The PTB behind the show also ran a savvy Facebook campaign allowing fans to choose the best fan artwork to accompany the show. The one I chose won!
Grey's Anatomy starts on 23rd September on ABC in the US and will most likely kick off in January 2011 on Living in the UK
Before starting this review, I have to say that this is the first season of Grey's that I've ever properly watched from start to finish. I should also say that during watching this season I caught up on the previous 5 seasons; not in the right order of course (that would be too sensible!). So my opinion on the season probably changed in the course of me watching it.
Newbies came in the form of the Mercy Wester's- though bizarrely only residents seemed to transfer. The new bunch of residents were a mixed bunch, but they generally grew on me Avery, especially (for obvious reasons perhaps!).
Even back watching the past episodes, for me personally, seeing George die at the beginning of the season wasn't that sad and it actually propelled the story a little (though admittedly by the end of the season he had practically been forgotten). I was a little more sad to see Izzie leave, but mostly because I love her relationship with Alex and the reasons she left weren't amazing so unfortunately that storyline wasn't as enjoyable to watch.
Christina and Owen were fairly stable until Teddy came along. Unlike most people I don't have a problem with Teddy, but it is a little annoying when she doesn't have enough chemistry with Owen to make you believe in them as even a potential couple.
Ellen Pompeo's pregnancy gave the writers a unique and cleverly capitalized upon opportunity to, show of the rest of the cast and focus on them more. The other cast members shined and the various special episodes (mostly revolving around flashbacks) were well done. My favourite was the medical lectures one in which we got to see Bailey's, Callie's and Richard's and Ellis's pasts. It was a hugely emotional and rewarding episode.
The biggest special episode(s) were undoubtedly the finale. The storyline was cleverly built up, from the disgruntled husband's case of the week storyline to him suing Derek, to eventually him reigning chaos in the hospital. The death's of Reed and Percy were sad, seeing as they were beginning to become likable, but death's were necessary. Alex/Derek/Owen's shootings were each as shocking as the other and even though I knew none of them would ever be killed off- it was still nerve wracking to watch. The two hours were excellent, full of tense drama and emotion, with both cast and writers showing what they are fully capable of. How the show will top that I don't know, but I look forward to them trying next season.
Callie was the most humorous one, she could barely tell the story through her nervousness, but it was a sweet tale about how she and Alex fixed a man's badly disfigured legs. They ended the story showing them ending up in the call room together which led to an awkward scene with Arizona realising they've slept together!! Ooops!
Bailey's was another fairly funny story about how she stood up to her bitch of a resident, by diagnosing a patient with chronic pain and impressed Richard in the process. This was a nice story and I liked hose Bailey used the chocolates to get the audience (namely the residents) involved. Her girlishness with the Jason George character at the beginning and end of the episode was very sweet as well.
The strongest story was obviously Richard's. 45 days sober and offered a general surgery job back in the hospital, he told the story of when he and Ellis Grey dealt with an early case of AIDS. This case was sensitively dealt with; there was a lot of prejudice back in the early 80's about the disease and little research had been done on the nature of it. Richard and Ellis showed the wonderful doctors they would turn into in their handling of the case. Their burgeoning relationship was also shown; its a little wonder that they bonded over their minority status in the white, male dominated hospital. The end was especially strong showing how Ellis led Richard down the road to his alcoholism, persuading him to drink.
Two nice episodes. The first was a holiday themed episode. A little rushed in places and it was a bit disconcerting watching a Christmas episode at Easter but I enjoyed it. The story of Sloan's daughter could've been expanded a bit more, he didn't react at all when she told him she was pregnant. We got a bit more of it in the second episode with Addison telling Mark that he had turned into a doctor and him consequently breaking up with Lexie. Sad to see the couple break up but one of the young residents needs to be single otherwise it gets boring in a show like Grey's. Cristina's also having relationship problems. Unlike most people I like Teddy; she was harsh on Cristina in the second episode with the solo heart valve operation, but she was right, Cristina needs to be pushed and needed to make her own decisions, even if Teddy was being a bit vindictive.
The first was a silly but fun episode. I'm glad Nora stuck with her head regarding Simon, but I'm sad he turned out to be a rubbish love interest. Nice to see Sarah getting a love interest too, and I'm not sure about Justin being dyslexic, a bit of a cop out maybe.
A very late review, but a great episode especially as it had to be a potential season/series finale. All the major plot points were tied up and some left for next chapter, also with a little fun in the sun on their spring break. Rebecca getting back together was a little hokey, but I'll buy it for now. The Casey/Cappie break up was sad but inevitable, though I'm sure they'll end up together at the end of the next and final chapter.
Funny episode, Naomi is such an idiot for declaring sexual harassment though she was right to not want Liam to know as he's such a hot head there's no telling what he will do. Not a fan of the Liam/Annie pairing they keep trying to push it. Silver and Teddy were a little frustrating in their testing of each other, glad it was resolved. It was nice to see Silver, Naomi and Adrianna have such positive and healthy attitudes about Adrianna's feelings for Gia. The Jasper storyline is getting a bit too The OC for me (they did a similar storyline in season 1) but I liked the cliffhanger ending.
Desperate Housewives- 6x12 If
A lovely episode, if a little disappointing in places. The disappointment I'm referring to is the Nora/Simon storyline. The very first mention of money made the upcoming storyline very clear. Its such a cliche to have him run away with the money- is that all the writers could think of really?! I hope the story turns out to different to whats seeming to be happening.
Sadly Izzie returned to be a bitch to Alex, but at least Alex got some closure and she left after again after this episode.
Nice 80's themed episode for the show. I love the Ashleigh/Rusty pairing they work so well together and I'm glad he chose Dana at the end of it. Also liked that they hinted at a potential romance for Katherine. Also Evan took back his manhood; good for him, even though he had to hit Rusty to do it.
A bit meh for me. The Angie/Bree/Orson storyline was the best, if contrived. Glad Angie protected both Orson and Bree (who is her boss) and bought Bree some time to make her decision.
Such a sad episode centring around children. I'm enjoying these special episodes personally and Arizona led this one brilliantly. I'm also liking the Mercy Westers starting to have crushes on the original doctors as its a great way to integrate them. Plus any episode where Alex has his shirt off is a good one!! 
Not the best episode but it was okay. Bree and Angie bonding was good, but why is it always Bree bonding with the newbies? (eg Katherine in season 4) Enjoyed the fact and it was both Lynette and Tom defending Julie as Lynette can be a bit cack handed when she does these things herself. The flashbacks at the beginning explaining the Danny Julie affair were also much needed.
A very successful episode in terms of all characters getting a decent amount of screentime. Why can't more episodes be like this? Apart from Ryan, all the other characters had something useful and meaningful to contribute to the episode. Storyline wise I'm not a fan of the Rebecca pregnancy because it feels a little desperate to me. The way in which all the family found out before Justin was typically Walker like, but Rebecca really should have told Justin sooner. It feels like the writers are almost foreshadowing a break-up between the two, as neither are able to tell each other major events in their lives. Justin's major event- him still struggling in med school- is a brave story from the writers, it would be easier to have him succeed and focus on his romantic dramas. Also I liked that the alcohol issue rose its head again, its been forgotten for too long. Its nice to see Nora having some fun; shame her children have to spoil in, first Sarah and then Kevin. Does it really matter if he's not the greatest doctor? Holly's money troubles were less annoying and it was sweet to see her reaching out to Nora for grandmother advice as well as Nora giving Holly the money without interfering (much). The only storyline I feel like was a little bit shunted was the Kevin/Scotty sperm thing. Kevin is obviously annoyed, and they haven't sorted this issue out yet. It will probably rear its ugly head in the next episode. Also as a sidenote, I'm happy Scotty will be the bio father, especially as Kevin already has a biological child out there. 
The perils of Facebook and Judy Greer make for a great episode. That love triangle bit was very funny as was Alex telling her brother Luke he was adopted but I don't feel we got any conclusion to either storyline. The Cameron/Mitchel storyline was less funny, and I don't buy that Mitchell's boss heard him. It will be fun to see Mitchell flounder a bit, but I hope he goes back to his job as none of the adults in the show seem to actually successfully hold jobs. 
Still catching up with the show, but I wanted to say that the end of season 4 was some of the best episodes of the show I'd seen. They were a little odd considering Lily was missing and Robyn seemed to have less lines due to their respective pregnancies, but the writers and the three male actors did a great job writing around this and pulling off some very funny and 'mother revealing' episodes at the end of season 4.
Excellent episode, well constructed and once again the show is doing the perfect job of capturing the essence of college.
Great episode. Its another special episode and it worked really well. Derek wasn't great at the narration, it felt a little repetitive and was used too often during the episode rather than just at the beginning and end, but otherwise it was enjoyable to see Derek's side of things. The patient in question was suitably charismatic and hopeful which pushed the episode along. The outcome of the surgery was a little too happy and well rounded but it worked within the episode.
A really good episode which seemed to be carefully plotted so that the housewives interacted whilst maintaining their own storylines. The show seems to be elongated stories which in past years might've been wrapped up in one episode eg Gabby and Juanita and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Gabby's storyline, though it was played for laughs, really showed off her selfishness and maybe we'll see some change in her. Its good to see Tom stand up to Lynette for once for being hypocritical- both are lying and honestly I'm not sure which one is worse.
A good episode not very imaginatively titled. I thoroughly enjoyed Nora's storyline this week. Its perfectly realistic that this younger man would be interested in her, but also that she would be doubtful why. I like this motorcycle guy and the scenes at the festival were good.
A great episode which shows that the show can excel without a couple of key cast members. The re-telling technique using different viewpoints (which weren't that different) is a fairly common one, but the show used it to its advantage and did it well. I picked up on April missing checking the throat when they first showed it, but honestly if it wasn't for the way in which they did the episode, it wouldn't have been as obvious. I was a little sad to see April fired over that mistake, it was a fatal one and she should've been punished, but we've seen doctors do worse on this show. However with the merger, it was an easy axing for the Chief and the board to make. I'm glad Derek called the Chief out on it though.
Two incredible episodes to send the main arc of this show off in style. The reveal of Boyd being the head of Rossum floored me as did the various deaths- Saunders killing Bennett, Mellie killing herself. Maybe I'm naive but I didn't see any of those shockers coming. There was so much to enjoy in the episodes, Echo was way less annoying here than she has been before, the flashbacks did a good job in explaining what Caroline had been up to and how she got into the Dollhouse and it was fun to watch the gang go to war with Rossum. Honestly, though I'm impressed with the way the writers wrote the episodes to explain the future episode (eg Boyd leaving Claire, whilst hurt was explained by him getting shot when he protected Adelle). It can't have always been easy to make it all fit together.
I wish I had re-watched Epitaph One before watching this one as I must admit, I was a little confused on the timeline in places. Otherwise though it was such a good episode. We got to see what the main cast was up to in 2019 and also we got to see them save the world as well. Another review pointed out that this was slightly Hollywood as endings go, but I think the destruction that had taken place in the interim years meant that it wasn't exactly a happy ending (though Priya, Tony and T got a mostly happy ending).
I'm a bit annoyed by the stock description of this episode as it only referred to the last few minutes of episode, which spoiled the impact of the episode a little.
This episode nicely wrapped up the fire and song fest storyline from last chapter even if the ending was a little cheesy and completely implausible. It was stupid of Casey to admit what happened but at least the story won't be hanging over the rest of the season.
A much more enjoyable episode than the last and some classic Greek on Greek action to boot. I thoroughly enjoyed Casey and Cappie setting Ashleigh up with Beaver as it felt very true to life. Whilst they would make a horrible couple and I hope to see more of Ashleigh's hunky Omega Chi, it gave us some excellent and hilarious Beaver moments.
An enjoyable episode. It was great to see Dale mixing with more of the Greeks becoming the ZBZ's new hasher and the sexual confusion with Ashleigh was very funny and quite plausible, considering Dale's high self-confidence. Liked seeing Rusty's blossoming romance (probably) with Dana, but it was silly of him to turn down the interview with Engineering Weekly (nice acronym joke there!) as his professor pointed out, these opportunities only come once or maybe twise in a lifetime.
A decent episode, though like the last this felt a little rushed. Bree came across as overly harsh and self involved as she sacked Katherine for her obsession with Mike. Call me crazy also but I don't think Katherine believing Mike will come back to her is that crazy given Mike and Susan's history. The watching through the windows is admittedly going to far but Bree is sending Katherine down a dangerous path by sacking her.
Wasn't sure about this episode when it started and some of the human brains acting as CPU's feels a little bit dubious to me, but all in all this was an excellent episode, mostly due to that killer reveal at the end. Adelle proven not to be a bitch was very satisfying and the events through the episode; Adelle talking to all key characters and Dollhouse employees, but us not seeing all of the conversations; are now explained and make perfect sense.
Ah, despite his annoyances, what joy it was to have Tommy back in the fold and the family complete. The whole episode had a lovely family feel to it, especially with Kitty and Nora at the beginning freaking out (like in the season 1 days when they lived together), the family conference call, and of course the explosive family dinner.
The invasion of the Mercy Wester's. As a casual viewer, the injection of new blood is definitely a good thing as it keeps the show fresh. The Mercy West residents are a viciously competitive bunch and its kinda refreshing to see- surgery from what I understand is a competitive branch of medicine and the Seattle Gracer's should be more competitive sometimes. The format of giving each of the residents a rival resident to compete with worked perfectly and resulted in a few changed opinions. Poor Alex though with Izzie leaving him at the end. Though it was done for behind the scenes reasons, it works perfectly on screen and adds a sense of drama that even one of the core doctors could lose their jobs.
A funny episode from the new hit show (aren't they all?!). Gloria's road rage storyline was funny and I liked the way in which they dealt with it; would've liked to see her drive into the giant cupcake at the end though. Cameron and Jay are a great comedic pairing and whilst that storyline wasn't the funniest, the ending with Jay 'splash landing' with a stranger certainly was. My favourite storyline was the Dunphry's. You could see the punchline coming from a mile away, but Claire's jealousy and longing for her old single life was nicely dealt with in the end, with her anger towards her family and their acceptance of her at dinner back into the family fold.
Another dramatic episode for the show with the looking Mercy West merger causing everyone to run around like headless chickens and stay at the hospital without sleep in order to keep their jobs. I must admit I didn't feel that bad for anyone until the end when people actually started to lose their jobs. This might be because there isn't too much danger of most of the cast getting fired so the fear everyone was feeling didn't really translate. The medical storylines were touching, especially with Arizona and Mark having to reattach a newborn baby's arm- very sad but happy when they actually manage to do it. Alex was very sweet with Izzie, getting her meds and a banana so she can carry on in surgery and Lexie was great at dealing with the schizophrenic.
A good return for Alpha, he was at his usual crazy best and damn Alan Tudyk is looking good these days! However whilst I enjoyed his focused agenda, his obsession with Echo, as well as everyone else's was boring. As often happens with Dollhouse I couldn't feel much sympathy for any of the characters as the dolls turned ninja, mostly because few of them are likable. Plus especially with Paul, there's the little matter of Epitaph One, which means we know he's okay in the future, so there's no real reason to share Echo's tears at his 'death'. We got to see a little more of Victor and Sierra this week, it was enough to remind the audience what terrific actors they are and what a shame it is they aren't featured more. Adelle was a brilliant bitch here though,sacrificing Echo (who can take care of herself) to Alpha was one thing, but the poor schluppy client? Very cold.
A bit meh for me, they went over the same things a lot of the time and the neighbours were very quick to jump to suspicion about the Bolens and even if their was foul play involved with Julie (before the police had even got there!) Still Mrs McCluskey getting some loving was sweet (glad they've given her a proper storyline) and I liked that Bree chose to be with Karl even though Susan said she would never speak to a friend who slept with Karl. Shows Bree's deep unhappiness with Orson and also that she really has made a connection with Karl. Also Gaby's proving to be a great mum to Ana, I was doubtful at first of the storyline but if it continues like this, it was inspired.
You’re Welcome- The episode that kills of the shows best characters. Despite not being around for most of season 5, Cordy was sorely missed. Unlike Hero this wasn’t a depressing episode but Cordy’s final goodbye to Angel sure as hell was.
I think the saddest thing about this episode were the flashbacks of Fred leaving home. Seeing Fred with her loving parents and contrast that to her dying body and Illyria makes for heartbreaking TV
The Gift- Buffy sacrifices herself for her sister and the world after 100 episodes of fighting. Buffy’s speech to Dawn at the end is both inspiring and utterly heartbreaking. As another review I’ve read about this episode commented, this isn’t her first or last death but it is still meaningful all the same.
Chosen- another series finale in which many characters fall during the ultimate fight. Again it’s the finale element of this episode which makes it so sad, especially with the nostalgic throwbacks to the first season.
Favourite Son- Julia gives birth but sadly one of the twins William dies leaving sister Elizabeth. The choices Julia and Tommy are forced to make in this episode- whether to operate with the hope of saving both or possibly risk losing both, is just heartbreaking. The bit that really gets me is when Julia and Tommy finally hold their surviving child whilst the rest of the family watch on. The loss of a child is a terrible thing to happen, but I think the writers handle it well here.
Bang- the episode that inspired this blog. Even though I watched the cut version (which didn’t include all the shootings), the brutality of the shooting coupled with that excellent score and Lynette’s final dream of Mary Alice, are just completely heartbreaking.
Even though are some significant timeline flaws with this episode; it is a brilliant 100th episode, surprising considering as it focuses on an unseen before male character. Though funny in places, watching Eli after Mary Alice shoots herself and the touching funeral they hold for him, was enough for me to shed a tear
Losing My Religion- Even though I knew what goes going to happen I couldn’t help but cry as we saw Izzie lie there next to her love Denny. The episode was perfectly complemented by the prom for a teenage girl with cancer, who you can’t help but feel for as she tells Richard that she was happy as she got a chance to be loved.
Those Are the Strings Pinocchio- Not really a tearkjerking episode, but Rory’s graduation speech in this episode, especially the part dedicated to Lorelai, is just so sweet. It’s the perfect testament to both character and the show itself.
The Ties That Bind- The finale montage of this season finale with the haunting Hallelujah playing, is a clear choice for a cry episode. All the actors do a really good job to create the sense of a true sadness in the episode.
Breaking News/ K&R parts 1-3- I wasn’t expecting to be so moved by the incredible 3 parter the show produced in which Jordan goes into premature labour and most poignantly Tom’s brother gets taken hostage whilst serving in Iraq. The saddest moment was Tom’s reaction was upon finding the news. It was strong and angry and completely heart wrenching.