Sep

Grey’s Anatomy Season Four Expanded Review

Release Date: September 9th, 2008
Genre: Drama, Medical, Comedy
Price: $36.99 on Amazon
Run Time: 740 Minutes
Publisher: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Starring:Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr, Sara Ramirez, Eric Dane, Chyler Leigh, Brooke Smith
Special Features: Extended Episodes, Audio Commentaries, New Docs On the Block, On Set With Patrick and Eric, Good Medicine: Favorite Scenes, Dissecting Grey’s Anatomy: Unaired Scenes, In Stitches: Season Four Outtakes

To be honest with all of you I actually wasn’t a Grey’s Anatomy fan from the beginning. I actually started watching the show in season two (I went back to watch the first season). I was actually lucky to start watching the show in season two since it is easily the best season of the show. The first season took some time to get going. Season three and four were too depressing and lacked the humor from the second season which was the best thing about season two. So you all know what I think about the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy but what about the DVD set for the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy. Overall I thought it was a pretty good DVD set but I was a little disappointed by it.

Story

For those of you who didn’t see the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy this is what you can expect out of this season. Meredith wants Derek back after losing him last season. Christina has a hard time getting over Burke leaving her at the alter and now has to deal with the new head of cardio surgery (Dr. Hahn) who is far from easy on her. A new intern named Lexie shows up at the hospital and just so happens to be Meredith’s half sister. Bailey has to deal with the struggle between work and home. Finally George has to deal with being an intern again while dealing with troubles at home.

As you already know I didn’t think the fourth season was nearly as good as the second season. I would have to say it is probably the second best season in the show’s history though. The fourth season was able to regain some of that humor that was seriously lacking from the third season. I also thought the storylines for the most part were better in the fourth season than the third season (except for the infamous Gizzie storyline which was really stupid in my opinion). Overall I thought the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy was a good season but if you are expecting it to be as good as season two you will be disappointed.

One thing I do have to bring up is that there were only 17 episodes this season due to the writer’s strike.

Packaging

There really isn’t a whole lot to say about the packaging. The packaging doesn’t look bad but it is pretty bland. As you can see from the box the DVD set is red throughout. It even makes it’s way to the discs that are red with some words printed on each disc. There are some pictures and scenes from the season dispersed throughout the packaging. The one thing I did like about the packaging was the episode guide. Instead of just having a list of all the episodes Grey’s Anatomy decided to so something new. The episode guide actually has a timeline which outlines all the major events in the first four seasons. It is far from great but adds something to the packaging as a whole.

Special Features

Overall I was pretty disappointed by the special features. First of all there really aren’t as many special features as you would expect. Second I wouldn’t consider any of them must watches. Here is an outline of what you can expect out of the special features in this set.

Extended Episode-The title says it all. Some of the episodes have extra footage that wasn’t in the original airing.
Audio Commentaries-Also self explanatory.
New Docs On the Block-This special feature talks about the three new cast members this season (Dr. Hahn, Lexie Grey, and Rose). I thought this was probably one of the better special features of the set.
On Set With Patrick and Eric-This special feature deals with Patrick Dempsey’s (Derek) and Eric Dane’s (Sloan) friendship on and off the set. Another one of the better special features.
Good Medicine: Favorite Scenes-A look at the cast and crews favorite scenes of the season along with explanations behind the scenes. I thought this special feature could have used some work.
Dissecting Grey’s Anatomy: Unaired Scenes-Your typical deleted scenes.
In Stitches: Season Four Outtakes-Your typical blooper reel.

As you can tell there isn’t a whole lot of originality in the special features. Besides the special features on the new cast and Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane these special features have been done time after time. The special features aren’t bad but you will probably be left wanting more just like I did.

Final Thoughts

Overall you might think I have been pretty harsh on the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy. If you think that is the case I need to clarify a few things. I didn’t think the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy was great but that is compared with the other seasons. Grey’s Anatomy is still one of the best shows on television. The show has just been disappointing the last two seasons in my opinion. I personally thought the DVD set was worth watching and buying (even though I received a received a review copy). If you like Grey’s Anatomy and don’t mind a disappointing set of special features I would highly recommend that you pick up the fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy on DVD.