TV: death, near death, and lots of drama

For anyone who hasn't been watching TV lately, I've decided to get you updated with some of TV's hottest shows. There have been a lot of death/near-death experiences on TV lately and major drama. Let's get started. We have a lot to talk about.

"CSI Crime Scene Investigation": Keppler, the man who took Grissom's place for a few weeks, is shot to death by an old friend. Catharine is very upset by his death. Then, they thought they caught the miniature serial killer. He confessed, but they were dead wrong. They have to catch the real killer before anyone else dies.

"CSI Miami": Hold onto your seats! Eric gets shot in the head and almost dies. But a big jab with a hypodermic needle wakes him up with a huge gasp. He wakes up, after being visited by the team and asks Calleigh where his sister Marisol is and why she's not there at the hospital. He's forgotten her death. There's a very good chance that he may not be the same Eric they all know.

Eventually, Horatio has to tell him that Marisol is dead. It is a heart-wrenching moment, and you see a tear roll down his cheek. The next week, which is set a few weeks later, Eric is back with the team, and his head is shaved. You can see the scar. He feels terrible when he mixes up the testing chemicals and causes a killer to go free. Calleigh comforts him and says that he's recovering and he didn't mean to do it.

"Maybe I came back too soon," he says. It was heartwarming when she said, "We can't make it without you." Ah, tear.

"Grey's Anatomy": Where do I even begin? There was a three-part arc involving a ferry accident that the interns were helping with, and Meredith falls into the water and drowns. How optimistic!

But that is just the beginning. Previously on the show, George and Callie got married, Burke and Cristina got engaged, and Meredith's mother, Ellis, who has Alzheimer's, was lucid for a day. In the last episode before the arc, Ellis got mad at Meredith when she told her how happy and how in love she was, but that she hadn't picked a specialty in surgery. She said she was "no more than ordinary."

At the end of the episode, when Ellis had slipped again into Alzheimer's, when the lucid day was over, Meredith didn't know, and she told her that in five years, there might be a cure, and then she would see that her daughter was far from ordinary. But it was too late.

In the first chapter of the arc, Meredith tries to drown herself in the tub, and Derek pulls her out. They get to work and Meredith, Izzie, George, and Alex go with Miranda to the disaster. Derek and Burke talk, and Derek mentions that living with Meredith is like living with a ghost, and that she tried to drown herself in the tub. "Are you confiding in me?" he asks. Derek says yes, and he proceeds to tell him about the engagement. When Cristina finds out she gets mad because she wanted Meredith to be the first to know and she hasn't told her yet.

Why? You might ask. Meredith is in no mood to hear good news. Eventually, Meredith is helping a little girl who's lost and a man who has had some metal thing hit his leg, and he accidentally pushes her in the bay. The little girl walks away and eventually finds Derek, who looks for her to no avail, but that's for the next episode.

In the second part of the arc, the girl eventually points to the water and McDreamy (Derek) rescues her. But even then, with CPR and mouth-to-mouth, she doesn't start breathing, and she's put into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Izzie does amazing brain surgery on a man, with a regular drill. He lives, and she gets off probation. She even gets to do the honors in the main surgery.

Back at the hospital, Cristina is looking for Meredith and is worried since everyone has come back but her. Eventually all the interns are paged that Mere is in trouble. Miranda and Webber kick Derek out of the room, so he has nothing to do but wait for news. Everyone is waiting. But everyone is doing their part. Even Addison tries to help.

"Come on, Meredith, don't do this," she says. And Mark (McSteamy) sits by Derek for support. I thought that was really nice. At the end of the episode, Meredith flat-lines, and she "dies" and goes to the afterlife. She sees Denny and Dylan (the bomb squad guy), and so ends the second chapter. The third begins in that afterlife. We see some of the other patients that died at Seattle Grace. Seriously! They have to convince Meredith to admit that if only for a moment, in the water, she gave up. She has to admit that she wanted to die, if only for a moment. If she doesn't, then she's stuck there.

Meanwhile, the doctors still work on Meredith, and Derek goes to the waiting room and talks with another man waiting for his loved one. Then he goes to Ellis' room and yells at her for "breaking" Meredith and telling her that she's only ordinary. Addison stops him. But as he leaves, for a moment, you know Ellis heard him. And this is what prompts a later scene.

Ellis dies. (Ah! Big shocker!) And "Dead" Meredith sees her, goes to her, and Ellis says that she isn't supposed to be there and Meredith says the same thing. Ellis tells her not to quit fighting, wraps her in a hug and says, "You are anything but ordinary, Meredith." He tells her to run, and she does.

She comes back alive with Cristina by her side. She speaks, and Cristina tells her about the engagement. "You were the 1 person I wanted to tell. Thank you for not dying." It was lovely.

My favorite part of this last episode occurs when Ellis tells Meredith, "You are far from ordinary." And I loved when the Chief insisted that they keep working on Meredith. "She's Ellis Grey's little girl. She's my little girl." Although they're not really related at all, Meredith is all he has left. I thought it was a lovely moment.

The series is going to be on hiatus until March 15, but you can still watch repeats and refresh your memory. There should be big surprises in store for us.