Grey's Anatomy - McSteamy and McDreamy Are McGorgeous

The Preamble
Hello. My name is Kristina and I am a Grey's Anatomy addict. I was one of the very few viewers who tuned in after Desperate Housewives on Sunday evening, to catch the new drama. Yes, that's right. I would lose one hour of sleep every Sunday just so I could giggle and squirm about the loves and lives of my favorite interns.

The Television Series Premise
I'll just pretend that you've been "Lost" and have been unable to follow pop-culture for the past three years. Pull up a chair. Lend me your ear.

Once upon a time in a place known as Seattle, Washington, there existed a hospital called Seattle Grace. Seattle Grace was home to the Chief of Surgery - Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.); the Resident in Charge of Interns - Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson); an Attending Neurosurgeon - Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey); an Attending Thorasic Surgeon - Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington); an Attending OB/GYN Surgeon - Dr. Addison Shepherd (Kate Walsh); and five neurotic, confused, and sex-crazed interns - Dr. Meredith Grey ((Ellen Pompeo), Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), and Dr. George O'Malley (T.R. Knight).

At Seattle Grace, the eclectic group of surgeons and nurses treat diseases that are common, bizarre, unusual, and typical - all while trying to juggle their career aspirations and their personal lives. Change is everybody's middle name and time doesn't stand still for this group of medical professionals.

Overall - Why You'll Want To Watch Grey's Anatomy
There are two key factors here.

First, the writing is smart, amazing, and humorous. From the opening monologue (spoken by Ellen Pompeo's character) to the me-me-me discussions held by the interns at the bar across the street, it's just some of the best writing I'm seen in primetime in awhile.

Second, the cast has unbelievable chemistry. It isn't just the love interest pairings. It's the mixture. You could put any set of the characters and actors together and you'd walk away with the feeling that these actors were their characters. The last time I saw chemistry like this was - well - with something like Thirtysomething and Once and Again. Hmmm... must be the Peter Horton connection ;).

The Episodes
Since the boxed set contains 27 episodes, it would be time consuming to actually write a synopsis about each show. Instead, I want to point you to a couple of episodes which I think display the heart and soul of what creator Shonda Rimes intended. NOTE: Synopsis and Episode Information from the Official Grey's Anatomy site.

It's the End of the World - Air Date: 02/05/2006
The episode begins with a dream of Izzie, Cristina, and George in the shower together. It's George's dream. Meredith refuses to go to work. She has this feeling that she will die. George and Izzie can't get her out of bed, they have to call in Cristina. Once at the hospital, the premonition seems to have some validity. A trauma victim is brought in by a paramedic with her hand still stuck inside him to stop the bleeding. As Alex soon discovers though, her hand isn't the only thing inside of him -- after trying to make a homemade bazooka, he's also got a piece of unexploded munitions inside of him. This places the hospital on Code Black, which essentially shuts down the surgical wing -- save for the one operation that has already begun: Derek and Cristina operating on the brain of a man who happens to be Bailey's husband.

As We Know It - Air Date: 02/12/2006
Without her husband by her side, Bailey refuses to have the baby. Addison strongly disagrees -- that baby has to come out, and Addison would much rather have Bailey's cooperation on this. George works with Addison to convince Bailey to have the baby, and it's George who finally gets through to her. Richard isn't doing so well, though, with the stress, and he suffers an anxiety attack that lures Adele to the hospital.

Kristina's Comments - These episodes were part 1 and part 2 of a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat plot line. Up until this point, I felt like what we had was Melrose Place set in a hospital instead of an ad agency. While there's nothing wrong with that (bring back Heather Locklear), this episode was the one that added new depth and breadth to each character. Meredith went from whiney and moody to scared and introspective. The scenes with Dr. Bailey and Dr. O'Malley were touching. Miranda, usually the strong and pushy resident, was so emotionally lost and one of her more annoying interns - George - brought her back to a place of reality (one which will never be spoke of again - I'm sure!). When Patrick Dempsey slammed his fist on Dr. Bailey's husband, you were just as desperate as he was - hoping...praying for a miracle. Which happened.

Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response - Air Date: 05/15/2006
Burke has been shot and Izzie has just cut Denny's LVAD wire. George, Meredith, and Cristina all wind up helping Izzie keep Denny alive long enough to get moved up the transplant list and get the heart in question. Addison figures out that Richard's niece's (Camille) cancer has unfortunately returned. Bailey and Derek are attending to Burke -- and it's Derek who must operate on Burke to help save his surgical skills. Richard and his wife discuss his past affair with Ellis Grey. Meanwhile Alex desperately stalls at Mercy West in order to maintain possession of the donor heart while the rest of the interns struggle with each other in their fear of losing their places in the program&as well as Denny, who makes a surprise marriage proposal to Izzie amidst the madness.

Losing My Religion - Air Date: 05/15/2006
Derek and Richard finish Burke's surgery as Denny successfully undergoes his heart transplant. Until one of them admits to cutting Denny's LVAD, the interns must attend to Richard's niece, which includes giving her a prom. As they each struggle with their own personal problems, they blow up balloons, hire catering, and decorate. As everyone works around him, Burke unfortunately finds a tremor in the movements of his right hand. Meredith and Derek sadly make the decision to put Doc to sleep. Richard continues to interrogate the interns, one by one, not receiving any direct answer about Denny's LVAD wire, only learning his interns' personal problems themselves. Izzie accepts Denny's marriage proposal. Meredith, Derek, Addison, and Finn finally put Doc to sleep as the hospital staff begins to arrive, dressed in full prom regalia.

Kristina's Comments - Much like the other two episodes mentioned earlier, the season cliffhanger was yet another fork in the road for all of the characters. Throughout the season, Kathrine Heigl's - Izzie Stevens - started to freefall. She lost track of where the line was between patient and person. The amazing thing about her transformation is that although you saw it, you didn't really realize the depth of her loss of reason until the 5/15 episode. By that time, who wasn't feeling the desperation that Izzie was feeling? And who wouldn't have done what she had done? :)

For a list of all episodes (and synopsis for each) from Season 2, go to http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy

About the Boxed Set
Alrighty, I'm assuming you know that this Boxed Set covers all of Season 2, consisting of 27 episodes which aired throughout 2005-2006. Four of those episodes have extended scenes. The Boxed Set (generically) has 6 Discs that stack weirdly, a booklet, an inner cover/disc holder that folds up, and an outer - more rigid box to hold all of the contents.

More boring stuff to know...no foreign subtitles (you can see their dialogue in English though)and all episodes are recorded in Dolby Digital (and sounds great!).

The extras are (for the most part) outstanding.

Included are commentary from director Jeff Melman and writer Krista Vernoff for Into You Like A Train; Creator Shonda Rimes and editor Susan Vaill for Thanks for the Memories; Cast member Sandra Oh and director Peter Horton for Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer; Creator Shonda Rimes, director Peter Horton, and editor Edward Ornelas for It's the End of the World and As We Know It. The commentaries I enjoyed most were the ones with Shonda Rimes. She's like a mother with a steel-trap memory of the smallest detail. As each scene was presented, she would remember very intricate information leading up to it or why a scene was shortened or lengthened.

An interview is held with Chandra Wilson to discuss the "softer" side of Dr. Bailey. Chandra is completely the opposite of her character and I enjoyed listening to her discuss the ins and outs of Dr. Bailey.

The Doctors Are In is an informal, behind-the-scenes Q&A with a couple of the cast members - Kate Walsh, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens, Jr., and Justin Chambers. It was a very interesting piece - to see the actors out of character. The most disappointing thing was that none of the "main" cast members were featured (i.e. Ellen, Patrick, Sandra).

One of the most intriguing extras was a discussion with the Special Effects team regarding the Pink Mist episode. It was interesting to see how a 30 second scene was put together - one that involved explosives and tons of stunts. That short scene felt so real in the episode and when you see what it took to make it happen - it's quite mind-boggling.

And two other extras to mention - there's a set tour (yawn) and some Jimmy Kimmel appearances (yawn) - okay to watch once - but nothing you'll want to see again.