(S04E01) "I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one. Don't bother sucking up. I already hate you. That's not going to change." - Cristina

It's baaaack. OK, brief moment of excitement gone. Were you as unimpressed by this as I was? Look... it wasn't bad, but for a season premiere, that was pretty weak. It felt awkward and out of place, like no one knew where they were supposed to be. Stylistically, maybe that was the point. But it didn't translate for me. I love Grey's Anatomy. It's the Top Gun of TV shows. Everybody likes it. At this point though, going into the fourth season we all know the potential of this show and what it's capable of. I guess I just expected more and maybe that's my own fault for setting the bar too high. Call me crazy, but the losses of Burke and Addison and the addition of fifteen (George doesn't count) new socially inept interns didn't cut it for me.

So what was there to like about this episode? Well... a lot. Oh, the irony. I'm like my own little focus group applauding and booing all at the same time. It's been a little over two weeks since Burke left Cristina at the altar and visually, how do we represent this? Karev grew a goatee. Nice. But seriously... despite the title of the episode, the "change" hasn't come yet. Again, that seemed to be intended and Meredith even pointed out the clichéd brain dropping of "the more things change the more they stay the same" while she had break-up sex with Derek at the end of the episode.

So... less focus was placed on the change. More on the new day aspect. Speaking of which, did anyone else find it odd that it felt like the first day of school? I got the impression that everyone went away for two weeks. Who ran the hospital while Cristina and Meredith honeymooned? Alex wasn't there. He apparently drove near where Ava/Rebecca lives because he misses her. George wasn't there. He took a vacation. And I got the impression that Izzie did nothing but sit at home and mope. Burke is gone. Addison too. Were Weber and Bailey the only ones who held down the fort?

Doesn't matter I suppose. That's just me over-analyzing. Everyone is back and the new crop of interns are in, ready to be bossed around by the new crop of residents. Of course there are only two that we care about: Lexie and George. Cristina lovingly refers to Lexie as Number Three and Meredith has wisely given George plenty of space to do his thing. He's a sad guy. His dad passed last season, he's in a dead end marriage, and now he's keeping the awkwardness that is Gizzie alive by telling Dr. Stevens that he loves her too. Please... no. Just go home (is home still a hotel room?) to Callie.

Izzie is a wreck too though. Rather than try to wedge her way into a normal case after a string of car crashes fills the ER, she takes her interns out to the parking lot to save the deer that caused the accidents. This turned into the classic Grey's set-up of the case imitating the doctor handling it. Izzie is Bambi! You know what though? She saved that deer and then got some attitude and told her interns to essentially cram it because they're stuck with her. It was a nice touch on her part especially since her underlings think she's nuts. They all heard about some guy named Denny Duquette you know.

Back to the deer briefly? My one thought after she threw down the paddles and it jumped up in the flat-bed of the pick-up truck? "Good for you! Now it can go run off into the parking lot and get hit by another car!" Another thought... wouldn't she have gotten in a ton of trouble for that? She took manpower and equipment out of a packed trauma center to save a half-dead hunk of venison! Doesn't make sense.

For the most part, a lot of the episode just hit us with things we sort of knew were coming anyway. Logical stuff. Weber didn't make Bailey chief resident because he wants to keep her in the OR. Her hands are too skilled to only be filling out schedules and forms. Meredith wants nothing to do with Lexie. Cristina can't believe that Burke would resign. Stuff like that was obvious and I expected it. There were a few other moments that really stood out for me though:

• George delivering that baby and the subsequent pep talk from Lexie. We saw George take the reigns, and even though Lexie is hiding his sophomore secret for him, that's still more initiative than I ever expected from George.
• When Derek defended Meredith to Sloan. It's the first time I think we've ever heard Derek acknowledge why Meredith is so screwed up. He knows it and he accepts it. Plus... he still loves her. Obviously. The second that flame dies, the show goes with it.
• Joey, the man who will eat anything. OK, so he had pica... but still. He was shoving binder clips and cotton balls down his throat! While the case was interesting, what it ultimately highlighted at the end was how Callie is not going to make a good chief resident. She knows it and it's making her miserable. The unfortunate thing for us is that George needs an out for this marriage. If Callie suddenly becomes a miserable human being because of work, he's got one.
• Meredith's moment with the missing arm mom. What'd she say? Something along the lines of being single and successful is better than being in a relationship and feeling like a failure. Sounds like we know her plans. Something tells me that the break-up sex is going to mean far less to her than it will to Derek.

And there we are. From this point on, now we get to see the change that was so hyped. Will Meredith be able to accept her half-sister and realize that she's no longer the only "girl from the bar?" Can Derek even get over Meredith? Even though she'll hide it, can Cristina get over Burke?

Time to sound like a broken record... can Alex get over Ava? Man, I hope so because that still feels like Izzie/Denny all over again even though Ava isn't a patient anymore. And what about Weber? He said he hadn't moved back in with Adele yet. What's the hold up? After her accident last season, they seemed fine again. I would ask if Sloan was going to be OK with Addison gone, but apparently he will be since he really came to Seattle Grace for Derek. Didn't see that one coming. Didn't see a lot of that coming.