How best to describe this week's episode? Well, most of it made me want to stab myself with a finely sharpened toothbrush.

That is exactly what has happened to Eric Stoltz, a death row prisoner who has been brought in after being beaten in a prison fight. Mere and Cristina are not happy that both of them are assigned to the same case, on account of them still not speaking to each other. Things are even more awkward because the two attendings on the case are Shepherd and Hunt. Meredith wants to make the guy more comfortable but Cristina and Derek want him to only get the amount of care he needs to survive and kind of relish him being in pain. When the girls are in the room with him alone Cristina asks what he did and he tells them serenely about how he slit the throats of five women in three days and really enjoyed doing it. It's disgusting and does put you firmly on the side of not having any sympathy for the guy even though it turns out he does have a toothbrush shiv still lodged in his spine. They operate on him to take it out, Derek pouting self-righteously the whole time. (Which might have made more of an impact if this wasn't the way he acts every week now.) Hunt tries lamely to be a neutral party while they're in the OR so Cristina turns on him... basically it means there was literally nothing enjoyable to watch of the entire storyline. Sadie does finally tell Mere she needs to make up with Cristina or else she'll drive Cristina away for good, reminding Mere that they aren't really close anymore because Mere did the same thing to Sadie years ago.

Bailey is treating a kid who she has seen for three years as he's gradually had most of his intestine taken out. Before his procedure his surgeon drops dead of a massive heart attack, so a new young, cutesy pediatric surgeon who wears those tennis shoes with the wheels in him takes over. Bailey's pissed that Arizona, the new doc, takes a bleaker look of her patient's situation than Bailey would like and spends her time second guessing every move she makes. She runs to Richard for help but he's busy feeling sorry for the state of his hospital while he sulks in a dark OR and only points out that she's hated every new attending when they first started. Bailey finally has to admit that Arizona is right, and that her patient Jackson is horribly ill and needs a couple of transplants. Fortunately the good thing that comes of it is at least it snaps Richard out of his pity party when she goes to him for help on the case.

The one bright spot of the episode -- or rather, the two bright spots -- are Callie and Mark, who spend their day trying to keep each other from lusting after/sleeping with the intern objects of their desire. The chemistry between the two means I tend to like any scene they have together no matter how frothy it is, and thank goodness. Because the rest of the hour not filled with anything above is filled with the ghostly love triangle. Izzie decides she has to tell Alex she's been seeing Denny and is shocked that Alex seems not to care. Granted, this is because Alex is sane and assumes she is too, and he thinks she is just still grieving and having fantasies about Denny and doesn't get that he's really, truly there. For some reason Alex still loves her, and he bakes her a cake for her birthday to show it. Even Denny has to admit it's a sweet gesture, and right now nothing kills me more than the fact that I agree with him about something. Wait, no -- the fact that I even have to talk about a love triangle that involves a ghost kills me even more.

Look at the show's most annoying storylines. Come back on Wednesday for the full detailed episode recap.