Episode Report Card Lauren S: B | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Decisions, Decisions
By Lauren S | Season 5 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.14.2009
Derek is reading and furrowing his brow like a champ when Mere and Izzie walk in and Izzie announces that he can do the surgery. He nods but can tell that something else is coming so he doesn't say anything and Izzie goes on to say she doesn't want to end up a vegetable. Mere tries to assure her this won't happen but Izzie cuts her off and says that she doesn't want to be on a ventilator and so she's signing a DNR. The look on Mere's face says that Izzie didn't tell her this before, and Derek finally looks more concerned than cocky.
She said that she wanted the surgery right away and she wasn't kidding -- Alex is walking next to her as they wheel her to the OR, and he begs for her to change her mind about the DNR. He's panicked and reminds her how nuts she went when Denny did the same thing, asking if she wants him cutting LVAD wires and ruining his career, because dammit, he'll do that. I kind of can't care about this whole argument, because Izzie's comeback is that she just didn't understand when Denny did it, but now she does -- so I feel like maybe she should have a little bit more sympathy for Alex for not understanding. On the flip side, Alex is a doctor and knows the consequences and should probably try harder to understand, because I think he's fully capable. She then tells him that where his eyes should be, she sees white sandy beaches, and there is an ocean behind his head with ghosts (again with the bullshit plural) wandering in and out, and she can't live like this. She pleads with him to not do anything crazy, and if things go wrong, to just let her go. Alex sniffles with tears in his eyes and Mere just stares at the floor as Izzie asks Alex to kiss her. He does, and they wheel her away. Before Meredith and Derek follow them in, Mere admits that she always thought it would be her that got Alzheimer's and forgot everyone. She then tells him, "Let's go to City Hall tomorrow. I don't want to spend another day not being married to you." He agrees and they kiss as Izzie is wheeled away.
Hunt finds Cristina on a bench outside, defeat and exhaustion radiating from every pore. He sits next to her but doesn't say anything, and she begins to talk about how it doesn't matter how good you are, how hard you work, or how much you research and master techniques because the patient is still going to die. Even if you fix someone today, they could go out later and get hit by a car (hmmm) or find a mole on their back, "And there's nothing you can do about it." This seems to have helped her find what she needed to say and so she turns to him and says, "I don't want you to die." He stares back but doesn't answer.