A lot happened during Thursday night's two hour Grey's Anatomy premiere. The show, which was a bit too long for my liking, was separated into periods of time so that by the time we got to the end 40 days had passed since George died. And that is where we begin, exactly where we left off in the season finale.
Day 1: Izzie, after seemingly dying in Alex's arms, wakes up after her cardiac arrest. On the other side, there is nothing more the doctors can do to save George. Then Lexie walks into the OR and announces that the body cannot possibly be George because the feet are too big and the legs are too long. But Cali goes in and looks for a birth mark on his hand that she knows is there. She finds it and confirms that the body belongs to George. Alex, once he hears the news, decides that Izzie is not strong enough and he refuses to tell her about George because it would crush her. Meanwhile the chief yells at the staff, saying he understands they are all grieving, but that there are still patients alive in the hospital who need their help so they can continue to live. On this note, two medical cases that are present throughout the episode are 1) a teenager who is in pain all the time and so far has only been diagnosed with growing pains and 2) a woman who was in a boating accident and lost both arms and one of her legs when they got caught in the propeller. In other hospital news, Derek is cornered by a member of the hospital board and is told that he is wanted as the new chief of surgery and that Richard is being pushed out. George's mom shows up at the hospital and, since George's brothers are on an expedition and unreachable, she is alone to deal with things. The mom turns to Cali for help in making decisions, specifically whether or not George should donate his organs. Cali does not know how to make the decision so she makes Alex tell Izzie so that Izzie can help make the decision. In the end, Izzie decides George would want to donate all of his organs. As they are being donated, Bailey asks to be told exactly who would be receiving the organs.
Day 7: One week has passed and it is the day of George's funeral. During the ceremony, Izzie has a laughing attack and is joined by Cristina, Meredith and Alex who all laugh at the absurdity of it all. It is clear that they just have not yet felt the magnitude of the situation. Later, we find out that Cristina and Owen are not having sex because his therapist does not think it is safe for him to do so out of fear that he will only love her and never come to terms with his problems. Also, Lexie breaks down because she feels like she was not a good friend to George.
Day 10: In really good news, Bailey examines Izzie and sends her home. Just 10 days after almost dying, she is in good enough health to go home. In less wonderful news, the patient who was in the boating accident, who has a prosthetic leg and two reattached arms, is making slow progress but refuses to let her mom know about the accident. Instead she has Lexie write her mom false emails telling about the trip she isn't really on. Cali freaks on the chief because she is pissed that she was not offered an attending position. In the midst of this, Derek pulls the chief aside and tell him that time is running out; Derek has been trying to buy the chief time so he can devise a plan to keep from being pushed out, but the board wants Derek to give them an answer about whether or not he will take the position sooner rather than later.
Day 11: The girl whose life George saved by pushing her out of the way of the bus, Amanda, is in the ER because she cannot sleep. She is visibly a mess and Meredith prescribes her sleeping pills. Meanwhile, the boy with the apparent growing pains has still not been diagnosed with a fixable problem. Arizona has been working hard on the case, but when the chief sees that she has requested an expensive test, he tells her to stop helping him.
Day 13: Cali is falling apart and Mark is the only one who can help her. Luckily she picks up the pieces rather quickly and seems to be doing better soon. Meredith and Derek, who continue to stand by their post-it wedding, begin acting like newlyweds, having sex all the time and in different areas of the house, which makes for interesting run-ins with Meredith's roommates. George's mom stops by the hospital to talk to Owen because she says she needs to understand why George joined the army. In a moving speech, Owen talks highly of George and all the good he accomplished and would have continued to accomplish. The girl who was in the boating accident yell at Lexie, who up until this point has been nothing but nice to her, and says that they had no business saving her; that she would have rather died.
Day 21: The boating accident patient is off suicide watch but is now refusing a surgery that is necessary to save her life. It becomes obvious that the chief is, for some weird reason, much more worried about saving money than saving patients. Bailey, who has had a minimal role in the episode except to show her in a bad mood, yells at Cristina for having no tact with patients.
Day 22: Cali is now an attending at Mercy West. Mark has also moved into an apartment across the hall from Cali, which weirds out Lexie a bit. Richard, while driving and practicing his speech for the board, runs a red light and gets into a car accident. Cali is the doctor placed on his case and she leaves him in the hands of an intern who has only been working a few days.
Day 23: Amanda continues to sit outside the hospital on a bench all day every day. Cristina joins Owen for a therapy session and the therapist says they need to be more comfortable with one another. She says he needs to open up about the war, talk about the night he choked her and express his PTSD before they can become intimate. Arizona sends the teenager in pain to Cali at the other hospital knowing that Cali would do the test Arizona cannot do. Cali does it, but finds nothing so they are back at square one. Meanwhile, Lexie gives the boating accident patient an ultimatum - she tells her mom about the accident or she has the surgery. After some bickering, Lexie forces her to have the surgery.
Day 30: Alex and Izzie are having problems. She notices that he does not act like himself around her anymore and she tries to fix it. She even opens up about how she misses George so much that she finds herself wishing a tumor would grow in her brain so that she could hallucinate him. Alex seems extremely jealous and we continue to see the rift in their relationship.
Day 36: Lexie, who is very jealous of the relationship between Cali and Mark, questions Cali's gayness. Cali reassures Lexie that Mark is in love with her. Throughout the hospital there are tons of rumors swirling about what is happening with the chief and even Derek does not know what is the truth. Lexie is worried that her boating accident patient is depressed so tries to fix it. Meanwhile, Arizona works with Derek and they figure out that the teenage boy always in pain has a problem where his spinal cord and tailbone are connected, which is something they can fix with surgery. Meredith and Cristina, while alone, open up a bit. Meredith admits she has not yet cried following George's death and Cristina announces that she misses sex. Izzie goes to a doctor who gives her great news - they are going to continue to watch it and hope that it doesn't start to grow again, but for the time beings her cancer is under control. She should be able to go about living a normal life.
Day 37: Arizona did not stop fighting to find the cause of her teenage boy's pain and it is because of her that he will get the chance to live a normal life. Derek commends her and allows her to perform a piece of the surgery. The boating accident patient is refusing physical therapy, but Owen, who has been in similar circumstances, talks sense into her.
Day 39: Izzie confesses that she does not know how to deal with life now that she is not dying. She notices it is very surreal. Also, Izzie confronts Amanda, who has continued to spend every day sitting on the bench outside the hospital, and tells her that George may be dead but she is alive. Izzie tells Amanda that she needs to go out and do something. And, as if that is not enough, Izzie threatens to beat her up if she sees Amanda sitting there anymore. Owen opens up to Cristina and admits that he was fighting for his life when he choked her and that he would never hurt her intentionally, which the therapist calls progress. After the boating accident patient walks a few stops she is very excited about the progress and wants Lexie to call her mom. Lexie finally feels ready, and comfortable enough, to move in (at least partially) with Mark. Alex, when confronted by Izzie, admits that the reason he is pulling away from her is that he is so afraid of everything, but most of all losing her since he has already seen it happen and he doesn't think he could make it through if she really died. Miranda, after sulking for most of the episode, is cornered by Derek in the elevator. Without him even saying anything she finally opens up about what is bothering her. She says she feels like she cannot care anymore; that she needs to stop caring so much because it is too hard. She feels like she needs to stop giving away those feelings at work because she has a child at home who needs all of her love and devotion. Also, a janitor cleans out George's locker and once it is empty, Meredith sits in front of it and finally lets herself cry.
Day 40: The chief addresses the staff and announces that the hospital is merging with Mercy West as a measure to save money, which means some people will lose their jobs.
This episode was all about grief - how to deal with it, what you have to do to move on with your life. It was a great episode in that is allowed us to be apart of this process and see it through some of the most likable and life-like characters on television. The episode reminded us why it is we love this show. Agreed?
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