Ok, Derek was told he was fired by the Chief after operating on an “inoperable tumor” in the episode that will be known as the “all Derek,” episode, with an official title of “Give Peace a Chance.” Derek told the Chief, “Go home. Sleep on it. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” Then we start the next episode and it is not an all Derek episode, it is an all PEDS episode. It is an episode entitled “Invest in Love.” (Original Airdate: 11-5-09). It centers around Pediatrics and Arizona, the blonde lesbian who works in Peds and is dating Callie. This is the first episode to revolve around an Arizona crisis. We normally see Arizona supporting Callie through crisis after crisis. Nice for Arizona to have Callie support her through a crisis of her own. What happened with the firing of Derek? Not mentioned.
In “Invest in Love,” we get to know Arizona and her love and talent for caring for children. This episode focuses on one child in particular, 10 year old Wallace, who is not healthy and has lived beyond what was predicted. Wallace’s parents are extremely wealthy and they offer to give the hospital $25 million dollars. This causes the Chief and other administrators to fall all over themselves to kiss the back sides of these parents. Because it is Arizona’s birthday, she thinks the $25 million gift to the hospital is the best birthday present she could ever get! The parents made it clear to the hospital that it was because of Arizona’s care that the hospital would be getting this money from them. Meanwhile, Izzie is still missing, and Karev, being her husband, is left with $200,000 of her medical bills. Another girl doctor at the hospital is hitting on Karev, but he is just mean to her. Maybe they are setting it up for her to be his new love interest, in case Izzie does not return, but it is hard to tell just yet. So, back to the PEDS episode…. Wallace’s parents insist that he get surgery for his bowel obstruction and Arizona says the surgery will kill him. The Administrators of the hospital make Arizona perform the surgery against her wishes, and Wallace dies. Arizona is devasted, shows up to her house to an unwanted surprise party and cries for the first time. Then, when facing Wallace’s parents, they see how much Arizona cares about their son as she wards off bad dreams for him in death, and insist on giving the $25 million to the hospital after all. Administrators sigh a huge sigh of relief. Arizona returns home to find Callie waiting for her on the sofa in her party hat and lingerie – she takes one look at Callie in her lingerie and that silly party hat – and Arizona says “I love you” first. Then Callie reciprocates. Awww!
Next episode is called “New History” (Original Airdate: 11-12-09) because it perfectly captures the relationship so many of us have with the past. No matter how hard we try to let go of it –– to learn from it and move forward — all we’re really doing is creating new history, trying to learn from past mistakes, but inevitably making new ones that will haunt us in the future. The past, it would seem, is inescapable. Everything we are today is the product of who we were yesterday, last month, last year: the choices we made, the red lights we ran, the things said and maybe shouldn’t have, the people we loved, and the people we didn’t. So, how to make peace with the past? What can be done about the mistakes we made, the lies we told, and the people we hurt to get where we are today?
This episode begins with Izzie returning to Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital and not everyone being happy about it. Izzie is confronting her past. Karev, too, is haunted throughout the episode by his past with Izzie. He’s obviously still wounded by her having left him – but he’s determined not to allow himself to acknowledge that – to feel it – to reveal himself to Izzie in any way. And when Karev is finally brave enough to go to the OR gallery and force a confrontation, Izzie throws the entire history of their relationship in his face – all the things she’s had to forgive him for in the past – but in the end, it turns out to be Izzie’s misinterpretation of the past – specifically of Karev’s going to the Chief out of his concern for her – that has created the unbridgeable distance between them. Izzie accuses Karev of getting her fired.
And then sometimes the past doesn’t stay in the past. Cristina gets her wish for a new doctor, a “Cardio Goddess,” to join the surgical team and this new doctor has history with Owen (Christina’s boyfriend). This “Cardio Goddess” is Teddy. Teddy’s arrival at Seattle Grace unleashes all manner of complications for Owen, Cristina, and herself. Cristina’s immediately suspicious that Owen and Teddy were more than friends during their time together in Iraq. Teddy confesses to Owen that she apparently misread their mutual history, and walks away from him, mortified. And Owen’s left haunted by Teddy’s confession, now forced to re-examine his own history — and his feelings for both Teddy and Cristina.
Ultimately, however, it’s the Chief’s struggle with the past – specifically with his history of alcoholism – that’s the most devastating. So far this season, the Chief has behaved in extremely erratic, un-Chief-like ways – crashing his car, alienating his friends, firing Derek, Izzie, April, and Patricia to name a few — all of which seemed to stem from the stress surrounding his dealings with the board and the subsequent merger. But the truth turns out to be much darker – and more catastrophic for both the Chief and Seattle Grace Mercy West. The Chief is drinking again. And apparently he’s been drinking for a long time. Right now, only Meredith Grey knows the truth. And what she’s going to do about it will surprise you.
Which brings us to the preview of the episode this Thursday (original airdate 11-19-09)… They are saying it will be a time for Forgiveness, Honesty, and the Impossible becomes Remarkable. Chief and Derek make-up. Cristina tells Owen she is “insensitive sometimes but not oblivious.” And, Mark Sloan (McSteamy) will have a daughter show up out of nowhere and he will embrace her. Tune in to see what happens!
