The pilot episode was watchable but occasionally irritating for its Meredith-centric script. In the second show, series creator Shonda Rimes seems to have understood the supporting characters are much better and sidelines the heroine, while still, unfortunately, feeding her chunks of nearly indigestible narration.
Among the highlights of the episode we have Dr. Burke's (Isaiah Washington) discovery of the fact he might not become chief of surgery once the boss retires, Cristina (Sandra Oh) being forced to work with the unbearable Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Izzie (Katherine Heigl) taking care of a Chinese woman who can't afford proper medication (one of the few truly moving moments of the season). As for Meredith, she is stuck with the dullest job of all: looking after the severed penis of a rapist, whose victim is struggling to survive in the O.R., until the police arrive.
The penis storyline provides several laughs, most of which are quite cheap - a clear sign of how badly that kind of comedy matches with a medical drama. Only Dr. Shepherd's remarks to the rapist near the end of the episode are likely to raise a sincere smile, thanks to Patrick Dempsey's faultless charm, a weapon he employs repeatedly, especially in the doc's hilarious attempts to seduce Meredith. Not that he's alone in the scene-stealing: Oh, playing the most interesting of the interns, has a ball squaring off with Chambers, who injects his role with a "bad boy" charisma that makes up for any lack of depth, and Chandra Wilson is simply unmissable when her character, Dr. Miranda "The Nazi" Bailey, tells Burke what a jackass he really is - in less than 10 seconds! So, how does this rank in the end? Well, it's above "good", that's for sure, but still not quite "highly recommendable".
7,5/10
