This is the best episode of GREY'S I've seen in a long time -with a powerful central theme narrated by Dempsey, and riveting, nail-biting direction by Wilson, in what IMDb lists as her first visit to the director's chair. Instead of the wearying juggling of parallel stories and endless subplots that undoubtedly keeps fans of these latter-day (post-St. Elsewhere I guess) TV serials amused, this was an episode that focused on one strong story, and still had time for some updates on the show's running arcs, notably the missing Izzie character.
Chyler Leigh had a couple of spectacular speeches, very well delivered, and made one of her strongest impressions yet under Wilson's tutelage. The central character Isaac, is a very moving portrayal of the human spirit under the most trying of conditions, and I hope Faran Tahir in that role gets an Emmy nomination for his forceful yet sensitive performance -one I will remember for a long time. The other ensemble cast members like Norah Zehetner, Oh, Pickens, Chambers, Dane, Ramirez and Capshaw did a fine job -it was refreshing to see the series' romances put on hold as the show gets revivified with some drama & suspense for a change. My only caveat was in the writing -if this had been a standalone movie, or play, the point-of-view (and defending same) for the boss Pickens character would have been fleshed out and made more credible; as it stands he is merely the straw man you love to hate in this outing.
Overall it stands as evidence that non-directors with a heavy personal investment in the material can make a positive difference on TV, where basically (except for control-freak creators-hyphenate-directors) it is traffic cops and failed movie directors (check the credits on these shows some time) who get the call, week in and week out.