“I loved you once…”

I know that judging from that one line, one would be tempted to write this week's Grey's Anatomy off as just another of their ill-conceived feats of soap operatic melodrama. However, despite the fact that Izzie has a fatal disease of the "woe is me" variety, which makes her hallucinate sex with her long-dead fiancé; and despite the fact that George never has any lines; and despite the fact that Callie's new love interest is neither loving nor interesting… this episode was actually quite moving. Just in time for the end of sweeps, Grey's was almost back to true form tonight, and this episode served as the payoff for many, many storylines that seemed to be going nowhere this season. The dialogue was (mostly) sharp (we'll get back to that line in the title later), everybody acted in character, and I actually cared about what happened to the gang again.

The best part of this episode was the way that, as contrived as it was, Izzie's debilitating disease served as a jumping off point for emotional explorations and breakthroughs for everybody except Izzie. How ironic and awesome that after all of Katharine Heigl's alleged complaining about not being given juicy material, she finally got some – but it only served to showcase the talents of her frequently underused costars. Izzie's impending brain surgery forced Derek to face his demons and put his medical career back on track, not to mention his long-awaited proposal to Meredith, in the only way befitting of this couple: in the elevator, surrounded by brain scan images. For once, Grey's it couple were able to get past all the phony smarminess disguised as charm, and in result they were, well, charming. It also inspired some much needed soul searching from Callie, who apologized to the universe for wishing Izzie dead.

Perhaps the most moving performances came from Izzie's friends, the original ensemble of this show, which is exactly the way it should be. Meredith, Cristina, George and Alex were all too afraid to go visit Izzie before her surgery, each with their own neurotic hang-ups. This led to some awesome motherly bonding between Izzie and Bailey, reminding the audience who the true adults are at Seattle Grace. Most importantly though, Izzie's condition led to the Karev breakdown we've all been holding our breath for, and fittingly, it was Alex who also provided the weekly "introspective" voice over in this episode.

When the Chief suggested that Karev donate his sperm in order to fertilize Izzie's harvested eggs, we began to see him unravel. After many awkward conversations and fun plays on words with the Chief, it was Meredith who finally got Alex to talk. I've always appreciated the relationship between Meredith and Alex, even though it's usually developed in hardly noticeable subtext. They seem to have an unspoken understanding about the fact that they're both so messed up that they are unwitting kindred spirits. Alex began to break down, tears forming in his eyes, and he uttered one of the best lines of the episode (I'm paraphrasing, because I don't have the advantage of Tivo this week): "She said she was seeing ghosts… I'm so used to all the freaky chicks I date, I didn't even think about it. And I'm a doctor." It was a rare moment of vulnerability for Alex, an inspired performance from Justin Chambers, and a great combination of humor and sadness from the writers. Better yet, the entire incident paid off wonderfully at the end of the episode when Alex finally got over his fear and got into bed with a recovering Izzie, and in true Alex form, said, "I spooged into a cup for you today," to which she replied, "Thanks?"

Meanwhile, over in subplot land, Owen's PTSD finally hit a breaking point for Cristina, when she awoke to Owen's hands around her neck during one of his nightmares. Callie called Meredith in shrieking terror, who dutifully came over and locked herself in the bathroom with Cristina. Imagine Meredith's horror when Cristina let Owen in to the bathroom fortress, and instead of breaking up with him, gave him a hug. Another powerful scene in this episode came when Meredith and Callie spotted Owen approaching Cristina from down the hall, and both of them jumped in front of her as a human shield. We already know that Meredith is Cristina's person, but it's moments like this that shed light on friendships like the one between Callie and Cristina – we know it's there, but thanks to the writers' sly layering, we're not really sure how it happened. Despite the warnings from both Meredith and Callie, Cristina tried her hardest to stay with Owen, until she too hit her breaking point, when she was too afraid to fall asleep with him next to her. And in another serendipitous Grey's moment, Meredith got engaged at the exact same moment as Cristina ended a relationship.

Despite all of the great moments in this episode, the show does still have some ground to cover before it's completely back on track. There were definitely some moments still reminiscent of the mid-season slump this show seemed to have gone through. I loved the fact that Izzie's near death experience provided some closure for Callie and George, but when their conversation devolved into Callie saying things like, "I loved you once…" I started to cringe. I know that was only a small part of a much larger scene, but it's catch phrases like that, the ones that sound like Celine Dion song titles, which make me tune out and wonder what the heck happened to people like Erica Hahn. Speaking of which, how can the writers/network execs/whomever claim that Erica had to go because she was boring, and then replace her with this other chick whose name I can't even remember that's how boring she is. I get that Callie's relationship with Arizona (really, with that name?) is kind of doing that slow burn in the background thing (as is typical/necessary for most TV lesbians), but the scenes with the two of them dancing in the living room and waxing philosophical in the hospital chapel just did not ring true for me. From the little that we know about Arizona, it seems as though she's meant to be the complete opposite of Erica, personality-wise. Yet Callie seems to have exactly the same type of relationship with her. It's frustrating that in a season which started out with Callie exploring the, um, ins and outs of her feelings towards women, what we're left with at the end of it is that she apparently likes blondes. This show has gone through so many extra characters and guest stars this season, without finding ones that stick, that it just adds to the feeling that the stories are going nowhere. (What was the deal with the bitchy oncologist taking care of Izzie, anyway?)

I would expect nothing less than over-the-top from Shonda and co. to cap off the season, but let's hope that the remaining episodes stay within the realm of "quotable", and don't devolve back into "forgettable" again.

In other medical show news, tonight's episode of ER was completely useless. Why waste that hour when you only have 3 left? This show baffles me. I also still don't understand how Ray is walking, since, to the best of my recollection, the last time we saw him, he had no legs.

And yes, I am capable of watching and writing about TV on days other than Thursday. Stay tuned.