The Dope Box TV Blog

Grey’s Anatomy, In the Midnight Hour, ABC TV series

Izzie is trying to talk herself out of what she’s seeing. It’s residual grief…it’s not real. To prove that she’s not merely reliving old memories, Denny suggests they do something they never got the chance to do while he was alive (if you know what I’m sayin’). For a dead guy, he really knows how to make a girl groan. Derek, Meredith, and Alex all hear Izzie’s orgasmic loudness. She pops her head out the door, looking sweaty with soccer-mom hairdo mussed, to tell Alex she’s feeling under the weather and can’t go to work. After a bunch of awesome spirit/human sex, they cuddle, Izzie has a freak out, then she leaves him standing in her doorway to go hang out with Alex.

I can’t figure out how they’re going to explain his presence. If he’s a hallucination then why is she having it now? Just because it’s November sweeps? If he’s really supposed to be a ghost then why doesn’t he talk about any ghost-y stuff? Wouldn’t she have asked him what happened when he died? Where he went? All of their conversations have gone a little something like this:

Izzie: This isn’t happening.

Denny (in his sexiest gravelly voice): Yeah, it is.

Izzie: Nuh-uh. I’m crazy.

Denny: Touch me.

Izzie: But you’re dead.

Denny: Yeah, sorry about that. Seriously though. Touch me.

While I can’t deny the pleasantness of Jeffrey Dean Morgan (whether in a white t-shirt or nothing at all), I feel like the plotline is, well, wack. It will be especially wack if they lead us all along this hyper-emotional story and then don’t explain anything. My instincts are this: They’ll show she’s moving on with Alex and Denny will just magically disappear. Can someone please get JDM his own show? Maybe they’ll do a spinoff: Denny, Your Friendly Neighborhood Incubus.

In all things not supernatural…Seattle Grace has an underground society of unbalanced interns. They’ve moved on from practicing sutures and epidurals on each other to removing organs deemed unimportant. Sadie, the newest kook to join the cast, not only volunteers to have her appendix out, she cuts herself open with a scalpel when Lexi tries to back out. Seems like “Die” is an apt nickname for her. The visual of Lexi doing the surgery while reading a textbook was more than just a little unsettling. Actually, isn’t she supposed to have a photographic memory? Couldn’t she just have read up on the appendectomy before doing it? Anyway, turns out Sadie’s appendix is inflamed, several interns bail out of fear of jail time, and Lexi is forced to turn to big sis and Christina to clean up the mess.

The most creative treatment ever: FECAL TRANSPLANT. It also made way for a multitude of poop jokes, which really never stop being funny.

Callie’s nose is on the receiving end of night terror patient’s right hook. She can’t really seem to catch any sort of break. She got married, hubby cheated; she got a promotion, got demoted; she got a girlfriend, got abandoned. Now her nose is smushed and Eric won’t do her until she’s pretty again.

Speaking of Eric, he was largely in charge of the sad little girl who was determined to stay awake to babysit her night terror daddy. McSteamy shows his sensitive side while caring for the girl (letting her rest on his shoulder) and reveals some insight into his childhood. It seems he was regularly ignored by busy and uninterested parents, which probably explains his inherent need for attention. He also told Derek that being forbidden to date Little Grey (Lexi) has made him want to go after her. They’re really going to have to bring in more new people; they’re running out of relationship combinations.

On a positive note, Derek had a momentary return to his previous (and kinder) incarnation: He sees what a total mess Lexi is and brings her home with him. Maybe this will inspire Meredith to quit punishing her little sister for the mistakes of their father.

I have to say, I’m loving Dr. Hunt. He doesn’t go on long rants like most folks on the show but when he does say something it’s usually noteworthy. He’s conflicted about life, which is easy to relate to. Unsure how to negotiate his feelings for Christina, he’s a little awkward around her. Sitting on her doorstep, he struggles to find the right words. What he says is not flashy or particularly creative, which somehow makes it seem more genuine. “I think you’re beautiful.”

“I’m not going to crap into a bowl until you admit it was a pimple.”

-Boyfriend of hypochondriac girl

More Grey’s Anatomy articles available under “Thursdays” and “Grey’s Anatomy” in the category list.

Grey’s Anatomy, These Ties that Bind, ABC television series

Christina jumps into bed, 2 coffees in hand, next to sleeping Meredith and Derek. She proclaims her excitement about Hahn being gone (it rhymes!), which is understandable after the nouveau-lesbian’s blatant judgment/dislike/unwillingness to teach Dr. Yang. Derek discovers he’s unwanted in his own bed after saying, “Too bad, she was really talented,” and hearing crickets in response.

New liability alert! Giggly, backpacking, fan-of-the-morgue Sadie arrives at the Grey household. The two are old pals. I’m pretty sure she was calling Meredith “Death” which is maybe not the best nickname for a girl who tried to drown herself. She’s apparently a new intern at Seattle Grace. Also, she seems a little too eager and comfortable slicing herself open.

Another newbie: Asperger’s syndrome afflicted (which I totally called after 5 seconds) heart surgeon, Dr. Dixon. “I do hearts.”

Callie is obviously upset about Hahn leaving her so suddenly. The compacted, knotted, and impaled-on-his-own-self vagrant cheers her right up, though. Dr. Hunt continues to show how much he respects the wishes of patients but is scolded by Derek for not trying to sway the patient’s decision toward surgery. Callie builds titanium bones for crushed guy’s legs but has an emotional explosion when he dies prior to having them implanted. The cause of her meltdown was probably nine-tenths feeling rejected by Erica, and one-tenth sorry homeless guy didn’t get to use the cool fake bones. Drs. Hunt and Yang share animalistic kiss in the alley of Joe’s. He’s such a tortured soul. Sigh.

A little déjà vu: Izzie, freaked out about Denny, stands outside the hospital apprehensively. This time when she enters she’s greeted by Denny the ghost who, thankfully, now has dialogue.

I’m going to pause to be realistic for just a second. If a doctor actually thought she was hallucinating, shouldn’t she, like, stop practicing medicine? Maybe take a visit to the psych ward?

Continuing…Izzie has a Native American patient who wants his donated heart removed because it is haunting him. Strangely, when the docs remove his heart, the old one starts beating on its own. Is it normal for the old heart to be left in the patient’s chest during a transplant?

The Denny storyline has me torn. I thought they jumped the shark when they killed Denny in the first place so it’s nice to have him (and all his smoldering goodness) back. But it doesn’t fit with the set structure of the show. If the show’s genesis had incorporated hallucinations (like Six Feet Under) or actual ghosts (like Medium) then the dead Denny plot, regardless of what he turns out to be, would be organic. As it is, having him show up ruptures the initial fabric of the show and makes me question whether the writers really have a clear vision anymore.

Aside from all that, the Denny/Izzie scenes made my icy heart melt. Her decision to have Alex burn Denny’s sweater (which she’s told will free the spirit) was excruciating to watch. She goes back to her room and he’s there. And she finally touches him. And they kiss. Can this end in any way other than heartbreak?

“Human pretzel. That’ll do.” –Callie

More Grey’s Anatomy articles available under “Thursdays” and “Grey’s Anatomy” in the category list.