Grey's Anatomy: Season 3
Episode 3

Synopsis:

Cristina helps Preston cope with his hand tremor; Izzie returns to the hospital for the first time since she quit the program.

(From ABC)
Cristina tries to help Preston cope with his hand tremor, Izzie attempts to return to the hospital for the first time since she quit the program, Alex deals with a patient who has a long history of injuries, and George and Callie's relationship moves forward.

Each of the primary story lines on "Grey's Anatomy" moved forward this week, but it was Alex who owned the episode.

While Meredith juggled dates with Derek and Finn (Derek took the early lead, in terms of both charm and cockiness) and Izzie sought the courage to get her job back, Alex focused intently on being a doctor — a sensitive, confident, surprisingly effective doctor.

Last season, Justin Chambers gave strong performances as Alex, perfecting the character's heartless edge. But he rarely got the chance to show his range.

This week, Addison banished him to the emergency room (so she could deal with Mark, who begged her to return to New York with him). That's where he found a young girl (the talented Abigail Breslin from "Little Miss Sunshine") covered with bruises.

Alex, who has mentioned his abusive childhood in past episodes, offered support and protection. But he soon discovered she wasn't beaten by her foster parents. Rather, she was chronically insensitive to pain and constantly dared other kids to hurt her.

Eventually Alex won her trust, persuading her to have lifesaving surgery. He also found time to gamble with Cristina on the outcome of Meredith's love life and offered Izzie some much-needed comfort. (And did anyone notice the sparks he generated with Addison during their brief scene? Perhaps the show's writers have plans for them.)

George, meanwhile, whined throughout the episode about feeling suffocated living with Callie, finally blurting out that he's not ready for domesticity. Callie was furious. Within hours, she'd checked into a hotel — the same place Addison is staying.

It must be the only hotel in Seattle, because Dr. Webber checked in moments after Callie (Mrs. Webber must be making good on her threat to divorce him if he doesn't retire), and then Mark arrived asking for a room near Addison's.

Very few characters are sleeping in their own beds at the moment, with one exception: Cristina, who spent much of the episode complaining that Burke was recovering too slowly from his gunshot wound. After assisting Derek with a patient who needed recovery time, she realized how unfair she was being.

Returning home that night, she told Burke: "You're gonna work hard and get every bit of your strength and dexterity back." She then hacked a raw chicken into pieces, tossed him some instruments and thread, and said: "Put it back together."

Finn shows up at the hospital to have lunch with her and Derek pulls her away for an operation. So Finn just happens to show up at Meredith's house when Derek and Meredith come back from their dinner date. Meredith chews them out for not giving her a real date and goes inside the house without either of them.

George avoids the subject of getting Callie a key to the house, because he's more than a little freaked about her having moved in.

Callie requests George assist her with a 55 year old triathlon junkie who's having his fourth bone replacement surgery in a year. George is appalled that Callie is aiding in the man's self destructive behavior and talks him out of it. Callie is furious when she finds out. As they argue, George blurts out that he's not ready to live together. Callie responds that she was planning on moving out within a week, but upgrades that to within the hour.

Megan, a little girl with a leg gash, is brought in. It's her fourth accident in a month and her foster parents say they know it looks bad but she just "plays rough." While the parents are meeting with social services to see if they've been abusing her, Megan tells Alex that she has super powers. He tests her reflexes by having her put her hand in a bucket of ice and take it out when it starts to hurt. He puts his hand in too and has to take it out before she does; she says she felt nothing.

They determine that she has a genetic condition that won't let her feel pain. It's usually diagnosed in infancy but since she was in foster care, it went unnoticed. And now she's bleeding internally because she asked another kid to hit her in the stomach with a baseball bat and that they need to operate right away. But she hides because she's worried that her foster parents will think she's "defective" and send her back. Comic book geek George has been educating Alex on various superheroes, so Alex persuades her she's still special even without superpowers, just like the Green Lantern is still a hero without his ring.

Mark purposely misses his flight back to New York so he can spend more time with Addison. He asks her to come back to New York with him. When she refuses, he goes to the Chief and tells him he "has a thing for ferries," and that, presumably, he's staying in Seattle.

Burke is avoiding doing his exercises and stops by the hospital to work out the details of his leave of absence, which is news to Cristina.

Derek operates on a patient whose epilepsy means he can't be trusted to hold his own baby. After the operation, he has trouble remembering the name of things, including the baby's name, which he'd picked out. As Derek tells his wife she needs to be patient and help him, Cristina takes the message to heart.

She comes home with two raw chickens and chops them in half and tells Burke he's going to get his strength and dexterity back. Starting with sewing the chickens back together.

Miranda demands that Richard give Izzie a second chance, asking him to think of all the medical interns who've ever made a mistake, including him.

Izzie decides to go back to the hospital, but she can't make it inside the building. She tells George that she needs to make sure when she talks to the Chief, she's not thinking about her wedding dress. She ends up standing outside all day. "Maybe tomorrow," says Meredith.