Grey's Anatomy: Change of Heart (10x21)

Can I just say that I'm really, really, worried about the promo I just saw for next week's episode? I'm just very concerned. But I shouldn't focus on that right now... I can wait until next Thursday to talk about that one. Let's focus on this week.

Meredith is livid about Christina's loss, but Christina doesn't seem angry. She scares Owen and Meredith by going AWOL after the ceremony and not making the flight home with them. She shows up back at the hospital seemingly okay, but things start going really wrong with the three kids with the heart defects. At one point, Christina is forced to choose which of the girls to give a new heart to. Unfortunately, the other girl dies. At one point, Christina is working on one of the girls while the other one is in the OR with Leah and Shane. Leah has to stitch something up, and although she's nervous, she manages to succeed. In the end, though, it doesn't matter, since the girl still dies. Christina wonders what the point of everything is - even if she does everything she's supposed to, she's not recognized for it, and she can't save everyone's lives.

Richard surprises Catherine Avery with a trip to see her, planning to propose. While he's there, he learns that Christina did get the votes to win the award, but because the Harper Avery foundation owns part of the hospital, no doctor who works there will ever be able to win it. Owen breaks this news to Christina.

April is still staying with Callie and Arizona, driving them crazy by talking constantly about her fight with Jackson. In the OR, April admits to Owen that she's not sure how she and Jackson can ever get past this fight. Later on, as Jackson asks April to please forget about their hypothetical children for a moment, April says that she can't, because she's pregnant. Jackson, meanwhile, has been trying to decide where to cut funding on research projects. They can't keep them all.

Derek's sister Amy shows up abruptly and says that her boyfriend has proposed to her. She wants to know what she's getting herself into with the type of life Derek and Meredith have, so she stays with Zola and Bailey all day, giving Derek and Meredith a chance to have a "date" together in the OR. However, when they go home it's to see the house in shambles, and Amy freaking out that she can't handle it.

Alex tells Arizona about his job offer, and although she's upset about it, she's happy for him. Alex decides to accept the job, and gives his notice to the board.

Bailey is angry because she can't test her gene therapy on the "bubble boy" patient, since his parents freak out about giving their kid HIV and withdraw their consent. Bailey tells Stephanie that all they can do now is wait and see if the boy gets better.

I'll stop there, although I'm sure I missed a detail or two.

What did I not like?

I thought the part with Shane and Leah was sort of annoying. Shane was acting all high and mighty, saying "I've seen a lot of diseased hearts" and trying to be Leah's teacher. I'm not sure why, but his attitude just really rubbed me the wrong way.

Also, I thought the idea of having to choose which girl to give the heart to was just a bit too absurd. It seems like there would never be a situation where everything was that close of a call. I understand that they were trying to go for some drama, what with having the parents forced to decide between their two children, but it was pretty silly.

Good things, though!

Richard proposing/almost proposing to Catherine. I liked how it got all tied up in business and political concerns, when at the end of the day all Richard wanted was to propose. It's also so intriguing that Christina didn't get the award because of these political reasons. It's something I wouldn't have really thought about, but ultimately I like that they took this route with the plot thread. I take back what I said before about not understanding the whole Harper Avery plot. I think it worked very well to continue it in this way.

April's pregnant, and it's not cause for celebration. Jackson points out that he and April believe the same things at their core, even if she's religious and he's not. But then April points out that she wants to tell her kids all about God, and she can just picture Jackson scoffing at it. This is such a delicious dilemma and I honestly don't know how I want it to all work out. It's so much more interesting to see them have a real fight about real, legitimate things, rather than all the will they/won't they stuff we used to put up with.

I never watched Private Practice, but I'm sure it was a real treat for some people to see Amy Shepherd come in. Also, it was so fun to have a little bit of lighthearted energy in such a dreary episode, in the form of Derek and Meredith getting to go on their OR date.

Also, even though the heart plot had its ridiculous moments, I really think the actress playing the mother is phenomenal. She makes me truly feel the pain of the horrible situation, and it's so sad that Frankie didn't make it. She was such a cute character! It was nice to see the two mothers talking, also - one has three kids with heart defects, and one has a kid with no immune system. They were able to relate to each other's situations quite a lot, which I thought was nice.

Jackson has to deal not only with marriage troubles, but also with being the liaison between the hospital and the Harper Avery foundation. That makes him sort of the bad guy in a sense, and it's interesting to watch him grapple with such a difficult situation.

Alex and Arizona's scenes were actually really touching. It was cute how Arizona just wanted to be sentimental, but Alex was convinced she was going to yell at him for leaving the hospital. Their friendship is always really adorable, and if Alex is truly leaving, it will be sad to see their relationship dynamic change. Also, Jo looked really hot in this episode.

I think I'll leave it with that totally relevant and important observation.This was a very solid episode. I'm nervous about next week though... Preston Burke? Seriously?

8.5/10