wow. that is all i have to say about the grey’s anatomy finale. it wasn’t just good, but a welcome relief from the mediocre season it finished. i mean, i love the show. i do. but, this season was kind of lost on ideas and creativeness. it just felt forced and i think a lot of people feel the same way. so, it was nice to have a finale that delivered (one of the only decent finales this year).

thankfully, it looks like ava/rebecca/whatever is out of the picture. her character went through some traumatic experiences and attempted suicide. she was basically a wreck and alex was trying to take care of her. we found out a lot about where alex comes from. when izzie tried to intervene and tell alex that the girl needs professional help, he freaked. he says that he has done this before and that he will do better with her, which makes us think that his mother had some kind of suicidal tendency or mental issues. with a druggie abusive father and that kind of implied relationship with his mother, it’s no wonder he acts the way he does sometimes. at the end, alex gives in to izzie’s request and gets ava help. and in a surprising moment, he kisses izzie, while crying. she tries to stop, but he pleads. he obviously wants to forget his problems for a little while. i want alex and izzie together, but these aren’t the circumstances that should make it happen. it was heartbreaking to watch, but so good.

i will officially say that justin chambers deserves an emmy nod for his performance. he sometimes gets put on the backburner for other storylines, but this episode proved that he needs to be a frontrunner. his acting was absolutely amazing.

as for merideth and derek, they got together. as expected. i must say that i found their final scene a little corny, but nonetheless something we were all hoping for. i kind of feel bad for the nurse chick. why do i feel like she is going to come back and hook up with mark? i don’t know…mark is lonely. he loses callie to erica, yes erica. that was the “big kiss” that shonda alluded to and i wasn’t suprised. we all saw it coming. and it should make for an interesting next season. though, i hope mark finds someone. my hope is that they cancel private practice and addison comes back for him! hey, i can dream.

george was also great in this episode. feeling under-appreciated, he turns to lexie who seems to be his new best friend. she breaks into the chief’s office and finds out that george only failed the intern exam by one point. one. so he stands up to the chief and surprisingly, is told he can take the exam over. it ends with a nice thank you kiss planted on lexie, which obviously means more to her than just gratitude. we’ll see where that goes.

as for bailey, looks like she is relinquishing some control so she can put her family back together. she gives izzie the clinic to run. while the chief moves back in with his wife. cristina got her mojo back, which was nice to see. i can’t stand anything more than seeing her be vulnerable. i like the hard, yet lovable cristina we all know.

as for the patient storylines, they were good. a kid stuck in cement? unrealistic but good. the cancerous couple were awfully sad as well. though, derek and merideth finally proved a medical discovery. good stuff if you ask me.

my only wishes for next season are…that merideth and derek stay together for a while (sick of the angst!), alex and izzie don’t jump together too soon (that spells distaster), lexie and george stay friends (why do we need him to sleep with EVERY girl on the show), mark finds love (preferably addison), bailey and the chief work out their family issues, ava is gone for good (please!), and finally, cristina gets promoted somehow. that’s not too much to ask, is it?