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
I have to tell you guys that my notes -- which are written quickly and with no regard for spelling, grammar, or punctuation -- sometimes don't even make sense to me when I read them. In this case, when I skimmed what I first wrote about this episode, for a second I thought that Alex was showing someone pictures of his buff cheese, which made me picture a big, muscley chunk of gorgonzola. In actuality, he's showing Chuck pictures of buff chests that look rather like he took them from a Calvin Klein underwear ad. They are to show off how he and Teddy can do a minimally invasive procedure with a much smaller scar than initially thought. Chuck isn't much interested in the sculpted torsos and noodles around on his iPad for a moment before pulling up a close-up picture of some very hairy, folded skin. Apparently this is his buddy's groin, and he had a procedure called a TAVI where they replaced the valve through a catheter in his groin. Everything about that sounds unpleasant. But unpleasant or not, it left him without a giant visible scar, so that's what Chuck wants. Alex starts to argue with him, pointing out that there is a safer option and all but calling him stupid and vain for not just doing it. He adds that a rash guard can cover a scar. Chuck just gives him a withering look and tells him he's obviously never been to Palm Beach. "Only fatties wear rash guards." Alex turns to Teddy and says he can't get through to Chuck but Teddy tells him to look into it and see if Chuck is a good candidate. He turns back to Chuck and tells him this as if the conversation he and Teddy had wasn't right there within earshot. Chuck, whether he heard them or not, congratulates Alex for finally giving him the right answer.
When Meredith walks out of the mouse lab and locks the door, Richard is lying in wait for her. She tries to act like she knows nothing but he catches her blinking and pulls her into a darkened room to quiz her about what is happening. Once he promises he won't tell Bailey and points out that Bailey won't even let him be involved at all, she admits that some of the mice are hypoglycemic and so they are running tests to find out why. Richard suggests that she run some tests on healthy mice to do some comparisons and knows she'll be able to handle April to get the healthy mice she needs. He tells Mere that he's on call, so to page him when she gets the results. She leaves, and he waits a bit so that no one realizes that they were talking. I imagine he had a lot of situations like this with her mom back in the day. However, a light turns on and a very confused and sleepy patient, who he didn't know was in the room, is staring at him so he wishes her a good day and flees.