"Tainted Obligation"

Tonight's Grey's recap is brought to you by me instead of the ever-wonderful WonderAli (it's in her name, after all).  The comments on other episodes imply that I take a much more cynical view of this show than other watchers, so this should be fun! 

My DVR cut off the beginning when it made the switch to the 8 pm shows, so I missed the voice over and super early bits.  From my perspective, we start this episode with Alex chasing a faux-chemo haired Izzy around the hospital. He's really discontent with life in the Dreamy trailer, but Izzy doesn't want to move back home.  He doesn't listen, so she plays the Cancer Card.  This might get old.

Elsewhere in the hospital, everyone who's a real doctor is getting another scary merger talk from the Chief.  I can't help but notice there is an incredible spread on the table from Craft Services.  When I worked at a company struggling with mergers and layoffs, tasty catering was the first thing to go.  That and overhead lighting and half the elevators in the 42 story building and Christmas decorations.  I kid not, but I do digress.  

Elsewhere-elsewhere, Christina starts in on everyone searching for surgeries to keep her job.  Her hair sure is wavy.  That doesn't seem like something she would do, while spending 20 hours a day at the hospital looking for work.  Maybe she had some down time waiting for everyone else to show up.  Christina nags her cohorts one by one until Don't-Hate-Me-Because-I'm-Beautiful-pedia walks in with her dad, who has seen better days.  Meredith can't be bothered to care until he starts coughing up serious amounts of dark blood.  Chaos ensues until Bailey kicks all the surgery-hungry folks out of the room.  Lexie reminds Meredith he's changed. Mer doesn't seem to care.

Next up, Steamy-Sloan introduces the ludicrous patient scenario of the episode: An old man with two disagreeable and patronizing children wants a penile implant to impress his lady friend. His kids think he's crazy.  One wonders what sub-plot of the doctors' this will mirror and which doctor he'll give a pep talk to before it's all over.  My money's on the Chief, but only because Sloan would be too easy.

Back to Christina's withdrawal issues. Owen declares he's not playing favorites when he gives Izzy a surgery instead of Christina.  His explanation, how people are "afraid" to work with Izzy and she needs this and such sure does sound like favoritism,  but I'm not in charge. Owen says Christina needs to be kinder.  Christina says something harsh to prove she can be nice.  I am bored with my favorite couple and decide that Owen has done something wrong with his hair and needs to cut it.

"My dad's dead," declares Meredith to Derek and then launches into a quick recap of how he's likely dead already, but if he's not he'll need of a liver transplant.  She hopes he can't get one because she's ridiculously awful.  Too bad, Meredith. Alex arrives just before we cut to commercial to let her know it's transplant-time.

When we return, we're still talking about Mr. Grey and his scotch-rotten liver.  He needs a new liver, but since he's still (mostly) an alcoholic, he's not going to make any anonymous transplant list.  Lexie jumps in to volunteer hers and Meredith rolls her eyes.  I suspect this is the beginning of the maternity leave plot line for Mrs. McDreamy.  Will she give her liver, suffer complications and then stay abed for a few episodes, or will the crisis of saving her awful-but-still-her-dad father cause her to run away from Seattle Grace on a soul-searching mission?

Look at that! The lesbians are in this episode!  Callie's avoiding asking for her job back and Arizona doesn't want her to move to Cleveland.  Is there enough funny in the scene (with the help of a spit-upping baby) to balance out the dying-dad story line that we're going to cut right back to? No.  Did I miss something in the opening? This story line feels like a "contractual obligation" appearance so someone can get paid.

Lexie's prep for liver donation is interrupted by Sloan.  He tells her that she needs to think about this.  She says no, gorgeous hair bouncing with every head bob.  He pulls the Serious Boyfriend Card.  She trumps with the Dad Card, basically saying in three words that his feelings or opinions are irrelevant when it comes to important decisions in her life.  Poor guy, and I mean that.

Speaking of pity, Izzy gives her new patient and his S.O. an inside look at getting the most out of being a patient at Seattle Grace.  As if anyone needs to be reminded to stay away from the green jello.  After learning that her patient hasn't proposed to his 7-year girlfriend, I expected a passionate "do it now, before you can't" speech from her. I guess that's coming later, when his life is in more jeopardy.  Or maybe he'll die and she'll realize/remember she has too little time left to spend it fighting over scrap-jobs at this hospital and she needs to go film a movie. ...erm...find herself with Meredith.

Feeling too bummed out?  No worries! It's time for a old man talking about squeezing his jewels.  His son is worried about complications, his daughter wants the money for their pretty-but-stupid daughter's education. Nobody wants to talk about his "younger woman" issues.

More funny! Christina tries awkwardly to hit on that one unattractive doctor that randomly shows up like Danny Strong in any decent episode of Buffy.  It does not go well.  Meredith shows up just long enough to whine about being her father's daughter and with a page she sprints off, hoping her dad is dead.  Cheer up Mer, maybe by the end of the episode you'll get to belong to the Dead Dad's club, too.  Now that George has kicked it, there's an opening!  (too soon?)

Oh dear.  As predicted, Izzy's patient's surgery doesn't go well. I'm not quite clear on the particulars, but it seems that his belly is made of Saran Wrap and sausage casings and that's a bad thing.  Too bad to go in and cut out his cancer.  This bodes ill for someone.

One more gut-wrench before the commercial break.  Lexie's not a match (naturally) and neither is their other sister, and Bailey and the Chief think Meredith should know, just in case, you know, she wants to volunteer her own liver. Meredith walks away uncaring as Lexie sputters after her.  Smart job keeping Lex in civilian clothes this episode.  It'd be harder to sympathize with her if she were doctor'd up.

After the commercial, the old gang is back together at the rotted-organ lunch table, because Meredith needs to hide from Lexie's hair...I mean, puppy-dog eyes. Christina and Alex think that Meredith should get tested and then donate her liver so one of them can do the surgery.  All the snarkiness is interrupted by the giant heretofore unnoticed tick on the side of Alex's neck.  Wacky flailing ensues.

Since that was enough funny, it's time for the penis guy to turn serious.  He warns McSteamy about the hell of getting old and being in love.  It's a weak metaphor for his relationship with Lexie and I unless the liver plotline takes up too much screen time, I smell a Darcy moment in the near future (hurrah!).  

In another serious moment, Lexie asks Bailey if she'll lie to the transplant board to get her father a liver.  Bailey says no in that overly-articulate fast-talking "hell no" way she has.  It's not quite right for the scene, and I think she knows that, so she backs off as best she can.  It's still a bit of a slap in the face.  I'm assuming it's needed to push Lexie further into her despair.

It's fun time again!  Alex whines like a bitty girl while Christina removes his tick.  She tells him to suck it because Izzy likes it and everyone should be nice to her.  See? Christina can be considerate!

Just when I'd completely forgotten that Callie and Arizona were in this episode, they're back, whining about the people that whine about Seattle weather. It really is quite nice except for the 3 months where the sun is never out and every sinks into a deep depression that only a Starbucks on every corner can combat.  Callie gets put in her place by Arizona, when she points out how the merger is affecting everyone, including her, and Callie needs to just shut up and ask the Chief for her job already.  Arizona is tired of not knowing if her girlfriend is moving to Cleveland or not.

Back at the hospital, Lexie tracks down Meredith moments after Derek tells her she doesn't owe her father a thing.  Lexie makes a heartfelt plea to save their father for her sake.  It is well done, but I think it would have had more impact if Meredith and Lexie had a better relationship. Maybe I haven't been paying too much attention, but it's only recently that she's gone from being completely antagonistic to tolerant, and that's only at the request of her therapist.  As we cut to commercial, Meredith appears to ponder the idea as she stares across the surgery room window to Derek, who stands by with a knowing look in his eye.

Hope you grabbed your box of Kleenex(tm) during the commercial break, because it's time to go for the kill.

We start off the act in Papa Grey's room where Meredith stoically tells him that she's donating her liver.  After spending a moment being the sort of dad she would have given her liver to without reservation, he tells her he won't let her do it. That's what a  remorseful crappy father would do, after all.

From there, we go back to Izzy's cancer patient. His fiance hangs out in the denial and anger stages of grief and Izzy pulls Owen into the hall and starts spitballing crazy surgical techniques to try and save the unsaveable man. She won't listen to any of Owen's statistical reservations because of her own against-all-odds survival.  I feel like throwing something at the screen, and based on Owen's face, I'm not the only one.  People with cancer die, and if the show suddenly has to start saving people so Heigl can get passionate every episode, there will be fewer recaps to read in my future.

Meredith is chipper for the first time the entire episode because she feels that she's off the hook for her liver.  Alex disagrees and encourages her to do the right thing and convince him to let her give it to him.  Derek and then Christina watch her wrestle with her demons in a hallway full of strategically placed props to hide her pregnancy.

TIme to reset the mood by cutting back to the penis guy, right?  Eh...not quite.  His kids will let him get the operation, but insist that afterwards he move back home to share a room with his teen-aged granddaughter. (Do What!?)  Mark steps in and tells them they should get over it and better appreciate how awesome their dad is.  Also, younger women are hott.

Next up, it's the battle of the Meredith's father figures.  Papa Chief hangs out in Papa Grey's room and they talk about being alcoholics and diseases.  Did Meredith's mother drive them both to drink? I forget.  The Chief tells him to accept Meredith's offer.  He tells the Chief no, but asks him to look after his daughters.  He owes him.

It looks like Izzy gets to do the ridiculous surgery after all.  BIG SIGH!  Is it wrong that I'm hoping he dies to teach her a lesson and knock her off "everyone can beat incurable cancer" horse?  My irritation is so distracting I almost miss Alex being suddenly cool with the ticks, too.  Looks like Izzy's getting everything she wants for now.

Got that hanky ready?  This act is going out with a bang.  Meredith delivers her version of the "save him for Lexie's sake" speech to her teary-eyed father and half-sister.  Everyone's going to make amends once his shiny new liver is in place.

Shall we go for one last bit of humor before we start with the episode-ending operating room angst?  Christina finally gets a surgery, after blindly begging to be part of McSteamy's penile implant.  Her first task: shaving a pair of 82 year old testicles. Earlier, we all learned an important lesson about repsecting him and treating him like any other human instead of a very old man. Now, he's a wrinkly testicle joke.  Stay classy, Shonda.

Christina and Derek say goodbye to a strategically placed Meredith as Bailey wheels her into surgery with Derek tagging along anyway.  Christina can't stay, she has a penis to cut up.  Izzy preps her cancer patient for surgery and just before the mask descends, he talks about proposing to his girl friend and moving on with his life despite his cancer once he wakes up.  Oh yeah. That guy's dead.

We get treated to the usually montage of operating room shots.  Towards the end, it gets a bit tense and desperate and we're not quite sure which surgeries went well and which didn't.  It builds tension as predictably as it always does.  When the dust settles we learn the following: Christina shows the boy's club she can be professional despite squeezing the shaved scrotum with a new penis pump.  Meredith is fine, despite Bailey's horrendous jinx just before she cuts into Mer's stomach.  Papa Grey is fine, despite being part of the at-risk chaos.  Instead of a Darcy moment, Sloan just appears supporting a sleeping Lexie.  Sigh. Cute but not what I would have done.  Since everyone else is fine, Cancer Boy dutifully dies on the operating table.  Owen walks away, pissed as hell, because if he had his way, the boy would have just been living with terminal cancer for a few more weeks instead of being dead right now.  Izzy has the decency to look guilty before the commercial.

When we return, Owen is still pissed. Kevin McKidd is very good at attempting to suppressing boiling anger and other undesirable emotions while trying to get his point across.  I'm glad he's still being given opportunities to do so.  Living-with-cancer Izzy does no belong at Seattle Grace because she makes everyone forget that miracles don't happen every time.  We're treated to brief respite from all this angst as Mr. Penis reunites with his hot (younger-ish) woman, but then it's back to the drama.

Christina calls the Chief out for her idleness.  It's not her fault. It's his for not having a good cardio guy on staff.  Cut her so she can get one, or get one, she says.  These moments of hers, where she cuts through everyone's bullshit and calls it like it is, are one of the reasons i keep watching the show.  It gets old, sure, because it's "her thing," but I like it.

We end the episode with Meredith's last voice-over for a while.  Izzy tells the would-have-been-fiancee that she's very sorry. Callie empathizes with the Chief long enough to get her job back without directly asking and snags some of the tasty leftover catering. Seriously! Cut out the buffet and you can get Syphilis Nurse back!  The next morning starts with Izzy stepping outside to the sounds of an angry bear, and she declares that she's ready to move, too.  Alex is relieved.  Back at the hospital, Derek does his "knowing nod" thing while passing by Meredith's hospital room.  Lexie's been there most of the night, like the annoying but loving little sister Meredith has always wanted.

I'm not used to shows that wrap up so sweetly. Thankfully the preview for next week teases with a firing.  I hope it's Izzy.

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