Lexie did not follow that or any other rules in pursuing Alex, though — she actually showed up at the house to ask him out for a drink, prompting Meredith to make ''a rule'' that Alex couldn't sleep or drink with her half sister. Though that could have been a big favor to Lexie and driven him to her just out of spite, he chose once again to step out of it (proving he's just not that into her, if you ask me). The girls were forced to (sorta, almost) confront their issues, though, when that collapsing mom died, leaving her husband with an adopted baby he didn't care about. ''I bet you know her better than you think you do,'' Meredith told him, urging him to try to bond with his new daughter and underlining the metaphorical significance of it all with Lexie sitting right there. You had to know right then what was about to come: Dad would hold the (obscenely cute) baby, and Lexie would come to Meredith and say, ''I hate apples...'' and a bunch of other stuff Meredith should know because they're sisters and whatnot. (Perhaps because I still had Harry and Sally on my mind, I was waiting for her to start saying things like ''I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out.'')

The Chief, meanwhile, finally decided to make Bailey chief resident instead of Callie, and — Emmy reel alert! — Chandra Wilson did more with the line ''It's about time you noticed'' than some people do with entire movie scripts. Lexie said her first sensible thing in a while when she moaned to the bartender, ''I told her I can draw with an Etch-a-Sketch....No wonder she thinks I'm pathetic.'' And Hahn continued to be nothing but sensible when she rebuffed Sloan by saying, ''Mostly you're attracted to me because I'm not attracted to you.''

The big ending reveal of the night, though, came when Alex took Lexie home and found out Daddy Grey is a big stumbling alcoholic — and took a break from being an ass long enough to stop him from driving to the store drunk to buy more scotch. And I'm feeling bad for disparaging Lexie already....

What do you think? Are George and Izzie over? Do Lexie and Alex have a future? And how is Bailey going to shake things up as chief resident?

You Might Also Like

• The Ausiello Files The Ausiello Files: December 19, 2008 | Michael Ausiello
• Television News 'Grey's Anatomy' fan backlash | Lynette Rice