Grey's Anatomy: You Be Illin' (10x18)

Power review! Go go go!

The hospital gets hit with a bout of the flu, and doctors are falling to the illness left and right. However, those that are able must power through to help their patients. For those that do get sick, it seems to come at very inopportune times.

Arizona predicts that she will get sick by the afternoon, stating that it's her superpower to be able to predict these things. Although at first she seems fine, she does eventually fall to the illness, and is oddly happy to find that her power is still intact.

This was really funny. I loved how matter-of-fact Arizona was about it, and how Callie just accepted that she'd be right, juxtaposed with Alex's skepticism.

Derek is trying to prepare for a presentation about the research he's doing for the White House, so this is a really bad time for him to get sick. He has to perform surgery on a kid without an immune system, and due to the fact that he's sick, he has to wear a full isolation suit while performing the surgery. By the time he's finished with that, he's so sick that he can't do the presentation. Luckily, Meredith has heard Derek practice so many times that she is able to take over, and everyone really enjoys her speech.

How sweet! I'm glad to see some good times between Meredith and Derek. This couple has been sort of boring recently, so it was nice to see Meredith being supportive. Also, I tend to think of Derek as being all stoic and serious, so his comic relief role in this episode was refreshing.

Jo discovers that Alex is in serious debt, but Alex doesn't seem too concerned about figuring out how to manage it. However, a solution may have just fallen into Alex's lap, as he meets a private practice doctor who wants to offer him a very high paying job. Alex seriously considers it.

Hmm... interesting. In some ways I think this plot thread doesn't fit in with the rest of the episode, since it had nothing to do with the flu thing. Also, I'm wondering if they're setting it up so that this actor can leave the show? I hope not! I love Alex! It seems like the sort of setup that they should be giving to Christina, not to Alex. However, I did love the communication between Jo and Alex, here. It was the first episode of theirs I've seen in a long time when things were pretty much okay between them. I finally got some of that normalcy I've been waiting for.

During the episode, while Jo is frustrated with Alex, she gets to work on ortho with Callie. Jo discovers the joys of ortho, especially the way you can let your anger out on the patients by breaking bones. Callie is optimistic that maybe Jo will want to work with her in the future.

These women, Callie and Jo, are both intelligent and capable people with anger management issues. It's so refreshing to see them work through these real issues. And the thought of Callie having a little protege is so cute! I hope that Jo decides to stick with ortho.

Christina works a case where all three kids in the same family suffer from the same heart defect. As of yet, the cause is undetermined. Because she has to focus on this case, she passes off the clinical trial patients to Shane. Shane becomes paranoid about being sick, so he asks Stephanie to cover for him. Luckily, Shane does not get sick - and neither do the patients.

I did really like this plot, and I thought the family was excellent. Especially the mother. That woman is a great actress. However, I feel like Christina's plot thread through this season is lacking focus. We have this trial that she's working on with Shane, but now we have this new mystery case with the three sick kids? I'm just not sure what the exit plan is for Christina's character. I'll reserve judgment until we find out more.

Jackson gets sick, but doesn't want anyone to help him. April wants to be there for her husband, but she isn't sure how. Bailey says that they're going to be getting into the same argument for their entire marriage - April wants to look after Jackson, while Jackson wants to look after himself. The two women are working on a patient who is very susceptible to infection, which makes it really risky for him to be in the hospital while the flu is breaking out. As the episode ends, April and Bailey tell the patient's parents that he will have to be in isolation for the rest of his life.

The last plot dealing with April and Jackson was pretty heavy, what with all that stuff about their future, and their different beliefs. This episode was a bit more lighthearted when dealing with the two of them, but I noticed it still focused on the problems in their relationship, rather than anything positive. I'm just not sure where they're going. The part with the kid with no immune system was really, really depressing... I hope this is one of those patients that follows through, so we can learn more about that poor kid and maybe he can get some help?

Leah Murphy gets sick, but Richard Webber encourages her to power through. He says that it's an unspoken rule that doctors don't get sick. Leah tries to tough it out, but eventually goes home after throwing up inside her mouth while in the OR.

Richard's first real test as the person in charge of education, and he uses it to torment Leah. I don't know... I sort of thought this little thread was rather mean-spirited. I wanted Leah to be really, really, sick just to make Richard feel guilty. And when she finally did leave, Richard and Meredith laughed about how weak she was! What the hell! She was walking around with the flu, doing her best. Why should other people judge her?

I'll stop there. There were a few trouble spots in this episode, in my opinion, but the patients that we got to know were actually really interesting, and I want to know more about them. I was also happy to see some good Meredith/Derek stuff and some interesting possibilities for Alex's future.

7.5/10