Fool us Five Times: A Quintet of Online April Fool's Jokes
Originally Performed By: Psapp
Performed By: Callie
As a shaking and bloody Callie awaited help, she saw herself singing a few lines from the original Grey’s Anatomy theme song. Too short to really reflect on, this at least set a haunting tone for the episode.
Originally Performed By: Snow Patrol
Performed By: Callie, Owen (Kevin McKidd), Bailey (Chandra Wilson)
Here we go—the first real musical number. It’s hard to resist a comparison to the last time Grey’s used “Chasing Cars,” the brutal Season 2 finale. (Denny! Still not over it.) It was jarring and perhaps ill-advised to have the doctors sing as they performed surgery, but this was early on, before the novelty of a musical episode had worn off. Besides, McKidd’s strong voice was a pleasant surprise.
Originally Performed By: Anna Nalick
Performed By: Lexie (Chyler Leigh)
Ah, another Grey’s Anatomy classic. But here’s where “Song Beneath the Song” ran into its first problem. As Lexie sang the Anna Nalick song and left to find Mark, the action returned to the operating room. You could still hear her singing faintly, but what’s the point of a musical episode if the songs are going to be relegated to background music? While Leigh’s voice was nice, this was an early indication of Shonda Rhimes’ faulty musical sensibilities.
Originally Performed By: Gomez
Performed By: Owen
Sure, more McKidd singing was great, but this brief song snippet was not. Too obvious a choice in an episode filled with obvious choices. And at the same time—not really appropriate to the situation. The problem with using existing tracks instead of writing original music is that the songs only kind of match what’s going on. Honestly, it came across as lazy.
Originally Performed By: Get Set Go
Performed By: Bailey, April (Sarah Drew)
This was the moment for Sarah Drew—and unfortunately it was kind of underwhelming. More operating room singing? The episode needed to deliver on some big musical moments, not more of the same “let’s sing while we save her” scenes.
Originally Performed By: Jesus Jackson
Performed By: Callie, Arizona, Bailey, Eli (Daniel Sunjata), Owen, Teddy (Kim Raver), Henry (Scott Foley), Alex (Justin Chambers), Lexie, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo)
And then “Song Beneath the Song” did give us an actual production. As it turned out, we probably should have stuck with the OR histrionics. There were sweet moments to this montage of couples (and almost couples) expressing their fondness for one another, but it was oddly timed and out of place in an episode about Callie’s struggle to survive. Bonus points for solid performances by Foley and Chambers, but obscuring Pompeo’s so-so voice was an obvious cheat.
Originally Performed By: KT Tunstall
Performed By: Callie, Arizona
Sure, give the lesbian couple a KT Tunstall song. All kidding aside, it was a nice enough moment, if not somewhat unnecessary. At this point in the episode, I was really just waiting for the show to give Ramirez more opportunities to show her range.
Originally Performed By: Kate Havnevik
Performed By: Callie (and female choir)
Finally. This was what the episode should have been all the way through, as Callie’s, uh, spirit floated around the hospital. Was it over-the-top? Sure. But this is Grey’s Anatomy, and in the context of a musical episode, you need these scenes. More to the point, “Grace” felt like a music video, and if we were supposed to take “Song Beneath the Song” as Callie’s brain-damaged hallucination, doesn’t it makes sense that she’d see things that way?
Originally Performed By: The Fray
Performed By: Cast
After “Chasing Cars” and “Breathe (2 AM),” “How to Save a Life” is Grey’s most iconic song. And that makes sense—it uses a surgery metaphor to talk about a failed relationship, which is the series’ mission statement. But this big group number was muddled with too many voices and too much going on. What made Shonda Rhimes think that it was necessary to incorporate actual surgery into the song? Why not allow the characters to interact in Callie’s imagination instead? Other notes: it was nice to see Addison (Kate Walsh) join in, albeit briefly, and hey, Pompeo isn’t so bad after all.
Originally Performed By: Brandi Carlile
Performed By: Callie
I hate this song. That isn’t anyone’s fault really—well, maybe Brandi Carlile’s—but given my personal bias, I thought it was an unfortunate choice to close the episode. Yeah, Callie got to see her baby, but there had already been enough of her astral projecting around the hospital. Also, while this should have been Ramirez’s standout moment, it didn’t really feel like anything special.