I Am a Tree

Infobox Television episode | Title = I Am a Tree
Series = Grey's Anatomy
Season = 3
Episode = 2
Guests = Chris O'Donnell (Dr. Finn Dandridge); Richard Roundtree (Donald Burke); Roxanne Hart (Dana Seabury); Peter Paige (Benjamin O’Leary); Steven W. Bailey (Joe); Elizabeth Sampson (Ruth O’Leary); Javier Grajeda (Jeffrey Hernandez) And Diahann Carroll (Jane Burke)
Airdate = September 28, 2006 (ABC)
Production = 302
Writer = Krista Vernoff
Director = Jeff Melman
Episode list = Episode chronology


Prev = Time Has Come Today
Next = Sometimes a Fantasy

"I Am a Tree" is the second episode of the third season of the ABC series, "Grey's Anatomy". The episode was written by Krista Vernoff and was directed by Jeff Melman. It originally aired on September 28, 2006.

Episode recap

Burke's parents walk in on Cristina as she straddles Burke wearing only her lingerie. Cristina then has coffee with Burke's mother, who first suggests that once Burke and Cristina marry she should change her specialty to OB/GYN. She also states that Cristina is selfish. Bailey starts being much harder on her interns, as she feels she could have stopped Izzie from cutting the LVAD wire had she not "gone soft." In the end, Bailey tells Izzie she can come back to the hospital. In order to save the interns from Bailey's wrath, Callie claims the panties on the noticeboard as her own, leading to George being jealous as he has never seen Callie wear them before. Izzie bakes dozens of muffins to deal with her grief and lack of work. Callie moves in with George after the Chief discovers her living in the hospital basement.

The doctors must deal with a boy who, while street luging, was thrown into a pile of tree clippings, and is left with a large branch protruding through his abdomen. Derek operates on a man who, due to a brain tumor, vocalizes all his thoughts and does not realize when he offends people. A lung cancer patient lives what may be her last day to the fullest, which includes having sex with Alex in the toilet of Joe's bar.

At first Meredith decides to choose Derek over Finn, but is impressed when she finds that Finn brought Izzie food. This forces Meredith to flip a coin to choose, but in the end she decides to try dating both of them. Addison, after finding Meredith's panties in Derek's tuxedo, has turned to alcohol and takes a break from her hospital duties. Derek comes to the conclusion that his marriage is over and tells Addison this, after meeting her in a hotel room. The episode ends with Mark, with whom Addison originally cheated on Derek, emerging from the bathroom of the hotel room wearing nothing more than a towel.

Title reference

This episode's title refers to a song written by Doug Gillard, from the Guided by Voices album "Mag Earwhig!".

Music

*"The Time Is Now" - Moloko
*"Crashing Down" - Mat Kearney
*"Theme From Chalets" - The Chalets
*"The Mating Game" -
*"Running On Sunshine" - Jesus Jackson
*"Open Your Eyes" - Snow Patrol