‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 9, episode 8 review: Burying the lead

“Grey’s Anatomy,” you can be a very cruel show sometimes. We were admittedly through the roof over getting the opportunity to see what would happened next following the revelation that Meredith and Derek were expecting; and then, we had an episode all about the interns.

So why stick an episode like this in here? The obvious answer is related to something behind the scenes: scheduling. Many of the series regulars are now parents themselves, and Shonda Rhimes is obviously doing what she can to lighten the load on them in order for them to spend some time away from the set. (Sometimes, work days can extend beyond sixteen hours.) As for the actual story on the show, it also made some sense given that interns are a big part of the hospital, and Seattle Grace is a character on the show as much as Derek or anyone else.

The two biggest long-term developments here are pretty simple:

1. Shane (Gaius Charles) is going to be doing his best to assist during the operation for Derek’s hand, and he also had some sweet moments with April as he agreed to help her with some of the nastier operations in return for everything she has done for him. (Derek’s sister Lizzie also arrived at the end of the episode to be a donor during the surgery.)

2. We also learned that Jo (Camilla Luddington) is far from the doctor that Alex thought she was, and the label of “princess” clearly did not fit. These two definitely took some major steps this week when it came to their relationship … and yes, we are totally shipping the two of them as romantic partners moving forward.

If you want to check out the long-term future of Sara Ramirez on “Grey’s Anatomy,” you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: ABC