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GREY'S ANATOMY

SEASON 1

A Hard Day’s Night

Air Date: 3.27.05

Writer: Shonda Rhimes

Director: Peter Horton

Episode 1.1 At A Glance:

I could quit, but here's the thing: I love the playing field.

… Meredith Grey woke up next to a guy named Derek. And she promptly said good-bye to him, presumably for good, as she went off for her first day of work as a surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital. Meredith, along with fellow interns Cristina Yang, Izzie Stevens, and George O'Malley, all get assigned to surgical resident Dr. Miranda Bailey, but they would all come to know her as "The Nazi" (for her abrasive treatment of interns).

Meredith's first patient, a teenage beauty pageant contestant, recently began suffering from seizures so severe they threatened her life. As a neurological disorder that might need surgery, a neurosurgeon new to Seattle Grace gets put on the case to work with Meredith. That neurosurgeon is none other than Dr. Derek Shepherd, Meredith's would-be one-night-stand. Derek wants to talk to Meredith about the previous night, but Meredith wants none of that. He's an attending, she's an intern, that's what their relationship should be.

Meredith forms an immediate bond with Cristina that gets quickly tested when Derek chooses Meredith over Cristina to scrub in on brain surgery (it would've been a first for either of them). Izzie is assigned to do rectal exams amidst frustrating bouts of deciding when it's appropriate or not to bother Bailey. And George gets selected by the arrogant Dr. Preston Burke to actually perform a surgery - an honor he allegedly bestows on the intern who shows the most promise, but in actuality is for the intern he just wants to torture and make an example of in front of the others. George freezes up during an appendectomy with Burke and gets branded "007" - license to kill - by a fellow intern that rubs everyone the wrong way - Alex Karev. Alex also insults Meredith, but he gets his comeuppance when she is able to offer a proper diagnosis for one of Alex's patients in front of Dr. Richard Webber, Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace.

Dr. Webber, by the way, turns out to be a friend of Meredith's mother, the famous Dr. Ellis Grey (whom all the interns hold in the highest regard). We get the impression that the relationship between Meredith and Ellis wasn't the best - Ellis didn't think Meredith had what it takes to go to medical school -- but no one, save for Meredith, knows that early onset Alzheimer's Disease has left her a shell of the person she once was, relegating her now to a nursing home. (Source: ABC.com)

Starring: James Pickens Jr. (Richard Webber); Isaiah Washington (Preston Burke); Patrick Dempsey (Derek Shepherd); Chandra Wilson (Miranda Bailey); Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey); Justin Chambers (Alex Karev); T. R. Knight (George O’Malley); Katherine Heigl (Isobel “Izzie” Stevens); and Sandra Oh (Christina Yang).

Guest Stars: Robbie Troy (Ms. Byrce); Randall Arney (Mr. Byrce); Skler Shaye (Katie Bryce); Laura Carson (Gloria Savitch); David Vegh (Tony Savitch); Michael Ighani (Rectal Exam Patient); Moe Irvin (Tyler Christian).

Music: Rilo Kiley’s "Portions For Foxes;” Bang Sugar Bang’s "Super Cool;” Jem’s "They;” O.A.O.T. S’s "Dance;” Vaughan Penn’s "Ready to Rise;" Butterfly Boucher’s "Life is Short;” and Thirteen Senses’ "Into the Fire."

Chart 1.2

The First Cut Is The Deepest

Air Date: 4.03.05

Writer: Shonda Rhimes

Director: Peter Horton

Episode 1.2 At A Glance:

Here's what I know. There are some lines too dangerous to cross. But there are others…if you're willing to throw caution to the wind and take a chance, the view from the other side is spectacular.

Meredith doesn't want a relationship with Derek, but in a moment of weakness - when it's just the two of them alone in an elevator - she kisses him. Alex gets switched to Bailey's team of interns, forcing him to work closely with those who hate him most. He and Cristina get assigned the seemingly simple chore of delivering good lab results to patients and their families, but they quickly find themselves bombarded with hugs and tears of joy - two things they simply can't handle. Izzie gets to practice "actual medicine" sewing up minor cuts and injuries. One patient, though, who doesn't speak any English, becomes troubling to Izzie, as the patient desperately tries to tell her something and just won't leave. Bailey assigns George to run the code team, responsible for shocking patients on the brink of death back to life when their vital signs crash. And when not fending off the advances of Derek, Meredith is put in possession of a bit of evidence retrieved from the body of a rape victim - the attacker's penis.

Burke's world is turned upside-down when he realizes that he isn't Richard's top surgeon anymore. Richard feels Burke's gotten too complacent, and has brought in Derek specifically to compete to be his replacement one day. This leads Burke to take Meredith's side when she wishes to interfere with a patient in another service (a big no-no usually). Meredith thinks a baby might have a serious heart defect, but the pediatric intern actually caring for the baby strongly disagrees. Turns out, Meredith is right, but Burke still scolds her for using unorthodox tactics to get around the pediatric intern (i.e. going straight to the baby's parents).

When the rape victim's attacker stumbles into the hospital needing emergency care, Bailey gets to make the call - without a hint of sadness - that reattaching his penis isn't possible. Izzie finally finds out what the non-English speaking patient needs - her daughter is outside, also needing medical attention, but is afraid to come in because she doesn't have a green card. Izzie helps the both of them, stitching up their wounds outside the hospital, even though it's way against hospital policy to do so (and could Izzie in much trouble). Failing to save any lives, George learns the sad truth that being on the code team means 90% of all patients are beyond recovering by the time you even get there. And Cristina and Alex don't really learn anything at all, except that they'd rather be doing anything else all day than delivery lab results.

Derek spends a great deal of time by the rape victim's bedside, revealing a softer side to Meredith (the victim has no friends or family in Seattle), but it's not enough to win her over. When given the option to ride in another elevator alone with Derek, she opts to take the stairs… (Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Kate Burton (Ellis Grey); Alice Lo ( Qing Lu); Dennis Gubbins (Paul); Stacey Hinnen (Mr. Johnson); Elise Robertson (Ms. Johnson); Kylie Dragna (Ellen Parkins); Stephen Blackehart (Vic); Gary Kraus (Louis Cardon); Scarlett Lam (Ming); Sonia Jackson (Patient #1); Scott Michael Morgan (Patient #2); Shannon Burwell (Crying Patient); Jeff Marlow (Drunk Man); Alex Thayer (PEDS Intern); Kerri Higuchi (Pediatrics Intern); Kristy Munden (Trauma Nurse); Walter Wong (Tech); Robin Pearson Rose (Patricia).

Music: Tegan and Sara’s "You Wouldn't Like Me;" Ditty Bops’ "Sister Kate;” The Cardigans’ "Live and Learn;" Get Set Go’s "Wait"* and Keane’s "Somewhere Only We Know." (* = track on soundtrack CD)

Chart 1.3

Winning A Battle, Losing The War

Air Date: 4.10.05

Writer: Shonda Rhimes

Director: Tony Goldwyn

Episode 1.3 At A Glance:

After a while, the rules of residency become the rules of life. Rule #1: Always keep score. Rule #2: Do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy. Rule #3: Don't make friends with the enemy.

It's Dead Baby Bike day in Seattle - the day of an annual bike race with no rules (sponsored by the Dead Baby Bar). This throws off the hospital's entire surgical schedule, filling up the surgical floor with free-spirited - albeit injured - bike messengers, including one named Viper with spokes sticking out of his abdomen. Meredith and Alex both want him, but Viper immediately takes to Alex's handling of the situation - Alex just yanks out the spokes and lets him get back to the race, leaving Meredith to suture and do the paperwork. Meredith reluctantly discharges the charismatic Viper, but not before he kisses her - in front of a jealous Derek who claims not to be jealous.

The race isn't all just cuts and bruises. There is a casualty. Izzie and Cristina are put in charge of an unidentified visitor to Seattle (has no wallet, just a hotel key card), who was hit by a car when jumped out of the way of the racers. The patient is put on the clock - if there's no sign of brain activity in 6 hours, he's to be declared brain dead. This is a very troubling prospect for Izzie…

George gets a special assignment from Richard, attend to a close, personal friend who's been admitted with liver failure. When the male patient makes a pass at George, George becomes paranoid that others in the hospital - namely his crush Meredith - might think he's gay.

Should Cristina and Izzie's patient be declard brain dead, Izzie wants to make the guy's death meaningful by getting his organs donated. But that's nearly impossible when the person is a John Doe. Cristina wants his organs donated, too, but really just because she wants to be in a harvest. While the man's family is tracked down, though, the patient crashes, needing a blood transfusion as well as surgery to keep his body viable as a donor. Izzie and Meredith do the transfusion, but Burke has to do the surgery, and he doesn't believe in operating on patients that are already dead (the six hours are almost up). So he declines. And without Burke's surgery, it won't be much longer before the heart fails again.

Derek lets Meredith in on a little secret: "You want Burke to do the surgery, get Richard on board first." And they do, by going to George and getting him to tell Richard that they may have a liver for his friend. It works, but not without raising Burke's ire. The surgery is done, the family is tracked down, and now all they need to do is get the patient's wife to agree to organ donation. It's a job that Cristina can't really handle, as observed by Bailey (who shows she can be as thoughtful to patients and family as she can be tough on her interns).

Viper returns, but not for another kiss with Meredith. He's sustained a life-threatening injury and Bailey and Meredith have to save him. The prospect of the harvest, though able to give the man's death more meaning, still isn't satisfying to Izzie. She really wanted the patient to wake up, to live. And Burke understands where she's coming from. The bittersweet harvest is done, giving Richard's friend a new liver, and when Izzie comes in to sew up the brain dead guy (who's now just dead guy) so he can be presentable to his family, Cristina sticks around to help, seeing the patient as a human being. (Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Claire Lautier (Shelly); Kelsy Kemper (Shelly’s daughter); Callum Blue (Viper); Rudolph McCollum (Viper’s friend); Kathleen M. Darcy (Anesthesiologist); Kristy Munden (Trauma Nurse).

Music: The Ditty Bops’ "There's a Girl;" Tegan and Sara’s "I Won't Be Left;” The Ditty Bops’ "Wishful Thinking;” Reindeer Section’s "You Are My Joy" and Lisa Loeb’s "Fools Like Me."

Chart 1.4

No Man’s Land

Air Date: 4.17.05

Writer: James Parriott

Director: Adam Davidson

Episode 1.4 At A Glance:

Intimacy is a four syllable word for "Here are my heart and soul - please grind them into hamburger and enjoy.

It dawns on George that Izzie and Meredith treat him more like a sister than, well, a man, and that's troubling for him. But even more troubling for George: that Alex has picked up on George's "sister role" and won't let George forget it. Cristina's aggressive pre-pre-rounding (arriving to the hospital at least a ½ hour before the other interns) gets her on a patient with pancreatic cancer (and its corresponding "whipple" surgery). That patient is Liz Fallon, a scrub nurse of 20 years for Dr. Ellis Grey. Despite working with Meredith's mom for that length of time, though, she's never met Meredith. George isn't the only one annoyed by Alex. Izzie feels the brunt of his machismo whenever he calls her "Dr. Model" because of how she earned her way through college and med school, a past that directly conflicts with her present when she gets assigned to a patient (with prostate cancer) who's familiar with her work (in a Bethany Whisper lingerie ad). The prostate patient doesn't want her working on him. And Meredith works with Derek (with a little help from Alex and George) on the case of a construction worker with 6 nails embedded in his head.

Friction forms between George and Izzie when he passive-aggressively "forgets" to buy the tampons she asked him to buy. Cristina finds herself a "cruise director" for Liz, taking her around the hospital to all the old services she used to work with, but not setting up any actual surgery. Derek asks Meredith out for a meal together - which she declines.

Meredith finally meets Liz, admitting for the first time to someone else that her mom is in a nursing home, with Alzheimer's, and that she is the only one allowed to see her or know of her condition. Meredith also visits her mother, who is unable to recall Meredith's childhood or even her own husband. But her old co-worker Liz, though, Ellis recalls with complete lucidity.

Once Alex gets wind of Izzie's lingerie ad, it's just more fuel for him. He copies and hangs up her half-naked photos all over the hospital. The subject of momentary ridicule, Izzie puts Alex and the others amused by the photos in their place by angrily stripping down to her underwear to show them - quite convincingly - that she has no problem with her body and them seeing it, while simultaneously reminding them that this body is why she completely lacks the debt that plagues them.

Meredith suspects there is more to the construction worker's ails than just nails in his head. After Derek removes the nails successfully, she believes the reason why he had the accident with the nail gun in the first place was because of an undiagnosed brain disease. And she's right. He has a tumor. This puts Derek and Meredith at odds with each other for the first time, when she disagrees over the proper course of treatment for the tumor. Derek lets the patient and his wife make the decision - to have surgery that will prolong his life, but potentially wipe out his personality and many memories. Meredith, reeling from her responsibility to take care of Ellis, oversteps her bounds as a doctor and chastises them for their decision, saying they should go for the option that will preserve his memories and personality, even if it means fewer years.

Cristina learns that there isn't going to be a whipple. There isn't going to be any surgery for Liz and there never was. Liz came to the hospital to die, and Cristina was merely giving her a chance to say good-bye to everyone, but not without imparting much wisdom to the hardened intern. When Liz finally crashes, despite Do Not Rescusitate orders, Cristina won't let her go. But to no avail, as Burke and Richard have to practically pull her off the dying Liz. Liz becomes Cristina's first time of death. This isn't easy for Cristina, and Burke is there for her in the end.

Meredith finally agrees to get some breakfast with Derek…(Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Kate Burton (Ellis Grey); Valerie Cruz (Zona Cruz); F. J. Rio (Jorge Cruz); Rick Humphrey (Taylor Nichols); Anna Maria Horsford (Nurse Liz Fallon); Linda Klein (Tech).

Music: The Eames Era’s "Could Be Anything;" Rosie Thomas’ "Let Myself Fall;" Get Set Go’s "Break Your Heart;" Vaughan Penn’s "Truth;" Sia’s "Sunday;" and Tegan and Sara’s "Where Does the Good Go."* (*= track on soundtrack CD)

Chart 1.5

Shake Your Grove Thing

Air Date: 4.24.05

Writer: Ann Hamilton

Director: John David Coles

Episode 1.5 At A Glance:

I mean, seriously. Don't be fooled by all the hot shoes and the great sex and the no parents anywhere telling you what to do. Adulthood is responsibility.

Exhaustion begins to take its toll on Meredith. She falls asleep in the shower and she has troubles keeping her eyes open at work. The fact that the nursing home demands her immediate attention to take care of some overdue paperwork for her mom doesn't help either. During open heart surgery with Burke, Meredith has the simple task of actually holding the heart. After the surgery, though, she notices that a fingernail was protruding from a glove and worries that she may have punctured the heart. Should she tell Burke? George points out that had there been a problem, they would've known during the surgery, but there wasn't a problem, the heart is working fine, so telling Burke only risks getting in trouble for something you didn't really do. She opts not to tell Burke, but the issue is still a pressing one for her…

George meanwhile has a case of doctor error of his own to deal with - fortunately not his error, though. He assists Bailey and Richard on a case where a towel is found inside a woman - a towel left in her from a previous surgery five years ago. Bailey orders Cristina to look into the patient's history, to see if she can find out who's responsible. Izzie's boyfriend Hank is visiting Seattle just for the night, so Izzie is planning a really special night - just her and Hank… and everyone else in the entire hospital. She plans a party at Meredith's that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Just about everyone gets invited, except, of course, for Alex. To Cristina this is telling - Izzie doesn't want to be alone with Hank. But Izzie is in denial, insisting the relationship is still quite strong.

Derek orders Alex to install a central line to a patient with chronic pain problems. Alex ignores those orders when he determines the patient is just a junkie looking for a fix, which doesn't make Derek happy because the first rule in pain management is always to err on the side of caution. He might very well be a junkie, but his pain is very much real to him.

Burke's heart patient, the one that Meredith held the heart for, crashes bedside. They are able to revive and stabilize her, but in a panic Meredith asks if this could have anything to do with her possibly puncturing the heart with a fingernail. Though Burke doesn't think so, her admonition couldn't have come at a worse time - the patient's husband is standing right there. He hears Meredith and decides to take legal action. Meredith and Burke must meet with Richard and the hospital counsel the very next morning - a meeting that will essentially decide Meredith's fate as a doctor.

Meredith's problems pile up when she finally has to find time to go to the nursing home to officially get power of attorney over her mom's estate. Unfortunately, they don't give her a very big window of time to do it, and it's nearly impossible to get out of work long enough to get there in time. When she arrives, her mother is already "sundowning" and not lucid enough to sign anything in front of Meredith (as needed to be).

Cristina finds a file on the surgery where the towel got left behind, and she sees a familiar name on the roster of doctors: Dr. Preston Burke. She gives the file to Bailey, who gives it to Burke himself. When Cristina asks Bailey what will happen, she's told simply not to worry about it anymore. "It's taken care of." Suspecting a cover up, Cristina is immensely bothered.

Izzie has but one more task to do before she can head home to attend her own party and be with her boyfriend - discharge Alex's pain patient. But the pain patient doesn't want to go. He gets in a tussle with the orderlies, bangs his head on some medical equipment, and does severe damage requiring immediate surgery. Derek asks her and Alex to scrub in, to which Izzie can't decline. She winds up missing her own party, having to meet her boyfriend in the hospital parking lot, where they find they don't exactly see eye-to-eye on their relationship. He wants things the way they've always been, but to Izzie, since she's a doctor now, the top priority has to be the hospital and her patients, and things just have to be different.

Meredith doesn't miss the party. She arrives to find her house overrun with strangers. Initially very upset, she has no choice but to give in - after all, she's just hours away from having the fate of her career decided. And that's when Derek shows up. Feeling like she has nothing to lose, Meredith gives in to temptation and she and Derek wind up in his car together, doing what they haven't done since, well… the night they met. Unfortunately for the both of them, Derek's car is blocking in Bailey's, and she sees everything. And she lets them know that she saw everything.

The next morning, Meredith attends her meeting, and it does not begin well. Even though it's agreed that the patient's heart was weak because of excessive weight loss - and not a puncture from a nail - the fact that Meredith said something in front of the patient's husband is considered inexcusable to the hospital lawyers. But it's Burke who stands up for her, using his own mistake five years earlier - leaving the towel behind - as an example of how a surgeon shouldn't act. To him, she didn't make a mistake being honest about the glove. If only he had been as honest about his suspicions that maybe he didn't check everything properly five years earlier, a woman would not have been found with a towel in her today. Meredith did the right thing that he couldn't do five years earlier. She is put on a short probation, and that's it. Thanks to Burke, her future as a surgeon is not in jeopardy. (Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Kate Burton (Ellis Grey); Kate Forster (Jane Richie); Kathryn Joosten (Mrs. Drake); Barry Shabaka Henley (Mr. Patterson); Brent Sexton (Jerry Frost); Jonathan Scarfe (Hank); Vladimir Rajcic (Resident); Moe Irvin (Moe Christian).

Music: The Ditty Bops’ "Wake Up;" PSAPP’s "Tiger, My Friend;” Dee’s "Money Girl;” Interpol’s "Evil;" Ivy’s "The Edge of the Ocean;" and The Buffseeds’ "Sparkle Me."

Chart 1.6

If Tomorrow Never Comes

Air Date: 5.01.05

Writer: Krista Vernoff

Director: Scott Brazil

Episode 1.6 At A Glance:

I don't know why we put things off. But if I had to guess, I'd say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of rejection… Sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, any decision, because what if you're wrong?

Meredith assists Derek on a patient with Parkinson's. Their working relationship is now strained, though - not by their rediscovered passion, but by Bailey's knowledge of it. Bailey doesn't want Derek giving Meredith any special treatment, and despite the fact that Derek is technically Bailey's boss, Bailey's threat to keep Meredith out of surgery is enough to get Derek change his attitude around Meredith in public - and not for the better. He's now intentional harsh on her. Other than Cristina & Bailey, no one else knows about Meredith and Derek - particularly George, who's crush for Meredith still rages on.

Alex hasn't been himself lately. As Izzie notes, he actually seems sincere. Annie, a patient with a 70 pound tumor, takes a liking to Alex's bedside manner, not to mention the fact that "he's just so much fun to look at." But when he slips up and shows his true colors - she overhears him make a snide comment about her when he doesn't think she's listening - Burke tosses Alex from the case and replaces him with Cristina (even though Alex rightly notes that his flippant attitude towards patients isn't any different than hers). Cristina and George then get the joyous opportunity to hold up the 70 pound tumor during a 14 hour surgery.

Alex gets to watch over the surgical floor with Izzie, which is left understaffed as so many doctors, nurses, and interns are involved in the tumor surgery that whole day. But Izzie winds up all alone watching over the floor when Alex forgets to change the battery on his pager and doesn't get a single page from her. The floor gets busier and busier, and things reach a boiling point for Izzie when a heart patient starts dying from a massive clot that has to be removed immediately. Izzie is the only doctor around, so she has to do it herself - cut open the patient's chest and reach in with her own hands and remove the clot from the heart. It's a truly heroic maneuver, and she does it successfully. But Izzie doesn't have time to revel in her moment, as she has to ream Alex for abandoning her.

Meredith is quite upset that Derek has gone from being super-nice to her being a bit of a "jackass" (in her words) to her on the Parkinson's case. A procedure exists that could potentially ease the Parkinson's patients tremors, but the patient is reluctant to undergo any brain surgery - particularly one that occurs while the patient is still awake. Meredith strongly sympathizes with the patient's daughter, since she's in a similar position with Ellis, so Meredith wants to encourage the patient to undergo the procedure. But Derek, with Bailey's threat firmly on his mind, disagrees with her rather harshly. Derek comes around, though, and does talk to the patient about his options again. The patient still declines, but then Meredith has some words of her own for him… And he changes his mind. After the surgery, Meredith and Derek reach an agreement - no special treatment and no acting like a jackass just to appease Bailey.

The surgery to remove the massive tumor is even more complicated than they had imagined. Annie is losing too much blood, but there is little they can do as the tumor is just too entwined in her. Alex, watching the surgery from outside the OR sees trouble forming and runs to get as much blood as he can. But when he returns she's already gone. He's left there, holding the bags of blood in hand, looking down at the lifeless patient who he insulted earlier. It's a moment for him, and one that doesn't go unnoticed by Meredith, as she watches from the Gallery.

Burke finds Cristina in the on call room, where she's recovering from holding the tumor up all day. He admits to doing her a favor getting her in on the surgery, but she isn't as grateful as he'd thought - a "favor" shouldn't leave her in so much back pain. They don't talk much, though, before the sexual tension between them snaps, and they're in each other's arms. (Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Bruce Weitz (Mr. Levangie); Alex Alexander (Annie Connors); Brad Pennington (Radiologist); Linda Klein (Nurse); Moe Irvin (Tyler Christian).

Music: Jem’s "Save Me;" PSAPP’s "Chapter;" Ditty Bops’ "Walk or Ride;" and Butterfly Boucher’s "Never Leave Your Heart Alone.”

Chart 1.7

The Self-Destruct Button

Air Date: 5.08.05

Writer: Kip Koenig

Director: Darnell Martin

Episode 1.7 At A Glance:

Okay, any blowhard who says you can sleep when you die? Tell'em to come talk to me after a few months as an intern.

George and Izzie catch Derek sneaking out of the house, finally figuring out that he's the mysterious stranger who's been sleeping with Meredith. George immediately becomes jealous, but Izzie is bothered for completely different reasons - no wonder Meredith is getting in all the good surgeries lately.

A flu is going around the hospital, and Cristina feels sick to her stomach. She blames Dr. Burke. A gunshot wound victim gets Alex's attention as he awaits attention in the lobby. Alex wants to know why he isn't in the emergency room. Answer: Because he has an appointment. It was a schedule gunshot wound. His friend shot him… with permission. The scars, apparently, make a great addition to his tattoos. Meredith assists Bailey on a case where a normal sized teenager (who is not now, nor ever was, obese) went to Mexico to get a gastric bypass operation - a bad one -- without her parent's permission. Now they have to undo the damage that's been done. Izzie has to help a man who swallowed his girlfriend's keys just as she was dumping him.

George gets to be a part of the biggest surgery of the day - well, at least initially he does. George works with Derek on the case of toddler with terrible tremors. After viewing films of the girls' brain just a couple months apart, Derek finds that her brain tissue is dying at too quickly a rate, and that the only way to halt the deterioration is with a hemispherectomy - in layman's terms: removal of half the brain (in a young brain like hers, the remaining tissue still has time to adapt and learn how to replace the missing tissue). To George it's an amazing procedure to be done by a man who can seemingly do everything - including Meredith. But George has one other issue on his mind: he swears he smelled bourbon on the breath of Dr. Taylor, the anesthesiologist who is to scrub in on the hemispherectomy. Dr. Taylor outranks George, though, and has a great reputation behind him. George doesn't know if he should say anything…

Alex and the tattooed gunshot victim bond over the fact they both wrestled collegiately in the state of Iowa. They also share the same ethos about pain being good for you. Burke, who has seen this patient before, has a hard time hiding his contempt for such self-mutilation. He prefers safer hobbies: like playing the trumpet.

George speaks up to Dr. Taylor - in front of Derek - just before the hemispherectomy. Dr. Taylor is offended George would even suggest such a thing (essentially accusing him of being unfit to administer anesthesiology). Derek, somewhat reluctantly, has to side with his fellow attending Dr. Taylor, and George is kicked out of the surgery, replaced with Cristina.

Meredith discovers that there is more behind her patient's troubles than just a desire to be ultra-skinny. She's under extraordinary to live up her Mother's lofty expectations for perfection. "Life shouldn't be this hard" Meredith tells her. Unfortunately, the procedure to reverse the gastic-bypass doesn't go well. There's complications, the least of which is the patient's bowel exploding on Meredith. The girl, unfortunately, will have to struggle to achieve proper nutrition for the rest of her life.

Alex's tattooed patient begins to crash, as the stress on his body from the gunshot wound has ecsacerbated an infected tattoo he already had. They can't fight the infection though, as it has spread too far, and the patient dies.

During the hemispherectomy, the little girl begins to wake up - as Derek is in the process of removing half her brain! Her anesthesia is too light and Dr. Taylor is fast asleep. Derek kicks Dr. Taylor out of the surgery, and later apologizes to George, where he also comes clean about Meredith, and his intentions with her.

Izzie, who's been giving Meredith a hard time all day, finally confronts Meredith over her indiscretions with an attending. Izzie's vitriol, though, subsides when she makes a startling conclusion: Meredith is actually in love with Derek. And now Izzie isn't quite so upset. In fact, she feels a little sorry for Meredith.

Cristina, thinking her flu-like symptoms might not be a flu at all, takes a pregnancy test. Two of them. And doesn't like what she finds…(Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Russell Hornsby (Digby Owens); Ever Carradine (Athena); Amanda MacDonald (Claire Rice); Rebecca Rogers (Jamie); Kim Morgan Greene (Mrs. Rice); Shenita Moore (Surgical Nurse); Sarah Utterback (Nurse Olivia).

Music: Jem’s "Wish I;" Tegan and Sara’s "Downtown;" Joe Purdy’s "Suitcase;" and Wilco’s "Hummingbird."

Chart 1.8

Save Me

Air Date: 5.15.05

Writer: Mimi Schmir

Director: Sarah Pia Anderson

Episode 1.8 At A Glance:

See, once in a while… once in a blue moon, people will surprise you. Once in a while people may even take your breath away. That's what you have to believe.

With Meredith and Derek's relationship a known commodity among the interns (not to mention Bailey), Derek has been spending almost every night at Meredith's, and everyone seems pretty comfortable with that - except for Meredith. She realizes she knows precious little about Derek. But Derek isn't in a very telling mood.

Izzie makes some brownies, but despite George's adoration, they just don't taste right to her. But she refuses to call the person who gave her the recipe to find out what's missing, because that person is her mom.

Cristina is pregnant, but doesn't want to be for much longer. She schedules an appointment at a clinic to terminate the pregnancy.

At the hospital, Alex and Burke work on a case of a teenaged girl in need of a new heart valve. Standard procedure is to install a porcine valve. But this girl's interpretation of her own religious beliefs preclude any pig products from entering her body in any way. She refuses the valve.

Cristina is assigned to work on a case of a man with seizures he believes are really psychic visions. He predicts that a patient will die on the fourth floor. Moments later, one does. But fourth floor is the ICU, and our interns aren't that impressed, as patients die all the time on that floor. Cristina skepticism is put to the limits, though, when the psychic makes a comment about her being "on the mommy track." Cristina requests to be moved off the case, but Bailey doesn't do switches. Izzie, though, really wants on the psychic case - to prove he's a fraud. So they do wind up switching, and Cristina winds up on Izzie's case - a woman with breast cancer. But the treatment for the cancer is complicated by the fact that she's pregnant (there's no way the fetus can survive the cancer treatments). Cristina just can't escape the issue of pregnancy…

Meredith works with Derek on a rock climber with paralysis that's spreading up his body. All tests show nothing physical as the cause though. So Meredith believes it may be psychosomatic.

Alex does some research on his own and finds that a bovine valve is not only an alternative to a porcine valve, but also better in the long run. But he suggests this option to his patient and her family without consulting with Burke first. Burke isn't happy about that. He's never implanted a bovine valve, as it's a much newer, vastly more complicated surgery. He kicks Alex off another case.

Izzie challenges the psychic's "gift." And when she discovers that he has an embelism that could pop during his next seizure and kill him, she's all too eager to sign him up for surgery. The psychic doesn't want the surgery, though. He's worried it could take away his gift. Izzie isn't sympathetic. Her mother, it turns out, blew Izzie's entire savings (for college) on pychics, hence the their non-existent relationship today.

The rock climber's paralysis is worsening, so Derek decides to go with his instinct and open up the man's spine and look for a clot. Meredith strongly disagrees - it's all in his head, any surgery on the spine could make things worse, even kill him. But it's Derek's call and they're doing it anyway.

George has issues doing a relatively simple intubation in front of Alex and Burke. His confidence is shot. Cristina suggests he ask out a cute nurse that's been eyeing him.

Burke admits to Cristina that he's unsure of what to do about the bovine transplant. The family wants it, but he's never done one before. She's not sympathetic, telling him that "your problem has a solution. Some don't."

After some tense moments, Derek finds the clot that he believed was there, but Meredith didn't. Burke asks Alex back on the case to assist with the bovine valve transplant that he's going to perform. Against Cristina's advice, her cancer patient with pregnancy decides to forgo any treatment for the breast cancer so that her baby can go full term. George finally nails an intubation - in front of the nurse, Olivia, that's been eyeing him. He asks her out. The psychic tells Izzie some things no one could know but her, and she too becomes worried that the surgery might change him. But when he comes out, he tells her something that proves he's still got whatever gift he had: her missing ingredient. After making another batch of brownies that taste just right, she gives her estranged mother a call… (Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Josh Stamberg (Tommy Walker); Sarah Hagan (Devo Friedman); Kevin Rahm (Mr. Duff); Joan McMurtrey (Zoey Glass); Steven W. Bailey (Joe); Sarah Utterback (Nurse Olivia).

Music: Tegan and Sara’s "Fix You Up;" 78 Saab’s "No Illusions;" Joe Purdy’s "I Love the Rain the Most;" Laura Veirs’ "Rapture;" Masha Qrella’s "Feels Like;" and Nellie McKay’s "David."

Chart 1.9

Who’s Zoomin’ Who?

Air Date: 5.22.05

Writer: Harry Werksman & Gabrielle Stanton

Director: Wendy Stanzler

Episode 1.9 At A Glance:

Medicine has a way of exposing the lies. It might take a while but, eventually, our bodies will betray our deepest secrets. Within the walls of the hospital, the truth is stripped bare. How we keep our secrets outside the hospital, well… That's a little different.

George is in the bathroom, examining himself while looking at a book called "Rashes, Hives, and Skin Eruptions." Izzie, waiting to get in the bathroom, thinks he's doing something else to himself. George insists he wasn't doing that. He's got a girlfriend. She doesn't believe him.

The nursing home keeps calling Meredith, wondering why she doesn't come to their family dinners. Derek is getting calls of his own that he doesn't want to talk about.

At the hospital, Bailey lets Cristina and Izzie perform a procedure to remove excessive fluid from a man's abdomen all by themselves. George and Alex work with Burke on one of Burke's old college buddies. Their incredible discovery? Burke's male friend has an ovary. And Richard is having troubles performing a simple surgery that gets Derek's and Bailey's attention.

George asks Alex to take a look at a rash, to help diagnose it. Alex does, confirming that it is, in fact, Syphilis. At least Izzie now believes him that he's got a girlfriend…

Derek finds a tumor near Richard's optic nerve and wants to operate immediately. Richard agrees, but wants it to be kept a secret. Bailey and Meredith will assist as part of the secret team.

George isn't the only with syphilis in the hospital (obviously - he got it from his new nurse girlfriend). There's an outbreak, with multiple residents, nurses, and interns all contracting the sexually transmitted disease. Everyone in the hospital who's having sex with anyone else in the hospital must get tested.

Cristina and Izzie's simple procedure hits a giant complication - the patient dies. Bailey tells them they did everything by the book, the death was most likely the result of the man's poor physical health (big drinker). But Cristina and Izzie aren't satisfied with that. They want an autopsy. But the man's family - namely his daughter over his mother's objections - doesn't want one. The daughter would rather let things rest and move on, and she convinces the mother not to consent to an autopsy.

Derek, Bailey and Meredith close off an OR to do Richard's operation covertly. Izzie and Cristina take it upon themselves to their own secret procedure - an autopsy against the family's wishes. They need to know what really went wrong.

After Richard's operation if over though, first thing Bailey does is look for Izzie and Cristina. And she catches them literally red-handed, the body wide open on the table. Bailey is fuming. This autopsy is illegal and can get them all fired if not put in jail. But Izzie picks up the man's heart. "It's huge" Bailey notes. And there's something really wrong with it - sedimentary material has built up in it, making the heart quite heavy.

Richard's operation to remove the tumor was a success, but they won't know the extent to which his vision will recover until he wakes up. Meredith finally tells Derek her secret - about her Mother. Derek wants to be there for her. He embraces her warmly and kisses her. And Richard opens his eyes and sees everything. And he doesn't approve.

Bailey, Izzie, and Cristina tell the family of the autopsy patient what they found - that the man has a genetic condition that could affect the daughter too. That's why he died, and that's why she should get tested for it. Izzie and Cristina get what they want, and so does Bailey - she gets them to finally sign the consent form (making the surgery retroactively quite legal).

Olivia tries to tell George she's sorry, that she was seeing someone when he asked her out, but it's over between them. It's George she wants to be with now. And then George finds out who the other guy was. The guy that gave Olivia syphilis was… Alex. An enraged George tackles Alex on the spot in the locker room. The other interns have to separate them.

Meredith agrees to a steak dinner with Derek. Derek has something he wants to tell her. They meet in the lobby, all ready to go out on their first official date. And then a woman arrives, the mere sight of her causing Derek to say to Meredith "I'm so sorry." And then the woman says to Meredith: "You must be the woman screwing my husband." (Source: ABC.com)

Guest Stars: Kate Walsh (Addison Shepherd); Wayne Wilderson (Bill Adams); Patricia McCormack (Mrs. Franklin); Lauren Bowles (Alice Franklin); Wendy Davis (Holly Adams); Catherine Dao (Dr. Knox); Sarah Utterback (Nurse Olivia).

Music: A.M. Sixty’s "Big As The Sky;" Medeski, Martin & Wood’s "End Of The World Party;"* Nellie McKay’s "The Dog Song;" Iron & Wine’s "Naked As We Came;" and The Radio’s "Whatever Gets You Through Today."* (*= track on soundtrack CD)

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