...and our Private Practice coverage at
http://www.jackmyers.com/mediavillage/tvshows/private-practice

This week's episode of Grey's Anatomy was about truth - truth, and nothing but the truth. And it wasn't about the kind of truth that makes the heart swell either. It was about the kind of truth that stings - the painful, brutal truth. But here is what is most true: the fourth season of Grey's Anatomy is missing something. Maybe it's missing heart, or reverence, or simply the presence of the almighty Burke. I don't know. But each episode feels more and more like sitting down to enjoy and savor one of my favorite meals only to find that key ingredients are missing. Something is off. Something tastes spoiled. Something just isn't right.

"If you search for tenderness, it isn't hard to find. But if you look for truthfulness, you might just as well be blind. It always seems to be so hard to give."

Seattle Grace has experienced big changes this season: our bumbling interns have become residents with bumbling interns of their own, Callie ranks above Bailey in the pecking order, Derek is chasing after Meredith, Addison is gone, Burke is gone, and to be quite honest the mastery is gone. For me, what made Grey's Anatomy great, aside from the fabulous storylines, was the separation between the masterful senior residents and the insecure and hungry interns. We cared about Meredith, George, Alex, Izzie and Cristina. We rooted for them as they stood alongside the best of the best in medicine. We watched them stand in awe of these top surgeons and we stood in awe of them too. We respected the talents of Derek, Addison, Burke, Bailey, Richard, and Sloan. We loved to know they were the best in the country. But now, everything is flipped.

Izzie is driving me absolutely insane. She has always been quite self-absorbed and annoying but she did still have a bit of heart. Now, she is just this empty, narcissistic bag of blonde bones. Instead of caring about the well being of a lonely old man, she spent the episode rambling about her relationship with George. No one cares Izzie. She is obsessed with George leaving Callie and she stomped all over the hospital like a whining 6-year-old girl to prove it. Fortunately, George set her straight, at least for the moment. He told her that his marriage is not about HER. Imagine that! I like that George stood up for Callie. And he finally admitted to his wife that he slept with Izzie. George is one of the few that still carries the heart of the show.

Meredith is fast becoming my least favorite character. She is cruel and dismissive to her sister. And she is empty and shallow in her dealings with Derek. I am counting the minutes until Derek gives her the boot. The one redeeming moment of the show was when Meredith sat down with Lexi to explain what happened to her mother. But it was only because of Bailey's wisdom and guidance that Meredith made the choice to do that. The almighty, masterful Bailey should be at the helm. Instead, she is asking to share the seat with Callie. The seniority at Seattle Grace is upside down. George is warning Richard about the dangers of doing surgeries he has never done. Bailey is asking permission of Callie. The sniveling interns are residents with the authority to lead and teach.

There is no one imparting wisdom anymore. Wisdom was the best part of the show. Watching characters learn to be better surgeons and people. I don't want rude and selfish residents barking orders at interns that I don't know or care about. I don't want Yoda to be taking orders from a mere mortal. I don't want this season of Grey's Anatomy to be focused on mediocrity. I want passion, excitement, intrigue, suspense, reverence, and transformation. I want truth, real truth. But maybe I am expecting too much from a one-hour drama.

"Honesty is such a lonely word. Everyone is so untrue. Honesty is hardly ever heard. And mostly what I need from you."

Song by – Billy Joel - Honesty

I loved the cake. It's important that before I even get into any details about this week's Private Practice, I specify how great the cake plot line was. Every scene involving cake was a scene that I really enjoyed, and given that there were three large homemade cakes, I'm saying that this week was a more than decent episode of Private Practice.

We open up with Addison hating the rain in Los Angeles, getting locked out of her house as she tried to snatch all of her belongings out of the downpour. The whole scene hearkened back to Seattle Addison, and I'm glad she addressed it when she walked into work that morning. Her admitting that the magic she had felt in LA wasn't strong enough seemed to actually be the show's admission that maybe Private Practice isn't as good as Grey's, because the magic just isn't there. But that first step - admitting you have a problem - appears to be the best way down a path to improvement.

The cases this week also had their own character - a woman unable to have sex, four girls who kept turning blue (yes, blue), and a man who wanted to stand up for himself in his marriage. Each situation was complex and relatively believable, even if a touch overly dramatic, and each had a common thread of learning to ask for what you want or learning how to coax it out. As Dell said throughout the episode, "Give them what they want," but even that doesn't always seem to work.

Even more so than the missing magic for which all the characters claim to be seeking, this week's episode was about getting you really want. Violet's patient told her to stop getting so personally involved in his life, which was nice for the viewing audience, who maybe have been feeling that way for weeks. While I wanted Doug to leave his wife, the fact that he stood up to Violet and basically called her out on her unethical behavior - I couldn't be happier that someone finally did. But Doug's plot line was obviously about standing up for what you want, as was the couple trying to have sex for the first time. The greater complexity was drawing the magic out of the other cases to see that it was just a matter of getting what you want.

Though Cooper claims that the sticker on the stethoscope is as far as his catering to the youngins goes, clearly he cares too much to leave it at just that. Instead of just referring the mysteriously blue girls to a specialist, he goes over with pink frilly fun to figure out what's going on. Thankfully he finds out that they're playing in fertilizer - by relating to them on their own level (which did, in fact, include fairy wings) he got what he wanted. I don't think it needs to be said how unbelievably sketchy it is that he played with three little girls in a shack behind their house. Or that I find it completely ludicrous that the mother might not watch her children when they play outside. But if that's the only absolutely unbelievable aspect, I'll take it.

I'm glad that Private Practice remembers the puppy love crush they set up with the pilot last year. Mostly because I think there needs to be a much larger Dell presence, and Naomi needs to stop being the biggest sad sack on TV. Naomi's admittance that she was actively shoving her feelings down under the cake was so genuine, especially as she fed the cake to Addison over a salad wielding fork. While I still find the whole interaction between Sam and Naomi to be foolish (on which note - why was Dr. King even remotely necessary in this episode? Why?), I thought her break down and subsequent anger at Dell for "baking cakes at her" was very genuine. And, also, more importantly, it was very very funny.

Private Practice still isn't great. However, this episode started to establish an overall feeling, a character, to the show. As long as there's more cake and non-hospitalized patients, that character can develop into someone I might like. And honestly, could Pete and Addison just get together already? And would you look at that - the first impatient fan question of Private Practice's short career. Let's hope there's many more to come. And more cake.

What do you do when something or someone has you in its clutches? What do you do when you find yourself at the mercy of a person, a drug, a behavior or a pattern of destruction? From where do you find the strength to take a breath, make a change, and break away? This week's episode of Grey's Anatomy posed those questions. Every character is in battle with personal addictions. Some battles were more obvious than others. But it is the inner battles that are the hardest fought. The inner battles that keep us stuck. If love is the addiction, Seattle Grace hospital is the battlefield. "We are strong. No one can tell us we're wrong. Searching our hearts for so long. Love is a battlefield."

"I guess I'd thought you'd be here forever. Another illusion I chose to create. You don't know what you got until its gone. And I found out just a little too late." "Now being without you takes a lot of getting used to, should learn to live with it but I don't want to. Living without you, is all a big mistake, instead of getting easier, it's the hardest thing to take, I'm addicted to ya babe. You're a hard habit to break."

Cristina. No matter how hard she fights to twist an aching loss of love into a personal career gain, she continues to fail. Burke is gone. She can pretend she is void of emotion. She can bribe her way into surgeries with a waffle maker all she wants. But she is alone and in pain. Burke's mama (played by the fabulous Diahann Carroll) came to the hospital looking for Cristina. While waiting, she doled out her mama wisdom to all who stood before her. She told George that love, as an obligation, is not love at all. She told Derek that honorable men know when to walk away. And she told Meredith off. Perfectly. But with Cristina, she was kind and compassionate and sincere. She gave Cristina respect and admiration for having passion for her work and she sympathized with her for losing such a great man and teacher (her fabulous son Preston). Mama was graceful and helped clean up the rest of the piece that Burke left behind. Nice touch for Mama B.
As much as I root for the dark and twisted Meredith, I have grown tired of her ways. Because of that, I deeply enjoyed when Burke's Mama asked Meredith to explain whether her behavior at the wedding was inappropriate or selfish. Meredith faced Mama B. with a brave face. She always steps in for Cristina. What I did not enjoy was Meredith treatment of Derek and Lexie. She is just downright cruel to her sister, "Are you a stalker or an idiot?" Yikes. Soften the blow a bit. Ok, you don't want to get to know your sister, but let's not beat her with a wooden stick. Yes, we know you have Daddy issues but when do you find the courage to put down those weapons and try another approach to life? Kindness never hurt anyone. With that said, Lexie is being a bit much: following, watching, and snooping on Meredith. The first thing Lexie needs to learn about her sister is that she cannot breathe without big, gaps of solitude and space.

Derek has a problem. Meredith has established the new rules of their relationship and he either has to abide by her restrictions of "sex and mockery" or he cannot participate. Seems like a reasonable relationship. Or not. As much as the Derek and Meredith saga has become a bore, I find this element intriguing. Derek cannot walk away from Meredith. She is closed and cruel and selfish. His needs are rarely met. She brings him deep pain and frustration. But he stays. He waits. He is addicted to her and has finally admitted it. Derek is settling for miles less than he deserves because the pain of being without her hurts him too much. Ahh, the joys of addictions. He tried to let her leave the hospital without him, but only three steps toward the door and he was calling out her name. Too much heartache can hurt anyone. "Heartache to heartache we stand. No promises. No demands. Love is a Battlefield."

Lyrics by - Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield

Part of the appeal of television is suspension of disbelief. Basically, watching a TV show should give you the option to pretend like that couple could work, or that someone could live after ridiculous internal injuries, or maybe, just maybe, you could be a doctor too. The only problem inherent in suspending this disbelief is when a show gets so ridiculous that it no longer is an imaginative exercise, but is instead just dumb. Nobody likes to be taken for an idiot. So, Private Practice, what are you doing?

Firstly, what sane man lets a stripper into his house if he doesn't know who sent her, or why she's there? That's how we open the episode - Sam leaves his shades open, while his friends actually peer into the perfect view of his home from next door, where, but of course, Naomi is coming over to have dinner with Addison. That short explanation is, in fact, as convoluted as it sounds, and as ridiculously irritating.

Two families with switched babies do not want to take back their own child and give up the one they took home. However, according to Naomi, it's California law that they must switch so that they each have their own biological child. Last time I checked, California has adoption laws as well. So, I won't play at emotional fortitude; I cried when the babies switched. But I will say that after I dried my tears, my initial frustration with the story line was renewed - why did they have to trade babies? And moreover, since when are doctors experts on baby trading laws?

Meanwhile, Sam is making house calls to Dave Walker, a father with a drinking problem, whose own mother, Gloria, is lacing his food with herbal Antabuse. Every time he drinks, Dave gets violently ill, with no apparent cause. This all seems to be a mystery until Dave's son, Stevie gets the same illness. Sam's solution is to confront Gloria, and hear her out. Seriously. Instead of informing the man of his technical poisoning, Sam keeps the secret, and tells both Dave and Stevie that there is an alcohol allergy that runs in the family. I don't even think the word unethical covers it.

As all this drama unfolds, Dr. Charlotte King, chief of staff at a neighboring hospital, inexplicably spends half of her time at the Ocean Wellness, fighting with all the doctors there as though they were her biggest problem. After a show like Grey's Anatomy, we know that the chief of surgery doesn't even have a minute for his wife, so believing that the chief of staff of an entire hospital has time to smirk around the clinic is pretty silly. Plus, Charlotte, is a really, flat-out unlikable awful character. I don't want to see her anymore than I want to watch Violet deal with her bike issues.

That's right, I said bike issues. Because instead of just being normal, neurotic human beings, these doctors are absolutely non-functional. Violet's ex-boyfriend, the one who has turned her into a puddle of emotional insecurity, seems like an impossibly fictional character of a boring, manipulative loser. The bike she bought him a year ago arrives, and faced with the decision of what to do with it, she once again breaks down, and decides to destroy the $6,000 custom bicycle. Destroy, as in, break it apart and throw it away.

But, lest we forget, Violet is not the only one making unreasonable and foolish choices. Cooper's stripper present didn't go over so well for Sam, clearly, as Naomi angrily pouts around the office all day, and all the girls call him a cad. But for some reason, it also didn't go over well for Pete. Because Addison is mad at him - on Naomi's behalf, of course. And though Addison looked great for the entire episode, that's all she did. She had no feelings of her own, she had no story line of her own, she had no guts to stick up for herself, only for Naomi. Given that I don't really care about Naomi, I don't really care about Addison either.

The problem is, I really want to like Private Practice. But it's not very good. It has such a strong backing - California, Grey's characters, more patient interaction, really attractive men. In my head, I though I could fool myself into thinking it had something new to it. But I guess the hardest thing to believe is how unwatchable Private Practice really is.

At the close of last season, the characters and storylines of Grey's Anatomy had been burned ruthlessly to the ground. Shonda Rhimes took a flamethrower to Seattle Grace with the sole intention of rebuilding it again. In the season premiere we watched the groundbreaking. We were not perched to the edge of our seats in anticipation. We were not gasping in awe or cheering for our favorite characters. Instead, we simply watched a new foundation being poured over the remains of last season. "Starting again is part of the plan. I'll be so much stronger holding your hand." We met new characters. We said goodbye to past characters. And we learned what to expect from this season of Grey's Anatomy: Change is inevitable and adapting to change is our only option.

Our favorite rambling interns have transformed into all-mighty residents. They are all grown up with little baby interns of their own. They may have climbed the ranks in status but they carried all their baggage along with them. They lead the interns in the same way they live their lives. Cristina rules as the "cold robot in a white coat" and calls the interns by numbers (1, 2, 3) rather than names. Since stripping off her wedding dress, she seems to have found a deeper layer of callousness. Alex rules with arrogance and a boyish-air of cockiness. He seems more intrigued by what he can teach the "hot" female interns in the sack rather than in the hospital. Izzie rules with narcissism, insecurity and plagued with self-doubt. She spends the episode trying to impress or prove her qualifications to her eye-rolling and judgmental interns. Meredith rules in a black cloud of despair and depression. She is quiet and sullen and seemingly miserable.

"Up till now for me it's been—hand against stone. Spent each and every moment searching for what to believe…"

Something has GOT to change in the darkness of Meredith Grey. She is almost too gloomy to watch anymore. And poor Derek, as he admitted last season, "she is the love of his life and he cannot leave her." Yikes. Imagine being bound to that dark and stormy cloud for the rest of your days? He remains fully committed to her. He knows why she is broken and is waiting for her to heal. But how long can he stand off in the corner, waiting to love her? Meredith doesn't seem able to budge or heal or hope. Maybe this is where her half-sister, Lexi, will come into play. Lexi is the complete opposite of her Meredith—she is a bright beacon of light. Lexi just lost her mother. Her father has fallen into alcoholism and deep despair. And her sister wants nothing to do with her. Still, Lexi has hope. She is open and aware and courageous. She is a breath of fresh Grey air. Amen!

"Coming out of the dark, I finally see the light now and its shining on me…"

And then there was George. He is lost in the land of regret and mistakes. He is starting all over again. Forced to repeat his internship. Stuck in the wrong marriage. Longing for the wrong girl. (Yes, I believe that Izzie is the WRONG girl for George.) George is bitter, distant, and deeply angry. It is unfortunate that George must repeat his internship as he had the strongest "teacher" demeanor. He was the strongest and most compassionate intern. And then he lost his father and failed his test for all the wrong reasons. George is stuck where he doesn't want to be. Fortunately, he has found a little light named Lexi to help lead him out of the dark. Hopefully, she can do the same thing for her sister.

Lyrics by – Gloria Estefan – Coming out of the Dark.

Shonda Rhimes has gone on record several times stating that she doesn't want Private Practice to be considered Grey's 2.0. And the script and characters certainly work toward establishing their own unique appeal, even with Grey's-esque great music in the background. However, I tuned into Private Practice because I love Addison, and if Rhimes wants this show to succeed, there will have to be a balance of Addison's old character with her new persona in California. It's a spin-off - I'm watching this because I watched the parent show and liked it.

But at the same time, this season's premiere was much better than last year's soft premiere. For one, Addison seems to retain some of her strong and confident attitude that established her in Seattle. The flightiness that characterized the soft launch was toned down a lot, which definitely helps the watchability of Private Practice. But Private Practice was just that - watchable. I wasn't drawn in, and I didn't hate it. I saw some things I liked, but not much that I loved.

On which note, I definitely did not love the wishy-washy, weak female characters. Naomi and Violet are both absolutely crushed by their failed relationships and deal with their emotions as though they are recently dumped teenagers. Naomi speaks to Sam, her ex-husband, in completely unveiled and exaggerated analogies, using their disagreements to argue about patients, and Violet actually calls her ex-boyfriend repeatedly and hangs up when he answers. Seriously, that is what is supposedly a plausible reaction for an adult psychiatrist with a broken heart? The only remotely strong female character on the show is Dr. Charlotte King, the nearby hospital's chief of staff, and even she is portrayed more as a bitch than the intelligent, sharp, and witty females of Grey's. Does a woman have to work at a hospital in order to have a real personality?

Maybe because the premiere was attempting to establish these main characters, I also found the patients to be much less compelling than those on Grey's, and their issues much more generic. Besides Addison's pregnant teenager (who comes, by the way, with no back story), the premiere features Violet's patient, Jenny, who has been triggered into a pyschotic break. While her eventual story is, indeed, heartbreaking, it seemed a little obvious to me that it was something Violet didn't know. Her sudden realization that Jenny once had a child was pretty ludicrous, not to mention Jenny's being suddenly shaken out of the break by talking about it. It's TV, yes, but to minimize the severity of such a mental episode seems contrary to the medical realism Rhimes has established in the past.

Private Practice can't seem to decide if it's a sitcom or a drama. It goes for the convoluted set-ups and exaggerated patient crises much like Grey's, leaning toward the drama end of the spectrum. But at the same time, everything was tied up by the end of the episode - Naomi recognizes her own fault in her failed marriage and agrees to work toward being less bitter, everyone learns to accept Addison as a new member of the community, the pregnant girl's father holds the baby with joy. Meanwhile, the script struggles with this balance too, as if it wants to have the weighty monologues of Grey's with Naomi's realizations about her marriage, and Jenny's violent psychotic break. But simultaneously, we have the staff conflict about Addison's hiring, which, much like a silly sitcom establishing conflict, seemed contrived and resolved before it even began.

While I get that Private Practice will not be Grey's Anatomy in California, it also needs to be good TV for my interest to stick. The conversation with Dell, the cute receptionist, about his midwifery skills (it is a word!) is what I want to see more on Private Practice - a funny exchange as a side note to an overall plot point, endearing the viewer to both the characters involved and the development of that story. I want to see less buildup of the obvious chemistry between Pete and Addison, more of Violet and Cooper's easy and amusing interactions. What I really want is to look forward to Wednesday at 9 PM the same way I look forward to Thursday at 9 PM - even if it's a very different show.

I write you as a really depressed viewer at the current state of Grey's Anatomy after the recent "burning down" of the show. The show at it's current state looks pretty much "over."

Shonda Rhimes can "burn it all down" without having to make these silly scenarios of Meredith dying, Ellis dying, Meredith being slapped, Susan dying, without Meredith's young sister hitting on Derek, without CalliGeorgeIzzy triangle, Meredith & Cristina's love story being more important than Meredith and Derek's, Meredith and Derek being pulled apart again.

We could have had some hope going into season 4 that someone had something going for them. For instance, at least Meredith and Derek could have had some kind of encouraging ending but still a cliffhanger, Cristina and Burke could have run off to city hall to get married... something, anything.

I think Shonda can't just ruin, burn and destroy everything people fell in love with the show for and yet expect the same response and hype that was created at the beginning of season 1. Too much has happened, and I think a lot of the viewers all over do not feel rewarded for their loyalty, after all, a show is only as successful as the amount of viewers it pulls. People do not feel rewarded for all the hours they put in, they are feeling cheated.

They don't believe in the show anymore because of the downward spiral it took starting February and no turn around is shown in sight. Yet another family member of Ellen Pompeo's Meredith in Chyler Leigh being brought on to romance Patrick Demspey's character is not a turn around. People were fed up and feeling disgruntled before, now you're adding this new very young 3rd party? When Addison's involvement in that relationship as a third party as well as the character of Finn's involvement as a third party is still heavy in people's minds.

I think it is time you think about stepping in to fix this. James Parriott's absence this season has be very visible in how much the show has fallen in just one season. Is there any chance of him being brought back? Krista Vernoff wrote '6 Days' and it was the best episodes the show had all season long. She wrote growth for Meredith and Derek, movement forward for them as a couple by acknowledging her abandonment issues. Then the remaining episodes of the season just trashed it all and I don't even know what. Krista's also a married woman, with a career and a child. She has it all and she should be insulted at Shonda's words in that Podcast.

I think Shonda has really lost sight of what writing a TV show is about. When you become No.1 show in US, you are no longer writing a show that you would want to watch, and you don't write the way you think it should go, you write what brings the most people in. You write to be considerate of the viewers and make them want to tune in every week and continue to be loyal to the show. Considering that her main demographic is women aged 18-49, who are working women with families or professionals, constantly shoving the mantra "women can't have it all " is degrading an insulting. Making Meredith a victim every week who can't just be in a relationship because she has a bad childhood is insulting. She is alienating and angering her audience for no reason. She's also knows she's alienating the audience and still doing nothing to stop it but instead is egging it on. Listen to her podcast where she goes on about Meredith's sister and Derek. Listen to her actually tell people not to watch the show if they are able to balance a husband, job and children.

I really do hope this show turns around next season, because I would hate to see one of my most favorite shows ever just fizzle out because the creator didn't have the foresight to just compromise her vision of the show for the audience. There's going to need to be a huge change early on in season four to try and save the show from the destruction that occurred after '6 Days' aired. The turn around would have to be swift because people are at the end of their rope and need some hope or what is the point in continuing to watch something just go down hill week after week and leaves you with nothing? I don't even want to tune into the premiere because I'm just depressed at the mess that would be waiting for me while watching it.

I cannot wait for the season premiere's of Brothers&Sisters, Lost, and Desperate Housewives. Those shows had amazing season finales that left me wanting more. Not leaving me questioning whether I should keep watching or not.

Please consider fixing the mess this "burning" down has done.

Karly S.

Shonda Rhimes had promised in an earlier podcast that the finale would "burn things to the ground". She certainly did do that! This season finale leads us toward a season four unlike the three before it and I say, in the words of the famous Martha Stewart, "That's a good thing!"

Click here to read the rest of Grey's Anatomy: It's All SOooooo Over

Creator and Executive Producer, Shonda Rhimes, spent the third season of Grey's Anatomy building great, big, skyscraper-sized stories. Brick upon brick she built the unrequited love stories, the loss, the hope, the friendships, the dreams and the plans of our beloved characters. Then, in the finale episode titled, "Didn't We Almost Have it All", she picked up a flame-thrower and burned it all to the ground. She did this with good reason. She did this to give herself a place from which to build next season. But for those of us who had invested our hearts into these stories and characters, the burn hurt a bit.

"He said, I'm going to buy this place and burn it down. I'm going to put it six feet underground. He said, I'm going to buy this place and watch it fall. Stand here beside me baby in the crumbling walls."

"And honey, all the movements you're starting to make, see me crumble and fall on my face. And I know the mistakes that I made, see it all disappear without a trace."

Burke truly loves Cristina. He knew all along how very different they were, but like Cristina, he thought they could happily join their differing worlds. Burke had a powerful influence over her and used it to shift and shape Cristina into becoming a woman better suited for him. As he walked down the aisle of the church to comfort his hesitant bride, he realized that the Cristina standing before him in the choker necklace, white dress and painted eyebrows was not his Cristina. She had changed, for him. So, Burke did what only a person in love would have the strength to do. He rescued her and set her free. "He's gone. I'm free. Damn it." A true representation of just how complicated love can be.

"Oh I'm going to buy this place and start a fire. Stand here until I fill all your heart's desires. Because I'm going to buy this place and see it burn. Do back the things it did to you in return."

Izzie and Callie were fighting for the same man, using whatever cards they had. Izzie pledged her love to George without resistance or shame or fear. She held a strong hand in this situation because George loves her more than Callie. Still, George is a good man and his desire to be loyal and decent trumps his passion for Izzie. Callie took a different approach to Izzie this time around. She didn't ask or plead for mercy; she casually placed her Royal Flush on the table as both Izzie's future boss and George's potentially pregnant wife, and seemingly won the fight. She left Izzie in a messy, daze of defeat. Callie getting pregnant is possibly the worst burden she could place on their faulty, weak relationship. George agreeing to this plan shows just how lost and confused he really is.

George flunked his test. And felt he flunked Bailey. My dear Bailey felt failed herself having not been chosen for the job of Chief Resident. Callie beat out Bailey for this job? My only guess can be that Richard respects Bailey too much to put her in a position that he believes will sacrifice her family. But how on God's green earth could George flunk his intern exam? As he spoke to Bailey about failing, he admitted, flat-out, that he cannot and will not repeat his internship. He is without answers in every area of his life. Most beautifully displayed when LEXI GREY (one of the new interns for next season) asked if George could offer any advice for her internship. The only answer he knew for sure was that he knew absolutely nothing.

Sidenote: Lexi Grey is Meredith's half-sister. For those of you who missed the connection, Lexi was the woman(probably in town to attend her mother's funeral) that Derek met at the bar on the night of Burke's bachelor party. She was the woman that sparked with Derek; the woman that he admitted was the highlight of his week. For some reason, I liked Lexi Grey and look forward to seeing where she (and the other interns) travels next season at Seattle Grace.

The Chief. His journey this season has been a rocky one. He moved far from the familiar, dealing with the end of his marriage, the end of his tormented but dedicated affair with Meredith's mother and the end of his career. Richard soldiered on. He dyed his hair, dared to imagine dating again and carefully sought after his replacement. In the end, Adele came back, somehow, carrying his baby. It was a true display of love, watching him faithfully stand alongside her, even when he thought she was pregnant from another man. A true testament to what the love of a lifetime really means - one that has peaks and valleys and failures and triumphs and loyalty. Surprisingly enough, it seems that Richard has been given a second chance. When Derek passed on the offer of Chief, he handed Richard the rare opportunity to do it differently this time around. Let's see how he does.

"He said, Oh I'm going to buy a gun and start a war. If you can tell me something worth fighting for."

Ava and Alex. At long last, her handsome but boring husband (Jason London) came to get her and the baby. He seemed like a nice enough man but Ava did not want him. Still, she was willing to leave with her husband, unless Alex could give her a reason to stay. She pleaded with him to give her a reason, one reason to stay. But he couldn't do anything but walk away. By the time he realized that he had made a mistake, she was gone. Alex is as emotionally blocked as our twisted Meredith, and I predict that next season will show us why.

"He said I'm going to buy this place and see it go. Stand here beside my baby and watch the orange glow. Some'll laugh and some just sit and cry. But you just sit down there and you wonder why."

Meredith. Meredith. Meredith. As much as we love her and sympathize with her darkness, she did not win any fans when she walked away from Derek (again). Derek was the best man in the wedding, the best man for the job and the best man for Meredith. He so beautifully and vulnerably laid himself out before her, asking her to love him or release him. Yet she couldn't speak, she is stuck somewhere between wanting and failing to let love in. Meredith doesn't believe in love and happy endings and she is scared to death. She believes in what she has experienced: abandonment, loss, rejection and pain. Meredith needed to see Cristina marry Burke. She needed to witness a complicated love story find its happy ending. When she announced it was over (so over), she was referring to more than the wedding. The tiny flame of hope that she secretly carried for a healthy, happy relationship has been extinguished. And it's over.

Those of us connected to the show will come back next season to witness the excavation process and to witness our favorite characters rise up from the ashes. They will most certainly rise up. And faithfully, we will be there waiting.

"So meet me by the bridge, meet me by the lane. When am I going to see that pretty face again? Meet me on the road, meet me where I said, blame it all upon a rush of blood to the head."

Lyrics by: Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head

Grey's Anatomy took one step closer to its season finale with this week's episode titled, "Testing 1-2-3". There were too many tests, too many questions and too much left unanswered. Lives ridden with tests. Day to day circumstances--the mistakes, the triumphs, the discoveries, and the betrayals-that serve as report cards testing levels of personal growth. Life lessons are like study guides (that we must repeat until learned) that prepare us for these unexpected tests. Some tests come with No. 2 pencils and multiple-choice questions, some with biblical "Job-like" wrath and famine, some with painful needles and heart monitors but the most difficult tests to pass are those with no explanation, no warning and no right answers.

"How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they're forever banned?"

Meredith, with militant strength, put on her black dress and black shoes and prepared to attend Susan's funeral. Alone. Considering her father's violent outbreak in the last episode, it was a surprisingly courageous act. In a typical Meredith fashion, she didn't reach out for anyone. She retreated into her dark self. Still, Derek brought a black suit, just in case. Letting love in is a test that Meredith cannot pass with flying colors.

She soldiered on. Until her drunk, disturbed and grief stricken father bashed into the hospital to humiliate and reject her once again. Thatcher slurred those three little words that everyone longs to hear, "You're not wanted." Anything else we can dump on top of this pool girl? After surviving her father's emotional attack, Meredith powered down. She shut off and detached from her life. Can we blame her? She walked away from the intern test and stepped even further from Derek. The interns tossed Meredith a line and rescued her from her own debilitating darkness. They convinced the chief to let her take the test again. They would not leave her behind.

"How many years can a mountain exist, before its washed to the sea?"

Cristina and Burke were just 24 hours away from their wedding. Burke was caught up in the best man woes, wedding vow pressures and regular pre-day detail. Cristina had typical bride-like anxieties, too. However, her concerns were centered on her test day rather than wedding day. I would like to know who chose the date for this wedding. Who plans a wedding one-day before the most significant moment in a person's career? TV writers-that's who. Cristina writing wedding vows was about as natural as her wearing pink nail polish and glittery lip-gloss. Burke expects that all of his doubts will disappear when Cristina walks down the aisle. Perhaps, this will be the first test she fails.

"How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free?"

Ava betrayed Alex by not admitting that her memory had returned. She is not interested in living the life that belongs to her. She was a pregnant girl, in a lousy marriage, to the nicest man on the earth. He's a woodworker and she is bored. So, she left him and took a ride on a ferry. We all know what happened next. Now there's Alex and it seems like Ava would rather stay at Seattle Grace with him, than go anywhere else.

"How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?"

George acknowledged the poor decisions people make when they are dealing with the loss of a loved one. George is a good man and he is in the wrong marriage. The question is whether or not in his quest for moral ground if George will stay with Callie to avoid hurting her or if he will transfer to Mercy West at the sacrifice of his career. His relationship with Callie and with Izzie has already been compromised. As much as he is the good guy, the trusted friend and honorable man, he is also the man who cheats on his wife. He is standing stuck in the wake of his mistakes and there are no easy answers out.

"How many seas must a white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand?"

Poor Addison couldn't catch a break; everywhere she looked there were reproductively healthy, pregnant woman. The fertility gods must have wanted to rub her face in her physical limitations. To add insult to injury, even Richard's 50-something year old ex-wife, Adele, is with child. On behalf of all women with a ticking Timex biological clock, hurrah for Adele and her late in life, post divorce pregnancy, even if she did seem to miscarry at the end of the show.

Derek stood 1,000 miles away from Meredith. The distance is clearly wearing on him. Her dark personal retreats hurt him and push him away. Still, even in the chill of their relationship, he was loyal to Meredith and did not accept the drink from the pretty young thing at the bar. But he did seem tempted. "How many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind."

Lyrics by- Bob Dylan "Blowing in the Wind"

Even for the most loyal devotee, two hours straight is a whole lotta Grey's, so I'm hoping that when Addison's show does arrive this fall, as I'm sure it will, ABC doesn't put it directly after Grey's at 9P CST on Thursdays. It's true that one can have too much of a good thing.

Click here to read the rest of A Double Dose of Grey's

ABC 's Grey's Anatomy swept the Thursday night (9-11pm) timeslot averaging 20.97 million viewers with this week's episode titled, "The Other Side of This Life." It was a two-hour extended episode that introduced a possible spin-off of the tentatively titled Private Practice. Whether in Seattle or Santa Monica, these people are dreaming. Dreaming of better lives, dreaming of escapes and dreaming of love, sweet love. It is easy to feel trapped and natural to want to run. At Seattle Grace, these doctors were born to run.

Unbeknownst to Cristina, her mother and Burke's "momma" are in town to help plan their wedding. If there was every a time to run, it would be now Cristina. The mothers have decided there must be colorful flowers, a big white dress and sugary sweet bridesmaids. Come on now ladies. The robot in a white coat can't get married under such conditions. Cristina agreed to a beige and impersonal city hall type wedding. Burke knows who she is, why does he expect her to change? Miraculously, Cristina goes with the pressure flow and participated in rounding up some bridesmaids. She started by asking Callie to be in the wedding, which one can assume she did in a state of delirium because she barely ever speaks to her. Callie fittingly accepted the honor by silently mouthing, "I'm gonna kill you" to Cristina. Sugary sweet indeed.

"Will you walk with me out on the wire. 'cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider. But I gotta find out how it feels. I want to know if love is wild, girl I want to know if love is real"

Burke stumbles across George who is lost in the land of relationship doubt. These two men are too confused to offer any guidance to each other. George is still soldiering forward with his request to transfer to Mercy West. Clearly, he does not have the strength to resist his lust for Izzie, as evidenced during their passionate kiss on the two-minute elevator ride. Callie was standing there, bright-eyed and lovable, when the elevator doors opened. This love triangle is about to shatter. You can feel it coming.

"We gotta get out while were young, 'cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run."

Susan, Meredith's stepmother beautifully played by Mare Winningham, came into the clinic for a bad case of acid reflux and hiccups. Bailey pumped her with an anti-psychotic medicine but that only offered temporary relief. The next step was an outpatient procedure involving Susan's esophagus. Thatcher seemed to be the only person anxious about the dangers of her surgery. In efforts of bringing them closer, Susan asked Meredith to stay with her father during the surgery. Meredith stayed with Thatcher, trying to put him at ease. Susan came back to the hospital hours later battling an infection from the surgery. Meredith downplayed the procedure and assured her father that everything would be fine.

Unfortunately, Susan's complications got worse and she needed an emergency surgery. Thatcher was panicked, with good reason. Susan died. Her death was completely unexpected and it makes no sense to me that they would kill off such a great character. I loved the budding relationship between Susan and Meredith. God forbid the tortured Meredith has something nurturing and loving in her life for longer than 45 seconds. For some ridiculous reason, Richard and Bailey thought it was best that Meredith (who just started speaking to her father a few weeks ago and recently almost killed herself) would be the best person to tell Thatcher that Susan died. What were they thinking? Wasn't it Richard who was just preaching not long ago about his commitment to taking care of Meredith? Brilliant plan. In a rage of grief, Thatcher slapped Meredith and blamed her for Susan's death.

In typical Meredith fashion, she ran away from her father, from Derek and straight to a bottle of tequila with her friends. Meredith clearly has a dark and twisted ride ahead of her. She has just lost the first motherly relationship she has ever had. She has potentially lost the first fatherly relationship she has ever had. And Derek. Meredith asked him not to give up on her but it looks like he is getting ready to go.

"Together we'll live in the sadness. I'll love you with all of the madness in my soul."

Ava's brain is bleeding. Derek didn't know if the bleeding was from the accident or one of her numerous surgeries. Needless to say, she had to undergo a dangerous brain surgery (while awake) that could have potentially brought back her memory. Ava was thrilled at the possibility of having her life back and couldn't wait for them to dig around in her head. During the surgery, we learn that Ava can speak Spanish, French and German. Wow. Who is this girl? Sadly, when she woke from surgery, she still didn't know who she is. Or so we think. Alex was there for Ava in that loving but distant Alex type of way. There is something to be said about the way Alex functions in relationships. We know so little about him and I'm guessing that his storyline is going to break wide open. Show us your baggage Alex.

And then there was Addison.

"Someday girl, I don't know when were gonna get to that place, where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun. But till then, tramps like us, baby we were born to run."

Addison showed up at the Oceanside Wellness Group in Santa Monica looking like she just stepped out of a magazine but complaining about smelling like a woman who just spent two days in a car. Please. Let's get realistic here. She strutted into her new life with that fiery red hair blazing. Not sure if her new life will take off though. Private Practice was met with mixed reactions from viewers and critics alike. Viewers didn't want to be robbed of Grey time and critics just didn't like it. Gregory Kirschling from Entertainment Weekly.com referred to the proposed new series as dead on arrival. While Allessandra Stanley from the New York Times considered the show to be self-denigrating. Yikes.

Okay, it wasn't perfect but it has potential. It has the cast. It has the chemistry (mostly between Addison and Pete). More importantly, it has Executive Producer, Shonda Rhimes, at the helm. Would I watch it? Honestly, I don't know. That kiss in the stairwell could inspire me to tune in once or twice.

Introducing the recognizable cast of the potential spin-off:

Let's start with my favorite, Pete (Tim Daly of "Wings," and "The Nine") a sexy, holistic doctor who specializes in herbs, acupuncture and tongue kisses. He is a widower who hides his grief in meaningless one-night stands. Violet (Amy Brenneman from "Judging Amy") is a therapist beginning to doubt the substance of her work and whose ex-boyfriend just recently got married to a 20-something dimwit. Noami (Merrin Dungey from "Alias) a fertility specialist and Addison's best friend from med school. Just recently divorced and resisting an affair with 20 year old surfer/receptionist. Sam (Taye Diggs from "Day Break," and "Kevin Hill") is Naomi's ex-husband and TV health guru. Cooper (Paul Adelstein from "Prison Break") is a quirky but weird pediatrician who has serious dating issues. And Dell (Chris Lowell from "Veronica Mars") is the hunky surfer/receptionist who has a crush on Naomi and parades around the office with his shirt off.

Long story short, we don't have to invest in this show or these characters right now. We are leading up to the Grey's finale and, at this point, that is all we have to care about.

Lyrics by- Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

...is, of course, the two hour Grey's Anatomy, airing tonight. If you don't live under a rock, you've already heard probably more than you'd like about tonight's episode. It will combine the typical hour of SGH cases, love, and angst with Burketina wedding preps (sure to be amusing.) and Addison's road trip to LA which will serve as a springboard for a spin off show starring Kate Walsh.

Click here to read the rest of The Two Hour Event Everyone is Talking About!