Grey's Anatomy - Episodes 8.04 - What is it about men - Review

Beware below: unedited, opinionated rant.

Why why why didn’t Shonda Rhimes employ a man to write this episode? Is that a sexist thing to say? Seriously. On the surface Stacy McKee writing “What is it about men”, episode 4 of Season 8, makes sense. She is one of the best, her focus is usually the ‘specials’ and she has successfully written some of the most technically difficult episodes, in some cases, very well. But this was a bad choice. An episode telling the story from a man’s perspective, in hindsight, should have been written by a man or the male writing crew. Instead of understanding our male characters more, we were weighed down with clichés and stereotypes. What a wasted opportunity. Now I don’t pretend to be any kind of expert on men. But I know a cliché when I see it. Instead of expanding on the scientific difference between men and women’s brains, into behaviour, that we were teased with in the beginning, we were left with a poor man’s ‘men are from Mars’.

“What is it about men” centred on the view point of the male cast, covering the usual Meredith voice-over, pushing the girls aside and giving us viewers insight into what’s going on in their world. I was disappointed. Not by the fact it was an all-men episode, indeed I was looking forward to that aspect. No I was disappointed because the writers could have given so much and yet by the end we had received very little.

This week we were entertained (if you can call it that) by the cliché, I use that as a collective term for the bombardment of chestnuts we received. Picture this folks - the writers’ room, probably sometime back in July, Shonda Rhimes is holding court. McKee is busy taking notes and Brainstorming is in session. “So guys, we’re having an episode from the men’s perspective, let’s brainstorm what men are like”. And 804 is what we get. This is the outcome of the many, well-educated, experienced and talented writers. Let’s go down the list of clichés this episode contained...

Sex, in the form of a lost skanky thong and Jackson’s insulting tribute to his girlfriend; uncouth personal habits, drinking straight from the carton, cutting toenails in the doctors lounge, questioning cleanliness habits; betting on how long will Owen last, with Derek the optimist, goodness, he WAS having a positive moment wasn’t he (insert sarcastic tone); beer, a given, in fact beer even discovered the poor decking workmanship; brilliant surgeons with dubious home improvement skills (where's Callie the Carpenter when you need her), sporting tools around their waist, looking all rugged and outdoorsy (ok, I admit, I did enjoy that cliché); men can’t possibly look after babies can they; testosterone laden, euphemistic power tools to take out their frustration (only slightly less of a cliché than wood chopping); fist fights, one fist, one jaw; science fiction convention nerds; Jealousy – his hands are on my woman; And finally, the six pack, which no all-male episode should be without. All we needed were knuckles dragging along the ground and the stereotype would be complete.

Were there any male writers in the brainstorming session at all?

This was not an episode from the perspective of the Grey’s men. This was an episode from the perspective of what women assume men do, say, think about in general and in part, in their worst moments. Only if you looked very hard could you see snippets of the real Grey’s men perspective.

And this is where it went wrong. The writers didn’t really know who they were aiming this story at (minority of male viewers, or the majority of straight female viewers? The gay female viewers apparently abandoned it the moment Mark closed the door), nor did they have a clear objective about what they were trying to communicate about the Grey’s men. The Chief aside (the real one and only forever Chief), we learnt very little of them that we didn’t already know and were shown a side to them that, at times, was deeply unpleasant.

For example, what were the writers trying to tell us about Jackson – that we should root for him, feel sorry for him, like him? That he’s a good guy, supportive boyfriend, just a bit misunderstood? If they were, I didn’t see it. I try very hard on this blog not to comment on individual character screen time. I am a big fan of the ensemble perspective of this show, I like the vast majority of characters, so I believe that ALL regulars should get their own stories and their own screen time. But I must confess I am losing my patience with the lack of Bailey (S7 and now S8) and, in case you hadn’t already noticed it in my last post, I’m losing my objectivity and patience with Jackson.  I was subjected to excessive and unpleasant Jackson-ness. I didn’t even get some Lexie to soften up my Jackson heart. Not even 2 minutes into the episode we are treated to a leery conversation between Jackson and Alex about the latter’s latest skank in his bed. We are meant to tolerate Jackson’s insulting tribute to his girlfriend in order that he can cover for Alex (because that’s what lads do). He leads us to believe that the scanty panties on offer belong to Lexie, as he takes a swig of juice from a bottle clearly meant for sharing. Nice (where’s the sarcasm font?). Later in the episode he’s heard complaining that his 4^th year girlfriend is getting more surgeries than him. Jealous much? Last week I reminded you all that Lexie is a universally liked character. She may not have the vast army of fans that Meredith/Derek or Callie/Arizona have but she does have a quality about her that attracts her own following. Through the episode we are supposed to feel sorry for Jackson. Poor Jackson. Mark treats him like a child, refusing to let him even touch a scalpel, until he finally throws a tantrum with a hammer and is promoted to the big boys club as they hand him a power saw.  And then plays his bosses one off against each other. I was cringing. By the end, the situation becomes laughable as “two world class surgeons” fight over him. It’s not escaped my notice that it’s only when the women are not around that Jackson’s dubious surgical skills suddenly look quite good. In fact it’s almost as if the writers realise this because, just in case we’re not convinced about Jackson they decide to pull the joker and get his shirt off. He may have pretty eyes and smooth firm abs but he’s about as deep as a rain puddle in Death Valley during Summer.

Was this written to entertain us ladies? Fail. It’s not a fail because it might have offended our sensitivities (I’m not some freaky feminist), lads will be lads, and we ladies secretly quite like that sometimes. It’s a fail because if the writers want us to start liking this character they have to write as if they like him themselves. Writers beware: we like Lexie more than Jackson, so we don’t mind if she gets more surgeries. We like Alex more than Jackson so we happily tolerate him banging his way through the nurses (although we would obviously prefer he didn’t ;-). And we like Derek and Mark more than Jackson, so don’t make us choose between McSteamy/McDreamy OR the pretty boy. I’m sorry Shonda, the gloves just came off. Get rid.

Or was this written for the boys? Say your peace below...tell me.

Moving from one unpleasant character to another. So this was life from the Owen perspective was it? Owen is frustrated. He’s deeply sad, unbearably hurt, completely confused and doesn’t know what to do about it or how to express it. His family dream is crushed and I feel for him. I get that we needed to see some of this frustration and witness the ways in which he deals with his heartache. But the Owen I saw in 804 was vile and base. After suffering from violent PTSD in Season 5, almost killing Cristina with his own bare hands, I was prepared to forgive; to see that his actions were the result of illness. But in 804 he was violent and dangerous, without being able to blame mental illness.  As aggressive and brutal as the patient was, he did not deserve the ‘treatment’ he received from Owen. What happened to 'first do no harm' or jabbing them with a syringe full of sedative? His actions were premeditated assault, completely out of order and, unfortunately, condemn him to the category of violent man. Had he acted on impulse at the scene of the incident then he would be forgiven for lashing out and taking out his frustrations on someone bigger and more violent. But he didn’t. He, as Chief of Surgery, instructed the nurse to set up the OR for a broken jaw and concussion and then thumped the patient to cause a broken jaw. But the worst of it came when he abused the patient whilst he was recovering. I could even have had some compassion for him up to the point he entered into the patient’s room. But his following actions were hypocritical, (telling the patient “you were violent and abusive”) and utterly deplorable. Oh look, knuckles can be found dragging along the ground after all.

In my opinion his actions, especially grabbing the jaw, make Meredith’s tampering with the trial pale into insignificance.

The boys didn’t blink an eye. Although we can be sure that Derek would approve Owen’s actions – remember Death Row patient? In fact, with the exception of Mark’s “you’re the Chief, not the sheriff” remark Owen’s actions go virtually ignored. Written for us women? Fail. We all have feet of clay, but unmitigated nastiness? Maybe Daniel Craig can get away with this as James Bond, but not Owen Hunt in Grey’s Anatomy. Written for the male viewers? You tell me – is this just “boys will be boys?”

This is perhaps the worst story action for a regular cast member I have ever seen on Grey’s. It’s good to show that the surgeons have flaws, how much has Mark been castigated for his “you’re nothing” comment for example, but to me this shows Owen to be nasty. Shonda claims to like Owen. Really? No amount of hugging Sofia, cooing and whispering in the baby’s ear will make up for that unique unpleasant insight into Owen’s character. The Chief of Surgery can’t physically abuse both his position and a patient, then go all softy softy on a baby, and get away with it. All the good work to help us understand Owen, achieved by episodes 801 and 802 has been wasted. I wasn’t much of a Cristina/Owen fan before, now I know she deserves far far better.

According to Derek “We can talk about our feelings, it’s just that most of the time, we’d really rather not.” Really? We hadn’t noticed (insert sarcastic tone). McDreamy is back to being McAss and not talking about what’s going on in his head. I’m not sure what his plan is with Meredith and he may have physically stayed in the relationship but mentally he has broken his post-it vows. Mentally he’s left, he’s absent. Instead he’s over at his project, hammering the life out of it, building a deck and showing off his power saw in a, “mine’s bigger than yours” kind of way. Derek was the therapist in this episode, providing relief and comfort to frustrated, jealous, angry men, in the form of manual labour and beer. Because of course, true to the cliché all men need to deal with whatever is going on in their lives is a hammer and a beer. Well, I’m sure glad that house is getting some use after all. This “Derek’s mad” story will run for a while. MerDer fans should be prepared for the fact that this will be a minimum half season story arc. I did become curious by his last voiceover message “sometimes it takes a real man to set his ego aside, admit defeat, and simply start all over again”. In my opinion this really only related to The Chief (yup, get used to it), Alex and Mark. How this relates to Derek, Owen and Jackson is anyone’s guess.

Now. It wasn’t all bad. Once I accepted the episode for what it was I tried to enjoy it by focussing on the Chief (yup, to me he always is), Alex and Mark. I found the ‘joy’ by watching them and listening to McKee’s brilliant one-liners.

The episode was very funny in places, some of the one-liners were priceless, and the Mayfield arc gave us a cracking excuse to laugh AT Alex and Jackson and WITH Richard. Indeed, the best elements of this episode centred around Richard and Alex, both separately and together. Richard defined himself in the best possible way, “once you’re the president, you’re always MR president”. Of course he’s found his role. He is the ultimate mentor for the young 5^th year pups – find the joy boys, find the joy! And I like to think that rather than assuming he stole that little mantra from Arizona (523), he learnt something from her. What made this all so satisfying was watching both Alex and Jackson excited to be learning from him. There are dark times up ahead for Richard, his last scene reminds us of that, so it was good to see a somewhat lighter side to him in the interim.

And Alex, goodness, I don’t think I’ve seen him smile so much in a long time. The boy just wants to be a peds surgeon, he doesn’t give a damn about neuro, writing papers or pushing his trauma hours. He’s doing all that to tick the boxes so he can roll down the kids’ corridors with Robbins kicking his ass. And on top of all of this he’s playing matchmaker to the nerd. Tell me Shonda, why didn’t the nerd get his girl? Surely he could have gotten a date at least? Is it because you’re setting us up for an Alex/April romance? Every episode points in that direction.

The final positive out of this chestnut fest concerns Mark. No matter what you think of his journey to being a father, there was no way the writers were going to paint him as anything less than competent. And I’m relieved. I can’t be doing with more Callie, Arizona and Mark baby drama. Let the girls get their romance back by reassuring them about Mark’s parenting. There was a bigger journey for Mark, and I might say at least he got some kind of story progression. By the end of this episode Mark realises that he needs to be a teacher, not just so he can be in contention to be a future chief, but because he wants to do it for himself, even if it takes Jackson to show him the way. It’s taken 6 seasons to get this far for Mark, I hope the writers stick with it.

All the women played minor roles this week, skirting the boundaries of the screen, with the exception of the Sex Poodle, Lexie who is MIA. Bailey continues to make me want to cry (please please please someone give her a story!), although I did enjoy the Gas Man’s jealous return. Ben’s a funny guy!

If this episode was filmed with me, the female viewer in mind, then frankly I’m insulted that the writers imagine I have such a low opinion of men and that all I want to see are ‘hotties getting sweaty on a building site’, nice as that image is, story be damned. If this has helped me to understand the Grey’s men better, then I have a lower opinion of Owen, Derek and Jackson. If the episode was written with the male viewer in mind, then boy, I actually don't know how to comment. All it’s done is reinforce the negative stereotype. I’m glad the women weren’t in it, that they can distance themselves from this crass presentation will serve them well.

I look forward to the “as you were” of 805, and welcoming the girls back with some relief -Bailey, Callie, Arizona, Cristina, Meredith, April, Teddy.  And for goodness sake, where’s Lexie?

Favourite moments:

The Chief (always and forever) and the zombie. You know what, ALL of The Chief‘s (until the end of time) scenes were my favourite. Is Jim Pickens Jr married? I might just have to take a trip across the pond to snag him.

Witty one-liners:

“His hands have a kind of tenderness, some kind of magic” – Derek, to Ben about Eli

“You have a reputation for being a nice person, I think it’s a load of crap” – Ben to Derek

“Shepherd just kicked me off neuro ‘cause I don’t piss myself every time I look at a spine. The guy’s a douche” – Alex to Jackson

“You two need to find a way to start feeling the joy again” – The Chief (you know it!) to Alex and Jackson

 “Sometimes you can’t see the joyful part of your life til it’s over, this is it, now” – The Chief (everlasting) to Alex

“Once you’re the president, you’re always MR president” – The Chief (for eternity) to Alex 

The absolute star of the show was the female character with the most screen time – Sofia!

Written by Brouhaha aka @pipmaxine who will always think the Chief is THE Chief, and who also wants to hear from male viewers/readers about their view of this all-boys episode. Whether you are a serial commenter or a lurker, if you’re a boy please let me know what you think. And girls too.

Did I get it wrong? Have I been unfair?

I can’t promise to agree but I can promise to be nice. Tell me.