This week’s episode continued exactly where the last one left off:  with Meredith embarrassingly waiting for Derek to show up at the bar.  Thankfully a horrific train crash was able to distract her from further humiliation.  Always better to focus on a wreck that ruins other people’s lives as opposed to the wreck that is your life.

Unfortunately, hours of waiting for Dr. Shepherd has made Meredith far too drunk to participate in all the chaos.  While her cohorts are busy fighting for patients, she is forced to detox, observe… and wait.  As with all major disasters, this train wreck had its mixed bag of patients:  man with misplaced amputated leg..  pregnant best friends with shared sperm donor… seemingly-well-person-who-collapses-and-dies-due-to-undiagnosed-internal-bleeding.  All in a day’s work.

NOTE TO PRODUCERS:  We do understand that it will be hard to avoid disaster-based shows, but please do your best to not become another ER.  I believe the producers of ER are now deep into the Greek system because they have used up their bag of tricks.  But since you’ve only used up ‘A’ so far for Amtrak, we will forgive you.

Amidst the carnage, was by far one of the most touching hospital tragedies we had seen in a while. Two strangers aboard the train were startled to find themselves in a precarious position.  Their first face-to-face meeting consisted of a pole that was pierced directly through them.  Thankfully, the shock of the accident left Bonnie and Tom immune to the pain and allowed them to nervously joke about their uncomfortably intimate situation.  If only laughter was the best medicine.  Their movements had to be as limited as possible to prevent further injury.

Upon further examination, the doctors determined that the likelihood of both patients surviving were not great.  Removal of the pole would cause them to quickly bleed out.  To save at least one patient, the other would have to be removed off the pole… and that was the person who would likely die.  Given that the status of Bonnie’s injuries were more grave than Tom’s, it was determined that she would be the patient they would have to risk.  Despite Tom’s refusals, Bonnie insisted and accepted her possible fate.  She knew her situation was dire when she came into the hospital, she wasn’t exactly “expecting to walk out or anything.”

The doctors had hoped to delay the surgery until after her fiance arrived from Vancouver, but the situation made it impossible to wait.  Although she would have liked to say something to him before her possible death, she said it was probably for the best that he avoid the pain.  Instead, she asks Dr. Shepherd to deliver a message to him should she not see him again. 

Ironically, even though the doctors had to make the difficult decision to save Tom, Bonnie’s condition made that decision even easier for them.  Before they could even remove her from the pole, she starts to crash.  Although the doctors made a good faith effort to save her, they had to refocus their efforts on a weakening Tom when they realized she was already gone. Later when her fiance finally arrives at the hospital, Derek relays Bonnie’s message:  If love were enough, she’d still be there with him.

As you may have read in our previous logs on Grey’s Anatomy, I have this tendency to cry every Sunday at 10pm.  This week was once again no exception.  This storyline was so upsetting to me, I didn’t even flinch when Derek told Meredith he was going back to Addison - you know that drama will be going back-and-forth anyway).

Dang it all…I hate going to work on Mondays with puffy eyes.

COMEDIC RELIEF OF THE WEEK:  Thank God for Sandra Oh!  Too bad this show is not considered a comedy because she could seriously rival all those desperate housewives as the funniest woman on ABC.  Every week I grow to love her character more and more – and to think that I could never get into that show Arliss.  Oh – and those one-liners!  She had so many juicy quotables this week, I don’t even know where to begin.  But being a native of Seattle, I will choose this one:

“I can’t go back to Los Angeles.  It’s sunny every day”