The Afterthought Post

With all the excitement of Michael’s last episode and an especially strong episode of Parks and Recreation Grey’s Anatomy kind of got pushed to the back burner this week. I apologise. Without any further delay I give you Thursday night’s Grey’s...

Grey’s Anatomy – “It’s a Long Way Back” (B+)

Poor Henry. He just can’t catch a break with this Teddy thing. I believe it was last episode, or a couple episodes ago (it feels like it’s been a while... not remembering things will be a recurring theme in this article) where she told him that it wasn’t going to happen between the two of them. So he fights his way back into the picture by post gaming all of her terrible dates with her, and when things finally start looking good again, her psychologist ex-boyfriend Andrew shows up. He’s the one that got away... damn it! He’s actually got a real shot at stealing Teddy back. Well I guess all hope’s not lost, these things tend to go to the guest character we know best (and thus like best) and I’d say Henry takes that match up. It should be interesting to see who she ends up picking though. It’s a very intriguing love triangle. And yes I realize what a foolish decision it was to use a flurry of sports metaphors while reviewing an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The irony is not lost on me.

Anyway, it’s probably best I move on as I don’t think you could even classify Teddy and Henry as the C story. The real story in this one was Callie’s long, yet somehow incredibly short rehabilitation. I didn’t mind the storyline. Contrasting her recovery with that of baby Sofia was a smart way of structuring the episode, and Meredith’s narration was particularly strong in regard to framing what Callie was facing.

I do have one pet peeve though. Forgive me if I’m mistaken about this, but did Callie not have brain surgery in the last episode? I’m not a doctor so if the writers fudge the details a little on the more complex medical cases I’m none the wiser, but I’m pretty sure if you have brain surgery you don’t get to keep your hair. They did the exact same thing with Izzie a season or two ago and it annoyed me then too. There are probably a few people out there who disagree with me (I’m assuming Sara Ramirez is one of them) but I’d rather the show stay true to the medicine than worry about keeping the actors looking good. It’s personal preference I guess, but it takes me out of the show when they so obviously fudge the details like that.

It also looks like trouble is on the horizon for Meredith and Derek after this episode. There’s no way they’re going to let Meredith alter the trial without at least a little drama, especially the way they’ve gone to such great lengths to show Derek’s dedication to following FDA rules. This was the one storyline I was a little disappointed in. I thought it was pretty obvious that Meredith was going to attempt to get Adele the drug, and while the sequence where she slipped the active agent into her patient file was intense, there is no one in that hospital who is going to report her for it. The Chief is the person who would normally do that, and in this case it’s pretty clear that’s not going to happen.

In all fairness though, this could just be a building block to a much larger story. I say no one in that hospital would report her for what she did, but if Derek ends up finding out I’m not so sure he wouldn’t do something about it. There has to be some fallout and he’s the only one who’s expressed any concern over the integrity of the trial. Whatever happens though, there’s going to be a showdown between Meredith and Derek, and to really judge their story in this episode we’ll have to wait to see just how good that showdown will be.

But we are still on this episode, and if I had to choose my favourite storyline in this one it would be Karev’s.  I very much enjoyed Doris Roberts’ guest spot. Her character had great rapport with Karev (and by great I mean terrible but funny), and it was nice to see she actually thought enough of him to put him in her will. One of the best things the writers on this show ever did was to stick Karev in paediatrics. It’s the perfect counterpoint to his gruff personality and his character is infinitely more entertaining because of it. That’s why I’m so excited to see how this African children’s charity plays out. Looking at the preview for next week it looks like the kids are going to play a big part in the episode, so if anything it should be fun to watch how he handles it.