Grey’s Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season

Review By: Dan Deevy
DanDeevy@TheCinemaSource.com

Season Grade: A-
DVD Features Grade: A-
Overall Grade: A-

The first thing that jumped out at me while reviewing this season of a show that I absolutely love and can’t get enough of is how short it was. Only 17 episodes of what is normally a 25 episode long season. If memory serves we have the writers strike of ‘04 to thank for it, but who ever is responsible one thing is certain there should have been more. On the bright side of things though what they did manage to get done was amazing and helped to make up for those 8 missing hours.

Happily the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy begins without my favorite guy in the world the hateful bigoted Isaiah Washington as Preston Burke. His characters exit from the show is more than adequately explained so there were no loose ends story wise and we didn’t have to see his ugly grim mug on the screen again so that all worked out nicely. Also, but unfortunately, gone is Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery who left the show to start her own series Private Practice towards the end of the third season of Grey’s. She does return for one great episode this season and reminds us of how wonderful she was in her role and how much she brought to the show.

With Addison’s departure and the issue of possibly saving his marriage or not finally settled, McDreamy is once again free to be friends with McSteamy which is awesome. Derek Shepard (Patrick Dempsey) and Mark Sloane (Eric Dane) are supposed to be childhood best friends who had a falling out over a woman. Now, with the woman gone, they’re back to being pals. The show is smart about how they bring the two back together, however. It doesn’t happen immediately or in a single episode but as time progresses from the first to last episode this season we watch as that strong friendship is once again built back up.

Old friendships are not the only ones being ignited this season with newly single Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and the new head of cardio Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) becoming more than just good friends in another slowly developing pairing as the show’s first lesbian couple. It makes zero sense as to why they axed her character in season five. She fit in really well with the group and her relationship with Callie was very interesting and not the cookie cutter gay prime time TV type we’re used to seeing. Whoever made that call made a huge mistake.

Probably the most shocking of our couples this year was Izzie and George who went through hell and back again to be together and then once they finally were together, they decided just to be friends. One wonders if real life best friends Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight had any input into that shift. It has to be ...