When I sat down to watch tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy, I was nervous. You may remember reading in my post last Thursday that Isaiah Washington would be reprising his role as Dr. Burke this week. While I was very interested to see how the writers would script his return (Is he still in love with Cristina? Does he want to offer her a job?), I also couldn't shake the memory of the homophobic comments he made which got him expelled from the show.
All day long on Twitter the hashtag #BurkeIsBack was all over my feed. Let's find out why he's back at Seattle Grace. Off we go!
The episode opened with the Chief calling a board meeting and requesting that Cristina appeal the Harper Avery decision. He is taking this so personally!
Cristina stormed out of that meeting and went to check on her patients, the two siblings with the failing hearts. In a very touching scene, she tells their mother the family is being discharged to heal at home.
Later on, Cristina flies to Zurich to speak about her conduit trial. At the close of her presentation we hear an audience member ask a question. Though the person who asked was off screen, I knew the sound of that voice immediately - Burke.
When he rose from his seat and stepped into the light, I could hear every woman in America gasp. He's just as handsome as always.
Burke tries to seduce Cristina with his newest invention, a hologram of the heart that updates in real time. He also shows her the 49 3D printers they have on site.
Cristina shares with Burke that her goal is to print a functional, beating human heart. He replies, "I know that you've become a magnificent surgeon. You've become everything I dreamed you'd be. You should be in a place like this."
It comes out later that Burke brought Cristina to Zurich to offer her his job. He is married now with two children and his wife wants to move to Milan to be close to her family. Hello, punch to the gut.
For some reason during that final Burke/Cristina moment a horrible cover of Madonna's "Like A Virgin" was playing. What is with all the cover songs this season? They are awful.
In other news this hour, Kepner and Avery had their first ultrasound. Jackson also agrees to go to church every Sunday once their child is born. That was a precious moment.
Callie and Arizona are talking baby names, Jo is flailing, Bailey snuck her enzymes into the child with no immune system and Derek asks his sister to come work at Seattle Grace.
In the previews for next week, we learn there are only two more Cristina episodes left. Eeeek!
*Image courtesy of Grey's Anatomy.
