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(S04E12) "C'mon, lady on the streets, tramp in the sheets. Am I right?" - Sloan

Hey! Remember this show? Grey's Anatomy hasn't had a new episode since January 10th. So naturally, I was pumped for this one. In fairness, though, I've felt that way about anything new since the writer's strike. Bit of a mixed bag here. Part of me loved it because like I said, it was new. But at the same time, the episode was still laden with far too much of the excessive over-dramatic crap that's plagued most of this season. At the most basic level, this show works. But Shonda Rhimes and Co. love to push it and the problem is that they're not always headed in the right direction.

Gallery: Grey's Anatomy: Where The Wild Things Are

It's been five (or was it six?) weeks since we last saw the doctors of Seattle Grace and a boatload of changes (most minor) have taken place. Let's break it down:

• Derek and Rose: Derek and Rose are together still. But... no sex. She's waiting until they're serious. Sloan and Yang aren't fans of Roserek (Does that work? I couldn't come up with anything better.) and while it seems like they're happy, we all know it isn't going to last. Derek definitely seemed unsure when Sloan asked him if it was serious
• Bailey: The divorce (or at least separation) from Tucker is permanent since she has her son with her at work. It seems like she just drops him off at hospital daycare every morning. I hope this gets explored though. There's no way this doesn't interfere with her work and I hope there are consequences. She did institute a surgical contest open to all first year residents though. I'll explain more later but the one question I had? Why did she do it? Despite the fact the Chief mentioned that it was something that happened every year, did Bailey start it up because of tradition or because she needed more help?
• George and Lexie: They moved in together. I think there was a brief mention of it in the last episode. George needed to get away from Izzie and Lexie needed to get away from Thatcher. Small place. Dumpy. Not furnished very well. The real highlight was Lexie. It was comical really because her novelty (more like her purpose or place on the show) has completely dried up. She spent the entire episode stealing stuff from the hospital to help decorate the apartment. Bedpan for a fruit bowl. Excrement pads for place-mats. Classy. Seriously though - any scene with her in it was completely pointless. It's too bad because she started out as a good idea. But it seems like her character is slowly going the way of the other "new interns." Where'd they go anyway?
• Meredith: She's quiet. Started going to see the hospital quack. But she doesn't talk. It's obvious that she's still hung up on Derek but she's thrown herself into the job to compensate for the loss. Her character actually made a lot development in this episode, but we'll get to that.
• Izzie: She's bonkers. Still.
• Callie and Hahn: They're BFF now. Clubbing. Dancing. Drinking. And snubbing Yang whenever they have a chance. Outside of the hospital anyway.
• Cristina: Just as needy and driven as ever, she's still determined to learn everything she can from Hahn.
• The Chief, Alex, and Sloan: Nothing new with these three, although I was hoping there would have been some update on how Webber is doing with Adele.

Alright, with that out of the way, let's dive into the meat of the episode. Izzie first. I said she's bonkers because... well, she is. After the messes with Denny, George, and her attempt at cardio, she's lost faith in herself. (Sidebar: before I go on, I need to explain the contest. You get points for stuff. Winner gets a bejeweled pager that gives the owner first dibs on any surgery for the next three months. Point examples? 3 pts. for watching a new procedure; 3 pts. for each suture; 80 pts for solving a medical mystery. Only first year residents can play.) Izzie was obsessed with winning the contest. Cheech Marin guest starred as a guy with a broken ankle whom Izzie desperately wanted to be dying with some foreign disease she could diagnose.

This is sort of what I was talking about earlier, with the over-dramatic stuff. All the I'm dying junk, and we have the best doctors, and you'll live longer, blah blah. Remember that scene? It was just too over the top. Izzie is frequently like that though. It's annoying. She just wanted to win the contest to redeem herself and subjected poor Cheech to $120,000 worth of unnecessary medical tests. Her judgment is non-existent. To be honest, I was surprised Webber didn't yell at her near the end of the episode. He should have.

It's the show in general sometimes too. What's supposed to be spontaneous is forced. Take the beginning of the ep when Alex, Meredith, Bailey, and Yang were talking abut that next big trauma that's going to come in any second now. Then it did. That's not fun. It loses the punch when it's 100% predictable.

Moving on to Meredith. She was interesting to watch for once instead of being an endless buzzkill. The case du jour in this episode was a guy who pet a bear cub while camping. Momma bear came out of nowhere and attacked the guy's brother, who eventually died. The guy survived with a few severe claw wounds and his wife had some of her scalp peeled off, but she lived too. After hearing the story of how the wife was a trashy waitress and the guy married her after only ten days, Meredith immediately thought "tumor!" He pets bears and marries women he barely knows; pretty spontaneous behavior. Makes sense I guess. The cryptic thing about it is that we never really knew what Meredith's endgame was. Did she just want to win the contest (she did as a result) or was she just bent on the idea that no one can have love if she can't? Either seemed plausible.

By the end of the episode, it became clear that it was neither. She didn't care about the contest since she ignored the sparkly beeper when it went off and she isn't bitter about love because she went to Derek to ask for his help. She's just concerned with saving lives. It's going to be interesting to see how her clinical studies of people with brain tumors goes. Should create some tension since it wedges Mer right between Rose and Derek.

More thoughts...

• How funny is it that outside of work, Hahn and Callie are bitches to Cristina? They're the cool kids table and Yang isn't invited. I love it.
• Is Sloan really having trouble getting laid? If so, that's a riot too. Especially if he truly need Derek as his wing man to score. Is he done pursuing Hahn?
• What was with all the pep talks that The Chief gave to Alex and Izzie? I mentioned it already, but I wouldn't mind seeing him act less fatherly.
• I really hope iGeorge is dead. There still seems to be a ton of tension between them. It's to be expected, but I just hope if doesn't lead to more awkwardness. That was some painful stuff to watch.
• "Intestines in the hand" was not nearly as exciting as it should have been since I saw the promo with that line in it no less that 200 times over the last three weeks on ABC.
• Since this show is all about cool nicknames, I'm going to start referring to Hahn as LITB, which I realize is not any shorter to type, but it is short for "lotion in the basket." Raise your hand if you get it.
• Cheech Marin is a funny man.

One down and four to go. Five if you're counting hours - the finale is a double. I'm on the fence about this one. As I said, the "new" factor is huge here. But as you can see, there was still plenty to gripe about. The show just isn't where it used to be... that may change next week though. Kate Walsh is back (Private Practice is on hiatus until next season) and hopefully that means we get a mini-renaissance from Grey's.