Grey's Anatomy - Episode 8.09 - Dark Was The Night - Review

As seasons go, this one is shaping up to be pretty darn good. Definitely superior to Season 7, which disappointed almost every fan on some level at some point and possibly better than a few of the earlier seasons (too early to judge completely). “Dark is the Night” kept up the season quality proving to be a fitting mid season finale, giving us drama, story and our usual dose of dark humour. I will venture to say it was a better episode even than the S7 season finale. It was enjoyable. But it was flawed. And is by no stretch of the imagination the best that the writers have given us or could have given us.

Meredith and Derek have lost the baby and the social worker has nailed the adoption door shut, there is no hope. Whilst this story has it’s charm and honesty (and unbelievable cuteness – cue another picture of Derek and Zola – pause for a moment and stare at it) I’ve always found it difficult to believe that these two doctors would ever end up with an adopted child. I may well be proven wrong, Zola may pop up again, but there was always a strong chance that the social workers would struggle to find Meredith and Derek a stable couple. After all, we’ve seen little about them recently to illustrate they are stable. It’s not that I don’t want them to, or that they don’t deserve a child, it’s that adoption is a road full of traps, roadblocks and bumps. I am sad for them, but also glad for the drama. 

"No more talk about kids. I'm going to stop that now and go daydream of what life would be like if my mother  didn't get Alzheimer's and Derek was still with Addison"

Meredith retreats to being Meredith and her reaction leads us to one of my favourite scenes in the episode with Cristina and Derek. Ever since S8 “Adrift and At Peace” the bond developed between these two characters has disappeared, but here we get a reminder. Cristina reminds Derek that Meredith has a pattern of behaviour. She will come back.

Putting blocks in the Meredith Derek relationship seems to be the raison d’être for Grey’s but we can comfort ourselves that Derek is at least starting to spot the error of his ways.

"Yes, I know, it's all my fault" swoon swoon swoon

Henry’s expiry date has arrived. Oh dear. We all knew this would happen, right from the very moment he appeared – as a patient. That he appeared in THE lift told us much about the impact he was intended to have on the show – clearly of some emotional importance to a character. And he was. Poor Teddy fell in love with him, lost him, but she doesn’t know it yet. The big ‘unveil’ being drawn out to 810. Much credit goes to the writers for this involved plot. Not only was Henry an entirely likeable character, written as a humorous, warm foil to Teddy’s serious professional, his demise has been neatly intertwined with Teddy and Cristina, an already complicated mentor/mentee relationship. Because although it is clear to the viewer that Cristina was blameless in his death, this fact will not be so clear to Teddy, and I suspect will be drawn out for some time through the rest of the season. I am looking forward to how the writers portray Teddy’s grief, hoping that they will continue to build some much-needed depth into this character. 

I fear this is the last 'happy' shot of Teddy we're going to see for a while!

If I have one criticism of this story within the episode it is that we know he’s died. I would have preferred the drama of not knowing – but then I do love a good cliffhanger! Actually I have two criticisms but the second is attached to my increasing dislike of Owen. Owen, if you want to be chief then bloody well act like it, and please take that dreadful over-acted hang dog look off your face.

Speaking of chief, I mean the real, one and only chief, Dr Webber. Wasn’t he lovely? Although he will always be chief to me I continue to love the fact that he is enjoying his ‘regular attending’ job, that he’s still learning and that he’s respecting the 5^th years and their own experience. His interaction with Cristina as she enters the OR to start the surgery on Henry was a lovely continuation of “Heart in a Box”, he understands her, possibly more than most, he is willing to learn from her, and he pays no attention to her apparently ‘heartless’ approach to patient bedside manner. He’s relaxed, and comfortable with himself, and remains, as one of my commenter’s rightly pointed out, the heart of the show.  

I am confident he will protect Cristina from the wrath of a grieving Teddy.

Alex and Meredith take off to save a baby under the guidance of (a not before time professional badass) Dr Robbins. 

"Alex, we can't leave the baby" "Of course we can Meredith, it's a plastic doll"

Whilst this little story arc clearly provided us with some drama I struggled to connect it to the main ongoing events at SGMW. It was merely a vehicle (no pun intended) to get Alex and Meredith talking. It worked. It was also probably meant as some kind of baby parallel with Zola, but if it was, it was lost on me. I couldn’t help but feel that the writers blew the punch line by having both characters walk out of the ambulance unscathed. And whilst they were treated to a desperately sad sight as they opened the door, the emotional impact had already severely diminished. The cynic in me would say that this was deliberate due to ongoing contract negotiations. To go into a two month hiatus with doubt over the survival of two original characters would have been an extraordinary kick in the pants to the fans. So whilst it reduced the impact it was the right decision to make. The conversation that preceded it between Alex and Meredith was quite true to character and illustrates that Alex still feels some responsibility for Meredith and Derek’s situation (although he shouldn’t) and doesn’t quite know what to do.

But the plot lines of this episode struggled to move beyond mediocre and the strong Teddy story was negated by the contrived and poorly executed ‘mistake’ storyline. Regular readers of this blog will know I am no Jackson Avery fan, but even I can spot when two characters/actors have been stitched up. Neither the brilliant Sara Ramirez, nor the pretty (that’s the only positive adjective I can use to describe him) yet dull Jessie Williams deserved the treatment they received. Given the gravity of the surgical mistake made and the fact that this is a career defining moment for both Dr Torres and Dr Avery this story was given insufficient and superficial treatment. 

Yes, I usually avoid including pictures of Avery, but ladies and gentlemen we are now looking at a massive FAIL. *insert evil laugh* (Not you Callie of course!)

It was a device to get Teddy into a different surgery and keep Callie busy. There was absolutely no emotional investment in the patient. We did not see the surgery, nor did we see any interaction between the two surgeons before, during or after the event, only after they discover an error. There has been some build up to this event from Callie’s perspective – brilliant surgeries in the past few episodes – and Jackson, despite being the Günther, has been shown to lack confidence and is decidedly the weakest of the 5^th years technically. But neither character deserved the lip service they received. Don’t get me wrong, I am secretly pleased that Jackson is messing up, but still, that’s not the point...The most engaging part of this story presented itself in the form of Bailey coaching Callie. This interaction has helped to save the storyline from the abyss. When is there ever a bad scene between Callie and Bailey!

Perhaps I was expecting too much of this episode. It was, after all, merely a mid season finale. But it was built up by television writers and critics with crescendo. And if you know music, you will know that at the end of the crescendo is some form of worthy climax.

It was enjoyable, there were moments of brilliant writing and acting – the entire Teddy/Henry/Cristina/Richard arc – also include the lovely comic timing of Chyler Leigh when she’s talking to Owen – you know this is still a quality show. There was story progression in other areas. We finally got to hear an admission from Derek that he is partly responsible for the situation he finds himself in with Meredith. Despite the fact that she doesn’t want his children Owen knows that Cristina has a big heart. And Arizona and Mark continue to demonstrate that they have found some peace with each other. And as a side point, wasn’t it great to see Arizona as the badass tiny human surgeon at last.

I really felt more for the characters in this episode than I did in the “emotional shoot out” that was the S7 finale. I really enjoyed the episode the first time around. But I had to watch it again to write this review and to be honest, doing that was something of a chore.

The very best moments:

Watching Cristina become aware of who it is - brilliant Sandra Oh.

The moment Cristina realises she's only gone and screwed up her Cardio-God-In-Waiting title.

Cristina and Richard – the more I see of this surgical mentor/mentee type relationship the more I love it.

Meredith and Alex arguing in the ambulance. Oh how I’ve missed their banter.

And the best dialogue:

Cristina to Derek – “She always comes back , she might need a minute to back away but she comes back.”

M: “I offered to time share Sofia with Derek and Meredith, if they don’t end up with kids of their own. He said no.”

A: “Why?”

D: “Because your child is not a rental car. We’re not gonna take her out one week a month”

A: “Have you seen her? Because she’s heartstoppingly adorable”

D: “You’re missing the point”

M: “HE’s missing the point”

A: “No, she’s delicious, she’s addictive, why wouldn’t you want to parent her”

Oh Dreamy, you’ve SO missed the point.

A: "Seriously Derek, if you could take Sofia off our hands then Callie and I will finally be rid of Mark"
M: "aww Arizona you don't really mean that, you're just havin' a laugh"
A: "No really Derek, take her"

And finally I offer a big UP to the lovely, brilliant, funny and adorable Scott Foley. We will miss you.

But please don’t come back as Dead Henry. I beg you.

Written by brouhaha aka @pipmaxine who apologises for the tardiness of this review. 

Happy new year everyone!