Grey's Anatomy 5.08 – "These Ties That Bind"

I didn’t like the episode much when I watched it on Friday. Now after the second round I’d say that most of it wasn’t that bad. One (major) storyline definitely tainted my judgement, because that storyline sucks. But if you look past that, the rest of the episode was rather enjoyable.

WTF are the writers and producers thinking? I loved Denny when he was alive and it broke my heart to see him die. I actually liked Meredith “after-life” episode very much as well and I didn’t mind the supernatural part of that, because it still could have been explained as just Meredith’s brain acting out under the stress of drowning. But the thing going on with Izzie at the moment is so way out of anything remotely believable that it sucks big time.
I remember Shonda Rhimes giving mysterious hints about a big love story for Izzie in season 5, which was so secret and so extraordinary that she couldn’t say anything more. I somehow knew she wasn’t talking about Alex, but I thought that maybe they would tell the story of a mother/daughter love relationship. I would have liked to see Izzie and all her friends deal with something like Izzie’s daughter showing up again. I never ever would have thought they would resurrect Denny. WTF!?!?! I really like Jeffery Dean Morgan and I have to admit that I swooned quite a few times during this episode even though the whole plot was utterly ridiculous. I still have no idea what this is all about and I can already say that I don’t like it. I keep my fingers crossed that they don’t come up with a supernatural explanation for this, but rather something realistic. Which can only be that something is psychologic / neurologic wrong with Izzie.
We just had Alex’ former love interest go crazy, so I doubt they would take that route with Izzie. Which only leaves some real medical explanation. Right now I’m honestly hoping that Izzie will have a brain tumor or something else that makes her have these hallucinations. And it would fit Denny’s “I’m here for you”. Maybe she already is circling the drain and he is only there to make the transition easier for her. Sort of like he did for Meredith in th afterlife? I don’t know… I know this scenario is pretty cynical and I admit that it sounds ridiculous, but it’s the only thing I can come up with at the moment. Anything else would suck even more than this. And with this sort of storyline Katie Heigl can’t complain about not getting “Emmy-worthy” material. Maybe she’ll get an Emmy for the most dramatic death of a show’s regular :-)! The writing of her character has been so messed up during the last season, that I honestly wouldn’t mis her much.

I’m not sure yet what to think of the “secret intern society” and of Mer’s old friend Sadie. What bugs me about the intern storyline is that it takes away too much time from my favourite characters: the residents and attendings. I really don’t care if they are doing insane things in the basement. Ok, I care about Lexie, but that’s all. Sadie is too intense for my taste and too crazy. It looks like there might be some more to her character hidden behind that crazy exterior, but honestly I don’t really care about the back story of any additional character. Except for Owen Hunt :-) But I’m sure there are lot more things to know about the past of Derek Christopher Shepherd as well and these stories would be much more interesting. I know that Sadie will stay on the show so I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for a while and see how things turn out. One more thing to criticize: I found the awkwardness of the Dr. Dixon/staff interaction quite entertaining but the setup was so unbelievable. If she is such a well-known surgeon, why didn’t anyone know she has got Aspergers syndrome. That was just ridiculous.

But besides all that I actually liked a lot in this episode, because there was some very interesting and entertaining interaction between the rest of the characters. I liked how the male attendings started to get to know each other and to work with each other. Owen still has a lot to learn about how a to work in a civilian hospital and I’m sure he and Derek will fight some more in the next few episodes. But Derek also seemed to have learned something from or about Owen. The story of their patient was heartbreaking, wasn’t it? Because it actually doesn’t take much to become homeless and I guess it really can be hard to get your life back on track. Owen for sure knows something about that…
I was feeling so sorry for Alex in this episode because he is trying so hard and I wanted to hug him to make him feel better. Stupid Izzie, who doesn’t see that, because some stupid ghost is haunting her :-) I was surprised to see Cristina actually care about Callie, after she found out about her and Hahn. Cristina usually doesn’t show compassion, although she probably feels it more often than she lets on. Anyway I thought it was really sweet, that she actually cared and that she tried to protect Callie’s privacy in the OR, after the patient died. And Cristina definitely cares about Owen as well, which is something I’m looking forward to being explored some more. He has a lot of demons to deal with, that’s for sure.
I was happy to see Mark being such a good friend to Callie and I hope they will continue to be these kind of close friends. If I wasn’t so pissed at the writers for the Izzie/Denny crap I should thank them for having turned Mark Sloan into a highly likable character. I remember how much I disliked him in the beginning, because even though he might have had some funny one-liners, his character was so shallow and annoying. He really got some depths now and he hasn’t lost the funny one-liners. Always a pleasure to watch. Especially when he is dealing with Lexie (I’m soooo on my way to ‘shipping’ these two) and of course in any scene with Derek. The “little Sloan / little Grey” moment was so funny.

Which once again lets me end this review with my favourite couple. Yes, there wasn’t much happening and especially nothing overly exciting, but I totally loved what we saw. Because they are finally in a rather normal, happy and functional relationship and after the on and off we had to endure for ages that’s all I want to see right now. I’m pretty sure that after their coffee moment Cristina might not be barging in on Derek and Meredith that much anymore. I enjoyed that scene so much, especially Derek’s last line “Welcome to my world” and the look he gave her…
I was happy to see Derek and Meredith actually act like a couple, teasing each other,caring about each other and doing each other some favours. I liked how Derek got jealous so easily, when Meredith was talking about “little Sloan”. And it was so hilarious that Derek actually used this term to talk to Mark about it, which he admits later on was ridiculous and embarrasing. The things you do for love *sigh* I’m really content that Meredith and Derek seems to be in a good place in their relationship. Which lets the shipper part of me get a bit more excited about other potential couples on the show, without having to neglect my favourite one :-)

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2 Responses to Grey's Anatomy 5.08 – "These Ties That Bind"

  1. graefin says:

    mhhh. I thought the Denny thing was just there to give Izzie a chance to let him go. All she wanted was to touch and to feel him one more time. And he offered her that over and over again. So I hope that with this final (stupid) kiss he will be gone forever and never re-appear. Because it was that one kiss that let him stay and the one thing that makes him finally dissapear.
    I didn’t like it either that he was there all the time because I was so happy for Alex and Izzie.
    The rest of the episode was o.k. but I really have a problem with Hunt. I don’t like him at all! And although he may be good for Cristina…he get’s on my nerves! Hope the next ep. is better — I go and see if there is a trailer.

  2. liljan98 says:

    I hate to disappoint you about Denny being gone for good now… Take a look at these trailers

    http://spoilertv-greysanatomy.blogspot.com/2008/11/episode-509-in-midnight-hour-abc-and.html

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