very MerDer light. Don’t worry, there are many MerDer scenes and by the end you MerDerites will be squealing like crazy, but the premiere is oddly light on the Meredith & Derek relationship, although I’m sure some of you will find that wonderful.
The premiere picks up literally right where we left off four months ago in “Freedom.” With Meredith in the candle field. Where it goes next I can’t tell you, but I’m sure you can guess. However, I hope you aren’t expecting to see the Derek/Rose break-up scene because that scene doesn’t exist. To be honest, I didn’t really notice until somebody asked me about it, so I don’t think it would have changed the episode a ton. However, to everyone’s pleasure, the episode IS very light on the Rose as well. True, she does go kind of Fatal Attraction on Derek, but her scenes are few and in between and she interacts with no other characters at all. And by the end of the episode, she is gone. Now, the way she leaves the episode does leave the door open for her to return, but just keep in mind that Seattle Grace is a very big hospital.
I’ve watched the premiere a total of two times. Usually, the first time around I am so excited about watching a new episode that I don’t really pay attention to all of the details and I usually don’t like the episode very much. Until I watch it again. So, that’s why I watched it again. Because the first time around, I wasn’t so sure of the episode. But the second time around, I absolutely fell in love with it. Just to prove to you that my less-than-stellar reaction the first time around isn’t anything to be worried about - the very first time I watched the season two finale “Losing My Religion,” I DID NOT like the episode at all. Now it is in my top five favorite episodes ever.
I’m not allowed to say what the dream sequences are, but there are three. One is heartbreaking, one is probably the most hilarious thing you will ever see, and one is touching and sad. You are going to love them all, although I couldn’t really find the meaning of one of the dream sequences, even though it was awesome how it was played out. But, yes, the dream sequences are definitley interesting and worth watching.
Despite the fact that the episode is very MerDer light, it is thankfully very Meredith/Cristina heavy. There are many, many scenes with Meredith and Cristina and they are some of the best of the episode. One of the great things about the premiere, in fact, is that each one of the characters seems to call each other on their crap, as if Shonda is acknowledging the fans’ concerns and saying “Hey! I get it! And I’m going to make it right!” And, well, rather she’s going to make it right or not remains to be seen, but based off of this episode it certainly seems to be heading that way.
One of the biggest faults of the episode is actually that there aren’t more scenes at Meredith’s house. Actually, I’m not sure there are any scenes at Meredith’s house at all. Almost the entire episode takes place at Seattle Grace, which isn’t altogether terrible, but some of the show’s best moments take place at Meredith’s home, so it was a shame not to see it.
We all know that Seattle Grace has dropped in the national rankings of teaching hospitals and this storyline is going to be great for the season. It’s one of those things that addresses the concerns of the fans and will also introduce a lot of great stories for the characters.
Cristina is actually the character with the major storyline in the premiere. Shonda actually backs off of all of the other couples and characters (for example, there is no real movement or even interaction between Erica and Callie until the very end of the episode) that got focused on for the season four finale, but brings Cristina to the forefront. And she has a HUGE storyline. HUGE. Bigger than meeting Dr. Major Owen Hunt. Trust me, it is way bigger than that. And it is an AWESOME storyline.
Speaking of Owen Hunt, you guys are going to LOVE him. Kevin McKidd is seriously freaking amazing. The dynamic that he brings to the show is really great, and it is also really neat to see a love for Cristina brought back into the mix. Really, though, the buzz surrounding the awesomeness of Kevin McKidd is very warranted. He is totally amazing, and I am voting 100% for him to be added to the show as a series regular.
I think that the single biggest fault of the premiere, however, is the lack of real development. There is development at the beginning of the episode and at the end of the episode and this development is very good development, but the very large middle chunk of the episode kind of halts dealing with development for the medical storyline, which is touching and very appropriately reflects the episode - it is a very season one/two medical storyline, for sure.
But, like I said, there is some real development at the end of the episode. Some of it is angering and some is very squeal-worthing, but don’t worry, there is development.
For this reason, I actually think that the second episode to air - “Here Comes the Flood,” written by Krista Vernoff - is going to be an improvement over the premiere and be an awesome episode. Nonetheless, this is an awesome episode and a premiere worth watching. And if you’ve stopped watching, it is certainly worth coming back to the series at this point. The direction the show seems to be heading this season is very promising and is going to be very, very interesting. So, if I had to assign a letter rating to this episode, I would have to give it an A.
Trust me, you are definitley going to want to dream this dream.