Grey's Anatomy 5.17 – "I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

When I watched the episode for a second time last evening, comfy lounging in front of my TV I really enjoyed it even more than during the first round of watching. It felt more like the old Grey’s than a lot of episodes recently and I don’t have a lot of thing I didn’t like.

Major point of dislike is: the chief, his wife, his behaviour, just everything about him is getting on my nerves lately. I don’t want to spend even more much time writing about it, but I wouldn’t mind his departure from SGH at all. He is doing such a crappy job running this hospital, he’s unprofessional, he’s childish and immature. Has he always been like that? I never liked Adele, so I groaned when she marched in and stole screentime from much more interesting and important characters. I didn’t evenĀ  care much about Bailey in this episode because her counterpart was the chief and… well, see above.
The only other thing I kind of disliked a little bit, was that some of the characters / couples had very little screentime (together). I guess that’s inevitable when you’ve got so many characters on the show and want to include all of them in one episode. And I actually liked all the scenes, so I can’t really complain. One more thing: the whole “Shadow Shepherd” story and guy was pointless, wasn’t it? It was strange. And I could have done without all the interns working on patient X. How did Izzie manage to get all of these tests done before, anyway. I know she had Sadie do some one under the cover of teaching her, but could something like this really go unnoticed in a hospital?

Mark / Lexie were cute in their scenes together, although the “you put me back together” line was sort of too much for a guy like Mark, wasn’t it? Even though he is not the superficial jerk he used to be, it feels weird to have him say things like this. Even though Mark doesn’t want to talk to Derek (yet), it felt like he at least wants to help him, by stepping in and doing surgerys to make the chief forget that Derek isn’t working. Or something like that.

I really liked Lexie’s conversation with Izzie at the end. I also actually liked Izzie a lot in this episode. I never thought I’d say that again :-) But she was a lot like the old Izzie, which I really liked before all the George and Denny crap. But the way she walked around the hospital, clearly taking stock and trying to appreciate all the wonderful things in her life, boyfriend, friends etc, broke my heart. I’m already starting to hope that they won’t let Izzie in the end after all. She might survive this. The odds are against her, but like Lexie said: Screw the odds.
I enjoyed watching her scenes with all of the old intern gang, in the morning at the house, having lunch with Meredith and Cristina, talking to George. That moment on the guerney reminded me of the earlier seasons and I’m glad to have some of that back. “O’Malley – the sequel”. Hilarious. I really love their friendship and I’m happy to see that they’ve still got that even after all the crap the writers had them go through. At first I was suprised that Izzie choose Cristina to talk to, but she probably was the best choice, because she can handle news like this. These scenes showed that Cristina isn’t that hardcore and that she does care about her friends. That she considers Izzie a friend, even though she might never actually say it like that. Cristina was great and Sandra Oh did a wonderful job, because even though Cristina didn’t say much, you could see all these emotions in her face, the concern in the locker room and the shock at the ventilation room.

The Owen / Cristina moments were wonderful as well. Cristina can be so wonderfully nice and caring, when she wants to. As messed up as Owen is, I’d say he provides a much more healthy relationship for Cristina than Burke ever could. Even though Burke had his share of hurt and need, which Cristina had to deal with, most of the times Burke acted like he was superior to her. Professionally and emotionally. Owen doesn’t. I don’t know, but Owen and Cristina seem much more equal in thie relationship and I like that.
I also liked how much trust Owen put in Alex and Alex’s skills. Even Arizona came around in the end. I was a bit disappointed in her and the way she treated Callie in the last episode, but she redeemed herself in this one. The elevator scene was really cute and of course her praise for Alex. I definitely want to see more of her in the future and I hope it works out between her and Callie. They both deserve to be happy. With each other :-)

Alex has always been my second favourite guy on the show. Well, maybe not always, because it took a few episodes to get to know the real Alex (inside the jerk). But he’s always been my second favourite and it’s so interesting to see, how at the moment those two guys go through complete opposite experiences. Alex always has been the underdog with low self-expecations, pushing people away before they can see the real him, thinking that he wasn’t worth the affection anyone would want to show him. Alex said so himself, he never thought he’d rise, but always sunk to the bottom… And now he is rising and I’m so so happy for him. Probably most of all, because he just can’t believe it himself, when Owen and Arizona praised his skills. Did I already mention that I love Arizona :-)? She was great in that scene. And it broke my heart when Alexe told Izzie about his dreams of the future together. Oh and I so enjoyed Alex interaction with his patient, talking about band nerds and all.

And then there is my favourite guy. Derek. Who always seemed to happy with his life, confident, at ease with himself, because he is one of the best neurosurgeons, well respected, admired. He’s got the job, the reputation, he’s got the girl, his life is good. He already has risen to the top and now it all came crashing down. So in the moment Alex is rising, Derek is sinking to the bottom. He actually already has hit rock bottom. I kind of can understand why he acts and reacts like that, even though I don’t like it. But I always knew (or at least thought to know) that behind the confident and sometimes cocky exterior there are quite a few insecurities hidden away. And these are making him act like he does at the moment. Not a pretty sight to watch and not a nice way to act. But I also knew that he can be mean and nasty, especially when he’s feeling hurt.
I don’t know if I had the nerve to stand there and take the insults from my drunken boyfriend and I admire Meredith for staying. For staying calm. Maybe she loves him more than I do after all :-) Seriously, I was so happy that she didn’t left him alone, that she went out to the trailer to talk to him and that she didn’t back down an inch. She definitely grew up to be an amazing girlfriend and I can only repeat once more that I immensly enjoy to see this role-reversal played out in this relationship. Because it would have been boring to watch if Derek would have to “save” Meredith for the zillionst time. It’s nice to see her save him for a change.

One last thing: I really liked the voice-over in this episode, especially the one in the end. They definitely know how to put some pretty wise things to say into beautiful words .. “The only way to get rid of a shadow is to turn off the lights. To stop running from the darkness and to face what you fear head on.”

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