Grey's Anatomy: Season 3
Episode 18

Synopsis:

The race for chief heats up as a new competitor comes forward; Callie must reveal a big secret; Derek treats a patient close to him; Alex continues his work with Jane Doe.

(From ABC)
The race for chief heats up after a new competitor enters the fray, tensions escalate between Izzie and George, and Callie must reveal a big secret. Meanwhile, Derek treats a patient near and dear to him, while Alex continues his work with Jane Doe

You know things are bad when the happiest person on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" was nearly given up for dead in the previous episode. Last night's installment was definitely not one of the show's more comic hours. (Spoiler alert: Stop reading now if you've saved this episode for later viewing.)

Despite recently losing her mother — and nearly losing her life — Meredith remained refreshingly positive. (Amazing what a near-death experience can do for a person.) "People are what matter," she told Izzie at the start of the hour. She even began to forge a tentative relationship with her father and stepmother.

But while Meredith was thinking happy thoughts, the others at Seattle Grace hospital struggled with miseries large and small:

• Alex moved into George's old room at Meredith's house. He continued tending to the pregnant Jane Doe from the ferry crash. He cares about her, and the feeling is mutual. "You're all I've got in this place," she told him. But when eye surgery nearly caused her to lose the baby, Alex felt awful at having recommended she try it.

• Izzie continued ricocheting between manic and morose: "Am I gonna be alone, pining over a dead guy forever?" she asked Alex. She remained on a crash course with trouble even after a bitter Korean War veteran reminded her not to let the past ruin the future.

• Things went from bad to worse when George discovered that Callie is very wealthy. He wasn't pleased, and the newlyweds argued throughout the episode. Callie told George she believes Izzie is secretly attracted to him. When he laughed at the possibility that someone so beautiful could want him, Callie kicked him out.

George ran to Meredith's house (where else?) and told Izzie: "I got married and I'm scared it might be a bad idea." They sat down for a late-night heart-to-heart talk. Countless drinks later, a naked Izzie awoke to find a naked George in her bed.

• The attending surgeons fought bitterly among themselves, all vying for the Chief's job. A new cardiothoracic surgeon arrived, leaving the staff wondering whether he's going to be the new chief. Derek, Burke and Sloan all performed risky surgeries, perhaps for the sake of impressing the new guy, who turned out to be both Burke's hero and Cristina's ex-boyfriend. She dated him for three years in college (he was her professor).

Oddly enough, Meredith's accident and her mother's death were barely mentioned. Perhaps they'll warrant some screen time next week.

Izzie examines a Korean War vet who's complaining about a pain in his shoulder: he was shot and the army doctors refused to take it out but now it's infected and starting to bother him. He tells her and Richard that he was shot by his own men after he made a call they didn't like. The man agrees to surgery, providing they show him the bullet so he can prove who shot him. Richard is able to remove the bullet, but it's too badly damaged to be able to prove anything.

Richard can relate to the veteran's feelings of being betrayed: His own attendings are fighting in the halls, trying to impress a visiting cardio thoracic specialist, Dr. Colin Marlow. When Marlow warmly greets Cristina with an overly familiar hug, she admits that they used to date when she was a student and he was her professor.

Burke wonders why Cristina never mentioned the three year relationship. He's even more troubled when, during surgery, Marlow talks about how Cristina said she didn't believe in marriage and refused to marry him.

No one has come to identify Alex's Jane Doe yet. Mark wants to operate on Jane's eye or she might lose it but Addison wants her to wait another day, for the baby's sake. Alex advises her to go ahead and get the surgery. But during the procedure, Jane starts to bleed, so Addison is called in to sew up her cervix so she won't lose the baby. Addison yells at Mark for rushing things to impress Marlow with a complicated surgery. Alex apologizes to Jane for advocating the surgery, saying ever since he rescued her, he's thought of her as a sister. She tells him she's the only one she's got and she trusts him.

A former colleague of Derek's, Helen, is in the hospital for an operation on a nasal tumor. She's had to come in every few years and have the same operation to reduce it, but they've never been able to completely remove it. She tells him this is the last time she's having it done; she can't face going through the recovery again. She says she's decided to just enjoy her last few years. He won't hear of it and proposes another surgery that should remove the tumor entirely. This surgery is much riskier, but he doesn't let up until she agrees.

During surgery, she starts to flatline and Derek decides to open up her chest himself rather than page Burke. Marlow, who is sitting in, is impressed, but when Burke hears about it, he accuses Derek of trying to showboat for Marlow's sake. But Helen has pulled through and Derek tells her the tumor is completely gone.

Burke confronts Cristina about her relationship with Marlow. She denies that she's simply moving from one mentor to another. He asks if she wants to get married and she says she's doing it because it will make him happy. He tells her that's not enough for him.

Meredith's father, Thatcher, and stepmother offer their condolences for her mother's death and invite her to dinner. Derek suggests she host dinner at her house and Izzie offers to do all the cooking.

Dinner is just as awkward as Meredith feared, especially when her father says his new granddaughter looks so much like a photo of Molly as a girl and Meredith points out that the photo he's describing is of her. A fuse blows and since it used to be his house too, Thatcher knows just where the fusebox is. Derek goes looking for him after he's been gone awhile and Thatcher admits he doesn't know how to talk to Meredith, the very thing she says to his wife about him. Derek admits Meredith can be difficult, but she's worth the trouble. As Thatcher leaves, Meredith tells him no one uses the old porch swing because it doesn't swing. He removes a pin, saying he put it there because Meredith used to catch her fingers in it as a girl and she's clearly touched that he does remember something about her.

Alex comes into the kitchen and Izzie jokingly asks if he has a hot date and is flustered when he says he does. She admits she's not interested in him but she doesn't want him to be interested in anyone else either. She says she doesn't want to be pining over a dead guy her whole life and he tells her she'll move on when she's ready.

Callie is tired of hearing George try to explain what Izzie's problem with their marriage is and tells him to just stop talking about her already. George tries to pay his share of their hotel bill and Callie confesses that she's been paying $2500 a week, but it's not a problem since has money. George is hurt that she didn't tell him that she was rich but she says it's always caused problems for her in previous relationships.

George tells Meredith that Callie's loaded and Izzie happens to overhear. Callie is furious when she thinks that George told Izzie and accuses him of, once again, taking his friends' side over hers. She says it's obvious Izzie has a crush on George and that's why she's so been so horribly mean to Callie. George starts to laugh and she throws him out of the hotel room.

George shows up with a bottle of booze and tells Izzie her it's her job as his best friend to talk him into liking Callie again, because he doesn't always. He admits that he might have made a mistake with the marriage and Izzie assures him that everyone thinks that. The two get progressively drunker and George tells Izzie that Callie said she must have a crush on him. The two laugh uproariously at the idea. But if it's so funny, what is Izzie doing the next morning, naked in bed with George?