who's out?

Well, while not nearly as intense as last week's episode (thank goodness), this week's Grey's Anatomy still had its tense moments.  

I hate it when the Chief and Derek are fighting with each other.  Last season it was over Meredith and the proposal, this season it's over the merger.  I'm not entirely sure why Derek thinks he's entitled to hear what the Chief is planning (outside of how it relates to his department, I guess) but I also think Richard is being a little unreasonable about Derek's part in his career at this point.  Whether he likes it or not, he'd be out on is a** without D's tip about the board.  I'm pretty sure he needs to get over himself and stop being such a jerk.  Yes, you're aging and you're not as smooth as you one were.  Yes, you had to throw a hail mary to keep your job.  But I do agree with Derek when he told Richard to start acting like the chief of surgery.  Step it up, pal!


Maybe this is weird, but I find that I really don't like hearing Mark call Lexie by her name.  I liked it better when he was calling her 'little Grey'.  I'm sure exactly why this is a problem, it doesn't bother me when anyone else says it.  I do hope Mark gets a nice beefy storyline this season, what with some of the absences we have coming later in the season with pregnancies and movies and the like.  I like Lexie and her neuroses about whether she was going to get to keep her job or not.  They make her seem more like Meredith but also different because (if this makes sense) these are the well-adjusted sort of neuroses Mer would show if she'd had a normal childhood.  Lexie is like Meredith: Version 2.0 - the happy childhood.  I also liked when she told Christina that she was amazing and pretty, causing Christina to give her the last of the chocolate pudding.


OK, so I read ahead of time that the first cuts from the merger were going to be last night and that someone we had known from the first season was going to be a part of the cut, but that it would not be a main character.  My mind immediately jumped to Olivia, but I was thrown for a minute during the baby arm situation because I could be making this up but I thought the doctor who accidentally cut off the baby's arm was the same one who Meredith went toe to toe with about the baby who couldn't breathe in the first season.  I could be reaching.  But seriously, how did she not get fired for CUTTING OFF THE ARM OF A BABY!?!??!  Are you telling me that Mercy West doesn't have a big enough staff that they have people who deliver babies without cutting off limbs?  Yikes.  And seriously, this is why you're ranked 12th.  How are you gonna cut too deep and SLICE OFF AN ARM.  I was sad to see Olivia go, even though she really hasn't had a lot to do since she spread syphilis around the hospital and slept with Alex when he was supposed to be dating Izzie.  Alas.  Farewell.

Also farewell to pregnant intern who I didn't immediately remember, but then it came back to me that there was an intern love triangle last season and there was some blood and some punching and I think she was the girl in the middle of it.  So I guess we're sorry to see her go?  I don't really care enough about the new interns (except for Lexie) to care whether they stay or go, so I couldn't get too worked up when Megan's husband looked all distressed about her getting cut, except as it related to making Lexie feel like a jerk because she was going on and on and she didn't know.

Callie is so not moving to Portland (regardless of Arizona having told her she wasn't allowed to).  I foresee a make-up with the Chief coming very soon.  Once he gets off his high horse about the older doctors still being relevant and able to do their jobs and sees that it comes down to saving money and having the best people available, Callie will return triumphantly.  And then maybe Christina will have a specialty (other than peds) to latch onto without a cardio-god there to mentor her.

Speaking of Christina and peds, I'm a little surprised Arizona fell for that one.  If we're supposed to believe that she's been working at Seattle Grace for at least as long as everyone else (and probably longer, because she's an attending) shouldn't she have heard of Christina?  And her girlfriend is Christina's roommate!  Which implies they've met before!  She was very easily swayed when Christina said she liked kids, and it took more convincing than I thought necessary for Callie to convince her she was being used.  I mean, there's naive and then there's child-like (and not in a good way).  I was glad to see Owen stand up to Christina about going to the Chief.  Even though he's now a bona fide member of Crazytown, he still has his moral center and I'm hoping that it doesn't slip for awhile.  There has to be at least one grounded character, and I like that even though he's got all kinds of baggage and he did accidentally choke his girlfriend, it's him.

When Izzie was sweating all through surgery and then finally asked someone to take her wig off for her, it made me think of Sex and the City when Samantha was sweating all over her couture because of her wig.  Anyone else?  No?  ok.  Alex was cute as ever, first for taking care of her and then letting her know that he's not her nurse so it's time for her to take care of herself.

I don't have much to say about Meredith this week, but next week looks SUPER intense with the dad and the health issues and the begging and the drama.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Mer ends up deciding to give Thatcher her kidney, in order to explain why she'll be gone for awhile (because Ellen Pompeo is starting to look like a normal sized person, which must mean that baby is ready to come out!).