Grey's Anatomy 508 - These Ties ... Review

Color me disappointed. This Grey's Anatomy episode didn't exactly deliver the goods. Of course we were curious since the media currently promote the hell out of this series. We wanted to know what exactly happened to Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith), just how "toned down" is Mer's bisexual friend Sadie (Melissa George), does Kevin McKidd's role as Dr. Owen Hunt improve (as in, does the doctor's presence at Seattle Grace start making sense) and what's Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) doing there?

Hahn's gone - but not dead. No car accident, no spontaneous combustion. Dare I say it? Okay - she's alive, so Brooke Smith could resurface. Just sayin'.

Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), as a result of Hahn's leaving, had to be heartbroken. This included crying on McSteamy's (Eric Dane) shoulder. But, of course it does. Surprise, surprise, contrary to what Shonda Rhimes proclaimed in her statement re: Hahn's leaving, Torres did not (yet?) label herself a lesbian. A "once-ian" or "twos-ian" was suggested. Not commenting on that. She probably has to sleep with a guy or ten to figure out that sex is sex and love is love and some major "het" studs are closeted homosexuals. That could take a season or three.

Mary McDonnell played heart surgeon Dr. Virginia Dixon and gave a quasi-imitation of Boston Legal's Jerry Espenson sans the Tourette's. So by the time the big huge "reveal" re: Dixon's Asperger's came along, Dr. Bailey was the only one surprised by that "reveal". Bailey, may we suggest watching TV? (Yes, we do watch shows that are so much more creative than Grey's Anatomy, but shhhhh...) There was nothing to indicate that Mary McDonnell would have to come back - though Seattle Grace needs a great heart specialist, with Dr. Hahn gone and all... (too bad Owen Hunt isn't one....)

The opening of Grey's Anatomy 508 suggested we'd get to see lots of tension, Cristina (Sandra Oh, Blindness) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) bonding, Mer and Sadie catching up and perhaps renewing their relationship. No such luck. Sadie stormed in, threw herself between Cristina and Mer, and then started working in the hospital and hanging out with other interns. In the very end Mer and Der started talking about Sadie and then -- bye, see ya next week, suckers. Grey's Anatomy is a big tease (promoting the hell out of Sadie for weeks, not delivering anything interesting this episode).

By the way - We do call Sadie by her name simply because "I'm only here to create conflict because the writers can't think of any other way to create conflict than to bring in new characters in an already ridiculously large cast" woulde be too long. So Sadie it is.

Cristina had to endure another one of Dr. Owen Hunt's (Kevin McKidd) supposedly sexy but totally uncalled for kiss-attacks. I'm glad she walked away from that. By the way - lousy performance on McKidd's part. We feel his pain, though. His role blows. If he suffers from PTSD, as some viewers seem to think, I'd like to see him suffer from the symptoms associated with that, not just acting weird. At this point, we're definitely not rooting for a Cristina/Owen relationship.

Apropos Dr. Owen Hunt. At the beginning of season 5 Dr. Webber (James Pickens jr.) was determined to improve the hospital's ranking. So he hires an Army doctor? A guy for emergency-let's-save-a-life-and-not-worry-about-anything-else (like: unsightly scars, for example) type of doc? How does that make sense? Army vets and their families shudder at the thought of having those less-than-fab docs working at a (supposedly) fine hospital. This character has "I am only here to function as Cristina's love interest" written all over him.

Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Who else could bring a little tension in Izzie's (Katherine Heigl) life? George is busy being a doctor for a change and viewers would get upset if he ever came near Izzie again, so they had to bring in Denny's ghost. That's the problem writers face when their characters don't have a life. Nothing ever came of meeting Izzie's daughter, remember her? She lives outside the hospital.

As to Izzie - is she completely losing her mind? Is Katherine Heigl the next Grey's Anatomy star to be axed (as was talked about a while back)?