Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick….
After a long nap in an unused OR, we found ourselves last night safely ensconced within the disinfected walls of Grace Hospital in Seattle with the pretty, tortured—and just a little too cutesy—cast of Grey’s Anatomy.
The plot picked up right where it dropped us off slack-jawed last season (Denny’s dead? Did Meredith really just sleep with McDreamy at the prom? How does a woman who eats that much stay so thin?), but along with moving us forward, this premiere was also pulling us back in time with a series of enlightening flashbacks. Indicated by a Pavlovian stopwatch, the fond—and not so fond—memories of life before their tour of duty as hospital employees started come flooding back to all the major characters. Izzie remembers the welcome cocktail party for the new interns. Meredith, seemingly contemplating the meaning of marriage and infidelity post-Prom Romp, thinks back to being on a merry-go-round and her mother and Dr. Webber have a affair-ending argument. Addison recalls the spectacular martial blowout when Derek discovered she had slept with his best friend. And Derek? He dreams back to the tequila- swilling night when he first laid eyes on the sinewy, squinty Meredith Grey. In real time, however, things were less cozy than chance meetings in dark bars. Izzie, still wearing her pink prom dress, was lying on the floor of her bathroom, paralyzed with the loss of her love (and patient) Denny. Addison tacked Meredith’s “misplaced” underwear up on the staff bulletin board for the entire world to see. And George wrestled with the concept of saying “I love you”. Oh—and then there was some of that medical stuff so crucial to the plot of this hospital drama–somebody had some sort of plague or something, a some Catholic school girl dumped her baby in the garbage.It ends, predictably, with Derek telling Meredith that he loves her and that he has loved her for a long time. Then he tells her she must chose between her two suitors. He also points out that when he had a choice to make (Addison v. Meredith)—he made the wrong decision. I am taking bets here that Meredith won’t be hitching her wagon to our eager, exceedingly tolerant veterinarian friend whose “You-can- walk- all –over- me- because- I -would –die- for –you” schtick makes me think he needs a copy of The Rules and a few cc’s of pride—stat.By Caroline Palmer
