Note: We are going to be discussing the third season of a very popular prime-time television show. Spoilers will be in this review for certain events this season, as well as the prior two. There will be no discussion as to the events of the season’s finale though other than established casting facts. Don’t say I didn’t warn you… 

My whole family has been in and out of hospitals their entire lives – including myself. Getting treatment, dying, giving birth, and in the case of both my mother and I, working there. Anyone who spends enough time in a hospital, regardless of their position, is forever changed. They begin to develop a case of “heard it all, seen it all” and it becomes apparent that every acquaintance who doesn’t work in the field can see them wearing that vibe on their shoulders with a weight Atlas would be impressed to behold, although the hospital employee is usually so immersed in this feeling that they don’t tend to notice it themselves. 

Myself, I was the “Health Unit Coordinator” on a birth ward. Guys, unless your name happens to be Wilt Chamberlain, I have seen more vagina than you. Don’t get too excited though, most of these visual memories I would rather give back. Like I said… changed. The experience, though, was rewarding in a great many ways. I was fresh out of high school at the time and worked exclusively with an entire floor of women. No men – just women. You know how your parents told you that the real world is nothing like high school? When you work with only women, it’s exactly high school. Popularity contests are all over the place. Possessiveness over simple free objects becomes critical. Everyone, everyone, menstruates at the EXACT SAME TIME! Everyone’s tired from doing 12-hour shifts. People gossip when the doctors or director aren’t looking. 

And you know what? Just like high school – I kind of miss it. 

Which brings me to Grey’s Anatomy. There have been lots of hospital shows over the years. St. Elsewhere, E.R., hell, even Scrubs. They all have their own element of truth to them, but absolutely none of them echo the true, often selfish drama of real life hospital employees, particularly young ones, than this show. 

For those that have followed the show, I don’t have to tell you how jaw-droppingly awesome the season finale of the second season was. In fact, I don’t know if it is possible to explain why it is so great to someone who hasn’t watched all of the first two seasons. That’s just the reality of the situation with long-running dramatic shows; you can’t easily “tune-in.” You establish your feelings for the characters over time, and when you invest yourself in characters over hours and hours of your life, naturally people tend to get a bit critical when things don’t go into a direction that they like. That’s just life. 

When we last left the staff of Seattle Grace Hospital, Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl, Knocked Up) lost her patient/fiancé, Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Watchmen), who she just saved when he dies of a blood clot after a successful heart transplant. Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo, Old School) is faced with the choice of romantically involving herself (again) with the still-married Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey, Sweet Home Alabama) or Dr. Finn Dandridge (Chris O’Donnell, Batman Forever), the veterinarian that had to put her cancer ridden dog to sleep. Oh, and Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Thomas, Hollywood Homicide) survived a gunshot, but might not have complete control over his “$2 million a year hands,” which are now having intermittent tremors. After two years of build-up, this summary doesn’t do justice the gut-punch that the series gave its viewers. It was one hell of a way to provide a cliffhanger to the second season’s finale. 

The third season finds the young doctors reaching the end of their internship at Seattle Grace and it’s their most tumultuous time yet. Izzie has a tough time coming back into the program following Denny’s death, and even after doing so, she isn’t allowed to participate in operations or talk to patients until she earns trust back from Chief of Surgery Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.). His wife, Adele (Loretta Devine, Dreamgirls), is tired of living a childless life without her husband, so she gives him an ultimatum to retire or get a divorce. Because of this, a race starts among the already competitive staff surgeons to vie for his position. While Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Burke are the most likely candidates, Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh, Kicking & Screaming) and the plastic surgeon that she once cheated with, Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane, X-Men: The Last Stand), are also quite in the running. 

Other interesting developments occur with Dr. George O’Malley (T.R. Knight) and Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). Callie is not well liked among Meredith and Izzie, who both look to George as their male confidant, and despite the two of them getting married in Las Vegas, shotgun style, George isn’t so sure about whether or not it was the right idea either. George’s regard for their marriage is further put to stress when Callie becomes obsessed with the fact that Izzie (George’s friend from day one) has more than friendship in mind and the revelation that Callie has been hiding things about her past. Oh, and that in a moment of weakness goes home with another doctor doesn’t help marital matters, either. 

The romantic woes don’t end there, though. Dr. Burke and intern Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh, Hard Candy), who got together in the previous season, soon become engaged. The established romance between them is an interesting one since it certainly isn’t based on lust but on an actual respect for one another, intellect, and a teacher/student need for each other. Dr. Burke’s desire for a traditional wedding clash with Christina’s more modern attitudes – as does Burke’s entire family. She has also been covering for him in every surgery since he’s continuing to have the hand tremors and it doesn’t take long for others to start noticing. 

So there is all of this romantic action going on, with further subplots galore. It’s really amazing that the staff of Seattle Grace find any time to perform surgeries. I think this is where a lot of the criticism of the third season stems from. At least, it’s the only real criticism that I have. The first two seasons did a fine job of balancing the ensemble cast but keeping the hospital drama in tact. Amazing surgeries, presented as gorily as they would be in real life, forcing doctors to act quickly and remain on their toes as missing the slightest detail would mean losing a life. This aspect is lessened now with seemingly every character sleeping with another character and nothing turning out good for any of them. But I’m not really complaining. That’s the nature of the Soap format. It’s expected, and part of what makes the genre fun. But if the show continues to this extreme in its fourth season, it will be nearly indistinguishable from the mundane soaps of daytime television. 

Although less frequent, there are some really great medical stories in Grey’s Anatomy’s third season. About half-way through the season there is a ferry boat crash with an ocean liner during an especially foggy night rendering hundreds of people missing, dead or injured. It’s great to see the cast responding to an off-site emergency. During the rescue attempt, Meredith nearly drowns and Derek ends up having to rescue her. Izzie has to perform brain surgery on a man pinned between two cars and Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers, Hysterical Blindness) rescues an amnesiac, pregnant Jane Doe (Elizabeth Reaser, Puccini for Beginners) from under a concrete beam. The Jane Doe character remains for the rest of the season and becomes an important patient who ends up being operated on by almost every doctor in the staff but develops an especially strong bond with Karev, who has always been shown as short-tempered and misogynist. Needless to say, this particular accident is instrumental in changing a lot of the staff’s lives. Its ramifications are sure to roll over into the fourth season as well. Other interesting surgeries include George’s father, who has developed cancer, a pair of Siamese twins that are fully grown and want to be separated, a transsexual with breast cancer, a 17-year old girl that can’t walk at anything but a 90 degree angle, and a woman with a rare disease that gradually turns her body to stone. There’s even a patient whose blood is so toxic that anyone performing surgery on them passes out from the exposure. 

Oh, and the patient that gets a fish lodged up his penis. 

Yes, you read that right. 

There is no question when watching these episodes that this was a transitional season for Grey’s Anatomy. Characters present here will not be coming back next season (which starts later this month). Most noticeable will be the absence of Isaiah Washington, who had his contract cancelled after really stupid off-air statements. Dr. Burke was an integral part of Grey’s dynamic and it will be interesting to see how things change with him gone (particularly how Dr. Yang will react following the events of the season finale). Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd, who shamefully only really started to get interesting this season, will be leaving to star in the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off series, Private Practice, which is set in Los Angeles (the final two episodes of this season act as a backdoor pilot for the new series). 

Season three is, as you might have heard, not as great as the awesome second season. But by the end of season three, there is no question that I found myself salivating for season four of Grey’s Anatomy and the new Private Practice to begin. Nothing that I can spend 19 hours with and still leave me wanting more can be considered anything less than great entertainment. Everyone should be watching this show, and since everybody should be watching Ugly Betty, which airs immediately preceding Grey’s Anatomy, you have no excuse not to. 

The DVD Presentation 
Grey’s has always been broadcast in the widescreen standard 1.78:1 and its third season is presented on DVD anamorphically, just like the last two seasons were. And, just like those releases, I have zero complaints about the transfer. The image looks perfect in every way. Audio is equally impressive. The 5.1 mix included kicks all sorts of ass in its sound design. In a hospital, things are going on all around you. This mix replicates that perfectly. And, of course, the show’s trademark soundtrack is perfection. Can’t hear well? Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French. 

And the Extras Are? 
Three Audio Commentaries – 
Only three episodes (out of 25) have commentary tracks. It’s a shame really, because the commentaries that are here fans will find interesting. I never listened to the commentaries on the previous two seasons, but if they are anything like these I may have to revisit them. 

Making Rounds with Patrick Dempsey – (10:23) 
The first featurette is about Patrick Dempsey’s obsession with race cars and how he wants it to become his second career. You know what? I could care less. Nothing here has anything to do with the show. Move on.  

Shades of Grey: One on One with Ellen Pompeo – (8:39) 
This is better; this is an examination of the Meredith Grey character with the actress and the writing team. Not exactly revealing, but it does discuss the qualities of the character and where Ellen Pompeo draws her traits from.  

Prescription for Success: Jane Doe Unmasked – (8:34) 
The Jane Doe character was introduced about half-way through this season and from her first appearance in a ferry accident to her spot in the season finale, her appearance went from tragically horrible to the actress’s real face. This featurette does an interesting job of tracking the make-up effects at the different stages. The actress who played her, Elizabeth Reaser, also talks about what it was like to play the character and how it was interacting with the regular actors through the intense make-ups. This is one of the more interesting features on the set. 

Dissecting Grey’s Anatomy: Unaired Scenes – (13:28) 
Eleven deleted scenes are included from nine different episodes. For the most part, none of them are very long and most likely they were cut for time. There is one interesting alternate scene that has Christina revealing her engagement to Meredith earlier and two scenes of Christina trying on wedding dresses and a final exchange between Sloan and Shepherd that make this worth watching.   

Good Medicine: Favorite Scenes – (9:26) 
A pretty fluffy feature to be sure. I did enjoy listening to the cast members point out what scenes they thought were among the best from this season. It’s great to listen to the cast recant why they like the humor or drama, or simply why they enjoyed performing certain parts.  

In Stitches: Season 3 Outtakes – (4:20) 
Never in the history of the “outtakes” feature has there been a single one that makes a substantial contribution to the DVD, but they are great diversions and often entertaining. This brief collection is no exception. Watching the girls of Grey’s Anatomy striking Charlie’s Angels poses and listening to actors who play believable medical professionals stumble over words like appendectomy and endoscopy never gets old.  

Trailer Gallery 
Rounding out the set are some trailers for other Buena Vista television DVDs that are either released, or soon will be. Meet the Robinsons, Brothers and Sisters – First Season, Ugly Betty – First Season, What About Brian? – First and Second Seasons, Desperate Housewives – Third Season and Lost – Third Season. Also in this gallery is the theatrical trailer for the upcoming movie The Game Plan, a promo spot for the new SoapNet channel and a preview of the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy which is spoiler free, no more than a few seconds long and relatively pointless.  

The packaging is in the slipcase style that TV-on-DVD consumers are no doubt familiar with. I’m not a fan of having the discs overlap, and I always worry about the digipak style packaging because it’s irreplaceable if broken and because I’m OCD. I prefer the slim-case style myself, but the packaging pairs up nicely with Second Season’s packaging. A nice set of liner notes including the title and a minor synopsis of each episode is included, it also helps as a reference to which episode is on each disc.   

The Bottom Line 
A lot of people have some very negative things to say about Season Three. Well, I have something to say to those people. 

You’re all douchebags. Shut up.  

It may not be as great as the second season, but Grey’s Anatomy – Season Three still holds up incredibly well under reexamination. If you’re a fan, you’re gonna end up buying this anyway, and with such a great presentation and fairly decent extras, you won’t be doing yourself wrong with a purchase. But if you’re new to the show, don’t expect to just waltz your way through Seattle Grace from here. Go start at the beginning with the advance knowledge that you have three (and hopefully four) great years of quality television to catch up on.

		Grey’s Anatomy – Season Three (Seriously Extended)
4		Feature - Nineteen straight hours of addicting television.
5		Video - A perfect presentation.
5		Audio - Fantastic mix for a TV show.
3		Extras - Fluffy, but entertaining extras.

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