TV Review: Grey's Anatomy Episode 2.12

Sunday, December 11, 2005

From ABC: A young boy needs a heart transplant but doesn't seem to want it, and his treatment causes Burke and Yang to have philosophical differences. Meanwhile, when the interns rally to help Alex prepare to re-take his exam, Meredith has to remind Izzie of the true spirit of the Christmas holiday; and despite reconciliation with his wife, Derek isn't in a festive mood.

My Rating: 4 out of 4

This holiday themed episode of Grey's Anatomy titled 'Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer' Has our interns and staff of Seattle Grace Hospital all busy working on their own cases, while also dealing with the various messes and changes in their lives as best as they can.

During this episode, we have three different cases that take the doctor's focus. One with a woman with the family from hell with an ulcer, a man that has fallen and suffered a head injury while decorating his house for Christmas, and the third and perhaps most touching in my mind, a young boy that receives a second chance at life when a heart goes through Unos for him at Christmas time.

Let's first talk about the man that fell. Derek and Izzie take the lead on what looks to be a simple case that ends up turning quite complicated. The fall caused a brain bleed, and he has to go in for surgery. They are able to fix the problem, but another one pops up once he is in recovery. His personality has totally changed.

When he came in to the hospital, he had been cheerful and happy, ready to celebrate the holiday with his family. After the surgery, he turned into the very definition of the Grinch. Derek has a CT scan performed, and they find another bleed they didn't see before. The man has to be taken back into surgery. It appears all ends well here, even though we're not really shown that since we leave this man's case in the OR.

The next case has Bailey and George taking the lead, after his wife calls Webber home. Bailey's pregnancy is becoming more of an issue when it comes to her job, and I'm wondering how many more episodes we'll see Bailey around before her character is off for maternity leave. A young woman has an ulcer, and her surgery has been pushed back several times because of other more important cases coming in. This has angered her family, and they are quite loud and obnoxious.

The woman's case takes a turn for the worse, and she ends up needing emergency surgery. Bailey, George and Meredith all scrub in. The woman is operated on, and things end up going well. George and Bailey go to tell the family about her condition, and they once again get quite loud, as they threaten to sue Bailey. Bailey gives George freedom to handle the situation, and he gives them a piece of his mind, and tells them to go home since visiting hours are over. This was one of the best scenes of the episode in my opinion.

The last case is of a young boy who needs a heart transplant. Burke and Cristina are in charge of this one, and it is immediately obvious that the little boy wants nothing to do with his heart or Christmas for that matter. Since he has no say on the heart, he is taken into surgery anyway. Burke and Cristina have a little tiff in the OR, and he sends her out. The boy has some problems once he receives the heart, and Cristina has a small moment where she talks to the boy about him living.

A lot of this episode had the relationship between Burke and Cristina as a focus. He is quite spiritual and celebrates the Christmas holiday. Cristina isn't, and once again the two need to come together somewhere in the middle. I love seeing these two evolve over the season. They don't get a lot of airtime, but what they get shows a lot. We're seeing their relationship develop slowly.

Izzie and Alex also came into play this week. Turns out his practical exam is the next day, and all the other interns are assisting him in studying for it. When Izzie finds out, she blows up, and it causes a scene in the hall of the hospital. Meredith reminds her it is Christmas. Yes, Izzie is just as into Christmas as she was Thanksgiving. Small coincidence that her character Isabel on Roswell was also into the holidays. They even called her the Christmas Nazi.  Meredith and George say nothing when she turns their home into Christmas central.

Everyone is trying to be supportive because they know she is still upset about Alex cheating on her with Nurse Olivia. However, after she is done in surgery, she even finds Alex to assist him with studying. She ends up crying, and he thinks it is because of him, but she hides it under the guise of "it's the patient."  We're not all that sure here though. It could be because of him.

Addison and Derek also have a bit of airtime this episode, and it looks like we're setting up some more Meredith and Derek drama with Derek's confession to Addison at the end of tonight's episode. He tells Addison that he really did love Meredith. She wasn't some revenge ploy or a fling. Feelings were real there.

One of the best episodes this season for Grey's Anatomy in my opinion. This show only keeps getting better as time goes on, and I can't wait to see what the characters and writers have in store for us coming the New Year. Now this is the bad news. Grey's Anatomy is off for the holidays. The series will make its return on January 8th with all new episodes. We've gone twelve straight without a break. It had to happen sooner or later. I'll be back with more reviews of Grey's Anatomy once the show makes its return.

If you want to discuss this show with me and others, hop on over to my discussion topic for tonight's episode over at Media Village!