Ready, set, reset.

If you're a fan of "Grey's Anatomy," that promise is nothing but good news.

Tonight's smartly constructed two-hour season premiere (ABC, 8 p.m.) completes the task begun last spring, clearing away dead plots and setting this massively entertaining series back on track.

Which means, by the way, you can ignore most of the promos. Almost all of the major characters do go through some life changes tonight, but they're incremental rather than drastic.

The show's best carryover idea from May is to drop Derek and Meredith's will they/won't they dance and unite them once and (we assume) for all. Granted, even a brighter "Grey's" is still "Grey's," so their path is likely to be bumpy. But it appears that they're now traveling together for good, and that's a very good idea.

The show knows it, too, and is more than willing to share that knowledge with you. It's the "meta" side of this medical drama: The cases comment on the characters, and the characters often slyly comment on the show - the producer's way of letting the audience know it has been heard.

So when the chief says, "We've been resting on our laurels. It stops, and it stops now," you can probably take that as an internal acknowledgement that the show has, also. And when Cristina interrupts Meredith's latest relationship dithering with, "As you weigh the options here, just consider the possibility of shutting the hell up, because I can't listen anymore" - well, that's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?

The principal medical story focuses on three women played by three terrific actresses: Bernadette Peters, Kathy Baker and Mariette Hartley. Their story links to another great guest who will become a more frequent visitor: "Rome"'s Kevin McKidd.

They arrive as Seattle Grace is in the midst of one of its periodic crises. A survey has lowered its ranking as both a teaching hospital and a surgical care unit.

Keep that teaching part in mind, because in many ways, the episode is about how we teach and how we learn. Rifts are exposed and mistakes are made, but there's also the possibility that people change and sins can be forgiven.

The optimism of that message is one reason some dismiss the show as fluff, but edge and grit are not universal dramatic imperatives. All we need ask of "Grey's" is that it tell its stories well in its own way, and tonight it does.

If you're a fan - go.