It's no secret that George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) did not survive his collision with a bus in the "Grey's Anatomy" season finale and kudos to series creator Shonda Rhimes for giving George a fine, well-deserved, tear-filled send-off in the first hour of tonight's two-hour sixth season premiere (9 p.m., WTAE).
Frankly, I wasn't sure she was capable of it given her deplorable behavior surrounding Knight. Her failure to come out against former star Isaiah Washington's gay-slur attack on Knight was only compounded when she took umbrage and cried racism when someone, somewhere suggested Washington's role might be re-cast, a Hollywood soap tradition. (Funny, I didn't hear Rhimes fume when the same rumor made the rounds this summer that Knight's role might be re-cast.)
Regardless of how badly she botched her handling of the Knight situation, Rhimes and the "Grey's" writers did right by the George O'Malley character, giving him a farewell worthy of a well-liked series regular. The episode deftly mixes the characters' heartache with a few lighter moments and does a fine job of showing how everyone at Seattle Grace responds to the tragedy.
As much as "Grey's" sometimes drives me nuts (e.g. Izzie having sex with Denny's ghost), this episode offers "Grey's" at its best.
"In medical scool we have a hundred classes that teach us how to fight off death," Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) says in her narration, "and not one that teaches us how to go on living."
Posted
Sep 24 2009, 12:22 AM
by
Rob Owen