TV REVIEW: Grey’s Says “We Gotta Get Outta This Place.” We’re Saying Not a Chance

The latest Grey’s offering was hilarious and sweet and heart wrenching in the most unexpected places – such a testament to the writers and those who keep the Grey’s Anatomy machine running.  This one’s titled “We Gotta Get Outta This Place,” but its effect is the exact opposite.  We’re never leaving old friend, especially if you keep cranking out episodes like tonight’s installment.

It’s Richard Webber’s birthday, and he just knows he’s getting a surprise party. Everyone has that “oh, crap, we better throw something quick” look in their eyes.  Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) has a special birthday present for him, a pamphlet on retirement. Not the party he had in mind.

A nerd bio-engineer shows up to help Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) with her flailing research project and to profess his undying love for the 3-D printer. Did Carlton on Fresh Prince have an even nerdier twin hidden away in the attic?  I’m saying yes, and he’s here to fall in love and have babies with Meredith’s little baby, the printer.

Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and intern Shane Ross (Gaius Charles) are looking for candidates to get a heart conduit.  They are truly playing God in this one, deciding who has a chance at life and who is doomed to die.  The storyline helps Shane claw his way from the depths of viewer dislike, showing him in a more positive light.

Cristina is cut throat when it comes to rejecting candidates who don’t meet the specific criteria, throwing them out like yesterday’s trash. She shows her softer side (yes there is one) when she decides she’ll help her ex-husband Owen Hunt find his perfect match through Internet dating.  She spends most of the episode trying to set up his profile and in one of the most surprisingly touching scenes of the night, she asks what he’s looking for.  Owen says, “Someone who doesn’t care to cook, who sleeps so soundly I have to check her pulse sometimes. Someone who understands suffering. I don’t have to say a word. She just looks at me and sees who I am. Accepts it.” He’s obviously describing Cristina.  C’mon you two!  Don’t you know that Sandra Oh is leaving, so get back to that trailer, do not pass Go, and do not collect $200.   He ends with, “There’s a billion people out there.  There’s only one her.”  Gimme the damn Kleenex.

(ABC/Kelsey McNeal)
PAUL JAMES, JERRIKA HINTON

A young mom shows up pitching herself and her bad heart for the conduit procedure.  Shane tells her she’s practically grandma status, way too old for their study.  She’s apparently mad that Teen Mom’s been canceled and is looking for a new gig.  She confides in the young doctor that she’s looking for a heart that will allow her to survive giving birth. Shane’s taking the bait and drags Cristina in to meet her.  Yang reprimands her protégé for getting too emotionally involved, and tells him to do his job.

Tonight time ran out for Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew).  No they didn’t die in a fiery plane crash car wreck. Instead, Momzilla shows up and shows us that there is nothing worse than a mother scorned. She wants April to sign a prenup, but more than that, she wants retribution for her son getting married without her knowing.  Kathryn (Debbie Allen) holds an Avery inquisition asking questions about how many kids they’ll have, what religion they’ll be, how many times they’ll have sex a week.  April handles it remarkably well, apologizing to Mama Avery and making Jackson say he’s sorry.  What a powerful scene that had me reaching for the Kleenex again.

In the gross out case of the week, Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is treating a man with stomach pains. Upon further investigation, she discovers that the man absorbed his own twin, and a grotesque foreign being is deep within him.  Think “The Monster Inside Me” meets Alien.  The doctors are giddy while talking about this freak of nature they’ve never seen before. Webber’s called in because it’s his birthday. He tells the man it’s like a rare gift, like the Mona Lisa; he’s waxing so poetically about the man’s mini me that the guy decides to keep it.  After all, why would you destroy the Mona Lisa?

Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) is still fuming over her Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) break up and the fact that Derek got sole custody of the sensors. She brings a lawyer into the mix demanding joint custody. Derek tries to show that his work is more important by yammering on and on like one of those college professors I droned out.  He’s drawing stuff on a dry erase board a la Good Will Hunting, but Callie’s having none of it.  She has her own sketch to show him. It’s one dot with a bunch of lines surrounding it.  She tells him, “You think you’re the center of the universe.” This entire Callie/Shepherd argument was another unexpected emotional feel that had nothing to do with a cancer kid or dying baby.  Oh Grey’s, you do know how to pull at those heartstrings.

Meanwhile, teen mom gives birth with Shane by her side encouraging her to call her own mom or at least enter a spelling bee.  She’s so full of joy and sadness while holding her baby, crying and smiling at her newborn and realizing her baby may have to grow up without a mom.  It’s another tear jerking scene in a show that never lets up, making us laugh and cry right along with her.

(ABC/Kelsey McNeal)
JEFFREY ADDISS, JAMES PICKENS JR.

Mixed feelings abound in this one.  Hungry twin decides to have little brother removed when Webber says he can keep him.  In a jar.  On the shelf. Yuck.  When the reveal happens, the patient screams in horror at what was inside of him.  Well Webber, looks like you’re getting that cool birthday present after all.

Derek and Callie make up in the “take that” moment of the night.  He calls the White House to demand that they learn to play nice and share the sensors.  His new bosses relent with Callie declaring that they just “overthrew” the government.

In the final scene, Kathryn takes Richard out for his birthday and surprise, surprise, there is a party planned.  Hunt reveals that he wants Webber to be the director of the residency program, not ride off into the sunset.  The interns toast their daddy doctor, and we know the man was made for that position.  It was a fitting end to another strong episode showcasing all that makes Grey’s one of the best series on television, what makes it feel so fresh.  How can I describe a ten year old series as fresh?  After all, aren’t TV years like dog years? Lasting five years on ABC is like a Hollywood marriage lasting ten. Coming up with plotlines that feel so authentic and real, that can pull our hearts right up through our throats, that can add layers to characters who’ve been around since the beginning? I’d say that’s the epitome of fresh.  So, Grey’s Anatomy, thank you (Jimmy Fallon voice) for making us laugh, making us cry, and making us continue to tune in week after week.

Random Notes

The lines about the twin absorbed by his twin are disgustingly hilarious:

“It’s the Halley’s Comet of your careers.”

“Tell him it’s a demon.”

“I have to take a man out of a man.”

Jo (Camilla Luddington) refuses to sign the love contract with Alex (Justin Chambers) for much of the show.  I’m saying she suffered a huge blow to the head and is brain damaged. Maybe brain dead.  Has she seen Justin Chambers?  At episode’s end she finally succumbs to the powers that are Karev.  He tells her, “This isn’t a promise of anything.  You want a promise?  I can promise you this.  I can’t promise you anything. Houses burn. Cars crash. People get sick. You cannot count on anything. One of us could die tomorrow. But this makes it so I can kiss you whenever I want to.”   She signs it and boy do they kiss.

This episode is another clear reminder of how much we are going to miss little Miss Sandra Oh when she leaves this season. Her acerbic tongue, the way she conveys volumes with just one look … how will we move on, Cristina Yang?