Grey's Anatomy Season Finale: Disturbing and Sad

I was really looking forward to tonight's season finale of Grey's Anatomy. It is one of my "guilty pleasures" and I enjoy watching it after a long day's work. I had heard that this episode was going to be a "tear-jerker", but I didn't end up shedding a single, salty droplet.

I've already grown accustomed to the gory aspects of the show, so the spurting blood and mincemeat face on the "John Doe" patient wasn't as jarring as one might expect. I knew almost immediately that it was George, which I suppose took most of the suspense away from the episode. By the time the revealed the big "twist" I had already resigned myself to the fact that George was not long for the world. T.R. Knights much-publicized fight to be released from his contract this year didn't help matters, either.

The Lexi/Sloane storyline is getting trite and boring already. Part of Mark Sloane's appeal was his confidence and his swagger, and now he's reduced to a whiny, lovestruck puppy. Now that Meredith has finally started showing some relationship maturity, I suppose they're having her pass the "dark and twisty and not ready to commit" torch to her little sister. Ugh...been there, done that....the viewers deserve better. As for Derek and Meredith's "post it note" wedding, I thought it was cute but anti-climactic and a bit of a gyp after all these years. Can't anyone just be happy on this show?

Alex Karev did a great job in this episode: the character's range of emotions from sadness to fear to frustration to elation to despair were subtle and deftly executed. In contrast, Bailey's overwrought scene with the Chief was too over-the-top and self-indulgent. Didn't like it.

Overall, I found this episode to be disturbing. There were some brief moments with Christina and Owen that were fun to watch, but the rest of it was heart-wrenching and sad. The bad outweighed the good in this finale; when the credits rolled, instead of being excited for the start of next season, I was just glad the episode was over.

I don't think that was the reaction Shonda Rimes was looking for. I hope they get their act together over the summer and deliver a more emotionally-satisfying season opener.