Grey’s Anatomy“The Ties That Bind”
Original Airdate: Nov 13, 2008
Thomas Nikl – TwoCents Reviewer
thomas@twocentscorps.com
Greetings, Grey's fans. Another relatively strong episode this week, and I can't help but think that I am kind of glad that Erica is gone. However, with the introduction of two new characters this week it seems like Grey's is getting a little desperate for story lines. We'll see how the new characters play out. Maybe they'll finally kick Izzie off- that would be awesome! Enjoy the plot line reviews and as always your comments are welcome!
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Grey’s Anatomy
ReplyDelete“The Ties That Bind”
Original Airdate: Nov 13, 2008
Thomas Nikl – TwoCents Reviewer
thomas@twocentscorps.com
Lady in Red...
A new character arrives- a heart surgeon, Virginia Dixon- and Chief asks Bailey, Izzie and Alex to woo her to try and get some new talent at Seattle Grace. Immediately we learn that the new surgeon is a little weird with what is arguably the most awkward introduction at Seattle Grace in quite some time.
We soon find out that Virginia is a walking encyclopedia of random hospital knowledge. Virginia overhears her heart patient mention he doesn’t want his heart transplant (to replace an older heart transplant which he believes to be cursed, as he is a Navajo Indian) and we learn that she has no particular bedroom manner and is a woman who does not mince her words. She tells the patient very abruptly that without the heart he’ll live a short life attached to a machine and die a sudden and painful death. Her words- not mine.
As Virginia does not seem to care about the patient’s Indian beliefs, Bailey asks Chief to dictate a hospital rule that states doctors respect patient’s religious beliefs. Chief agrees that it is a rule. Christina does her usual butt-kissing with Virginia, but as Christina is not on any of Virginia’s cases, she asks “why are you talking to me”? Suddenly Christina starts to miss Erica! Christina finally figures out that Callie and Erica were together when she asks Callie if Erica is ever coming back (and she says no).
The surgery goes forward. Bailey decides to spout out the new rule in the middle of the surgery, and upon hearing the rule, Virginia easily agrees. She’s a neurotic one. They have his chest open… and either his new heart starts beating on its own, or the old one starts beating… and Virginia seems to almost have a panic attack when things don’t go by the book. In the end he doesn’t need some kind of surgery. OK, I’m not going to lie, this part confused me. I really don’t know what happened. Readers? Your take?
We find out in an elevator exchange with Bailey that Virginia has Asperser’s Syndrome (spelling?) which means she is not good in social situations, but that she can tell when people are making fun of her. She says, as she exits, “I don’t think I like this hospital”.
Izzie the Weak...
Izzie continues to hold onto the past and Denny's ghost is following her around the hospital (talking to her, no less) as soon as she arrives. Alex tries to help and tells her it's all in the past, but Izzie won't confide. Izzie is increasingly interested in the Navajo patient as he has described haunting because of his heart and she just happens to be haunted by Denny so she inquires about the nine-day ritual to rid the dead of their spirits.
The Navajo soon asks Izzie if her ghost is there and when she sighs (which is a yes) he says he cannot have her in his surgery- he doesn’t need any other ghosts to deal with. Ok, hasn’t this gone on long enough? Can we boot Izzie off the show yet? Please!
Izzie watches the surgery on the Navajo from the watch room and she talks to Ghost Denny. She explains how she always wanted to see him again but that he’s not real. Ghost Denny convinces Izzie to touch him to prove he’s real but Izzie resists because she’s finally realizing she is crazy. She asks why he is there and he says “I am here for you Izzie Stevens”.
Izzie quizzes the Navajo how the ritual works and he says they burn everything related to the ghost to cleanse the spirit entirely. Izzie says her goodbye to Denny as she leaves for home… and apparently Alex sees the exchange and looks on somewhat surprised. Alex asks Izzie to let him help her… and she asks him to burn the last of Denny’s possessions. He does… but of course Ghost Denny is still there. Izzie finally touches Denny, and he holds her hand, and he says “you see, I told you it was real”, and then they kiss. But this only means that Izzie is seriously tumbling down the rabbit hole of insanity.
Human Pretzel…
A patient, Timothy Miller, arrives who- best as I can tell- has his leg somehow jammed into his upper torso. Hunt requests help from McDreamy, McSteamy, Callie, Meredith and Sadie to help with the removal. Midway through pulling his leg back down the patient wakes up- screaming of course- until they subdue him quickly with (what I can only hope was) lots of Morphine. We discover that Tim is homeless and is extremely worried about not being able to walk. When told he needs a surgery to survive, he is told that it won’t help him walk again, and he opts out of any surgery.
McDreamy and McSteamy confront Hunt about letting the patient opt out of the surgery. They tell Hunt that if he wants to patch people up and leave them to die he should go back to the desert (a reference to him being an Iraq War medic). Ouch, McDreamy- very ouch! McDreamy says to Callie afterwards “please tell me you have a way to build this man some legs”… but she just looks on- shocked.
Callie thinks she figures out a way to build him some new legs and asks the others to round up as much Titanium as they can find. Hunt confronts Tim and expresses how bad his vitals are. Hunt and McDreamy finally convince Tim to have the surgery. McSteamy takes notice of Lexi’s sowing skills, and when Chief hears, he compliments Christina on her teaching skills and says that she’s the leader for the solo surgery. Christina, of course, is confused, because she’s a crappy teacher.
Sadly, the patient dies on the operating table just as Callie was starting to have faith that it would work. Callie is upset because she did her job and she lambastes (emotionally) her colleagues for not doing their job to keep him alive. Callie breaks down- obviously because of Erica, not the surgery.
At the end of the episode, Christina follows Hunt leaving the bar and pokes him from behind which startles him- a lot. He freaks out a bit but they end up making out a little.
Underground Surgery Club…
Lexi and her interns continue practicing surgical techniques- ON EACH OTHER- down in the basement. Christina sees Band-Aids on Lexi’s arms (from sutra practicing, I think) and then tells Meredith that she thinks Lexi is a cutter! It was pretty funny, actually. Meredith confronts Lexi on the cutting and Lexi is clearly confused. As a result, Lexi suggests a brief shut down, but Sadie insists they stay. Sadie takes a scalpel to her back and cuts it open and asks who wants to stitch her up. A man quickly raises his hand and says “oh, right here” because, of course, Sadie is hot like all the other people on Greys.
Yang catches wind that Lexi isn’t cutting but that they are practicing on each other. She insists they shut it down immediately.
The Girls Club & McDreamy...
Early on in the episode Christina and Meredith continue the girls club that seems to exclude McDreamy. But, alas, a knock on Meredith’s door reveals Sadie, a friend from Meredith’s past. Yang, now in a similar position as McDreamy, is feeling somewhat left out with the new arrival. Yang demonstrates somewhat hostility towards Sadie throughout the episode but disguises the reason as because Sadie is an intern and needs to learn her place. In this episode, Meredith also insists that McDreamy tell McSteamy he is not allowed to hook up with Lexi (Little Grey). But this, of course, piques his interest even more in Lexi.
I'm thinking the deal with the heart surgery (never having been a Dr or even played one on tv!) is that they had a second heart hooked up to his first heart (piggyback!). The second heart was giving out (heart transplants are only really counted on for 5 - 10 years from what I understand). They were going to replace the second heart with a third heart to supplement the first heart which wasn't beating on it's own .... why they couldn't use a pacemaker, nevermind. When they took the second heart off, the first heart started to beat on its own ~ which apparently was never supposed to happen. They didn't need to hook a third heart up to him since he could work on his own now. I did love how the new heart doc told Karrev not to call it a piggyback "Don't call it that, never call it that." LOL That was just funny!
ReplyDelete(Is that new heart doc staying or are we done with her now? I just wasn't all that crazy about her)
Who didn't see Little Sloan & Little Grey coming ... seriously. I think she's the only one left that he hasn't banged yet. Except Christina, and that had better not EVER happen!
Poor Callie ...
Christina & McArmy are fun to watch ~ that man can kiss! YUM!
Didn't Izzy JUST promise Alex that she wasn't going to go crazy on him? Hello?! I would be pissed about this story line, but I've missed Denny so much that I don't even care he's a freaky ghost ... who can apparently have sex according to next week's preview ... that should be interesting. OH! And Denny during the scenes with the heart patient ~ LOVE him!
And the previews for the underground surgery club?!?! O.M.G. What the crap?!
Asperger's Syndrome-high functioning autism. My little brother was diagnosed with it, which is one of the reasons why I decided to watch Grey's this week, to see how they handled it. That, and the fact that Mary Mcdonnell is a guest star!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!
Hi Slice of Paradise-
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Sounds like you have a pretty solid idea about the heart deal. At first, I thought they were giving him a new heart... but they came out with the old heart in a jar and I was like WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!
Little Sloan and Little Grey NEED to happen. Lexi is so cute.
Hi Romana-
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information on Asperger's Syndrome. I had not heard of it until they talked about it this episode. I know I recognize the actress (Mary Mcdonnell) but what else has she been in?
Thanks for reading!
Thomas
Gah. There was lots of good in this episode (Callie's breakdown in the OR, cute Mer/Der moments), but it was all overshadowed by the insanity that is Izzie. It's just ridiculous. I get that they're trying to portray that she's having trouble moving on from Denny, which is realistic, but the way they're doing it? SO not.
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda-
ReplyDeleteYes, Callie's breakdown was really good. I felt really bad for her. I've been saying it for years... Izzie just needs to go. :)
Thanks for reading!
Thomas
what is Timothy Miller's real name?
ReplyDeleteI thought this week was not as good as last week. I am not sure I like Sadie although she is a link to Mer's past, which could be interesting. Also, I really love Hunt because he's really different from the others and he really wants to do what's best for his patients. I like him and Christina, I think he could bring a more human side of her, even more so than Burke because he's more messed up...lol
ReplyDeleteMissed George though, I love him and he only had one line or something!Maybe he could hook up with Sadie...just a thought!