anna genoese

Is anyone else watching this season of Grey's Anatomy? That show just sucks me in. I thought that the last two episodes of season six were just really fantastic television. Maybe not high art, but I rarely care about that so much in the face of great entertainment.

I can't stop loving Cristina Yang, who for the last seven years has been my #1 favorite female character on television. Heck, even Meredith and Derek and their wildly ridiculous relationship have grown on me.

I particularly love the way that Meredith and Cristina are soul mates without being "in love" -- I think the writing really represents female friendships in a super positive (and super realistic) way. And attached to that, I like how, as my friend disarm_d put it, Derek and Cristina "have intimacy through osmosis"... in some episode (this season? last season?) Derek tells Owen that no matter what happens, Derek would always take Cristina's side, because Owen is his friend, but "Cristina is my wife's soul mate."

I love it.

I would love to find a book whose author pulls off something similar -- although it's hard to pack six seasons of history into a consistently good series. And I'll be honest -- after season one, watching Grey's Anatomy was mostly an exercise in recreational outrage with a few highlights. Until season six. So I guess what I really want is an author who pulls off what Grey's Anatomy did last season and part of this season (so far), but so much better.

The reason I'm writing all this, though, is because I often say that I really hate miscommunication drama. When I was acquiring, I specifically avoided acquiring books in which the main plot could be resolved if the two protagonists just had a decent conversation over drinks. Even now, if I read a book in which the big plot could be resolved that way, I feel unsatisfied and irritated.

This season on Grey's Anatomy, though... there is a huge miscommunication drama -- between Avery and, basically, everyone else. I'm not sure that I'd recommend watching this season if you haven't watched the others (although probably you could start with season six, which is streaming through Netflix right now, and catch up easily... if you have the patience for soapiness), but the way the writers are dealing with what is basically a miscommunication plot is seriously delighting me. It is actually written like they are people -- people who just can't communicate, who misinterpret and misunderstand, who get frustrated and impatient and act in haste.

I'm trying not to spoil anything, so I'm leaving out the details, but !!!! I find it so exciting and wonderful and amazing when television shows can pull off what they're going for. And the Avery miscommunication plot is just a sublime example of how to do miscommunication/misinterpretation without it seeming forced, stupid, or just plain silly.

(Which, unfortunately, means that for me, subplots like Callie's, Sloan's, and Teddy's have me rolling my eyes. I still can't figure out why Teddy, Owen, and Cristina didn't just have a threesome last season. I honestly thought that the show was going to go there -- I mean, why not? Plenty of people find polyamory to be very fulfilling and satisfying, and I think a true threesome would have solved basically every single Cristina/Teddy/Owen problem from last season... and this season, too. It's a damn shame I'm being subjected to boring, easily fixed/solved bullshit.)

Anyway, I just thought I'd note that for the very first time, I've found a miscommunication story that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. So far, anyway. Who knows what's going to happen on Thursday!

Day 15 - Favorite female character

I have a hard time with female characters on television because most of them do not reflect my experiences in any way at all. It's really tough for me to engage with them, for me to find a way into understanding their characters. I tend to end up empathizing and identifying the most with really villainous and/or underdeveloped characters -- like Anna from Alias or Faith from Buffy or Madeline from Nikita or Admiral Cain from Battlestar Galactica.

When Grey's Anatomy first premiered, it was a big shock to me, because suddenly I intensely identified with a female character who was a main character!!! Ah, Cristina Yang. How much did I love her? Let me count the ways! Well, no, I won't, but those of you who have been reading this blog for more than a month or two know that I love really strong, flawed, well-written women, and Cristina Yang is exactly that -- with the additional plus of also being of a mindset that I can appreciate and relate to. Take no crap, don't bullshit yourself or other people, and just do what you have to do.

But I quit watching Grey's Anatomy by the end of the second season, since all the other characters were on my nerves all the time and I hated a lot of the writing.

Then I did something stupid. I thought with much longing about how much I loved Cristina in the first season and a half of the show, and I... watched it again. And then I kept going and watched through the end of season five, and by the end of season five, not only did I hate Cristina, but I hated every single character on that show, and everyone involved in making it, and all of the advertisers that supported it.

So probably I'd say Cristina Yang through the middle of the second season of Grey's Anatomy.

Oh oh oh -- and Ruth from Spooks, who I freaking adored. Yay Ruth!!! She was so quietly competent, so smart, so clever, and yet in no way perfect!



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