Where we left off: McDreamy postponed his proposal to Meredith to help Addison rid her brother, Archer, of a revolting case of brain worms (really!). In other news, Owen “McArmy” Hunt spotted a blonde he clearly recognized, and a nice pregnant lady who’d accidentally run over her husband had a brain aneurysm. (Bad day for her.)
Brain-worm drama: Archer’s situation deteriorated when Derek announced that his many cysts were effectively inoperable. Addison was insistent, however, that Derek “be a God.” So Derek came up with a daring surgical gambit and insulted Archer’s manhood when he resisted. Of course, Archer relented, lest he be thought a wimp. Derek completed the procedure with only one rogue worm he had to — and did — chase down.
Tumor hilarity: Izzie, suffering increasing effects of whatever malady brought on Dead Denny, continued decompensating as she obsessed over preparing silly games for the interns. In a storyline that seemed in poor taste even for this show, music tootled playfully in the background as a principal character that has been around since the pilot crept, it appears, ever closer to the grave.
Sometimes they come back: Just when things were warming up between McArmy and Cristina, it turned out that the mysterious blonde — who had brought her father to the hospital — was his ex-fiancee, Beth. Beth’s unhappy dad (who was, incidentally, keeping secret a nasty case of cancer) spotted McArmy and excoriated him for dumping Beth via email. (Ouch.) When Beth finally saw McArmy, she was shocked that he wasn’t in Iraq, where both she and McArmy’s mother believed he was still sweating out the war.
Cristina was initially horrified to learn that McArmy hadn’t even let his own mom know that he was safe. He explained that he thought Mom would be too sad to see the way the war changed him. So he lets her think he’s still in mortal danger? Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be callous jerks.
More about worms: Not long after Archer’s surgery, he declared that Derek — whom he hates — had done something wrong. Derek insisted he hadn’t. When Archer finally got new scans, he took one (mistaken) look at them and began hysterically preparing for his own death. But it was all just another wacky misunderstanding, Archer was fine, and Derek chalked up another life saved.
Tough choices: Pregnant Aneurysm Lady was scheduled for surgery the morning after McDreamy killed Archer’s brain worms, but she begged him to operate that night, so he agreed. Unfortunately, shortly after apparently successful surgery, she went downhill.
Derek called in Addison, who discovered that the problem originated with the blood Pregnant Lady needed during surgery when Derek nicked her aneurysm. Addison wanted to deliver the (likely not viable) baby to save the mother, but Derek pressured her to instead do a risky in utero procedure that could save — but would more likely kill — both mother and child, so that he wouldn’t be stuck with the guilt of the baby’s death. Always with the priorities, those Seattle Grace doctors! At first, Addison seemed to have succeeded, but then the mother went downhill again, setting up next week’s big finish.
Apropos of nothing: Much of the "Grey's Anatomy"-"Private Practice" crossover went nowhere, but it had one delightful result: Taye Diggs showed up from “Practice” and playfully flirted with Miranda Bailey. Not a big idea, but a great one.
Bye bye, baby: And finally, another bi-curious woman was banished as Sadie admitted incompetence and bolted, making her whole story an enormous, pointless waste of time. Slow clap, “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Linda Holmes is a writer in Washington, D.C.