Grey’s Anatomy: There’s a Fungus Among Us

Big changes are underway at Seattle Grace, which is besieged by the Mercy West staff due to the merger.  Easily distinguishable by their orange scrubs, the MW folks are a new breed.  It was hard enough competing with one another for surgeries, but now the residents have twice the competition as they all vie for opportunities.  I really like this new storyline and the convenient way we can point out the newcomers.  Meredith is recovering from her liver surgery, and begins the episode as omniscient narrator, describing the process by which humans become infected with viruses, their bodies invaded by bacteria.  As she outlines this process we see the MW docs milling around in their orange scrubs, invading Seattle Grace.  The analogy is one that runs throughout the episode as the Seattle Grace docs try to survive the invasion.  Izzie befriends a newcomer named Charles, only to find out that he’s trashing her behind her back, bragging that she’s his “surgical bitch” and that he has her wrapped around his finger.  The other residents are fighting tooth and nail over patients on a one-on-one basis.  They each have an individual adversary.  Alex competes with a doctor named Reid, and their patient suffers while they bicker in an endless effort to one-up each other.  After they each make crucial mistakes they finally begin to work together.  Cristina is particularly peeved as Owen takes a liking to a new resident named Avery who carves out a unique niche in the ER when he saves a patient’s life in a most unconventional manner: by tackling his would-be hammer-wielding killer before he can strike a fatal blow.

Personal problems always intertwine with professional ones, and although Callie has her job back, she has to deal with her father who has reappeared in an effort to redeem Callie for her perceived sin of being gay.  This (understandably) does not go over well initially, but the pair manages to find common ground after Arizona astutely explains to Callie that she’s the one who has changed while her father has remained constant.  Callie should give him a little more leeway in his acceptance of her lifestyle.

Callie is having a rough day, but the award for Worst Day Ever goes to Izzie, who has effed up royally.  Considering the various debacles that have taken place at Seattle Grace, this is no small feat.  She and Charles are responsible for a young woman who is due to receive a kidney transplant she’s been patiently awaiting for three years.  Izzie allows her anger at Charlie to distract her, and she carelessly makes an error that not only nearly costs the patient her life, but renders her unable to receive the transplant.  This is a colossal blunder of epic proportions and it ends up costing Izzie her job.  Her dismissal isn’t merely related to this mistake though.  Other doctors have expressed reservations about her readiness to return to surgical work, including Alex – who inadvertently sabotaged her by acknowledging these potential misgivings in an effort to persuade the Chief to retain her at the beginning of the episode.  The Chief fires her in the end, and carelessly mentions Alex’s concerns in doing so.  Izzie feels betrayed and alone, and takes off, leaving Alex a Dear John letter.  He is on the verge of a breakdown, and Justin Chambers was excellent as a doctor trying to “keep it together” while holding on by a thread.

This episode was great, and the Mercy West merger breathes new life into the show while introducing several new cast members ripe for new plotlines and conflicts.  There also was fine acting from Sandra Oh and Sara Ramirez as their characters experienced teary emotional collapses, reminding me of why Grey’s Anatomy doesn’t just receive accolades as a show, but well-deserved individual honors too.  I can’t wait to see how the introduction of all these new characters continues to flesh out the old ones while injecting some novelty to the show and cast.

Season 6, Episodes 5: Invasion (Originally aired October 15, 2009)

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Photographs courtesy of ABC, Eric McCandless