Grey’s Anatomy: New General in Town

There’s a new general in town, and I like his style. I swooned over Kevin McKidd while watching the short-lived Journeyman, and he’s a fantastic addition to a storyline that went a tad stale after the departure of Dr. Burke (Isaiah Washington) last season. Plus, he’s a much-needed man-fix for Christina.

Hunt swept through Seattle Grace like a bat out of hell, obtaining the position of Chief of Trauma and bringing the hospital back to Level One status. He took no time donning a no BS, no fuss and no priss approach to medicine. Hunt will clearly need some time to adjust from handling war traumas to handling the more controllable hospital traumas, but tonight, he took advantage of the learning curve. During his premiere Skills Lab class, Hunt decided to use living tissue, which is apparently the medical term for live, sedated pigs. (The Humane Society is going to have a field day with this episode.) When confronted by Derek and Mark over his “different” surgical ways, Hunt recognized that he must discover the differences between the battlefront and the hospital-front and reached out to the docs for some tips.

Finally, Izzie was back on her mark. I hated that they made her mopey and weak post-Denny and George debacles. She was a tough broad when she first came, and lately, she’s been begging for people to like her. People didn’t like her when she was the busty model and everyone thought she depended on her looks and not her brain, and she never cared! During this episode, she stood up for herself, calling Hunt a monster and reminding him that today’s medicine has come a long way. Even when he chided her during her trauma surgery, she kept a firm upper lip. “Don’t tell me I’m less of a doctor for walking away,” she says.

Christina, on the other hand, is stuck saving all the pigs when a big trauma emergency takes the other residents out of the lab. These scenes provided ample Christina-isms while Lexie got weepy over the helpless animals. Christina’s interns named their pigs, and she warns them of getting too attached to “patients,” especially ones that are ANIMALS! But in the end, it’s Christina who’s attached when she saves one pig from near death. After all her hard work, Hunt insisted she be the one to put them down, and with Lexie’s help, she found the strength to do so. The writers were definitely smart to write Lexie as Christina’s intern. They’re polar opposites in personality but equal when it comes to brains. I enjoy the rapport between these two.

This week Bailey is asked to step up and play Chief. It’s clear he’s mentoring her to follow in his footsteps. A little girl’s family is willing to do anything to save her from an inoperable tumor. The Chief relinquished the lead to Bailey, and she brought Hahn and Meredith to the OR with her. With the aid of Mer’s childhood doll Anatomy Jane, a far-fetched plan is hatched to remove all of the girl’s organs to reach the tumor. Hahn is against the surgery from the start, but in spite of this, Bailey shows great determination and leadership. I knock on wood. Please never show me all the organs outside of a body like that again.

On the relationship front, Hahn accepted she’s a lesbian while Callie sexed up Sloan. In doing so, she realized she might forever enjoy both sides and that Sloan is, truly, her friend. After some passive-aggressive moves from Alex, Izzie realized that he really does want a monogamous relationship. With Hunt back at SG, Christina freaked out over their past kiss, but due to Hunt’s traumatic experience in Iraq, it may be a one-time occurrence. (He lost his entire unit, but I predict things will rekindle in no time.) And finally, Lexie confronted George with a mac-n-cheese peace offering.

This episode may not have progressed individual storylines much but got back to the heart of the show, the hospital. I appreciate the continuity of the teaching hospital storyline. The residents are integrating the interns a little more, and the attendings are trying to engage their residents. Some fans may complain that there was no Mer-Der action, but I applaud this. The two spent their time unpacking Meredith’s mom’s old boxes and nothing more. This episode, Meredith and Derek were just a normal, happy couple. The show is not always about them. There’s a great cast of characters who have nothing to do with their relationship, and it’s nice to be remind of that.

Quotables:

“So are we screwing other people or not. I just want to know if you’re going to screw O’Malley or some other loser. Cause then I won’t have the cancel my plans with the girl from Pete’s. – Alex

“Are you petting the pig? Stop petting the pig!” – Christina

“You were crying and seeing leaves. And I wasn’t. I may never see leaves or maybe I will see leave but I will also see flowers. I may be a whole forest girl. I don’t know…” – Callie

Season 5, Episode 6: Life During Wartime (originally aired October 30, 2008)

Don’t agree with Inisia?  Read Tanya Lane’s review here.

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Thursdays 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC