The abbreviated fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy came to a close several weeks ago, leaving a hole in our Thursday nights as well as in our collective grieving hearts. How can we possibly fill the void? Well, we’ll all probably fill it just fine with Lost and Eli Stone, but we’ll still miss our hot doctors anyway.
As in previous seasons, season 4 was all about couples, jumping in and out of relationships, trying their darnedest to have hot sex on the cramped, twin-sized bunk-beds in the on-call room. Here is a look back at all the couplings of the season.
Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey)
Fresh off of her “it’s over, it’s over, it is so over” maid of honor speech at Cristina’s wedding in the third season-ender, Meredith started off this year sort of not together, then sort of together, and then definitely not together with Derek. As much as I identify with Meredith’s character, this back and forth, will they or won’t they? schtick is really too much to take. I hope that when Grey’s Anatomy comes back after the WGA strike concludes, the writers will have fresh ideas on how to revive this moribund storyline.
Meanwhile, Derek started off the season not knowing the scrub nurse Rose at all, despite the fact that she has assisted him on dozens of surgeries. But he picked her up on his radar when she fixed his computer, and he started asking her inappropriately personal questions. This being Derek, the inappropriately personal questions could only lead to inappropriate kissing in the scrub room, and they will probably soon be going steady.
Cristina (Sandra Oh)
After ending the previous season being jilted at the altar, Cristina immediately sought to woo another surgical mentor. She was in desperate pursuit of Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) to get down and dirty with, in the cardiothoracic sense of the words, but she kept getting crotch-blocked by Izzie.
Callie (Sara Ramirez)
Poor Callie. Last season, she got her dream guy, George, and her dream job as chief resident. But George cheated on her, ending their marriage and catapulting her into a downward career spiral. She couldn’t manage her new duties as chief resident, pawning off all of her work onto Bailey. She ended up losing her position, but fortunately, she gained a gal pal or two: a roommate in Cristina and a drinking buddy in Hahn.
George (T.R. Knight) and Izzie (Katherine Heigl)
As we all know by now, George impetuously married Callie, and then, just as impetuously, jumped into bed with his BFF Izzie. Although their union was the fulfillment of every Gizzie fan’s dream, their relationship was doomed from the start, as Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes doesn’t ever want anyone to stay happy. Despite being soulmates, the terrible sex they had was too much to overcome so they called a moratorium on their relationship. At the close of this season, George even looked into moving out of Meredith’s house (and away from Izzie) to live with Lexie.
Alex (Justin Chambers) Lexie (Chyler Leigh)
Rivaling her half-sister Meredith with her own set of daddy issues, Lexie has been perfectly on schedule with the boyfriend issues this season as well. She decided that she could live with being Alex’s plaything, no strings attached, but when push came to shove, and Ava/Rebecca came back for a booty call or two, she showed her true Grey colors and couldn’t continue with the emotionless sex. She has, however, made considerable strides in her relationship with Meredith.
Mark (Eric Dane) and Richard (James Pickens Jr.)
These poor men have had precious little screen time and even less in the way of romantic developments. Mark half-heartedly pursued Erica Hahn but got continually shot down. As for the chief, he tried to patch things up with his wife Adele, but it was all for naught because Adele filed for divorce anyway. The upshot is that now, Richard and Mark (plus the other surgical attendings) have begun hanging out together on what Richard refers to as “gentlemen’s evenings.”
Bailey (Chandra Wilson)
Bailey seemed like the last remaining surgeon with a functional relationship, the only one who hasn’t yet lifted her leg on the institution of marriage. But this season started to show the cracks and strains in her marriage. As the season started off, Mr. Dr. Miranda Bailey was already starting to feel like that guy in your list of Facebook friends that you only sort of know but don’t even bother to unfriend. This was just too much for him to take, so he called it quits at the end of the last episode of season 4. Bailey seems to be following in Richard’s footsteps (minus the adultery thing), so she’ll probably be the next chief of surgery. Take this as a warning, folks. If you work at Seattle Grace Hospital, don’t get married.
-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
