What did I say? Didn’t I say there were great things to come? Absolutely fanfreakintastic. Probably the best hours of television this year. (I know this episode and the next were shown together, but I’ve decided to review them separately. The review would be ten pages otherwise.) The episode worked and it had me on my heels for the whole two hours. Brilliant.

          Just when you think the Super Bowl episode reinvents the face of television, we get the second season finale to prove us wrong. This reminds me a lot of Alias’ second season. Phase One was one of the best episodes ever, and the writers then shocked us with the second season finale. This kind of a formula keeps the fans on their heels. I hate to think about this, but how long can Grey’s keep shocking us before the show becomes repetitive? I hope it never comes to that, but it’s proven: all good things come to an end. I am such a pessimist. But for now, let’s relish this instant classic.

          Izzie and Denny were the breathing heart of the episode. Let’s just center on this powerhouse duo. In his worst minutes alive, Denny musters up the strength to propose to Izzie. Now, the last thing the other three need is to hear Izzie freak out over the proposal. They try to play it low-key. But I really think Denny meant it, and as it turns out later on, I might be right. But the intensity of the episode blew me away. Katherine Heigl does a great job of making the episode flow. She should be given more credit. But Izzie looked vulnerable. All the interns did and that’s what I loved.

          What’s always hard for a successful show is to stick to its original premise. There’s always a need to reinvent itself. But the show sticks to its promise: focusing on the fact that these characters are interns. In this hour especially, it shows the characters are interns. They are merely children in this gigantic and overwhelming world. In a few of the scenes in Denny’s room, the interns were a mess. How they made the scenes look so chaotic is beyond me. Cristina, Meredith, Izzie and George are all yelling and panicking. The room was dark. The equipment was all over the place. That’s the importance of set design. And I really loved the idea of Bailey giving the interns a time out.

          Burke getting shot brought on a slew of problems that will come back to haunt him. If he hadn’t been shot, he could have helped Denny sooner or even gotten the heart sooner. But I loved watching the impact him being shot had on Cristina. It takes dramatic measures to see if someone really loves you. By watching this episode, we have to ask ourselves: does Cristina really love Burke? She just froze in the OR, unable to calm Burke down. That’s something Cristina would never do. I would have never expected it. Expect something to come out of this.

          Derek faced a life-altering decision of his own. He had to decide if he could operate on his colleague, and the person he considers the competition. Derek considers Burke an honorable man. He’s a cocky surgeon with a God complex, but he’s still a decent honorable man. And with such a surgery lies the danger of losing your reputation. And we are talking about Burke’s hand here. Losing his hand function means losing his career as a surgeon. That’s worse than losing his life. But more than that, Derek faced more problems with his wife. Would it kill him to just say “hi” to her? Like I’ve said many times before, he doesn’t deserve these two women that are vying for him. Why can’t I have two women after me?

          I loved the arrival of Camille to the hospital. Chief Webber’s niece a few years ago was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It comes back a few years later. She faints because of it on the night of her prom, when she “cashes in her V-card.” I loved watching the Chief get all worked up about his niece losing his virginity. But it must be hard for a parent to outlive their child. At the age of eighteen, Camille won’t live to know what the good stuff really is. Too bad she had to pass out during her prom.

Dear Diary

Cristina: I get my chance of a lifetime to run a Trauma room by myself, and I have to find out that Burke got shot. There was no way I was going to let that asshole of a shooter make it out alive. We did compressions and more compressions. Then Burke told me to go to Denny’s room. Izzie cut his LVAD wire. HIS LVAD WIRE. Then Meredith stood there forcing me to stay and help. I’ve worked my whole life to get where I am. Izzie had no right to jeopardize that. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us. Bailey caught us and gave us a time-out. You had to see her face. And Izzie, the genius, has the nerve to piss her off even more. We looked like complete idiots in front of ‘The Nazi.’ This isn’t going to end well.

Meredith: In the heat of the moment, George apologized to me. He apologized to me. I couldn’t believe it. I know why he hasn’t been talking to me all this time. He told me that he feels responsible for the whole thing. He says I didn’t know that I didn’t want to do it with him; he knew I didn’t feel that way about him. You don’t know how much that meant to me. I’ve always wanted someone to just say that George was partly to blame. It’s not even that. At least things will get back to normal. Or will they? Izzie cut Denny’s LVAD wire. I was just shocked with what she did. We still don’t know what’s going on in that OR. I hope things turn out ok. Izzie could get thrown out of the program. That’s the last thing we all want.

Today’s Baileyisms

-          “My interns. My ass-kissing, surgery-hungry, competitive suck-ups. Where are they? Why aren’t they fetching you ice chips and morphine? Why aren’t they sucking up? (pause) You know something. Preston Xavier Burke, what have you done with my suck-ups?”

-          “You fools better have a good explanation for this.”

-          “Where was rational thought? Where was cognitive thinking? First do no harm. The morals, the ethics? Where was sanity when you three decided to help that girl?”

-          “No, no. No speaking. I do not want to have to testify against you in a court of law. Not one word.”

-          “O’Malley get me the lab results. Do not pass go. Do not talk to another living soul. Get the labs. Get back here!”

-          Bailey: “Isobel Stevens I take my medical advice from doctors, you are a visitor. As of now you are a visitor in this hospital. You will not be a doctor again in the hospital until I decide that you are.”

Quotable Quotes

-          Cristina: “I’m here for you, whatever you need. Anything.”
Burke: “Okay. I need… you to—to check on Denny Duquette.”
Cristina: “Okay. That was my best supportive girlfriend and you kinda ruined it with medicine.”

-          Bailey: “I said no speaking!”
George: “I didn’t say any—”
Bailey: “Then no moving.” She was on a rampage.

-          George: “Bailey’s treating us like children, we’re not children! We shouldn’t have to sit out here like we’re in time-out or something.”
Meredith: “It is a time-out. What we did is way in need of a time-out.” It really was.

-          Richard: “I think you need to tell me exactly what’s going on here, Doctor.”
Bailey: “Believe me sir you want this to stay a hypothetical ‘cause I’m thinking if something like that did happen you’d be duty bound to report it and this hospital would be in danger of losing it’s credibility as a transplant site.”

-          Denny:” I cut my own LVAD wires you know, all by myself.”
Bailey: “Shh. You’re weak enough as it is please don’t waste energy on lying.”

-          Izzie: “What if you were me?”
Cristina: “Well I wouldn’t have fallen in love with a patient.”
Izzie: “You fell in love with an attending.”
Cristina: “Well so did Mere, what’s the point?”
Meredith: “The point is we can’t help who we fall in love with.” That’s true.

-          Erica Hahn: “Is Dr. Burke alive?”
Alex: “Yes.”
Erica Hahn: “Shame. He probably would have made a good donor.”

Some Final Notes

-          I loved the multi-narrator narration. I laughed when Izzie said we all need sex. Typical Izzie.

-          Izzie gave George two options: help her or pain.

-          Cristina got to run Trauma 2. She wanted to make sure the murderer stayed alive.

-          I loved the fact that Cristina forgave Burke for not choosing her to go to Mercy West. When it comes down to it, Cristina cares.

-          I loved the return of Adele to the hospital. We learnt that she knew about Chief Webber’s affair and she turned the other way. That’s big of her.

-          I loved watching the chief run after Camille’s boyfriend Bryan. He was acting more like a father than a cool actor.

-          Camille was lying to her friends about her condition. She just wanted to go to prom.

-          I can’t believe Denny asked Izzie to marry her. That just came out of nowhere.

-          Camille’s friends brought the prom to the hospital.

-          Adele threatened Richard. This is getting dangerous.

-          Bailey went absolutely crazy this episode. Chandra Wilson went all out. She better be nominated for her performance in this episode. Classic.

-          I loved the scene where Cristina keeps saying “yeah” to Burke. It felt real and I loved Burke’s reaction.

-          Bailey made Izzie a visitor. She is really pissed off.

-          Dr. Hahn is a feisty female. She freakin’ scares me.

-          Cristina just froze when Burke panicked in the OR. That freaked me out.

-          “Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response” is a song by The Flaming Lips.

6 stars. More in part two…

-          Next episode

-          Grey’s Anatomy season 2

-          Grey’s Anatomy main