Callie’s storyline for the episode had little to do with the ongoing invasion. She had an invasion of her own with the return of Daddy Torres, who brought along a priest to help cure Callie of her new-found gayness. Callie told her father, “You can’t pray away the gay!” And after butting heads a few times over Bible quotes, Callie stormed out. It was Arizona that stepped up to talk to Callie’s Dad and get him to remember his role as a father. In the end, Father and Daughter have a sweet moment, ending in hugs, smiles, and promises of grandkids.

Meredith spent the episode in a hospital bed, hiding away the pregnant belly, while the others came to visit her occasionally with updates of the out-of-body attackers. Meredith’s invaders were more internal for this particular episode. Very little Mer-Der to report.

Lexie and Cristina had their own battles against the Invaders. Lexie crossed the line when she stole the other doctor’s private notebook. But she apologized. Cristina’s battle led to a breakdown in Meredith’s hospital room during which she admitted that she misses Burke. Not romantically, but professionally. She doesn’t know what she’s doing anymore.

The most important part of the episode came at the end, when – after a fight with Charles – Izzie made a horrible mistake with a patient, causing the patient to lose her spot in the kidney transplant list and almost killing the woman altogether. The mistake cost her the job at the end of the day and despite teary begging, the Chief’s decision was final. Izzie was fired from Seattle Grace.

We then find out that in addition to leaving the hospital, she has also left Alex. She leaves him a vague note in his locker.

We already know that Katherine Heigl was granted a temporary (5 episode) hiatus from the show so she can finish filming a movie. All sources confirm that she will be back. Her departure has been in the cards for a while now and is meant to be only a short-term thing. It will be interesting to see what happens when she returns and whether or not she gets her job back.

Overall, the episode was mainly focused on the arrival of the new Mercy Westers and the changes that will emerge from their presence. There’s going to be a big adjustment period as currently nobody likes one another.

I’m looking forward to seeing a different dimension to the new arrivals as it’s an adjustment for viewers as well. I don’t really like any of them at the moment.

What did you think of the new doctors? And what did you think of the episode?

Image: Newscom

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

For those that missed it, or want to revisit the episode, here’s my recap of the episode.

5.20 “Sweet Surrender”

Original airdate: April 23, 2009

We open with Meredith and Derek in bed. Meredith is examining her wedding ring from all angles. Meanwhile, Izzie is getting her chemo, while Alex sits at her side, looking around at all of the other patients. Arizona and Callie run into each other in the stairwell and kiss. While Cristina sees Owen and avoids him.

In bed together, Meredith and Derek discuss the wedding. Meredith wants a simple wedding. She doesn’t want to wear a big poofy dress and Derek recommends they get married naked, in a field. Mer says she’s gotten Izzie to plan the wedding and that at least now they have a theme: simplicity.

Downstairs, Lexie and Mark are being cute with each other, until Meredith and Derek appear. Mark and Derek are still mad at each other, making things awkward.

At therapy, Owen tells the doctor that he feels nothing. The therapist asks him how he can begin fo fix anything without knowing what he feels. He needs to claim his feelings.

After her first chemo treatment, Izzie is acting like she feels 100%. She’s on the phone, asking for wedding dresses to be delivered. The Chief watches on, along with the Oncologist who warns Richard that Izzie needs rest because later on Izzie is going to feel like death.

Arizona and Mark walk together and Arizona is saying that Callie’s dad is visiting. She doesn’t seem particularly worried about the visit. Callie appears and sees George and warns him to run. But oh, too late! Daddy Torres catches George and throws him against the wall. He’s angry about him cheating on Callie. Callie tries to intervene by bringing Mark into the fold, stating that she cheated on George with Mark, technically. So Callie’s dad throws Mark against the wall. Callie keeps trying to talk him down, saying that she’s dating someone now and she’s happy.

That seems to relax her father, who lets Mark go. He turns his attention to Callie, wanting to know more about this gentleman she’s now dating. Arizona watches on. Callie introduces Arizona as the person she’s dating. Arizona cheerfully extends her hand and says she hopes he draws the line at throwing women against walls.

Elsewhere, the ambulance arrives with two patients. One hit the other with his car. The one that got hit with the car is very agitated and angry about the man that hit him. All the while, Mark and Derek bicker at each other. Lexie keeps eating.

Owen puts Alex in charge of the pit, and tells George to report to Alex. George is put in charge of the guy that got hit by the car.

Arizona and Bailey walk together. It’s Bailey’s day off but she’s there to observe Arizona. Arizona babbles on about meeting Callie’s dad until Bailey tells her to stop telling her about her personal life. Arizona tells Bailey she should really be home on her day off. Bailey talks about how her husband is being very supportive of her change in specialities, but Arizona sees through the lie and asks if she hasn’t told her husband yet.

Their conversation is interrupted by a man who’s yelling about his daughter not being able to breathe. Arizona and Bailey rush over to attend to the little girl.

Meanwhile, Mark and Derek continue to argue like an old married couple, and they put Lexie smack dab in the middle. Each wants her to say what the other wants to hear, but Lexie tells them they’re both amazing doctors and walks away, eating a candy bar.

George attends to the patient that got hit by the car, but he notices that the man’s injuries do not coincide with the story he’s telling, about being hit while walking on the crosswalk. He goes to Alex and says they should get a psych consult for the guy. Alex resists at first, thinking they should just let the guy go because they need the bed. But George insists and Alex unhappily agrees.

On the bridge, the Chief gives Meredith the big congratulations on the engagement. And then orders her to go try on dresses for Izzie.

Meredith isn’t happy about the dress thing, and complains to Derek. She gets upset that the Chief even knows they’re engaged, but Derek says if she doesn’t want to try on dresses to take it up with Izzie. Meredith doesn’t want to do that because then Izzie will look at her with those big “cancery eyes.” Derek asks if Meredith wants him to go in her place.

Meredith then watches from the window as Derek talks to Izzie. Izzie is crying. When Derek walks out he tells Meredith that they now need to make time for ballroom dancing lessons.

Callie sets a poor guy’s bones while making a case for her happiness. Her dad stands by the doorway. When she’s done talking about how happy she is, he tells her that she’s to come live with him and her mom in Florida. He’s going to talk to the Chief about having her transferred.

Arizona and Bailey watch the sick little girl from the window. Arizona explains that the little girl is terminal and doesn’t have much lef to live. The father comes out with paperworks. He’s been doing research and wants to take the girl to Mexico for an experimental treatment. He only needs two weeks, but Arizona says the girl doesn’t have two weeks. She only has a few hours. The father gets agitated and yells at Arizona for giving up.

Izzie starts to crash and Cristina runs to her side, but then Izzie starts laughing. She was just pretending. She just wants Cristina to get Meredith to come and try on the wedding dresses.

Mark, Derek, Owen and Lexie give the driver the bad news. His injuries are pretty severe. The guy is upset because he insists the man dove in front of his car. That he was just headed for the bank when the man flew in front of him.

In Izzie’s room, Meredith tries on a dress. Meredith tries to say she doesn’t want a big dress or a big wedding. She just wants buffalo wings. Izzie tells her she has to make a big deal about it because it’s her wedding. She says otherwise she’ll be sad and she doesn’t want anymore sadness because she’s already dealing with cancer. Meredith concedes.

Arizona watches as Callie paces back and forth, mumbling in Spanish. Mark arrives and Arizona rushes to him, explaining that she doesn’t know what to do about Callie and that she’s got to run because she’s got a little girl that’s dying. Mark says he’ll take care of it and shakes Callie and tells her to stop speaking Spanish.

Callie tells him that her father wants to take her away. He asks if she’s twelve. But Callie says that her father has supported her in everything her entire life and she doesn’t know what to do. Mark tells her that supporting someone and respecting them are two different things. And he should tell him that.

The little dying girl is asking for her dad and Bailey comes to her side. She picks the girl up and rocks her in the chair.

Cristina, Alex, and Lexie are all in Izzie’s room, waiting for Meredith to come out wearing another wedding dress. Alex brought Izzie some fries. They’re all amazed by how well she’s doing after the chemo. Meredith is refusing to come out of the bathroom. Izzie fakes another attack so that Meredith comes out. It works. But Cristina and Meredith tell her to stop doing that.

Lexie keeps eating Izzie’s fries because she’s stressed out about Mark and Derek. She asks Meredith to go talk to them.

Izzie sends Alex for more fries. And once she’s alone, she shows how sick she truly feels. And throws up.

Bailey is still with the little girl when the girl’s dad returns. He’s still insisting on going to Mexico. Bailey tries to tell him that he needs to stay with the girl but all he can think about is Mexico. He rushes off in search of plane tickets. The little girl is clutching to Bailey’s scrubs and she decides to stay there with the girl.

Meredith tracks down Mark and Derek and yells at them to make up already, if not for her, then for Lexie, who’s eating herself into another dress size.

Derek makes the announcement that the Chief is going to be his best man. This doesn’t sit well with Meredith. She doesn’t want the Chief as the best man. Derek says it’s his decision and she needs to get over her grudge. Meredith says the Chief had an affair with her mom and broke up her parents’ marriage and ruined her childhood. Meanwhile, Derek is willing to throw away twenty years of friendship with Mark over nothing. So she’ll get over her grudge when he gets over his.

Elsewhere, Owen asks Alex for an update on the guy that threw himself in front of the car. Alex doesn’t have one. Owen gets overly angry at Alex and sends him off to find out about the patient.

Alas, the suicidal guy is gone. Alex and George go outside to look for him, meanwhile yelling at each other about whose fault it is that the guy disappeared. While they’re yelling at each other, the man throws himself from a window and lands on top of a car near them.

During surgery, Mark and Derek continue bickering at each other. Then the patient starts to bleed and Mark impresses Derek by managing a quick stitch that saves the man’s life.

Alone still, Izzie isn’t looking well. But she gets out of bed anyway, to look at a wedding dress. She passes out on top of it.

Owen and George are in surgery, tending to the man who threw himself from the window. Owen is impressed with George’s quick thinking and tells him that his specialty should be trauma.

In the Chief’s office, Callie’s dad tells Richard that he wants to take Callie home. He’ll give whatever donation is needed to get Richard to issue out the transfer. Richard tells him that Callie is a grown woman. But Daddy Torres gives a long speech about Callie’s still his child and he’ll do anything to protect her, even from herself. And that as a parent you never surrender.

That ties in nicely with the little girl who’s dying. The dad is still freaking out about getting the girl to Mexico. Bailey has been holding on to the girl all day. She tells the man that he needs to let it go now and be with his daughter because she’s terminal and she needs him there. The man gets in bed and holds his daughter. Bailey sits there watching him talk to the little girl as she dies.

Cristina tends to Izzie, who’s no longer pretending she feels well. Izzie says she wanted to be the same person she was before, but she knows she’s not the same person anymore.

Arizona watches from a different room as Callie yells at her father in Spanish. She says, “Keep the money!” (in Spanish) and her father walks off. Arizona walks over to see what happened. Callie explains that her father is cutting her off from her trust fund because she refuses to go back home with him. So she cut him off too. Arizona asks if she’s okay, and Callie says no. Arizona hugs her while Callie cries.

In therapy, Owen is making progress. He makes an analogy between the man who threw himself in front of the car and his relationship with Cristina. He says he feels ashamed for throwing himself in front of Cristina’s car and hurting her. The therapist says it’s progress for him to be able to name what he feels. Now he can begin to deal with it.

Mark and Derek talk to the wife of the man who hit the guy with the car. They tell him that the man suffered some serious injuries but that he’ll be fine. The woman thanks them, but Derek tells her that all the thanks should go to Mark, because he’s one of the few surgeons in the world who might’ve saved the man’s life.

Mark is happy about the compliment, though Derek says it wasn’t a compliment; it was a fact. They bicker some more, but this time sounding more like friends.

Bailey comes to see Arizona before leaving home. Bailey is looking down. She says she didn’t do anything resembling medicine all day. If she’d wanted to hold a child all day, she would’ve stayed home holding her own child. Arizona asks if she’s going to tell her husband about switching to Peds. Bailey doesn’t know what she’s going to tell him. Arizona says that Peds is more than just cutting and that what Bailey did that day was heroic. And that Bailey knows it.

Back in Izzie’s room, Meredith tries on another wedding dress. It looks gorgeous on her. Cristina and Izzie approve. The Chief sees from the window and smiles.

At the bar, Alex sits besides George and tells him that he kicked ass that day. Alex laments the fact that he’s not as good as George under pressure. Izzie’s very sick and he’s not good under pressure. George passes him a beer.

At Meredith’s, she and Lexie are discussing the wedding. Meredith gives Lexie the news that she’ll be a bridesmaid. Lexie is excited. Mark and Derek walk in, talking like best friends again. Meredith and Lexie watch in surprise and Meredith tells Lexie she can stop eating now. “Oh thank, God,” Lexie says.

/End

What did you think of the episode?

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

Grey’s Anatomy continues to impress me even more than usual. I almost don’t even know what to say about that episode. I thought it was amazing from start to finish.

If you’ve missed it, or can’t see it from where you are, here’s a brief recap:

“Elevator Love Letter” | Original airdate: 03/26/09

Izzie’s been admitted into Seattle Grace (as we saw last week), and Alex watches over her, from afar. Callie and Arizona dance around the living room (so we can assume that they’re together?) And Cristina and Owen (platonically) fall asleep. But the spinning of the fan seems to affect Owen in a terrible way, and Cristina wakes to find him strangling her. Thankfully, Callie hears the commotion and thinks to knock and enter. This wakes Owen up and Cristina breaks free.

Callie calls Meredith who comes by immediately to check up on Cristina. Both Callie and Meredith express great concern but Cristina wants to forgive Owen. Owen’s a mess of tears and guilt.

The next day Derek attempts a pretty unimaginative proposal. He drops the ring on the breakfast table and Meredith gently tells him to put it away. She wants him to focus on Izzie first.

Izzie gets the lowdown on her treatment, which is described as “aggressive” by the Oncologist, who’s a prickly, unlikeable sort of character. Izzie puts on a brave front, telling her friends to go be doctors. They leave her. She focuses on knitting, and they focus on worrying about her from far away.

Alex is particularly guilt-ridden and is angry, both at the situation and at himself. He feels he should’ve known something was wrong when Izzie told him about the hallucinations. He confesses as much to Meredith, who listens patiently.

But no one goes to visit Izzie.

The only one that stops by to see her is Bailey, who does her best to keep a positive outlook, telling Izzie she knows she’ll pull through.

Callie struggles with her own guilt, admitting to Arizona that she once wished Izzie dead (after Izzie stole her husband). But Arizona asks her if she’s praying for Izzie’s death now, and Callie says that no, she’s praying for her life.

Despite Meredith’s protests and Callie’s concerns, Cristina is insistent on defending Owen. Owen, however, feels awful and terribly guilty. Derek tries to offer some advice, but Owen shoves it back in his face, telling him to look in the mirror.

Meanwhile, Derek deals with his own insecurities and self-doubts. He attempts another flimsy proposal, telling Meredith that he needs to know it’s a yes before he operates on Izzie but she again gently declines and tells him she believes that he can do it.

Owen tries to break it off with Cristina, but Cristina tells him to let her decide what she can handle.

In the OR, Bailey’s there for Izzie, who tells her that the scarf she’d been knitting all day is for her. Derek does his best not to look petrified, and speaks his mantra: It’s a beautiful day to save lives.

A different patient – an old woman – that has been fighting death for years, continues to fight. Alex is impressed with her ability to come back from the brink of death. She tells him that it’s her people that have pulled her through, and that having people is better than having no people. And Alex realizes that the same must pertain to Izzie and that he’s been wrong to avoid her all day.

George, meanwhile, remains angry at Izzie for not telling him, but Callie talks him out of it and tells him they need to go wait for Izzie to come out of surgery.

Everyone – even the interns – gather to wait for the outcome of Izzie’s surgery.

The Oncologist drops into the OR to question Derek’s every decision, but the more she questions him, the more confident he becomes, and he gets his footing back. The surgery is a success.

Bailey gives everyone the good news, that Izzie is coming out of the surgery fine, but that it was no thanks to them.

Cristina finds Owen in the on-call room and gives him the good news about Izzie. Despite the day’s tension, or perhaps because of it, they finally make love.

The Chief tells Derek that Meredith believes in him, and that he should try proposing again. Derek seems to take the Chief’s advice to heart and starts to shave.

Alex goes to Izzie and stays with her.

At the elevators, the Chief blocks Meredith’s entrance to one elevator and forces her to take the other. Inside, is Derek, and the walls have been wallpapered with brain scans and random papers, a medical timeline of their time together and the stories that went with them. Derek goes over them one by one, reminding Meredith of the cases that brought them here and brought them together. He doesn’t get down on one knee and doesn’t ask her to marry him, he simply tells her that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. She says the same.

In bed together, Cristina tells Owen that she doesn’t think she can do this after all. That she’s lying there in his arms and she’s afraid to fall asleep.

The episode ends with Owen getting a brain scan, Meredith telling Cristina that she’s engaged, Cristina telling Meredith that she broke up with Owen, and Alex holding Izzie in the hospital bed.

[The End]

This was absolutely one of those episodes that you have to watch in order to truly appreciate its impact. It was a beautifully moving hour of drama.

The whole Izzie storyline is breaking my heart. And I think Owen and Cristina are beautiful together. It’s going to have a wonderful payoff in the end, no doubt.

What did you think of the proposal scene? I can’t imagine a more perfect proposal, honestly. But what about you? Were you impressed with it or disappointed? And what did you think of the episode as a whole?

Image: Newscom

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

I hope that by now everyone’s gotten a chance to watch last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy “Stand By Me.” What an awesome episode that was! I know a lot of people have lost faith in the show, but I really think they’ve been knocking it out of the ballpark lately. This last episode was truly wonderful.

A brief recap of the episode is after the jump!

Grey’s Anatomy 5.18 “Stand By Me” | Original Airdate: 03/19/09

Cristina gets granted a solo surgery, but she’s preoccupied by Izzie’s condition. She spends most of the episode trying to set up an appointment with a specialist and then trying to convince Izzie to actually go to the appointment. Izzie is feeling negative most of the episode and blows the appointment. This angers Cristina who doesn’t understand why Izzie would tell her in the first place if she wasn’t looking for help.

Meanwhile, the hospital is abuzz with a major facial reconstruction surgery. The Interns are being their annoying selves and spend most of the time making jokes about the patient, something that angers Izzie and makes her feel even more negative about telling people about her condition. The patient, whose face is partly gone due to an accident, kicks out his support system before his surgery because he’s afraid that they’ll look away from him. After a pep-talk by Lexie and Sloan, he calls them back in and his friends’ support helps Izzie rethink her stance on her condition.

Derek is still sulking the woods and the Chief is pretty much a mess without him. To help, Bailey sends Callie to get Derek back, but instead of cheering Derek up she gets into a funk herself and stays there. Worried, Bailey sends Hunt after them, and he, too, falls into a funk after a few minutes with Derek and Callie. So now the three of them are out in the woods drinking beer, feeling sorry for themselves.

Bailey, now convinced they’re all dead somewhere “on a spit with a one-armed man,” tells the Chief that she sent them out there to try to get Derek back. So, then the Chief goes out to the woods. Derek blows up at him for sending Meredith to him expecting a ring. He says he batted the ring into the woods and that the Chief has ruined his life.

Throughout all of this, Meredith and George (he actually had a huge role in this episode!!) try to deal with the interns who have some personal drama of their own and have been getting into fights, and walking around with bleeding arms and black eyes and crying. Meredith and George initially try to ignore the obvious issues because they want to get done with the patient and get back to observing both the facial reconstructive surgery and Cristina’s solo surgery, but the drama continues and they’re forced to address it. Several lectures and a positive pregnancy test later, it seems they manage to get through to them. Maybe!

Emily Kuroda guest stars as Cristina’s solo surgery patient. She plays a sweet older woman who has a few questions written down on a piece of paper. Cristina doesn’t really have a lot of time or patience for her, though, because she’s too busy worrying about Izzie.

Before the surgery, the woman tells Cristina to please tell her everything’s going to be okay. Cristina softens and tells her that she will get her through it. The woman goes under and before she cuts, Cristina spills the beans about Izzie to Alex and Bailey.

The Chief tells Derek that he will not accept the blame for what’s going on with Derek and Meredith and tells Derek that he’ll need a friend once he decides to get out of that hole he’s dug himself into. That seems to get through to Derek who wonders how he’ll get Meredith to forgive him. The Chief tells him that he can always find a way back.

The facial reconstructive surgery is a success and as Izzie watches the guy’s happiness and his friends’ unwavering support she seems to make up her mind about her own condition.

Outside, Cristina sits down beside Izzie at a bench and admits that she told Alex and Bailey and that the news is spreading to everyone else. She tells Izzie that she wants her to fight. And Izzie thanks her.

Lexie, meanwhile, kisses Mark in front of the interns and tells him that she thinks their relationship can survive in “a hostile environment.” Mark smiles.

Meredith shows up at Derek’s and he thanks her for coming. She thanks him for calling. He says he loves her and she says he knows. And he asks if she’d still love him if he wasn’t a surgeon. Meredith says that she wouldn’t, and explains that the reason that she wouldn’t is because he’s only about 20 people in the entire world that can save Izzie, and explains. She leaves her scans with him and tells him that it doesn’t look good.

Back at Seattle Grace, everyone hears about Izzie’s condition and goes to her.

Derek pulls himself together and looks at her scans.

Izzie gets admitted into Seattle Grace.

[End of Episode]

This was such a heart-wrenching episode, and I have a feeling that I should keep the tissues handy for the rest of the season.

But it wasn’t all darkness and gloom. Bailey was pretty hilarious with her concern that a serial killer had captured Callie and Hunt, and the scene in the cafeteria when Cristina is trying to convince Izzie to go to the appointment and everyone sits down and suddenly it all becomes an enema metaphor. Pretty funny.

There were a lot of really beautiful moments and for all the protests about Izzie’s storyline, I think it’s going to turn out to be really beautiful. A true test of friendship and perseverance.

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

What did you think?

Image: Newscom

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

The main story from last night’s episode was Derek’s struggle with his own guilt. He messed up during surgery last week and this error ultimately cost a woman her life. To go along with this theme of mistakes, we saw Izzie dealing with messed up test results, and Cristina and Hunt dealing with another surgeon’s errors.

Other storylines from the episode:

• Mark finally tells Derek about Lexie -which leads to the bloody fist fight on the bridge. I thought it was clear that Derek wasn’t really angry at Mark necessarily. Ausiello said that Derek was angry at Addison, but I think Derek was really angry at himself.
• Callie finally stops avoiding Arizona and asks her out, only to get turned down.
• Bailey is on her way to applying for that fellowship and trying desperately to gather some recommendation letters. The one that really matters – the Chief’s – isn’t what she hoped it would be.

So let’s recap:

Derek does his best to try and save Jen. The first surgery goes well, but the good news doesn’t last long. Jen isn’t out of surgery for long before she has to be rushed back in. In the OR, Derek goes head-to-head with Addison. Addison wants to save the baby, but Derek is obsessed with saving Jen’s life – at all costs. Eventually, Addison sends Alex to get the Chief and with the Chief’s nod, Addison takes out the baby. Though the baby is premature, Arizona seems to think that he’ll pull through. But Rob (Jen’s husband) is terribly broken by the news that his wife didn’t survive the surgery. All Derek can say is, “I’m sorry,” while the other surgeons try to explain to Rob what went wrong. Rob calls Derek a murderer.

Cristina, Hunt and Callie see to a patient whose surgeon, Dr. Campbell, is an ageing “dinosaur” (according to Cristina) who keeps making routine mistakes. Cristina is unforgiving and goes out of her way to make sure that Dr. Campbell is held accountable for screwing up the man’s surgery. Hunt is compassionate toward Dr. Campbell, going as far as telling Cristina that she’s too tough on people and that people make mistakes. Cristina doesn’t budge, and keeps a firm stance on her belief that Dr. Campbell should retire the scalpel. Hunt eventually gives a subtle hint to Dr. Campbell that perhaps it’s time to know when to stop.

Izzie finds out that her test results were screwed up and spends the episode trying to come to terms with this news. She finds a questionable mark on her back and goes to dermatology to have it removed. Actual test results come back and Izzie decides to get the interns – whom she spent all episode blaming – to help her figure out what’s wrong with her.

Callie’s talk with God seems to have given her newfound confidence and she walks up to Arizona rather confidently and tells her that though she’s been avoiding her, she’s ready to take on this sapphic adventure, for the second time, and asks Arizona on a date. Arizona – who seemed like she very much would’ve said yes if Callie hadn’t used words like “adventure” and “second time” – turns her down because she’s aware that this is an experimental time for Callie and she doesn’t really want to be part of someone’s experiment.

George has a minimal plot line in this episode. His entire task is to write a letter of recommendation for Bailey.

Speaking of Bailey, she spends the entire episode collecting recommendation letters for her Pediatric surgery fellowship. The Chief, however, doesn’t seem to be very enthusiastic and his recommendation letter disappoints Bailey. Bailey eventually faces off with him and finds out that the Chief had plans for her that didn’t include Pediatrics and they start fighting. But their fight gets cut short because over on the bridge a fist fight has errupted.

Derek is hanging out on the bridge, depressed about Jen and probably feeling very much like the murderer Rob accused him of being, when Mark decides this is the perfect moment to reveal his relationship with Lexie. Derek answers by punching him twice. Then Mark punches back. They go at it until the fight is broken up.

At the bar…

Addison is probably pretty happy to be returning to Private/Practice. But before she leaves she gives Bailey her recommendation letter.

Callie decides to go in for another shot at Arizona and approaches her with a memorized monologue. She tells Arizona that she’s got plenty of experience to give. That she’s been married, and was in the Peace Corps, and can cook (an excellent chicken piccata) a wide assortment of delicious meals that Arizona would be lucky to experience for herself, and that if she can’t open her eyes and see that then it’s Arizona that’s inexperienced. Arizona takes the end of the monologue to introduce Julie, her date. And Callie walks off, embarrassed.

Cristina and Hunt have a heart to heart about mistakes and compassion (of which Cristina has none). He says he imagines that Cristina will be just like Dr. Campbell in forty years and that he’ll have to take the scalpel from her. Cristina says that he’d have to pry it from her cold, dead hands. But Hunt tells her that the point is that he wants to be there in forty years. Aww.

Derek and Meredith get drunk.

And we finish off with Izzie introducing the interns to her medical case.

Here are my thoughts on the episode:

• I really enjoyed the whole Jen/Rob/Derek/Addison storyline. I really think that it was more complex than Derek feeling guilty over his surgical mistake. When the couple was first introduced he commented to Meredith that they reminded him of them. And so I wonder if it’s possible that the reason Derek was so desperate to save Jen is because he felt that it was like he was saving Meredith.
• The Cristina/Hunt/Dr. Campbell storyline was interesting too. I can totally imagine Cristina being that stubborn in forty years and the fact that she’s so unforgiving of other people’s mistakes is something that will undoubtedly come back to bite her in the butt. I loved Cristina and Hunt in this episode. They make such a balanced team. It’s great to watch.
• The Izzie storyline makes me sad. It feels so detached from every other storyline. I look forward to the others finding out what’s going on with her because I feel like they should be a part of this. Whatever happens, I think we’re in for some really intense episodes.
• At first I was surprised that Arizona turned Callie down, but then I was sort of relieved. Not because I don’t want them together, but because I think Arizona has something of a point. Callie was all depressed like… two days before? And suddenly Arizona kissed her and she’s all better now? I think if they’re going to actually make it as a couple, then jumping into a first date might not be the best way to do it. I’d love to see Callie ask Arizona out because she really is interested in her and not because she’s open to an “adventure.” I really hope that’s where they’re going with this. It was so much fun to see Callie walking tall again. I thought Sara Ramirez was brilliant.
• Mark and Lexie are really cute together and I’m so glad that’s out in the open now. I can’t wait to see what happens next with them.
• I loved MerDer at the end. There was no dialogue and there didn’t have to be. Meredith was there for Derek and it was really sweet to watch them just being together.
• I’m excited about Bailey going to Pediatrics. The whole exchange with the Chief about how Bailey isn’t his daughter was really great. I think in a lot of ways the Chief does think of Bailey as a daughter. They have that kind of dynamic.

Did I forget anything?

What did you all think of the episode?

I’m incredibly bummed that there’s no new Grey’s for three weeks! Argh.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

Here’s what happened during last night’s Grey’s Anatomy episode “Beat Your Heart Out”:

“Beat Your Heart Out”

Original airdate: 02/05/09

Denny seems to have officially walked into the light (hopefully for good?) and Izzie is left trying to figure out what might be wrong with her. At the beginning of the episode she’s seen trying to draw her own blood. She’s interrupted by the arrival of her interns.

Meanwhile, Cristina walks into the on-call room to find Owen sleeping and he jumps and she jumps and they both try to ignore the sexual tension while simultaneously adding to it. Owen tells Cristina that she should wear her hair up more often because he likes the back of her neck.

Meredith and Cristina have patched things up (yay!!) and they’re walking together. So happy that whole fight is over! Meredith asks Cristina to read her mom’s journal because it might be a little too X-rated for her own eyes. It deals with her mom’s affair with the Chief. Cristina seems intrigued.

Lexie enthusiastically approaches Callie to talk about Mark, but Callie cuts her off and tells her she doesn’t want to hear about it. Poor Callie seems like she’s falling apart.

Mark and Derek discuss the engagement and the pending proposal. Derek says he needs to be cautious and “fire at the right time” because Meredith is spooked easily.

Meredith and Lexie stand outside waiting for the ambulance. It pulls up. Inside is a wife (Jen) who accidentally ran over her husband (Rob). She’s pregnant and really worried about him.

Derek and Meredith talk about how the couple will have cute babies, but Meredith says the babies won’t be as cute as theirs. Derek gets a glint in his eye as he looks at Meredith.

Bailey pops into the Chief’s office. She’s apparently been on vacation since the whole Jackson thing and she’s worried that the Chief is concerned about her work backing up. She starts to assure him that she’ll get on top of things but he tells her that he asked her in to tell her that he’s recommending her for a promotion. As soon as she’s done with ther residency. Bailey is thrilled.

Elsewhere, Cristina is preparing a patient’s parents to face Dr. Dixon. The patient is a kid and Bailey has been assigned to it as well. She’s not happy when she sees that it’s another kid.

In another part of the hospital, a couple stands around trying to find the right doctor to talk to about their particular situation. Alex tries to attend to them but the couple prefers talking to the Chief. It turns out that the couple decided to get sexually adventurous by following some ideas found in a magazine. End result: the husband now has something stuck in his butt. Oops…

Lexie and Meredith watch over Jen and the husband. Jen is pregnant and they want to keep her calm for the baby’s sake. The husband gets taken to the OR.

Bailey meanwhile is stressing out about her new patient. She tells Cristina that if the girl so much as looks like she’s going to die, she’s out of there. But all the same, she bonds with the girl, explaining in simple terms what Dixon is explaining to her parents.

Derek and Cristina run into each other and the proposal comes up. Cristina advices him not to do anything too romantic because Meredith will hate that.

Meredith approaches them and Derek wanders off. Cristina and Meredith talk about Mer’s mom’s journal, which Cristina reveals sounds more like a victorian romance, full of loaded glances but nothing too sexually explicit.

Owen pops into the frame and he and Cristina look at each other all meaningfully. There’s music. And slow motion!

Derek catches up with Mark and tells him that Meredith is ready. They start talking about the proposal as the Chief walks up. Mark wastes no time telling the Chief that Derek is going to propose. Then Owen walks up, same thing.

Meredith has an uncanny ability to sense when anyone’s talking about the proposal during the entire episode and randomly appears. Thankfully, the guys spot her and change the subject just in time to save the secret.

At the clinic, the interns are having a giggle over the patient with the um… anal …issue. The Chief scolds them for their immaturity.

Also at the clinic, Sadie is having trouble drawing a patient’s blood. Izzie has Sadie practice on her first and then tells Sadie to go ahead and run her blood too. Seems Izzie has discovered a way to get the tests done without drawing too much attention. She tells the other interns not to run any more tests without consulting her first.

In the OR, Callie and Mark are working on Rob. Mark reveals that he’s thinking of breaking up with Lexie. Callie starts to protest but she’s inconveniently interrupted by the patient crashing.

Jen – Rob’s wife – is concerned about her husband and stressing out about him. Lexie calls the OR to get bad news, but she hides it in order to keep the wife from freaking out. Then the wife has a seizure.

Bailey gets a beep and doesn’t look happy about it. She hesitantly makes her way to her patient’s room to find that the girl is crashing. Thankfully, Bailey knows just what to do.

They page Arizona, who confirms Bailey’s diagnosis. Dixon tells Bailey she wants her to scrub in, but Bailey tells Arizona that she’ll have to take her place because she can’t handle watching another kid slip away. Arizona gives Bailey a pep talk, telling her that kids are resilient and that even Jackson pulled through. And that more than likely they’d be opening the girl up to fix something simple and she’d get to return the girl safe and sound to her parents. Bailey seems comforted by this.

Back in Callie’s OR, Rob starts to stabalize. Callie picks up where they left off and calls Mark an idiot. She tells him to let himself be happy before he finds himself alone.

Izzie continues her mission to try and figure out what’s wrong with her under the guise of training the interns.

The Chief seems concerned by Derek’s proposal plans and tells him that he has to go big. Nothing – not even sky writing! – is too much.

Meredith’s wedding spider senses tingle and she appears magically to interrupt the conversation. She asks Derek for a consultation.

Derek goes to check on Jen and she sees the wedding ring in his pocket. She starts to comment on it but he interrupts her and makes up an excuse to get Meredith out of the room. He then shows both Lexie and Jen the ring. They discuss the proposal. Jen tells him that her husband proposed at a supermarket between the cat food and the tampons. “Romantic,” Derek says. Jen says it was.

In the OR, Bailey is riding high on Arizona’s optimism. Unfortunately, Dixon quickly bursts the bubble by stating that the girl is going to need a heart and lung transplant. Oh noes. Not this again. Bailey can’t take it and leaves.

Dixon gives the girl’s parents the bad news: the girl will have to remain bed-ridden until she receives the transplants. This could mean years.

Meanwhile, Bailey has disappeared into the daycare to spend some time with her son. While there, she gets an idea.

Izzie is “training” the interns on how to read an MRI. Then this guy that looks sort of familiar appears. What’s his name again? Oh yeah… GEORGE. He appears randomly and out of nowhere to tease and warn Izzie that maybe using hospital property in this manner is … oh, say … not a good idea. And then he vanishes into the place where characters disappear to when they no longer have any lines.

Meredith, Cristina and Lexie walk together while pushing Jen’s wheelchair. Meredith raises concerns over Derek, saying that she thinks she freaked him out with the baby talk from earlier. That perhaps he doesn’t want her babies because they might get Alzheimer’s or be suicidal or … (God forbid) get split ends.

Jen tells Derek that he should probably propose soon because Meredith is “freaking out.”

Over in the cafeteria, Sadie is looking through the magazine with all the sexual positions (?) and she’s stating all her favorite ones (which is all of them), while everyone sits around enjoying a good laugh. Izzie pipes in and says she wouldn’t mind doing number 16 and Alex takes that as his cue. They leave oh so smoothly.

Cristina and Hunt exchange meaningful glances across the cafeteria and Cristina finally walks up and asks him if he’s on-call. He says yes. She says she is too. And then she pulls up her hair. Hubba hubba.

Dixon is sparing no horrific scenario in telling the girl’s parents the severity of the situation. But in comes Bailey with exciting news! The girl doesn’t need to remain in bed. She just needs a backpack with a little machine that will administer the medicine she needs. There is much bouncing and hopping and cheering and hugging … and Dixon freaks out and leaves the room.

Bailey follows her and asks what she can do to help. Dixon says she needs to hold her tightly. It will calm her down. Cristina also comes in to see how she can help and gets pulled into the group hug. This is all sorts of sweet and awkward and hilarious.

Elsewhere, Jen gets the bad news that she has an aneurysm.

The Chief, Alex and Intern Ryan work to remove the object stuck in the patient’s … well, butt. The patient is mortified by the situation and the Chief tries to offer up a silver lining, which unfortunately includes the phrase “bend over backwards” … much hilarity follows. Though thankfully not in front of the patient. They are professionals, you know.

Cristina and Bailey seem to have warmed up to the group hug and are looking mighty comfy by the time Dixon tells them they can let go. I think the hug was theraputic for all three of them.

Sadie walks up to Izzie with the test results and tells Izzie she’s anemic. The real patient, however, isn’t getting such good news.

Lexie confronts Mark and tells him that she’s tired of keeping their relationship a secret. That either they can be honest about their relationship or they can’t be in a relationship at all.

In the hallway, Cristina and Hunt catch each other’s eyes and move toward each other in slow motion with romantic (cheesy?) music playing …….. and then Owen spots a familiar face and freaks out.

Cristina, thankfully, has some new methods that she picked up earlier in the day and manages to calm Hunt down by holding on to him really tightly. This seems to work.

In the OR, Dixon and Bailey are back to operating on the little girl. Bailey apologizes for not consulting Dixon first before bursting in with the cheerful good news about the backpack option. Dixon tells her she’s used to Pediatric surgeons breaking protocol. Bailey tells her that she’s not a Pediatric surgeon, but Dixon gives her a list of reasons why she is meant for Pediatrics. Arizona watches on with interest and a bit of amusement. Bailey just seems perplexed.

Meredith catches up to Derek and tells him that if he doesn’t want her babies with her crappy DNA to just tell her instead of avoiding her. Derek smiles and kisses her and assures her that he wants her crappy babies.

The surgery was a success and Bailey watches as the girl plays with her new and sparkly backpack. The parents look happy. Arizona approaches and tells Bailey that Dixon was right in suggesting that Bailey was meant for Pediatrics.

Bailey tells Arizona about how helpless she felt when her own son was dying and how she couldn’t bear the thought of ever feeling like that again, which is why she feels she has no business in Pediatrics. Arizona tells her that that makes her uniquely qualified. Bailey looks thoughtful.

At the bar, Lexie sits down next to Callie and asks if Callie thinks Mark will tell Derek. Callie tells her that he will if he’s not an idiot. And then she starts to tear up and walks off. Passing by Arizona.

Meredith, still at the hospital, drops into the on-call room. Cristina is there with Hunt cuddled up around her, sleeping. Cristina is comfy, reading the journal. Cristina seems to want to tell Meredith about Derek proposing but tells her instead that the Chief was supposed to propose to Mer’s mom, but never did.

In the bathroom at the bar, Callie is crying. Arizona walks in and introduces herself and tells Callie that she’s seen her. And that she knows things about Callie because people at their hospital like to talk (a lot!) Callie seems bummed further by the idea, but Arizona rushes to say that there’s a lot of people that care about her and like her a lot. And that once Callie’s finished with being depressed, she’s certain there will be a line of people waiting for her. Callie laughs in disbelief and asks Arizona to give her some names. Arizona answers by kissing her. She says, “I think you’ll know.”

That definitely cheered Callie up!

Over at the house, Derek and Mark have set up what looks like a 1-800-Flowers shop in the bedroom. There’s roses and teddy bears and Derek calls himself a cliche. Mark seems to want to tell Derek about Lexie but chickens out and then leaves.

Cue the phone call from Addison!

When Meredith walks into the bedroom later, Derek is gone and so are all the flowers. However, she finds a rose petal beneath her pillow. Curious!

And that was the end.

Private Practice starts with Addison’s phone call to Derek telling him that she needs him. However, the episode then goes back 15 hours. So we’ve got the storyline in place, but the actual crossover will be starting next week.

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

Written by: Mark Wilding

Directed by: Allison Liddi-Brown

Original airdate: January 22, 2009

Ellen Pompeo took the day off from doing the voice over narration for last night’s episode and passed the baton over to Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who served as our otherworldly voice of wisdom.

The episode begins with Izzie brushing her teeth and of course Denny’s there watching her. We move on to Meredith who’s watching the monitors, and one can guess she’s waiting on William to crash. William, meanwhile, is still banging his head and bleeding profusely. His monitors eventually begin to beep and nurses rush to his aid. Sadie appears and asks Meredith if she’s going to check in on her patient, but Meredith pretty much tells her to go away and pretend nothing weird is going on.

Meanwhile, Izzie is still trying to get rid of Denny who tells her that he’s there for her and he can’t go.

Back at Seattle Grace, Alex assures Bailey that Jackson is now at the very top of the donor list, but unfortunately time is not on their side and Bailey’s worried it will be too late.

Meredith managed to stabilize William – somewhat. Bailey’s there and Meredith tells her that William is a match for Jackson. Bailey looks somewhat conflicted by the information.

Elsewhere in Seattle Grace, Lexie and Mark wander into the on-call room, presumably not for a nap.

And when we return to Meredith and Bailey they’re in the middle of a discussion regarding the situation with William. Meredith wants to convince Bailey that letting William die is the best case scenario for all parties, but Bailey ends the conversation by stating that they’re doctors not executioners.

Meanwhile, the interns, who seem to not really do anything besides sit around and talk to each other, are lamenting the noises coming out of the on-call room. It seems they’d like to get some actual sleep because doing nothing at all is rather exhausting. Alas, the on-call room is currently in use by Lexie and Mark. But noises of pleasure suddenly turn into male noises of pain and the interns look at each other like, “Uh oh,” and scurry away.

Inside, Lexie looks on in horror as Mark cries out in pain. Oops, she broke his penis. Time to page Callie.

Over at Casa de Cristina, Cristina is watching Owen slumber away. She gets up eventually and slams the door shut. Owen wakes up at the sound.

Back at Seattle Grace, Bailey assigns Izzie and Alex to Jackson. Time is clicking and they have to do their best to keep him alive for as long as possible. Denny, however, is at hand to give Izzie some ominous warnings. Arizona and the Chief arrive and tell Izzie and Alex to find a dialysis machine, which might give Jackson a few extra hours. But maybe not.

Bailey starts to lose her cool, saying she needs to get off the case cause the boy is going to die and she doesn’t want to watch it happen. Arizona tells her to get some sleep, but Bailey refuses.

Dr. Shepherd arrives and greets Meredith lovingly and enthusiastically, and Meredith notes that he’s in a good mood. He tells her that his liked her and that she thinks Mer is good for him. He looks rather thrilled by it all. Meredith would probably be happier if she weren’t so preoccupied by the serial killer situation.

Lexie manages to track Callie down by paging her and does a fine job of explaining the broken penis emergency without really saying it out right. Callie gets the picture though and they hurry off to examine the broken … bone.

Owen finds Cristina and starts to apologize for getting in her shower with his clothes on and then passing out naked on her bed. Cristina isn’t anxious to talk about it and leaves it at that.

William isn’t doing so good and Meredith asks him if he’s sure he doesn’t want her to page Derek. William guesses correctly that Derek is her boyfriend and says he’s got good taste. Then he tells her a story about lemons. That before he died his grandfather said that he smelled lemons and so now William is waiting to smell lemons as a signal that he’s about to die. But he also says that his grandfather was a liar.

The Chief is talking to George! He’s telling George to see if he can track down a donor in the hospital, but to be sensitive to the families. George gets all of like two lines there.

Derek runs into Cristina and shows her the ring that his mom gave him in last week’s episode. He tells Cristina that he’s planning to propose to Meredith and he thinks it’s time for them to wrap up their little argument because Meredith will need someone to freak out to when he pops the question. But Cristina is still being stubborn.

Izzie is watching over Jackson and tells his mom, Melinda, to take a break and get something to eat. Denny is still in the room and Izzie tells him to go away, but he insists he can’t because he’s there for her. This goes on for a while, the back and forth of it all. Finally, Izzie asks him what he means, and Denny gives her a hint by telling her she’s the doctor and to figure it out.

Meredith and Cristina continue their awkwardness. Finally, Cristina asks Meredith about the serial killer and Meredith says she’s got it under control, which makes Cristina suspicious. So Cristina goes to check on William, to find that he’s doing quite poorly. She asks if Meredith has paged Shepherd but Meredith launches into a speech about how the man’s organs will save the little boy and Cristina looks like maybe she wants to sympathize, but William decides now is a good time to change his mind about the whole thing and tells them that he wants to live. Cristina hurries to page Shepherd.

Back in Jackson’s room, Arizona, Izzie and Alex are examining Jackson, while Denny is talking to Izzie. He’s talking so loudly that Izzie can’t hear Arizona. He tells Izzie that she needs to figure it out and Izzie ends up yelling, “Will you just tell me already!” Arizona and Alex stare at her in confusion and Arizona tells Izzie to take a break.

The interns are busy discussing the hot subject du jour: Mark’s broken penis. Good news travels fast, it seems. Sadie asks Lexie if it was Callie that boke Mark’s penis, but Lexie blows up at her and says she wouldn’t tell her even if she knew because they’re not friends.

In William’s room, Derek is angry at Meredith for not paging him sooner. He’s intent on undoing whatever damage Meredith caused.

Jackson, meanwhile, is getting worse and Bailey makes a decision.

Callie called up Owen to help with the broken penis issue and Owen tells Mark that they need to operate. Lexie drops by to check in on him but Mark tells her to go away.

George makes another appearance, this time to tell the Chief that he found a donor. Or at least there’s a guy that’s dying that could potentially be a donor.

Bailey’s on a mission to find organs as well. She enters the OR and begs Shepherd to put down the scalpel and let William die. Derek asks, “Am I an executioner or a surgeon? It’s your call.” In the end, Derek lets Bailey decide whether or not to save William, and eventually Bailey tells him to pick up the scalpel.

The Chief, meanwhile, approaches the dying man’s wife and asks her for permission to take the man’s organs but the wife is too distraught with sorrow and asks him to leave because she can’t handle any more. But the Chief returns later to make a stronger case.

The interns are still discussing Mark’s penis and who the mystery woman might be. Lexie lashes out at them and tells them to shut up. They begin to suspect that Lexie is the woman in question when Sadie pipes up and says that it was she. Lexie looks at her gratefully.

Izzie has another face-off with Denny, during which she tries to figure out what he is. She says she can touch him and feel him. He tells her to think like a scientist and she says scientists deal in facts and the fact of the matter is that she can feel him there. They go back and forth, Denny continues to be vague and Izzie asks what’s happening and admits she’s scared.

Jackson’s dying while Shepherd and Cristina have managed to save William.

Izzie takes Melinda (Jackson’s mom) out of the room and tries to calm her down while Bailey and Arizona do what they can. Izzie says miracles happen every day. The mom insists that she needs to be there for her son and Izzie tells her that she is there for him. And then she realizes that this is what Denny meant all along by, “I’m there for you.”

Bailey calls for Melinda and tells her that this is it, that Jackson is dying and she should hold him and let him go.

The mom holds the boy and tells him it’s okay to go. Hope seems slim. But the Chief runs in and announces that he’s got organs and to get Jackson ready for surgery.

Meanwhile, Izzie runs outside, knowing finally that what Denny’s been trying to tell her is that she’s sick. Denny appears and Izzie gets mad that he didn’t tell her sooner. He says he didn’t know there was a chance that she might get better. She says she hates him and tells him to leave. Denny says he can leave because now she knows, but that he doesn’t know if he can ever come back. Izzie says she chooses life, and insists he leave. They kiss and then Denny is gone.

William is surprised to wake up alive. He starts to tell Meredith that he’d meant to manipulate her all along, but Meredith says that she knows he was just scared. He asks her to be there for his execution.

Owen tracks down Cristina again and tells her that he’d planned a real date and that he’d like another chance. Cristina tells him that he’s got some big issues. He asks if she’d go out with him anyway and she says yes.

Lexie visits Mark again after his operation. He tries to get her to leave but Lexie stands her ground. She says she has a good friend guarding the door and that she’s going to get in bed with him and pet his hair because that’s what she likes done when she’s hurt. And she does just that.

Outside, now good friend, Sadie, smiles as she guards the door.

Bailey and the Chief watch over Jackson after the operation. Bailey isn’t sure if the boy will even wake up because they took so long to find the organs. She tells the Chief that she crossed a line that day. The Chief says he did the same. And then Bailey starts to weep.

William’s back in prison and it’s time for his execution. He walks into the room and searches the crowd for Meredith. He finds her sitting in the back. The execution begins and Meredith watches on. Before he dies, William says that he smells lemons and realizes his grandfather hadn’t been lying.

Back at Seattle Grace, Jackson wakes up and asks for water, much to the overwhelming joy and relief of everyone around.

Derek is waiting for Meredith outside the prison and she approaches him and says that she knows he doesn’t understand her. That she’d come because she wanted to show him compassion … and that it had been horrible. She cries and Derek holds her.

Then Cristina opens her door to find Derek in the hallway. He tells her that Meredith is in the car and won’t stop crying. He says that she went to the execution.

Cristina rushes downstairs and gets in the car.

Derek watches on as Cristina and Meredith (hopefully) patch things up.

And there we fade to black.

Overall, I thought ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was a great conclusion to the story arc. The doctors faced some tough decisions but managed to make the right ones. The little boy gets to live, the bad guy got his punishment. Meredith’s compassion was unwavering, and despite Derek’s resentment, he really stood by Meredith in the end. Cristina and Mer look ready to put their argument behind them. I look forward to a fresh start for them, particularly with Derek’s proposal looming on the horizon. Cristina and Owen are heading toward something, as are Lexie and Mark. Izzie knows she’s sick, so now we get to see where that leads and how Alex deals with the news. And maybe George will get more lines in future episodes.

What did you think? Solid episode or were you expecting something more than what we got?

Grey’s continues all-new with 5.14 “Beat Your Heart Out” in two weeks, and ABC is promoting it as the long-awaited Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice crossover event. Can’t wait!

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

Here’s what’s coming up on tonight’s episode, “Stairway to Heaven”:

• Jackson’s condition gets worse and Bailey becomes desperate to save him
• All of Seattle Grace steps up to find the boy a new set of organs; Meredith already has a williing donor in mind: serial killer, William Dunn
• Mark suffers a compromising injury
• Cristina tries to avoid Owen

Guest Stars:

• Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny)
• Melissa George (Sadie)
• Eric Stoltz (William)
• Jessica Capshaw (Arizona)
• Samantha Mathis (Melinda)
• Jason Kravits (Chuck)
• Ernie Grunwald (Gary)

Video clips:

• Promo | Promo II
• Sneak peek
• Photo slideshow

Story arc recaps:

• “Wish You Were Here” (5.11)
• “Sympathy for the Devil” (5.12)

Related News/Spoilers:

• Denny, Arizona/Callie
• ABC Prez on Izzie/Denny

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News

Original airdate: January 15, 2009

Written by: Jenna Bans

Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc

We open with Bailey watching over Jackson (the little kid that needs a transplant from 5.11 Wish You Were Here). She’s called Dr. Arizona Robbins at 2:30 in the morning to discuss some ideas for getting Jackson bumped up on the list, but Dr. Robbins thinks getting paged 911 at 2:30am just to have a chat is insane troll logic. She marches off to get some sleep.

Derek shows up at the hospital to check up on William Dunn (Eric Stoltz) who’s got “a brain thing” that could kill him if not operated. William seems keen on the idea of dying from the brain thing, rather than going back to prison and getting executed. Derek isn’t sympathetic. But Dunn says, “I might as well die on your watch.”

Back at Casa de Everyone, Mark is in Lexie’s room (a.k.a. the attic) annoyed that everyone’s downstairs so he can’t sneak out. Lexie tells him that they’re cleaning for Derek’s mom (though by ‘they’ she means Izzie). Mark panics because Mrs. Shepherd raised him and taught him right from wrong and yadda-yadda so she can’t know that he’s sleeping with a fetus (a.k.a. Lexie), because that’s somehow worse than sleeping with his best friend’s wife (I’m guessing…)

Downstairs, Meredith is panicking big time about meeting her future mother-in-law, while Alex, Sadie and George sit around not really making her feel any better. Meredith is certain she’s not the type of girl mothers like, but Izzie is. Enter Izzie, armed and ready with cleaning supplies. She’s been busy making the house presentable while everyone else sits around drinking tequila. It’s gotta be nice to have a friend like Izzie! Where can I get one?

Mark manages to sneak out of the house and bumps into Derek outside. He pretends that he was there to ask Derek to go out for drinks. Derek just looks confused because it’s past four in the morning.

We’re swept into the very next day and Izzie is giving Meredith a pep-talk. She also recommends Meredith do something with her hair.

Derek calls it “an alarmingly high ponytail,” which is about right. Cristina just kind of glances at it like, “Wtf?” But doesn’t say anything. Yet.

In Serial Killerland, Dunn continues to refuse surgery. Derek continues to insist on surgery.

Then we meet our new patient for the episode: Chuck. Chuck flew to Hong Kong to get experimental surgery that – should have – made him 2 inches taller. The procedure entailed breaking bones and stretching and ow ow it hurts just thinking about it. Point is, it didn’t work out very well and now everything’s kind of infected. Callie and Mark tell him he’s lucky to keep his legs, though Chuck only really cares about the two inches in height.

Bailey is still waiting on transplants for Jackson. She does take the time to tell Sadie that she doesn’t trust her and that if she wants to speak, she needs to raise her hand, and I love Bailey but I felt bad for Sadie. She looked like she was about to cry.

Meredith, meanwhile, is carting Dunn around and they bump into Jackson. The kid is interested by the handcuffs and asks what Dunn did. “A traffic violation.” Dunn asks Jackson what he’s in for and the kid replies that he needs some new organs. Dunn offers his.

You can watch that whole exchange here:

And then Mrs. Shepherd arrives! And meets Meredith and her Alarmingly High Ponytail. And Izzie watches on with interest and concern.

Cristina has joined Izzie in watching the current trainwreck that is Meredith. Then suddenly Hunt saunters over and somewhere in between telling Cristina to check on his patients and something about an enema, he asks Cristina for a date. Smooth.

Izzie gets to witness this as well. She’s got front row seats to all major happenings in this episode.

Meanwhile, Jackson is asking Bailey why he can’t have “the nice man’s organs.” Bailey tells him that there are rules.

Dunn is asking Meredith the same thing. He tells her that he wants to save a life before he goes. She asks if he really wants to save a kid’s life, and he tells her (again), “whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Bailey and Robbins start yelling at each other because Bailey feels idle and Robbins wants to trust the system. They yell at each other until Alex tells them – respectfully – to shut up. They found organs. Woot!

Alex and Dr. Robbins jump on the plane? Helicopter? It looked like a plane. Anyhoo, Dr. Robbins keeps asking Alex questions about Izzie and plans and sounding cheerful and Alex kind of manages not to snap at her.

In the cafeteria, Izzie is talking to Cristina about her upcoming date. Giving advice and so on. Izzie is very interested in everyone’s business. Especially Meredith, who is – at the moment – having lunch with Derek and his mother. She’s still wearing the Alarmingly High Ponytail (of DOOM) and smiling way more than anyone should ever smile at anything. Mrs. Shepherd asks Meredith about her family, which sends Mer fleeing.

Lexie joins Mark at his table and all of the interns assume it means Mark invited everyone and so they sit down, which sends Mark fleeing.

He flees right into Mrs. Shepherd who somehow has him confessing about Lexie in three seconds flat.

Meredith is back with the serial killer cause she somehow feels safer with him than with Derek’s mom. Dunn tells her that they let him choose a method of execution; lethal injection or hanging. He asks Meredith which one is – medically – better. She gives a lowdown of each. Neither sounds appealing. He returns to the organ-donation idea, but Meredith tells him that they’ve already found organs. But was Dunn a match? Well, of course.

Lexie runs into Mrs. Shepherd who instantly starts shooting questions at her. “Are you a good girl?” “How many sexual partners have you had?” Lexie looks like a deer caught in headlights (well, more than usual) and answers truthfully. We find out that she’s had six – no, seven, sexual partners and that she got a speeding ticket (for going 12 miles over the limit … down the hill … coasting…) She’s mercifully let off the hook before she passes out.

Callie and Mark are then in surgery, fixing the height-obsessed Hong Kong-leg-procedure guy and of course talking about their personal lives. Mark admits that when he’s with Lexie it doesn’t feel bad what he’s doing. And he tells Callie that if she weren’t so scared of getting burned she might get to find out for herself. But Callie says that she used to walk around tall and then came George … and then Erica. They made her shorter. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Back on the plane-helicopter-plane (still looks like a plane to me), Dr. Robbins is talking and Alex loses his patience and yells at her that they just took organs from a kid (oh, did I forget to mention that? The organs are from a kid that died), and what’s wrong with her that she’s talking about rainbows and relationships. Dr. Robbins gets serious and says that of course she cares but that she’s going to keep talking about rainbows and relationships and make plans because that’s what you do: you turn your back on the tiny coffins and face forward, until the next kid. That shuts Alex up and makes him think. About Izzie, no doubt.

Hunt gets his one-minute interview with Mrs. Shepherd. She questions him about where he was stationed (Iraq). “You must have stories,” she says. “Not any worth telling,” he says, and walks away. We all know that’s not true. And so does she. Cause Mrs. Shepherd is a very wise woman. I bet she can see right through the Alarmingly High Ponytail.

Cristina spots Hunt and sort of bounces over (I know, it’s Cristina and she doesn’t really bounce, but it seemed bouncy to me) and then turns into this weird, bubbly version of herself and – following Izzie’s earlier advice to ask Hunt about his best surgery – blurts, “So what was your best surgery ever?” And Hunt is just like, “Whuuut?” And she realizes her mistake and says, “Nevermind,” and mutters something and walks off.

We move on to Jackson’s surgery and everyone is all smiles – especially Bailey. Until Sadie raises her hand and points out that there’s a spot. Spots are never good. Smiles are lost.

Dunn isn’t doing any better and begs Meredith not to rush him to surgery, to just let him die. But Derek and Cristina come in and rush him off anyway – once he passes out.

Jackson’s not doing good and it seems they will have only 24 hours to find him new organs. Wonder where they’ll get them?

Bailey and Sadie have a moment alone after the surgery and Sadie opens up and tells her that she’s not trying to piss Bailey off by being there, that she’s just trying to keep it together piece by piece. Bailey says nothing, but I’m sure that sank in somewhat. Not that it really matters anyway.

Cristina and Meredith find each other alone for half a second. Cristina takes the time to tell Meredith: “That ponytail looks ridiculous.” Meredith seems to agree and takes it off. No more is said. Can they just kiss and make up already?

Mrs. Shepherd and Mark have another heart-to-heart:

Mrs. Shepherd: She’s a lovely girl.

Mark: Lovely girl that’s off limits.

Mrs. Shepherd: Bologna! She’s not the problem. You are.

Mark leaves Mrs. Shepherd and his wisdom and joins Callie and the Leg guy who is freaking out that he lost 1/4 inch in the surgery. His brother loses it and yells at him that he’s spent his entirely life walking on eggshells because of him. “No one knows how short you are, dude. No one cares.” Chuck realizes he’s been an ass. A short ass. Is that worse than a tall ass?

Mrs. Shepherd tries again with Hunt, stopping him to talk to him. Has he been sleeping well since he got back? He says yes. He’s lying again and she knows it, but what can she do?

Derek and Dunn face off after surgery. Dunn again compares the two of them, but Derek will have none of it. He won’t let Dunn die in that hospital. “You don’t get off that easy.”

Mrs. Shepherd moves on to Meredith, and Meredith – sans ponytail – is back to her normal self and tells Mrs. Shepherd that she’s a fraud, that she’s the type of crazy person that feels bad for serial killers. Mrs. Shepherd puts on her poker face and tells Mer it was nice to meet her.

Izzie – again with the font seats – watches on disapprovingly.

But then we see Izzie in the on-call room with Denny. Nope, they’re not having supernatural sex. Izzie just looks depressed. She tells Denny that she wants to meet his mom and go out on dates with him. That she wants him to be alive. Denny correctly guesses that means she wants to break up with him.

In the elevator, Callie asks Mark if he wants to go out for drinks but he’s busy (Lexie). But before he departs, this exchange occurs:

Mark: Walk tall.

Callie: What?

Mark: All you can do is be brave enough to get out there. You fought, you loved, you lost. Walk tall, Torres.”

Well said, McSteamy.

Meanwhile, Hunt finally shows up for his date with Cristina. He’s apparently very late. And very drunk. And Cristina isn’t happy about either fact. He tries to explain that he’s not been on a date in a long time and that he’ll make it up to her because she deserves better. Cristina tells him to go take a shower. She meant at his own place, but Hunt rushes to Cristina’s bathroom. “Not here!”

Mrs. Shepherd catches up with her son and they sit on a bench. She hands him a ring that apparently his father wanted him to have when he met the right girl. Addison wasn’t it, of course. But Meredith apparently is. Derek is baffled as to how his mother has reached that conclusion from the short time she’s spent with Mer. “You see things in black and white. Meredith doesn’t. You need a spoonful of that. You need her. She’s the one.”

Guess Meredith knocked that one out of the park. Alarmingly High Ponytail and all.

And, hey, there’s the ring. When’s the proposal?

It’ll have to wait, I guess, cause Hunt’s in the shower – with all of his clothes ON. And Cristina is upset about the shoes in the shower. But Hunt begins to tell her the story of his best surgery. There was blood everywhere and he managed to keep him from bleeding out by covering his body with his own for two hours. They made it to the hospital. The guy lived. The guy sent him a letter a month later, thanking him for saving his life. Then proceeded to shoot himself. “That was my best surgery.”

Cristina no longer cares about the shoes in the shower. But she takes her own shoes off and gets in.

Izzie, meanwhile, is back in her room and Alex comes in full of plans. A trip to Iowa? To meet his mom? Izzie’s definitely into it. She gets up to get a bottle of tequila so they can celebrate. Ghost Denny wanders over next to Alex and tells him that they need to talk. Alex can’t hear him, of course, but I can guess what he’s got to say: Izzie is sick.

At the hospital, Meredith checks in on Jackson and Bailey tells her that now they have to wait for a miracle.

Meredith knows there’s a miracle just around the corner, handcuffed to a bed, in fact. She goes to Dunn and tells him that part of his brain is exposed after the surgery. That if he were to hurt it in any way, his brain would swell up and he’d suffer brain death. Meredith tells him to be careful with his head. Dunn understands what Meredith is really saying.

Dunn: Are you doing this for me or the kid?

Meredith: Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Meredith leaves and Dunn begins to bash his head.

Fin.

I wonder if they’re ever going to tell that kid that he got a serial killer’s organs? I mean, I’m assuming that’s where this is going.

What did you all think of the episode? I thought it was really solid. I enjoyed it a lot. I look forward to the next one!

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Grey’s Anatomy is back! Finally, after many weeks of anxious anticipation, we’ve gotten a new episode. Was it worth the wait?

5.11 “Wish You Were Here”

Original Airdate: 1/8/09

This week’s episode picks up pretty much where things left off, maybe a day or two later. Cristina and Meredith are still mad at each other, Lexie and Mark must deal with the aftermath of their “teaching” session, Callie still has the hots for Sadie, MerDer is still MerDer, Cristina and Hunt are taking things slow, so slow that it’s almost as if they’re not moving at all, Izzie is still seeing Denny and dating Alex, and George … *crickets chirp.*

Last night’s episode centered around three patients, the most important of which is – as we know – a death row inmate named William Dunn (played by Eric Stoltz). His arrival at Seattle Grace causes a lot of added tension. Meredith seems keen on treating him with kindness, no matter what he might’ve done, while the rest of the team assigned to his case (Derek, Cristina, Hunt) treat him with thinly veiled disdain. We find out eventually that Dunn enjoys slicing women’s throats and managed quite a few before eventually getting caught and landing in his current predicament. His ailment: a sharpened toothbrush in the spine. Ow.

Meanwhile, Bailey welcomes a young patient of hers, Jackson. Alex aids her. The pediatrician on staff keels over from a massive coronary right in front of the kid and gets replaced by Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw). Bailey does not take kindly to the fact that the new doctor is young and has a totally different treatment protocol than the one that dropped dead. She tries to complain to the Chief but he basically just tells her to deal with it. Bailey’s idea of ‘dealing with it’ involves questioning the new doctor’s instructions to get the kid some transplants. But the new doctor stands her ground. I rather liked her. And by the end, Bailey probably did too. Though the kid’s future is rather uncertain.

Callie and Sloan spend the entire episode being each other’s support group against the Evil Hot Interns (i.e. Sadie and Lexie). Sloan is intent on never repeating the mistake of sleeping with Lexie again, and Callie’s fighting her attraction for Sadie. Meanwhile, they have Sadie and Lexie as interns while they deal with a lady’s throat tumor. The patient, Margaret, is played by Perrey Reeves. George was involved in this too though he had maybe 5 or 6 lines and doesn’t seem to be a part of any particular storyline. Eventually, Sloan fails miserably at his attempts to avoid Lexie and off to more teaching lessons they go. Callie manages to stay strong – sort of.

Cristina and Meredith are still mad at each other, and so they bicker all episode long while dealing with Serial Killer guy. They do not manage to reconcile. I hope they do so by next episode cause I’m kind of bored of watching them be angry at each other.

Hunt brings Cristina some coffee. Then blows her off. And then Cristina tells him to leave her alone. That’s their relationship in a nutshell.

But Hunt and Derek are getting buddy-buddy, bonding over Cristina and Meredith’s current dispute.

The Chief spends the entire episode hidden away in a room, feeling like a failure because his staff keeps quitting, no one seems to want to work at Seattle Grace, and the interns are a bunch of scalpel-happy maniacs who like to slice each other up. We’re once again reminded that Seattle Grace has sunk to the #12 spot. And it doesn’t seem like the Chief’s managed to do much to improve the state of things. Someone give the man a hug.

Izzie finally tells Alex that she can see dead people. And by ‘people’ I mean Denny. And Alex takes it like, “Cool, whatever.” And Izzie sinks further into crazyland, because her boyfriend doesn’t seem to mind that she’s sleeping with a hallucination. And now she can have the best of both worlds. Two boyfriends are better than one! Even if one is dead. Oh, it’s also Izzie’s birthday. Happy birthday, Izzie! Alex bakes her a cake. It looked rather yum, if slightly diagonal.

Derek and Meredith have a nice moment together toward the end. He tells her that the reason he was so hard on the prisoner guy is that his father got shot by two men that were trying to steal his watch. And though he knows he should treat everyone the same, in his eyes they’re not the same. They discuss the feud with Cristina and then Derek turns up the music and tries to cheer Meredith up by dancing around the room. This was really quite hialrious.

We close with Izzie blowing out her birthday candle.

[fade to black]

So what did you think of the new episode? I quite enjoyed it. Feel free to discuss your thoughts!

Next week: All new Grey’s, “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Post from: Grey\'s Anatomy News