a thanksgivingday “ferry boat” ride.

Sorry for the long delay, but the full recap is now posted on the other side of the jump. The rundown on Isabel’s day in the kitchen, Chief Wannabe #2′s surprising social graces, George’s hunting expedition, a trailer park lovestory, Meredith’s angst, a short-lived miracle coma recovery, Joe’s gay boyfriend, and the hospital as an escape from personal drama.

What’s this, no “previously montage”? Right away, we’re dropped into the episode with Meredith “Seattle” Grey’s voice whispering in our ears with a tone poem to let us know what we should be thinking about for the next hour.

“Gratitude. Appreciation. Giving thanks. No matter what words you use, it all means the same thing. Happy. We’re supposed to be happy. Grateful for friends, family. Happy to be alive. Whether we like it or not.”

Yes, folks, it’s Thanksgivingtime in Seattleland. Isabel is already thawing a turkey and paging through a stack of cookbooks, but Meredith just isn’t in the mood. She tries to sneak off to the hospital, but Isabel intercepts her. Dr. Model isn’t happy about being abandoned in the midst of dinner preparations, since everyone is supposed to be helping. This requirement for roommate assistance will be an important plot detail later in the episode; so just file it away for now. The doorbell rings and a pack of guys — a father and two sons — show up at the door looking for Georgie. Meredith looks confused, since no one named “Georgie” lives there. Just some guy called George. When they sort out that bit of confusion, the O’Malley boys storm into the house, chanting, yelling, and providing the perfect distraction for Meredith to slip out through the front door as Isabel protests that she needs to be back by six for dinner. Still in bed, George does a little countdown in anticipation of his own personal invasion. As the countdown strikes zero, the boys stick their heads through the door and shout “Happy Thanksgiving.” Indeed.

But before we find out what’s going on (as if we missed the previews), it’s time for yet another Very Special Washington State Ferry Ride. Seriously, we all love a good boat ride, but this is really getting out of hand, isn’t it? Patrick “McPeople’s50Sexiest” Dempsey and AddiSatan are spending quality time on the Sound drinking Seattle’s Best Coffee and leading us to believe that his trailer lies somewhere across the sea. I guess this makes sense since there’s no place even in FauxSeattle with that much instantly available real estate. Anyway. Addison drops a bomb on Dempsey. Although he has patients to check in on (to avoid her), they both have the day off and she wants to have sex tonight. Obviously, this will be weird for them since they haven’t done the deed since (before) the whole flight from the NYC cheating wife and the picking up Meredith in a bar situation. Still, she makes the proposition even squickier by suggesting that they have an early Thanksgiving dinner in town (without reservations?) and then rip the stitches and get it over with. All of this while wearing a jaunty cap. I’m not kidding.

At the hospital, Bailey thanks Meredith for volunteering to come in on the holiday. Meredith isn’t a fan of Thanksgiving (not a whole helluva a lot to be thankful for), so it’s no big. Bailey, on the other hand likes Thanksgiving, with all of the family time triggering depression, repressed, childhood rage, bitter family disputes, and way too much alcohol, which triggers violence and lands people in surgeries. She says that they should be thankful for the stupidity of the human race. If she keeps dishing out these kind of uplifting speeches, they’re bound to stop calling her the Nazi.

Also spending Thanksgiving morning at Seattle Grace are both Wannabe Chiefs and the actual Chief. This is super funny; since all of them claim to be leaving soon: Wannabe #2 just finished a surgery and the other two pretend that they’ll just be in for an hour. CW2 tells them to “say it like [they] mean it.”

Bringing in more of the holiday laffs is a temporary intern. He’s only here for the day (on account of the holiday). Which doesn’t make any sense, does it? Shouldn’t his home hospital also be short staffed? Anyway when Bailey offers to be of assistance, Tempie immediately makes an ass of himself by saying that he doesn’t need any kissing up and that the only resident he wants in his O.R. is the guy they call The Nazi. Hilarity ensues as Tempie makes all sorts of comments about the testicular endowments of his imagined Nazi to the real, female and pregnant Nazi. In a bit of a continuity error, Bailey says that she’s never heard of him; so Tempie tells her to get to work on the smaller cases.

We cut back to the Grey House where the O’Malley boys are rushing George off into the wilderness where there’s a turkey out there with his name on it. Isabel tries to stop him, and George explains that every year he, his father, and brothers go out to kill a slow moving defenseless turkey. Isabel wants to know who’s going to help her. George has the same question about himself.

Hey, it’s Syphilinurse, back to introduce today’s only actual case. A patient from “the garden” (a one time firefighter in a persistent vegetative state for the past 16 years) has been brought over to SGH from a nursing home after falling from his bed. Bailey leaves “to look for the Nazi” while Meredith plans to take care of the scrapes and run Cabbage Patch Guy through a few tests to check for damages. She says that she’d give anything to have his kind of serenity, since being a vegetable looks so peaceful. That is, until is creepy eyes open to stare at her.

– seriously abbreviated credits, or, must be a whole lot of episode ahead –

When we get back from the break, Bailey is gleefully working on a guy with 3rd degree burns from trying to deep fry a turkey. Meredith interrupts to tell her about the creepy Awakening of Cabbage Patch. No one’s going to believe that C.P. looked at
Meredith, starting with Bailey. Still, she sends Grey off to order a CT just to confirm the patient’s general vegetativeness. To keep her from doing Tempie’s bidding (sutures), Bailey says that Grey’s running tests on a VIP patient on orders from “the Nazi’”.

Back at the Grey House, Sandra Oh and Chief Wannabe #2 (who kept his promise about leaving the hospital) arrive at the front door. Before ringing the bell, she debriefs him on the particulars of hanging out with the interns (be nice, no syph talk, the usuals). When Isabel is shocked that she brought her boyfriend along, Sandra Oh says that “he’s like something sticky that won’t blow off.” Taking the hint that he’s a surprise appearance (perhaps from Isabel’s half-whispered “he’s going to ruin Thanksgiving”), CW2 insists that as an unexpected guest, he should be called “Preston”. That’s a funny rule, but it’s a little more familiar than “Chief Wannabe #2″; so we’ll go with it. Isabel, paranoid about the lack of guests, calls Alex and leaves a where-are-you message. “Preston” asks if something is burning.

Back at the hospital, Meredith runs into the Chief and Dempsey to ask about a neuro consult. How lucky that Dempsey decided to drop by for the afternoon. Again, no one believes that Mr. Cabbage Patch Coma was looking at her. But, since he doesn’t want to argue and does want to avoid AddiSatan, Dempsey decides to stay at check it out.

Somewhere in the great Pacific Northwest outdoors, Georg(i)e and the O’Malley boys are tromping about among the pretty trees and mountains talking about cars. We view them from a helicopter shot and are pretty sure that these are body doubles. When we close in on them, we notice they’re in camouflage gear. Did George keep a pair of camo cargo pants around for this occasion, or did his brothers pack a spare? George says that he doesn’t want to shoot the turkey, which he says every year. They seem dumbfounded. Generally, and specifically.

Back in Queen Anne, “Preston”, sensor of the burning foodstuffs, critiques Isabel’s cooking. She explains that she bakes, not cooks. This makes sense. Baking is much more sciency. She doesn’t even know which side of the turkey is up. “Preston”, sensing an opportunity for day-saving, jumps right in to help. In this episode’s funniest line he asks, “what are you using as a reference text?” (answer: the Joy of Cooking). When it becomes clear that he’s going to take over cooking and coordination duties, Sandra Oh realizes that she’s going to need lots and lots of liquor.

Back at SGH, Dempsey examines Cabbage Patch. His eyes won’t follow the little flashlight, but once she starts talking, Dempsey realizes that he is tracking Grey. I guess she is kind of like a little flashlight, or maybe he really likes the voiceover.

– commercials –

When we get back from the break, Patrick Dempsey looks at some scans of the Cabbage Patch brain, and says that there’ no measured brain atrophy. It turns out that the patient isn’t in a persistent vegetative state at all. He’s minimally conscious”, but no one in the nursing home noticed. Meredith, on the prospect of being frozen for sixteen years and going unnoticed, reflects, “that sucks.” Dempsey thinks that they should be thankful. They might be able to wake him up.

In the Abandoned Hallway of Intern Escapism, we find Alex. In scrubs, white socks, and black loafers on a gurney studying and checking his voice mail from Isabel. He’s in hell.

So are Sandra Oh and George. Amazingly, George has cell reception in the woods. Sandra Oh calls him to complain about the Iron Chef situation at the house. But George isn’t sympathetic to her plight. Hiding behind a tree, he says that with shotguns, and liquor, and car talk, it’s like Deliverance out here. Oh is scouring the place for booze (which is like oxygen to a W.A.S.P., and which is why they’re out of liquor). She asks how she’s supposed to get through the holidays without liquor and George asks for a rescue.

This segment is really like a cell phone commercial. AddiSatan calls Dempsey from that waterfront park with pretty benches and telescopes.

Surveying the lobby, Meredith mystically picks out Cabbage Patch’s family from the crowd. She and Dempsey bring the three of them back to Cabbage Patch Dad’s room. Finding out that dear old vegetative dad isn’t really vegetative pretty much freaks out the family. Actually, they’re more freaked out to hear that Dempsey has shot him full of drugs that will have him waking up in a few hours and not realizing how long he’s been out of touch. Mom just got re-married and is looking rather pregnant, the Son is 17. They flee the scene rather than have him wake to see that they moved on with their lives without him. New husband explains that it took a long time for Cabbage Patch Mom to move on.

As Bailey scrubs in for a surgery, Tempie yells at her about not being down in the Pit. But, more funny identity confusion saves the day. Bailey claims that “the Nazi” has her on this case (a big knife sticking out of a bloody back!). The Chief is helping out, too. He’s still claiming to be going home soon.

At the house, Sandra Oh answers the doorbell to find Joe the Bartender waiting. Joe introduces his gay boyfriend Walter. This is maybe supposed to be surprising. Sort of a Serena’s a Law and Order lesbian moment. Or maybe because we don’t remember a boyfriend at Joe’s side when he was being temporarily killed to avoid paying for his Big Fat Brain Surgery. Like the rest of us, Oh is nonplussed by the revelation of Joe’s boyfriend. She just is hoping that they brought alcohol. Always with the gay stereotypes? But no, the bartender brought pumpkin pie. As a statement. The doctors didn’t bring scalpels, did they?

In the great outdoors again. George is making turkey calls with a little stick and chatting up his family about the exciting life of a surgical intern. While he tries to make it watching surgeries and answering tough questions sound fun, his brothers are giving him a hard time about not actually doing anything. He wants to go home. Father O’Malley says that they can go, just as soon as he shoots the turkey. Shouldn’t they have done this before Thanksgiving?

At the hospital again. Alex meets up with Meredith outside Cabbage Patch’s room. She asks why he isn’t at Thanksgiving, but he wants to know the same thing about her. He sits down and demands a little quid pro quo. She explains that she feels like one of those people who’s so miserable, she can’t be around normal people for fear of infecting them with her unhappiness. Alex reveals that he failed the medical boards. While he expects that Izzie will be supportive, it will be castrating. Meredith encourages him to go to Turkey Day, even if he doesn’t tell her. Otherwise he’ll be just like her (a miserable diseased dirty ex-mistress). While this doesn’t totally cheer him up, it is a nice little moment and they both smile and laugh.

Before Meredith can leave, Cabbage Patch Dad wakes up, calling out in a gravely comalike voice. Luckily Grey is there to hold his hand.

– commercial break –

Dempsey gives Cabbage Patch the rundown on waking from a coma, weak muscles, etc. The patient wants to know if they got a hold of his wife, if they told her about his very shocking awakening. He asks how long have he’s been out. The doctors hesitate to reveal the length of his minimally-conscious slumber, but he insists that since Meredith “found” him, she should tell him. Grey says that she’s never really done the big reveal before; so Cabbage Patch says that she should do it quickly. Patrick Dempsey leaves them alone, and we see Meredith telling him, which results in very understandable sobbing on his part.

In the kitchen “Preston” supervises the cooking procedures, teaching Isabel the finer points of cooking. The gays bet on her chances of success. Sandra Oh tries to escape, claiming to be going to the store for liquor. Are the Washington State Liquor Stores even open on holidays? Unable to convince her that his niceness and the transformation of the kitchen into an O.R. is a good thing, he returns to help Isabel take care of the turkey, reminding her with calls of “suction! baster!”

In hunting land, the boys, still talking about cars, finally spot a turkey. As his brother takes aim, George stops him. He’s going to shoot the turkey this year since it’s the only way that they’re going home. The brothers doubt his marksmanship, but the rifle fires, and Father O’Malley whoops it up a bit. Offscreen, the turkey dies. George, proud of his slaughter, seems happy to be able to call for them go home.

Back at the hospital, Meredith tells her patient that his son seems tall and nice. She’s going to put him into the MRI machine to see what’s happening in his brain. The scan reveals that he has a hematoma from falling out of bed. Later, Dempsey explains that there’s a large risk to the operation. Without it, the bleeding could stop on its own, or it could keep going and he could die. Both options are equally risky. Meredith can’t tell (ex-)Cabbage Patch what to do.

In the kitchen, Izzie is much more relaxed and cooking. She asks him how her learned to cook. “Preston” says that his mother owns a restaurant in Alabama, which surprises Isabel. Sandra Oh doesn’t know about this, and Isabel sympathizes that she’s a hard person to get to know, since she isn’t so much about the personal questions. Preston asks about Alex not showing up and whether it’s O.K. (it isn’t). This is really a day of sharing, isn’t it? Joe pops in to complain about the lack of liquor. Did he miss all of the earlier conversations? I guess he’s still technically recovering from brain surgery; so we’ll cut him some slack. “Preston” explains that Oh went out to remedy the situation. But Isabel says that it’s been an hour. I wonder where she could be?

Ah. What a surprise! Sandra Oh went to the hospital instead. We find her taking a patient who swallowed a wishbone.

In hunting land, Father O’Malley anoints George’s face with turkey blood proclaiming him to be officially an O’Malley man. As dad walks away to pick up his hat, the brothers engage in random gunplay. This is pretty certain to be a recipe for disaster. George yells, “you shot dad in the ass, are you happy now?”

– commercials –

Soon enough, the O’Malleys find themselves at Seattle Grace. The boys mess around with the trauma room equipment while George examines his father’s birdshot embedded buttocks. Once again, the guys are choosing cars and George is sick of it. He knows the whole drill, how it will end up, and that’s why he refuses to “pick a car.” He also isn’t happy about being called Gerogie. His name is George.

Cabbage Patch’s son stopped by to see if he really has his father’s eyes (no). The patient is sad because his kid wouldn’t stay because of the holiday, but he found out that the wife is happy, with a good guy that she loves. Based on this intel, he’s decided to go ahead with the surgery. In a not-so-coded message to Meredith, he says that his family moved on; and he should get on with his life. She’ll tell Dempsey to book the O.R. Cabbage Patch wonders if his son really will come back to visit, and Grey says that she hopes that he will.

Back at the Intern kitchen, “Preston” examines the turkey and says that it needs more time. He asks Isabel why she planned this big dinner if she couldn’t cook? Isabel just likes Thanksgiving, because they work nonstop, don’t have non-doctor friends, and get only one day to be normal (if your version of normal is an alcohol free afternoon being cooking coached by one of Seattle’s top doctors). She says that it’s like a gift and thinks they should appreciate it and set the table. A day without surgery seems like a mystical concept to “Preston”.

Cut back to the hospital where Sandra Oh is assisting Bailey on a wishbone-ectomy. Oh asks the Nazi why she’s working. And the episode of personal revelation continues as Bailey nonchalantly mentions that extra work means extra practice. There’s a bun in her oven; so she wants to get as many surgeries in before the baby comes. Sandra Oh looks shocked as Bailey continues to explain that her non-surgeon husband doesn’t get it. Then Bailey asks Oh about Dr. Burke. Oh sticks to the self-containment and responds with a simple “yeah.” To which, Bailey replies that he would’ve made a good father.

As Cabbage Patch Dad gets wheeled off to surgery, Meredith declines to join Dempsey in the O.R. since she needs to cover the floor. Before parting Meredith asks him what he would do (surgery vs. not surgery). She would want the future or to be asleep again, but not the unknown. Patrick Dempsey doesn’t know what he’d want, which comes as no surprise to Meredith. He expects to be in surgery for a while and invites her to scrub in when she gets some free time. When she returns (after the next scene), it’s already too late. The sad music is already playing, and Patrick Dempsey has already killed him. He needs to bring the bad news to the kid.

With the O’Malley brothers off to the cafeteria, Father O’Malley mentions that George didn’t have any fun on the hunt. He says that George hurt his brothers’ feelings. George thinks that they talk to him like he’s stupid and never treat him like he’s one of the gang. Father O’Malley points out that the rest of the O’Malley boys have blue collar type jobs and that as a smart surgeon, George isn’t one of them. Still, he’s proud of George and feels like they try to include him, but they don’t like the same things and don’t know how to talk about the things George likes. They don’t treat him like he’s stupid, but George does. They might be stupid, but they’re his family. He asks that George give them an inch and pick a car. Then George tells his dad about his star moment in the elevator open heart surgery, which impresses him quite a bit.

– commercials —

In the intern locker room, Oh, Grey, and George run into each other. Comparing the present company to the Thanksgiving guest list, George realizes that this is beyond bad. At the house Joe and Joe’s boyfriend have to get back to the bar for post-dinner bar duty. The table is set with a large uncarved turkey and “Preston” insists on staying around. The other roommates spill in. George explains that he committed bird murder and touched his dad’s ass and deserves extra points for showing up. Sandra Oh brought booze. Isabel appears to consider making an angry speech, but instead pauses and says that they should just eat.

Outside the hospital, Patrick Dempsey asks Grey about her mysterious power to pick Cabbage Patch’s (ex-)Wife out of the waiting room crowd. Meredith says that the wife was the only one who looked like she had given up. The other people are usually waiting for good news. As he walks away, she shifts into their own personal waiting game and asks Dempsey if he loves AddiSatan. He turns back, sits down on the bench with her and says the he doesn’t know. Meredith thinks it’s it’s good that he’s trying. It means that she wasn’t wrong about him. Meredith stands up, smiles, and says goodbye. Dempsey says goodbye to her, and watches as she walks away and the voiceover starts up.

“Maybe we’re not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy.” (Alex and Meredith show up outside the house, looking in on their friends serving up dinner. Alex asks if she’s going to go inside. Meredith isn’t, but she encourages him to go make her happy.)

“Maybe being grateful means being happy with what you have for what it is.”

(Alex steps inside and gets a hug. Bailey, still at work, tells the surgical junkie Chief to go home. He says that his wife is already mad and there’s a whipple in O.R. #2. But Bailey yells at him to go home now. As she walks toward and Tempie steps off the elevator, the Chief says, “that’s why they call you the Nazi.” which causes Tempie to turn around in shock. In true Nazi form, Baileys deadpans a “happy thanksgiving” as the elevator doors close.)

“Appreciating small victories.” (Cut to “Preston” and Sandra Oh in his car, after dinner. He says that he was nice, and she smiles and says that she noticed. He tells her that she doesn’t ask personal questions, is hard to to get to know, and that his his mother owns a restaurant in Alabama. True to form, Oh responds with a tale of her day’s surgery.)

“Admiring the struggle it takes simply to become human.” (We cut to a rainy night outside the shiny silver trailer as Dempsey shows up in his sport utility vehicle. Addison asks if he’s done hurting her. She needs to know whether she needs to order a special thicker skin.) “Maybe we’re thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we’re thankful for the things we’ll never know.” (Dempsey looks at his wife, sits down, and says that there there’s no anesthesia inside, smiles, says “here we go” and kisses her.)

another hookup. no wonder meredith hangs out at joe’s.

We find Meredith sitting alone at the bar at Joe’s. A guy walks up and asks if the seat next to her is taken. Once she finds out that he isn’t a doctor and isn’t associated with the hospital, she says that the seat is free. Through the whole exchange, Joe looked very protectively cute and smiles when Meredith tells her newest suitor that the seat isn’t taken.

“At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.”

She asks if he wants to buy her a drink, and he does.

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