[показать]Месяцев 8 назад я подсела на сериал "Grey's Anatomy", что случилось совсем неожиданно и очень сильно меня удивило. Я слышала об этом шоу много раз, но никогда не обращала на него внимания, т.к. я терпеть не могу все, что связано с медициной. Понятия не имею с какого перепугу я решила посмотреть первый эпизод сериала в интернете, однако, после его завершения, я не могла оторваться следующие несколько дней, в течении которых я умудрилась пересмотреть все 4 сезона.

Вплоть до конца 3-го сезона, я была в полном восторге от увиденного. Сюжет, диалоги и игра актеров были на высоте и непременно вызывали у меня улыбку, слезы и целый ряд различных эмоций. Начало истории отношений Meredith и Derek я до сих пор считаю the cutest, hottest, and most interesting из всего, что мне довелось увидеть в сериалах за мою короткую жизнь. Последний же эпизод второго сезона вызвал у меня настоящую бурю эмоций, что мне не приходилось до этого испытывать от просмотра ни одного другого сериала, за исключинем, пожалуй, "Buffy", огромным фанатом которого я была в далеком детстве :).

Четвертый сезон был намного хуже первых трех, однако, принимая во внимание то, что я умудрилась посмотреть все предыдущие эпизоды за несколько дней, я была довольно эмоционально накручена, чтобы не обращать внимания на многие его недостатки. Разумеется, завершив просмотр последнего эпизода, я с нетерпением ожидала начала 5-го сезона, каждый новый эпизод которого я теперь могла смотреть с остальной частью Америки. Сказать, что я была разочарована этим сезоном, ничего не сказать.

К моему огромному сожалению, сериал, который я полюбила overnight, превратился в полную пародию самому себе. Каждый новый эпизод я безуспешно пыталась найти то something special, что изначально привлекло меня к "Grey's Anatomy", пока, окончательно потеряв надежду, не перестала его смотреть. Я уже давно собиралась пожаловаться на столь неприятное развитие событий, что очень помогло мне в написании моего последнего evaluation essay...

These days, “Grey’s Anatomy” is still one of the most popular shows on TV, and it has been enjoying success for almost five seasons. Shonda Rhimes's creation, the series debuted on ABC in 2005 featuring diverse cast, many new faces, and quite interesting take on lives of people in medical profession. Due to such an unusual mix, “Grey’s Anatomy” had an immediate success with millions of viewers reaching number four ranking by its third season. Back then, it was obvious that the show had all the ingredients that a good TV drama was supposed to: witty dialogues, love triangles, betrayals, impossible relationships, deaths, unexpected pregnancies, and, of course, talented writers and many beautiful actors. All of it combined made for a very exciting plot with many unexpected twists and interesting ideas up until the end of the third season when acclaimed primetime drama, for some unexplained reason, suddenly turned into a day time soap opera.

To understand the full degree of all the unpleasant changes the show has been going through during the last few years, one has to be familiar with its first two seasons that are considered by many to be a true masterpiece of primetime television. In these seasons, Shonda Rhimes was able to put together a wonderful and somewhat unusual story by skillfully combining professional and personal aspects of doctors’ lives in order to create an intense drama. Fans know that, from the very moment the viewers are introduced to the show’s main characters, Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd, “Grey’s Anatomy” becomes a synonym to the word “complicated”, and it is rightfully so. What can be more intriguing than seeing two people who wake up next to each other not knowing who the other person is? What can be more complicated than finding out that the person you’ve spent the last night with is your teacher? Of course, neither would be so amusing had it happened in real life, but let’s admit that, as far as TV series is concerned, this combination is a real crowd pleaser.

The show that wants to stay around for at least a couple of seasons should certainly have many topic and interesting characters to dwell on, and “Grey’s Anatomy” is right on top of it. This is why, having been introduced to Meredith and Derek and witnessed their rather uncomfortable parting, we follow Grey into Seattle Grace Hospital where she meets the rest of the characters: ambitious Christina, beautiful Izzie, arrogant Karev, and kind George. This is when we find out that the five of them are surgical interns, and this is their very first day in the hospital. From now on, through Meredith’s narration, the viewers learn about their tough and exciting lives that are full of challenges, love adventures, and sleepless nights. With every new episode, we also get more insight into each of the characters’ personality until we can clearly see how different these five people are. This is why it is so incredibly interesting to watch them adjusting to each other and building friendships that seemed to be so impossible in the very beginning of the show.

Without a doubt, throughout first seasons, Shonda Rhimes does a great job maintaining the audience’s interest. From the very beginning, the viewers realize that most of the characters are surrounded by some mystery that has a lot to do with their present lives and personalities. This is why, while watching the show, we keep wondering and asking ourselves a great number of questions: “Why Meredith is “all dark and twisty inside”? What made Dr. Shepherd move to Seattle? What’s wrong with this “jerk” Karev?” Shonda, however, takes her time in shedding the light on all the secrets and offers only one piece of puzzle at a time, which keeps the viewers intrigued and makes them wait with great impatience for a new episode.

The writers also do not forget about spicing it up once in a while, which is done especially well in the last episode of the first season when, to everyone’s great surprise, Meredith meets Derek’s wife, Addison Montgomery. To make things even more interesting, a character of Dr. Mark Sloan, Derek’s best friend who is to blame for marital troubles in the Shepherds family, is introduced, and, in “Grey’s” best tradition, everything gets extremely complicated just in a blink of an eye. While Meredith and Derek’s love story is, arguably, the foundation of the show, the relationships between other characters are, of course, neither less interesting, nor less complicated. Tragic love story between Izzie and one of her patients, Denny Duket, for example, is rightfully still considered to be the true highlight of the series.

Most of the viewers would agree that, throughout first seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy”, the writing, the stories, and the acting are so impeccable that they fully compensate for its somewhat “soapy” plot. Unfortunately, this changes with the beginning of the fourth season when the show suddenly looses that something special that previously kept it apart from an average soap opera. It seems that the creators of “Grey’s Anatomy”, trying to keep the audience interested, were too quick to use all of their ideas because, with the beginning of the fourth season, most of the storylines become rather boring and predictable, if not ridiculous. In addition, two of the show’s most interesting characters, Addison and Burke, are replaced with a bunch of new people, both doctors and interns, who do not add anything significant to the show and are not likely to find a place in the hearts of the show’s audience.

Despite this and many other unfortunate changes, a number of viewers still consider “Grey’s Anatomy” to be worthy of watching and, for the second season in a row, are waiting for the series to turn around and find the greatness it once had. Unfortunately, the last season turned out to be the worst one of the entire show. Those who are familiar with daytime soap operas will agree that one can usually tell that the writers are running out of ideas when a ghost enters the scene as a new character. In its fifth season, “Grey’s Anatomy” seems to be proving this axiom by bringing back Izzie’s dead fiancé, Denny Duket. This comeback is accompanied by a number of other storylines with numerous guest stars that do nothing but take viewer’s attention from the show’s main characters and their relationships, especially such loved ones as George.

It is hard to believe that, having been forced to put up with so many disappointing changes for so long, some of the viewers consider the fifth season, in general, and Denny’s comeback, in particular, to be a success: “Seriously, though, the Denny thing wasn’t so bad…. it does make sense, it does have a purpose, so I’m at peace with that storyline”, says one of the bloggers. To everyone who expects “Grey’s Anatomy” to be a serious drama, however, Denny’s comeback does not make any sense no matter how you spin it and is way too unrealistic even taking Izzie’s medical condition into consideration. The characters of any serious show are simply not supposed to make love to a ghost or even a hallucination, unless they are on “Supernatural” or “Six Feet Under”. This is why even Shonda’s early announcement about Izzie’s sickness did not help to quiet disappointment of many viewers, who had to put up with such a ridiculous twist for a good number of episodes.

Denny and Izzie’s storyline debacle raises an important question: “Does the show have anything left to tell?” For someone who has watched its every single episode, negative answer is the first one to come to mind. We all have been waiting for Meredith and Derek to get together, which has finally happened this season. The couple will, hopefully, get married in the last episode to live happily ever after, which will leave hardly anything exciting to tell about them. As far as the rest of the characters are concerned, those who could have been in a relationship with each other had already tried it. We all know that some of them worked for a while, but most of them did not. Taking into consideration that “Grey’s Anatomy” is all about the relationships, the concern about its future seems to be more than valid. As far as I’m concerned, “Grey’s Anatomy” has ended two seasons ago.