The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 — 5A

ABC

“Grey’s Anatomy” is still alive and well unlike most of its original cast
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ in critical
condition after 14 seasons

As it hits the 300 mark, it’s time for ‘Grey’s’ to pass on quietly

After watching approximately

one episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,”
most feel as though they could
perfectly
execute
a
coronary

artery bypass surgery (yes, I had
to look that up). The show has been
around for 14 seasons, and last
week marked its 300th episode.
Through all of the medical jargon,
sexual scandals, dramatic deaths,
complicated familial relationships
and job competition, Meredith
Grey
(Ellen
Pompeo,
“Doc

McStuffins”) is still, as they say,
saving lives.

The episode made sentimental

remarks on past characters, the
deceased Dr. George O’Malley
(T.R. Knight, “Genius”) and the
two that left Seattle Grace Hospital,
Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh,
“Catfight”) and Dr. Izzie Stevens
(Katherine Heigl, “Doubt”). Both
characters were the main focus of
the show until they were written
off. “Grey’s Anatomy” revolved
around these four, and Meredith
is currently the only one left. Well,
that depends if you count Dr. Alex
Karev (Justin Chambers, “Broken
City”) or not. He never seemed as
close with the core four.

The main catastrophe plaguing

the hospital in this episode is a
roller coaster accident, in which
two individuals remind the entire
staff of George, Cristina and
Izzie. Mini George and Christina
are injured in the roller coaster
crash, and Izzie’s look alike is
their pregnant friend. All three of
them surprisingly require serious
medical attention.

Although the nostalgia of past

characters makes both Meredith
and the viewer hold onto emotional
feelings, the plotline was forced. It
doesn’t feel natural; if anything it’s
coaxed. It felt like a last-ditched
attempt to make viewers reflect
on past seasons, and in doing that
it reminded me of how “Grey’s
Anatomy” used to be entertaining.

This flashback is a reflection of
how the old Greys worked, and the
current one doesn’t. Now it’s just
over-the-top and exhausted.

The medical drama has passed

its expiration date. There are too
many subplots, unrealistic health
concerns and overplay of sexual
promiscuity. The theatrics are
laughable and very predictable.
A patient cannot simply have one
medical issue, instead he or she has
12 and there is always a heightened
moment of fear. The on-edge and
tense medical procedures are
only interesting when they are
warranted.

It’s agitating watching all of

these diagnoses come out of the
woodwork when it was already
exciting enough. The Izzie look

alike is pregnant and passes out.
So naturally, the doctors test and
find her placenta has a tumor on
it. They immediately go to surgery,
and then they have to perform an
emergency c-section when the
baby is premature. The plot would
have worked if they had her simply
pass out. Not to mention her friends
are on the verge of death after their
serious accident. “Grey’s Anatomy”
piles on the drama to the point
where it only serves to convolute
and overload.

The amount of sexual relations

makes the show hard to follow. At
every turn, someone is sleeping
with someone else, not to mention
during the workday. All the sex can
make the show more interesting,
but once again, it just feels overdone.
Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina
Scorsone, “The November Man”)
walks in on her old flame, Dr.

Owen
Hunt
(Kevin
McKidd,

“Tulip Fever”) and Dr. Carina
DeLuca
(Stefania
Spampinato,

“Two Wolves”) making out, naked.
Dr. Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo
Gianniotti, “Race”) gets it on with
his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Sam Bello
(Jeanine
Mason,
“Criminal

Minds”), in the supply closet when
their bosses, Dr. Miranda Bailey
(Chandra Wilson, “Frankie &
Alice”) and Dr. Richard Webber
(James Pickens Jr., “For the Love
of Ruth”) can hear them. Then see
them come out. Awkward.

The
predictability
of
both

radical medical diagnoses and
character decisions makes “Grey’s
Anatomy”
typical
and
spent.

Meredith is up for a prestigious
medical award, the Harper Avery
Award. Instead of attending the
ceremony, she stays behind to help
with the roller coaster accident.
Although the intention of this plot
line was to show dedication, it
largely fails. Of course, she didn’t
go to the awards even though there
were plenty of other qualified and
capable surgeons to take care of the
injuries. Not only does she miss the
ceremony, but, spoiler, she wins. No
surprise there.

The series began with Meredith

and her friends as mere interns,
and now they are full blown
surgeons. The show used to follow
their tribulations trying to prove
themselves, sleeping at the hospital
and working endless shifts. They
used to camp out at a very specific
location—a hallway removed from
the intense environment of the
hospital. After Meredith wins her
award, she celebrates with one
of the only interns from the first
season to still be around, Dr. Alex
Karev, on the very gurnees they
started off on. They also kick the
current interns out of their spot
which is pretty cute. In addition
to Karev, Cristina calls from
Switzerland.
The
memorabilia

should serve as a sign that “Grey’s
Anatomy” was a good show while
it lasted, but it’s time to wrap it up
and move on.

20TH CENTURY FOX

Anyone else remember Masterpiece Mystery Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on PBS??
‘Orient Express’ manages
to entertain despite flaws

Branaugh succeeds in his retelling of the aged Poirot mystery

“Murder
on
the
Orient

Express,” both directed by
and starring Kenneth Branagh
(“Dunkirk”) is simultaneously
a sleek re-mastering of a classic
story as well as a throwback to
a bygone era. Branagh stars as
Hercule Poirot, one of Agatha
Christie’s
most
memorable

characters, along side an all-
star cast that includes Penélope
Cruz (“Loving Pablo”), Willem
Dafoe (“The Florida Project”),
Judi
Dench
(“Victoria
and

Abdul”), Johnny Depp (“Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Men
Tell No Tales”), Josh Gad
(“Beauty
and
the
Beast”),

Derek
Jacobi
(“Cinderella”),

Leslie Odom Jr. (“Hamilton”),
Michelle Pfeiffer (“mother!”)
and Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars:
The Force Awakens”). With
witty
dialogue,
interesting

characters and a mystery that
is just as engrossing today
as it was when Christie first
wrote it, “Murder on the Orient
Express” is a grand old time.

Opening in Jerusalem in

1934, the film introduces Poirot
with a prologue sequence that
does an adequate job of setting
the stage for the puzzle solving
to come, without resorting to
heavy-handed
exposition
to

explain who Poirot is and why
he does what he does. From
there we are quickly introduced
to a wide variety of characters,
some of whom will play major
roles in the drama to come,
some of whom will play minor

roles, one of whom will shortly
be killed off, prompting the
mystery, and all of whom are
played by A-list talent. While
some audience members might
find this segment of the film to
move at a ridiculous pace, with
little time given for the audience
to acclimate themselves to each
new face before being whisked
to the next scene, the story
moves with such a sense of joy
and excitement that this table
setting doesn’t come across as
such so much as it comes across
as a fascinating roll-call of the
passengers we are about to

watch.

Once
the
titular
murder

occurs
and
the
interviews

with the suspects begin, the
movie never lets up. Apart from
certain narrative beats relating
to Poirot’s deceased wife, no
revelation or twist falls flat.
Poirot’s
personal
storyline

feels half-hearted at best, but
truthfully that’s not what we’re
here for anyways, and the
time it would’ve taken to more
thoroughly
develop
Poirot’s

back-story feels like time the

film doesn’t have. There’s so
much mystery to get through
and so many characters with
secret
identities
and
false

histories and long lost relatives
to uncover that the movie
doesn’t have time for the simple
personal
story
surrounding

Poirot. Because of this his final
decision, meant to represent a
big change for his character,
feels slightly underwhelming,
if only because the overall
solution to the central mystery
feels so satisfying in contrast.

The
production
design

and overall look and feel of
the film couldn’t be more
perfectly suited for the story
being told. Cinematographer
Haris Zambarloukos (“Denial”)
makes creative use of the
train setting to produce some
seriously dynamic shots and
sequences. In particular is
the use of overhead shots to
emphasize
the
“Clue”-like

atmosphere
that
develops

throughout the picture. The
music by Patrick Doyle (“The
Emoji
Movie”)
is
suitably

whimsical and mysterious in
parts, fitting for the tonal shifts
that occur during the length of
the feature.

“Murder
on
the
Orient

Express” might not reinvent
the wheel, but it does what it
does very well, providing an
entertaining murder mystery
with a wonderful cast who ham
it up as much as they can. It’s
clear that everyone involved
with the picture was having a
damn good time. By the time
the credits roll, everyone in the
audience will be too.

IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Writer

OLIVIA ASIMAKIS

Daily Arts Writer

TV REVIEW
FILM REVIEW

BOOK REVIEW
‘The Doll’s Alphabet’ an
enjoyably grotesque read

Grudova’s collection of stories leaves the reader’s skin crawling

Camilla
Grudova’s
“The

Doll’s Alphabet” is a deeply
weird and completely brilliant
book.
You
find
its
images

replaying in your head on an
endless loop long after turning
the final page, and for good
reason: It’s kind of terrifying.
Women unstitch their own skin
clean off their bones, they turn
into werewolves and eat their
own children, and they give
birth to alien tubers (eyeless
and mouthless, but nonetheless
alive and squirming). There’s a
sewing machine powered by the
blood of the young seamstresses

using it — and a grotesque half
spider/half man obsessed with
keeping the machine alive at
any cost.

The stories rarely follow a

clear narrative path, but they
make an awful visceral sense,
pulsing with the internal logic
of a nightmare. They’re distinct,
but the stories share a world
filled with rot, decay, rusty
machines
and
bloody
open

wounds. Grudova’s characters
are rarely heroes; they form dark
fixations and obsessions that
tear their lives apart. Sometimes
they’re
literal
monsters,

sometimes they’re just people
in a bad situation — but they
always feel real, lived-in. The
characters are often just barely
scraping by, living on carefully

rationed food in tins and selling
their very bodies to survive.
There’s
a
vague
dystopian

atmosphere
permeating
the

whole collection, but we never
find out exactly what happened.

In fact, a lot of the book’s world is
sketched out through carefully-
chosen but sparse details, where
we’re left to fill in the rest
ourselves. But this is intentional,
a
classic
horror
technique:

There’s nothing scarier than the
unspoken.

Grudova’s
writing
has
a

rhythm to it, a perfectly even
rise and fall that is equal parts
graceful
and
hair-raisingly

creepy. The first story in the book
opens with a casual narration:
“One afternoon, after finishing
a cup of coffee in her living
room, Greta discovered how to
unstitch herself. Her clothes,
skin and hair fell from her like
the peeled rind of a fruit, and her
true body stepped out.” As you
keep reading, you find yourself
simultaneously mesmerized by
the cadence and meter of the
writing, and completely repulsed
by the contents.

But Grudova is too smart to

disgust her readers without
a purpose. Every harrowing
description,
every
piece
of

brutal body horror has a clear
focus. At its core, this is a book
about the danger and existential
panic
contained
within

women’s bodies. It’s a vivid

externalization of female pain
and anger.

In “The Mouse Queen,” our

protagonist starts transforming
into
a
werewolf
after
her

husband leaves her alone to raise
their twin baby boys. She goes

out every night, eating women
and children and all the other
vulnerable people she can find.
There’s “The Sad Tale of the
Sconce,” which starts with a
wooden mermaid who has been
carved into the masthead of a
ship, until the sailors, “... ate
her lips, her hair, her shoulders,
and, using a knife, gave her the

anatomy a mermaid does not
have.”

Or
there’s
“Unstitched,”

the short tale that opens the
collection, about women learning
to tear their skin off to reveal a
secret, more truthful self within.
“Men were divided,” she writes,
“between those who ‘always
knew
there
was
something

deceitful about women’ ... and
those who lamented ‘the loss
of the female form.’” Grudova
is angry, with the kind of anger
that’s never quite made explicit.
It boils under the surface of
everything she writes. “The
Doll’s Alphabet” is a tribute to
the fact that women are brutally
hurt all the time — and too often,
nobody cares.

It’s a testament to Grudova’s

skill that it never feels heavy-
handed, it only ever feels true.
And that’s really what makes
“The Doll’s Alphabet” induce
goosebumps: it’s giving voice
and form to a barely-contained
rage, and a very real violence.

“Do not come here by yourself

again,” a man tells a young girl
in “Edward, Do Not Pamper the
Dead.” “Remember you are a
vulnerable person.”

It’s a familiar warning.

ASIF BECHER
Daily Arts Writer

“The Doll’s
Alphabet”

Camila
Grudova

Coffee House

Press

October 17,

2017

It’s a tribute to the
fact that women
are brutally hurt
all the time — and
too often, nobody

cares

“Grey’s

Anatomy”

300th Episode

ABC

Thursdays @ 8

p.m.

“Murder on
the Orient
Express”

20th Century

Fox

Rave Cinemas,

Quality 16