Let’s start off with the nice stuff.
Sara Ramirez, who plays Callie, sang the hell out of this episode. She has a lovely voice. She energetically emoted. She underplayed it when the song called for quiet grace. And that opening scene where Callie was having an out-of-body experience and singing as she was brought to Seattle Grace and wheeled into the OR for the first time, that was mighty powerful.
Chyler Leigh (Lexie) and Chandra Wilson (Bailey) also sang exceptionally well throughout. But, then again, we already knew that Wilson could sing. (Last season’s Christmas episode featured songs by Ramirez and Wilson, plus Wilson did that rousing rendition of Billie Holiday’s God Bless the Child in season three. ) The rest of the cast members who took the creative risk of singing seemed to be give it the old college try, even if singing didn’t seem to come naturally to them.
But about halfway through the Grey’s Anatomy “Music Event,” I found myself irritated because I’d had enough of all the songs. I wanted story and the story kept getting slowed down by the onslaught of music. I wanted dark and twisty dialogue. Despite the novelty of having a special musical episode, I no longer wanted to watch the actors sing tunes that had previously been featured on Grey’s Anatomy awkwardly shoehorned into scenes as though the song lyrics could aptly substitute for dialogue.
I was particularly annoyed with the Callie fantasy number where she and Arizona were again in the car together, pre-accident. The sky was sweet confection of pink and purple as Callie started singing this upbeat song about sunshine. Seriously? As images of other Grey’s couples bearing giant smiles and gettin’ busy/being goofily affectionate came on the screen, it felt all wrong. Seeing Meredith and Derek grinning in the On Call room, acting like they just wanted to smile and have sex at that moment … just wrong. Yes, I get that it was all supposed to be taking place inside Callie’s traumatized brain, but it struck me as tonally off.
I was cringing more and more as the episode wore on. Any emotions that had been stirred up at the excellent beginning of the hour had completely dried up by the 30-minute mark. The cast singing How to Save a Life behind their surgical masks … I wanted the singing to stop. I wanted the regular Grey’s back already.
I don’t watch Glee and I’m not a great fan of musicals, at least musicals where all the actors do is sing and utter a handful of words between the tunes. I respect that showrunner Shonda Rhimes wanted to try something wildly different, take a creative chance, showcase Ramirez’s talents and provide the cast with an invigorating departure from the norm, but this episode felt more like it was a gift for the people who work for Grey’s, not for the fans, unless those fans also happen to like musicals.
What did you think of this “very special” and very different episode?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Apr 01, 2011 @ 11:10 EST5EDT
I totally agree. At first it was touching but pretty quickly I was cringing. Then I just couldn’t take it anymore and fast forwarded through all of the singing. Was this Grey’s “jump the shark” moment? All I could picture was Katherine Heigle at home watching it, laughing and high fiving her husband that she’d gotten off the show.
I’m totally with ya on this. The beginning of the episode was so moving and powerful, but then it just screeeeeched to a halt in the middle. The whole “Runnin’ on Sunshine” part was just too much… it was so uncomfortable to watch. Yeesh. Good effort from the Grey’s crew, but… missed the mark.
I actually loved it. It was an escape from the norm and I think the entire cast did a great job of singing/acting. I especially was impressed with Owen-who knew he could sing that well. Give them a little credit people. It was something different and it was enjoyable. I hope they win an award for this episode.
Seriously! I think if you’re going to do a musical episode then _do_ a musical episode. That is, don’t recycle pop songs that were previously featured in the grey’s anatomy soundtrack (thanks for pointing this out, by the way. This explains why the lyrics had nothing to do with the drama unfolding on the screen. I don’t normally pay particular attention to the music, so really didn’t recognize any of the songs), but write lyrics and music for the episode. Joss Whedon’s musical episode for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example, brilliant!! All of the lyrics and music were specially written for the episode, so the music didn’t draw away from the storyline but actually was integral in developing it.
Another comment – _none_ of those actors who are singing are in any way flat, sharp, or off-key, not one of them, and I sincerely find that hard to believe!! Some of the actors on the show I’m sure have great singing voices (Ramirez won a Tony for hers!), but I suspect that for some of the singers, the audio was probably fed through some sort of sound-processor or auto-tuner to reduce imperfections.
I’m a big musical fan, but these episode really sucked!!!, it was so cheese, i just wanted a regular soapy episode, the singing was distracting and took away all the drama that an episode like these could bring. Worse episode ever.
I enjoyed the episode but I did have my problems with it. The Runnin’ On Sunshine was one cause it just didn’t seem to fit. Plus Callie really seems to imagine a lot in the Owen and Christina sex department (cause their clothes were coming off). My biggest problem was when the Owen was singing when they were discussing the case because Callie wasn’t there. It confused me – I understood the singing when Callie was in the room but that was just odd. I assume it happened because Addison just had told Callie they were going to discuss what to do so maybe that was just Callie imagining what was going on — but it didn’t feel like that.
On the whole it was hit and miss, but i did enjoy it I just wish it was better. Plus I really questioned a couple of the songs being iconic Grey’s songs. I love the music they use in this show, often look up and buy some of the songs they use and a couple of them I had no idea they were ever on the show. I wish Into the Sun would of been used. That’s still on my everyday playlist and that was from the superbowl episode (or part 2 it)
In all honesty I think they could of cut at least two songs cause we needed more dialogue to give us a little more depth.
Just my thoughts
I thought it was brilliant!! Very well done and should get a Golden Globe. Singing is hard enough without adding a complicated TV script to it. I LOVED it!!!
i loved this episode i thought it made callie living or dieing really powerful
i would love to see enougher musical episode as ive watch this one about 5 times already and i still love the ep. :)