Taking the Bait

[ This review covers Season Six, Episode Twenty of Grey’s Anatomy, entitled Hook, Line and Sinner, which originally aired on Thursday, April 29, 2010 ]

Photo Credit: Danny Feld / ABC

Meredith seizes an opportunity to remind Derek that she is his one and only “love-struck intern,” Lexie triumphs over Alex, thanks to Bailey’s words of wisdom, Callie acquiesces to Arizona’s steadfast nature, Mark sees the light, Cristina doesn’t and then does, and Owen is still a hot mess. In the first episode after a much-too-long hiatus, this wasn’t exactly a “killer” episode to come back with, and not just because it picks up immediately where the last episode left off. Nonetheless, it managed to keep me entertained for an hour.

“I was the love-struck intern. It is his thing.”

Mer + Der + April? Meredith and Derek have come a long way since season one. They’ve experienced so many situations of trust vs. distrust in the course of their relationship that it is so incredibly refreshing to see that that ultimate level of complete trust has finally plateaued in their relationship. While her lunch conversation with Cristina and Alex about Derek having a “thing” for love-struck interns may have gotten in her head a little bit, I think it was ultimately the love-struck “intern” April that she didn’t trust. Either way, Meredith’s insecurities led to one of the cutest MerDer scenes ever, in my book.

“You are handing your power over to a boy because he’s giving you sex.”

Alex and Lexie. Two forlorn lovers who are using each other to get over their abandonment issues. The only problem is, their taking advantage of each other is not making either of them any less miserable. There is no denying that they are in a relationship (as hard as it may be for Alex/Izzie or Mark/Lexie fans to accept) because they are two people having relations of some kind with each other. But as far as relationships on this show go, theirs is clearly the emptiest. I’m not sure I understand how having these two enter into this “friends with benefits” affair is going to make them better individuals in the long run, not to mention, likeable characters. Right now all I see is a couple of very shallow, insubstantial caricatures of their former selves.

“You wear roller skates for shoes. I don’t get it!”

Ah, the baby dispute. A very real issue in many real relationships. For me, the most intriguing relationship drama the writers express on this show is the kind you can imagine happens every day in real life. Kids: to have or have not? Real issue. Love: to triangularize? Not-so-real issue. But I digress. It’s admirable that Callie was trying to analyze Arizona’s point of view, but I’m not sure how confronting Arizona about her theory was going to change Arizona’s mind no matter how broken her brother’s death may have made her. Arizona’s not broken and she doesn’t need a happy baby. She’s already perfectly blissful. This episode had some of my favorite Callie/Arizona moments. Their “I’m not broken” scene and Callie’s giving up on her baby desire were two of their best to date.

“I’m losing everything!”

First of all, Sloan Sloan Sloan was a-freakin-dorable! Secondly, while I haven’t exactly enjoyed this storyline of Mark’s this season, I felt it was given an exceptional ending. As much as I liked macho, slutty, carefree Mark, it was interesting watching him grow up a little and realize all is not lost.

“I’m Doctor Bailey. I know everything.”

Through six seasons, Dr. Bailey has been characterized the most consistently among all writers. It’s as if she writes herself. In a show that’s been turning upside down since season one, Bailey has somehow managed to be the only character whose head has remained above her feet at all times. Even though her interns are now capable residents, she realizes they are probably in need of her guidance now, more than ever as they begin to come into their own as surgeons.

“She’s a groupie.”

I love groupie Cristina. Sandra Oh does cute, giddy fangirl so well. Unfortunately, when her “cute, giddy fangirl” mode is triggered, so are her blinders. She tends to get so caught up in what is happening to her right now that she often fails to see the full picture or grasp the situation’s consequences. I had to watch her scene with Teddy (about Tom Evans being a “rockstar”) a couple times to realize that Teddy was not insulting Cristina (calling her an “idiot” and saying she’d be a lot faster in the OR without her initially came off as such), but making a valid point. Teddy is willing to be a doctor and a teacher. Tom Evans is not. Regardless of whether Cristina had any lingering sense of the feelings between Teddy and Owen, I believe she would have still wanted Teddy to stay for this simple fact. If Tom Evans were to replace Teddy as Cristina’s mentor, it would be a Hahn-situation all over again.

“If that’s what you decide, she’ll be fine.”

As I was aware that this episode would see Teddy fighting for her job, I had one fear as I watched. I feared that Owen would help Teddy fight for her job. As a fan of Cristina and Owen, it was a legitimate fear because the situation was very reminiscent of Cristina’s fight for her job in I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watchin’ Me—a fight in which Owen refused to get involved. He made it clear that the state of Cristina’s job was her problem that she would deal with. At the time, it didn’t make sense to me that he wasn’t willing to stick his neck out for his girlfriend. But now, after seeing the contrast between Teddy and Cristina as feeling human beings, I think Owen realized then that Cristina could take it. She’s much stronger than Teddy. Cristina didn’t break down in into tears about it (well, not in front of him, anyway). Teddy did, which is why I was sure he was going to take pity on her and defend her to Derek. But he didn’t—even when Cristina pleaded with him to do so. Instead, after his elevator moment with Teddy, where all of those “feelings” may or may not have come rushing back, he decided to capitalize on the opportunity to part ways with the temptation of Teddy once and for all. On the surface, it was a seemingly selfish act, but I believe Owen felt he was protecting Cristina in the long run. He was protecting her from what he might do. Whether or not he realized that sending away the best mentor Cristina has ever had would greatly upset her, he knew hurting her emotionally would leave a deeper scar. Also, even though Owen went against Cristina in his conversation with Derek, I don’t feel like he came out and “lied” to her. As he stepped through the door I feel he was going come clean with her, but Cristina, being the terrible reader of body language/facial expressions that she apparently is, cut him off with a kiss. At the very worst, this situation could come back to bite Owen only because he breached the trust she placed on him going in there.

Character of the night
With tension mounting between just about everyone throughout the entire episode, Bailey was like a sigh of relief and a breath of fresh air.

Scene of the night
Mark handing over the baby. It was a very rare poignant scene for Mark…and I got a Mark/Callie togetherness moment out of it.

Line of the night
“I’m Doctor Bailey. I know everything.”

Thought of the night
While this episode was not the worst of the season, it wasn’t great or particularly memorable except in the respect that two multi-episodic storylines were seemingly ended (Sloan/Mark, and Calzona baby drama) and one trite season-long (almost) storyline (Owen’s Teddy vs. Cristina dilemma) practically took center-stage.

- Megan

Rating:

NEXT WEEK ON GREY’S ANATOMY

How Insensitive – Bailey preps the team with mandatory sensitivity training prior to admitting a 700-pound patient with compounded medical issues, and the case proves to be challenging in every sense of the word. Meanwhile Derek has to come face to face with a former patient’s husband in a wrongful death deposition, and spending time with a heart patient’s daughter opens up some old wounds for Cristina.