Dark & Twisted

I watched the first two seasons of Grey's Anatomy pretty religiously. I was all into McDreamy and McSteamy. I saw the Denny Debacle as it happened for the first time on TV. By season 3, I was busier than usual and missed episodes here and there but still watched as Addison left and even tried to watch Private Practice. Never got into Private Practice and unfortunately at that point I basically stopped watching  Grey's, not because of anything in particular just didn't have the time. I always intended to catch up and being almost two seasons behind I decided it was about time.

The interesting thing that struck me as I've caught up to the newest episode of season 6 is that the entire show is based on one thing. The show is about Meredith Grey, but more than just that it's about a dark and twisty girl with a thing for tequila. That's how her friends described her in the episode where Izzie would not remove herself from the bathroom floor. And that's how she has remained, though admittedly she has grown as a character because she no longer runs from Derek. But there she has not gone and gotten "normal" and she really still isn't that "stable" and we all know she won't really be anytime soon. Its somewhat amazing that the show has maintained Meredith's voice, her relationship with everyone has remained true to her character.  Not all of the characters have remained true to themselves as completely as Meredith but it's important that the title character did. Even when Derek goes through his dark period, when Meredith comes back to him she comes back with a bottle of tequila.

The main concept of Grey's Anatomy that has held my interest for years is that in the show the characters create a family tie. Not just any family tie either, because some of the characters don't even really like each other. Alex and George never really find any common ground, even now in the episodes where Izzie is dying they end up fighting with each other before discovering they are both losing someone special. Izzie herself never really connects on any level with Christina and Meredith, yet she tells Christina first about her illness and she plans Meredith's wedding. The five of them work with each other and spend most of their time fighting, but when they need each other they are there. And they are all kept in line by Bailey, the maternal figure of the group as their resident. The relationships are maintained impacting by different love interests and actual family members like little grey.  Their little family actually expands to add Derek by the time he moves into the house and starts protecting little grey from his best friend.

The other relationship that makes me really like the show is the Derek and Mark relationship. Best friends for two decades, that have survived each other through better and worse. Though they fought a few years because Mark slept with Derek's first wife, they maintain their relationship. My favorite part might be when Derek's mom comes into town and studies Lexi after cornering Mark about why he's been avoiding her. It proves just how close the two men have been their entire life, that Derek's mother has so much love for her son's best friend.

Aside from the relationships that are so well written the next best part of the show are the musical montages and selections. The songs that shadow the emotional scenes are perfect, they strum at anyone's heart strings surprisingly well. The words and the notes are haunting and really play into the scenes, the characters and the raw emotions. Grey's Anatomy might be one of the main sources for finding new songs, I have downloaded quite a few of the songs that I liked after the episodes (which makes me love the creators of the what you heard part of the website). Though I might admit that I'm still in search of the song that play when George's father died because it was beautiful. So for anyone that stopped watching, if you have the time the episodes are a fun watch. Though season 4 might be a bit to get through, it definitely picks back up in season 5 and I have high hopes for the new season.