Does anyone really believe that the popular leading male star on one of the network's most highly rated shows is going to die within the first five minutes of the season premiere? Probably not. Unfortunately, that's exactly how "Grey's Anatomy" begins, setting the tone for the over the top, yet underwhelming two-hour season premiere.
Ironically, the new season of "Grey's" is just one big re-run. Watching the premiere is like managing to fast-forward through the show's first four seasons in under two hours. While that may appeal to those with short-attention spans, "Grey's" is now muddled with too many clichéd, melodramatic plot lines to keep even the most die-hard fans from watching without a little eye-rolling.
Going into its fifth season, "Grey's" has a major problem: Its writers have already gone through every ludicrous medical case, every heart-pounding catastrophe and every complicated love-triangle imaginable. All out of ideas, the writers have attempted (and failed) to capitalize on the success of the show's previous four seasons by turning the new season into a caricature of the rest.
In the first five minutes, Dr. Meredith Grey (played by Ellen Pompeo) appears crying and hysterical as she watches her on-again boyfriend, Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), die on the operating room table. Of course, it's all just a part of Meredith's "Derek is dead" dream. A dream, can you believe it? It may have been more shocking if fans of the show hadn't already seen the same thing happen in season three.
Unfortunately, after Meredith wakes up from her dream, things don't seem to be getting any better. After learning that their Seattle Grace Hospital has plummeted to 12th place in teaching hospital rankings, everyone scrambles to step up their game. Their opportunity comes when three women and their severely wounded husbands are rushed to Seattle Grace after (rather unrealistically) getting into two separate car crashes while coming home from a party.
Though watching Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) save one of the husbands from paralysis through a new operation by freezing his legs is mildly interesting, let's face it: No one watches "Grey's" for its medical prowess. The real drama happens outside of the operating room. For one, even though Meredith is finally with Derek again, she is back to whining and complaining to "her person," Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), over her trust issues and her inability to be happy.
While this Meredith-is-a-sarcastic-pessimistic-wreck-with-trust-issues thing was fun to watch for the first three seasons, it turned irritating in the fourth, and it is now almost unbearable by the fifth season. You know it's getting old when even Cristina, Meredith's best friend, says, "I'll give you a hundred bucks to talk about something else." The writers of "Grey's" should seriously consider taking their own advice and think of a plot line that's a little more interesting if they plan on making it past season five.
Fortunately, the worn-out story line is saved by the arrival of the charming, domineering army trauma surgeon Major Hunt (guest star Kevin McKidd), who helps bring the injured husbands to Seattle Grace after their car crash. After suffering through scene after scene of medical trauma, it is refreshing to watch the flirtatious, quick-witted banter between Cristina and Major Hunt. While Meredith's pessimistic whining may be getting old, Cristina's biting quips still entertain and keep the show moving along.
Major Hunt's charismatically rigid demeanor was the highlight of the two-hour premiere, and yet when he is offered a job at Seattle Grace, he declines in order to go back to the army and is written off after only one episode. It's unfortunate that the writers of "Grey's" never realize when they have a good thing going for them. They tease viewers by introducing characters like Hunt and, more notably, the charming patient Denny Duquette from season three (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), only to have them leave or be killed off just when audiences really start to take a liking to them. They may believe that this makes for good drama, but keeping likeable characters like Hunt and Duquette on the show for longer periods of time could make for even more wildly entertaining drama.
While "Grey's" is still worth watching, if only to bet on how much longer Meredith and McDreamy will last, the sarcasm and drama that originally made the show a hit are starting to wear a little thin. The writers of "Grey's" are running out of ideas and spending too much time fixating on how to keep re-working the same old story lines instead of actually making the effort to come up with something fresh or exciting.
