ABC brought us a sample of what a Kate Walsh led Grey’s Anatomy spin-off might hold with a bit of Seattle Grace as-usual thrown in with the two hour “The Other Side of Life.”  How did the experiment turn out?  Does Addison have enough presence to shine through against a star-studded backdrop?  In a word, the prospects for an Addison led Grey's Anatomy spin-off are fantastic.  You are struck immediately by how well this star studded cast blends together.

  
The episode begins with Addison taking a leave to go visit some old med school buddies in Los Angeles. Is it really camaraderie and catching up on old times she is after though?  Of course not.  Addison is having the female equivalent of a middle-aged crisis, complete with red sports car.  The real reason to catch up with her old buddies in LA is to silence the tick of her biological clock; Addison wants to have a baby.

On the business as usual part of the episode, we have some service paid to the ongoing story lines; chief anxiety, wedding blues, and Jane Doe.  However, it feels so out of place in contrast to the Addison portion of the show that it all feels like some surrealist Peter Greenway film trying to balance two independent narratives without a common center of gravity.

One thing is clear, the Addison portions of the show proved that there is compelling chemistry among what some consider industrialized stunt casting.  One of the biggest complaints I heard leading up to the ‘pilot’ was that there were too many names at play; those people forgot that each one of these people are amazing actors and actresses.  Each brought to the table a fully formed character that was designed to compliment an ensemble, including Kate Walsh.  What could have easily become a chunky soup made of egos arrives as a fine broth of scintillating characters.  The whole thing just had atmosphere.  To be honest with you, I preferred the warmth and complexity of the pilot segments over the sterile histrionics of Grey's.

The only thing that was truly an impediment to the episode was the Seattle Grace segments.  Those scenes transitioned in with the grace of a rusted chainsaw.  Not that they were not good, but the clear effort to set the L.A. part of the story in a distinctively nuanced style and voice was so successful that the transitions felt a little schizophrenic.  I would put it in the same class as David Lynch’s “Lost Highway.”

What saved it was the beautiful thumbing of the nose Grey’s sent to the tabloid press by finally featuring Isaiah Washington and T.R. Knight together in a scene that initially flourished in the obvious gimmick potential, but then became a touching well-acted scene that rose above the real life past of these two men.

The bottom line is, both aspects of the show succeeded in being what they needed to be.  The pseudo pilot demonstrated that Kate Walsh will easily be able to carry a spin off with a cast of equal players, and the Grey’s portion scored some daring self referential points that are sure not to be forgotten anytime soon.

- Jon Lachonis, BuddyTV Senior Writer
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