Yeah… I know that it’s an old subject (the pilot was aired in 2005, which means I’m eight years behind!). But it would be impossible not to talk about something that hit me so intensely.
I have never been a TV series person. I mean, I’ve watched every season of Friends with an ex-boyfriend’s family. The whole thing. Every single. But it was mainly their influence. I could easily go without it. I really enjoyed it, but I never forwent anything just to watch it. I was never super excited about the next episode. It was just a pleasant pastime. Family quality time.
After I broke-up, I moved to Sex And The City to relieve my pain. I got a complete box from a compassionate friend and it really helped me. Most of you have probably seen at least an episode of Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte. (Btw, I just love when some of you call me “Julia Bradshaw” in the comments on the chronicles! I’m over the moon!). And the fabulous four were a perfect fit at that time. And something that was supposed to be just a pleasant pastime turned into a heart relief. It really worked. Really amused me. But I doesn’t come close to the impact Grey’s had in my life.
At the time of my play tour, Mari Molina and Dani Rocha (two actors who shared the stage and went on tour with me!) were addicted to it. Mari was so psyched about it that she skipped our strolls around the cities to stay at the hotel watching the show. I couldn’t understand that. It was too much for me. After all, the only experiences I’d had were Friends and SATC. In which it was ok to wait a few days (months, even) for the next episode. And I made fun of her self-inflicted prison. But I think deep down I felt a bit envious. I wanted to have an addictive show to call my own. One that really caught me. So I could have a reason not to leave home on the weekends. So I didn’t have to look for things to do. So I could get out of my head sometimes.
As soon as we got to the end of the tour (it wasn’t the end actually! It was just a pause! More on that soon! ;)), I felt a little hole in my heart. I missed the trips, the routine, being so short of time. Missed the cast and crew. And had some extra time in my hands.
So one given Sunday, chilling in São Paulo, I suggested to my mom we watched the first episode. Mari always said “go for the first one and you’ll never be able to drop it!”. The rest is history…
We watched it on Netflix. They have the first eight seasons. You can find season 9 around the internet. And the season 10 will be released in the U.S. by the end of the month. So there were about 200 episodes. 9 seasons with 20 45-minute episodes. That’s a lot, right? Wrong. It’s a classic case of binge-watching – the more you see, the more you need to see.
I watched the whole thing in two months. Some days (off, of course) I wouldn’t even leave the couch. Maybe to open the fridge and then leave the dishes on the sink. I spent days watching it nonstop. And saying (in vain) to myself: “this is the last one, then I’ll go to bed”. Always foregoing something to watch “just one more”.
That was it. For the first time I was hooked on a TV series. Me and my mom. We watched it all together. Even if we were apart, we kept up with each other. She was also addicted. And I’ve been recommending it to several friends. That’s why I had to talk about it here.
Are you going through bad break up? Struggling? Anxious? Start watching this show! I’m not revealing much about it so I don’t give spoilers to those who haven’t seen it yet. I have a whatsapp group with six friends. Two of them were going through break ups. And I recommended it to them. The day one of them wrote that she “couldn’t believe the guy was married”, actually naming him, their friendship was almost over. So, yeah, they also dove deep into it and it worked better than any medicine, therapy or any kind of healing for this post-breakup mourning.
I’m also sure many of you have already seen it, right? So I’ll try to write about my impressions without spoiling it: Meredith makes me yawn. That’s it, call me names! But I do think she’s pretty boring. I’m not very keen on the actress, I think she’s weak (a good thing about foreign actors is to be able to give my opinion without thinking twice), tedious. She definitely doesn’t touch me (don’t kill me, please!!!).
I LOVE Richard, McDreamy and McSteamy more than anything. I wanna be like Bailey when I grow up. And marry Alex. Izzie and George (nothing but true love!) have broken my heart. And Callie got me to like her and Arizona (a lot!). I swear I didn’t think it was possible when they first appeared!
I love and hate Cristina. It swings. But the hate part is definitely much due to Owen, who bores me a bit. I used to love Cristina until he came. Btw, I REALLY LOVE the actresses Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson (Bailey). I find their work exquisite! How genuine it is! They nail it. Breathtaking performances. Geniuses! The episode in which they sang left me crying for an entire day. I just wanted a whole musical season. Is it possible? It was fantastic. Loved it.
A whole paragraph dedicated to Shonda Rhimes, the author. Coming up with new stories for eight years is probably not an easy task. I particularly like the five first seasons a million times better than the others (I’m really jealous of my friends who have just started! Good times…). I wanted to kill her for some of her choices. I really got involved. And I can imagine the pressure she suffered from heated fans this whole time. It must be hard… So I must applaud her, she really nailed it! Each episode is like the last one… Amazing. She masters it.
I guess I was able to sum up my impressions, right? Now you can flood the comment section with “agrees” or “disagrees”. I’ll love to hear about your favorites, different points of view and all that. It will be perfect for this moment of abstinence. I’m still fine because I haven’t seen season 9 yet. As soon as I finish this post I’m rushing to the computer to sort this out. I didn’t want to though… I wanted to wait for it to get to Netflix and watch it on the TV, in high quality, but I just can’t wait. Not even a minute longer. So, here we go again!
Oh, and I really can use some TV series tips for when season 9 is over. I’ll be so depressed, life will lose its meaning entirely and I’ll need another show to relieve the pain of the end of Grey’s. And I’m loving it! I had only felt that before with books, the kind you read only five pages a day because you don’t want it to end. Don’t want to lose your bed companion. So… Same here. Now, for the first time with a TV series.
So please have mercy of this person who’s writing and prescribe me a good medical replacement series.
On hold!
