Whilst I don’t think anything will ever compare to the Season 6 finale, which for me is the second best episode of television ever (beaten only by LOST’s final episode), this episode was truly brilliant. “Unaccompanied Minor” brought Grey’s Anatomy back to its roots. You don’t need a crazy gunman shooting everybody in the hospital or the deaths of major cast members to have a good final episode, just fantastic characters, a great storyline and a real emotional drive (the latter 2 things of which were sorely lacking in the recent Desperate Housewives finale sorely).
The central focus of the plane crash carried the level of extremeness we have perhaps come to expect from Grey’s Anatomy finales. Grey’s is very clever in that it uses something from the season premiere for the season finale story. Season 5, for example, opened with a patient with a memory that reset every 30 seconds, much like what happened to Izzie in the Season 5 finale. At the beginning of this season, we saw Miranda with Tucker on the plane from Baltimore. However, rather than focus on the patients and the crash itself, we were left watching how this incident resonated with our characters. Chyler Leigh, who plays Lexi, does an amazing job of saying so much with her eyes, without needing to actually say anything at all. With Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) reported to leave after Season 8, will the show continue with Lexi taking up the mantle of lead ‘Grey’? The plane crash incident brought some couples closer together, like Eli and Bailey, a relationship which I hope is further expanded upon in Season 8 as I have missed Miranda’s presence lately. It also drove some couples apart, like Teddy and Andrew. However, this led the way into the much more interesting relationship between Teddy and Henry. My only hope is that Grey’s does not repeat itself and we do not have another Denny situation if Henry dies. Although perhaps a little cheesy, we were also treated to an emotional storyline with some of the families of the plane crash victims. Elayn J. Taylor put in a wonderful performance as the grieving passenger who stayed to pray for the unaccompanied minor.
The finale did a great job on focussing on our original main characters. Seeing Meredith with the McBaby Zola was really awesome. She was very maternal whilst remaining very true to Meredith’s character. I also had a flutter of fear in my heart as Meredith was searching the empty house, thinking that there may be an intruder in the house who would attack Mer, leaving the season on a real cliffhanger. However, it was done to reflect the loneliness and emptiness of Meredith’s life, as she has alienated both Derek and Alex. It will be interesting to see how those relationships get repaired in Season 8. If the social worker finds out Meredith and Derek are not together, perhaps Zola will be taken away in what would inevitably be a heartbreaking episode. The awesome relationship between Mer and Cristina was also brought to light again with Cristina going to Meredith’s at the end. Is it the end for Cristina and Owen? I’m glad Cristina isn’t keeping the baby as we don’t need 3 babies on the show to keep up with. However, there is still the chance she may keep it. And finally, we see that Alex has reverted back to his angry self, although I hope he doesn’t stay like this as his character has really grown over the years.
The race for Chief Resident was finally resolved, predictably (or perhaps surprisingly to some) going to April Kempner. April has really grown on me this past season; after hoping she would get shot in the Season 6 finale, I’m surprised by how fond of her I’ve become. She’s developed into a much better, more likeable character and I look forward to seeing how she takes on the role of Chief Resident. Avery is the only person yet to grow on me and feel like they’re a deserving cast member, but I liked the move he pulled so the chief might get an award. I much prefer Lexi being with Mark, but it will be interesting to see where that triangle leads in Season 8.
In summary, “Unaccompanied Minor” reminded us of what’s so great about Grey’s Anatomy: the wonderful characters and their relationships and emotionally driven storylines. With so much open and ready for Season 8, I can’t wait for it to return.
Share your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!
~ Joshua
SpoilerTV Writer & Forum Moderator
Could Alex's anger actually be directly at himself this time? I mean, Owen kind of hit him with some perspective, and Alex may be feeling the teensiest bit self-aware somewhere in that puddle of self-pity.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it very much is directed at himself. But then, I think he's always taken it out on himself, and the only way he knows how to act is to last out at others. Like he did with Lucy in perhaps the only dissatisfying scene of the finale.
ReplyDeleteHa, I don't think that was a dissatisfying scene. Lucy deserved it after the stunt she pulled stealing the Africa job from him.
ReplyDeleteOh she definitely deserved it. But it seemed to just be thrown into this episode. I know they had the time constraints of a single episode, but one conversation leading up to it in the episode might have been nice.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I didn't like this episode. And I'm a big GA-fan. I defended the series and Shonda many times on messageboards, facebook, twitter. But I'm so disappointed about this finale! I think some mistakes were made with some characters, making them less "believable" for me.
ReplyDelete- First of all, Christina is our highly intelligent control freak, who doesn't want a baby but got knocked up for the second time. Ever heard of birth control? I'm pretty sure she knows about those little pills that prevent her from being pregnant. And yes, of course, she works all the time, so she would probably forget a pill every now and then, but there are so many more options. You can even get a little chip in your arm preventing you from getting pregnant. In short: the very smart girl gets knocked up AGAIN?
- Second; Derek not taking up his phone. The man is now a father (and his dream came true the moment he became one), so if his wife calls him that many times, it is possible there's something wrong with his child. Meredith was never the kind of girl that would call him a hundred times just to ask him to "please come back" 'cause she loves him. Derek is a very smart man, he knows better.
- Thirth: Alex is angry again. And that's ok. But let him be an angry Alex that learned so much the past few years. Don't let him be angry like he was in the first season. He's much wiser now. Use it! (Alex telling Owen he should have been chief resident after spilling Merediths secret to him doesn't make sense)
- Fourth: The way they get rid of Lucy feels very forced to me. I know she will play a Charlie's Angel next season so she had to leave soon, but it feels very unreal this way.
"Forced" describes pretty much what I thought about the finale. It was a final episode so they had to add some drama and give this season a very open ending. This season was a lot about growth. People grew stronger, relations grew tighter. But in the last episode al the growth vanished just to create the season-finale-drama. It's hard for me to find the right words because my english isn't really good, but I hope you guys understand what I mean.
Finally, I would like to say there were also things I liked about the finale. Kevin McKidd is such an amazing actor. The Owen-Christina-scenes felt so true and so real. You could almost feel the love Owen already seemed to feel for his unborn baby.
I also loved the scenes of Meredith with little Zola. You could see the change in Mer the moment she took Zola home. She became a mom, teaming up with her baby, ready to fight for her and making Zola her first priority from that moment on.
Please remember; this is just my opinion, and I'm pretty sure most people will not agree with me. I'm a big Greys fan, and I will surely watch the next season. But this episode felt "weird" to me. ;)
I thought that the episode itself was great, but so disappointing for me personally. I really thought that derek over-reacted to wat meredith did. There relationship has been about managing the different levels of their relationship: professional and personal. Professionally, Derek had every right to be really pissed at her, but personally, it seemed like he over-reacted. Derek already knew that Mer doesn't see things in black and white (Do we all not remember the episode where she was going to let the serial killer kill himself so she could give his organs away?). He should not have left her alone, especially when she so obviously had something important to tell him.
ReplyDeleteThe second problem I had with the episode was Christina's pregnancy. First, it was completely predictable, considering the amount of lead up that was given during the season, and as pointed out below, Christina is intelligent, and it therefore seems unlikely that she would be so careless, especially considering what the pregnancy cost her the last time around.
I also loved the scene with Mer and Zola! It was so great the way she stepped up and took her home. She so obviously is going to try her hardest, even if it means doing it without Derek for awhile.
All in all, I did feel that the episode left things quite open for season 8, which is both good and bad: good because at least for once we aren't worried about who is going to live or die, but bad because there are so many OTHER things to puzzle over until September. Or is that a good thing?
the episode was unoriginal and uninspiring. As a s
ReplyDelete