'Grey's Anatomy' recap: Fear Factor

'Grey's Anatomy' recap: Fear Factor

It was definitely what we call a transitional episode this week, an in-betweener, if you will. A we-have-more-than-20-of-these-things-to-get-through-and-dammit-we-just-did-a-funeral-last-week kinda deal. Am I right, Anatomites? (That might've been my favorite message-boarder honorific suggestion for Grey's Anatomy fans after my plea from last week, but I'm going to try out several of your suggestions and see how it goes. Please feel free to vote so we can settle on a final term as of next week. Also, per another discussion I had yesterday, if you have any favorite wines you like to pair with your Grey's Anatomy, I am open to suggestions on that as well. We decided red made it all the better to weep to, but we didn't get more specific than that. What do you think? Bordeaux? Merlot? Cabernet?)

At any rate, no major happenings this week, which I suppose makes sense after the two-hour extravaganza of George's death last episode. However, us having known that was coming, it's feeling a little…eh, snoozy right now. I could use a little scandale, though I don't know what precisely that would be. I'd like to be surprised. It's part of the fun.

Not that there was zero fun in this ep. Cristina-as-pediatric-surgeon was pretty hilarious from the get-go. She strategized to keep her job in the merger with Mercy West by sucking up, as they say, to Arizona — and Cristina can barely interact warmly with adult humans, much less children. ''It's like the whole body is your canvas,'' she gushed to Arizona. ''The fact that it's a small canvas makes it even more challenging.… I would love to witness your artistry.'' She even went so far as to claim, ''I love kids!'' when pressed on the issue. Genius.

She wasn't the only one worried for her job, either. Crazed staffers were showing up in the middle of the night, even when not on official call, to do anything and everything asked of them. And the minute that one nurse said that ''nurses are always the last to know, first to go,'' you know, that nurse who's been around since season 1 — I knew she was toast, even though there are a zillion shows on television all of a sudden, from Nurse Jackie to Hawthorne to Mercy, that claim that nurses are the great unsung heroes of our time who know far better than doctors what's going on, and furthermore America the Beautiful.… Yeah. Sorry, Nurse from season 1. This show is about hot surgeons.

In fact, I've watched so many shows about nurses that this line of discussion bores me. (Not that I didn't love Nurse Jackie. I love any show that's about a middle-aged woman who wears no makeup and has a man's haircut but is still somehow a sexpot. Seriously, I do.) The point is, really: Izzie's wig. Let's discuss. I mean, Katherine Heigl even looks hot with her super-short, peach-fuzz, cancer regrowth, so it's hard to truly judge. And the wig kinda looks like Meredith hair, but neater. And it's so wrong it's almost right. But maybe not as wrong as all the characters are acting like it is. I don't know. This might be the most emotional hot-point of this episode. What do you think? One thing's for sure: I'm not sure it's red, like she thinks it is. ''She looks like a Stepford Wife,'' Cristina whispered to Meredith. A-ha! That's it! That is so exactly what was wrong with it. Thank you, as always, Cristina.

NEXT: The ax falls at Seattle Grace