So I haven't written about Grey's Anatomy much other then the one post about the 2nd season finale back in May of '06 (the year I started this blog!).
Wow. Well anyway I give up on the show around season 3, or 4. I'm not sure what did it really.
Though if I'm being honest I guess it was in large part due to what I liked to call "whiney Meredith " at the time.
At the end of season 4 that character had just become unbearable to me (I like Ellen Pampeo) but just couldn't stand the way the character was being written anymore.
It got to the point where that character sucked the enjoyment out of my most favourite characters (Callie, Bailey, George, Alex).
Thus completely diminishing my interest in the show till about season 5. At which point the show went through some major cast changes and added some new characters. My absolute fave being Arizona Robbins (played by Jessica Capshaw).
A perky, peppy pediatric surgeon who cries when faced with authority. I honestly thought I would hate the character at first (since Grey's had a very similar character a few years ago), Dr. Sydney I think.
And I generally hate nauseatingly happy t.v. characters (not to mention real people) But it turns out this new character had a wonderfully human and compassionate side, (that perhaps the other one lacked).
She also became a voice of reason and moral compass for many of the other characters ( thus balancing the craziness that often occurs on this show).
The introduction of these new characters really helped to re-energize the show, and brought back the great natural comedy and zippy one liners it was once known for.
And which somehow got swallowed up in all the Izzie/Meredith drama Focusing more on the secondary characters didn't hurt either.
Anyway, I got totally off track. Back to the original point of this blog. On March 31st Grey's Anatomy ventured into new territory with a musical episode.
Complete with the majority of the cast providing their own voices. Ok, so maybe the new territory part isn't entirely true, thanks to shows like Glee.
Many fans have been comparing Grey's to Glee which to me is like comparing apples to oranges.
Mostly because Grey's Anatomy is a drama, and Glee is the complete opposite. It's all about the music, so much so that a lot of Glee's stories sometimes suffer in quality (especially this year).
While music has always been a large part of Grey's Anatomy making many non-main stream artists into household names (The Fray being one).
It had never been used to tell a story quite this way before.
And while Grey's is certainly not the first t.v. show ever to attempt a musical Xena's The Bitter Suite (being one of the first back in the 90's) but never gets any credit for actually inspiring Joss Whedon's Buffy Once More with Feeling.
I thought the concept itself worked really well. Having Callie in a coma after a serious car accident and having an out of body experience (or more specifically her soul) go through a journey watching everyone around her work hard to save her body.
Again not exactly a new concept, but an effective one nonetheless. I knew that this episode was either going to be loved or hated by the fans (there never seems to be an in between when it comes to musicals).
And I'm not sure how split the percentages are on that front, but I'm definitely in the 'love' camp. The music arrangement was really well done, (hats off to that person).
As was the singing, most fans know Sara Ramirez has an amazing voice (having won a Tony for Spamalot), but who knew there was so much hidden talent among the non-singers?!. Kevin Mckidd (Owen Hunt). Boy, does that man have a set of pipes!.
A lot of people raved about Chyler Leigh (Lexie Grey), while little was mentioned about Jessica Capshaw who to me was the most impressive out of the lot.
Holding your own while singing a duet with Sara on KT Tunstall's "Universe and U" (IMHO one of the toughest songs on the album). That takes guts, but she really pulled it off.
Both their voices complemented one another quite well. At times she really sounded like KT (especially in the first verse and the bridge) which were unfortunately not featured in the episode.
And while Sara was undoubtedly the superior one when it came to the singing, Jessica really stole the show acting wise, with many emotionally poignant scenes. A box of tissues was definitely needed.
The other cast member I was pleasantly surprised by was Justin Chambers (Alex Karev) his short verse in "Running on Sunshine" was impressive, and kind of made me wish he had a bigger part.
All in all it was a risk, that could have been a total disaster, but instead turned out to be something very special, and highly entertaining, not to mention very rewarding for long time viewers.
Ok, I think that's the end of my rant. I meant to post this back in March, but better late then never I guess.
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