You mean this isn't how a normal hospital operates?: The Chief finally realized that the reason his hospital fell to #12 in national rankings is because it's one big petri dish of crazy. Strangely, it took the death of a fellow doctor to make him realize that a constantly revolving door of docs and interns who operate on each other is pretty weird. When doctors who were approached to replace the deceased doc refused to interview at Seattle Grace, the Chief sank into a funk that lasted almost the entire show. He snapped out of it at the end, but it's really not clear why. It's not like the hospital got any saner while he moped.
Death-row dilemma: When a murderer on death row came in with a sharpened toothbrush jammed in his spine, the doctors weren't all thrilled to treat him. Meredith professed that even murdering jerks deserved compassionate medical treatment, while Derek and Cristina didn't feel like offering pain relief and comfort to a man who slit the throats of five women just because he felt like it. Fairly logical, but of course there was a Big Secret behind it. Turns out Derek's dad was murdered when he wouldn't give up the watch his wife had saved up for. And then Derek became Batman, because he had to avenge his dad's death. Well, maybe not that last part.
Wish upon a star: A perennial patient of Bailey's, young Jackson, kept perusing a Make-A-Wish style booklet even though she and Alex insisted he wasn't going to die. Maybe not, but when his doctor did (the same one that sent Chief into the funk), a new no-nonsense pediatric surgeon, Arizona Robbins, showed up and immediately rubbed Bailey the wrong way. Arizona (Arizona?) insisted Jackson needed a transplant, while Bailey wasn't willing to admit things looked that bleak for her pet patient. In the end, she agreed, and Alex helped the kid start thinking about his possible last wish.
I see dead people: Dead Denny encouraged Izzie to confess their dalliances to Alex. When she did, she was shocked to learn that he didn't seem to mind that his girlfriend was sleeping with a dead man. And when she and Alex started getting kissy, she told Dead Denny to go, and he did. He returned to watch her blow out her birthday-cake candle while telling Alex she had everything she wished for already. Yeah, who doesn't want both a dead and a living boyfriend hanging around muddling things up? She's got it made!
12-step sex program: Callie and Sloan vowed to band together in a sort of 12-step program to keep themselves away from Sadie and Lexie. That lasted about as long as you would think.
We should be dancing, yeah: Meredith and Cristina are still sulking. Sadie tries to tell Meredith not to let the friendship die as theirs did, adding that she misses Meredith's friendship and noting that before an unexplained incident in Amsterdam, Sadie and Meredith were as close as Meredith and Cristina have become. Later at home, a gloomy Meredith tells Derek that Cristina would "turn up the music and dance it out with me," so Derek gives that a shot. Somehow it's not the same.
Quote of the week: "No one wants to (work) here," says the Chief. "Burke quit, Hahn quit, Dixon’s autistic, the interns are literally chopping each other into little pieces…" YES! And you just noticed this now?
Runner-up quote of the week: Derek speaking about his shared distaste for the death-row prisoner: "I hate to agree with Yang, but I agree with Yang."
Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is Msnbc.com's Television Editor.