Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spoiler

[Ro_Laren]

Don't read this post of you don't want spoilers.

I'm just curious what everyone thought of last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event). One of the Doctors, Callie, had gotten in a car wreck. She was really injured, including her brain, and when taken to the hospital was imagining almost all of the doctors at Seattle Grace Mercy Death were singing. It was a Glee style episode (minus the talent).

What did you guys think? While I applaud their creativity I found the singing a little distracting. Especially when they were taking Callie out of the ambulance and I wanted to hear what they were saying, but everyone was singing! Sarah Ramirez, the actress that plays Callie, had the best singing voice, but that was to be expected since she has a Tony Award.

Some Doctors have any solos (Christina, Derek Shepard, Dr. Webber, Addison, Dr. Avery)… I am guessing that is because they don’t really have a good singing voice.

 

[Geck]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

It was interesting, and I generally enjoyed it (as someone who hasn't watched regularly since early season 3), but conceptually it needed to be better thought out. The singing at first seemed to be Callie's brain's coping mechanism, which made sense. But then nobody should have been singing when Callie wasn't around. So some scenes (ie, Lexie singing to Mark in the stairwell) made no sense.

Also, some of the song choices were just poor and didn't fit the tone of the episode. The most blatant was the interlude where they're singing about "running on sunshine" or something and everyone takes a break from worrying about their dying friend to have a sex montage. Uhh....no.

I don't understand the point of bringing Addison in, when she got about 3 lines and didn't sing anything. Didn't add anything.

Overall, enjoyable, and I like seeing another side of the cast. Most of them sounded at least decent, though Ramirez was obviously the star. I might watch the last few episodes of the season just to see how it ends.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

It struck me as an episode that would have been better without singing. Some of them are very good (Callie, Bailey, Owen), but as a narrative device it was rather erratic.

Also, could Arizona please stop acting like her lack of legal rights to the baby has anything to do with her being a lesbian? If she were a dude, she'd be in exactly the same spot.

 

[Ro_Laren]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

Also, some of the song choices were just poor and didn't fit the tone of the episode. The most blatant was the interlude where they're singing about "running on sunshine" or something and everyone takes a break from worrying about their dying friend to have a sex montage. Uhh....no.

The producer's always seem to add gratuitous sex scenes to Grey's episodes. As you mentioned it does seem a little unbelievable that when Callie is on her death bed all of her closest friends decide to have sex with their partners.

I don't understand the point of bringing Addison in, when she got about 3 lines and didn't sing anything. Didn't add anything.

Yeah, she was pretty pointless. I thought I read something somewhere or saw some interview where Kate Walsh admitted she has a bad voice so she sang in the "chorus."

 

[FPAlpha]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

I came home today in the morning and was dead tired after a week of night shifts but still wanted to check out the first few minutes to see what happens after the cliffhanger of last week.

I thought "Cool.. Ramirez has a good singing voice and it's an unusual thing for Greys but it works well.." Then the other doctors chimed in and i was blown away.. didn't expect that at all but personally i think they pulled it off very well.

This episode was one of the most emotional ones (on par with the season 2 Izzy/Danny ending and the hospital shooting) and what's more emotional than songs?

Even though i was tired as heck i still watched the entire episode and couldn't stop and for me it's one of the best Greys episodes of all time. After i woke up later the day i checked a bit on the net and as i expected the fandom was hugely divided.. there was next to no middle ground about this episode and it's understandable.

I applaud the staff and actors for trying something new on the show and taking a risk. We will see if the gamble pays off.. personally i'd use this episode for an Emmy bid. The song selection was beautiful.. lots of Greys signature songs (the title song, Chasing Cars and How to save a life) and some good other ones. Standout performances were Sara Ramirez, Kevin McKidd and Chandra Wilson although the others were not that bad too.

 

[chardman]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

I enjoyed it. I thought it wasn't quite as good as the I-may-be-dying-and-so-I-am-gonna-have-a-medical-musical-fantasy episode of "Chicago Hope" back in October of '97 (Brain Salad Surgery), but much better than the I-may-be-dying-and-so-I-am-gonna-have-a-medical-musical-fantasy episode of "House" a few weeks back (Bombshells).

At least when they did it on "Chicago Hope", when Dr. Aaron Shunt (Adam Arkin) regains consciousness, and they ask him his name to see if he's suffered any memory loss, he at first jokingly replies "Bob Fosse", as the I-may-be-dying-and-so-I-am-gonna-have-a-medical-musical-fantasy device was first featured in Fosse's semi-autobiographical film in 1979 (All that Jazz), which is still the pinnacle of the whole I-may-be-dying-and-so-I-am-gonna-have-a-medical-musical-fantasy genre.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

The shark has been jumped.

 

[chardman]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

The shark has been jumped.

Sorry Dude, but compared to when this series went a whole season with a major character being haunted by her late boyfriend, the other night's musical episode wasn't even remotely in jump-the-shark territory.

 

[Warp Coil]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

It was interesting, and I generally enjoyed it (as someone who hasn't watched regularly since early season 3), but conceptually it needed to be better thought out. The singing at first seemed to be Callie's brain's coping mechanism, which made sense. But then nobody should have been singing when Callie wasn't around. So some scenes (ie, Lexie singing to Mark in the stairwell) made no sense.

Also, some of the song choices were just poor and didn't fit the tone of the episode. The most blatant was the interlude where they're singing about "running on sunshine" or something and everyone takes a break from worrying about their dying friend to have a sex montage. Uhh....no.

I don't understand the point of bringing Addison in, when she got about 3 lines and didn't sing anything. Didn't add anything.

Overall, enjoyable, and I like seeing another side of the cast. Most of them sounded at least decent, though Ramirez was obviously the star. I might watch the last few episodes of the season just to see how it ends.

I agree with all of this. It wasn't a bad idea, and it was an interesting experiment, but I think it should have been thought-through a little more. If the entire episode was supposed to be based around Callie's brain hallucinating a musical as a response to her injuries, then it definitely wouldn't make sense for anyone to be singing if they weren't in the room with her. I also wasn't terribly thrilled with a few of their musical choices, but it was kinda neat to hear classic songs from Grey's, like "Chasing Cars", which was made popular on the show.

Basically, it was okay. Not as bad as it could have been, but not the best. Can't touch Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it comes to a musical episode.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

I ended up watching it and enjoyed it despite not having much of an idea of any of the current storylines. Good episode though and emotional for obvious reasons.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

I really liked it a lot. Owen's rendition of "How We Operate..." He sounded like one of those older rockers.

As for the sex thing... kinda made sense. Callie's brain went into a weird place...

 

[Admiral_Young]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

^ Indeed which was sort of the point of the episode given her opening narration about brain damage.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

Maybe they always sing and a clot in Callie's head which made the singing sound like talking, cleared for a couple hours and she could finally hear the chorus?

 

[CaptainCanada]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

As erratic as I found the use of the music, I will say that the show's cover of "Chasing Cars" is beautiful.

 

[Ro_Laren]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

The shark has been jumped.

Sorry Dude, but compared to when this series went a whole season with a major character being haunted by her late boyfriend, the other night's musical episode wasn't even remotely in jump-the-shark territory.

I was so mad at Grey's Anatomy for those stupid Denny appearances that season!! By the end of the season I just wanted Izzie to do so that I wouldn't have to see Denny anymore!!

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

The shark has been jumped.

Sorry Dude, but compared to when this series went a whole season with a major character being haunted by her late boyfriend, the other night's musical episode wasn't even remotely in jump-the-shark territory.

People on this board like to throw out things like "jump the shark," "Mary Sue" and "90210" without ever actually going into detail about why they said that to begin with. It's like when they say something such as, "Star Trek sucks. Cased closed." When was the case ever opened? You didn't actually make a case for anything.

That being said, Grey's Anatomy is still entertaining but a shell of what it once was. Maybe it has something to do with FOURTEEN characters in the main cast. In order for anyone to get adequate screen time, you have to make them a couple just so that they can be on the screen at the same time.

For a show called Grey's Anatomy, when was the last time a character named Grey was front and center? And there are two to chose from now!

I guess Patrick Dempsey can't complain though, since filming only one or two scenes an episode allows him to make movies at the same time and he still gets paid the same no matter how much or how little he's on the show.

 

[Warp Coil]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

As erratic as I found the use of the music, I will say that the show's cover of "Chasing Cars" is beautiful.

Agreed. They actually did a really good job with this song and sequence. The song works well for the scene, and it's also a song that was used - and made popular - earlier in the series.

 

[Emher]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

I thought it was great. Surprisingly so, because when I heard the idea I sorta went "Eh...really?". But it works. Ramirez was great and McKidd a real surprise. I really love his presence on the show but this was another side to him as an actor that I haven't seen before.

Also I love how squeamish I suddenly got when they where operating on one of the main characters, I'm not usually like that Maybe it's because it was Sara Ramirez, I love her.

 

[FPAlpha]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

The shark has been jumped.

Sorry Dude, but compared to when this series went a whole season with a major character being haunted by her late boyfriend, the other night's musical episode wasn't even remotely in jump-the-shark territory.

People on this board like to throw out things like "jump the shark," "Mary Sue" and "90210" without ever actually going into detail about why they said that to begin with. It's like when they say something such as, "Star Trek sucks. Cased closed." When was the case ever opened? You didn't actually make a case for anything.

That being said, Grey's Anatomy is still entertaining but a shell of what it once was. Maybe it has something to do with FOURTEEN characters in the main cast. In order for anyone to get adequate screen time, you have to make them a couple just so that they can be on the screen at the same time.

For a show called Grey's Anatomy, when was the last time a character named Grey was front and center? And there are two to chose from now!

I guess Patrick Dempsey can't complain though, since filming only one or two scenes an episode allows him to make movies at the same time and he still gets paid the same no matter how much or how little he's on the show.

The cast has gotten quite large but we had at least 5 seasons before to get to know the initial characters well and many of their main storylines are effectively done.. Meredith and Shepard are "married" (i crack up everytime someone brings up the Post it ), George and Izzy are gone , Cristina is in a committed relationship and has worked out her problems etc.

That leaves us the "noobs" and i think they did quite a good job introducing and expanding them.. Greys is one of the very few shows where i believe they handle a big cast well. There may be characters who take a backseat once in a while but they are never forgotten and somewhere down the line they'll get a story again that puts them up front.

I agree that Greys was best in seasons 1-3 but that goes for almost any show that's run as long as Greys but even with 7 seasons (and possibly quite more) it's still very entertaining.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Grey's Anatomy: Song Beneath the Song (AKA The Musical Event)- Spo

As soon as I saw Callie's Ghost walking around I thought.. SHIT!!!

GEORGE! GEORGE! GEORGE! (Of the hospital)

But alas no George.