Episode Report Card Lauren S: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT All's Fair In Love And Job Advancement
By Lauren S | Season 7 | Episode 21 | Aired on 05.12.2011
Cristina is in an uncomfortable interview of her own: she's in her formal Chief Resident interview with Owen, and he is hollering at her for the stunt she pulled. She tries to claim that she was showing initiative but come on, this is her husband, she can drop that act for him at least and point out that she was desperate for a cool surgery. But she instead puffs out her chest and claims that Teddy is doing a disservice to her and her education, so she took matters into her own hands which she thinks is a good Chief Resident quality. Owen finally loses it and declares that she's not going to be chosen, and Cristina recoils, demanding to know whose decision it was. When Owen says that it is his, she starts to melt down about how Chief Residents have their pick of fellowships, and he's screwing with her career (which we know is actually worse to her than screwing with her personal life). Owen doesn't take that bait and just tells Cristina that the job is full of all sorts of administration and general "working within the system," which is not at all in her wheelhouse. He claims the job would make her crazy, just like they saw today, and she'd fight it until she failed at it, so she should just focus on what she truly is, which is a surgeon. "Just be excellent at what you are." She's too mad to really hear how much sense he's making and finally just asks if he is done, and leaves, curtly thanking him for his time.
When Alex finally makes a decision, it's that he's not going to go to Africa. But when he tries to tell Lucy about it she keeps trying to interrupt him; he can't be stopped, though, since he's got a happy speech all figured out which includes suggesting that maybe in a year they could both go to Africa together. He also assures her that she is totally a factor in his decision-making now and he's sorry he didn't tell her that sooner. He keeps talking over her to say that he always thinks of himself as single since every time he opens up to a girl, he gets burned. She finally forces him to shut up before he can dig himself further into a hole and predictably, tells him that he was right about career coming first, so she took the job. Alex tells her to call Baylor and take it back, but she sucks it up and admits that she actually pulled the job in Africa out from under him. He's livid, but she just tells him that he was the one who said that it's not personal, and sometimes you have to be a shark. That was rather clumsily handled since it came out of left field, but it gives us Angry Alex to work with again and frees Lucy up to go be an Angel, and we can now forget that this unconvincing non-relationship ever happened.