The Good:
While it was upsetting how they killed off George, it really seemed to bring everyone together in a great way. The fallout really served as a reminder of how important he was in Izzie's life, how Callie did indeed love him and how much he really meant to everyone at Seattle Grace in general. That was refreshing after having seen him be demoted to intern, unwanted sidekick and all-around whipping boy last year.

Also, and I know you'll probably be shocked, but I sort of liked Izzie last night. I feel wrong about it, but I loved how she stood up to the annoying girl that George saved, and I thought it was nice to see her fight for Alex. In fact, while inappropriate, I thought it was very genuine that she burst out in a fit of giggles at the funeral. She wasn't ready to deal with the true emotions of the situation, since she was on the brink of death, but a twist of fate caused her best friend to die in the most bizarre way possible, and her reaction seemed believable. Plus, it called to mind that great episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Mary busts into laughter at the funeral for Chuckles the Clown. Watching Izzie cope with living with cancer and without her best friend, might almost be, dare I say it, good.

While I've complained a lot about Lexie as well, I actually liked the scenes with she, Callie and Mark together. And I was sort of oddly proud that she stood up to Callie. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing more of these too-close-for-comfort neighbors.

The Bad:
Anything to do with the Chief rubbed me the wrong way. Much as I think the idea of the hospitals merging holds some promise, his attitude towards his staff was irritating and seemed out of character. It's like he just stopped caring about people along the way, and his war with McDreamy seemed unnecessary.

Cristina and Hunt are two of the main reasons that I stuck with the show at all last season, but while this relationship has so much promise, it just feels awkward right now. I don't know if it is because of the therapist and the PTSD conversation, but the joking about being choked seemed a little too much, even for Yang. And when they finally did get it on, it wasn't as hot as I imagined.

I'm kind of over Callie and Arizona together, and Arizona period. I just think Callie's super hot and could do better than a woman who takes advantage of her. It seems like they are trying to make Arizona more of a character, but right now she still seems really flat, so they seriously need to develop her personality. I was far more interested in Martha Plimpton as her patient's mother than I was in her. Also, if there's a weird flirting thing going on with McDreamy, that's just a gross path to go down, show.

There were other positives, like Bailey's complete and utter emotional shutdown and Meredith and McSteamy being sexy and not totally annoyingly miserable around each other, that also indicated that the show is heading in the right direction. So who knows, this could be the season Grey's fans have been waiting for.

Did the season premiere get you excited for the season?