Grey's Anatomy
The perennial ABC drama has shown its age over the 9 seasons it has been holding up post on Thursday nights. Many shows have come and gone around it (including shows its creator Shondra Rhimes has been behind). What makes Grey's Anatomy work is the original core characters. We have watched Meredith and Christina mature from the dark and twisted sisters to complicated, driven doctors capable of being mentors even Miranda 'The Nazi' Bailey would be proud to call her own. When Meredith tells her intern that she likes her, but she loves Alex we see how far this cocky carefree motley crew has come and how they function as a loyal family. The show has seen its share of missteps over the last decade, primarily letting Izzie’s character overstay her welcome and introducing the merger of another hospital. Rhimes smartly took care of both problems in season 6. A bloodbath shooting rampage that served as a much needed character housecleaning catapulted the show into a positive trajectory and the last three seasons have been among the show’s best. I don't pretend to understand Shonda Rhimes sick fixation with killing off major characters in her season finales, but Richard's electrocution in the closing scene certainly sets us up for the loss of a great patriarch.
What makes Grey's so utterly watchable, even in the face of some of their most outrageous storylines is that it always manages to touch into the central theme of the struggle to find humanity among these surgeons whose professions beg for them to check it at the door. We leave this season with a great amount of uncertainty, no easy feat for a show that has lasted a decade. All our central characters are facing unchartered territory. Meredith and Derek’s second child, April’s admission to Jackson in the wake of believing he could have died, Christina letting Owen go knowing if they stay together they will never live to be who they really are and Callie discovering not just Arizona’s infidelity, but her lack of forgiveness for the decision to amputate her leg. Richard’s potential death was obvious the moment Jackson emerged from the bus fire. What makes the move interesting is the loss of Richard represents the guardian of this dysfunctional family. While Richard may be the voice in our characters’ heads and Meredith serves as our narrator it is Miranda Bailey who is the show’s soul. Over nine seasons she has remained the moral compass for the many doctors who walk the hallways of Seattle Grace/Grey Sloan. Her story arc in the final four episodes this season reminded us of the strength and fierce acting chops of Chandra Wilson. Bailey’s meticulous nature being called into question when several patients die and her descent into crippling fear around operating was played with heartbreaking truth. Overhearing Richard dress down her professionalism without knowing it was an act only adds to the repercussions of his possible death.
Yes Grey’s Anatomy is over the top. Yes, the show’s storylines can extend well past the realm of reality. However after nine seasons it still manages to tap into a visceral truth in displaying the balancing act that comes with living in a world where life and death is your daily reality. So while Grey’s Anatomy may no longer be ‘must watch TV’ or DVR priority, I look forward to what will likely be its last season next fall. As a show that recovered from a downward spiral it remains an entertaining steadfast drama with solid acting and scripts that in my opinion surpass that of the flashy schizophrenic over marketed sister show Scandal.
Nikita
Everyone has questionable DVR
choices. Some people chose bad reality TV, I chose Nikita. Now mind you, I love
Nikita and have been a loyal watcher since it premiered. That said I can
appreciate why people find the show absurd. However, rather than justify my
love I am just going to take a look back at an uneven season that had a great
season premiere, a confused and muddled middle and a fantastic season finale
setting the table for a final season.
As a fan of the 90s ‘La Femme
Nikita’ I have most appreciated the approach this incarnation has taken. We
start the series with Nikita on the outside seeking revenge on Division. Slowly
over the course of the season she regains the internal connections to what
would become the team seeking to unseat Percy and bring an end to underground operation
that made her an assassin. We have spent three seasons navigating various
layers of revenge and redemption. It’s a high octane, kick ass hour of pure
escapism television. When I sit down to watch Nikita I am merely looking to be
entertained. Nikita delivers on that promise and has managed to get me to care
about the survival of the core six characters. High points of the show included
their willingness to kill Percy at the end of season 2. In a nod to the
original series I was particularly pleased with the casting the original
Madeline as oversight to Division. Lower points have been the rabid, sadistic obsession
that Amanda’s character morphed into this season. With six episodes left to
wrap up this series, I was glad to see them blow up Division (literally and
metaphorically), establish a new enemy that will likely have Amanda caught in
the crosshairs and bring us back to where the series began, Nikita on her own.
The difference being this time instead of seeking revenge, she is seeking
redemption. Redemption, to know she is more than what Division created both
during her time inside and since being their pawn. She has something to live
and fight for because ultimately Michael, Berkoff, Alex and Ryan are going
to be fighting to get her back. It’s been a fun three season ride and I will
look for the last 6 episodes to push the accelerator to an explosive
conclusion.
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