Wednesday, April 15, 2020 — 6A
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, “Grey’s 

Anatomy” halted production on their season, before 

eventually cutting it short by four episodes. While it 

wasn’t the ending that was planned, the Season 16 finale 

of “Grey’s” was a satisfying one. Time and time again, 

the longest running medical drama in the history of 

television has proved its ability to pivot when something 

unexpected happens. After all, the production shutdown 

wasn’t the first hurdle “Grey’s” had to overcome this 

season; earlier, adjustments had to be made after Justin 

Chambers’ abrupt exit. It still remains unclear if the four 

unproduced episodes will roll over to the next season, but 

this makeshift finale had enough action and drama to hold 

us all over until the start of Season 17 — which has been 

rumored to be the final season.

For not actually being the originally planned season 

finale, “Grey’s” sure had some finale staples: a callback to 

an old “Grey’s” moment, a doctor who might die, another 

doctor going into labor, a voicemail of someone having 

sex with someone who wasn’t their fiance that plays on 

speakerphone during a surgery. Okay, well maybe not 

that one, but there is something oddly satisfying about 

watching someone get betrayed and humiliated in a public 

setting. What happened to Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd, 

“Star Wars Rebels”) and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver, “24”) 

was true soap opera craziness, and I love to see it.

Right as Webber was about to get checked out of the 

hospital, our beloved Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo, “Catch 

Me If You Can”) realizes that whatever is happening to him 

is destroying both his mind and his body. Meredith and Dr. 

Bailey (Chandra Wilson, “General Hospital”) are about to 

do a biopsy on Webber when off-the-rails Andrew DeLuca 

(Giacomo Gianniotti, “Backpackers”) comes storming into 

the O.R. He’s figured out what’s wrong with Webber — 

cobalt poisoning from a hip replacement — but instead of 

using his words, he throws all the surgical instruments on 

the floor to get Bailey and Meredith to listen to him.

Excuse me, sir? This man should not be allowed 

anywhere near the hospital, let alone an operating room. 

He’s clearly not okay. Thankfully, at the end of the episode, 

as Meredith leaves the hospital, she finds DeLuca sitting 

on the floor crying; he wants to understand why he’s been 

going manic. After he went to jail to help Meredith at the 

end of last season, now at the end of this season it appears 

Meredith is going to repay the favor. Had the season 

continued, one would assume that we would’ve gotten 

more insight into DeLuca’s bipolar-like symptoms and 

how he copes with whatever diagnosis is coming his way.

While Amelia (Caterina Scorsone, “Private Practice”) 

is giving birth to her child with Link (Chris Carmack, 

“Nashville”), Bailey takes Link to do the surgery on 

Webber. Amelia forces Bailey to stay with her, even though 

Bailey recently had a miscarriage. But being the queen that 

she is, Bailey hops on the bed and sits behind her the same 

way that George O’Malley did for her back in the second 

season. Everything goes smoothly and now Amelia is a 

mother.

This episode works as a finale because enough of our 

questions about some season-long storylines have been 

answered while new ones have been posed. It remains 

unclear if the new season will continue these character 

arcs or if some sort of “reset” must happen. Regardless, 

we anticipate we will get answers as to what’s happening 

with DeLuca, the fate of Owen and Teddy’s relationship, 

some sort of resolution to the constant fighting between 

Webber and his wife Catherine (Debbie Allen, “Grace and 

Frankie”) and perhaps the answer to the scariest question 

of all to ponder: will next season be the final season? Only 

time will tell.

Why the makeshift finale of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ works

JUSTIN POLLACK

Daily Arts Writer

TV NOTEBOOK

FILM NOTEBOOK
Film scenes from the Apocolypse, Part 3: ‘2012’

SABRIYA IMAMI

Daily Arts Writer

Movies are projections. Yes, literally, in the sense of 

filmstock and screens and projectors and bulbs. But movies 

can also be projections of ourselves — a momentary snapshot 

of the internal, the introspective, the metaphysical. And 

given the circumstances, we as the film beat are seeing 

less literal projections in movie theaters and doing more 

projecting ourselves. So what are we thinking about? 

Among them are whether “When Harry Met Sally” is 

actually good, our Letterboxd log histories and — of course 

— the apocalypse. This series will traverse the cinematic 

doomsday in its eclectic iterations. After all, why grapple 

with an uncomfortable reality when you can watch movies 

that hyperbolize it completely? 

— Anish Tamhaney, Daily Film Editor

“2012” isn’t an apocalypse movie, not really. Yes, the 

world is ending, which is technically all you need for an 

apocalypse, but at its heart, “2012” is a hopeful movie 

about family. 

I had never seen the film before, so when I began 

watching it, I prepared myself for two and a half hours of 

death and destruction. There was death and destruction; 

in fact, IMDb says that the body count in this movie is 

over 7 billion. But what I wasn’t expecting was that the 

movie revolves around some really good people doing 

their best in an atrocious situation, which isn’t exactly an 

unfamiliar concept right now. 

Jackson Curtis (John Cusack, “Grosse Pointe Blank”) 

is supposed to be taking his kids camping when he finds 

out the world is ending, the Earth’s core is melting 

and the crust is breaking apart through earthquakes 

that authorities claim are nothing to worry about. And 

when he finds this out, what does he do? Everything he 

can to protect his family, even his ex-wife and her new 

boyfriend. Though the draw of the movie is the apocalypse 

and scenes like Jackson and his family barely escaping a 

crumbling California in a tiny plane, the reason why the 

film is actually worthwhile is because you see that even 

in horrific, catastrophic times, there are people who are 

genuinely good. Whether it’s a father who puts his life on 

the line on numerous occasions for his family, a young 

scientist whose mission is to save not just billionaires 

but everyone, a struggling president who stays with 

his sinking ship (or country) until the last moment or a 

mother who begs strangers to save her children even if it 

means she will die, there are people who will do whatever 

they can in a truly awful time.

And yes, of course you see the opposite of that as well: 

people whose selfishness comes to light in catastrophe, 

but even they have hearts. You may want to hate Adrian 

Helmsley’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Doctor Strange”) superior 

Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt, “The Three Musketeers”) 

because he seems to only want to save the people who 

can pay their way into a new world or those who have 

been genetically selected, but you can’t help but feel bad 

for him when you see him saying goodbye to his ailing 

mother. Or Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Buric, “Pusher”), who 

stabbed people in the back multiple times, including his 

girlfriend Tamara (Beatrice Rosen, “The Dark Knight”) 

and even Jackson. But in the end, that arrogant Russian 

puts his kids before everyone else, even himself, which is 

admirable. 

“2012” may be written off as an apocalypse movie, but 

it’s actually a movie about people who are struggling to 

do their best and remain good amid tragedy. The reason 

this movie hit me so hard was because that’s exactly 

what’s happening right now. While the coronavirus may 

be showing some people’s truly selfish colors, it’s also 

revealing that there are some genuinely good people 

out there. Healthcare workers, grocery store employees, 

teachers, people making masks to send to hospitals, 

families who are staying away from their loved ones 

to protect them … we rely on these good people. It’s 

difficult, unbearably so at times, but these people do 

what they have to for the greater good. I think Jackson 

Curtis would be proud of them.

NBC
Time and time again, the 
longest running medical-
drama in the history of 
television has proven 
its ability to pivot when 
something unexpected 

happens.

Whether it’s a father who 
puts his life on the line on 
numerous occasions for his 
family or a young scientist 
whose mission is to save 

not just the billionaires but 
everyone, there are people 
who will do whatever they 
can in a truly awful time.

