Is it just me, or do the writers at Grey’s Anatomy seem to be stuck in a dark and twisty spiral of misery and agony? If you consider, according to the show’s alleged timeline, the characters haven’t even finished their first year of residency…here’s what they’ve dealt with:

• George’s dad dies
• Meredith’s Alzheimer’s-stricken mother lives, then dies
• Izzie’s fiancé dies
• Cristina miscarries
• Cristina & Burke get engaged
• George gets syphilis
• George sees Cristina naked at Burke’s apartment
• Meredith nearly drowns, dies, sees Bomb Guy & Denny, then comes back to life
• Meredith sees Bomb Guy blow up
• Meredith’s dog dies

I could go on and on…but last night’s episode was the capstone of the season in my opinion, because now Izzie’s adopted-out daughter Hannah has arrived at the Foremost and Apparently, Only Hospital In The Country with leukemia and her adoptive parents want Izzie to donate bone marrow. All together now…seriously?

We knew she’d eventually show up because, what would the point have been of Izzie confiding she had a daughter to Meredith last season? And of course, the daughter is beautiful, Izzie is verklempt, and George gets his first opportunity to put Izzie’s pants on, rather than take them off. Go team.

When I was watching Derek (buddy, get a haircut, BTW) pace around and fret about how his ambitious endeavors had been sidetracked by a chick of all things, I thought of my favorite mini-series of all time…The Thorn Birds. I used to joke that it could turn into a drinking game, where every time Father Ralph said to Meggie, “But I love God more,” usually after he has expressed undying love for her. The story, obviously, was about love and ambition…and how Father Ralph’s ambition outweighed his love for Meggie…and he found out way too late.

Derek informs all of us last night that he came to Seattle Grace specifically to become Chief…not because he liked ferry boats or flannel shirts as he’d led us to believe in the first season. Since he’s met Meredith though, I guess he has lost his edge, punctuated by his poor interview performance with the Board. From how it’s all starting to sound, he’s leaning towards giving up Meredith to be The Chief, despite The Current Chief telling him where that sort of choice will put him in 25 years…at Joe’s bar with McSteamy, picking up U-Dub students on their way home from bio class.

Honestly, I have no problem with Derek (I really can’t call him McDreamy anymore) refocusing his priorities in this manner, because he has turned into a Fourth (Fifth? Sixth? I have no idea who lives at her house, anymore) Roommate and needs to go spend some time at his own place in the woods. I wanted to smack him when he was nagging at Susan about how to treat Meredith. Dude, go away. Last time I checked, you weren’t paying rent…which your million-dollar hands can likely afford.

And speaking of Susan…I liked seeing her put Meredith in her place and confess she was the reason her dad didn’t keep in touch. It explains all of the guilt…and all of the reparations. More than that though, Alex again delivers the line of the night with, “You may be confused since you were basically raised by wolves, but this is what mothers do. They stop by, they stock the fridge. Dude, you think she might do our laundry?” Heh.

Oh, and George sweetly invites Callie to meet him for coffee at 3 because she’s been up for about 200 hours and hasn’t had a chance to put any makeup on. Then, he blows her off to tend to Izzie. Nice.

Our DVR abruptly cut over to ER at the exact moment when The Current Chief is supposedly “practicing” his moves on Addison…so I need to wait for ABC.com to get the ep up…so I can see how that works out. Am I the only one who has noticed sparks, if not flying, at least leisurely floating around those two? Doesn’t matter…she’s leaving for LA next month, anyway.

And…how many more seasons until we find out Chief Webber is Meredith’s dad? Either that, or he’s in love with Derek, too.