Grey's Anatomy 6.18 – "Suicide Is Painless"

Oh, well, that was another one of these episodes where I wish someone would remind me why I’m still watching this show. It wasn’t totally crap, but it just didn’t made a lot of sense to me either. I guess, this is going to be another short review. Maybe I should start rating the episodes on a scale from 1-10 to let you know if it is worth watching. (If you haven’t watched it already). This episode would get a 3.5 from me. Most of it for touching a controversial medical/ethical issue and at least 0.5 for having pretty people to look at :-)

When Owen’s PTSD never was mentioned, after the few sessions with Dr. Wyatt, I was a bit suprised that it obviously was healed and all. But we’ve had our share of storylines (especially with character’s backstories), where something is touched on once and then forgotten again. So I honestly didn’t expect it to be brought up again. So this week’s storyline was out of the blue to me and I didn’t enjoy it. To be honest, it bored me. A lot. Probably because the whole flashbacks to the desert were dragged out and it all just felt so unreal to me. Call me shallow and superficial, but I don’t want to see scenes of war on a TV show which I watch to relax. The war is a much too important issue than to be utilized as a plot device.
Up until this episode I actually thought the writers handled the “Iraq war” topic, which was introduced into the show with Owen Hunt, rather well. It wasn’t just him, but also Arizona’s backstory and it was mentioned in a few patient storylines as well. All fine by me to deal with a very serious and big issue. I know the flashbacks in this episode had a purpose, but it still felt completly off to me. Probably because my heart just wasn’t in it. To me all of it looked like they were “playing war” and it just didn’t seem real. And it was all so incredibly boring!

So the whole Owen (and Teddy and also Cristina) storyline left me in a state between indifference and annoyance. Except for the voiceover, which included some thoughts worth pondering on. But even those were mostly connected (to me at least) to the storyline of Teddy’s patient. And I have to admit that it bothered me, that the whole Owen/war story was connected and kind of overshadowed another topic which I think is equally important and much better fit for a medical TV show. Physician assisted suicide. I can’t imagine what it is like to be in a situation like this. As a relative, loved one, firiend ofsome one who is terminal ill and wants to end her life on her own terms. It’s such a emotionally and ethically complicated topic and I think the writers and actors did a wonderful job with it. If it weren’t just for the whole Owen / PTSD / war stuff.

The other patient storyline, with the three guys on their adventure trips? *yawn* Been there, done that. Well, not heli-skiing or running with the bulls in Pamplona :-) But these kind of stories (friends doing stuff, which they actually don’t want to do, but they don’t want to hurt someones feelings) have been told so many times before. Nothing new there and none of the guys actually that interesting that I would have been interested in their storyline.

I’m not sure what to think of Mark & Teddy yet, but I liked a lot of Mark’s lines in this episode. He’s having a completly new dating experience and it’s fun to watch. And of course it doesn’t hurt that he opens his door with his shirt unbuttoned ;-) Not sure what to think of the Callie & Arizona baby issue either. In the back of my mind a rather crazy idea popped up, so I’m curious to see how that storyline that will play out till the season finale. And if my idea will be a part of that.

Richard Webber is really working on getting me to like him again. I’m not totally opposed to that idea anymore. Even though the whole “trying to be one of the guys” thing was over the top. Waiting for the ambulance to have a look at the paramedics ass? Since when do they do that? This paramedic has been on the show for years. Oh, wait, they needed to have some thing to create an awkward situation with Webber later, so they decided to make all the guys be crazy for the paramedics ass… WTF? Stupid idea. Besides that I did feel a bit sorry for Webber, because he will never be just one of the attendings.
Just like Derek never will be “the chief”, I think. Derek is in way over his head. And I actually love it. I love to see McDreamy, the neurosurgeon with the god-complex struggle with something. And to see him realize that he made a wrong choice when he ousted Webber. It was a good thing to stop Webber from doing more damage with his drinking, but still… Derek just is not “the chief”. I’m sure he could be and I’m sure he is doing a good job while he’s doing it, he already did prove it. But his heart is not in it and I’m curious to see how long it will take him to realize that. And it’s always nice when Paddy has something other to act than dreamy, competent successful neurosurgeon :-)

It was a mean thing to steal your wife’s surgery, but it gave us some nice MerDer scenes. Mer being all excited about having diagnosed the tumor, and then later the fighting and yelling and making up, so it’s all fine with me. And I loved the Jackson/Meredith moment. I was annoyed by the tiny moments of the other Mercy Westers, though. Ugh! Go away! After he made up with his grandfather I was worried that he might take the spot at his grandfathers hospital after all. But he stayed in Seattle and I’m happy about that. With George and Izzie gone, Meredith can use a few new friends and because of their similar upbringings she has a special connection to Jackson. And he is nice to look at, so… :-)
As I’m from Germany (i.e. no native American, Canadian or wherever Dr. Seuss books are commonly known literature) I didn’t understand the whole Gringe Whoville, Cindy Lou thing. I liked it, but even though I’ve heard of the Gringe and that he hates christmas, I had no idea what it was about. Until I read up on it on wikipedia ;-)

All in all: This was a pretty underwhelming episode. I have some hope for next week though. The promo at least looked really promising!

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