Impulses. We all suffer from them occasionally, but the cast on Grey's Anatomy suffered a chronic case in last night's episode, I am a Tree. Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), romantically torn between Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) and Dr. McVet (Chris O'Donnell), decides to flip a coin to pick. Meanwhile Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) impulsively strips to cheer up her hospital bedridden boyfriend, Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington)—only to have his parents walk in at the most inappropriate time.

As usual, the patients undergoing treatment at Seattle Grace Hospital echo and embody the personal problems plaguing the medical staff. Last night one patient in particular, Benjamin O'Leary—monotonically portrayed by openly gay actor, Peter Paige (Queer as Folk)—embodied the staff's struggle with how best to cope with their impulses.

“There was something off about this guy,” Paige recently told AfterElton about his character's think-say attitude. “He wasn't just like a normal guy,”

Benjamin is in the hospital due to a brain tumor pressing against his frontal temporal lobe, the section of the brain that monitors self-control. Every thought that breezes across his mind he expresses as airily as small talk.

“He doesn't have any impulse control. He is kind of a truth teller. So he tells Sandra [Oh's character] that she is a bitch; and he says he thinks McDreamy is hot and how he seems arrogant, but in a sexy way!” Paige said with a chuckle. “I got to say all kinds of really fascinating stuff. I am a huge fan of the show. So as a fan it was really satisfying to say those things.”

Benjamin's harsh, yet truthful comments and observations are compelling (and often funny), and it's refreshing to see a gay man speak his mind without worry about repercussions, especially in regards to whom he finds attractive. While only in four scenes of last night's show, Benjamin becomes a person and an openly gay one at that.

During the episode we learn he was once involved with a man who loved him deeply (though his boyfriend's mother didn't). Unfortunately, Benjamin's boyfriend didn't love him enough to stand by his side through his illness leaving Benjamin to face surgery with only his sister by his side to suppor him.

***Spoiler Alert****

In the end, Benjamin died from complications during surgery, but from his life Meredith learns that perhaps she shouldn't be so impulsive when it comes to matters of the heart while Cristina realizes that giving in to her every impulse is often selfish. Meanwhile, another patient learns the exact opposite lesson—that never giving into one's impulses is hardly living at all.

Paige's part wasn't big, but it was symbolically significant and it was nice to see Grey's Anatomy while perhaps not quite becoming as lavender as gay viewers might hope, at least adding another gay-friendly shade to the show's palette.

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