Get Away From Me!
Updated 2006-12-05 16:00:00
Everybody is pissy, angry, and crabby. It's just like Thanksgiving with my family. Meredith's half-sister arrives at the hospital for an emergency c-section. Meredith works with Addison on the surgery, but panics when the baby seems to be failing. After a long day of surgery, Addison saves the baby. But Meredith finishes the day by telling her father's wife that, as nice as she seems, she's not Meredith's family. But Meredith's resistance crumbles a bit when she sees her beautiful new niece.
In the aftermath of Cristina's confession to the Chief, he's angry with Burke for hiding his tremor. And Bailey is furious with Cristina for being yet another intern to royally screw up, and for contributing to Bailey's own crisis of confidence. As punishment, Bailey assigns Cristina to work with Dr. Hahn on George's father's heart surgery. This doesn't sit well with George, who's angry himself at Cristina for being willing to allow Burke's shaky hand into his dad's chest cavity. A temper tantrum from George causes a cardiac crisis for his dad, but Burke's quick response helps him regain some of George's confidence. And that confidence is further restored when Burke watches the surgery with George and helps him remain calm when there's a problem. George's anger at Cristina is also reduced because the work she did while helping Burke hide his tremor enables her to step in and help save Mr. O'Malley's life during the surgery.
And you're asking, why was it "punishment" for Cristina to be assigned to George's dad's case? That's because the other interns all get assigned to the surgery separating two adult conjoined twins (who have decided to go ahead with the surgery because one of them has a girlfriend, who seems to have a crush on the other one). The surgery is incredibly complex, with the Chief handling the cardiothoracic stuff, Mark on the plastics, and Derek on the very complicated neuro portion. Izzie is assigned to Mark, and he treats her like ***** -- but she stands up to him and earns his respect. Things don't go so well for Derek, who blames himself for Burke's tremor and doubts his own skill. In the end, the surgery is a success.
After an episode of everyone holding everyone else at arm's length, we finish with some forgiveness. Burke gets over his anger at Derek and consults with him about further surgery to relieve the tremor. And he tacitly invites Cristina to join in that conversation as the woman who loves him. And Meredith has a very moving scene with her mother in which she comes to grips with some of her own anger at her mother's abandonment of her family. It's pretty weepy, and pretty sweet.