Friday, November 7, 2014

Grey's Anatomy Excellence

Spoiler alert: If you didn't watch "Grey's Anatomy" last night (November 6, 2014) stop reading now. Unless you don't give a hoot about the show. Then keep reading.

Karen and I watch the show "Grey's Anatomy" on a regular basis and I really don't find myself with the urge to recap an episode on the morning after we watch it. That said, last night's episode hit a home run with me. For my own benefit, here's a recap.

There were a lot of things going on in this episode that I feel compelled to write about. The first is that there was a guy who came into the hospital, complaining about chest pain, and it turned out he had cancer. This sent my favorite character, Miranda Bailey, into a tailspin about her own health and taking care of her body. I don't really take care of myself unless you count excessive Mountain Dews, skipping breakfast, and no fruits or veggies in my diet. The recap in the link above describes this aspect of the episode like this:

After learning that Heartburn Guy actually has a tumor (Note: Apparently you can get cancer from eating too many cheese steaks?), Bailey freaks out about her own mortality and realizes that she hasn't been following her own advice about living a healthy lifestyle. She decides to start a running routine, but even jogging half a mile leaves her incredibly sore. "No matter when you start something like this, it's going to be hard," Maggie advises her. "But you have to start. Take baby steps."

The best line of the episode is when Bailey quips, "Baby steps? Did you say that because I'm short?" I really like her character.

The second was the subplot about Meredith and Maggie, her half-sister. As you know, Richard and Meredith's mother had a baby and Richard only found out about it recently, when Maggie came to Seattle. What I found interesting is that Derek advocated for Meredith and Richard and Maggie to work through their issues and that he grew up with a big family and he wanted that for Meredith.

The third was the revelation that this hard ass doctor has a brain tumor and has 6 months to live. She explains to Arizona that she has a year's worth of information to cram into Arizona's brain in 6 months. Arizona is stunned and says she doesn't know how she feels about this to which the doctor retorts, "Well hurry up. There's not a lot of time."

All three of these plot elements directly relate to my life in some way, whether it's my health, my family relationships, or the reality that you can have your life turned upside down by a moment of revelation. I hope future episodes compel me to write about the show and how it relates to my life. That means that the show is finding a way to connect with me and that makes it worth watching.

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