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Review: 'Grey's Anatomy' season finale

Verne Gay | Off Camera

May 22, 2008

Reason to watch: This is the end, or, should we say the end - a big, meaty, two-hour wrap that promises to resolve that Mer/Der thing, and maybe - OK, almost certainly - tell us more about that Hahn/Torres thing, too.

What to expect: ABC and even the normally loquacious creator Shonda Rhimes, who every year around this time likes to spill to Entertainment Weekly, her own personal house organ, have been circumspect on finale plot details.

Yes, there's the picayune ABC wrap that says Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek ( Patrick Dempsey) will "successfully" complete their clinical trial, though it does drop an alluring tip - that Lexie (Chyler Leigh) will learn something odd about George's (T.R. Knight) "intern status." That's it. We're otherwise left to fend for ourselves. (Though, as promos promise, Cement Boy must be freed from that block of hardening concrete; umm, why weren't the firemen called in?) Clearly, there's one massive element that will, or must, crowd these two hours: Meredith's incredibly difficult exercise in self-awareness, and the abused Dr. Wyatt (Amy Madigan) who's midwife to her demons.

The bottom line: Griping about "Grey's Anatomy" is almost as popular (and tiresome) as griping about " American Idol." The truth is, these complaints are richly justified. But whether gripers care to admit it, "Grey's" has improved in recent weeks. Reason? We see foreward - and not circular - movement, for a change. "Grey's" was so damaged by the Izzie (Katherine Heigl)/George affair early in the season that if blog threads were cords, then a few million fans would have strangled the show with them.

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Izzie and George and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) are solo again; Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) and Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) are about to embark on what Hahn might call a "Sapphic adventure." And Meredith, for the first time in just about, well, forever, is tackling that which psychically ails her.

Pompeo candidly told EW that "the relationship stuff with Patrick was ... so repetitious and I had nothing new to give." We know! Everyone knows, Ellen! (And finally, Shonda does, too!) Madigan's Dr. Wyatt promises to heal not just Mere - and enrich Mer/Der - but maybe even an entire franchise.

GREY'S ANATOMY. Tonight at 9 on ABC/7.