What an end to the season!
Amidst rampant rumours that both Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight (the actors who play Izzie Stevens and George O'Malley) are both leaving the show, I somewhat expected there to be a bit of drama involving those two as the Season Finale began.
Izzie's drama was obvious - for weeks, we've known about her having Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, that spread to her liver and brain. Last week, in one heckuva tear-jerker, she and Alex got married (*sigh!*), and they teed up this 2-hour finale by indicating Izzie was possibly heading into surgery that might or might not kill her.
But George? I had no idea what was going to happen to George. If anything was going to happen to George.
I wasn't shocked when he announced that he was joining the army. I figured right there, that was his way off the show. No grisly demise for sweet, adorable George, thank God. Just headin' off to Iraq to be a trauma surgeon, leaving behind the possibility of returning someday. Or dying in the war. I could deal with that.
But I was a little pissed when he seemed completely absent in the second half of the finale. We barely got to see George at all this season, so you'd think, on the day they were shipping his character off to war, he might get a little more screen time, huh?
Instead, the story focussed on a man, a "John Dowe", who was brought in, completely mangled after being hit and dragged by a bus. The fact that he was alive was an absolute miracle. He jumped in front of the bus to save a woman who he had only spoke to for 30 seconds, on the street corner. She stayed by his side at the hospital, declaring to the world that this man was her hero, her prince charming, and if he survived, she would never leave him. This brought up conversation amongst the doctors. Would you jump in front of a bus to save a complete stranger? It's a tough question, and as they said, we'd all like to think we would, but come crunch time, only the truly amazing people of the world would do something so selfless and courageous.
The doctors worked on him mercilessly. Once, during a quiet moment, he tried to write something with his finger on Meredith's hand. She offered him a pen, which he wasn't strong enough to hold.
The only mention of George? Well, they were trying to organize an "intervention" amongst his friends at the hospital - Bailey, Callie, Meredith, Cristina, Alex, even Izzie - to stop him from leaving for the army the next day. They planned to catch him after he was done the surgery he was scheduled to scrub in on.
Meanwhile, Izzie's surgery was successful - or so they thought. Until she woke up and they discovered her short-term memory was shot. Alex spent the whole day making signs for her so she would stop asking the same questions over and over, then he exploded in a burst of frustration at her, which upset her. Then, feeling guilty, he asked if she'd forgotten yet, to which she simply replied, in a clearly hurt voice, "Nope."
It wasn't until much later on in the day that they realized she still hadn't forgotten Alex's angry rant. Cristina ran to tell him that Izzie's memory was coming back. All joy and sunshine at Seattle Grace!!
Ha. Ya, right. It was at about the same time that the crew started to get together for their intervention with George, but the Chief informed them that O'Malley had never scrubbed in for the surgery. After learning that it was his last day before joining the army, the Chief had told him to go home and spend it with his mother.
Cut to John Dowe's hospital room, where he was once again trying to tell Meredith something by writing in the palm of her hand with his finger. This time, rather than trying to give him a pen, she stopped and paid attention: "O...O...7...O...O..7..." she murmured over and over. And that's when we got it, all at the same time...George's nickname, given to him in Season 1 after he almost killed a patient during a routine appendectomy - 007, Licence to Kill.
And cue the gasping, the sobbing, the muffled cries of "Oh my God! OH MY GOD!! It's GEORGE!!"
The last ten minutes finished in a whirlwind of emotion. Alex rushes to Izzie's side to celebrate her returning memory, and she falls unconscious in his arms.The doctors of the hospital all jump to action, dividing themselves between Izzie and the newly-discovered George. In Izzie's room, they disregard her "Do Not Resuscitate" papers and fight to save her life while Alex watches in desperation, tears rolling down his cheeks.
In George's room, they rush to save him with a renewed sense of urgency, now that they know who is, but he flatlines also.And then, they flash to Izzie, getting on the elevator in her gorgeous pink prom dress - the one she was wearing the night Denny died. She presses the buttons, goes up, and when the doors open, there is George standing before her, in full military uniform, his hair buzzed in an army cut, smiling at her, while Meredith's voice-over commands us all to make sure you tell the ones you love how much they mean to you while you still can, because you never know when it might all end.
Dear Lord. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes as I type...
What a finale!!
So officially - we are led to believe that there's a possibility that both Izzie and George died, but it wasn't entirely clear. Ack. I hate cliff-hangers...A whole summer of wondering! Likely it's due to the fact that they are unsure of both of their contracts, and this ending leaves it open for either or both of them to come back after the summer. Or not.
For the record? I can't imagine Seattle Grace without Izzie and George. It won't be the same for me if they are both gone.
But if it does happen? If we've seen the last of Drs. Stevens and O'Malley?
Boy, did they go out with a bang.
