Athima Chansanchai writes: When an episode is called “Something’s Gotta Give,” it’s not a stretch to expect emotions bursting left and right, breakdowns, meltdowns, full-on loco full moon crazytime.
But what we got on “Grey’s Anatomy”: whiny boys/men, culminating in a few punches thrown by an already hammered Avery (one of those whiny boys).
And, as usual, the women are the ones receiving their jabs, but they’re also pushing back.
Teddy is our new hero. Not only does she save some big time world leader (not Bono!), she also doesn’t take any guff from the perpetually petulant Derek, who blames her for Cristina leaving the surgical program.
When last we left Cristina, she had happily quit the program. Callie finds her jumping around her new place, dancing, plugged into her iPod.
Girl bonding time ensues, as the dumped girl and the girl who dumped the program make lemonade from their life lemons, beginning with a new look for Callie, who submitted to Cristina’s spontaneous hair cutting before realizing she had no idea what she was doing. The mall comes to the rescue, with Cristina observing the scene like the scientist she is, and becoming a mall person that eats all day and buys things. She and Callie bring home furnishings and unpacking for a housewarming party later that night.
(Cristina is still a Type A in some ways! How does anyone get that much done in a day?)
But the host – Cristina – is nowhere to be found at her own party, having escaped to the roof with Derek to avoid the pressure of people asking about why she left, and trying to get her back. Derek decides to not even push about all that, and the two bond over home renovations.
Yes, Cristina is still in pod people mode. We’ve seen her come back from so much – Burke, Meredith’s near drowning, George. And as for Sandra Oh, we’ve seen her act better in all of those storylines.
But below, at her party, Avery, whose only surgery that day resulted in a death, has been downing shot after shot when a clearly distraught April arrives. The April we’ve seen in brief moments who was able to stick up for herself didn’t show up in this episode, when she made the moves on Alex, who was so not the person to lose her virginity with. (She didn’t. Whew.) Long story short, he lost his temper and made her cry after being disrespected by the new peds attending, who tried to take credit for an innovation Alex came up with to stabilize a liver with a ping pong ball.
So when Alex arrives at the party, it’s predictable that Avery clocks him. Twice.
Boys will be boys, and when the pressure is too much, they lose it. They hit and they lash out verbally. At least on this show.
Avery is the recipient of the only woman who loses it on this episode: Bailey, who tells the Chief she really needs a win after a string of big losses. We feel for her; she and Cristina both seem to be having the hardest time readjusting to life post-shooting.
What the show really needs is what this episode failed to deliver: a release valve, a way to relieve the stress and tension that gets everybody back on track.