Grey's Anatomy Recap: Episode Four, "Brave New World"

by POPSUGAR Entertainment 30

It's been a long time since Grey's Anatomy really made me laugh, but I spent the better part of this week's episode cracking up. There are a couple of "brave new worlds" to explore — dermatology, and the Wild West, and, um, Africa — and George reminds us why we liked him in the first place. To talk about it, just read more.

Derek-as-housemate was never going to be easy for anyone: Derek feels like the only adult among children with their petty problems. Meredith can't understand why Derek can't just be there without going through all of her stuff (or, more accurately, Ellis's stuff). And Izzie and Alex seem to think that having Derek as a roommate affords them a new intimacy at work. Very little of the episode actually takes place in the house, but nearly everything ties back to this new, weird living situation.

Take the Izzie/Alex feud: In this episode, he not only blows her off — he steals her patient. And that's the last straw, because she's messed with her own career enough that having someone else mess with it is really not cool. She gets some advice from Mark about treating surgery like the Wild West and shooting asses in Montana or something, but the point is, she uses her personal connections with patients for good and gets the surgery back. And then, in one of the more somber moments, she learns that Alex isn't mad at her; he just can't be mad at Rebecca, and Izzie's an easy target.

Meredith, meanwhile, is not pleased that Derek is unearthing Ellis's diary, etc. — so it's a relief when Cristina discovers dermatology. Dermatology, where the residents are bright-eyed and pink-clad, where there's water with raspberries and constant massaging. And they actually could be there, if only they could content themselves with rubbing lotion on people for a living ("We'd die of boredom." "We'd die with great skin."). Among other things, it's the private space Meredith dreams of. In the end, Derek offers up his now-empty trailer for Meredith's personal use; its new name is "Dermatology."

And George? George is awesome. George lets Meredith give him an IV to prove to a kid that it's not so bad, then gets permission to take that kid into surgery — and then picks the wrong surgery, where instead of a couple of incisions and no blood, they end up seeing a guy with his whole face taken off (which was the best possible payoff for all those nasty computer models of the procedure we had to see). And he passes his intern test! Too bad that when he gets the results, he ditches Lexie for celebrating with Meredith, Cristina, and Izzie.

Other thoughts:

• Callie and Erica's relationship sure is developing slooooooowly . . . but I find it more realistic than if they were in bed together right away. And it leads to so many great Bailey moments, from her patented "I do not talk about sex" look to her long diatribe on Africa and embassies.
• I still don't understand how Izzie is "running" the clinic, but I didn't ever understand how Bailey was running it, either.
• George trying to motivate Izzie to get her surgery back: "There is always a woman in the saloon, and nobody messes with her, even though they all have guns." Izzie: "The woman in the saloon is a prostitute, George."

Did you also laugh at this episode? Cheer when Izzie finally grew a pair? Want to take your own vacation to dermatology?

Photos copyright 2008 ABC, Inc.