This week’s episode touched on an issue many women have dealt with before – pain management.  Not the type of pain caused by any type of illness or injury, but that distinct pain brought on by only those who can:  men.

After weeks of sexually-charged spats, Alex and Izzie finally brought their relationship to the next level and went out on their first date.  Despite the buildup to that night, Alex’s emotions were all over the board.  First he acts like a jerk to Izzie all evening, but then confuses her when he says that he enjoyed himself.  (I thought boys only hit you in elementary school when they were trying to tell you they liked you?)  But just when Izzie thought their night would cap off nicely, Alex ends their date prematurely.  What??  Don’t men know when a woman has shaved her legs??  It’s a shame for something like that to go to waste.

Meanwhile, Meredith’s love-triangle-saga continues on.  Despite giving her his word last week, Dr. Shepherd just can’t seem to form a signature to save his life.  Men just love to keep women hanging, don’t they?  He argues that he has been with Addison for 11 years and putting finality to their relationship is a hard thing to do…so doesn’t he deserve a little bit of doubt?  Ladies – don’t you just love it how men turn things around on you and make it seem like you’re being the irrational one? Meredith does her best to pretend like she does not care (because men are supposed to like the ones who walk away) but her emotions eventually get the best of her.  She channels Renee Zellwegger and opens her heart out to Derek, begging him to choose her.  Unfortunately, Dr. Shepherd does not ask her to complete him and leaves her hanging.  Not again!

Too bad Meredith’s mother, Ellis, wasn’t in a state to help her out.  If she was in a better position to listen to her daughter, she could sympathetically tell her how painful it is to be involved with a married man – especially when you are still married yourself.  She should know, after all.  We learn that she once offered to leave her husband for Dr. Webber, but that he refused to do the same in return.  Not being able to face the thought of Richard and Adele together, Ellis took an offer an offer at Boston General to get away.  Women – always the ones willing to make the sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Cristina works on dealing with her emotions the way she does best – by moving on.  She throws herself back into work to get past her pain (anything to forget that crying fit from last week).  Plugging away, Cristina is thrown off when hunky Dr. Burke confronts her about their status as a couple.  That Preston Burke is unusual creature.  While most men would be happy to walk away from an awkward relationship, Dr. Burke actually came back.  Doesn’t he understand that women can’t handle men being nice to them?  Well, apparently Cristina couldn’t – which is why she eventually cracked.  Granted, she wasn’t planning on being mushy anytime soon, but her concession was a big step toward easing her pain.

Well – when at least one out of four women gets what she wants, that’s a victory for all of us…