I must say, after all of the ...

Question: I must say, after all of the hype for the post-Super Bowl episode of Grey's Anatomy, I was disappointed. The episode was enjoyable, but I fear that the show is going the ER route of big guest stars and big-disaster story lines. In my opinion, that kind of thing is what made ER jump the shark. I want the small story lines — the personal stuff, not big, unbelievable disasters every week.
Answer: Theoretically, I agree. I don't want Grey's Anatomy, at least not this early in its wonderful young life, succumbing to the sweeps-stunt mentality (and, heaven help us, "the episode you can't afford to miss" sorts of promotions) that have pretty much ruined ER. But I'll disagree with you on the particulars of this episode, which you say you found "enjoyable" but which you couldn't seem to divorce from the hype (which was inevitable, given the Super Bowl and everything). I don't want Grey's dealing with "code black" unexploded-bomb crises very often, but Grey's at least handled it with plenty of up-close-and-personal suspense. The situation was intimate, involving and (given the melodrama) even surprising. The scene with the anesthesiologist freaking out poor Christina Ricci with his monologue about "pink mist" was pretty chilling. And keeping the subplot of Bailey's going into labor a total secret while her husband's brain is under McDreamy's knife was just thrilling. (Isn't it nice to be spoiler-free once in a while?) All in all, that was the most satisfying post-Super Bowl episode of anything since the Alias episode that ABC unforgivably kept off the air until after 11 pm/ET. I was thrilled that ABC started Grey's at the relatively decent time of 10:30 pm/ET, and even more thrilled by how much I enjoyed the show. I cannot wait till Sunday.