‘Tis a Reason to Be Jolly

[ This review covers Season Six, Episode Ten of Grey’s Anatomy, entitled Holidaze, which originally aired on Thursday, November 19, 2009 ]

For a season that started off pretty dull and unexciting for me, this episode was a great note to end the first half of the season on. I usually can’t stand holiday-y movies or shows before the holidays actually arrive, so I had my reservations about this episode that promised three holidays in one. Aside from another hazy timeline of events (all these issues really lasted a month and a half or took as long to resolve?), I walked away very pleased with what I had just watched—mostly because I tend to enjoy the character development episodes more than the strictly medical ones. And I think it’s safe to classify Holidaze in the former category.

NO MORE CLUB SODA FOR THE CHIEF
Talk about stooping low! The Chief has sunken so low on the self-respect meter, he’s resorted to “bribing” Mer into keeping quiet about his (non-)diagnosis first by putting her on a pedestal, then by offering private mentor time? Thatcher was right to question Meredith about Richard’s state of sobriety. It’s too bad she’s too blinded by the special treatment she’s receiving from him to realize her mentor is not suffering from just “situational” alcoholism. It will be very interesting to see how Webber’s regression plays out the rest of the season.

SPEAKING OF DADDY ISSUES
Okay. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Mark’s daughter is really only 18—half his age. But knowing she this girl is to be the subject of the future Private Practice crossover episode, I discerned before the episode even aired that she was there because she’s pregnant. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. Now Mark’s about to be a grandfather! That’ll put a few more nails in his coffin!

NO BONUS FOR YOU
I love episodes where my favorite attendings get to work together and this was no exception. And Derek, Mark, and Arizona just made me love them each three times more when they offered to write a check to pay for the bloody-nosed kid’s surgery. Merry Christmas, little dude!

SHAME ON WHO?
Poor, poor Bailey. Some family members just don’t get it. I thought her father’s speech about being proud of his daughter all her life and then being ashamed of her during her moment of surgical prowess was a little harsh. In the end he had a point, but ultimately, so did she.

A WAR WORTH FIGHTING
Gah! This is all I’ve been wanting to talk about this whole review, but I know not everyone’s a Cristina/Owen fan, so I held off until now. Of course, this pairing is what I look forward to seeing more of every Thursday, so the last half-hour of tonight’s episode made me ecstatic!
Let’s take it from the top:
So, it looks like Owen’s feeling the backlash of his gift in more ways than one. First Teddy stirs the pot by telling him she’s had feelings for him all this time and that pot’s suddenly boiled over now that Cristina’s apparently more “in” to her new Cardio goddess than she’s “in” to her boyfriend. I love the way the writers are setting the Teddy-Owen-Cristina “love triangle” up. It’s everyone battling his or her own emotions and questioning motives all around. And it seems like they’re really growing Cristina up by introducing Teddy into her life. She’s never had a mentor with such a sensitive influence and hopefully something positive can come out of having Owen’s former object of his affection as an idol. Anyway, as a huge Cristina/Owen fan, the scene of heated passion and revelations of past affections between Teddy and Owen made my heart stop. I really, truly, honestly was horrified for a second as I was suspended in the belief that the scene would surely culminate with a kiss. Thankfully, my heart was able to resume beating when nothing of the sort happened and Owen rightfully ended the tense moment with the declaration that he’s “in love with Cristina”. It was declaration which, of course, set up the scene that left me grinning from ear to ear the rest of the episode. You have to love Kevin McKidd for giving his all in kissing scenes, but the attacking Cristina with his mouth is getting to be very vampire-ish. Still, the scene behind the corner wall outside the hospital had the adverse effect of the Teddy/Owen scene. It was hot. My heart was racing and hasn’t stopped. And I love it when Grey’s episodes can do that for me. And something tells me I’m a little too overly-concerned with the relationship of these two fictional characters…

My one negative comment about this episode was the lack of Alex. He’s recently been growing on me, so I was kind of hoping for more of him this week. No such luck.

Scene of the night: Thanksgiving dinner with the Three Musketeers (Alex, Mer, and Cristina).
Line of the night: Sloan to her father, Mark – “What are you looking at, you old perv?”
Thought of the night: I’m actually starting to feel sorry for Teddy. The “love of her life” is in love with someone else. It’s hard to hate her intrusion for pity of her broken heart. I say she needs a hot shoulder to cry on. I volunteer Jackson’s.

- Megan

My Rating

So, what did you think of this episode? There was a lot of character development going on and a lot to take in at once.

 Loading ...

ALL NEW EPISODES OF GREY’S ANATOMY RETURN JANUARY 14, KICKING OFF THE NEW YEAR WITH ANOTHER PRIVATE PRACTICE CROSSOVER!

<< “New History” | “Blink” >>

Popularity: 4% [?]