What a treat this week's episode was, hmm? Chalk full of little easter eggs for us Pacific Northwesters. Plus, the triumphant return of Joe ! And mocha lattes! Special appearances by Mamas Grey and Yang! Lake Washington aerial view! And, Seattle Grace Hospital continues to single-handedly be responsible for the whole of Seattle Magazine's circulation.

The gang kicks off the evening with a little nightcap, courtesy of the Emerald City Bar and its risen-from-the-dead-owner Joe, who nets about seven whole seconds of screen time. (Seriously, where was he last season?) They start to gab about Cristina and how she stays so emotionless despite the fact that she's suffered through the loss of a baby, a boyfriend and a fallopian tube all within a short period. Hmm…one of these things is not like the other…Georgie envies her soullessness cause it's gonna make her a great surgeon. Meredith takes this time to issue this week's theme: Denial. They deny how tired they are, how scared they are and how badly they want to succeed. Heck, they're even in denial that they're in denial! Oh, those crazy kids. Hey, Meredith's getting that look in her eyes, which only means one thing…

Yep! Quick cut to McDreamy. He's chatting up Nazi in the same bar, spilling his guts and confiding in his fellow doctor about his pain and anguish over his Meredith-Addison dilemma and subsequent heartbreak. She responds in her trademark loving way, calls him damn stupid and takes off. Sigh. That's our Nazi.

The interns are prepping for rounds and Nazi tells Alex to see the Chief by the end of the day. Uh-oh. Trouble's a brewing. Or could it be good news? Nope. It's Alex. Must be trouble.

Assignments are given out and…aah, so that's what contrivance looks like! Meredith is ordered to watch over a recovering Cristina, Georgie-boy is stuck nannying Mama Ellis, Izzy gets a pretentious medical know-it-all and Alex nabs himself a potential trauma patient.

We'll start with Cristina's storyline, if for no other reason than Sandra Oh delivers our new favorite insult and the best line of the show. And because this week we're introduced to another gem from Cristina's past—ladies and gentlemen, Mama Yang! She's contrite, she's obnoxious, she's an embarrassment, she's everything you want her to be. And she's also a furniture repairer, which leads us to the Best Comeback Ever: "Go upholster something!" Huzzah, we say. Huzzah.

But our feisty little Cristina can't leave well enough alone in bed and goes AWOL, secretly stealing patients' clipboards and trying to diagnose them behind other people's backs. Like Izzy's patient. A picture-perfect blond African missionary with a doctorate in neuropharmacology (she claims) who has done a self-diagnosis and determined she needs surgery. But Cristina sees her sneaking unapproved pills and thinks she's faking it. That she has Munchausen's. You know, like Eminem's mom. Burke and Izzy poo-poo this idea, relegate Cristina back to bedrest and head to the O.R. Funny thing though. Her urine is blue. Which means she was purposely causing symptoms and is, in fact, faking it. She gets a one-way ticket to the psych ward.

Izzy makes a feeble, stuttering attempt to, you know, like, maybe, eat dinner, or, you know, catch a movie, or I don't know, something, with Alex. But he interrupts her pathetic try and asks her out on a real, live, proper, fancy dress date. She accepts. Huzzah.

Alex spends his day with a patient who claims to have shot himself in the head. Only problem is there's no bullet hole, just a little burn. Alex thinks the guy is faking it, but a CT scan reveals that he is not. Then the patient's wife shows up, all angry-like, and demands he and McDreamy perform surgery on him tout de suite. And then Mama Grey shows up, scrubbed and ready. Yep. Mama Grey. But the good doctors overhear the wife and patient yelling over him cheating on her and the wife admits that she shot him. One short call to the Seattle P.D. later and wifey is locked away. And McDreamy thinks a cheating spouse may be worth a bullet. Whoa there, buddy. Move on.

Needless to say, George loses track of Mama Grey. Twice, actually. And on the second time, she plants a big wet one on Webber. Wha…? Was there an affair in the past or was she just confused? Now we're confused. And so is George. He wants off his babysitting duties, but then comes back on cause his heart is just too big for his own good.

McDreamy gets served divorce papers from Addison, who tells him that the ball is in his court. All he has to do is sign the papers and she will too. And then she'll hightail it to JFK. He can't. He doesn't. And then Meredith sees the unsigned divorce papers. Ouch.

Meanwhile, Meredith, Addison and Nazi take on a patient who's also a former intern for Nazi. Hey, it's American Pie guy ! Nice to see him working again. They need to take out his pancreas and reroute his intestines. Operation or no operation, it looks grim. And it is. After valiant efforts to revive him in the O.R. (despite a "do not resuscitate" order) he's gone. And Nazi is heartbroken. They had quite a rapport. And now she has to call his parents and break the bad news.

Alex finally finds out Webber's news and it ain't good: he failed his medical exams. So he's only got four months to study, retake them and hopefully pass. Otherwise he'll be practioner non grata at Seattle Grace…or any hospital. So a good vibe to start a date out on. He acts weird, of course, and Izzy is confused, of course (hey, join the club, sister), and they head off for what's sure to be an awkward night full of tense silences.

But back in the hospital, Cristina freaks out. No, she really freaks out. More than that. Little more…little more….yeah! Just like that. That's how badly she freaks out. Can't stop crying. Finally realizing what's happened, demands to be sedated (that's our girl), scaring George (not hard to do, admittedly) and refusing to be touched in the process. So she eventually calms down and is lying in bed. Burke walks by, ready to leave, but comes into her room. Mama Yang (!) tells him that she doesn't want to be touched. But you know what? Burke didn't get to where he is by listening to others. He's a man of passion to be sure. And he gets into bed with Cristina and holds her. Now, why can't those kids just work it out?!

Meredith finishes off the episode yabbering about how sometimes denial's not just a river in Egypt, it's a freakin' ocean. And you just gotta try not to drown. Huzzah, Meredith. Huzzah.