In “Invest in Love,” we get to know Arizona and her love and talent for caring for children. This episode focuses on one child in particular, 10 year old Wallace, who is not healthy and has lived beyond what was predicted. Wallace’s parents are extremely wealthy and they offer to give the hospital $25 million dollars. This causes the Chief and other administrators to fall all over themselves to kiss the back sides of these parents. Because it is Arizona’s birthday, she thinks the $25 million gift to the hospital is the best birthday present she could ever get! The parents made it clear to the hospital that it was because of Arizona’s care that the hospital would be getting this money from them. Meanwhile, Izzie is still missing, and Karev, being her husband, is left with $200,000 of her medical bills. Another girl doctor at the hospital is hitting on Karev, but he is just mean to her. Maybe they are setting it up for her to be his new love interest, in case Izzie does not return, but it is hard to tell just yet. So, back to the PEDS episode…. Wallace’s parents insist that he get surgery for his bowel obstruction and Arizona says the surgery will kill him. The Administrators of the hospital make Arizona perform the surgery against her wishes, and Wallace dies. Arizona is devasted, shows up to her house to an unwanted surprise party and cries for the first time. Then, when facing Wallace’s parents, they see how much Arizona cares about their son as she wards off bad dreams for him in death, and insist on giving the $25 million to the hospital after all. Administrators sigh a huge sigh of relief. Arizona returns home to find Callie waiting for her on the sofa in her party hat and lingerie – she takes one look at Callie in her lingerie and that silly party hat – and Arizona says “I love you” first. Then Callie reciprocates. Awww!

Next episode is called “New History” (Original Airdate: 11-12-09) because it perfectly captures the relationship so many of us have with the past.  No matter how hard we try to let go of it –– to learn from it and move forward — all we’re really doing is creating new history, trying to learn from past mistakes, but inevitably making new ones that will haunt us in the future. The past, it would seem, is inescapable.  Everything we are today is the product of who we were yesterday, last month, last year:  the choices we made, the red lights we ran, the things said and maybe shouldn’t have, the people we loved, and the people we didn’t.  So, how to make peace with the past?  What can be done about the mistakes we made, the lies we told, and the people we hurt to get where we are today?

This episode begins with Izzie returning to Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital and not everyone being happy about it. Izzie is confronting her past. Karev, too, is haunted throughout the episode by his past with Izzie.  He’s obviously still wounded by her having left him – but he’s determined not to allow himself to acknowledge that – to feel it – to reveal himself to Izzie in any way.  And when Karev is finally brave enough to go to the OR gallery and force a confrontation, Izzie throws the entire history of their relationship in his face – all the things she’s had to forgive him for in the past – but in the end, it turns out to be Izzie’s misinterpretation of the past – specifically of Karev’s going to the Chief out of his concern for her – that has created the unbridgeable distance between them. Izzie accuses Karev of getting her fired.

And then sometimes the past doesn’t stay in the past.  Cristina gets her wish for a new doctor, a “Cardio Goddess,” to join the surgical team and this new doctor has history with Owen (Christina’s boyfriend). This “Cardio Goddess” is Teddy. Teddy’s arrival at Seattle Grace unleashes all manner of complications for Owen, Cristina, and herself.  Cristina’s immediately suspicious that Owen and Teddy were more than friends during their time together in Iraq.  Teddy confesses to Owen that she apparently misread their mutual history, and walks away from him, mortified.  And Owen’s left haunted by Teddy’s confession, now forced to re-examine his own history — and his feelings for both Teddy and Cristina.

Ultimately, however, it’s the Chief’s struggle with the past – specifically with his history of alcoholism – that’s the most devastating.  So far this season, the Chief has behaved in extremely erratic, un-Chief-like ways – crashing his car, alienating his friends, firing Derek, Izzie, April, and Patricia to name a few — all of which seemed to stem from the stress surrounding his dealings with the board and the subsequent merger.  But the truth turns out to be much darker – and more catastrophic for both the Chief and Seattle Grace Mercy West.  The Chief is drinking again.  And apparently he’s been drinking for a long time.  Right now, only Meredith Grey knows the truth.  And what she’s going to do about it will surprise you.

Which brings us to the preview of the episode this Thursday (original airdate 11-19-09)… They are saying it will be a time for Forgiveness, Honesty, and the Impossible becomes Remarkable. Chief and Derek make-up. Cristina tells Owen she is “insensitive sometimes but not oblivious.” And, Mark Sloan (McSteamy) will have a daughter show up out of nowhere and he will embrace her. Tune in to see what happens!

GREY’S ANATOMY – “Give Peace a Chance” – When Isaac, the hospital lab tech, has an inoperable tumor wrapped around his spine, he turns to Dr. Derek Shepherd to do the impossible, and Derek tests the Chief’s authority when Richard objects to moving forward with the risky surgery.

This episode was different in that it focused solely on Derek Shepherd. Derek decided to go against the Chief of Surgery’s orders not to and decides to operate on an “inoperable” tumor. He spends 10 hours the first day just staring at the tumor. This brings up questions of the assisting doctors about how to stay in the operating room and they decide to wear diapers. Yes, diapers. It brings up an important point, that if you need to stay in the OR for so many consecutive hours, then how do you make that happen? Interesting to think about!

In a previous episode, the board of directors had approached Derek to take over as Chief of Surgery, and so in this episode, the ending was quite a surprise! Derek, who manages not only to remove the tumor, but to avoid paralyzing Isaac in the process, which had seemed unavoidable. The next day, Derek tells the Chief he hopes they can put this episode behind them. We’re not at all prepared for what Richard says next: “you’re fired. immediately. get the hell out of my hospital.” Instead of taking him at his word, however, the newly zen Derek simply repeats Isaac’s advice and tells the chief. “Go home. Sleep on it. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” This was the same thing Issac had said to Derek after his first day of staring at the tumor and feeling there was nothing he could do!

What will happen from this stand-off? Will Derek become the new Chief of Surgery or will he be fired? I can’t wait to see this week’s episode to find out!

Q: Please, any new scoop from Grey’s Anatomy?

A: The green-eyed monster has once again reared its ugly head on the show’s set, but this time it’s not salary drama or spin-off envy fueling the rancor: It’s those lucky bastards in dermatology! An upcoming episode will find some of our favorite residents wandering over to Seattle Grace’s never-before-seen dermatology department – and they will not be happy with what they find. Namely, the kind of posh work environment more consistent with a five-star spa than a hospital.

And as always, you can stream Grey’s episodes and interviews on ABC.com, where they have an entire channel devoted to Grey’s.

Plus, don’t forget that Season 5 starts on September 25th and reruns air every Thursday at 9pm EST.

And last but not least, Season 4 comes out on DVD September 9th so head over to Amazon to pre-order a copy NOW!

Another way to catch up is purchasing Season 4 on DVD. It’s on Amazon for $38.99 and releasing on September 9th.

Hope this helps you with your Grey’s fix!

I just discovered this awesome book. It’s for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the metaphors and symbolism in Grey’s. It’s on Amazon for $18.95. It looks awesome. I’m gonna pick it up this week for some vacation reading. Here’s the title if you want to find it for yourselves: 

Grey’s Anatomy: An Unauthorized View from the Other Side: Metaphors, Symbolism, and Arcs from the First Three Season

There’s also some excerpts of the book online.

Don’t forget that if you want the REAL story, read the Grey Matter: Writer’s Blog. There is a great post about last night’s episode from Creator Shonda Rhimes so check it out.

Alex Karev

This has been a tough year for Alex. Heck, it’s been a tough month for Alex. His girlfriend, who is married, claimed to be pregnant only to find out she was crazy instead. He was actually looking forward to the whole baby thing too. But I’m proud of Alex. He let her go. He can’t fix her and he can’t fix his mother, but he tried. Now he finally realized that he needs to let go and that he can’t save everyone. An important lesson.

Callie Torres

She finally admitted it to herself and Hahn. It’s pretty sad if Mark Sloan figures out something before you do. But I’m glad she finally has some sort of resolution in her life. George broke her heart and she is actually healing now. I’m proud of her too.

Christina Yang

Thank goodness. Christina is finally accomplishing things without Burke. I think she might have even surprised herself in the OR. She is a capable, smart person. And while she exudes confidence, I’m not sure how much she actually has. And teaching Lexi?! How grown-up is she? She finally realized that her and Hahn weren’t so different handling those they were meant to be teaching. I think she’s on the road to becoming an even better surgeon. Thank goodness.

Erica Hahn

Finally someone taught you how to teach. I hope you actually take his advice! Erica is complicated. She liked Callie and Callie was scared by that, so she pulled away. But now maybe Erica can be happy and finally adjusted to life at Seattle Grace. And give Christina a chance!

George O’Malley

Yes. George can retake the exam! Now, why didn’t he stand up for himself 6 months ago? He’s finally getting some happiness. I can’t believe he failed by 1 point. 1 point! I agree with him, that’s WAY worse than 50 points. So George may actually advance in life instead of being the Chief’s glorified administrative assistant.

Izzie Stevens

Izzie deserves to be in charge of the clinic. She takes so much crap from everyone. Finally she gets recognized for her hard work. And running a clinic that she provided the money for is exactly what she needed. Something she can control and focus all of her energy and emotions on. She actually seems to care for her friends more than anyone else. She cares about people more than anyone else. It’s so fitting that all of her recommendation letters were from patients. She cares and she makes sure everybody knows it.

To be continued…

Tune in to tonight’s episode called “Losing My Mind”. Maybe all of our Derek & Meredith drama will be sorted out? Tune in to find out. 9pm. ABC.