A three-part story arc seems a little odd for a TV show, with extended story-lines ordinarily playing out over two episodes. Not that I’m complaining (wait for that later) when it involves the epic crashing of a ferry in Grey’s Anatomy. Last week the interns (barring a grumpy Cristina) were sent to the harbour to save as many of the victims injured in the disaster as possible, but found themselves a bit out of their depth (if you’ll pardon the pun). All except Meredith who was sent crashing into the murky depths by a patient. Would she be found and saved?

Cristina asked after her and Shepherd was desperately trying to find her but the only one who knew the fate of Meredith wasn’t talking. The blonde girl, who had followed her until her unexpected dip had remained mute since the accident and was unwilling and/ or unable to verbally communicate with a worried McDreamy. Finally she pointed out to sea and soon our hero was emerging from the cold waters, carrying the blue and lifeless body of Meredith in his arms.

Back at the hospital, the surgeons rallied around Meredith, warming her frozen body and indulging lots of serious looks. Shepherd’s despair was well acted by Patrick Dempsey, with the most touching example of togetherness coming from Sloan. Though painfully estranged from one another, the former best friends had a ‘moment’ when Sloan sat with Derek and tapped his arm in comfort. It was very under-played and low-key and it is in these small moments that I really think GA shines. It is during the showier scenes that it substitutes genuine emotion for annoying schmaltzy grand-standing, cue Izzie.

On hearing of Meredith’s condition, the interns watched worried from afar. George looked desolate, Cristina visibly crumpled and Karev looked stern. Izzie took this opportunity to galvanise her friends with words that writer Shonda Rhimes obviously considered to be rousing and inspirational – they weren’t. Her “I believe” speech dragged on and on, frequently repeated itself and seemed to touch on absolutely everything going on (what’s that? George’s marriage to Callie, let’s throw that in the mix. And Izzie’s mourning over Denny? Yep, that sounds good as well.) It was all well-intentioned to bring a togetherness to the scene, but was disappointingly cloying.

I have to admit that I was surprised that during the aftermath of such a massive tragedy that the surgical staff could all neglect their patients to go tend to their friend. At one point Meredith was being treated by the Chief, Burke, Bailey and Addison with Sloan and Shepherd slumped on the floor and the other four interns waiting in the corridor. This left only Callie actually helping the victims from the ferry crash. Now I know GA is fiction and a soppy, idealised one at that. But having virtually every surgeon tend to one person seemed a bit much of a stretch.

That said it wasn’t the only plot that had me screwing up my face in confusion. How are we supposed to believe in the large scale of the accident when George’s job was to locate one missing child? As a surgeon, with valuable skills how was this an appropriate allocation of resources? It seemed a bit too Saving Private Ryan for GA.

Ranting over – the other story-lines were very engaging. Izzie, under the telephone guidance of the Chief and Sloan, saved the life of her patient trapped beneath a truck. She rose above her personal fears to drill into the man’s skull to alleviate the blood clots forming. This earned her an end to her probationary period and provided a turning point for the doubting intern.

George managed to find his missing boy on Callie’s operating table and Karev had the unpleasant task of dealing with the patient’s families. Addison worried that no-one would miss her if she was to suffer an accident and Cristina upset Burke with her admission that their engagement needed the approval of Meredith. And it was Meredith, the unconscious patient that closed the episode – and in some serious style.

Meredith, rosy-cheeked and healthy looking awoke from her hospital bed. Having last seen her looking blue and close to death, was this one of those cheesy TV out-of-the-body experiences? Oh no. The awoken Meredith looked around her room to find Dylan – the bomb disposal expert who she had witnessed die in season two. A further turn of the head revealed Denny Duquette – bloody hell!

Dylan: Hey.
Meredith: [confused] Hey. Am I...
[Dylan smiles]
Meredith: ... dead?
Denny Duquette: Damn right you are.
Meredith: [looking between the two of them] Holy -
[cut to shot outside of room]

What an ending!