Grey's 2/22/07 and Psych 2/23/07

The first thing I have to get off my chest is that I hate how the networks tend to blow previews of upcoming shows completely out of proportion. They kept saying that there was going to be this devastating ending to Grey's this week, and yes, parts of it were sad, but I didn't think anything was devastating. I mean, I get that networks have to promote their shows, but there is such a thing as overhyping a show. And this week's episode was a perfect case in point.

Granted, I still thought Grey's was fabulous this week, as it always is. I just felt a little bit cheated after all the hype I've heard about it. (And unfortunately, most of the shows I watch are on ABC, so avoiding the commercials for Grey's is practically an Olympic event.)

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, on with a review of the show.

First of all, I'm not sure about anyone else, but I definitely noticed Marti Noxon's influence on the show. For those that may not know, she was a big part of Buffy, so seeing her involvement on a show that's leaning towards the spiritual and supernatural makes complete sense.

I loved how Cristina handled her grieving. I never would have expected her to go shopping, because she seems like the type to not want to deal with people in general, and going to a store means dealing with people. Though, she did seem a bit lucky because the store looked almost completely empty. Still, it was definitely interesting, and I loved how she was showing Joe all her "finds."

I also felt strangely satisfied that George is not forgiving Izzie right away. What she said in last week's show was totally out of line, especially considering that Meredith was near death. It would have made more sense for Izzie to break out into inappropriate laughter than to tell George that he made a mistake marrying Callie. Granted, as much as I like George and Callie together, I'm not entirely convinced that it wasn't a mistake for them to go to Vegas to elope. George was a big gaping wound grieving for his dad that hadn't had a chance to heal at all before he got married. I don't think that George and Callie can't work through it, though. So, I'm glad that George is not letting Izzie off the hook for making an incredibly rude comment.

I also liked that while dealing with such a weighty drama concerning Meredith that there was still some humor thrown about. I giggled when Alex told the pregnant Jane Doe that he knew more about her than some of his closest friends, and she told him that was just pathetic. I also enjoyed Mark's reaction to Addison challenging him to not have sex for 60 days. The numb shock and long wipe of his face were priceless. (As a side note, I liked how after Mark told Addison that she couldn't sleep with anyone either and she asked who she would possibly sleep with, the scene cut directly to Alex. Nice touch.)

I thought it was really touching how the Chief was talking to Ellis after she died. It was just so sweet that he'd go see her. I also thought his little comment about dying his hair for the ladies was cute.

On to the meat of the episode, which is the time spent in Afterlife Seattle Grace. I thought it was brilliant that they brought in all these characters that were part of major stories in the past. The most surprising to me was Doc. It made perfect sense that Meredith would want to see him first. Of course, this led to another funny moment, when Denny and Dylan were telling her that she drowned, and she says, "Yeah, that sucked."

And of course, I loved the banter between Denny and Dylan. "Great. Now you show up and be a smartass." Classic. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Jeffrey Dean Morgan show up for a short stint on FNL, as Amber mentioned in her blog (Through Amber-Colored Glasses).

I thought it was very humorous, in a dark way (which is how I like my humor a lot of the time), that Bonnie kept bleeding out when she was trying to get Meredith to realize that she shouldn't be dead. Especially the second time, where Bonnie's like, "Oh, come on!" I don't know why, but I giggled at that a little.

I also identified a bit with Meredith with how she thought, for just a minute, that there was no point in fighting and swimming anymore. I haven't exactly been in that position, but I've had my moments where I wonder what the meaning of life and my role in the world is. Plus, she has issues with one parent, like I have issues with one of my parents, and not being able to work out those issues can lead to what happened with Meredith. So, I completely understood her when she was explaining to Denny why she gave up.

Another funny came a bit later when she was yelling at the group assembled about how she has intimacy issues and she realized how stupid that sounded now that she was dead.

I knew, though, that it would take her mother dying and telling Meredith that she wasn't just ordinary to get Meredith to want to go back and live her life again. So, I wasn't completely shocked when Ellis died. It was the only logical thing that could have happened.

Of course, I knew that they weren't actually going to kill off Meredith. OK, maybe I wasn't entirely sure, but I just didn't want to wrap my head around that possibility. Luckily, I didn't have to.

The end of the show was really nice, too. I liked how Cristina was in such a hurry to tell Meredith about her and Burke getting engaged that she just spilled, while at first prefacing that that wasn't even a thought that Meredith should really be thinking about. It was cute. Also cute was Meredith's first word being ouch.

I also liked the little moment between Denny and Izzie. It was just nice.

So, all in all, while the overhyped previews made this episode somewhat disappointing, I still think it was a good episode. It didn't feel out of place at all in the grand scheme of the show, and it progressed story along, while telling a short-range story. Definitely a good ending to this arc.

And now, as promised by my title, I have a short little something to say about Psych, which is my favorite cable show right now. (OK, so it's the only cable show I watch. That doesn't diminish it being my favorite.) The only thing I have to say is that I loved the "227" reference. I'm a sucker for pop-culture references, but that one really tickled me, just because I loved 227 when it was on back in the 80s. That's all I have to say about Psych, besides that it was a very well-written episode. I just love that show.

And now, I'm going to stop writing, because I feel I've gotten to wordy with this blog already. So, feel free to comment, those of you that made it all the way through this large entry. :)