Grey's Anatomy - The Girl with No Name

What Happened - The residents are interviewing for jobs at hospitals around the country. Cristina is receiving all sorts of bribes and treat baskets from hospitals, because, as she puts it, she is a god. Teddy freaks out and wants her to stay. Teddy tries to get Owen to make Cristina stay, but Owen is all, “Um, we aren’t friends. Don’t you remember that time you gave me that really harsh, uncalled for speech where said you wish I had died? So, you make her stay and don’t talk to me about my wife ever again.” April’s annoying personality grates on prospective employers, Jackson is only being courted for his last name (which upsets him), and Alex is taking interviews at crummy hospitals until he finds out that Arizona is sabotaging him to make him stay at Mercy West Seattle Grace. Alex makes her recommend him to some good places.

Meredith gets a great interview opportunity but is forced to postpone it when a teenage patient, Holly, is admitted and bonds quickly with Meredith. Meredith has to stick around so that the patient feels safe and in control, because Holly was kidnapped at age six and has been tortured and raped for the last couple of years. She escaped her captor and ended up at the hospital. Dr. Bailey is traumatized by this, since she’s a mother, and has a total meltdown when Tuck is out of her sight for about three minutes. Owen has trouble handling the press and the girl’s family. When a stranger takes a photo of Holly that ends up in the papers, Owen blames himself for not handling the security right. Cristina tells him that he’s doing fine and lets him have the apartment until she’s done studying for her boards.

In the end, the handling of the Holly situation is a success. There is hope that she will be able to bond with her parents, she is physically healthy, and no other public relations disasters occurred. Everyone claps for Owen, including Cristina. She gives him an apple from her fruit basket after he inquires, sadly, about her job prospects. Owen looked hopeful during the applause, but soon after seemed to realize that Cristina is disconnecting. Cristina is determined to leave Seattle for the best hospital she can find. Meredith has her eyes set on Boston and Derek is down for moving. Richard finds out that Adele has fallen for another Alzheimer’s patient at Rose Ridge. She even slept with him. Richard realizes that he can’t stop the relationship and has to give her space.

Comments - We liked Owen’s response to Teddy regarding Cristina. It’s about time she got told off for that rant. We also liked that Alex wasn’t mad at Arizona but just made her change her actions. Jackson and April were annoying this week. Dr. Bailey has been annoying us for a while, but we weren’t irritated by her this week. Even though she was not tough and seemed to be making the tragedy all about her, we liked the level of empathy she had with the parents and how much she loves Tuck. The episode name was dumb. The girl has a name: it's Holly.

How is it possible that Owen and Cristina are cuter when they are separated then when they are married? We missed the season five-esque pining between these two. It’s similar: Owen wants to be a better man/get over his issues/prove himself and win Cristina back. It worked three years ago, so why not remind the audience why this is a couple they used to root for? We were mad at both of them (but mostly him) for ruining their marriage with selfish decisions, but they behaved well in this episode. They treated each other with kindness, not anger, and that’s something hardly ever seen in real marriages about to end. Cristina is probably able to do this because she is leaving. She wants to end things on a good note.

The whole “residents looking for jobs” plotline is a great way for some of the actors to end their time on this show once their contracts expire after this season. We could lose all, some, or none of the original cast members. We’ve been loving Meredith lately. Her warm, secure, adult side has blossomed. We’d hate to lose her, but it’s very possible that she and Derek will leave the show. We could stand to lose whiny, self-righteous Derek, but he and Meredith come in a pair, so we would accept him. Cristina should absolutely stay, since she’s our favorite character on the show and it makes more sense for her growth as a character to have her choose personal friendships and love over career success. Still, the storyline is going to take a backseat to actor's contract negotiations. Whatever they decide, the show will have to write around it.

Alex is our second favorite character and we love his dynamic with Arizona. Bailey can go, but she won’t since she’s Shonda’s Mary Sue and would likely get little work elsewhere. Richard is fine. Keep him. This is a good opportunity to get rid of April. It’s unrealistic that she would be the only one to leave. The ones we absolutely need to stay are Cristina and Alex. Richard’s storyline was interesting to Ern. Ern had to pause the episode and think about whether Richard could successfully sue Rose Ridge for allowing two patients not in their right minds to have intercourse. (Conclusion: Ern does not know and needs to study more.) We liked the case with Holly. We don’t know if the show got the psychology right or wrote her character believably, but it was entertaining and touching.

Episode grade: A-