Image credit: KELSEY MCNEAL/ABC

BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) reunited during a touching hour of Grey's Anatomy.

It was undoubtedly by exactly perfect design, but Cristina uttered the most poignant line of Greys Anatomys ninth season so far in the last few seconds of last nights episode -- a line that sums up everything thats happened so far: Everyones dead, she said to Meredith without much fanfare, as the two best friends -- separated by half a country for five episodes -- embraced for the first time this fall.

The line was so simple and so fitting because, well, its true: Everyone has, indeed, died. Lexie. Sloan. And after last nights rather wrenching episode, titled Beautiful Doom, Dr. Feeny -- the old-man friend of Cristinas whose real name was Dr. Thomas -- also dropped dead, God bless his crusty, old soul. (Although the character death maybe isnt allllll bad for the actor who played him, William Daniels, since he may be getting his old gig back as Feeny on the recently announced Boy Meets World sequel spin-off that Disney has in the works.) All I have to say about all this continued theme of death is: We get it, Greys Anatomy powers! Youve got the power to kill people! No one is safe! Life is fragile! We should be scared! And all that jazz! But geez, its be nice if you stopped killing people. Death is exhausting, and there are really not many more tears to shed at Seattle Grace.

And maybe all the death has been a way to thin out the ranks on the over-populated show some. But Dr. Feeny was a new addition this season, so killing him, clearly -- as evidenced by the voiceover from him as his dead body was wheeled through the hospitals hallway -- wasnt to make room for other characters to have space to breath. It was to teach Cristina Yang to be a better person, which sorely needed to happen. (And will probably need to happen yet againand again.)

Truly, we can all take something away from the words he offered to Cristina Yang: Breathe, Dr. Yang, the voiceover from him near the end of the episode said, giving advice to the typically high-struck and unfriendly Cristina. Dont be crass. Youre skulking. Women of your generation are graceless. Its an affront to nature. Mediocre surgeons will see you and feel themselves wilting in your shadow. Do not shrink to console them. Do not look for friends here. You wont find them. None of these people have the capacity to understand you. They never will. If youre lucky, one day, when youre old and shriveled like me, youll find a young doctor with little regard for anything but their craft, and youll train them like I trained you. Until then, read a good book. You have greatness in you, Yang. Dont disappoint.

His death, however sad, was not unexpected. First off, he was really old. And actually, not long before Dr. Feeny dropped dead in the OR with Cristina, I had already thought he was dead once during the episode. Remember that scene when Cristina happened upon Feeny sun-bathing on a bench outside the hospital? I could have sworn he was dead then -- he looked it. But thankfully, Greys decided to pull his plug much more dramatically, with him literally keeling over mid-surgery. Cristinas sex friend Dr. Parker tried CPR on the immediately stiff man, while Yang had to finish her surgery. Also thankfully, considering everything, Yang was successful in her surgery. If it hadnt gone well, it might have sent me over the edge to have Feeny and the patient die minutes from each other.

NEXT: Meredith learns some lessons, too...

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'Grey's Anatomy' recap: The Ballad of Meredith and Cristina