DVD Review: Grey's Anatomy - Season Four (Expanded)

The season four cast of Grey's Anatomy.
© ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Amid all of those changes, Grey's Anatomy soldiered on. For those of you not familiar with the show, Grey's Anatomy is set in the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, in Seattle Washington. The show revolves around Dr. Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo, who began the show as a surgical intern. The remaining characters are a group of surgical interns and the various physicians who serve as mentors to the interns in their professional and personal lives. In an effort to create a sense of diversity, the show's producers used a "blind-casting" technique, resulting in a racially diverse cast. All roles for Grey's Anatomy are cast without the characters' race being pre-determined.

As season four opens, each character is dealing with his or her own personal drama. After being left at the altar Christina (Sandra Oh) is working overtime to prove she's a great surgeon and George (T.R. Night) is dealing with the consequences of cheating on his wife, Callie (Sara Ramirez) with long time best friend Izzie (Katherine Heigl) - not to mention his own difficulties in facing another year as an intern after failing his intern test. Callie is adjusting to her new job as chief resident and the ending of her marriage.

Chyler Leigh joined the cast as Meredith's half-sister Lexie, a new surgical intern, who seems more confident and possesses a bubblier personality than her half-sibling. Meredith's relationship with Lexie can be described as strained at best. Meredith's father abandoned her and her mother when she was a child; to later have Lexie with another woman. Perhaps understandably, Meredith has some unresolved resentment towards Lexie around those issues.

Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane.
© ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.

While Grey's Anatomy is described as a series that revolves around Dr. Meredith Grey, the shows true strength, its ability to handle so many characters, is also its biggest flaw. While we get to see Derek (Patrick Dempsey) develop a close friendship with Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), other characters like Izzie, Christina, and George sometimes feel like they get lost in the fray. Attempting to write solid material for so many characters in a weekly basis is a nearly impossible feat. As a result, some characters seem to go for weeks at a time without any really focused storyline.

I've never been among the group of people that thought Grey's Anatomy was a great show. However, I've always thought it was a good solidly written, well acted drama. I know some Grey's fans felt like the fourth season was the series weakest yet; while that may have been true, the show was still better than many of the dramas on television last year.

The DVD is presented in an anamorphic wide-screen 1:78:1 transfer, enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions. Overall, the video quality for the episodes is excellent throughout. The colors are as bright and rich, as the muted color palette allows. All in all, it's a solid transfer.

The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, except for the special features. The music on Grey's Anatomy plays a significant role in setting the dramatic mood. The producers typically end an episode with music by up-and-coming artists playing over the narration by Ellen Pompeo. There have been three CD compilations of music from the show released to date, with more are on the way. The producers of the show have been forward-thinking enough to obtain licensing rights to include the same music on the DVD sets as appeared on the original network broadcasts. To my knowledge, there are no music substitutions made on the Season Four set, and the packaging does not indicate any changes of this kind. The music on the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack is blended appropriately with the dialogue so that the music neither overwhelms nor is drowned out by the dialogue.

With the exception of episode specific audio commentaries, all of the Grey's Anatomy - Season Four special features are housed on disc five as follows:

• New Docs on the Block (8:07) - A look behind the scenes at the new cast members for season four.
• On Set with Patrick and Eric (5:37) - Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane are interviewed about their characters.
• Good Medicine: Favorite Scenes (13:49) - Cast members discuss their favorite scenes from the season.
• Dissecting Grey's Anatomy: Unaired Scenes (11:52) - twenty three different unaired scenes can be viewed individually as well as through a "Play All" feature.
• In Stitches: Season Four Outtakes (4:31) - Consists of some flubbed line readings and practical jokes by the actors.
• One Quick Cut (4:19) - Consists of footage with narration summarizing all of the major plot developments in four seasons of the show in a little over four minutes. Warning: This does contain spoilers!