After a sort of disappointing penultimate hour, the first season of Grey's Anatomy ends with a quite fresh and entertaining installment which bodes well for the show's future, having finally nailed the right balance between serious drama and soap opera satire that, with some extra polishing, can prove to be very good.
The sense of fun is evident already in the first few minutes, when George reluctantly asks Alex to quickly check out his, uh, privates, and it turns out the poor guy has syphilis. Consequence: everyone in the hospital has to get tested, and George has to figure out how his girlfriend, a nurse named Olivia, gave him the disease. Another private problem emerges when Derek discovers a tumor near Webber's optical nerve and agrees to perform the surgery in secret, while Burke treats an old friend and uncovers something compromising about the latter's wife.
After nine episodes, the show has really found its way: mixing medical drama context and soap opera story lines, it makes fun of both genres without being too heavy-handed. This finale, though far from perfect (there's still no getting around Meredith's blandness), is a good piece of evidence, especially in the cliffhanger conclusion: in a conventional show, it would have been a moment of great tension; here it is played with a slight touch of humor that somewhat reduces the suspense but is also likely to make the outcome more enjoyable to watch.
The sense of fun is evident already in the first few minutes, when George reluctantly asks Alex to quickly check out his, uh, privates, and it turns out the poor guy has syphilis. Consequence: everyone in the hospital has to get tested, and George has to figure out how his girlfriend, a nurse named Olivia, gave him the disease. Another private problem emerges when Derek discovers a tumor near Webber's optical nerve and agrees to perform the surgery in secret, while Burke treats an old friend and uncovers something compromising about the latter's wife.
After nine episodes, the show has really found its way: mixing medical drama context and soap opera story lines, it makes fun of both genres without being too heavy-handed. This finale, though far from perfect (there's still no getting around Meredith's blandness), is a good piece of evidence, especially in the cliffhanger conclusion: in a conventional show, it would have been a moment of great tension; here it is played with a slight touch of humor that somewhat reduces the suspense but is also likely to make the outcome more enjoyable to watch.
