Grey's Anatomy: Season 3
Episode 20

Synopsis:

(From ABC)
Izzie faces her past and finds comfort in George, while Alex becomes more attached to Jane Doe (Elizabeth Reaser), Meredith and Derek question their own status, and Cristina resolves to fight for her relationship with Burke -- despite her past with Colin Marlow (Roger Rees).

After making fans wait nearly a month for a new episode, the writers of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" supplied some juicy moments in this week's offering. (Spoiler alert: Stop reading now if you've saved this episode for later viewing.)

The big news was that the daughter Izzie gave up for adoption 11 years ago has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Izzie agreed to be the donor, but she was heartbroken when her daughter refused to meet her.

Katherine Heigl's performance as Izzie was lovely and more restrained than anything she's done on the show lately. It was as though the annoying Izzie of this season had been replaced, at least temporarily, with the appealing Izzie of seasons one and two.

Meanwhile, George tried to ignore Izzie in the wake of their unplanned hookup, but he couldn't stay away. He held her hand through the bone marrow extraction, even though it meant missing a coffee date with Callie. When Callie questioned him, George did his best to lie about where he'd been. But Callie's no fool: She can tell when her husband is hiding something.

As interesting as the Izzie-George-Callie story line got this week, another plot twist may prove even more compelling: Is Derek really going to dump Meredith?

Meredith began the hour balking at the attention she's been getting from her stepmother, Susan. "I think I scared off my fake mommy forever," Meredith told Derek after barking at Susan to go away. But Meredith later softened when Susan made a plea for closeness.

Trouble is, Meredith may be gaining a family just as she's losing her boyfriend.

An exhausted-looking Derek (it must be easy for Patrick Dempsey to look this tired with newborn twins at home) was furious after discovering Dr. Webber isn't naming him chief of surgery because he wants to protect Meredith's happiness. Derek ended the episode alone in his trailer, ignoring Meredith's phone calls and wondering if their relationship is too much of a liability.

More bad news: A couple arrived claiming to be Jane Doe's parents and she was thrilled. But Alex, who's grown increasingly close to her, was stuck with the painful task of telling her the couple realized they were mistaken. She was deeply upset and took out her anger on Alex.

Colin Marlow decided to leave Seattle Grace after competing unsuccessfully with Burke for Cristina's attention. His parting words were bitter, and he left Cristina wondering whether she's changed for the better or worse in the years since she dated him.

This heavy episode's much-needed comic relief was supplied by Mark Sloan, who found a new strategy in his pursuit of the chief of surgery job: After witnessing the Chief's feeble attempt at flirting with a woman, Sloan volunteered to be his "wingman." But Sloan may get more than he bargained for: Rather than meeting a stranger at Joe's bar, the Chief ended up dancing with Addison.

Mark catches Richard doing some very awkward flirting and decides to help him improve his game. He effortlessly hits on a nurse to show Richard how it's done. Richard guesses that Mark is trying to hard to help him because he wants to be the new Chief of Surgery. At Joe's, Richard is finally making some headway with a pretty woman, but balks when he realizes she's only a student. Addison takes the seat next to him and suggests he try practicing his moves on her, but he declines.

Derek confronts Richard about his promise to name Derek as his replacement, saying that's why he came to Seattle Grace. The Chief tells him he knows he and Meredith are happy together and that if he became Chief, he would lose her, just as Richard lost his wife. Derek insists that's not the case, but Richard is firm, saying he swore an oath to Ellis to look out for Meredith. Derek confides in Miranda that it seems like he has to choose between being Chief and having Meredith and she tells him to choose Meredith, because being Chief doesn't mean anything if he's alone.

In the locker room, George promises an exhausted Callie, who's worked all night, that he'll meet her at 3 p.m. for some coffee. In walks Izzie, carrying a rosary. Alex is surprised she's doing penance and says, "You did something bad." She and George exchange guilty looks.

Izzie tells George that doing penance helped all the sin "go away," but he says he needs some space until things blow over, like when he had the very bad pity sex with Meredith. She is hurt that he's comparing their drunken one night stand to the legendarily bad sex with Meredith.

A couple, the Kleins, approach Izzie and ask for her help. Their daughter has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. She points them to the hematology department, but they explain that they're the adoptive parents of the daughter, Hannah, she gave up 11 years ago and they need her to be a donor.Izzie says, of course, she'll see if she's a match, and that she wants to meet Hannah. The Kleins agree, but say the choice is up to Hannah.

Before Izzie goes to meet Hannah, she has a good cry in the bathroom. Miranda overhears her and demands to know what's going on. Izzie tells her about Hannah and swears her to secrecy. Miranda goes with her to provide moral support, but the Kleins reluctantly tell her that Hannah is "too tired" to meet her right now. Izzie is crushed but agrees to go through with the bone marrow matching process. Miranda gets the other interns to cover for Izzie while she's getting the test done. George wants to know what's going on with Izzie but Miranda tells him it's none of his business.

Miranda hands off Izzie's specimens to Meredith and instructs her to hand carry them to the lab and to tell no one. George worms out Izzie's whereabouts from Meredith and goes to see what's wrong. Izzie tells him to leave but he refuses. With George there to hold her hand through the painful procedure, Miranda leaves. Afterward, Izzie is in too much pain to redress herself, so George helps her. She tells him the truth and he says he admires her for what she's doing. They walk by Hannah's room and he tells her she can sneak a peek, since Hannah can't see her. She's overwhelmed at seeing her daughter for the first time.

George his been so occupied with Izzie, he's completely forgotten about his coffee date with Callie. He lies and says he was busy in the clinic. She knows something is off about his story but doesn't press it, saying she's tired and is going home.

Jane Doe is admiring her new, post surgery face. Since the swelling's almost completely gone, they release her photo to police and the media to help in identifying her. A couple, the Malones, comes forward and says they think it's their daughter, Shannon. All the characteristics match up: pregnancy, height, hair, blood type, even a lack of tonsils, even if the face doesn't quite match. The Malones tell Alex and Addison that Shannon, their daughter, was missing for months. She'd gone after her husband, who left her because he didn't want the baby.

The Malones tell her who Shannon is: a second grade teacher who lives with them in North Bend. Jane asks Alex if she can leave the hospital to go home with them now. He says she's on strict bed rest until the baby is due, but he'll check with Addison.

Mr. Malone and Jane are bonding beautifully when Mrs. Malone tells Alex she can't let Jane come home with her because she's sure now that's not her daughter. She says her husband is just more desperate to believe than she is. Alex tries to break the news to Jane. He calls her "Ava," the name they picked out to go with the face she chose for her surgery, but she insists he calls her Shannon. She doesn't want to believe him and says he's being selfish and that he just doesn't want to let her leave.

Colin asks Cristina to assist him on a "piggyback" heart transplant and grudgingly says that Burke can also scrub in. Cristina decides she must treat Colin's continued pursuit of her like a chess match, and outflank him. She plays up her affection for Burke in front of him, holding hands, showing off the nail colors she's trying out for the wedding. Colin sees right through her little game, however. It's only when he catches her asking Burke a surgical question that he knows she already knows the answer to, that he realizes he's seeing their true relationship. The Cristina he knew, he tells her, would never stoop to building up a man's ego. He says there's no point in pursuing being Chief here to be near her, since the woman he knew is gone. Back at home, Burke says he's relieved she can now go back to "the real Cristina," but it's obvious Cristina isn't so sure who that is at the moment.