In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close. The day started off normally enough, but Meredith's stomachache turns into vomit, just as a patient lights a cigarette while hooked up to oxygen. People can light on fire, as it turns out. Thank goodness Dr. Webber has just hired the country's foremost plastic surgeon to work at Seattle Grace -- one Dr. "McSteamy" Sloan. On his first day he establishes himself as a complete jerk who can't be bothered to remember his co-workers' names and thinks the interns are there to get coffee. This is going to go well, I'm sure. Even though Cristina thinks Meredith is pregnant, it turns out she has appendicitis and needs an appendectomy. While high on morphine, she bonds with Addison and flirts with everyone, including her two boyfriends, who continue their pissing match for her affections. Derek, however, finally gains some perspective, realizes Finn is a better person than he is, and bows out of the race, which of course leads Meredith to realize he's The One and break up with Finn.
George, meanwhile, is trying to make up with Callie and is also called to assist on Meredith's surgery. Fortunately, he does a good job and she comes through with flying colors. Things with Callie go from bad to worse, however, when he cancels their late dinner to help Izzie. She spent the day with Denny's father, who is highly suspicious of how she and Denny came to be engaged. But after explaining his complicated relationship with his son, he also comes to realize the relationship that Denny had with Izzie is real, and gives her an envelope from Denny. Once home with George, she listens to the last phone message Denny left for his parents, apologizing for his mistakes and inviting them to meet Dr. Stevens, the love of his life. As she's listening, George finally opens the envelope, which contains a check for a cool $8.7 million dollars. Finally, Callie and McSteamy wind up meeting at Joe's, and she decides to get over George by inviting McSteamy up to her hotel room, where I think they might burn the place down with some hot, hot, dirty sex. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously on Grey's Anatomy, Meredith basked in dating two men, McSteamy wore a towel and wore it well, Denny and Izzie were in love, Callie and George fought about moving in together, Denny died, Burke shook, and Meredith decided to flip a coin.
Meredith comes in to work, and naturally, voiceovers this week's theme. "At some point during surgical residency, most interns get a sense of who they are as doctors." George is also in the locker room as she says this, in a green and white striped polo shirt that makes him look approximately 8 years old. She continues, "And the kind of surgeons they're going to become." With the rubbing of his face, George clearly doesn't know anything like this. She lists some options, so that we can helpfully see bits of people like Callie and McDreamy at work, and she says that these distinctions also help define people. "Because, outside the operating room, not only do most surgeons have no idea who they are, they're afraid to find out." On cue, she guzzles some bright pink pepto straight from the bottle.
Burke cleaves a chicken, hands Cristina a stopwatch, and says, "Time me." But she's getting her jacket on and says, "I've BEEN timing you." He bitchily declares that his last time was off by six seconds, but she assures him it's about accuracy instead, and gets bowls out for breakfast. She also adds that his sutures are fine, and he asserts that they're "textbook." She tells him he's ready, but he mumbles about needing more chickens. Cristina won't have any of it. "No more chickens. It's bad enough that Meredith's dating a vet, I'm not dating a chicken surgeon." She informs him that he's second guessing himself, which isn't like him, and rushes on that he's fine and he'll be cleared for surgery. She's strict but also fakely perky, and this is just a painful case of two people not really talking to one another -- she not asking if he's okay, he not offering that he's not. She leaves and Burke looks at his tremor. He says her name but when she turns back to him, not unkindly but distracted, "yeah, baby... " he tells her it's nothing and looks at his shaky hand again.
Trying to make conversation as they all get ready for work, George comments that Izzie left the house that day, which must be a good thing. He finally notices Meredith swilling pink goo and asks if she's okay. She reports that dating two men is giving her an ulcer. Then Mer, you can just pass one over here, I'll gladly take either one off your hands because I am just that giving a person. (Though I strongly suspect I dwarf Finn, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.) Alex sends an insult George's way which George asks him to explain. "You threw [Callie] out on her ass," Alex helpfully clarifies. He's changing his clothes and in a black tank top, which normally I am strongly against, but wrapped around Alex's frame I might need to change my stance. George demands to know where he heard such filthy rumors, but it turns out they're straight from Torres's mouth. George glowers and Alex generously tells him, "Don't worry, I get it, she's hot but she's not for you." George demands to know why. "Because she's hot," smirks Alex. That, and the emotional manhandling. Poor spineless George.
In the hall George tries to catch up with hot Dr. Torres, who mumbles a warning to leave her alone. George darts in front of her and launches into an apology -- my god, he's actually Doing The Right Thing, so there might be hope for a spine after all -- and says that he should have told her how he felt. He stumbles over his words like Paris Hilton walking a white line in the roadway while Callie just glares at him, and finally concludes, "I'm not... good... at the whole... talking thing." This isn't good enough for her, since he seems to be able to talk to Meredith and Izzie just fine. Just then Bailey calls all of the interns to follow her while assuring them she's in a heinous mood. George turns his back and simply and without hesitation says, "I miss you," and then scurries along. Using his words works, and her face molds into a smile.
They fall into line and Cristina comes rushing in, cartoon-style practically with a cloud of dust behind her, and despite her best efforts gets called out by Bailey on her tardiness. Alex needles her, and she wonders why he's not on "gynie duty." Meredith grabs her stomach and Cristina asks if she's having woman troubles, but Mer corrects her that it's, "Men troubles. I think this dating two guys thing is getting to me. The stress of it. Finn-Derek, Derek-Finn. I think I'm getting an ulcer." And her diamond shoes are too tight -- which Cristina basically tells her by her tone of voice alone. Mer goes on about needing to make a decision, and if she really does I'm sure the sky will open up and everyone will hear a chorus of angels sing "Hallelujah."
Inside the first patient's room, George gives the rundown that the patient is Shawn Sullivan, recovering from minimally invasive bypass surgery. He's desperate to get out and very sweet in a big-talking sort of way, and asks if he can "stop being a burden to" them. His wife, looking slightly distraught and tired at his shtick, tells him gently that he needs to listen and not speak. This is a role with which he is clearly unfamiliar. He talks about his job as a car salesman -- no surprise -- and his wife is clearly his biggest cheerleader, despite the gentle admonition she just gave him and her air of exhaustion. Bailey awesomely tells him that he needs to get his oxygen levels back up and demands he put his oxygen tubes back on, which he does, looking a mite scared of her and with no delay. After that she orders, "... I want your word, nothing fried, no alcohol, and no cigarettes." He finally agrees and she harrumphs him, but she clearly likes him and tells his wife to go sign his papers.
Addison and Karev are on gynie duty, in with a couple about to have a baby. She's dilating but the baby isn't descending, Alex is having none of the cutesy suggestions the husband has about trying to help the baby along. Addison has him explain how they proceed, which is to go normally unless the baby stops descending entirely and then they break in and perform a c-section. The wife rather haughtily is having none of it. She explains, somewhat more nicely, that they have a "natural birth plan" and that Addison promised them... Addison breaks in to explain she promised they'd do what they could... and giving that no mind, the mom-to-be continues that they were promised she would deliver the baby vaginally. She's really pumped up to have the experience. Alex has an eyebrow raised in disbelief. When he tries to say how safe a c-section is, bitchy wife assumes he means it's the safest way to avoid a lawsuit on their parts, and insists she's not doing it, "just because it's more convenient for you." It's like she's the opposite of a hypochondriac, but just as dumb and almost more dangerous, because she seems to have a disregard for the helpful side of modern medicine. I don't know about you, but when I give birth I'm quite fine if the word "natural" never comes in to play, but maybe that's just wimpy me.
The interns continue on rounds, and Bailey echoes everyone's question, asking Meredith if she's okay. Meredith unconvincingly says yes while clutching her stomach, and then sits down. Right then, in comes Derek who asks if she has any interest in a surgery. She stares at him, hugging her stomach. Addison walks in and stares at the two of them, then continues on to ask Bailey a question. Through the window, however, one Dr. McSteamy is shaking the Chief's hand, and she's left to her own dumbfounded gawking after muttering, "Oh my God." Everyone turns, stares, and echoes the sentiment, and when George asks, "Is that... " Cristina delightfully finishes, "McSteamy." I'm sure she mentally added a ROWR, as would anyone other than Seattle Grace's Most Uncomfortable But Definitely Not Only Love Triangle. Meredith's "Oh my God," however, is less about the hot surgeon and more about the vomit she deposits onto the floor. When they all turn, George notices something and yells out a warning... in time to see Mr. Salesman Sullivan lighting a cigarette, while still wearing the oxygen tubes. In case you ever wondered, people are actually highly flammable, and he goes up in a fireball and begins to muddle around, while all lit up. Everyone runs to action.
Thank God they just hired a world-class plastic surgeon on the day a man's face burns off. Bailey puts a mask on him as McSteamy shoots directions at Bailey. Cristina gets Meredith some water as Derek frets over her, telling her she looks beautiful, but not fine. Cristina, and the rest of the world, are now nauseated. She sends him away, "You have aneurisms to cut. And surgeons to confront," with a look at the chief and McSteamy. Derek tells Cristina to watch her and takes off to do some confrontin'.
In the singed aftermath, the Chief angrily asks Mark, "What kind of idiot lights a cigarette in a hospital?" Derek walks up and answers, "Apparently people do idiotic things all the time." Touché, Derek, but at the same time, please refrain from excluding yourself from the idiot brigade -- we've seen everything you've done for the past two seasons. The men have a three-way staredown as the interns watch. Derek chases the Chief up the stairs, Addison comes down the hall to confront Mark and tell him he can't be there, and the interns enjoy the show. Mark tells her he sublet his apartment and sold his practice, as Richard defends to Derek that he's a foremost plastic surgeon and will bring more business to the hospital than neurosurgery does. Are they all sitting around, practicing their zingers all day long? I thought they were practicing medicine. The conversations continue to overlap about why he is there, and why he left New York, and why Addison is there -- come on, let's ignore this whole "gifted doctor" crap and realize that this is Seattle Grace -- Home of Displaced Doctors, Love Triangles, and More Soap Than the Tide Factory. Meredith creates a diversion by puking again, and Cristina, ever subtle, asks loudly if she's pregnant. Again, everyone stares, she retches again, and Addison mumbles, "Oh, this is just perfect." Derek hurries to Meredith as Addison observes, "An adulterous love child." "Goes along with an adulterous sociopath." I still have no idea if he means Addison or Mark, but it has a nice rhythm, as comebacks go, even if it's not very clear. Bailey sends him away, telling him, "Uh-uh, you've done enough already," and as they lead her away, Mrs. Salesman comes out cheerfully to say she's done filling out the paperwork, and when can she take Shawnie home? Bailey is at a loss for words, one of the few times that happens.
Cristina examines Meredith, asking her who the father is. While Mer protests that she isn't pregnant, it comes out that if she is, it could only be Derek's since she hasn't slept with Finn. Cristina realizes poor Finn has lost this race already, no matter what anyone says. She coos over the idea of a "McBaby," and Meredith winces as Cristina touches her stomach, presumably from the pain and not from the idea of being a child raising a child. Bailey comes in and announces that she isn't pregnant, so they'll need to run more tests. Meredith uses the opportunity to beg for morphine.
Alex and Addison are monitoring the pregnant lady, whose results aren't looking too good. Alex wonders why Addison doesn't just tell them how it's going to be, since clearly they'll end up needing to do c-section. Addison just curtly informs him that they'll do all they can first to respect the wishes of a patient. Alex points out that a natural birth isn't surgical, so he wants to be let off of the case. She correctly surmises that what he's hot for is, "Sloane's burn case." Alex argues that he's going into plastics so yes, that one, and Addison has a fit. "Do you think that Mark Sloan has anything to teach you? He's just like you, he's only looking out for himself." Clearly, her anger is not just about Alex. He's not known for sitting there and taking a verbal smackdown from his superiors and retorts, "So what. Your patient's looking out for herself, you're looking out for yourself." She argues that she isn't and he growls, "Well maybe you should be," handing her the chart. She takes it and orders him to go. There's nothing worse than Alex being right when he's being a jerk.
Derek is examining Burke and manhandling his arm, presumably to test his range of motion, but instead of paying attention to the task at hand is blathering on about Mark and his lack of ethics, etc. I think he's just worried about someone prettier working at the hospital. Burke is looking annoyed, which of course Derek doesn't notice. Watch out, Derek -- you don't want him testing out his dexterity by wrapping his fingers around your throat and shoving you into a wall! Hypothetically, of course. When he realizes Burke is trying to talk about the matter at hand, he comes back to earth and clears him for surgery. It's all kind of worrisome -- first that Burke doesn't speak up, and second that Derek somehow hasn't ever noticed his tremor and can clear someone who is clearly unfit for surgery. Burke asks if he's sure just as Cristina walks in. She's all fake pep, jumping over his words to assure Derek he's absolutely fine and having no problems, not giving Burke a chance to admit it if he were. "He's perfect. He's Burke." On this last bit, her voice softens. But he stares incredulously at her. He asks about Meredith and Cristina tells him, "She's not pregnant, with anyone's baby." This causes more stares from the guys and she realizes that's her cue and leaves. Burke sighs.
Izzie walks into Joe's and tells him she's meeting someone there, but doesn't know who. Joe guesses it's the older man who just came in -- none other than Roone! The actor is Fred Ward, who I will forever know and love as Roone, country Lily Tomlin's professional miniature golfer fiancée in the fine cinematic masterpiece, Big Business. She turns and he asks, "Dr. Stevens?" She puts out her hand and greets him, "Mr. Duquette." He answers, "Please. Call me Denny." With that, her eyes fill up as she tries to keep her cool.
Their conversation starts off on an incredibly friendly note as he notes how pretty she is, "Not Denny's type at all." Fathers will always know how to put their child's new significant other on edge, even after death. She coolly asks what his type was. "Dark-haired girls, smart... " He catches himself and backtracks that being a surgeon, she's obviously smart. She corrects him that she was a doctor, and he remarks that Dr. Webber had told him that she quit. She's surprised that he spoke to the chief, and there's a twinge of worry in her voice, made worse when he tells her that Dr. Webber said she'd be able to tell him the whole story of what happened when Denny died. When he asks for her own version, she downgrades her title and has him call her Izzie. He demands, "I need to hear the whole story."
Alex reports to McSteamy, and just then, Mr. Salesman mumbles, "Face." His wife shakily translates that he wants to know if his face will be fixed. McSteamy explains that he'll remove the burned tissue and then dress it with live cells. She interrupts to ask hopefully if he'll then be back to normal. Shaking and smiling, she says, "It was a nice face. He's a salesman." She's beginning to cry and McSteamy tells her he'll do everything he can. She's focusing on his face, but clearly completely loves her poor flambéed husband. He tells her they'll do a neurological consult before operating -- isn't it handy for the story that his first case involves someone's head and that he'll have to work with Derek? Alex asks eagerly what else he can do, which is the first time that I can recall Alex making an effort to impress someone, and Mark tells him that he can do something -- can get him a coffee. "Bone dry cappuccino. Make it a double."
Cristina sits with Meredith -- high as a kite Meredith -- who waxes eloquent about what a good friend Cristina is. Cristina just tells her, "I just feel sorry for you." "Why," Mer asks, in a little-girl voice. "Because I could die today?" Cristina does some eye rolling as Meredith goes on, "Because if I did die today, I'd only be remembered as the slutty intern who dated TWO doctors." Cristina quickly corrects her that it's one doctor and one vet. She goes on about not being able to make a choice, and I love Cristina for pointing out it wouldn't matter, since she'd be dead. Despite her insults, let it be noted that Cristina's hanging out with her stoned friend, showing a little bit of that real, pink squishy heart under the steely exterior.
Bailey and George come in, they run through her symptoms, but without a love bun in the oven, it looks instead like she has appendicitis. Bailey orders George to scrub in on her surgery, and though they all point out the not-so-smooth last one he performed, she sticks with it. Come on, ladies, it was his first day -- he's held a heart since then! There's a lot of staring, natch, and with Bailey's being no-nonsense, it looks like George stays on the case. When she asks "Is that okay with you, Dr. Grey?" Meredith just gazes with a smile on her face and replies, "You're pretty," and gives her a little bunny nose wrinkle. It's hilarious acting on Ellen Pompeo's part. Bailey leaves, and Meredith orders George to get her ice chips.
Callie comes down the stairs and mentions Meredith's appendectomy, and George falls over himself basically apologizing for being on her surgery. Thankfully, Callie shuts him up by saying she just thought they could have a late dinner afterward. At her hotel. In her room. George looks delighted at this, but of course instead of just taking his cue and being sexy with regards to possible bedroom shenanigans later, tries to sound sexy as he asks how she's affording a stay at the Archfeld. She whispers, "I still have some secrets, O'Malley. And if you come see me tonight? I just might show you one or two." I love George, but I don't know what she sees in him. However, if he screws this up (again), he's beyond all hope. I can't say I'd give him as many chances to be a big boy as she has.
Bailey and Mark are standing together -- from the camera angle, she appears to be about as tall as his elbow. She asks how the Salesmans are doing, and he has the gall to ask, "And you are?" She seems so surprised that I'll take that as the reason she tells him, "Dr. Bailey," in a nice voice rather than punching him in the nads to jog his memory. She quickly rights herself and explains she was the resident on his case, and he tells her he doesn't need one. She comes back in full form telling him she was not asking him if he needed help, she was asking about her patient. He announces, "He's not your patient anymore." Oh, McSteamy, you're super hot, but you're going to learn quickly who runs this place, and it's not a guy with molded facial hair who likes his cappuccinos bone dry.
Cristina runs into Burke in the hall and gives him congrats and a gentle, "I told you." He brushes her off, which seems to finally get her attention. He says that he shouldn't have been cleared, but she brushes the statement off, assuring him he's fine, so he just turns and leaves. She catches up to him and after a few "What?"s back and forth, he drops his head and says, "He just... shouldn't have cleared me." He walks away.
The stubborn mother-to-be reports another contraction to "Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd." The baby still isn't descending, and Addison tells her they're out of time, his heart rate is slowing, and if he starts having something that sounds like, "late d-cells... " She trails off and the mom interrupts nastily to ask if this has actually happened yet. Addison admits it hasn't, so the mom won't do anything. This is such a maddening storyline for me -- I can't imagine someone so willing to stick to a plan that they'd actually knowingly put the baby in danger. It makes me mad that someone this dumb about having an experience for themselves will then be in charge of another person. You know, provided she doesn't kill that future person before he can be born. As Addison tries to talk to her, she starts screaming to have her out of the room.
She leaves, defeated, and Bailey is outside and sees the whole thing. Without looking at Addison, she quietly asks, "Since when do you 'get out?'" Addison claims not being herself that day. Bailey snarks, "I never would have imagined Mark Sloan to be your type." Addison tries to retaliate that he isn't her type. Bailey smartly doesn't say anything, which leads Addison to finally spill it in a manic run-on sentence, wondering why he's there and arguing that she can't handle him being there. Bailey smirks and shakes her head as Addison continues talking to herself about being a professional. "But when he's here, I'm just... " "A woman who gets the hots for man-candy and cheats on her husband." My love for her just cannot even be put into words. Addison tells her, "That is rude. And unkind. And completely true. Oh my god, what am I gonna do?" Bailey instructs, "For starters, you can keep your knees closed in his presence." Addison gives a shocked whisper, "Miranda!" And without missing a beat she replies, "You asked. And also, you can remember that no man -- not Derek, not Mark -- defines who you are." That's it. I'm becoming a fictional surgeon so that Bailey can become my mentor.
Derek, meanwhile, is stroking dopey Meredith's cheek, even loving her flushed, ill complexion. He examines her and asks if she's happy that her boyfriend works in a hospital, but she corrects him that he's "just one of many men [she] happens to be dating." He smirks that none of the others are there and on cue, Finn and his wig are at the door. Meredith looks a little bit stunned and tells the ceiling, "Can I say how much it helps that I am on drugs right now?" I'll agree -- because Meredith on drugs is the most amusing and watchable she's been in months, and I'm loving her in this state.
They banter over Meredith's bed while she watches back and forth as if she's watching a tennis match. The kind of match where the players whip out their rackets and compare size, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. George comes in to prep her and stops short when she sees the guys, and Meredith gets even more dreamy. "Now all my boys are here! You're all so handsome. And such good kissers." George nearly vomits on himself, Derek looks incredibly amused, and Finn looks confused. He asks, "You two did it?" Derek: "You didn't know?" Given what we learn later about how much she tells Finn, it is actually surprising. She helps out the situation by explaining, "It wasn't a date so much as a disastrously uncomfortable," (George begins to hyperventilate) "sexual experience." George tries to flee but he's stopped by Bailey, who orders everyone out and George back in to do his job. Meredith announces happily that all of her boyfriends are there, and the two actual dates both let her know they'll be there when she comes out of surgery, and Bailey shuts the door. With all of that man-candy in the room, I'm not sure I'd even need painkillers.
Cristina searches the hospital and finds Burke in the morgue about to open up a cadaver. She, almost pleading, tells him he doesn't need to practice and that his hand is fine and he angrily snaps, "Right." She's suddenly aghast that he's mad at her, and he brushes it off, telling her to forget it. He tries to get her to leave, but she cuts him off and finally lays down the law that she's staying there with him. At that, he hands her the dreaded stopwatch and orders her to time him.
Izzie is telling Mr. Duquette about Denny's transplant, and the technical details of how the LVAD worked, when he impatiently interrupts to announce that she's not answering his question. When she tells him she's trying he bites, "I don't give a damn about the medicine. I know what killed my son!" Gee, I wonder if this is possibly a case of he and Izzie each interpreting his statement differently, with her imagining that he's accusing her of killing Denny. That would make some good television, right there. She's extremely nervous, but he doesn't let her stew long before explaining himself. He wants to know about their romance, not about his heart condition. "What I don't get is how you got him to propose to you, hours before he died." She's appalled.
The Doctors McHot are in with the Salesmans, and Derek recommends a night of observation before his surgery. They calmly start to fight in hushed tones, Mark wanting to not wait and risk infection, Derek wanting to be sure he's okay before having a "cosmetic" procedure. Mark, rightly, points out that this isn't just a face lift. I get Derek's point and understand his loathing of Mark, but he knows well enough this isn't just some light elective surgery. They begin to snark about putting aside personal bullshit, and Mr. Salesman is growing restless, his wife looking worried. She butts in on the oh-so-professional display of testosterone, telling them that she knows it's complicated, and she knows her husband is sorry for what he did. It turns out that trying to smoke was his way of keeping his word to Bailey that he wouldn't smoke when he got home. It's actually kind of sweet -- ridiculously dumb, but sweet. She makes a passionate plea for his face, because he's a salesman. Mark drops his head, while Derek appears to actually be listening. Clearly, one of them was listening about bedside manner while the other was checking out Addison and doodling her name in the margins of his notebook that day. Mark calls out Derek on judging what happened between he and Addison as worse than what happened between Derek and Meredith, and tells him he's fine being the bad guy but that the two of them are the same kind of guy. Derek just leaves, disgusted.
Addison walks past Meredith's room and Mer druggedly calls out to her, twice for good measure. Addison goes back in, defeat etched across every fiber of her being, and asks, "You bellowed, Dr. Grey?" She says in her small voice, "Hi," and Addison replies, "You certainly are, aren't you." She takes the chart from the nurse and seems incredibly relieved that Mer isn't pregnant. Meredith asks if she's okay, and Addison gets her armor back on and tells her she's fine, and gives a very obligatory and hearty, "How are you?" to which Meredith replies about the needing to choose between two men. Again. Addison takes that as her clue to leave, but Mer reels her back in. She asks how she knew Derek was the one. "I know you hate me and all, and you don't owe me anything. No-thing. Noooo-thing. What was I saying?" "Derek." "Right." She blindly continues, "I want him to be the one. But I would know if he was the one, right? You knew, right?" Addison stares in disbelief, but her face softens and she relents. Kate Walsh needs an Emmy. She's taken a character who shouldn't have been sympathetic and made her one of the most complicated, sympathetic, wonderful, layered people on the show. She explains that she didn't know, but he knew that he wouldn't hurt her. "Not on purpose, anyway. Not the way I hurt him." Meredith: "He hurt me. When he chose you." Addison admits that she should have just let him go. "I should have stepped aside. Been a better person. I should have... " At this, she finally looks right at Meredith. "A lot of things." Meredith replies, "Me too. A lot of things." Addison's face melts a little bit more, and though Meredith's full of drugs, it's a fantastic moment between the two. Addison grudgingly admits, "I don't hate you." Meredith delightedly asks her how come they never talked like this before and she answers, "The only reason we are talking like this right now, is because I know you won't remember a single word of this, once the drugs wear off." I was about to get all indignant and refute this, having had surgery and experience with powerful drugs, when I remembered that, despite having thought I could recount every moment of my stay, two months later I realized one friend had visited me and I had no recollection of it whatsoever until someone else mentioned it. So I've got to admit, she's right. But it's a big moment for the two women, even more so because it would never happen under normal circumstances. They smile.
A nurse urgently finds Alex to show him the test results on the pregnant lady. He's holding Marks coffee (bone-dry) and glumly says he's off the case and she should page Addison. They apparently did and since they can't get her, she shoves the paper at him. It seems bad, and he springs into action.
Derek sees Addison coming out of Meredith's room, and when he stops and asks her what's up, she tells him, with some defeat and an eye roll at herself, "Don't hurt her. Again." At that loaded moment, Alex walks up and asks, "Were you planning on killing a woman today?" He shows her the results. It looks like it could be too late for both her and the baby now, and Alex snidely congratulates her on her work. She orders an OR for a "crash c-section" immediately. Derek stares at Meredith through the window. I think her words might actually resonate more since she had to leave and they couldn't make it a conversation about the demise of their own relationship.
It's been a big day for Addison, with the revelations and the heart-to-heart with her husband's girlfriend and Bailey's tough love, but it knocks her mojo back in. She marches into the room and tells the woman that she's having a c-section and there are no questions, which finally shuts her up. And thank every deity you know for that one, I say.
Izzie is trying to convince Denny's father that they knew each other for months, but he cuts in, wondering about why she'd quit immediately upon his death. He mentions med school and the bills. At this point, when I first watched the episode, I did wonder if this was going down the Inheritance Road, but still never guessed exactly what might be coming. He asks how she was planning to pay her debt back -- "Did you think that Denny would pay for everything?" She's dumbfounded, and for the first time since the prom looks like she's having an emotion other than grief -- she looks angry. She asks what he's talking about, and he claims he's protecting his son. She's shaking as she demands to know where he was, then, when Denny was sick. "Because I was there. The whole time. I was there. I was working 80-hour weeks and I was still always there! He had so many surgeries. So many procedures. He was so scared. Where were you then? You may not get me, but you don't have to. Because I don't get you either. I don't get how a father abandons" (at this, she's out of her chair, with her bag, to leave) "his dying son." He finally tells her to wait and asks if that's what Denny told her. "He didn't tell you the truth."
In the morgue, Cristina watches closely as Burke's hand shakes and he has problems. She stutters, shocked that the tremor is still happening but he talks over her, basically narrating what he can't do and what he needs for this procedure. When she yells that she thought he was fine, he yells back that he's not, and that she just wanted to believe he was fine. "My hands, are the only things that I have that are of any value to me. To you." She argues that's not true but he goes on that she wants Preston Burke. It's a little bit different than when he made the speech about how he was more than a surgeon, but it looks like his perspective has been shaken by the bullet he took. I think that HE wants Preston Burke even more than she does. "They stare, and he holds his hands up, under the light in the otherwise black room. "My hands, these, are who I am. If I can't do this, if I can't finish this surgery... " And his hands fly away. She finally stares at the corpse, not able to look at him, and he stares at her, nearly crying. With that, she springs into action and figures out how she can help him with the surgery so that he can finish. Without looking at him, she quietly tells him, "Nobody has to know." Come one, come all, see the surgeons at Seattle Grace! Some have tremors, some steal hearts! Really makes you comfortable with the profession. But he nods. I guess they'll both do whatever they can to get Preston Burke back.
The Chief grabs Derek and continues to explain his hiring Mark, and Derek only answers, "You did what you thought was best for this hospital." "I did." He finally asks Derek if he's okay, and McDreamy responds by asking him a personal question -- why he left Ellis. Chief says that he could have left his wife to be with her, but that he would have had so much baggage that he would have been no good to her. "I never would have made her happy. Not like she deserved to be happy. I was a better man for walking away. I loved her enough to walk away." Those Grey women and their married doctors are just a recipe for heartache.
George is pushing Meredith towards surgery as she shouts instructions to keep her covered on the table. "Too many people have seen me naked already. I'd like to keep whatever dignity I have left." Girl power! Or something. She sees Mark then, and delightedly calls out, "McSteamy! Woohoo!" George drops his head in defeat. She wipes her nose ungracefully and unselfconsciously as he saunters over. He asks her with a smile, "Is that what you're calling me now, McSteamy?" "Yeah," she admits, "But I don't think you're supposed to know that." "How's my favorite dirty mistress?" he asks. She's wheeled away and yells out gleefully, "Haven't you heard? Now I'm an adulterous whore!" He laughs, and it's the most genuine he's looked all hour, without his assy doctor-face on.
In an OR, Alex hands a newborn baby to Ms. Natural Birth. Both are alive, and the mother thanks Addison. Disgusted, Alex leaves the room. Meredith, meanwhile, is covered up in another room and they take out her appendix with no problems. Bailey has George finish up the procedure and he comes through with flying colors. Alex walks into Mark's OR with his coffee -- hang on, do they really allow coffee in an operating room during a procedure? You can already leave towels in people, I know I wouldn't want to give someone the opportunity for something non-medical to accidentally end up as part of my insides. Since it took him so long to deliver the beverage, what with the emergency c-section on the way, Mark doesn't let Alex scrub in for the "real" surgery.
Derek finds Finn reading a book in Meredith's empty room. Finn asks him about his fishing, which Meredith told him is one of Derek's hobbies. "She tells me a lot of things." Finn continues and asks if he's fished a particular spot and Derek is surprised to learn he fishes too. God, please don't let them become friends, that would be too much, even for this show. Finn laughs about his wife hating it, and it's the first Derek has heard of her. Finn explains that he's a widower and seems a bit delighted that Meredith doesn't talk a lot like that to Derek. But then the emotional scars of his past show through, and he makes sure that even though this is routine surgery, she'll really be fine. This makes Derek thoughtful, and he observes that Finn really likes her and is a good guy, to which Finn replies he thinks and hopes that he is. They have their own staring moment, and he leaves.
Mr. Duquette is explaining to Izzie the parade of doctors that they saw and how every prognosis was worse. He's struggling, and he tells her, "The thought of having to bury your own son... his mother and I, we didn't handle it very well." They came home one day to a note from Denny, saying he didn't want them to watch him die. It turns out they thought he had already died, and had no idea he was in Seattle going through all of this. Izzie's eyes fill as he goes on. She assures him she had no idea, and that if she had known, "Believe me, I would never have let him get away with that." Mr. Duquette seems to know she's telling the truth, and he smiles at her. "I believe it." She explains that she worked through med school, and he interrupts her, embarrassed, assuring her she doesn't need to explain. But she does, and goes on. She explains that she had no debt, and she didn't need his money, "I had everything I needed. I had everything I needed, until... " "You miss him." She cries, and agrees. He reaches into his coat and pulls out an envelope. "It's for you. It's from Denny." I know, I know, he and his wife would have been notified if he was actually dead -- which is proven by the fact that they were notified of his ACTUAL death, but I loved Denny, and I love him and Izzie together, and my fairy-tale loving heart is just going with it. So there.
Callie finds George changing in the locker room after Meredith's surgery. She smiles saucily at him and asks if he's ready to go. He explains that Izzie called and needs him. Which she does, and he's making the right call, but it pains me that he can't just get that across and comes across as a buoy being tossed around in the ocean that can't sack up and do what he needs to do when he needs to do it. Yes, I know that makes no sense but I'm so frustrated with him that I'm mixing my metaphors, insults, and probably not even using proper punctuation right now. Callie's stunned, commenting that it's always Izzie or Meredith and never her. George brushes this off, but though we know he's got a good reason, from her point of view from all of his actions, it's totally true. He takes her hand, but she asks, "How am I to you, George? Am I your girlfriend? Am I somebody you mess around with? Do you even know?" He doesn't say anything, natch, and she tells him, "Well guess what. Now you don't have to bother figuring it out."
Bailey walks into the Salesmans' room and asks how they are, and Mrs. S tells them they're getting an update. McSteamy's been reading the chart and glowers at Bailey for being there. His wife looks so hopeful, and he clinically explains that the surgery went well... medical jargon, blah blah blah... "and if his body responds, in three or four weeks... " "He'll have his face back?" She asks with naked expectation. Mark explains that his face might never be the same, and she trails off, "But he's a salesman... He has such a nice face." Mark's brow is furrowed, at a loss, and Bailey stares at him expectantly, and a little bit disgustedly when she realizes he has no answer. In her tough love way, she talks to her patient. She tells him his wife and his fellow salesmen are all waiting and rooting for him, and that even if his face ends up different he'll still be the same guy. She gives Mark a mean sideways glance as she tells him this. She assures him that having people he loves that love him is what's important, and he takes her hand and gives it a squeeze. "Yeah, McSteamy, THAT'S how it's done." She didn't say that, I just announced that at the television screen. But you know she was thinking it.
Derek hears giggling from Meredith's room and finds Finn waiting with her. She reports that she's mortified, as he's explaining what she was like on morphine. He leaves but Finn goes to get her ice chips. Once alone, he's quiet and sits down on the bed. After gazing at her, as she stares at him with a (mc)dreamy smile, he says, "You deserve to be with somebody who makes you happy. Somebody who's not going to complicate your life. Somebody who won't hurt you. He stares, and her face slowly falls. "He's a better guy, Meredith. Finn's the better guy." "Derek." "I'm walking away." She gives a hint of a nod, and he smiles sadly and leaves. She looks sick once again.
At home on the sofa, Izzie explains to George that Denny left his parents a message the night that he died, and that his father gave her the phone number and pin so that she could hear it. She was too scared to do it alone and waited for George. He takes her hand and stops her fidgeting.
Post surgeries, Addison rounds a corner, and Mark asks if they can talk. She just replies that she thought she made it clear she doesn't want him there. "So, if you insist on staying, just know that we're co-workers. And nothing more." He looks sad. She calls Karev over and tells him, "As of now, you are officially off my service. But for what it's worth, I think you're going to miss me." Well, she's looking at Alex but I think somehow it's directed at both of them.
With George holding her hand, Izzie calls and punches in the code. Hankies at the ready, readers, I'm giving you fair warning right now. Denny's voice comes over the phone. "Dad, Mom, it's me. I'm calling from Seattle Grace Hospital where the beautiful, talented, and incredibly stubborn Dr. Isobel Stevens , she's just... she's just given me a brand new heart and promised to marry me. I know we've had our differences, and I'm sorry we've been out of touch." As he speaks, the shot turns to Cristina and her chicken surgeon who is, predictably cutting chicken. But when she asks about it blandly, Burke happily explains he's making her dinner. By the look on her face, which is even more stern than usual, it's probably going to take more than that to get these two back in touch. But I will say it's nice to see him finally reaching out to her instead of being a jerky baby. They are both to blame for the problems they're having, but it's nice to see him extending the olive branch. Er, chicken flesh.
Denny's voice continues, "Believe it or not, I was trying to make everything better. I know you're angry, and I hope you'll forgive me. It turns out, sometimes you have to do the wrong thing... " Mark sits down to Callie at Joe's and she eyes him appreciatively and greets him, "McSteamy, right?" His antenna goes up. "You must be a friend of Meredith's." "Not really," she says blandly, and then they introduce themselves and say they've each had a bad day. When he asks what she's heard about him, she offers that most things involve the words, "dirty" and "bad," but drawls it out in such a way that I kind of want to go to bed with her right now. He offers to buy her a drink and she sucks down the last of the one in front of her and collects her things to leave. She answers, "Only if you have it delivered to my hotel room, because I'm off to bed." Denny's voice continues, "Sometimes you have to make a big mistake." And just as you think McSteamy's getting his pretty self shot down, she asks, "You coming?" He can't follow her out the door fast enough as Denny finishes, "To figure out how to make things right." That's going to be some "dirty," "bad," (if you mean "bad" in the sense of "spectacular") action in that expensive hotel, right there.
Meredith is staring at the ceiling, about to make things right as only she knows how. When Finn walks in and asks about visiting the day, she tells him he shouldn't. After repeating herself, he gets that she's putting him on the train to Dumpsville. She stares at him and he observes, "So it's Derek." She apologizes and he asks why. And she has an answer, a real answer that she knows is right. "You are a great guy. You're a wonderful guy. And you may even be the better guy. But... " "He's the one," Finn finishes for her." "And I wish he wasn't," she adds ruefully. Finn predicts he will hurt her again, and she nods, knowing he's probably right. But though he's heartbroken he's still got his spine, and tells her he won't be there when that happens. He wishes her well and leaves.
Denny wraps things up on the machine. "Mistakes are painful. But sometimes they're the only way to find out who you really are. I know who I am now. I know what I want. I've got the love of my life. A new heart. And I want you guys to get on the plane out here, and meet my girl." George is looking around and sees the envelope on the table, and flips it open. Izzie is crying silently with her eyes closed. He sees that inside, there is a check, presumably from Denny's trust, made out for 8.7 million dollars to Isobel Stevens. "Everything's going to be different now, I promise. From here on out, nothing's ever going to be the same. I love you. Bye." And if you'll excuse me, I have to go blow my nose and clean up the pile of soggy Kleenex I accumulated watching the last five minutes of television.