That aside, I was more intrigued by the side story involving the Hmong girl who lost one of her souls. Initially, it's interesting to see how Meredith and Derek approach the situation they're faced with, which is highly unusual to them both. Patriarchal family units are not nearly as common or conservative as they once were in the west, so of course to them it would seem odd that an adult would still defer to their parent in the case of their health and potential safety. It was refreshing to see a family structure outside of the "American norm" that wasn't being blatantly cast in a bad light, while still being regarded realistically as unusual.
In handling the many facets of this case we get a better insight into Derek's concern about his patients' health above everything, and Meredith's development of viewing the patient as a whole.
A lot of this story leans on the belief that we have a soul, or in the Hmong belief, many souls. That's a pretty exciting idea on its own. Humans are never just one thing; we consist of many parts and complex motivations for being who we are, so who's to say our souls wouldn't be the same?
I love the metaphor of cancer, or any illness, being tied to the soul, especially with increasing information linking our mental state to our physical health. Increasingly I have found myself believing in a mind/body/spirit connection, especially with the bumps and aches I have felt in my battle with depression. So often we see incredible results from attitude and beliefs, and this episode made that pretty clear when finding her soul seems to affect her health so significantly.
If that large display of spirituality and literal soul searching wasn't enough to get the point across, there's also another aside with Izzie's patient suffering from broken heart syndrome. Her heart fails every year on the anniversary of the death of her beloved. How's that for metaphors??
Season 2 Episode 5 - Bring the Pain
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