Grey's Anatomy: Let the Truth Sting

ok, so i am a whopping four episodes behind now. the good news is, most of you have to have seen it by now, so i can't possibly be spoiling it for hardly anyone!

the opening Mer monologue included the line: "The truth is hard. The truth is awkward. And very often, the truth hurts. I mean, people say they want the truth, but do they really?"

man, how many times have i had to deal with this in my life? how may times have i told people to just tell me the truth, even if they think it's going to hurt me? because in the end, the truth finds a way out. it just does. and then, if you've lied to me, not only am i as hurt as you "feared" i would be, but now i am also feeling betrayed. way worse to add insult to injury. see... even though the truth smarts a bit at times, that is the kind of pain that can be healed & moved past. it's amazing what people will do to avoid the truth when all you have to do is lay it out there as compassionately as you can...

there were some really great pieces to this episode...
...i love Really Old Guy. i love that he called Izzie "Blondie." i loved the scene where he wants to die & Izzie is unplugging the lamp. i love the scene when he tells Izzie the reality, that the truth is George saying he will leave his wife for her doesn't *mean* he will do it, that the only thing that means he will do it is when he actually stops saying he will and actually *does* it. i love when he starts singing "Dead Man Walking." it was sad when Charlie died, but it was what he wanted.
...i love that Cristina is still Cristina. that she has no qualms at all about swiping surgeries, and has no limits to what she will do to get them. like her "me so sad" act. i about busted a gut when she came out with that. and then her comment to Izzie, about not being able to find Charlie's LVAD wire. OMG. you want to hate Cristina, but... she's so direct, it's comical. she tells you the truth whether you want to hear it or not.
...i really wanted to smack Lexie during the intubation scene. Mer gives her a lesson. Mer tries to teach her. she gave Lexie the perfect opportunity to learn, on a patient that was already dead, where Lexie could not do further damage. it's a teaching hospital & Mer was teaching & all Lexie could do was whine & have a tantrum. Mer told Lexie the truth about that patient & Lexie manufactured her own truth out of what happened.
...and Alex is back to being an ass. he tells the truth, about George not being a super intern, but so much less than that. he's not just an intern, but a *repeat* intern. the truth is... Alex has a lot of pain & he deals with it by inflicting it upon others.
...that scene between George & Izzie, how this isn't about "we," but about him. and Callie. and about the respect he is trying to show his marriage, even though the truth is that it was a marriage that probably never should have happened in the first place. but it did. and George is trying to handle all of this as gently as he can.
...i like that Bailey & Callie are joining forces. on the surface, it looks like Bailey is helping Callie out, to keep her from sinking under the weight of being Chief Resident. but really, it's just as much about Bailey keeping afloat too. because she's not used to being second best. she's not used to being the shining star. she's having just as hard a time adapting to her new role as Callie is. the truth is, these two need each other to get through right now.
...and i loved that scene at the end with Mer & Lexie. when Mer takes Lexie aside & goes over her mother's whole file with her. explains step-by-step, the truth about what happened. because that morning, Lexie saw Mer appearing to be heartless, appearing to not do everything possible to save a patient, and she started to question whether or not maybe Mer didn't do everything to save her mom too. and not only does Mer give Lexie the truth, medically, that she *did* do everything she could to save Lexie's mother, but she opens up & tells Lexie that she did really care about Lexie's mom too. and that's the truth of it.

the truth. some people hide from it. they hide from hearing it. they hide from telling it. they hide it from each other. and they try to hide it from themselves. the truth is relentless though. it seems like one way or another, it comes out. and if we fight it, if we hold it in, then if we have any soul at all, the hidden truth hurts us for holding it in.

"The truth is painful. Deep down, nobody wants to hear it. Especially when it hits close to home. Sometimes we tell the truth, because the truth is all we have to give. Sometimes we tell the truth, because we need to say it out loud, to really hear it for ourselves. And sometimes we tell the truth, because we just can't help ourselves. And sometimes we tell the truth, because we owe them at least that much." (Meredith)

favorite Cristina quote: "Sad is mine. Go find your own pretend emotion."

favorite Bailey quote: "You can go and tell Dr Grey that the clinic is not a dumping ground for strays. We are not the Island of Broken Interns."