So, Izzie and George: Dead or alive?
The answer offered Thursday night by ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy certainly seemed to be “dead,” as what had been a casually paced two-hour finale suddenly shifted into shocking twin catastrophes, jolting us out of our pace-induced sense of security. But remember, this is Grey’s, where people have often gone into the light only to saunter back out again.
As always with Grey’s, we won’t know for sure what’s happened to Izzie and George until the show — as in showrunner Shonda Rhimes— wants us to. Some will no doubt read finality into that final scene. But from here it played like a cliffhanger, and a great one, at that.
We knew of course that Izzie’s life was up for grabs, as Katherine Heigl’s character has spent much of the season battling cancer. Still, the two-part episode did an excellent job of keeping us guessing as to her fate, making us think first that she would die; then that she would survive but with no short-term memory; and then that she would recover fully.
Then came that last-second spinaround, with Izzie flat lining as her newlywed husband Alex watched in horror. While the doctors struggled to save her, we saw her back in her Season 2 prom dress seemingly meeting on the other side with an also departed George.
Still, if Izzie was a surprise, George’s brilliantly disguised predicament was the real stunner. At the end of the first hour, T.R. Knight’s doctor joined the Army — and then disappeared, as the staff shifted its attention to an unrecognizable man who had heroically thrown himself in front of a bus to save a woman.
Just as you were most likely getting annoyed that the show had once again allowed George to vanish (something he did far too regularly this season), Meredith discovered he’d been there all along. He was the hero, and when last we saw him, he appeared to be dying on the operating table.
Give credit to the show for pulling off a double feint and leaving us in doubt, something that’s hard to do with series regulars. On the other hand, uncertainty is easier to pull off when an actor’s commitment to a show, or the show’s commitment to an actor, becomes a topic of public discussion.
As important as those two life-in-the-balance plot points were, they weren’t the only character shifts. Bailey gave up her pediatric fellowship and her husband, pretty much in that order. Cristina decided to take a chance on Owen. And while Derek and Meredith didn’t actually get married, they did pledge their love by Post-It, one of those pitch-perfect comic/romantic Grey’s scenes that sounds impossible in print but works on screen.
Despite the rush provided by those final scenes and the buzz they’re certain to provoke, the finale as a whole was not Grey’s at its absolute best; for most of the way, it lacked the emotional punch of last week’s Izzie/Alex wedding. Even so, it was filled with the kind of lovely, humorous grace notes Grey’s does so well: George leading Izzie to the decision she’s already made; Cristina forcing herself to tell Owen she loves him; Alex screaming at Izzie, then hoping she’ll forget it; and pretty much anything Bailey did.
Yet for the show’s future health, the best part was seeing Meredith finally happy, looking forward to the future and convinced she should share it with Derek. The will they/won’t they dynamic is out of steam; it’s time to commit to “they will.” Which means next season, we may even get the wedding we missed out on last night.
As for whether George and Izzie will attend, we won’t know that until the guest list is released.
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