This episode was more or less what I expected it to be. I was looking forward to the fishing trip ever since I had read about it. I dreaded all the Teddy scenes after I had seen the sneaks and I knew I probably wouldn’t care a lot about the rest. Basically all three assumptions came true.
Any word written about Teddy Altman and her storyline would be a waste of time (just like her parts in this episode itself were).
When Mark and Callie hooked up last episode I already knew I wouldn’t be interested in whatever their relationship turns into. And I wasn’t. I just didn’t care anymore. I’m glad Arizona came back in the end and I’m sure she and Callie will end up together again, even though Callie shut that door for now. I used to like Mark and Lexie together and I wouldn’t mind them getting back together, but this whole relationship was so messed up already with so many other things, so I’m not sure if they actually will get back together after all.
I actually kind of enjoyed the competition among the residents about who would win the „gallbladder removal”. Almost like the good old times when Meredith and her friends competed for things like that. Except that it wasn’t the FabFive interns who competed against each other and for that reason alone the competition in this episode felt kind of wrong. I know I should by now have gotten over the fact that there now are new doctors at SGH, doctors I’m supposed to care about. But I just can’t help it… I don’t mind them being around as much as I did at first, but I haven’t really warmed to them yet either.
I’m happy that Bailey finally had a success with her „curing fistula” project, she deserves it. And I definitely liked that male nurse Eli. There was something about him and I somehow expected him to flirt with Lexie in the end. Or to ask her out for a drink or something similar. I never expected it to be Bailey, but I think I might like that as well. I know I was complaining about all the new characters on the show in the previous paragraph, but I wouldn’t mind to see more of Eli in the future. As a supporting role that is. Ever since Oliva and Tyler were let go because of the merger, there never were any of the nursing stuff we knew by name or even by face. Nurses are an essential part of any hospital, so I’m ok with this guy being around every once in a while.
I love Alex, so I basically enjoy watching him interact with any other doctor. But he belongs into peds and I’m glad that he realized that in the end. I was kind of bored by this hip replacement storyline though and I didn’t like Callie a lot in this episode either. I don’t know…
Just as much (or even more) as I love Alex, I also love Meredith (for a lot of the same reasons, actually), but in this episode I had difficulties to understand why she doesn’t support Cristina the way Owen and Derek do. Why she thinks that pushing her is the right way to help her. Maybe she is just as much out of her element as Cristina is herself and she just doesn’t know any other way to act. And not doing anything (like it must seem to her Derek and Owen are acting) might not an option for her. But I’m really just guessing here, because I have no idea why Meredith is trying to push Cristina the way she is. On the writers’ blog the explaination for Meredith behaviour is, that Meredith herself still hasn’t really dealt with all what happened, because she was to busy taking care of everybody else. Mmhh, this might somehow fit my theory. I’m not sure yet *g*
As much as I appreciate that Owen finally isn’t pushing Cristina in any way, I still don’t like him. And I think he was out of line with Meredith in the OR (well, ok she was as well), but his „my wife this and my wife that” attitude just annoys me. I guess, because I really just don’t like him. And he was so out of line when he accused Meredith of being reckless with her life, because she had asked Gary Clark to shoot her. Two years ago Dr. Wyatt had been right, when she said something similiar to Meredith, but Meredith grew up and got over her issues, so Owen was so wrong this time. Meredith didn’t ask the shooter to shoot her, because she didn’t value her own life. She just in that moment valued Derek’s life more and she wanted to save his life. That’s a huge difference to previous behaviour (like drowning and such) and Owen in fact didn’t act that differently when he went back into the hospital. He wanted to save Cristina’s life and he risked getting killed in the process himself. So why was it ok for him to be „reckless” but not for Meredith? Jerk! (I really, really don’t like him!)
I’m a bit annoyed with the lack of MerDer storylines which focus on them as a couple. They have a few issues to deal with. The baby thing, the Alzheimers thing and not to mention that they are building a house, which we still haven’t seen. They have scenes together, but they rarely deal with their own stuff and I miss that. And I hate the lack of continuity in their storylines. We get a tidbit of one issue in one episode and it’s never adressed again for half a season. From a MerDer fan point of view that’s highly frustrating.
But I also very much like Cristina and I’m not yet that fed up by her storyline than a lot of other fans obviously are. And I think we finally had a tiny breakthrough regarding her state of mind with this episode so I’m optimistic that she will get over her PTSD or whatever exactly might be her problem. The fishing trip was my highlight of this episode, because it was so much fun to watch with quite a few adorable McDreamy scenes. He is such a wonderful friend and I’m so happy, that it is him (and not Owen) who might have found the right way to get through to Cristina, however unusal this way might be. Will Cristina ever be back in an OR? I don’t know. But I like the idea that a good first step on your way to recovery is to stop thinking. Thinking about what had been and what should be and worrying why things aren’t the way they used to be.
The whole setup of the fishing trip was hilarious with Cristina dilligently doing her research beforehand and trying to impress Derek and wanting to show off. She was so very much typical Cristina in all these moments and I loved her for it. And it was funny to watch, espcially in contrast to the laid back way Derek was acting. „Ponder that for a moment. Quietly!” LOL
So, seeing Derek being the McDreamy we know him to be was definitely worth watching this week (and all the boring crap can be skipped thanks to the fast forward function of my DVR *g*)