Denny Hater

Some of you have already heard me rant and rave about this before. Grey's Anatomy and the ghost-Denny storyline. Simply put, I hate it! I can't possibly think of any reason the writers would choose to go this route - are they desperate? Cause this is NOT the way to get viewers. As a current viewer, I am annoyed and just want it to be over so Izzy and Alex can go on their merry way.

Heaven help us
By Denette Wilford
2008-11-28
Denette's Digs: Whatever
… I’m just writing what you’re thinking
The George and Izzie debacle
(Gizzie … shudder) was the worst storyline in Grey’s Anatomy’s history … until
now.
Denny Duquette’s return from the dead to haunt/help/freak out Izzie for
some still-unknown reason is going to send the show spiralling down an
irreparable path.
Who we gonna call to rescue viewers from this horrible
story? Oh, if only it were that easy.
To see ghost-busting foursome Peter
Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore arriving at Meredith’s
house in the Ecto-1 with their proton packs, busting into Izzie’s room and
capturing the ghost of Denny Duquette in that little holding box would make my
Thursday.
But since that’s obviously not going to happen, I have to count on
creator-executive producer Shonda Rhimes and crew to fix this story. Stat!
Because I never thought I’d say these words, but I HATE DENNY DUQUETTE.
There! I said it. Man, did that feel good to get off my chest.
But
before you start furiously typing your hate mail to me, let me go back and take
you all to a time, seemingly long ago, when Grey’s Anatomy was must-watch-TV.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m actually loving this season, despite the reviews
from critics and viewers who are hating so many aspects of it. I’m actually OK
with the departure of Erica Hahn (though not as OK with the firing of her
portrayer, Brooke Smith), because it leaves material for Sara Ramirez (Callie)
to attack.
And while I’m not sure where the show is heading with the dark
path that Lexie (Chyler Leigh) is speeding down, it does spin her away from that
good-girl-next-door image. I also love that Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is back in
fine, attitude-filled form.
And last but not least, I could not be more
ecstatic with new doctor, and Cristina’s (Sandra Oh) soon-to-be-love interest,
Owen Hunt (the awesome and swoon-inducing Kevin McKidd).
But let’s go back to
Jan. 15, 2006, that fateful day when we first met Denny Duquette. He was on the
National Donor List, awaiting a heart transplant. Things didn’t go according to
plan, but he did manage to get in some decent flirting time with then-intern
Izzie (Katherine Heigl).
Denny (played to adorable perfection by Jeffrey
Dean Morgan) was a delight, and just as Izzie fell for him, so did viewers. We
wanted Izzie to live happily ever after with him, and for Denny to sweep her off
her feet, away from Alex.
Fast-forward past the whole
LVAD-wire-cutting-situation, Denny proposing to Izzie, Izzie accepting, Denny
getting the heart, then Denny dying from a stroke shortly after, and it was Alex
(Justin Chambers) who was sweeping Izzie off her feet — literally — in that
heartbreaking scene that featured the gorgeous Heigl, all dressed up for the
makeshift prom, and Karev taking her away from her dead fiancé’s bedside.
Now
that’s what a show should be like, filled with a roller-coaster of emotions,
characters with rooting value, and stories that pack a barrage of punches. Not
this ghost nonsense.
Izzie is now having sex with dead people. Seriously.
And while only Izzie can see Denny, the rest of the doctors sure could hear the
loud sex-a-thon she and the ghost were having behind closed doors.
If Rhimes
and Co. were hoping this story would bring back fans of the show who loved it
back in its heyday but now just think it’s meh, well, they’re wrong. This
stupid, bizarro storyline could have worked if it were airing closer to when
Denny died, or it wouldn’t be so awful if it didn’t resemble the Demi
Moore/Patrick Swayze cheese-fest Ghost. I swear, if there’s a pottery wheel in
an upcoming episode, I am so done with this show.
Because this lame-o
attempt at reviving a once-popular character and story doesn’t work. This
plotline was played out exactly the same way on General Hospital last year, when
the dashing Nikolas Cassadine began seeing the oh-so-sweet but oh-so-dead love
of his life, Emily Quartermaine.
He questioned his sanity but it was later
revealed that she was a hallucination brought on by a brain tumour. Before he
was to have surgery to remove the tumour, the Cassadine prince shared one last
dance and a kiss with Emily and when he awoke, the tumour was gone … and so was
Emily. Is that what Grey’s has resorted to — copying a soap opera?
If this is
a total clone of the ABC soap, then a dying Izzie would eventually realize what
a good thing she has with Alex as he nursed her through her health crisis and
back to her feisty self.
However, Rhimes has insisted that this ghost story
would not involve a brain tumour, so the only explanation I can think of is that
Izzie is truly going insane. Seeing Heigl in a straitjacket is worth the cost of
my HD-PVR, just so long as Denny is vanquished and gone forever.
What are
your Izzie theories? Denny’s ghost: loving or hating it? denette@tvguide.ca

I am now just anxiously awaiting the next new show to see how this all plays out...but please, just make Denny grow angel wings and fly away to the afterlife already!