Grey’s Anatomy - Now or Never - The Season Finale

So this is it. We’ve finally reached the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy and boy was it worth waiting for! Twists we expected... but with these twists the show’s writing team outdid themselves and left us screaming ‘what happens next?’ and counting down the days until the new season kicks off.

Izzie’s memory loss

I was one of the many people who got really excited when Izzie opened her eyes after the surgery and said that she had a headache, but it was just so sad when she started forgetting everything. You wanted to be mad at Karev for shouting at her to remember stuff but you could see that he was just trying to deal with the situation as best he could. And it must have brought back some horrible memories of Ava too so you could only feel sorry for him. I couldn’t even hate him when he blew a fuse and screamed at her because you could tell he only did it because he really cared. Old Alex might have meant it. New and improved Alex couldn’t have.

Bailey’s ‘intervention’ masterplan

I’ve always thought that Bailey was one of the best characters in the show and her ‘intervention’ plan for O’Malley this week was another classic example. I love how she calls everything like it is, demanding that Izzie make ‘sad, cancer eyes’ at George and telling Alex to do his ‘I was raised out back with the thrash-cans’ thing. How could George have said no to that intervention? How can anyone ever say no to Bailey? (Well, we know her husband did but shame on him. I felt so sorry for her when she bawled uncontrollably in front of the chief. It just seemed so real.)

Never forgetting the comedy

Even though this week’s show was a total tear-fest, the writers still didn’t forget the comedy which has been so important this season, keeping us going in spite of all the sadness and grim storylines. I loved the whole hugging thing this week. It just seemed so weird to see Shepherd and Sloan hugging it out but what was weirder was that it seemed even more odd watching Meredith and Cristina having a hug and hearing Meredith say that she loved her best friend and actually seeming like she really meant it. Also loved the little injections of comedy with Alex’s post-its to Izzie and his hopeful ‘did you forget yet?’ question after he yelled at her. And how could we forget Sloan’s reverse psychology of trying to play the girl in the relationship - brilliant.

The major climax... more tears and tissues

For the whole episode I was convinced that the bus crash patient was significant in some way but it wasn’t until the chief said that he had given George the day off that I finally copped that it was poor O’Malley lying on that table fighting for his life. And that moment that Meredith decoded his 007 message was just so sad. I want him to pull through (even though the character hasn’t featured too prominently this season) but I fear that it’s the end of the road for George. Could anyone survive an accident like that? And is there some truth behind the rumours that actor TR Knight is moving on from the show?

And what about poor Izzie?

I absolutely bawled when she just went all limp and lifeless in Alex’s arms after they made up. And then the dream sequence with her and George all dressed up and ready to cross over was just so sad. Fair play to the chief for dismissing her DNR. How sad would it have been if Alex had been left there trying to resuscitate her all by himself? I reckon Izzie will survive. Katherine Heigl would be such a loss to the show if she was to leave. And to kill off two major characters in one season finale would just seem too cruel, not that we know that George is dead but guess-work seems to suggest that he is the more likely candidate to leave, right?

I thought that the final note of the series was such a poignant one when Meredith’s voice-over issued the words...’it might all be gone tomorrow’. I can’t wait to see what the next season brings! Until then we’ll just have to tune in to Private Practice for our medical drama fix (same bat time, same bat channel next week!).

Linda McGee