Out of the Grey-ness

In a breath of fresh air, "Grey's Anatomy" stepped out of the boring, melodramatic rut it was in and gave us all some of its original sunshine. When this show is good, it is really good! And it hasn't been good for about a year and a half so tonight's episode was a welcome return. The messiness with the Cheif's self-indulgent decline is over. The Mercy West merge has settled into place. Izzie Stevens is (happy dance) gone! The whole Mark Sloan baby debacle is complete. And so we can breathe and just revel in the outstanding characters at Seattle Grace being awesome.

I knew this episode was back in form when I checked the time and saw it was only 9:30. One of the show's past strengths was tight writing that packed so much into an episode that you were positive it must be ending soon when really it had only begun. This talent had fallen off in the past year and episodes felt padded and empty at the same time. Not the case with this Season 6 effort. So what made it so good?

The re-woman-ification of Bailey.
Mark Sloan trying to grow up.
Teddy's attempt to move on from Hunt.
Webber being a surgeon (and likeable guy) again.
Christina's joy.
Meredith's defending of Christina's joy.
Lexie's loss.
Callie's total awesomeness as a doctor, a friend and a woman.
Arizona's speeches.

See! Sooooo much goodness and that was only one episode. And to have this episode set-up a new set of relationship spirals that are...

exciting: Will Teddy get McSteamed? Seriously, I adore the potential here. And the fact that Teddy kind of reminds me of Addison which is awesome.

scary: Will Hunt mess it up with Christina? I cannot bear to think of these two in shambles. I barely survived when Burke broke her heart and I hate to think they will do it again.

honest: Will Lexie try to win Mark back? I relate to her storyline of younger woman learning to grow up due to heart break from an older man. I really hope they keep them separated and have Lexie grow from this experience because the Sloan+Little Grey thing was never good.

interesting: Will Callie and Arizona survive? I love that the same-sex woman couple is about to go into a kids vs. no kids relationship fight. How awesome is that? Well, except that it may end Callie and Arizona which will be so sad because they are the best.

So kudos to "Grey's Anatomy" for getting it right again, finally. I hope all the promise established in this episode will bloom into excellent Thursdays for the rest of the season. Fingers crossed.