Grey's Anatomy: Kung Fu Fighting

(S04E06) "Are you two... a couple?" - Hahn

I think we might have finally reached a turning point for Grey's Anatomy. This wasn't the best episode, but it set up a lot of things that I think the show desperately needed. The most noticeable difference? The addition of Dr. Hahn. She's added a fresh voice to the Seattle Grace staff and her presence has given life to a simmering feud between Cristina and Izzie which I can't wait to see unfold. We saw some great development from the ongoing saga that is Derek and Meredith, Lexie became more than just "the other Grey," and George and Izzie finally hit a roadblock.

That's right, the beginning of the end! We're witnessing history here folks. iGeorge is becoming obsolete! Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Izzie (in her quest for perfection) can't seem to bring herself to hop in the sack with George! She wants the right moment, the right everything. We all know that is never going to happen. Sure, she was fatigued from her surgery, but c'mon. I'm calling it right now. They're done. If they can't get it on now, then they never will. Hopefully that's the intention here because George and Callie came to terms in this episode too. So if we're lucky, we can lay this entire twisted sex triangle to rest and try to achieve some semblance of normalcy.

Fortunately, as I mentioned, a meatier (far more interesting) story for Izzie has already been set-up -- a feud with Cristina. Hahn, as you may recall from last week, does not like Cristina. As a result, she's chosen Izzie to help out on all of her cardio surgeries. Even after Cristina figured out a way to perform awake open heart surgery on a patient that was allergic to anesthesia, Hahn still picked Izzie to assist! I love it! Seeing Cristina get shut down like that was awesome. I love when she gets put in her place. One point to address though. There was a lot of talk about being "hardcore" in this episode. I found it interesting how that applied to both Izzie and Cristina. Izzie preps for a huge surgery by getting to know the patient. Cristina preps for a surgery by getting to know... the surgery. Look how it paid off for Izzie when the guy flipped out on the table. Had Cristina been assisting, who knows what would have happened. It'll be interesting to see if Hahn picks up on this key difference between the two of them.

I think she probably will. Hahn is no fool. Look how she spoke to Richard on her first day! That jab about being an attending and not being invited to the "guy's night out" was flawless by itself. She made an excellent point about the message it sends. But then she took it a step further with the comparison to country club outings with "no blacks allowed." Oh, snap! She's sassy, and regardless of the rumors that have been swirling regarding her character's sexuality, I already like her better than Addison. I actually hope that she does play for the other team. It'll be nice to have a female on this show who won't be hopping in the sack with any of the guys.

As I mentioned, Meredith and Derek both took some serious steps forward in this episode. Meredith finally realized that she's in love with Derek and that she needs to let him know how she feels. At the same time, Derek realized that he can't take care of Meredith anymore and that more importantly, she won't let him. So that creates a bit of a standoff. I think for the good of the show, they need to have a really solid falling out. Keep them apart, at least for the rest of the season. The show is called Grey's Anatomy. So give us another aspect of her life already. Or at least someone else to sleep with. After that poll I added to my review last week, the overwhelming consensus seems to be Sloan. So maybe he's next?

Now Meredith's epiphany came courtesy of her patient, a guy who went skydiving with a faulty parachute and lived to talk about it. Grey's Anatomy does that a lot. Cases that are way too "in step" with what the main characters are going through. Sometimes it's done well and sometimes it's not. This was a case of the latter. Not good at all. Meredith's situation was corny enough, but add in Callie and George's involvement with the two bridezillas and Izzie's comparisons of sex with George to her heart patient's desire to see a horn-crusted yellow-bellied barn swallow (or whatever the hell that bird was called), and it was just too much. Why does everyone need a person dying on a hospital bed to tell them what to do? It'd be nice to see decisions get made that weren't contingent on how the guy in Exam Room A lost all his fingers.

The only people that (currently) seem to be doing whatever they want are Alex and Lexie. Which is why I suppose they slept together. Birds of a feather. While I'm not a fan of them as an item, I'll support it if it means no more Ava/Rebecca. Alex needs to get her out of his mind and if that means hopping in bed with Lexie Grey, then fine by me. I think he probably does like Lexie to some extent. He did pull her from the closet and take her under his wing, but he definitely made it clear that he was hung up on someone else and was only in this for the sex. So if Lexie is indeed everything that Meredith is not, then maybe we'll see her actually make a long term play for Alex.

Other ramblings...

• While everyone seems to support Sloan being Meredith's next hook-up, I think Sloan is probably in-line to be Callie's rebound first. If not, then why else would he be acting so nice to her and offering to torture George? Plus, he's been with Callie before which definitely raises his odds.
• Webber living in a trailer right next to Derek's place is hilarious. That common area between the two trailers needs to be utilized for more scenes. The "gentlemen's evening" was nice, but scotch and Monopoly (Hahn included) was kind of dumb. I wasn't expecting strippers but I was hoping we'd find out some weird quirk about Webber. Maybe his way of relaxing is getting a facial or re-enacting Civil War battles. I don't know, something goofy. Monopoly and scotch was safe. This could have been funnier.
• Once again, Bailey was almost non-existent. What happened to her constantly harping on Callie? Or anyone for that matter?
• I loved when Hahn called Derek and Sloan "pretty" and "prettier."
• Cristina had one shining moment in the episode. While Meredith was going on and on about her issues, Cristina said there's a big difference between being aware of your problems and actually overcoming them. Excellent point as it applies to so many things in this show.

I like where this is all going. We can only hope that iGeorge is indeed losing steam. Hopefully the same goes for Meredith and Derek. For the same reasons that people are put off by Jim and Pam being together on The Office, Meredith and Derek need to stay apart. The second the couple you want to see get together gets together... it loses all its mojo. When Grey's Anatomy first started out, half the fun of the show was the "everyone wants to get laid" mentality. Now it's the "everyone wants to settle down" mentality. Fortunately, that seems to be breaking up. Get it? Breaking up! Ha!