GREY’S ANATOMY: ‘Can’t Fight Biology’

I’m not sure what surprised me more about this week’s episode of GREY’S ANATOMY: the fact that April and Jackson got plotlines of their very own, or that I’m actually starting to like April. It pains me to admit it because ever since McDreamy rehired her last season, the girl has been nothing but a wimpy blur of uselessness to the point where I wish it had been April instead of Reed who got killed by the crazy gunman. Reed was bitchy, but she had substance and I respected her. April – not so much. Until now.

Her budding friendship with Meredith is doing her a world of good. Meredith has her flaws, but one of the great things about her is she doesn’t worry much about what others think, a quality that seems to be rubbing off on April. When Cristina and Meredith poke fun at her virgin uterus (no pun intended), it’s nice to see her confidently join in the banter and find the ability to laugh at herself. It’s the first time she’s really seemed like part of the group.

Lexie is somewhat less happy than I am about April becoming one of the gang. Suddenly April has moved into the good bedroom in the house and is talking about putting up a chore wheel. More significantly, Meredith is confiding in April about her reproductive problems while Lexie is out of the loop. Lexie’s perceived rivalry with April sheds light on some interesting parallels between the two, since April is kind of like a much more annoying version of Lexie from back in the day. Their story this week lets us see how much Lexie’s character has evolved over the years – she’s gone from being the meek and timid one herself to being assertive enough to tell Meredith she feels brushed aside and alone during one of the most stressful times of her life. Meredith reassures Lexie that this is not the case and she is not alone. If this was an episode of Full House, emotional music would be swelling up right about now, and someone would say something like “You’ll always be my sister and I will always love you no matter what!” This is GREY’S, however, so instead we get something more like “It’s completely normal that you feel like running people over with cars now and then.” Still a cute scene though.

Speaking of Meredith’s health issues, we find out that she’ll have a hard time becoming a mother because her uterus is hostile due to “massive baby-squishing fibroids”. This news, along with a patient who will eventually die of Huntington’s Disease, propels her into a might-as-well-see-what-else-is-wrong mood, and she decides to get tested for the Alzheimer’s gene to find out if she’ll end up like her mother. Derek, however, decides that all this medical testing is a total buzzkill and that they should just live and stop worrying about what life may or may not throw at them. Meredith smiles and agrees. Who can resist that good old McDreamy hair optimism?

The only other significant plotline this episode involves Jackson, who turns on the charm in a major way in order to get Teddy to let him assist with a surgery. He even conveniently allows her to see him with his shirt off, at which point I completely stop paying attention because HOT DAMN that boy’s got abs! Does he LIVE at the gym? Oh look at that, I drooled a little bit. Focus, girl. Back to the show… So for most of the episode, his flirty eyes and magical muscle tone appear to be working, until Teddy shockingly calls him out and firmly tells him that he is a smart and capable guy and shouldn’t be relying on tactics like flirting to get ahead. You tell him, Teddy. Now do me a favor and keep talking to him for a while so the shirtless scene can last as long as possible.

Other odds and ends: Cristina and Owen buy a house with a fireman’s pole, Chief Webber wants to put Derek on a billboard to promote the hospital, and Callie and Arizona continue their string of non-issues with a plotline about how Arizona doesn’t like Mark because he always stares at her boobs. In the end she decides that yes, Mark is a pig, but he’s a nice pig and he’s Callie’s best friend so she had better find a way to like him too.

Overall it wasn’t the most eventful GREY’S, but it was a pretty good filler episode as filler episodes go, and next week looks to be more on the heavy side so for now the fluff is fine with me.

What did you all think? Do you think Teddy and Jackson would ever actually hook up? How do you feel about the direction April’s character is going? Let us know in the comments section below!