Grey's: Moving In, Moving Up, Moving On

There was a lot of movement on the new Grey's episode this week. As we moved through this day and evening with our friends at SGH, each person saw something change in their lives, some for better, some for worse, some.. too soon to tell, but definitely a movement forward in one sense or another.

Izzy/Alex/Callie/George

Alex has moved in to George's vacated room at Mer's house. Izzy learns of this when she runs into Alex in the bathroom as she steps out of the shower in the morning. He's not moved or impressed by the sight of Izzy in a towel (and she's more than a bit disappointed about that.) and goes about his business. She runs to wake Meredith (and Derek!)to gripe about this arrangement. Izzy is convinced that it's just a matter of time before George realizes his marriage to Callie was a mistake and he will need his room back. She also, quite clearly, misses George. Later, she talks to Alex alone in the kitchen, asking, "Am I going to be the girl pining for the dead guy forever?" Alex tells her she'll move on when she's ready to move on.
Alex, meanwhile, is interested only in his pregnant patient, Jane Doe. (Who, being played by Elizabeth Reaser, will be VERY cute when the swelling subsides!)

That same morning in a fancy hotel room across town... George and Callie are eating a room service breakfast. George asks whether the meals they are getting are "part of the friends and family deal we have here too?" and Callie says they are. He doesn't understand how all this food could be included in the $400/wk "deal" she said they had, and wondered if the $200 50% he's been chipping in is enough. Callie finally tells him that there is no "deal". She is RICH... and she has been paying the whole bill - upwards of $2,500/wk. His $200 has been tipping housekeeping!

George is pretty pissed that his wife has kept something this big from him. He wonders aloud if Callie really trusts him and really considers him a partner. Callie angrily tells him that he still chooses his friends over her every chance he gets and insinuates that Izzy has a problem with their marriage because Izzy wants George for herself. George laughs at that notion. "Izzy is a super model, I'm George!", he replies. "And what does that make me?", Callie says. Being her size and shape, I know where she's comin' from there, and fully understand when she throws George out of her very expensive hotel room.

George shows up at Mer's house with a bottle of bourbon. He needs to vent about his marriage with his best friend Izzy and this bottle of alcohol. The two friends drain the bottle, get giggly and silly on the floor and discuss his marriage and the fight he had with Callie. George tells Izzy that part of the problem is that Callie thinks that Izzy wants him. Izzy and George share a hearty laugh about that notion.. but are soon looking at each other in that... drunken.... wanton way. OH MY GOD... Izzy wakes up naked in bed with George.

THE CHIEF RACE
gets a new contender in the person of Colin Marlow, a reknowned cardio-thoracic surgeon who taught Christina at Stanford. The other docs fall all over themselves trying to impress him and/or scare him out of competing much to the chagrin of the current chief. He catches Derek, Sloane, Burke, and Addison on several occasions arguing in the halls about patient care and "showboating" surgeries that they performed.

CHRISTINA/BURKE
Marlow, it turns out, did more than teach Cristina in class. Burke, who is impressed by Marlow's appearance at SGH and his lofty reputation as a surgeon, is NOT impressed when he sees Marlow greet Cristina with a hug and a butt-squeeze in front of all. He convinces himself it was only a fling between a student and a teacher, until Marlow corrects him. He and Cristina were in a serious relationship for three years, and he proposed to her on several occasions. Marlow tells Burke he's rather surprised she agreed to marry him, as she was fundamentally opposed to the whole institution of marriage when they were together. Burke calls her on this and she admits she feels the same way about marriage, but agreed to it to "make him happy." "Marrying me to placate me does not interest me AT ALL.", Burke tells her. Already, this engagement is in trouble.

MEREDITH/DEREK/THATCHER

Meredith's "family", her dad and his new wife, played by Mare Winningham, arrived at the hospital to touch base and check on her in the wake of her mother's death. She still didn't want to consider them her "family" yet, but eventually decided to give them a chance. She agrees to host a dinner at her house, which Derek agrees to attend as well. It's one of the most uncomfortable family dinners I've ever seen (and I've seen a few!) especially after Dad goes on about a cute picture of him and Molly, Mer's half-sister as a girl - that isn't Molly at all - it's Meredith. At that moment, Izzy blows a fuse in the house and dad, whose house this once was, goes to fix it. He's gone for a REAL LONG time. When Derek goes to look for him, he finds dad in a rocker in the laundry room in full "escape the family" mode. Derek talks him through it, they flip the breaker switch and head back in to dinner. Meredith and step-mom have broken the ice a bit by then and Cristina has shown up to discuss the blow up of her engagement. As Mer's visit with dad ends, they walk past a porch swing that hasn't worked for years. Dad remembers he put a pin in it years ago to prevent Mer hurting her fingers as a child. He pulls out the pin and the swing works again. Mer and Dad's relationship may be on the upswing after this.

ABC was originally planning to air a repeat this Thursday, 3/22, but October Road's premiere did so well with the lead-in from a new Grey's that they decided to run a new Grey's this week to keep the momentum going. Guess we'll get to see the aftermath of the George/Izzy fiasco (I can't think of it much of any other way.) AND, I believe we meet Callie's daddy - to be played by Hector Elizondo.