Grey’s Anatomy – Men, hammers, E.D. & comic book conventions

I’m not a big fan of these “special” episodes, which take a show out of its normal rhythm as a means of grabbing renewed or additional attention. Grey’s Anatomy has an uneven record when it comes to this kind of stunt.

Last season, its musical episode was just plain strange and felt awkwardly forced at times, though there were glimmers of brilliance at the beginning. However the episode where a documentary team followed the staff around, post-shooting, was excellent, and provided new insight into how the characters were coping.

The three-part ferry boat accident story arc several years ago also had tremendous moments of heart, deep sadness, bravery, hope, and despair, yet it seemed to drag on for way too long. But the season six finale, where a shooter was on the loose in the hospital, was amazingly taut, edge-of-your-seat television.

This latest installment wasn’t to the level of those episodes, but it did take the focus away from the lead character — Meredith Grey and her thoughtful, wry voice-overs — and put it into the hands of the male characters. The regular female characters were barely heard from at all. So what did that yield, this essentially shutting out of one gender? Mostly cliches.

Bailey’s former beau felt insecure after learning that she’s dating another colleague, and the two romantic rivals got so heated with one another that Derek had to break them up. Derek and Mark competed against one another as they tried to persuade Avery to be their resident. Owen felt ill-at-ease as the desk-bound chief of surgery doing paperwork, itchy for action. And a whole bunch of guys drank beer and worked out their frustrations by helping Derek build a crooked deck on his house in the woods … that’s when they weren’t playing with power tools. At least there wasn’t a fishing scene. (They already had a guys fishing-centric episode years ago.)

Oh, and there was a stampede at a comic book convention, which was overflowing with man-boys, that sent many of the conventioneers to the hospital. While they were being treated, a huge, drunken male patient started getting physical with the staff and beat on a man who liked to pretend he’s a Hobbit, until Owen knocked down the hulking, out-of-control being with a solid blow to the jaw. Oh, and to cap it off there were Erectile Dysfunction jokes.

The only things that didn’t fit neatly into the “typical male” category were Mark’s obsessive worrying that Sofia had gotten hurt when she rolled off the couch (Mark making Alex run a slew of tests to confirm the obvious, that she was fine), and then Richard, who tenderly prepared his wife a plate of food for lunch, carefully placing it in the fridge with a note telling her when to eat it. However, when he came home, he discovered, to his great disappointment, that it had remained untouched, meaning that she’s likely going to be needing someone to watch over her soon when he’s not there.

These men are all highly educated, skilled physicians. It seemed strange to see many of them reduced to puerile, walking ids wielding hammers. It’s as unsettling as putting Cristina and Meredith in a spa, having them be excited about getting mani-pedis, shopping for really expensive high-heeled shoes and purses, and eating salads for lunch while contemplating if they should have Botox. It just doesn’t seem right.

I enjoy watching these guys in their real, women-inclusive world, displaying different sides of their characters … not simply the typical male ones.

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Oct 07, 2011 @ 14:48 EST5EDT