8 Ways Grey's Anatomy Perpetuated Season-Finale Cliches
Here at Movieline HQ, all anyone can talk about today -- besides the suicide-worthy Liza Minnelli "Single Ladies" cover -- is the season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Did you see this thing? For the uninitiated -- or for those of you who stopped watching long ago -- the hospital was under attack from a crazed gunman who wanted to exact some revenge on McDreamy and his cohorts because they pulled the plug on his brain-dead wife. (Never mind that pesky DNR form.) And what revenge it was: Shocking deaths, many shootings, fake blood by the gallons and more cliches than most series pack into an entire season. Aspiring screenwriters, grab a pencil and take some notes. After the jump, a list of the offenses.
· Pregnancy: Meredith finds out she's having a baby with McDreamy. Hooray!
· Miscarriage: Except, no. After seeing her husband shot in the chest and nearly killed, the stress of the day causes Meredith to miscarry. Tear. That she never told McDreamy is clearly a plot point for next season. Speaking of which...
· Falsely Killing a Main Character: McDreamy "died" during the Grey's season finale not once, but twice. Don't worry though fans, he'll stick around until next season -- when he'll presumably get killed off yet again.
· Killing Extraneous Characters: Hey there, big guy with the hair and girl with the pixie cut, bad news: You're dead because you don't matter to the plot of Grey's Anatomy. Sorry.
· One Last Bullet: As with any good shooter subplot, the killer ran out of ammo and was left with a choice: Kill himself or get one final measure of revenge. Spoiler: He chose the former.
· Life & Death Experience Helps Fraying Couple Realize They Love Each Other: Grey's resident lesbian couple, Callie and Arizona, hit the skids when talk of children was broached (Callie wanted kids; Arizona didn't). But that major and very real discussion is nothing compared to surviving a random hospital shooter. Kiss and make up, ladies!
· The Alcoholic Near the Edge of the Wagon: Former hospital chief (and recovering alcoholic) Richard Webber came face-to-face with the shooter in a random hospital room -- just go with it -- and of course he had a flask of alcohol with which to tempt the doc.
· Deathbed Proclamations of Love: Three times during the Grey's finale, a character who was either dying, near death or under duress shouted that they loved someone. If only Seattle Grace had a shooting every week, maybe these people would actually communicate more.
Feel free to add more -- of which there are plenty -- in the comments.
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Comments
1. The crazed shooter a much better shooter than any of the swat team.
2. Shooter is shot and it does not slow him down one bit while the swat team is in the same room but cannot stop him.
3. Important character can be saved with emergency tabletop surgery but not unimportant one.
4. Dr. Bailey pulled from under a bed a la horror movie cliche but it's just a hospital drama.
5. Sunny day in Seattle? I think not.
1. Fighting characters confined and forced to be together by emergency lockdown.
2. Loving couple separated by emergency lockdown.
3. Non-medical professional forced to aid doctor in performing medical procedures due to emergency lack of additional appropriate medical professional.
4. Medical professionals forced to perform medical procedures above their pay grade due to emergency lack of appropriate senior medical professional.
5. Unsuspecting character accidentally directs bad guy to his target.
1. The real horror is that 15 million people still watch this show.
FTW!
ha ha ha... how 'bout rejecting a man who tells you he's still in love with you for your mean boyfriend, (presumably on his death bed in a conference room, being operated on by the man who said he's still in love with you), and your mean boyfriend is pining for his ex-wife, calling you by her name, and you're playing along.
um...have we reached the bowels of soap opera?
Man, after reading this, I'm so glad I quit watching GA after it's third season (or whenever Denny finally died...gawd that took forever).
Denny dying was a major sea change for Grey's watchers. Either you kept watching after that or you gave up on the show immediately never looking back. I'm the latter.
The shark, it's been jumped.