(S06E08) This episode of Grey's Anatomy shows that Grey's can be strong without having a Grey sister (or Izzie) involved. All the other characters are strong on their own, and it's nice seeing Arizona evolve as a character. Sadly, these episodes will come to an end next week.

I still laugh that pagers are still the standard for communicating with doctors outside of work. It's interesting to see the doctors dreading the fact that they didn't get enough sleep.

Who thinks of throwing a surprise birthday party anymore? I guess I'd rather take the $25 million donation to the hospital.

There's something fitting about watching the breakfast scene in the Cristina/Callie apartment. Instead of our Meredith/Izzie/George/Alex/Cristina, we now have Callie/Arizona/Mark/Lexie/Owen/Cristina. The show has evolved and the whole set of characters that were having breakfast are still likable. I'm even okay not having depressed, gloomy Meredith. The inter-couple drama in the group is inevitable, but at least all of the couples ended on a good note in this episode because they understood the nuances of each other. They all understood that sometimes they have to support each other at work but be a supportive partner outside of work.

Arizona's patient was really heartbreaking. You knew that the boy was on limited time and it has to be tough for anyone in pediatrics. The one thing I had a big problem with regarding Wallace, Arizona's patient, was that he had a quitter's mentality at the end. That was a big sign that he was gonna die soon. He had no will to live anymore. On the contrary, the baby that Alex held felt the warmth of Alex and continued to fight.

I felt like the Chief almost returned to his nice fatherly self. There was that one touching moment where he was convincing Arizona that she could do the job. The only problem I had with that was the fact that he continues to talk about budget issues and it almost seemed like he forced Arizona. Luckily, Arizona called him out on it.

Alex continues to amaze me as a character, this week showing his fatherly side. Having George, Meredith, and Izzie out of the picture, the writers got a chance to have Alex grow. And hey, the writers seem to be giving him any excuse to see him shirtless, and I have no problem with that.

Now I have another reason that I don't like the Mercy West doctors: they want to break up pre-existing relationships. I can see drama emerge when Izzie comes back and Reed is all over her man. I find it a little cliche that Jackson blurted out his appreciation of Cristina while he was drunk, but that's what liquid courage does. There is a degree of creepiness seeing that Jackson was just hanging out in Cristina's room, but I digress.

As for the little things, I loved how Christina gave her patient the lucky speech. Who tries to purchase drugs in front of doctors? Those A-students are the ones to look out for. Mark's quip about posing for the calender was a nice touch. Let's hope someone got the idea and will release "The Men of Grey's Anatomy" 2010 calendar.

Next week, Meredith and Izzie are back. It was fun while it lasted. How did you like the episode? Leave comments below.

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