Episode Report Card Lauren S: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Pay No Attention to the Surgeon Behind the Curtain
By Lauren S | Season 8 | Episode 6 | Aired on 10.20.2011
Mere and Richard meet for another secret mouse conversation and throw around a few more possible ideas until they come up with what they want to do next. It's all very medically and I'm not entirely sure what they decided on but they seem happy about it; so happy that Richard has Meredith give him a slightly awkward fist-bump.
Meredith then takes all of the research she compiles and explains to April (who still doesn't know that Richard is secretly involved) what she thinks the problem is and what she should tell Bailey to look for. Unfortunately, Bailey has walked in and heard all of this, and she flips her lid. If this were a cartoon, steam would be shooting from her ears as she begins to yell at Mere for thinking she is God, and for touching another trial after already ruining one of them. April tries to tell Bailey that she was the one who delegated this work to Mere and Bailey first ignores her but then fires her from the trial. She then tries to take her mouse back but Meredith slams her hand down on the cage and, using April's scary gruff voice, orders Bailey to read her research. Bailey finally snatches it up and then takes her mouse and goes, and Mere turns to April and laughs that changing her voice really did seem to work. But April seems too consumed with what just happened and doesn't seem to entirely care about the voice trick. Please, please, I just want another April storyline that isn't entirely about her incompetence as a leader. She's downtrodden. We get it.
Lexie and Derek are in surgery and Mere was right -- he's totally engaged in the work and so not yelling at Lex. He's gotten it out of one side of the brain but vessels are covering the other side and making it hard to get to. Even though Lexie's not a fifth year she rolls over and gives up like one, telling Derek that at least Mary has six months, and they did all they could. Derek realizes what she's saying and says with almost a laugh in his voice that they aren't stopping. The tumor may be smart, but they are smarter. Uplifting music seems to say that this crazy plan might just work.
Cristina finds Callie in the scrub room after Tyler's surgery and immediately starts to try and rationalize her cowardice by reminding Callie that she'll have to defend every decision she makes in surgery in her boards. Callie's unimpressed and just tells Cristina that she picked her to be co-surgeon because Cristina takes crazy risks. This week she just played it safe and boring, and while Callie knows how competitive and scary this year is she warns Cristina to be careful not to lose herself. As happens so often among the Seattle Grace surgeons, though, she keeps talking and suddenly she's talking about her own life and griping about people who like to talk about food as if it's an orgasm. A confused Cristina snaps her out of it and Callie just orders Cristina not to let fifth year get to her. Cristina just heaves a sigh as if she's not sure how to prevent that, but that's so ridiculously far out of character for her that I firmly believe she can kick her own ass somehow back into being awesome.