The usually consistently very good Grey’s Anatomy suffered a major dip in quality in season five because of two poorly thought character arcs – one that went on far too long, and one that was truncated for no really good reason – and a conspicuous by his absence arc for another character.
One of the problems of having a cast of dozens is that no TV series can adequately service all their characters over the course of a season. That led to less screen time for fan favorite, George O’Malley [T.R. Knight] and his eventual decision to leave the show. Then there was the blossoming romance between Callie Torres [Sara Ramirez] and Erica Hahn [Brooke Smith] – and it wasn’t that it was a homosexual relationship, because along came a new pediatrics specialist named Arizona Robbins [Jessica Capshaw] and Callie found herself cautiously checking out the relationship waters again.
The worst goof, though, was bringing back Denny Duquette [Jeffrey Dean Morgan], to plague Izzy Stevens [Katherine Heigl] – who was the only one who could see him [and hear him, and touch him…]. The goof wasn’t that he was brought back, so much, as that he was hung around for episode after episode after episode, getting on the audience’s nerves. This, of course, was done for a specific reason and might have worked had Fox’s Bones not done something very similar – and a dozen times better [not to mention in less than half as many episodes] – with their Booth Seeley character.
Lost in the wake of these three problematic areas were positive trends in the Meredith Grey [Ellen Pompeo]/Derek Shepherd [Patrick Dempsey] relationship; the addition of a crack trauma specialist [Owen Hunt, played by Kevin McKidd] with post-traumatic stress disorder – and a keen interest in Christina Yang [Sandra Oh]; Mark Sloane’s [Eric Dane] discovery that he was a real relationship with Lexie Grey [Chyler Leigh]; Miranda Bailey’s [Chandra Wilson] discovery that she wanted to become a pediatrics specialist, and a lot more.
The wedding, thankfully, didn’t get overshadowed by the season’s miscues. In fact, it actually benefited from them – and led into a double whammy season cliffhanger.
Even with the season’s miscues, Grey’s Anatomy was still better than a lot of other series – if only because the show’s writers never once tried to play it safe. And that’s why its audience kept coming back.
Features: 100th Episode: Tales From The O.R.; Dissecting Grey’s Anatomy – Unaired Scenes; Heaven Sent: Jeffrey Dean Morgan Talks About The Popularity Of His Character, Denny Duquette; In Stitches – Outtakes, and Stairway To Heaven – Expanded Episode.
Someone listened to complaints about last season’s Buena Vista TV-on-DVD releases – episode titles are included on the first inside page in the fold-out packaging [but, yes, still with the fold-out packaging. Sorry.] The Grey’s Season Five set also loses points for its complete lack of commentaries – this is one season where most Grey’s fans were asking, what the hell were they thinking? It might’ve been nice to get some answers.
Grade: Grey’s Anatomy, Season Five – B-
Grade: Extras: C+
Final Grade: B-
I loved seaon 5 even through the good story lines and the not so good ones.
I was so excited that I got season 5 yesterday and plan on having a great season 5 marathon later.
I know a lot of people did not care seeing Denny again but I did and at the end it all made sense. JDM is a delight as Denny and he can hant me anytime he likes.
My grade for season 5 is an A+