Grey's Anatomy -- Five O'Clock

The season premiere opens with Christina in Minnesota and Alex getting ready to leave for Hopkins, while Meredith has taken a position at Seattle Grace and Richard reminds Callie and Derek about five o'clock.

Five o'clock is when they're set to unplug Mark's life support machines per his living will. Five o'clock is the deadline for Mark to come back before it's too late. Mark has apparently been like this since he's been rescued. Is this really the end for that rascal Mark Sloan or will he make an eleventh hour recovery?

At the hospital, Meredith is considered the new terror among the new residents. They've even got a nickname for her. Medusa. Bailey also has a new nickname replacing her old one as the Nazi. Because of her trysts with Dr. Warren in the hospital she's been given the name Booty Call Bailey. When one of the interns complains to Owen about Meredith being so mean and wonders if it's because of the plane crash she was in, Owen defends Meredith and says she's just trying to be a good teacher and if she can't handle it to just leave.

Callie performed surgery on Derek's hand and he claims he's ready to return to the operating room. Unfortunately, when he does, he drops an instrument and his hand goes numb. Does Derek just need more time to heal or is his career as a surgeon over for good?

Alex is having a good time banging all the pretty female residents before he leaves for his position at Hopkins. However, he begins to have seconds thoughts when he meets the new Peds doctor who has come to replace Arizona. He's especially upset when he learns the new doctor intends to discontinue the surgeries on all the African children. Alex also has some guilt because he was supposed to be on the plane and wasn't. Ultimately, he decides to stay at Seattle Grace.

Of course, the big question is where is Arizona. She's the only survivor who hasn't been seen. She's been replaced with another doctor at Seattle Grace. What with everyone talking about her like she's dead or something just what happened to her? There's even a scene where Callie breaks down crying about her.

I wasn't fooled for an instant that Arizona was dead. I figured she had her leg amputated, so there was no gasp of shock when she pulled back the covers. There is no way Shonda is going to kill off one member of her sacred poster couple for showing just what a risk taker she is and how evolved she is by doing a gay romance on the show. Derek and Meredith have a chance of being killed off before it ever happens to either Callie or Arizona.

Meanwhile, Minnesota is proving to be not a good mix for Christina. She's surrounded by a bunch of Mellow Yellows who aren't cutthroat and believe it's best to be buddies instead of competitors for the best surgeries. She also has no use for Dr. Thomas who wants to regale her with some of his past surgeries. Probably the best new match-up is William Daniels and Sandra Oh. Guess Shonda decided to continue their relationship that started back during when Christina took the boards and Dr. Thomas was one of the doctor's testing her.

Christina promises she'll be in Seattle by five and acts like it's no big deal that Mark's life support is going to be discontinued at five o'clock. However, during the surgery, she notices when it's five o'clock, but she's surrounded by strangers so doesn't tell them what's happening. Christina hasn't apparently been able to board a plane since taking her position in Minnesota. She's promised several times to fly in to Seattle but something always manages to stop her. Even though she and Owen aren't communicating, he seems to get that.

Meredith decides to take matters into her own hands and go visit Christina. She boards the plane, but when it's about to take out, she causing a scene until they let her off the plane. It seems Meredith can't get on a plane anymore than Christina can. While she's skyping Christina, Alex tells Christina that Owen is on his way to see her, since he saw him boarding a plane at the airport and assumes he's on his way to see Christina.

Actually, he's gone to see April who is tending a pig when he arrives. He says he wasn't a good teacher to her and shouldn't have fired her when she failed her boards. He asks her to come back to Seattle Grace so he can get a second chance at getting it right.

At five o'clock Richard turns off Mark's respirator and removes it from him as Derek and Callie sit by his bedside. Just turning it off doesn't make Mark suddenly die. Callie and Derek sat by his side as his vital signs slowly began to fail. Even as he flat-lined, I thought he'd make some eleventh hour recovery. I really didn't think Rimes would kill off another cast member, but she did.

Over the summer I caught up through syndication on all of Mark and Lexie's relationship, and I came away feelings Mark always loved her more than she loved him. She was always dumping Mark and getting involved with another man because Mark wanted to be a father.So at the end of it all I hoped Mark would leave the show with the hope that he'd find a better love than Lexie was.

I will say this. Mark was given a better send-off than Lexie got. After a two second death scene and a two second cryfest by Meredith, that was pretty much the end of it for Lexie. Mark got flashbacks of the past and one final shot of him holding his daughter. His death also took longer than Lexie's with everyone gathered around watching as he died.

I'll miss Mark Sloan. He was the only one who put a sense of fun in the show and in his scenes. Most of the other characters are so dark and depressing. Here's hoping Eric Dane goes on to big and better things.