After last week’s incredibly boring season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy, I wasn’t expecting too much from the show this time around. I think the lowered expectations helped, because I didn’t feel like the entire ep was a boring waste of time. It wasn’t Season 2 fun, but it was a lot better than most of the crap I sat through during Season 3. Here’s what happened in 4×02, which was called “Love/Addiction.”
Meredith/Derek: They moved their on-call room breakup sex back to Meredith’s place, and in typical fashion, tried laying down some ground rules for their new relationship. Derek pretty much wants it to be the same as when they were dating, which means they would spend the night together, eat meals together, etc. But Meredith insists on just an “S&M” relationship: Sex and Mockery. Derek knows that he needs more than that right now, just as he knows that Meredith isn’t capable of giving more than that. Nevertheless, instead of walking away, he’s going to go along with these demands.
Cristina: She spent most of the episode hiding from Mama Burke, who unexpectedly dropped by the hospital. Cristina didn’t know what Mama wanted, but thought it would be confrontational. When Cristina finally worked up the courage to face Mama, she was surprised at what happened. Mama said she admired the kind of woman Cristina is, and knows she’ll be able to bounce back from what happened. Mama actually just wanted to collect Preston’s things from his apartment, so Cristina gave her the key and that was that.
When Yang wasn’t hiding from Mama, she was busy giving away her wedding gifts in exchange for professional favors, like being counted in on interesting surgeries and things like that.
Izzie/George: George decides that he has to tell Callie their marriage is over because it would be unfair to string her along. However, Callie has an extremely bad day, and when she senses what George is going to say to her, she begs him not to. Not yet. George can’t do anything but go along with her wishes.
Izzie, meanwhile, was acting like a nervous Nellie whenever she was in the same room as Callie. She would drop trays, run into things, and just generally look like she had something to hide. It’s no wonder Callie was able to figure out what was going on.
Alex/Bailey: Alex had a couple of patients who were injured when a gas line in their apartment building exploded. While he was treating the 1-year-old child, he smelled crystal meth on the patient and ordered some tox screens. It turned out that the kid had passively ingested crystal meth, which meant that the parents were cooking the stuff up in their kitchen. That’s where the explosion came from, not a gas line.
Karev told the chief who in turn told Callie to handle the situation. The correct protocol would have been for Alex to wait until the cops came, but he couldn’t control his temper and lashed out at the father well before the authorities arrived. The father, realizing he would face jail time, knocked Karev out and took off with the child. The two missing patients were later found, but Alex clearly put himself in unnecessary danger.
Bailey took exception to what Alex did, and let him have an earful the next time she saw him. At first she hesitated to say anything because she doesn’t really have any authority over Alex anymore, but he invited the criticism. Once Karev gave the green light, all bets were off. Bailey really let him have it — which served to show how much she cares about him.
Callie: Is still a mere shadow of her former self. I can’t believe how easily she gets flustered these days. This definitely isn’t the same character we were introduced to a couple of seasons ago!
Lexie: Continued to stalk Meredith throughout this ep until Meredith finally came right out and told her to back off.
Sloan: Not much action for McSteamy tonight. He just popped up here and there, said a couple of lines, and disappeared into the night.
My Reaction: I thought the scene where Bailey yelled at Karev was very well done. Chandra Wilson was awesome in that (as she usually is), and I thought Alex actually showed a lot of maturity by allowing Bailey to point out his huge mistakes like that. This scene also highlighted the fact that Bailey is a much better character when she’s in a position of authority over Alex, Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, and George. It’s going to be boring if they’re just equals for the whole season.
There were a couple of funny lines along the way tonight. I like Meredith’s penchant for S&M; that whole exchange made me smile. Cristina and her wedding gifts was also pretty funny, and definitely something I could see the character doing. I was cheering when Burke’s mom called out Meredith for her inappropriate announcement at the wedding, and was laughing when Meredith could only come up with a “Yes, Mrs. … Mama … Ma’am” in reply. If only everyone else would be that frank with Meredith, maybe she’d be more aware of her shortcomings!
Not a whole lot happened in this ep, and I don’t see any season-long arcs developing yet. But it was still a step up from what was shown last week, so I have hope again!