In a shocking surprise, Mina and Tommy are on clinic duty while Lily is off working with the “little problem” of a snake bite in the field … if a “bite” is a giant anaconda (just like the movie!) squeezing the shit out of some chick’s boyfriend. Wildlife photographers sure have an exciting job. Other than that, it’s setting aside Lily as the Meredith of the Off The Map gang. I was hoping I could watch without the Grey’s references, but it seemed impossible tonight. Can I blame a three-hour drive in Colorado snow? Possibly, but there’s more to come.
I do NOT like how the elder docs call Tommy “plastics;” it’s too indicative of Grey’s Anatomy. It annoys me. I also found myself annoyed that Mina was putting together a house call kit that was based on her infectious disease background, wistfully imagining perhaps the first jungle outbreak of SARS instead plain old boring illness requiring antibiotics and such. Since that was all before the first commercial, the rest of the show didn’t give me much hope.
Mina is kind of the Cristina, and I was glad to hear Ryan call her out that perhaps a little Spanish class might have been in order before taking the job on an island filled with Spanish speaking citizens … duh! Mina asks about the coroner and funeral home. Who the hell are these kids? I feel like I’ve asked that before, but their due diligence is … frankly, I’m speechless.
For those of you who didn’t notice (and I KNOW you were all big fans), the anaconda victim was Cal from Harper’s Island; from one of the best horror film-type romance stories ever told. Even the song that played during that scene remains one of my favorites, so it was great to see him. And, in this love story, Lily told him to say whatever he wanted, regardless of medical protocol. This is the jungle dammit!
By the end of the episode, the newbies had gained some respect, some doctors moved toward a little nookie and Ryan, even though she constantly wants to quit, kind of became my favorite character. Ben is hotter than any “McEamy” on Grey’s and Lily is less of a sour-puss than Meredith, so at least there’s that. How different things are, and yet how they stay the same. Shonda Rhimes, ladies and gentlemen!
Clacked by Carissa Pavlica 
on Jan 20, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
