Grey's Anatomy - Almost Grown review/recap

Some people might find this episode boring, with a lot of talking, walking around and intrinsic character issues. This episode focused on the medicine, careers, and hospital business over relationships. In fact, this show looked like a wholesome, professional, laid back medical show, rather than the dramatic, crazy, sexy cesspool that it is. Don’t get us wrong, we love the cesspool. But it’s nice to see the doctors act like doctors every now and then. If you only watched this episode, you would think these doctors just worked together and were very good friends, with the exception of Callie’s relationship imbalance freak out, Derek worrying that Meredith might have Alzheimer’s, and Owen trying to cheer up Cristina. There was nice character development, especially for Cristina.

The episode started with Richard promoting all of the residents to attending. Relax, it’s just for the day. We know these clowns are not ready to be the big cheeses yet. Richard wanted all the regular attending to give him a pitch for why their department could use a million dollars. He was looking to be inspired. He was looking for ideas. Sadly, the attending were the big babies of the episode, and they all dragged their personal beefs into it. Teddy was mad at Derek for trying to fire her last season; Callie wanted to out-win Arizona so that there would be more equity in their relationship; Derek wanted to use the money to do Alzheimer’s research in case Meredith’s forgetfulness turns into her mother’s disease; Arizona makes it about how mad she is that her colleagues expected her to cry during her pitch; Mark needed a project into which to channel all the energy he used to spend on sex. Bailey and Owen Hunt had the best ideas. Bailey wanted to get practical and fix up what the hospital already has. Owen wanted the staff to get trauma training so that, in case of another emergency, the staff would be ready. Jack Bauer cameo please? The chief deemed Owen the winner, and the other doctors grimaced then pretended to be happy for him. We would have picked Derek or Mark, personally. Fear is a great motivator. Derek might have done something for research. Mark brought up the excellent point that when you channel energy wasted on a pointless addiction into something else, you will turn into a powerhouse.

Lexie (who was not promoted to attending) does well with her patient, even though both she and the patient doubt her abilities. Jackson beat Meredith in the skills lab, winning the opportunity to do a solo brain surgery. But then the overconfident hottie botches it, and Derek has to step in. Lexie’s patient needed brain surgery while Derek was handling Jackson’s bad move, so Meredith got to fly solo, and she succeeded. Alex’s patient was the most interesting. Although we like Alex better working in pediatrics or neonatal, he rocked his plastics surgery on a 13-year-old who wanted his large, feminine-looking breasts removed. He also talked the boy’s mother into allowing it.

Cristina and April’s patient was a old man with failing lungs. Pathetic Cristina has turned into zombie Cristina. She didn’t care what was going on and answered all questions with “I don’t know.” The patient named her “sourpuss.” April called a panel to try to get the patient on the list to get an organ, but then she changed her mind when Cristina pointed out that Teddy wouldn’t call him a good candidate for surgery. Teddy told Cristina that if she didn’t at least wake up and start being a good doctor out of surgery, she would be fired. As much as we hate zombie Cristina and this storyline, we loved the way it coincided with her patient and how she clearly cared about him. The man told Cristina how much he wanted to live, so she spoke up for him at the panel. She said that he had the will to fight. So does Cristina. She will fight this and become a good doctor outside of the O.R. Then, when she gets back to the O.R., she will be a better doctor for the experience. Maybe this is good for Cristina. She gets to evaluate who she is if she couldn’t be a surgeon.

That’s a B+