Grey's Anatomy Rewind

The landmark episode centered around a fundraising gala, thrown by Avery and despised by all (except Derek, who can juggle, and April, who's hilariously delighted by magic…of course she is), to help tide Grey Sloan Memorial over until its insurance check from that literally deadly storm comes in. That's how it works in TV Seattle: no gala, no electricity. You do the math. It all somehow adds up to 200.

This party had everything: unicycles, a sleeping baby, a tightrope walker, chandeliers, face paint, a woman's tibia impaled on her foot, fire breathers, beaks, Moulin Rouge extras as waitresses, and spiky-haired weirdos in…skeleton suits? Maybe I dreamt that one. It looked like the scene in Girls Just Want to Have Fun when the "party people" crash Natalie Sands' coming out party. (Jugglin' Derek Shepherd would totally be the Jeff Malene of Grey's Anatomy. I guess Sandra Oh would be Helen Hunt? It doesn't really work.)

So much for the "tasteful, sophisticated, and conservative" snoozefest Avery had promised. After having the docs compete to see who could swindle the most money out of local billionaires (10 percent of the night's takings would go to the department that raised the most money), Avery decided what the hell, why not just go balls-to-the-wall liberal? He invited the donors to come watch a surgery. And that's all it took! Where could they write the checks? And how, exactly, does one write a check? (These billionaires were generally portrayed as idiots.)

Meanwhile, between life-affirming surgeries, our favorite McLovin' It couple was off in the exam room,

link: tvrecaps