simply a letdown

i don't know. i mean...i had been enjoying the "grey's anatomy"/"private practice" crossover event, but...meh. i think that they could have done way more interesting things with it than they did. the heart of the crossover had a pretty great mix of the grey's cast interacting with the pp cast. but as it wound down, it didn't really deliver any real goods.

here are a few thoughts on what grey's should do to improve things:

1. spend less time in surgery
i know they are surgical residents, but the surgery scenes are challenging to watch because the actors all have their surgical masks in place and are stuck emoting with their eyes. it gets boring to see meaningful glances exchanged over the body being cut open.

2. when focusing on patients don't line up each patient so perfectly with the doctor's own story line every single time
having the events in patients lives echo what is going on for our main doctors is okay sometimes, but it's getting repetitive and obvious. instead of making the patient storylines seem like anvils foreshadowing what the doctors are feeling and where their stories are going, it would be fun to see them mix up the doctor/patient dynamics. so maybe grief-stricken woman gets assigned to meredith and a commitment-phobe gets assigned to izzie, have a scene with the doctors talking about their patients. the lunch room scenes are some of the best moments of the series because all the characters are there together.

3. have the characters spend more time together
honestly i don't watch "grey's anatomy" for the medical stories, yes these should be interesting, but more than anything, we should be seeing the characters interact with each other. the relationships are the heart of the series, and so far this season the scenes away from the hospital involve 2-3 of the characters and are about thirty seconds long. the cast works best as an ensemble, and they've lost a little of their magic, but can get it back by spending just a little more time at joe's.

i love that meredith and derek are a committed couple, but for a couple they spend such a small amount of time on screen together that it's hard to remember why there was so much magic and chemistry in the original pairing. this episode, when addison finally prompts meredith to speak to derek, it highlights the fact that we only ever see them together for brief glimpses. they are the show's anchor couple, they can spend more than two seconds together on screen, and it would be even better if they actually had conversations. sometimes it feels like all they do is talk at one another.

meanwhile "private practice" winds down from the crossover madness by not really going anywhere. addison is back in los angeles and cries about her no-good brother a lot. pete continues to ignore violet. sheldon takes a small step forward with violet in the couples therapy group. cooper continues to be a baby stealer, but finally makes progress with charlotte after she confesses to sleeping with addison's no-good brother. it didn't make sense, but i was happy for it.