Last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy was called “Pieces of My Heart”, and featured the much-hyped return of Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery. Addison was one of my favorite characters on Grey’s before she left and I’ve been watching Private Practice just because of her, but I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with her appearance here. It’s as though the writers used her return as an excuse not to advance any of the main storylines, so I was bored for most of the ep.
Meredith/Derek: Their patient Philip (the same guy from last week who was attacked by a bear) is worsening, so they have to move up his surgery and experimental treatment. Derek tells Meredith not to get too hopeful or involved with the patient (who does he think she is, Izzie?) because the surgery probably won’t work. It doesn’t. Philip dies on the table, leaving both Meredith and Derek feeling a bit saddened by what happened. At least they’re able to work together without bringing up Rose or their failed relationship.
Addison/Callie/Hahn/Cristina: The reason Addison came back was to assist in a neonatal surgery for a baby whose heart is growing outside his body. Before performing the procedure, however, she has a chance to talk to everyone and get a general idea of how things are going at Seattle Grace. After seeing Callie and Hahn interacting, she asks Callie if she and Hahn are a couple now. Callie freaks and screams, “I’m a huge fan of penis!”, and then spends the rest of the ep acting awkward around Hahn before finally hooking up with Sloan again.
Meanwhile, Hahn still refuses to teach Cristina anything and continues to treat her like absolute dirt. Cristina gets in on the heart surgery, but is only allowed to do something minor before being told to step back. When she finally works up the nerve to confront Hahn, Hahn says that it’s not her job to teach or heap praise upon Cristina.
Izzie/George: George is now hanging out and partying with the rest of the interns, which makes Izzie jealous. She invites herself to a dart tournament they’re planning to have, but Lexie (speaking on behalf of everyone else) tells George to tell Izzie that she can’t come. After all, no one wants to go out with their boss after work. George does so, which upsets Izzie at first. But then she realizes that he needs some space, so she backs off.
This week Izzie dealt with an HIV-positive patient who got the news that she was pregnant. The woman wanted to schedule an abortion right away, but Izzie intervened and said that the woman should at least think about it. This causes the patient to fly off the handle. She accuses Izzie of meddling and demands another doctor. At first Izzie just meekly accepts this, but later she talks to the woman again, this time with some solid information. After hearing that there’s a 98% chance her baby will be HIV-negative, the woman decides not to terminate the pregnancy.
Alex/Ava: God, have I mentioned how much I absolutely HATE the Ava character??? Why does she keep coming back? Please, please, please get rid of her! She shows up this week to say that she’s pregnant. At first Alex doesn’t really care and is actually hostile, but after working on the baby in Addison’s case, he comes around. By the end of the ep, he even rubs Ava’s belly, which totally made me want to gag. Too bad Izzie found out that Ava is NOT pregnant after all.
My Reaction: There were a few funny moments in this ep, like the elevator scene in which Derek was surrounded by Meredith, Addison, and Rose before Mark walked in and just started cracking up, but for the most part, it felt like too much fluff. None of the storylines progressed at all. so I feel as though nothing is going on.
Derek and Rose have just had six dates. George and Izzie haven’t discussed their future. Hahn is still treating Cristina like dirt. Izzie still gets yelled at by patients for not doing what they want. How many times have we seen this before?
I swear to God, the presence of the Ava character on this show makes me want to turn my TV off for good. I know this is shallow, but I think the actress is not very attractive, so I have a hard time believing Karev would choose her over, say, Addison, Izzie, or even Lexie. I mean, come on! Plus, she just comes off as so needy and demanding that I can’t believe Alex hasn’t kicked her to the curb already.
Oh, and I have to say that in one of the closeups of Izzie smiling, I noticed that Katherine Heigl’s formerly stray tooth has been fixed! I Googled it, and sure enough, discovered that she used Invisalign to straighten out her teeth. She looks great!
Anyway, I don’t know how many eps are left in the season, but I hope some of the storylines from this year get resolved one way or the other before the summer hiatus. This is getting to be ridiculous.