I’m actually being drawn in this season, which is a vast improvement over the last 2 years, where I would sit and ask myself why I was giving away yet another hour to this show. And yet here I am, actually looking forward to each episode (although this may have something to do with a certain other show which airs on the same night on CW, starting with an “S”, ending with a “L”, starring 2 brothers who fight demons….). What surprises me more is how the ratings have dropped for this season. Could the previous 2 seasons have driven away viewers to such an extent? I was on the verge of giving up myself, and yet the show managed tod rag me back in again, to the point where I’m actually liking it again, and yet somehow numbers are falling in the US? Or is everyone over Morose Meredith and McDreamy’s swishy hair, and looking for a little bit more realism in their TV? (IN which case, they should switch over to CW…Ok, SN is even less realistic, but hey, if you’re going for unrealistic dramadies, why go for a half-hearted medical show when you may as well get a full-blown fantasy drama about dead things and starring two very, very gorgeous gentlemen?) Actually, maybe there is an explanation for the drop in numbers….as a certain CW rival has enjoyed a spike in ratings this season. Coincidence? Well, I think not, particularly when you kill off characters and send them to hell!
So, with a title like brave new world, I’m guessing this is meant to mean everyone is moving on to unfounded territories? Or is it merely another way of explaining the dermatology department?
Because a large part of this episode takes place in the mysterious, never-before-seen dermatology department. I’m guessing this shall become the new hideout, following the coma guy’s room (which was stolen from House, but never mind that)
Anyhow, Bailey is now turning around and re-distributing the residents, by giving Meredith the good surgical case with Hahn, throwing Izzie and Alex into the pit (literally and metaphorically) and enforcing Christina to go to the clinic. Of course, everyone’s upset, but when Bailey speaks, everyone marches with a curt yes, ma’am!
So, Christina ends up with a patient with a rash, which is how she ends up in the derma section, mesmerised by how nice and pleasant everyone is, by how nice the whole department looks, everyone gets massages and facials and everyone is oh so happy. She also manages to drag Meredith and Izzie and George in there. I don’t really get it – they’re all awestruck by the serenity of the scene, while talking about how awfully quiet and nice everyone is. So, are they in shock by the whole department, or secretly wishing they worked here while audibly trying to come up with notions for why surgery is better? As a result, Christina isn’t around when the patient gets into trouble, and the whole patient angle is such a sideline, created solely as a plot device to lure Christina into the forsaken derma department, because for some reason we need to spend time there looking at the pretty peach walls.
Yeah, I didn’t get it either.
Meredith is working on a tough case, with a scared 8 year old boy who doesn’t want surgery, and George comes to the forefront here, by explaining exactly what’s going to happen and offering himself up as a guinea pig, because “kids want to understand it, that’s what’s most important”. He decides the best way to talk the kid into surgery is for him to see a very easy one with no blood or saws….and they accidentally stumble into Izzie’s surgery, where they’ve quite literally pulled half of someone’s face off, so it’s all icky and bloody and protruding eyeballs.
And now I won’t sleep for a week. But the kid found it so amazingly cool and was totally into the surgery after that. So, go George – who also passed the test, and is no longer an intern! Yay! (And didn’t they drag that out long enough?!?)
Izzie is pissed with Alex, who manages to steal her interesting case, which happens to be the pulling of the face off and the eyebrows and it’s really icky. She complains to McDreamy who tells her to bugger off, and McSteamy tells her to be a cowboy, ie she’s too naïve and innocent for the cut-throat world of surgery (pun totally intended). So, she convinces the patient to pull Alex off the case and get her in on it. Sneaky, but nothing no one else hasn’t done before. And Alex finally opens up to her a little in the bar afterwards, and I have a feeling after all the tiptoe dancing, these 2 might finally get together, which- yay! I’ve been waiting for this couple since season 1.
The really cute story is Hahn and Callie. They plan their first date, and a little joke made by Hahn scares the crap out of Callie, who’s not sure about how she’s going to handle all the “new” stuff. She even goes to talk it over with Bailey because she needs advice…and Bailey is sooo unimpressed by personal info, it’s hilariously funny. You can tell she’s sick and tired of how everyone keeps spilling their personal lives to each other. Hahn keeps reassuring her by telling her she’s new to it all too, but that scene by the elevator either tells a different story, or Hahn just became one of my faves. She looks up and watches Callie in the elevator, and her face is simply brimming with lust, adoration and squeaky happiness. Bailey happens to be there and sees it and…her expression is priceless. She’s…I don’t know….she’s just pulling this whole…I know too much about what that face means look. She of course then confronts Callie and tells her what she should do, and the girls soothe it all over and I am loving this storyline in a big way. More Callica! More, more more!
Anything else? Oh, there’s some crap about Morose Meredith and dead mummy’s diary and please, can we let the girl move on now?
