Grey's Anatomy at the mid-point

How much am I loving Erica Hahn? She's great at her job, and has no tolerance for all the gossipy flirty silliness that makes up so much of the interactions between the supposed professionals on the show. She's actually focused on her surgeries instead of batting her eyelashes across the operating table.

Here's just a taste from the latest ep:

"I'm sure whatever you're talking about is endlessly interesting, but I had my heart set on saving a life today."

Telling Sloan off: "I came to you because you're supposed to be the best in plastics. But If bad jokes and sleazy come-ons are all I'm in for all afternoon, I'll go to whoever's second best."

Again to Sloan, who tries to bond: "I'm not looking for a window into your soul."

I'm sure eventually she'll fall in bed with someone (a woman?), but I'll enjoy her while it lasts!

Even better, Hahn's appearance has brought a full-force return of Yang's ambition, without any romantic overtones to water it down.

And Bailey is trying to lay down the law as well, in her much deserved ascent to Chief Resident. I had mentioned earlier this season that part of her strength is her mystery, as we never see her home life. But it looks like that may change, as we saw her at home with the baby and husband this episode.

Her quote of the episode: "My hands are smaller than a man's but my brain is much bigger, trust me."

As for the rest of them, ugh. So over Lizzie demanding that George make her happy, Grey demanding that Dreamy fix her, and Grey Jr. demanding the world pay attention to her. Callie has been amusingly snarky, but mostly sidelined, and worryingly optimistic that George and Lizzie won't work out (so she can have him back?? Please, you can do better!!).

Basically, if it weren't for Hahn, Yang, and Bailey, I might have given up on the show, as so many others have done. Thank goodness for fast-forward, so I can skip colliding ambulances and blood geisers!

Grey's vs. Private Practice

I found the premiere of Private Practice excruciating. The main flaw I think is that the spin-off of Grey's Anatomy attempts to simulate the life-or-death tension that lends weight to the parent show, but these situations are at odds with the show's setting: a cushy private clinic in Southern California. So far, the creators have failed to inspire in me any sympathetic feelings for any of the doctors in the clinic, much less their patients. I'll provide a more thorough analysis next week -- if I can stomach another full episode.

As for Grey's Anatomy itself, I have mixed feelings that the characters would approve of and wallow in with me. I have often been a willing victim of the writers machinations, allowing them to yank my emotional chain week after week, working up tears for dying patients and their conflicted doctors.

However, the only character I would unabashedly characterize as a SFL is Dr. Miranda Bailey. Known from the first episode as The Nazi, she is brash, frank, and can be bitter. She does have a softer, kinder side, but she is one of the few characters whose home life is rarely seen. In a four-episode arc, she went home for bed-rest, came back to give birth, and we saw her holding the baby. Since then, we've never seen her husband or child, and we certainly have never seen her making out with any of her fellow residents or an intern.

Because we rarely see Dr. Bailey show sympathy or emotion, it means so much more when she does, compared to Grey moaning for the 400th time about how messed up/depressed she is or that she can't decide whether to break up with Shepherd for the 24th time. Her indecisiveness and whinyness make her for me a completely unsympathetic character.

Yang's stubborn focus and ambition make her my second-favorite character. As with Bailey, her expressions of weakness are much more palatable because they are not, like Meredith's, unrelenting.

And Izzie Stevens? While I never thought her original mettle (overcoming her trailer park upbringing, proving she wasn't an airhead, giving up a daughter for adoption) was softened by her doomed relationship with Denny (a patient who died despite her unorthodox attempts to save him), I think it's now been compromised by her mooning over George (who is married to another hospital colleague). We'll see where they take the pair this year.

The premiere brought to the foreground a new character: Lexie Grey, Meredith's half-sister. It's too early to tell what will happen with her character (who has been brought on as a full regular cast member, beyond her originally-planned story arc). But I hope that she will be not just a shadow of Grey, but rather developed in a completely unique direction. And please don't let her be "dark and twisty"! Despite the fact that they share the same alcoholic dad and both have lost their mothers in the last year - let's see another personality deal with these factors in a very different way.