IS it real or is it a metaphor?
That’s what you’ll be asking yourself tonight when “Grey’s Anatomy” returns.
If you remember (and maybe it’s best if you don’t), the show last year took a turn for the worse. It went from being one of the best dramas on TV to plots as low rent as a bad daytime soap.
Tonight, through the miracle of modern medicine, the show comes roaring back with a plot that includes the, er, trauma of Seattle Grace Hospital being downgraded from the number two facility in the state to the number 12. And while “Grey’s” itself never lost its lofty position in the Nielsen top 10, it did lose its position as TV’s top-ranked show.
Like the docs at Seattle Grace, the “Grey’s” cast needs to work its butt off to win back its fans.
Tonight’s two-hour episode is chock-a-block with drama, trauma, guest stars who give Emmy-worthy one-shot performances and one of the sexiest non-sex scenes on TV in years. Not to give anything away but Sandra Oh is the luckiest woman on TV.
The show begins with the news of the lower rating. Chief Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) is not, repeat, not a happy man.
As a big ice storm rages outside, the ER is exceptionally quiet – because the community has lost confidence in them. The near-dead traumas are heading to the competition.
The docs find themselves praying for just one tragedy to come their way.
God (or perhaps Satan) answers their prayers and three women in ball gowns (Bernadette Peters, Mariette Hartley and Kathy Baker) come careening up in a limo with Peters at the wheel.
The limo driver is near dead.
The husbands, who took another limo so they could smoke their cigars in peace, are nowhere to be found.
Over the police radio comes word that three men have also been injured in a separate limo crash. Dr. Bailey actually finds a way to hijack the men and the trauma drama begins.
One of them has a ballpoint pen stuck in as a tracheotomy. Enter Major Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), a military field surgeon who, we find out, stopped at the accident scene and inserted the pen. I mean, who doesn’t love a man in uniform who also happens to have an extra ball point pen?
The only shortcoming to an otherwise terrific show is Grey (Ellen Pompeo) herself.
This character has become so single-minded (no pun intended) that all she thinks about/ talks about/ cares about is her relationship with McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey).
People are bleeding, dropping dead and losing the use of their limbs and she keeps talking about her relationship.
Here’s an Rx for Dr. Grey, no insurance needed: Shut up!
“Grey’s Anatomy”