Episode Report Card LTG: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Big Finish
By LTG | Season 3 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.17.2007
Thatcher is holding a cup of coffee and speaking to his family on a cell phone. From a distance, Meredith and Cristina watch him. Meredith asks, "How am I related to that man?" Well, Meredith, sometimes when a man and woman love each other very much... Oh, it turns out that Meredith just doesn't see any resemblance between herself and Thatcher, who she describes as "a mess." He doesn't help his case by spilling coffee all over himself as he gesticulates. Izzie is watching this with Cristina and Mere, and she doesn't see quite what Meredith is getting at. Meredith calls Thatcher a "stammering, mumbling, clumsy disaster." When she claims to have absolutely nothing in common with her father, Cristina and Izzie exchange a disbelieving glance. Izzie: "I hate to break this to you... " Cristina: "Yeah, you do your share of stammering yourself." They also point out that she shares her nervous talking and messiness with Thatcher. Meredith claims that Cristina is the messy one; Cristina allows that her apartment is messy, but that she herself is immaculate. Whereas Meredith is apparently walking around in a cloud of detritus, much like Pig Pen. Meredith gets defensive; she accuses Cristina of being "in a relationship with no words." And she calls Izzie "a millionaire in twenty-dollar shoes." Mere storms off and Izzie and Cristina continue to watch Thatcher. He is now covered in coffee and holding a crumpled up wad of newspaper that he used to try to wipe up the coffee he spilled on the floor. Cristina and Izzie laugh at how exactly like Thatcher Meredith really is.
Izzie walks into Heather's room to find Bailey, Derek, and Callie consulting with Heather and her mother. Derek tells Izzie that Heather's spine surgery is back on. Izzie asks if the insurance company changed its mind, and Bailey pointedly tells her, "It seems an anonymous donor has offered to foot Heather's entire bill." No pulling the wool over her eyes. While Izzie and Heather make small talk, Bailey stares daggers at Izzie. Bailey walks to the door and stares at Izzie until Izzie gets the point and walks out of the room.
Bailey follows Izzie into the hallway and asks her, "You spend three hundred grand so you could scrub in on this surgery?" Izzie denies it, and then blathers on about how miserable Heather is and how she can use the money she got to do something good for someone. I do love that Izzie's idea of "desperate" is never having a date and never being able to wear high heels. I guess that makes me desperate too. Bailey listens to this speech and tells Izzie, "I was hoping you would tell me you spent this money so you could scrub in." Because that would be the healthy answer of someone eager to be a surgeon (albeit a surgeon with lousy priorities); Izzie's answer tells Bailey that she is still getting emotionally involved with her patients and letting that involvement cloud her judgment. As a result, Izzie will not be scrubbing in on the surgery. Commercials.