‘Grey’s Anatomy’ recap: Harper-ing a grudge

By on Oct 31, 2017 in Recaps |

Brain tumor be damned, Amelia is not the doctor that dies this week — though the one who does kick the bucket does so at a very convenient time for the subordinate he has just fired. Here’s all that happened on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Episode 3: “Go Big or Go Home.” From neurosurgeon to neuro patient We all think that this episode is picking up right where the last one left us, with Amelia examining the grapefruit-sized tumor she just realized was hitchhiking in her brain but — surprise, surprise — she’s been staring at it for a week and not telling anyone. Of her colleagues, only DeLuca knows and only because he was there at the time of diagnosis. Amelia brings in Tom Koracick, head of neuro at Johns Hopkins and her (arrogant) former teacher. And that dude gives her a hard dose of reality. “Your plans, your judgement, your decision making, your impulse control — it’s all your tumor....

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ recap: Tumor has it

By on Oct 18, 2017 in Recaps |

Amelia, we hardly knew ye? The younger Dr. Shepherd faces an ironic twist of fate this week — while Nathan and Owen royally screw up their love lives — on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Episode 2: “Get Off on the Pain.” On the hunt for an abdomen Megan is a woman of jokes and silver linings, but she has neither when she wakes up to discover her abdomen is still wide open: Meredith’s operation didn’t work. For her part, Mer is on a rampage, destroying the attending lounge as Richard and Maggie bear witness. “Suffering is optional,” Mer says via voiceover, quoting that pithy saying we’ve all heard. “That person didn’t know that the f—k they were talking about.” (That f-bomb was cleverly censored by Mer slamming the door.) Later, Mer is picking at the seam where Alex patched up her bedroom wall — back when she took down Derek’s impromptu mural — when she gets a flash of inspiration. She wants...

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ recap: Home is the Hunt

By on Oct 13, 2017 in Recaps |

Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and a new season of Grey’s Anatomy every year. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again (many times, probably): This show will outlive us all. And that suits me just fine. I’ve been recapping Grey’s professionally and recreationally for over half its lifespan now, and I’m not stopping now… especially not when showrunner Krista Vernoff is back at the help and getting the cast and crew to film on location in Seattle. The show looks great and engages even better so far. Let’s scrub in on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Episode 1: “Break Down the House.” The women of Owen’s life Season 14 scoops us up exactly where Season 13 dropped us off, with Owen and Amelia watching medics offloading Megan, his recently-found sister, from a helicopter at an army base. Megan feigns the whole “Do I know you?” thing, but she actually seems fine… mentally and...

Required reading: Jesse Williams’s powerful BET Awards speech

By on Jun 29, 2016 in Tinseltown |

This blog has been long dormant, but some pop culture moments cannot be ignored — including the speech Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams delivered as he accepted the Humanitarian Award at the 2016 BET Awards. Here’s the transcript in toto, thanks to TIME. Peace peace. Thank you, Debra. Thank you, BET. Thank you Nate Parker, Harry and Debbie Allen for participating in that. Before we get into it, I just want to say I brought my parents out tonight. I just want to thank them for being here, for teaching me to focus on comprehension over career, and that they make sure I learn what the schools were afraid to teach us. And also thank my amazing wife for changing my life. Now, this award – this is not for me. This is for the real organizers all over the country – the activists, the civil rights attorneys, the struggling parents, the families, the teachers, the students that are...

Completist destiny: Shows I’ve watched beginning to end

By on Jul 3, 2014 in Inner Monologues |

Completist Destiny, as defined by Wikipedia, is the belief that a television addict such as myself is destined—nay, divinely ordained—to watch a series completely and completely chronologically. Fine, I admit: that might just be a dogma of my own creation. But I stick to it. (This is where you, in solidarity, shout, “Leave no episode behind!”) Of course, I have to compromise sometimes, like when networks boneheadedly air episodes out of order, or when I’m watching TV with someone who’s not as obsessive-compulsive devoted to the intended chronology as I am. Anyway, I was thinking today about the series I’ve watched in their entireties—i.e. series for which I’ve seen every episode made available. Here they all are, from the most prolific to the shortest-lived… and even the ones I’m not so proud I watched! The X-Files (205 episodes)...