In stark contrast to the third season finale, in which everyone ended up miserable and alone, nearly all the characters on Grey's Anatomy finished this fourth season smooching the nearest hot body. And if they weren't coupling up, they were becoming more confident and whole in themselves. That's part of why the two-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy was so satisfying to watch. I get that loss, heartbreak and emotional torment make for good television, but it's also nice to see the characters that we've invested so much time in getting to know succeed once in a while.

Read on to take a look at all the coupling that occurred in the season finale.

Meredith and Derek - B

In the "will they or won't they" see-saw, these two indecisive surgeons will spend the summer planted firmly in the former category. I was initially annoyed by their re-coupling because they have been trying my patience for so long, but after thinking it over for a week, I have reconsidered my position. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) has made tremendous strides in becoming a whole person. Over the past four seasons, which translates roughly to about a year and change in actual passage of time, she has come to terms with her abandonment issues, her mommy issues, her semi-suicidal issues. She knows that Derek (Patrick Dempsey) is the love of her life and she is slowly beginning to make herself open to trusting him and their relationship. All of this is deserving of credit, and if it were just about her character growth, I would have given them an A. However, Derek does have a tendency to screw things up, doesn't he? We'll see how long their happiness lasts in season 5.


Callie and Hahn - A minus

I'm cautiously optimistic about this new relationship. Callie (Sara Ramirez) has gotten the short end of the relationship stick a lot lately, rushing into a doomed marriage with George before they were ready. It's nice to see her having meaningless sex with Mark Sloan, but it would also be nice to see her in a happy, committed relationship as well, and who better than with a world-class cardiothoracic surgeon who just happens to be a woman? For her part, I'm also glad for Hahn (Brooke Smith) because she has been way too one-dimensional ever since she was promoted to series regular. A lesbian relationship might be just what the doctor ordered to soften Hahn's hard edges.

My only concern with these two is that their relationship will unfold on a show created by Shonda Rhimes who, I still contend, secretly hates women. No matter how much she might claim otherwise, Rhimes' female characters are all needy, co-dependent, and always require liberal doses of male validation to feel at all good about themselves. I hope next season that Callie and Erica (would they be called Callica?) will be allowed to explore their relationship together in an organic way, with as few Rhimes-isms as possible.


George and Lexie - A

I admit that I wasn't quite feeling the love for Lexie (Chyler Leigh) at the beginning of the season. She tried too hard to be liked by big sis Meredith and ended up being as irritating as the gnat that you try to swat away. But she has definitely won me over lately, what with stealing hospital supplies to decorate her craptastic apartment and breaking into the Chief's office to read everyone's files. The absentminded kiss that George planted on Lexie's lips in the season finale surprised me, although in retrospect, I should have seen it coming. I know that a lot of diehard Gizzie fans were disappointed that he didn't kiss Izzie instead, but I'm interested in seeing where George (T.R. Knight) and Lexie's relationship will go. They are both kind and caring people who are oftentimes walked all over by stronger characters, so I hope that by getting together, each can provide the support that the other needs.


Alex and Izzie - B plus

If you listened really carefully during the final moments of the Grey's Anatomy finale, you could hear an entire population of Gizzie fans screaming in protest when Alex (Justin Chambers) kissed Izzie. But forget about that for now and consider the extremely vulnerable state Alex was in. His relationship with Ava may have dissolved just as surely as Ava lost her grasp on reality, but it did bring to the foreground all of Alex's childhood suffering that has only been obliquely alluded to thus far. (Which also made him even more attractive, if that's even possible, in my opinion.) I believe he wanted to be with Izzie at the end of the episode, not because he really wanted her necessarily, but because she was a warm body who could make his unbearable pain go away.


Richard and Adele - B

To be honest, I don't have too much invested in this relationship. I don't know, maybe it's because neither James Pickens Jr. nor Loretta Devine is nearly as young or svelte as their fellow castmates. It's nice that Richard and Adele are getting back together because divorce does tend to suck, but I can't get too excited about it either way.


The Singles - A plus

Cristina, Mark and Bailey didn't get to hook up with anyone in the season finale, but I couldn't think of three better people to end the series as stalwart singles. These three are the strongest, most confident characters on the cast of Grey's Anatomy. After years of being sexually involved with all of her mentors, I was so proud that Cristina (Sandra Oh) was able to get her groove back on her own, with the help of Meredith's sparkle pager. Mark (Eric Dane) is turning over a new leaf and trying to focus on friendships, rather than distracting himself with one-night stands. And Bailey (Chandra Wilson), after busting her hump nearly to the breaking point trying to be simultaneously a great surgeon, wife and mother, was finally able to see the bigger picture and realize that to be great at the important things, she's going to have to give up some other things. What a breath of fresh air to have a character like Bailey on the show! We would all do well to emulate Bailey's newfound approach to life.



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)