Tonight’s episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ titled “Six Days (Part 2)” could have been titled “Baby Steps.” Meredith took a baby step towards building a relationship with her dad, Burke and Cristina each took a baby step towards communicating with one another and Izzie took a baby step towards accepting who she is as a surgeon and a person. But the real meat of the episode was with George’s story. I’d like to go on record by saying that T.R. Night is a phenomenal actor and deserves an Emmy nomination based on his performance in this episode.
Before we get to George’s story, lets get the other stuff out of the way.
Meredith and Derek are both cranky because of the snoring issue. The nose strip she wore to prevent her snoring isn’t working. While at the hospital, Meredith, Izzie and Cristina watch Thatcher from afar. Meredith tries to say she’s nothing like her father but Izzie and Cristina disagree, telling her she’s “messy.” It’s a cute conversation but leads Meredith to wonder about her father even more.
Eventually she decides to go talk to him and ask him what his side of the story is. He begins by telling her that her mom moved to Boston and asked him not to come around anymore. He then gets a wistful (maybe a little bit painful too) look in his eyes and then mentions getting remarried but trails off. Meredith changes the subject and asks him if he snores. She said her mother didn’t snore so she was wondering if she got it from him. He says he snores like a trucker and suggests wax earplugs (for Derek). She smiles and leaves. At the end of the episode, Derek and Meredith are in bed. He puts the earplugs in and curls up next to her.
When an anonymous donor pays for Heather’s (the girl with the curved spine) medical bills, Bailey confronts Izzie. She asks Izzie if she donated the money so she could scrub in on the surgery. Izzie says no, she did it for the patient. Bailey is disappointed. She tells Izzie that while what she did was kind, it shows she is still getting too involved with her patients. She seems more upset than angry and tells Izzie she cant scrub in on the surgery.
Things are deliciously awkward between Addison and Alex and extremely tense between Addison and Mark. Addison confesses to Callie that she aborted Mark’s baby about eight months ago. She said she wasn’t going to tell Mark about the baby but she did and he was happy to find out he was going to be a father. She tells Callie that she did want a baby but she wanted it to be with Derek, not Mark. Today would have been the baby’s due-date.
Alex asks Mark if he can scrub in on a plastic surgery. Mark asks Alex if Addison is miserable. Alex is still on edge about the almost-kiss and isn’t sure why Mark is asking him that but decides to just go along with it and tell him that Addison is miserable and always on his case. Mark says “Good” then doesn’t let Alex scrub in on the surgery.
Addison talks to Mark, who’s dealing with a bad cold. They start talking about the baby and what happened. Mark talks about the family they could have had together. Addison replies that he didn’t want a child, he just wanted to trump Derek. Mark argues back and Addison finally confesses that she just didn’t want a baby with him.
When Addison sees Alex, she apologizes the almost-kiss, saying it’s been a rough week.
Mark talks to Callie about the situation and he asks if she thinks he’d be a good father. She asks if he likes kids and if he’s a family kind of guy. He says he doesn’t really have a family and that Derek was his family. He says he’s not big on birthdays or anniversaries either. He asks if that’s the same with all men and Callie says no, that some men just like kids. She says she knows a man like that (George). Without a trace of self-pity or regret, Mark says he would’ve made a terrible father and walks away.
Cristina continues to make an effort to get Burke to talk to her. She brings him his lunch but refuses to give him the tray. Burke doesn’t say a word but pushes the call button for the nurse. The nurse shows up and tries to get the tray from Cristina. Cristina tries to get information about Burke’s hand from the nurse but she refuses to comply. Cristina finally gives up and walks out of the room. The nurse asks Burke if she should call security and Burke just watches Cristina leave. It seems she’s finally said “Uncle.”
George’s dad has complications with the tube that’s helping him breath and needs surgery so the tube can be replaced. Callie and The O’Malley’s are waiting out in the hall. George notices an odor and eventually so does everyone else. It appears Jerry O’Malley has a case of nervous gas. They’re all grossed out and giggling. Callie leans into George and is holding his hand. The whole incident was brief and humorous and perfectly timed. The tube surgery goes ok but Bailey is distraught by the whole thing and tells Weber its because her baby is named after the patient’s son (George).
George talks to Burke about his dad’s surgeries. Burke tells George he has no medical advice left to give him and that the rest is up to faith. He says science isn’t enough and that if he wants him to say a prayer for his father, he will.
Heather’s mom is in the waiting room with George and Mrs. O’Malley. She tells Mrs. O’Malley about her daughter’s problems and Mrs. O’Malley mentions the dangerous surgery that her husband underwent. It is then that George realizes they operated on his dad even though the cancer had spread so much. He confronts Bailey and Weber and demands to know why they went ahead with the surgery. He realizes that his dad asked them to do it but then screams at them, telling them “He didn’t know any better” and that they shouldn’t have done the surgery.
After the outburst, George goes to his father’s bed and begins to shave his face. He pauses and leans over to his dad’s ear and confesses about a lie he told to his father when he was a kid. He asks him to fight just a little harder. Knight’s performance in this scene was fantastic. Moving but not overdone. It’s no use though. Weber and Bailey meet with George and his family to tell them that Mr. O’Malley’s organs are shutting down and it’s only a matter of days or weeks before he dies. George tells his mom that his father is in pain and the best thing to do would be to let him go.
Izzie deals with what George is going through by baking lots of cobbler and cleaning the bathroom floor in case George wants to lie on it once its all over. She talks about how all the money she has is useless to help George so she made cobbler (lots of cobbler – like 4 trays of it at least).
Cristina is sitting in Burke’s room. Burke sort of looks at her and then Derek comes in. He tells Burke that they’re letting Mr. O’Malley go. Burke looks at Cristina and then back at Derek and tells him that he hasn’t had any tremors all week. He says it to Derek but he’s talking to Cristina. Baby steps.
This is where the musical montage comes in. This show tends to over-use this device but to be fair, the montages work for this show. The music plays and George’s family stands around his father as the doctors remove the tube from his throat and shut the machines off. The interns wait in the hall outside and when it’s done, George leaves and walks by all of them. Cristina follows George out and Izzie leaves to go check on Heather. She sees her walking upright (with a walker) and smiles at her. It’s clear on Izzie’s face that she has no regrets about donating the money to help Heather.
The music fades down a bit when Izzie find Bailey. She tells Bailey that she’s both a surgeon and a person who becomes emotionally involved. She promises to never take things as far as they went with Denny but that she’s not going to give up the side of herself that cares. Bailey, already teared up over George’s dad, seems overwhelmed by this. This is what amazes me about Chandra Wilson. The woman says a million words in one facial expression. She nods slightly at Izzie. When Izzie walks away, she sighs and bows her head.
Cristina finds George outside and tells him he’s part of the dead-dad club now. She tells him her dad died when she was 9 and she’s really sorry he had to join the club. George says he doesn’t know how to exist in a world where his dad doesn’t. Cristina tells him that never changes.
The episode ends with Alex going into the Joe’s bar. He sees Addison and sits down next to her. She asks him if he has a dad. Alex says “not really, anymore.” She touches his face and they kiss.
I have no prediction as to whether Alex and Addison have a chance at a real relationship. If anything, it seems like they might find solace with one another. Alex doesn’t seem to know which way is up in terms of his career or his love life and Addison is still clearly mourning the loss of her relationship with Derek.
What did you think of the episode? Does it seem like things are getting better or worse for the interns at this point
