I thought it was a great finale! I don't usually scream at the TV, but I did a few times last night.

Btw, Annie is looking for you on Cottage. She was worried about the tornadoes.

Thanks Natal. It was the first scene of the girl getting shot in the head that got me.

I just finished watching the first part; I was glued to my laptop ( and I should have been doing something else). I may watch the second part now or tomorrow morning.

Yes very violent but not unlike a lot of shootings of years past, I found it very realistic , not that I have first hand experience, thank god.
I've watched the whole season on abc.com this year, I was never a regular before that.

I kind of figured Meredith would lose her baby.

I liked the finale too. Shocking but riveting. Could have been traumatizing to some. (Sorry about your miscarriage, Oakley!)

Yes, extremely riveting! The second half not as much, but still.

Now on to the finale for LOST! If you've never watched they're rebroadcasting the pilot tomorrow night. Series finale is Sunday. It was the pilot that hooked me last year when I started watching online.

Did the shooter's wife die this season or last? He looks familiar but I can't remember.

McDreamy owes Yang big time. lol

Yang saved him? I'm not at the end yet, I really want to know, lol...

Can't have that show without McDreamy.

Just finished watching part 2, wow.

Life is all about choices, one of the final sayings in the voice of McDreamy at the end.

Didn't care for it in the slightest...
Hackneyed and violent, a clear and kinda predictable grab for the 'cliff-hanger.' Not to mention, pretty unrealistic.

Meredith getting pregnant and being happy about it in a simple way? NOT her. Yang's reaction to her news was Yang-ish, but Meredith's sure wasn't.
Lexie going all sweet on Alex? Dumb. She's too emotionally healthy for that and still bouncing back from McSteamy.
Baily saying she was a nurse? That was interesting -- a good bit of writing and a strong performance -- You could see how hard that was for her to do.
Of the newbies, I'm glad they kept the cute young guy they did. (What was his name?) I think he'll end up giving Derrick a run for Meredith somehow... He's certainly too cute to stay uncoupled.
I did like the Callie and Arizona storyline in the finale. They were too good together to throw it away so simply, and Callie's vent was right on target about Arizona's refusal to even consider kids.

Sweeby, it's entertainment. How realistic is television supposed to be? I'm surprised you even watch the show at all. No way you'd ever be able to sit through an episode of LOST. ;)

Btw, there was a violence disclaimer before the show started.

Natal, that was totally uncalled for! I expected a touch of violence but not TWO HOURS straight of it! That's what turned me off. I don't watch shows with violence, and we shouldn't expect that much graphic violence to be on a medical show.

Sweeby, I have a feeling that male doctor (the good looking one!) might hook up with Yang. I've had that feeling for quite a while now.

So who will McSteamy hook up with?

Oakley, why didn't you exercise your freedom of choice and shut it off if that's the way you felt? I think the opening scene was pretty indicative of what was to come.

Because I needed to watch it to see how it ended to lead into next season.

If this were a movie I'd have turned it off. But it's a serial and I had to watch to keep on top of things.

Ya got that? :)

Preface by saying I used to watch this show, then lost interest then decided to watch the season finale. The prolonged violence in this episode was out-of-character for this show. I turned the channel when some guy was pointing a gun at Yang in the operating room.

Everyone knows GA is a chick-flick type TV show. No one should have to watch that much violence to see how the show wraps up for the season.

Maybe I've become desensitized but I loved it; action packed, and with nods to the ongoing love duos/triangles, emotional storylines.
That's what I call a season finale.

Same here, Mitch. And it's not because I watch violent shows/movies, because I don't. Maybe that's why it was so compelling and unexpected ... exactly what a finale should be.

Oak, you could have read the recap online. And since you asked ... this is when the shooter's rage was given birth.

Here is a link that might be useful: where it all began

"The prolonged violence in this episode was out-of-character for this show.

Everyone knows GA is a chick-flick type TV show."

Exactly! And I do enjoy light-hearted chick-flick entertainment on TV -- (Glee and Modern Family are two of my very favorites)

This interview with the writer brings some insight as to to the intent of this finale.

I think it was brilliant writing; the violence and suspense was interspersed with the unfolding of the human drama that was going on all season, as the different characters were dealing with their stress .

Here is a link that might be useful: GA writer interview

I wouldn't have minded the violence if it wasn't so graphic. He could have shot the doctors without us seeing the bullet hit them. Especially the first scene when the bullet hit her forehead.

I loved it. The season finale was violent, but I didn't feel like it was gratuitous violence. The violence was the story and how the violence will shape the characters paths is the story. Meredith, with the help of Christina and Izzie, got up and showered and acted like everything was normal after the bomb. She has never been a weak, crybaby character(not that mourning a miscarriage would be weak.) But emotionally, she has been dark & twisty. I don't think it is at all out of character for her to soldier on during her miscarriage. In the flashbacks of her with her mother, you see Ellis raising a kid who would just "be extraordinary."

Avery(the good-looking doc) has already made a play for Yang before at the party earlier in the season and again at the hospital the day after the party. I think with the Teddy/Owen/Yang triangle over(Owen chose Christina,) Owen/Yang/Avery will be the new triangle. Avery showed confidence in Christina in making the decision that she would operate on Derek without any of the attendings. She loves that validation and some of her biggest fights with Owen have been about him not having her back. Avery would be a new romance chapter for Christina, as she has always been with teacher/mentor/superiors. While he does have the powerful family connection, he is only a resident and therefore an equal on a professional footing.

I enjoy Grey's tremendously (guilty pleasure!), although I really did not like how they wrote Izzie this season and last.

I've miscarried three times, and while I grieved, I never had the luxury of falling apart in the moment. I had to carry on in the midst of very challenging circumstances. I liked that Meredith felt happy about the pregnancy, and when she told April how long it had taken her to get to that point I think we were meant to see that Meredith is leaving some of her "dark and twisted" ways behind.

I hope Avery makes a big play for Christina, I think that would be a marriage of equals. I'm also hoping to see Mark and Lexie back together, as I love the sweetness she brought out in him.

The violence didn't trouble me. I can't stand watching violence for the sake of violence, but where it seems to be part of the story it doesn't upset me.