I really thought that I would be able to retain every detail from Episode 9 through the weekend up till now. Aren’t life lessons wonderful? They usually happen at the most embarrassing of times. Don’t worry, though. I at least remember the really important stuff like who slept with whom, who dumped who and who was the latest to be impaled by a large icicle.

I don’t remember how the episode started but I know the day is full of surprise visits. First up is Adele Webber (Loretta Devine) who shows up looking like a woman on the hunt. She wants to know where her husband is, Chief Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.), because it’s been days since her man has been home. Adele is certain that Richard is having another affair and accuses Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) of being his latest paramour. Dr. Bailey assures Adele that there is no way she is having an affair with The Chief. Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) is standing nearby observing this heated exchange and tries to squash the anger by assuring Adele that the only affair Miranda is having with Richard is strictly on a professional level.

Callie explains that Miranda is kind of like Richard’s “work wife”. In the hospital they function as a team that closely resembles a husband and wife but out of the hospital they are just friends. Amazingly, Adele seems to buy that and eases off Miranda but she is still very concerned about Richard and still suspicious that he is sleeping around again.

Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) surprises his girlfriend, Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh), with a very special gift. Due to Christina’s frustration with not being able to work under a seasoned cardiac surgeon Owen rings up an old war buddy to fill in that void. Christina is wary about the new “cardio goddess” Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver). She’s already less than impressed with Teddy’s credentials and lack of “street cred” in the medical field. Then Christina outperforms Teddy in the operating room and pleads with Owen to exchange her for a pony.

Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) returns to her old job with a new patient. It turns out she went back to her hometown and discovered that one of her old teachers (Joel Grey) was having neurological problems. She brings the teacher to Seattle Grace hoping that Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) will be able to perform a pro-bono surgery for her ailing instructor.

Finally, Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has returned to duty. Fully recovered from her liver transplant donation surgery Meredith has come back just in time to get back into the drama of Seattle Grace.

One of the first faces Izzie bumps into is the Mercy West intern that “helped” to get her fired, Dr. Charles Percy (Robert Baker). She asks Charles to perform a spinal tap on the teacher to nail down what’s making the man senile. When Charles refuses Izzie threatens to tell Dr. Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner) about Charles’ crush on her. Charles buckles down and performs the test. The test showed that the problem was definitely neurological and operable.

Izzie approached Derek to do the surgery and he agrees on the condition that The Chief gives the green light. The Chief refuses outright, at first, so Izzie again has to pull the blackmail card by threatening to tell the press that Seattle Grace is refusing a pro-bono surgery to the woman who funded the Denny Duquette Clinic. Chief Webber folds as easily as Charles and the surgery is a go.

The hospital is a twitter over Izzie’s reappearance especially Christina and Meredith who chat a little with Izzie about where she’s been and the status of her cancer treatments. That’s when she tells them she went home and that she’s been getting her care in her hometown as well. Of course she and Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) meet eyes but he huffs away in an “I’m not ready to yell at you yet” mood.

Dr. Adamson and Dr. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) alert Miranda that Chief Webber’s patient has yellow skin. The interns guess that The Chief may have made an error during his surgery and hence The Simpsons makeover. Miranda swears the two doctors to secrecy until she confirms what’s happened.

How long has it been since we had a good ol’ cafeteria scene? Too long, if you ask me and Shonda Rhimes (series creator and writer) must’ve agreed because we have not one but two tables of doctor gab in the mess hall.

Table #1 finds Callie, Owen and Teddy eating with Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) and Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). Teddy is a little amazed by Christina’s snotty attitude and the other doctors share their own “horror stories” about Christina’s past relationships with cardio doctors of the past. Owen tries to defend his woman but except for Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith), who was sort of driven out by Callie, the rest of the cardio deities seemed to get burned by their association with Christina.

At Table #2 Christina, Meredith and Alex chat about the new cardio goddess for awhile but then Christina starts bringing up Izzie and Alex bails. As usual, Christina is unaware that she was being offensive.

Christina backs off but Meredith gently nudges Alex to speak with Izzie. When that doesn’t work Meredith puts her foot down and tells Alex to find Izzie in the observation room and communicate about her abrupt departure. Alex hates that Meredith is right but swallows his massive lump of pride and goes to Izzie.

The conversation starts awkwardly with Alex sitting a couple of rows behind Izzie instead of next to her. Alex starts by saying how worried he was about her and how hurt he was by her leaving. Izzie believed that Alex went to The Chief and helped to sabotage her career. She blamed Alex for helping to take away the one thing that was keeping her going. Ah, but Alex lands a TKO by accusing his wife of jumping to conclusions and bailing instead of talking to him, her husband. And so Alex leaves Izzie this time and Izzie watches her teacher’s operation alone.

A kid is brought in with difficulty breathing. Christina isn’t sure about it and wants to run more tests but Teddy listens to the child’s breathing and is certain its cardio related. They rush the boy into the OR and start the heart surgery. Christina performs a delicate and new procedure. When it looks like she aced it something goes wrong and she starts to panic. Teddy helps Christina to focus and Christina is able to correct her error and save the child. Yet again Christina is fed a healthy slice of humble pie as she acknowledges that the doctor she dismissed as useless actually has a lot to teach the star cardio pupil.

Miranda finds Chief Webber and tells him about the patient he messed up on. She assures him that the error was corrected before any permanent damage was done and that no one will ever know about the incident. She also advises The Chief to get over whatever he’s going through because he’s now putting his patients at risk. The Chief then surprises Miranda by offering her his surgeries while he gets his head together. A stunned yet honored Miranda takes the case files ready to strut her stuff in the upcoming surgeries.

During an outside chat Teddy asks why Owen didn’t call her when he broke up from his fiancée. Owen is at a loss for words but his face confesses that he never thought of Teddy as a potential girlfriend. Teddy is a little deflated by this development since she had a torch lit for Owen and hoped that one day they would be a couple. But she respects his relationship with Christina and will not interfere. Or so it would appear at this time.

A few of the staff head over to Joe’s for some drinks and relaxation. In one corner we have Meredith trying to comfort Alex who is drinking away his sorrows over his wife. They did not make up after that heated discussion in the observation room and she went back to her hometown so Alex is left alone, again.

At the other end of the bar is Chief Webber. He’s ordering club soda but the camera cuts to Joe pouring vodka in Richard’s glass but not before asking for Richard’s car keys. Through the magic of television we are able to see the thoughts that are causing Richard to drink himself into a stupor via clips from previous episodes. As we’ve known all along the stress of the merger and the pressure from the hospital board is eating him up. We also see a flashback from Episode 4 when Richard talks to a hospitalized Thatcher Grey alcoholic to alcoholic. As Richard prepares to fling himself off the wagon he exchanges a brief glance with Meredith. He then sits the glass back down on the bar contemplating what to do next.

I’ve been watching Grey’s Anatomy since Season 1 and I don’t recall The Chief’s battle with liquor ever brought to light until now. It seemed like the only major sin he ever committed was having that affair with Meredith’s mother. I wonder if even Adele knew about Richard’s drinking problem?

I’m glad Meredith was brought back in time to help Alex with Izzie. I like that special bond that Alex has with Meredith. Kind of like a sister thing, almost. This might sound cruel but I’m counting the days until something happens that will kill “Happy Married Meredith” resulting in the resurrection of “Dark & Twisted Meredith”. Until that happens I’ll just have to get used to Meredith being the newest voice of reason and sanity at Seattle Grace.

Whoops! I forgot to mention that Christina and Jackson (Jesse Williams) have a brief follow-up about that impromptu kiss in Episode 8. Christina tells Jackson the kiss never happened. End of story on that unless Jackson tries to write another chapter for that potential romance story. Honestly, I know Grey’s Anatomy is known for some unlikely hook-ups but Christina has invested so much into Owen that I don’t see her falling for just any intern for a one-nighter.

It was nice to see Izzie again. I’m glad she wasn’t lying in a gutter somewhere. She went back home to collect herself. Hey, sometimes you have to go back to your roots to reconfigure your life path. I bet if George (T.R. Knight) was still around she would’ve gone to him for comfort and not left so hastily. She didn’t even talk to Meredith and they have a pretty good friendship. Or so I thought. I didn’t see her in the Episode 10 preview so I don’t know when her next appearance will be. For her sake I hope it will be before Alex and Reed hook-up.

Yes, the preview for the next episode will center on a girl that strongly believes Dr. Sloan is her father. It’s not too farfetched that the bed-hopping plastic surgeon would slip up and become a “baby daddy”. But is this girl the one? And if she is, can Mark step up to the challenge? I mean, look how long it took him to commit to a monogamous relationship. Gee, I guess I remembered a lot more than I thought I did. Cool. See y’all next week!