|
Grey’s Anatomy
ABC’s hit drama, Gray’s Anatomy, first aired on Sunday nights following the wildly popular Desperate Housewives, in 2005. At the start of the 2006 – 2007 seasons, the show was moved to Thursday at 9-8 central time. Shonda Rhymes, the show’s creator, along with a team of truly gifted writers has given these characters a wonderfully witty voice and innovative story lines that pull the viewer in.
The premise centers on five interns, Meredith Grey, George O’Malley, Izzie Stevens, Christina Yang, and Alex Karev who are embarking upon their surgical careers together at fictitious Seattle Grace Hospital. While surgical procedures and patients often differ from episode to episode, the key to the show’s success is in the relationship between these five interns as they grow into their role as doctors, and their personal relationships with the hospital’s staff and their own families.
Meredith Grey is introduced in the first episode as she has a one night stand with what turns out to be Dr. Derek Shepherd, AKA Dr. McDreamy. Through the course of the first episode the tension of this budding relationship runs throughout, both characters in turn fighting and then relenting to their mutual attraction in the face of hospital rules which prohibit such personal relations. The second season brings viewers, and Meredith, to the realization that Dr. McDreamy is in fact married. His wife, Addison Shepherd becomes the neonatal expert in Seattle Grace and the complicated story line of this triangle of relations weaves throughout the second into the third seasons.
Despite the title, this show is a brilliant ensemble and not nearly excluded only to following the running saga of Meredith Grey. Christina Yang, Grey’s closest friend among the interns is a stringent perfectionist, oddly witty when she doesn’t seem to notice the humor. She’s perhaps the most driven of the interns and her story runs through the gamut of not only improving her surgical skills but expanding as a human being. Her relationship with the prestigious Dr. Burke is often center to her running story, as is her obvious closeness to these friends who have become family, though she tries to maintain distance, from everyone and everything not related to her professional goals.
George O’Malley, perhaps the most likable of all the interns, starts out obviously and hopelessly smitten with Meredith Grey. That story line runs through the first and into the second seasons, and there is still that under running current in their interactions. O’Malley is sweet and obviously caring with patients, though his superiors at first wonder whether he has the strength to become a true surgeon. Eventually his feelings for Meredith culminate in a much talked about one night stand and a breach in their friendship that takes a good deal of time to heal. But eventually brings them full circle with George in a more equal role than he had been.
Izzie Stevens is a former pin up girl who used her modeling to pay her way through school. More than intelligent, she has a habit of becoming overly involved with patients, an ability which enhances her ability as a doctor but also causes some heartache and disciplinary measures. Alex is the resident hound, more concentrated on money and gains than any other aspect of the role. His growth throughout the first two seasons leads to glimmers of his true love for medicine, especially neonatal medicine, and his obvious underlying feelings for Izzie.
| |
