Grey’s Anatomy Recap: Superstition

Tonight’s episode is all about the power of the mind.  And the mind’s behind Greys’ Anatomy are nothing but brilliant.  Every character is so fully flushed out and the dialogue is sharp.  Tonight’s episode is another example of why Grey’s Anatomy is worthy of all the critical praise and accolades it receives.

In tonight’s episode, the interns and their bosses have to contend with their superstitious nature, despit their medical expertise.  See the head of the morgue says that deaths comes in 3’s or 7’s, and since Seattle Grace lost 4 patients early in the day, we can expect 3 more deaths before midnight.  This type of news does nothing to calm the nerves of the interns who are all dealing with patients who seem to be facing a life or death issues.

After losing a patient earlier in the day (along side an overly friendly She-Shepherd*), Meredith is assigned to a woman who fell from a tree after being hit by lightning. I guess that what she gets for stalking her ex-boyfriend.  But since the woman is a little off her rocker in the first place, we shouldn’t be surprised to find out that she is refusing life-saving surgery until the next morning because her horoscope predicted a bad day. Hey Meredith shouldn’t go against a woman’s instinct.  Remember a few weeks ago when Meredith didn’t want to get out of bed because she thought she was going to die.  Yeah, she ended up with her hand on a bomb…I’m just saying.

Christina’s patient is a car crash victim, who in addition to dealing with a skull injury also contends with a bad case of OCD.  I think the OCD hits a little too close to home for our Christina, as she’s quickly annoyed with the patient.  Oh wait, Christina is quickly annoyed with everyone she meets, my bad.

Dr. Burke is dealing with his own superstitions.  Seems all his lucky surgical caps are in the cleaners, and he just doesn’t feel confident without his lucky caps.  Lucky for him, Christina has one.  Or not so lucky as the case may be, as Christina is holding the cap hostage until Burke kicks George out of their apartment.  Burke enlists his trusty new sidekick to get the cap from Christina, no matter what the means.  George decides that stalking Christina may be his best bet, but after many failed attempts, it’s Izzie and her trailer park toughness that finally get Christina to break down and hand over the cap. Which leads us into the best line of the episode, and probably the best line of any TV show this week.

“Christina, I like you, I really do.  But I grew up in a  trailer park and I’m not above kicking your pampered little Beverly Hills ass, and I do mean physcially kicking your ass.” 

If only Izzie’s toughness could be extended to Dying Denny.  Despite his rapid decline in health, Denny is still flirting with Izzie…gotta love a man who’s still trying to get some despite being hooked up to every machine imagineable.  Seems his efforts aren’t going unoticed – by Alex.  We learn tonight that when Alex is threatened, he’s a real prick.  Just as Denny is about to enter a risky surgery, Alex pretty much tells him he’s going to die, and it’s going to be tough on Izzie, so Denny should just lay off.  Trailer Park Izzie is lessed than pleased with Alex, and informs him that whatever little sexcapades they had going on, are now over.  Alex doesn’t take well to the news and becomes even more angry and out of control.  This anger manifests itself in a complete tirade over George’s petty and immature behavior regarding the Meredith incident.  Yeah, Alex was a jackhole, but c’mon it had to be said.  George has been acting like a 14 year old girl for the past few weeks.  He needed a little kick in the ass.

George’s other kick to the tush came from one of my new favorite characters, Callie.  Still too pissed over the Meredith situation to move on, George has yet to call Callie despite her giving him her number a while ago.  Dumb ass.  Alex’s little rant may have served a greater purpose as George finally calls Callie and sweetly asks her out.  Awww.  We love your George, we just love you more when you are a little less pathetic.

Chief Shady, which is his moniker moving forward, has yet another hidden secret.  Tonight we find out that Meredith’s mom, Ellis, drove Chief Shady to hit rock bottom when it’s revealed that he is a recovering alcoholic.  His former sponsor is need of a liver transplant, but since a new liver isn’t available to her, she has to have a very risky surgery.

As we get closer and closer to midnight, it seems that all of the patients require a visit to the OR.  And don’t think the doctors haven’t forgotton about the 7 death prediction of the morgue guy.  If this superstition is true, we can expect 3 more deaths before the night is through.  But who will it be?  Stalker-lightning chick?  OCD guy? Chief Shady’s sponsor?  Or Dying Denny?  Check back next week when I reveal what happened……ha ha, only kidding, here’s how it played out.

Stalker lightning chick was still refusing surgery until Meredith lied and revealed that her ex-boyfriend called and said he wanted her to have the surgery so she would live.  The woman’s moment of joy was short-lived as she kicked it a few minutes later.

OCD guy didn’t fare well either.  Depsite McDreamy’s best efforts, and a clean-clean-clean OR, OCD guy’s injuries were just too severe. He died-died-died.

That’s 2 out 3.  So to make the predicited 7, we have to assume the liver chick or Denny are next.  Well, as Izzie is freaking out about rumors of a death, we find out that Chief Shady’s liver operation went well.  His friend lived.  Uh oh. 

Izzie, in a fit of tears is standing in Denny’s room…with a very much alive Denny.  Ok, very much alive, may be an overstatement, but Denny made it through…at least for tonight.  Yay!!  I like Denny, I won’t lie.  And after the way Alex acted tonight, I tend to agree with Izzie – she’s just too good for Alex.  Izzie admits her feelings to Denny before kissing him.  Good thing Alex didn’t see it, he might just set the hospital on fire.

So after a day full of superstitions, and examining the power of the mind, it was only 6 patients that went on to meet their maker.  And at Seattle Grace, I guess that’s what they consider a good day.

Come chat about tonight’s show in the GMMR Forums.  There’s already a Grey’s Anatomy thread started.

* Shout out from the Grey’s writers to TVGasm.com who, from what I know, coined Derek & Addison’s nicknames – “He-Shepher” and “She-Shepherd”  Too funny!!!