There was no reason for ‘Grey’s Anatomy‘ to have had a rerun last week. Why didn’t the producers start one week later? Either way, Derek takes over Seattle Grace this week as the chief and struggled on his first day. While he managed to figure everything out by the end of the day, it’s nice to see Derek’s evolution handling the responsibilities.

The Chief, or I guess he’s just now demoted to “Richard,” struggled with his decision to retire or go to rehab for the whole episode. While Derek, Meredith, and Bailey tried to talk to him, it was all his decision to make the next step. Here’s hoping that he comes back stronger than ever.

One of my biggest fears is waking up in the middle of surgery, so watching Bailey’s patient open her eyes made me cringe. I have trouble believing the storyline, not because the patient’s metabolism was fast, but the fact that Bailey clearly prepped the patient before going into surgery, gaining the patient’s trust. While I would have also gotten defensive in the beginning, I wouldn’t have tried pushing Bailey away, knowing I just came out of being stitched together.

Finally we get to see Alex being an actual surgeon, gaining some backbone after the Izzie incident two weeks ago. We finally got to see the progression from a shirtless Alex warming a baby to him advocating for a teenager. Alex clearly fits well into pediatrics, bearing that he can handle his temper. It was refreshing seeing the combination of Alex and Arizona and having Arizona in a doctoral position instead of attached to Callie’s hip. Let’s hope that the writers keep Alex away from sex and have him mature in the hospital.

On the Mark/Lexie side, I can’t take either side. Mark gets too upset about the situation quickly, seen with his interaction with Derek and Callie. Lexie cries instantly when she thinks of him.

I’m still confused as to how to continue with the Owen/Christina/Teddy situation. Teddy knows that Christina is trustworthy when it comes to heart surgeries, but continues to play the keep away game. Owen’s fighting to keep Christina with him, but tried only relying on good sex. Christina has trouble, but didn’t get an opportunity to talk it out with Meredith. The ending with Christina opening up about Burke to Owen was touching, especially since I’ve been convinced that Isaiah Washington was a hot topic. Without T.R. Knight on set, it must have cooled off.

There were several little elements that made this episode interesting. Seeing the little touch of the logo with Bailey’s eyes in the beginning was an interesting variation. There was an interesting combination of comedy to balance out the heavy drama in this episode. Christina’s grate marks with Lexie’s crying gave us the hysterical statement, “Please don’t cry on my ass.” The ending shot of Mark, Callie, and Arizona all squished into one bed was funny. It was also amusing that Owen was having sex with Christina in the boiler room and he was in the next shot standing next to Mark during the squabble between Derek and the Chief. Finally, it was great to see the elevator, even though it was for a few seconds and had no talking.

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