Grey's Anatomy - Episode 8.13 - If/Then - Review

Apologies to you all, that I’ve made you wait for this. Sometimes life takes over and you just have to get on with it.

After reassuring us of their continued commitment to great drama and story telling in 812, Hope for the Hopeless, Grey’s served up a ‘special’ to tease and delight us. And yes, it teased and it delighted but that’s about the sum of it. The premise was an alternate reality, a reality where Meredith is happy smiley peppy, Ellis is alive and Seattle Grace is kicking surgical butt. And whilst I enjoyed the point of view and the messages contained, I found this episode to be only mildly entertaining and eminently forgettable. There were exceptions but in general my heart was not touched by the stories and I found most of the characters superficial and melodramatic. They did not linger long.

The publicity prior to the episode led us to believe that the alternate universe existed on the basis that Ellis did not suffer and die from Alzheimer’s but lived to tell the tale through the corridors of Seattle Grace (note: not Mercy West). The version of Meredith was the one subsequently moulded by Ellis. Actually, Meredith’s new version was as a result of a loving father figure in her life and the AU premise was based not only on Ellis staying Alzheimer’s free, but also on the fact that Richard left Adele for Ellis.

Meredith herself was extremely believable. Anyone analysing her character in the ‘real’ Grey’s universe knows that deep down, beneath the dark exterior, she is a sensitive, emotional, kind soul; factors which exist through nature not nurture, in her case. Thus, seeing these traits amplified in AU was completely natural, although somewhat dull. Because, let’s face it, this version of Meredith would not make a successful show. That she is being pushed beyond her natural skill level, that Ellis is abusing her position by demanding favouritism, that Richard is her father and mentor, all make sense. However, I missed the sexual tension between her and Derek and saw nothing in their interactions to indicate destiny, merely cautious flirtation at the end and that was not enough; unlike Ellis and Richard, who provided a brief glimpse into their great love and happily ever after. For 42 mins I wished for Richards AU reality to be his Grey’s reality. And then for the last 2 weeks I’ve retracted that wish. For with Ellis he became a lesser person. I am now convinced his greatest love was Adele. But Meredith’s story arc became unstuck, and completely unbelievable the moment Alex featured as her romantic hero. And for me, this was the major fail of the episode. Indeed, in an alternative universe any story is possible of course but even this AU does not adequately justify the blatant comic caricature of Alex. My favourite moment of the entire episode was the moment when Cristina walked into the residents lounge to a brilliant sound track. But my worst moment was repeated on a ground hog loop, every single time Alex, sporting Velma’s stolen glasses (Scooby dooby doo where are you?) made an appearance or opened his mouth. Alex - as chief resident - I can believe, the rest...not so much.

"Who stole my glasses?"

Is it just me... or did Alex appear in Scooby Doo?

I did ‘get’ Derek and Addison though. This is one relationship that was represented with a good deal of Grey’s honesty. I could imagine them failing, falling blindly into parenthood as a way to save their marriage, made all the more believable as Mark shows up.

THIS. THIS is LEXIE AND MARK!

(and here we pause, I show you a picture, and we all celebrate the return of cutey boy Mark – yay! Clean shaven, lookin’ good. Sorry. Fangirling for a moment there...it’s been sooo long *drifts off into a day dream*..anyway).

Is there anyone who didn’t love Lexie the bad girl? Seriously. I want THAT Lexie to stay and I want Mark to save her. And whilst this episode did not completely restore faith that Mark is meant to be with Lexie, hopefully it’s put paid to any vestiges of hope for Lexie with Jackson (was it me, or was he just a little bit creepy, uugghhh). And that is all I will say about Dr Avery.

The PR generated around If/Then pontificated a great deal on the ‘lost souls in love’ aspect. What if... Meredith wasn’t with Derek, Callie hadn’t found her true self and married Arizona, Cristina wasn’t burning her butt on the vent grill with Owen. It was meant to show us unrequited love, yearning and hope. It was meant to show us destiny...wasn’t it? I wanted to see that. Instead the episode ended and I felt short changed. The most we got from Derek and Meredith was flirting at the bar, because for the rest of the episode we only had disinterest.

In this new universe Callie is the bad ass cardio god. Although it was difficult for any of the doctors of SG to appear god like with the living legend taking the seat at the Chief of Staff table (got it right this time ;).  The most I took from this couple was that Callie has a wandering eye and it’s happened upon Arizona. She, Callie, may or may not be bisexual, and there was no back story for Arizona at all. And there’s me thinking that this is Shonda’s second MFEO couple? Suddenly  the kid makes a miraculous recovery, everyone’s hugging everyone and a great love is born. No, this didn’t work for me. The girls looked pretty but I did not feel a longing, sexual confusion or even sexual tension. And in the end I felt angry that irrelevant, waste of time, screen time was given to Dr Percy when the screen time should have been spent developing an existing ALIVE Arizona.

(Can someone please tell me the point of bringing Dr Percy back?)

I did feel the sexual tension with Owen and Cristina though. If the writers played anything right, it was this couple. And of course the beautiful irony is not lost on me when you think about what’s going on for this couple in the ‘real’ Grey’s universe. I continue to struggle to understand if Cristina and Owen will survive their obvious marriage troubles. By this universe are the writers saying it’s salvageable? That Cristina is the one person who can understand Owen; the same Cristina that blindly went into an abortion without really considering the consequences on her husband, her marriage and her heart? I left with one clear message about this couple – they are still in it. If you are a Cristina/Owen shipper then you should take heart that Shonda is too.

I shall end this review by reminding you that Alex is meant to be with April. Putting aside all the nonsense about this or that character returning, by this AU episode Alex and April will be getting it on. Assuming Justin Chambers stays this will be a major story arc for S9. You heard it here first ;-)

If/Then. It was nice. I enjoyed it for 42 minutes. Then I forgot about it. Literally and figuratively. 

Written by brouhaha aka @pipmaxine.