Grey’s Anatomy: True Confessions

If confession is good for the soul, the gang at Seattle Grace should be in good stead with the Man Upstairs.  Last week I disapproved of all the bed-hopping, and this week the guilty parties have come clean.  Izzie and Alex seemed to be over.  I’m no fan of Izzie’s and thought she threw in the towel on her marriage.  Alex still shouldn’t have slept with Little Grey last week, but I don’t blame the guy for assuming his marriage was finito.  When Meredith warned Izzie last week that she was losing Alex, she was surprisingly spurred into action and returned pretty much acting as if nothing had happened.  She offered a quick apology for blaming Alex for getting fired, and thinks they can pick up where they left off.  She plans to find a position at a hospital in Tacoma and hopes she and Alex will remain together.  Accompanying her while she undergoes an MRI, he blurts out that he slept with someone else but doesn’t say who it is.  She says they will get through it and doesn’t miss a beat.  It’s great that she can forgive him so easily, but Alex has been in turmoil for the last few months, and she doesn’t seem to understand that.  Alex doesn’t seem to feel particularly guilty either, delivering his confession with a “let the chips fall where they may” attitude.

The biggest mess that’s been brewing is the way the Chief has become unglued at work while falling off the wagon.  Meredith had been keeping his secret but finally divulges it to Derek, who promptly says he’ll go to the Board with the news.  Meredith pleads with him to keep the secret because she shared it with him as a spouse, not a colleague.  “Post-it!” she yells, referencing the way they got married. What? “Post-it!” she repeats.  Derek relents, promising he’ll keep quiet but warns Meredith that the Chief’s judgment is suspect.  His erratic behavior hasn’t gone unnoticed by Bailey, who is shocked to learn that he is allowing Meredith to perform an extremely difficult surgical procedure for which she is not ready.  At the last minute Bailey intervenes, and Meredith’s willingness to knowingly bite off more than she can chew is further proof of the residents’ blind ambition…which leads me to the biggest Type A of all, Cristina.  When we last left her she was giving Owen away like yesterday’s lunch.  Teddy is still at the hospital finishing out her contract, but the fact remains that Cristina would rather be able to perform surgeries than be with the man she claims to love.  Feeling appropriately shamed by Teddy, she quizzes everyone else about which one they’d choose if they had to: your gift or your love?

Abandoning your passion was a recurring theme, continued by the storyline of an obese professional singer who would rather die than lose a lung to cancer, effectively ending his career.  The man’s partner bemoans how demeaning it is to “love a man who thinks so little of you.”  These words seem to strike a chord in Alex and play a part in his ultimate decision regarding Izzie.  Meredith finds out Izzie won’t get the job in Tacoma, one for which she wanted Derek to recommend her.  Derek tells her the hospital passed on Izzie, but that if he were named new Chief (after turning in Richard), his first act would be to reinstate Izzie.  Trying to protect her friend, Meredith tells Derek he can spill the beans.

The episode ends with the offending parties coming clean, but all is not well.  Alex explains to Izzie that he’s happy her health has returned to normal, but that he doesn’t want to be with her.  For the longest time he thought he wasn’t a good person, but now knows that he is, and it is because he is good that he deserves better than her treatment.  Bravo Alex!  I couldn’t have said it better myself.  When Mark and Lexie cross paths, he tells her about Sloan’s successful surgery and admits to sleeping with Addison while in L.A.  Lexie sighs with relief, assuming that his infidelity cancels out hers.  Not so fast.  In truly hypocritical fashion, Mark finds Lexie’s dalliance with Alex more distasteful, apparently because he was dealing with personal family business while she did the deed? So what? Both of you indulged in extra-curricular activities: it’s a wash.

I enjoyed this episode because certain characters received a much-needed reality check.  Selfish immaturity was stopped cold by Alex and Owen as well, who told Cristina she wasn’t getting rid of him that easily.  It’s nice to see some people preserve a love worth having, while others are freeing themselves of dead weight.  I can’t wait to see how the writers test the boundaries of love and friendship even more.

For another take on this episode, check out Surgery vs. Love by Allison Toner.

Season 6, Episodes 12: I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked (originally aired January 21, 2010)

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Thursdays 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC, Michael Desmond, and Scott Garfield.