A wonderful episode. Easily the best episode in the last few seasons. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, written by Mark Driscoll, directed by Debbie Allen was awkward, uncomfortable and prickly, yet entirely unmissable. The drama pulsated to the beat of the very faint yet haunting Grey’s sound track. There was little music. In the best tradition of Meredith’s darkest days, we had the blood pressure acoustic throbbing through our veins. If Derek actually dying provided an episode devoid of surgeons, the ones we love and the ones supposed to heal him, this fall out is all about those same surgeons, starving and stunned. It brought together the very best of Grey’s, dark and twisted…and darkly funny. The tension was painfully palpable, the acting real and powerful, the directing put us in the room with them and the writing was completely on point and intense. It’s not often that an episode is build around dialogue and not surgeries. Yet it more than worked. And though Meredith was the focal point the many other sub stories were effortlessly weaved throughout the episode with the same hollow pounding sound.
Ellen Pompeo has never been better as her panic and inner turmoil build. We are grateful that she didn’t vomit but the effect was all too real. Imagine yourself in the same situation and you would experience the same rising panic of emotion. It was true. If we ever needed confirmation that Grey’s stands on the power of Meredith then this one episode sealed it. They can surround her with Maggies and Amelias but Meredith is the key. Her silence said more than her actual words. She asked everyone what they wanted to drink yet provided a monosyllabic trance. Torturing a margarita she dismissed Alex’s perceptive glances and questions. Her world slowly spun out of control as the rest of the room happily welcomed her bête noire. And then the moment came “Perfect Penny killed my husband” and her strangled anger exploded at Amelia. And deservedly so. At the end of this momentous 250th episode Meredith gives Penny a reprieve and accepts that every surgeon has that one patient they will never ever forget for all the wrong reasons. This was a grown up Meredith whose long experience of unacceptable uncomfortable situations has taught her that we just have to get on with it. Sitting with Alex and the tequila I had a flashback to early seasons, reminiscing yet appreciating the journey that both characters have been on. There was a maturity that is difficult to write but perfectly portrayed. You know the episode is a winner when the power of that one scene is so strong through those two characters that the absence of Cristina and Derek goes unnoticed.
I’m not sure why Penny doesn’t leave. She has many opportunities to go but she doesn’t. I would’ve, she doesn’t. And so the torture continued. Kudos to Samantha Sloyan who’s brilliant Penny was thrown to the lions with a calm, controlled exterior. As Callie’s new girlfriend she was set up to be a potential “the one” for the lovely Dr Torres. Yet I did not feel the love between them, the chemistry is not there. Perhaps that’s premature? But then that story seems rather irrelevant. On the surface Perfect Penny was the fear for Arizona. Yet all evidence points to Penny as a device for drama and acrimony back in the OR. In reality she is the monster under the bed for Meredith. Only now she’s a person. She will be the conduit of pain and anger between Amelia and Meredith, and Callie and Meredith. But will she be the love of Callie’s life? No. Without wanting to give false hope to the Calzona fans out there, I say this cautiously….Penny is not for keeping.
Callie suffered the slammed door reminiscent of her treatment of Arizona all those seasons ago. Can she really come out fighting for Penny?
Amelia immediately fell into self obsession, generally the root cause of her instability. There is comfort in that predictability. The bluntness of writing Amelia is also comforting. Her flaws are constantly exposed. It makes her likeable even when she’s not actually likeable.
April and Jackson did a mini merry dance around each other but the best dance was Maggie’s. Maggie provided the fun and her lady parts angst surely illustrates that Kelly McCreary needs her own comedy show.
In case you missed it, “Jo Whining” did not fail. Bored as I am of Jo I had a drop of sympathy for her with Steph, who has conveniently forgotten that she actually lied to Jo in the first place.
Honestly I’ve no time for those two.
If you’re selling Grey’s Anatomy to a newbie, this is not the episode to sell it with because Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is a drink for the Grey’s connoisseur. Backed by a dark and twisty footnote it had a mature palate full of character. It was funny and dry with spicy notes and a teasing, anticipatory finish. It was the harbinger of doom for the season and I flipping loved it.
%2B(1).jpeg)
