Le Critique: Grey’s Anatomy Music Event

The much anticipated Grey’s Anatomy Music Event came and went. Much like everyone else, I was of course skeptic, but not as much as everyone else actually. It’s because I’ve always known that Sara Ramirez is a respectable singer (hello, Tony Award winner?!), and that Chandra Wilson also has a musical background. I’ve thought several times, especially with how the Grey’s Anatomy episodes these days do not compare to seasons 1 – 3, Sara needs to be singing! So in a way, though cynic as I was for this musical event, all in all, I more than welcomed it, I longed for it. And that was why I made sure when I watched it, I had the time to dissect everything, more so that I can give the credit that is due to these actors, especially Sara.

First of all, the storyline was great, and I know that based on how much I cried watching it. There is no doubt that everyone upped their game for this episode. Of course, Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey did not sing, and to be honest, I didn’t care for that because even in hallucinations, I don’t think Cristina and Derek would be singing anyway. Nonetheless, they were still very much a part of the story. I loved the scene when Cristina was visualizing the heart with her eyes closed. She had an idea to help Callie, and that’s the hardcore brilliant Cristina I’ve been waiting for to emerge, the one that learned from Burke. Rightfully so, the idea she had was an operation she performed with Burke.

The Callie-centric episode was much awaited for me. I’m quite a fan of Sara and I love her as Callie. I think this is also the most beautiful we’ve seen Dr. Torres. We all love her smile, but in this episode, she’s not just hot anymore. She was stunning, and I love her make-up. Of course, her voice, wow, her voice is just amazing. I’ve heard her as the Lady in the Lake in Spamalot, and she was awesome there. Finally her professional singing career, as well as Chandra Wilson’s, have been used. The shocker for me was Kevin McKidd, and it was good getting hints of that Scottish accent that we know of from Trainspotting. Though Chyler Leigh’s voice is not one I’d be fond of, she was not bad too. The first song, Chasing Cars, was sang by Sara, Chandra and Kevin.

posted by Rentheadnel on YouTube

So like I mentioned, it seemed everyone stepped up for this episode. I took notice of Eric Dane’s acting as Sloan. Well, he finally acted. He’s more than just a pretty face with two line fillers. However, I am not keeping my hopes up that that will be the same in the coming episodes.

The songs were chosen well. I love that Wait by Get, Set, Go was sang. It was appropriate too. Running on Sunshine is one of my favorites, I sing that to Chef all the time when he’s making me happy lol. I love the way it was sung, and the characters that sung them, but, here’s the big but, the music video to it was aweful! The way it was set up for them to sing it was a stretch. And, all their moves for this particular song was so forced. Grace, which I’ve posted on our Music & Lyrics series, was included. I loved it. Maybe because it was all Sara. No nuisance singing from other characters just to give them opportunity to sing. Of course, How to Save a Life was included. The pitch was lower than I would prefer, but I guess it’s more manageable in a sense. I like that Meredith sang for this song. This is really the Grey’s Anatomy song, which is really her. And her voice is not bad at all. It’s good that it was sang by the ensemble, but of course, Callie puts them all in their places when she steps in with that powerful voice of a true diva (used diva in reference to her character in Spamalot, which she won a Tony for, just FYI). This we see even more when she sang The Story.

posted by Rentheadnel on YouTube

Now, this of course was not the most perfect episode. The sound editing is horrible. I mean, come on, we know they are lip-synching but the editing these days should be so good that that simple component has no excuse to be sub-par. As for the cinematography, it moved too fast. They wanted to put as much songs as they did, I get that. But switching from scene to scene so abruptly made the whole thing choppy. They should have made this a two-hour special.

Nonetheless, I was quite happy with it. It’s been a while that I’ve been impressed by Grey’s Anatomy, and that’s sad considering it’s one of my favorite shows and that I resort to my Grey’s Anatomy season 1 – 3 DVD when I just want to chill. This is the type of effort that I am hoping for in every episode, which was how it used to be.

Check out Rentheadnel‘s channel on YouTube with all the songs from the show.