Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Second Season

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Whoever advised not to mix business with pleasure clearly never met the surgical interns of Grey’s Anatomy. If they did, they would realize that it’s absolutely fine to mix the two. In fact, it’s a deliciously winning combination and the hit show’s titillating second season is proof.

Once a mid-season replacement on ABC without a lick of expectations, Grey’s Anatomy has become a ratings phenomenon, out-ranking Desperate Housewives and even spawning its own special lingo (if you’ve seen the show, you’ll know the significance of “McDreamy,” “va-jay-jay” and “seriously”). This season the doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital continue walking the fine line between balancing their high pressure medical careers with their ever-changing romantic entanglements. When they’re not saving lives in the O.R., they’re hooking up in the on-call room. And it seems that everyone gets their share of on-call steaminess this season. But that doesn’t mean there are not enough heartbreak and drama to go around.

The show’s narrator and self-absorbed intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has a lot to deal with this season. She’s left reeling from the news that her brain surgeon boyfriend Derek “Dr. McDreamy” Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) is married and his estranged obstetrics surgeon wife Addison (cheers to Kate Walsh for turning what might have otherwise been a dislikable role into a character we genuinely care about) has come to work at the hospital full-time. Derek’s choice on who he ultimately decides to stay with propels the rest of the season. But Meredith’s angst-filled love life is just one of the many problems she must face. She has to deal with parental issues (she finds out her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother once had an affair with Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.), the chief of Seattle Grace), trysts with inappropriate men (sleeping with a lovesick friend=very bad idea), and almost getting blown to smithereens by a bomb lodged in a body cavity.

Ambitious intern Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) and renowned heart surgeon Preston Burke (the distinguished Isaiah Washington) continue their casual relationship from last season. But as things get more serious they struggle to get along. Ironically, for all of their differences—she’s messy and pushy, he’s neat and polite—their relationship evolves into one of the core aspects of the show. Oh and Washington deserve all the praise for making these characters so lovable, even when they bicker.

The flirtation between kind-hearted model-turned-doctor Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and insensitive hottie Alex Karev (played with alternating layers of cockiness and insecurity by Justin Chambers) leads to their inevitable hookup this season. Even though their passion burns out quickly (Alex sleeps with a nurse, Izzie falls for a patient), here’s hoping for a reunion