Grey's Anatomy: "Elevator Love Letter"

These days, I'm watching Grey's Anatomy out of dedicated habit. This season has been so unbelievably uneven (downright bad at times) that it's been difficult to maintain a true investment. Yet here I am, still watching. Often, I feel dirty about that, but "Elevator Love Letter" gave me hope.

Grey's has been on an upswing since the Private Practice/Addison crossover, and while I was initially waiting for the other shoe to drop, I'm now thinking that they may be holding steady. I'm not in the mood to get into every storyline (look for the quickdraw bullets below), but I did want to discuss the singularly consistent story of the season: Owen Hunt's unmitigated disaster of a life and the severe lack of control he has over his own mind and body. The dude needs help. Like, yesterday.

The image of Owen falling asleep to the lull of the fan worked nicely in lulling the audience right along side him. Cut to Christina's wide, pleading eyes and gasps for air, and we realize that Owen is choking the life out of her in his sleep. Horrifically violent and disturbing, the expectation was that Christina -- strong-willed, opinionated, solitary Christina -- would get out of his grasp and proceed to throw him out of her life. Instead, she hugged him.

For a while, I was worried that Christina had lost her mind too, making excuses and sweeping under the rug Owen's behavior. While I firmly believe that Owen would rather die than hurt Christina in any way, he clearly needs professional help and without it, both of them will pay the price. Christina might lose her life at Owen's hands and Owen would most certainly never recover from that. But seeing Christina ignore all of the psychological signs (just as Alex had ignored Izzie's medical signs) and continue on with the relationship was unnerving. And then finally in the end -- after they made tender and tentative love -- Christina had her epiphany:

"I'm lying here in your arms and I'm afraid to fall asleep."

The chemistry between Sandra Oh and Kevin McKidd is astounding and Christina and Owen do work very well as a couple, but before they can really give it a go, he needs to get his act together. Christina has always built walls around her heart and the only way she'll ever break those down is if she feels safe. Owen has the power to make her feel safe, but he doesn't currently have the ability. Let's hope that she inspires him.

Randoms...

• Any day when Callie dances like a dork is a good day. When she and Arizona were dancing early on in her apartment, I flashed back to Callie's near-naked dancing in the bowels of Seattle Grace. Hee. And seeing Callie carefree and happy was icing on the cake. Arizona is good for her.
• I appreciated that they acknowledged Callie's complicated history with Izzie. Callie berating herself over wishing Izzie dead and then using that to light a fire under George was inspired. "George, you were my husband and you slept with her. You are the reason I wished her dead -- you owe me this."
  
• Alex's massive guilt over not reading Izzie's signs and kicking himself because he's "a doctor" was heart-breaking. He's willing to spooge in a cup for her (because he actually wants a family with her, aww!), but he can't bring himself to go into her room. He's beating himself up one way and down the other, but all Izzie wants is him by her side. Luckily, he pulled it together in the end and the image of them laying together on her PACU bed was just lovely.
• Bailey keeping Izzie's skills up as an excuse just to keep her company was typical Bailey -- strong, stoic, inspiring, and mother to them all. "Tomorrow, do better." Anything you say, Nazi.
• Poor Izzie, left all alone at the time when she needs her friends the most. Many of those characters can be such d-bags sometimes, you know?
• The family in the tertiary story was surprisingly affecting when they finally lost their aunt. "Actually, could we stay a little while longer?" Goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover.
• I am, by no means, a Derek/Meredith fan, but I enjoyed seeing the history of their relationship punctuated by meaningful surgeries. Dorky and fitting. And they're finally engaged. Egads, does this mean that the endless melodrama will finally stop? Eh, probably not.
• Was it any surprise that Derek succeeded in the OR? If he hadn't -- if Izzie had died on his table -- he would have turned in his medical license then and there. So that drama didn't feel foreboding enough. Seattle Grace wouldn't be Seattle Grace without Derek Sheppard.
  
• Could someone please explain to me when and how Meredith -- of all people -- became the intelligent voice of reason? I think a pig just flew past my window.

Thoughts?