Grey's Anatomy: Idle Hands (9x18)

I'll be brief in this review due to my overwhelming schedule at the moment. I liked this episode. It was really solid. I'm always impressed by how consistent Grey's Anatomy can be. There haven't been too many bad episodes in the show's entire history. Let's look at the subplots of this one really quick:

Alex! I love him so much. He's my favorite. His plot with his patient this episode was adorable. The two of them were playing pranks on Jason Meyers (Jo's boyfriend), that escalated until finally Webber joined in too. It was funny, it was sweet, and it ended with a real kicker - Jason Meyers is a bit of an ass! But then, so is Alex, and I do love him.

Christina. It was nice to see her getting excited about surgery. I was properly upset when we found out that she was being appealed to as a board member and not a surgeon. I love that she won in the end, and, in true Christina fashion, she's really excited about the prospect of all this extra work. It was nice to see her come to a realization of her power, and use it to her advantage.

Meredith. She had two main things going on in this episode. One was caring for a school teacher who found out she was going to die of cancer. This was the most dramatic and heart-felt angle in this episode. Mad props to that guest actress, and to the droves of adorable little kids. They really sold it. The second part of Meredith's plot was her concern for her baby. I admire Meredith's character a lot - it's well written and consistent. It made sense to me that she would imagine all of the horrible but unlikely things that could happen to the baby. I also loved that Christina and Alex were joining in and talking about the surgeries they would do on the baby if they needed to. I love scenes with the three of them, because it brings me back to the early days of the show. I loved that in the end we get to see our favorite couple together, and we got the reveal - Mer and Derek are having a boy! (One minor problem - where has Zola been lately? They never mention her in all of this. Who is watching her?).

Bailey. Last week I was getting annoyed with Bailey, but this week I loved her. She is truly making the best out of a strange situation. She must think it's so strange to have the people who used to be her interns now the boss of her. But headstrong Bailey perseveres throughout this episode until she finally gets the funding she wants. I loved the small moment at the end with Jackson, where Bailey says that he's doing a good job. She really is one of the moral and emotional centers of the show, and her endorsement is a really powerful thing.

Derek/Shane. This one I didn't like. The two of them were working on a patient who had been in an accident. Shane had to keep reporting to the really angry dad. In the end, Derek had to actually intervene to prevent the father from hitting Shane. There was something off about this story. First of all, I didn't care at all about the daughter or the father, which is really a shame. Usually this show does a good job of establishing strong guest characters (like Alex's little kid and Meredith's school teacher this week). But this father guy was just really underdeveloped. I like to see the growing teacher/student relationship between Derek and Shane, but beyond that there wasn't much going on here.

April. This one I really didn't like. April spent the entire episode being angst-y and distracted because she really wants to have sex with her boyfriend. Uh... okay then. It was just not interesting. April is not a virgin anymore. She had sex with Jackson. A lot. The only good part of this plot thread was her conversation with Meredith about it, because you could tell that Mer didn't care, and was giving really bad advice just to get out of there. April using the fancy new scanner machine as a metaphor for sex was really forced. I didn't like that she "learned her lesson" at the end. Because the medical equipment was "worth waiting for" that must mean she should wait to have sex. It just felt forced and awkward.

Arizona/Callie. Awww. I don't even know what else to say. I just love these two. I'm glad they're finally gonna get it on again. I think the show did a pretty good job with handling Arizona's leg. They make sure that it's a continuing issue and not just forgotten. I loved Callie being Arizona's doctor to help her through her pain, but also being her wife. And Jessica Capshaw (Arizona) looked hot in her lingerie at the end. 

Owen/the interns/everyone. The lodox machine (I think that was what it was called) was a central part of the episode. It was basically the symbolic representation of the new ER and the new hospital as a whole. It was a nice way to tie everyone together. The only thing that was a little annoying was all the forced medical jargon about it. But besides that, I liked seeing everyone getting so excited about it.

Alright, that's everything, I think! Wow, I meant to make this brief... this show always has so much going on. I mostly liked it, and it only had a few minor subplots that I wasn't crazy about. That being said, there wasn't much in the episode that I was absolutely crazy about either. It was lovely, but not astounding.

7/10