Too Twisted for Color TV

SPOILER WARNING: Avert your eyes if you don't want to know information about last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy!

Thank you, Shonda Rhimes and the writers of Grey's Anatomy for causing me nearly to have a heart attack during last night's episode, As We Know It. This was the second of a pair of episodes that first aired last week, the earlier episode appropriately titled It's the End of the World. If you missed either episode, let me direct you to the recaps on the Television Without Pity website.

First off, I find it amazing how good writing can cause us to suspend our disbelief. That mortar round in the guy's chest? We all knew it was gonna go boom. But did anyone seriously think it would go off while Meredith was touching it? Come on! If she (conservatively) only lost her hand, what do you think that would do to her chances of becoming a surgeon? Lose a hand, lose the show. And of course, since the show is named after her character, I doubt she's gonna get offed any time soon. Burke is too important to the story line, so he's not going anywhere. This left only one possibility, and I saw it coming about 20 minutes into the show.

Kyle Chandler had to die.

It was fate. He may as well have put on a red shirt sporting an ensign's insignia and beamed down to a hostile planet with Captain Kirk, Commander Spock and Dr. McCoy. When I saw him walking out of that OR carrying that live round, I thought, Oh, boy, I hope as a responsible member of the bomb squad you have all of your affairs in order. (I also sort of wondered why they didn't have some sort of containment apparatus a little closer to the site of the bomb extraction. I guess for dramatic purposes one must take the mountain to Mohammed.)

I cried so much during last night's episode I don't even remember when I started blubbering. When George confronted Dr. Bailey, nearly shaming her into giving birth to that baby, and then climbed up onto her bed to help her with the birth? Tears. When Meredith was looking at Kyle Chandler and thinking of McDreamy? Tears. When Kyle Chandler became "pink mist"? I got up to get a sandwich and a beer. WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY?? TEARS LIKE CRAZY, MAN, TEARS LIKE CRAZY!

I missed the previous episode because I was at a dinner party with some friends, and heard about it second-hand from co-workers. I therefore read the recap on Television Without Pity as I was watching last night's episode, and I'm glad I did. I think I would have otherwise missed the significance of the Dr. Burke/Dr. Shepherd exchanges. I can't wait to see the re-broadcast of this episode this summer.

If you're not watching Grey's Anatomy, shame on you. Fortunately, I think there's only 10 people in this country who aren't (It's the End of the World was fourth in the Nielsen ratings). This is the best written show on TV since -- wait for it, wait for it -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Oh that's right. I went there.