Episode Report Card Lauren S: B | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Into The Light
By Lauren S | Season 3 | Episode 17 | Aired on 02.21.2007
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Dylan and Denny are tasked with talking Meredith through her death and getting her to realize what happened in the water. Fortunately, Doc the dog is also there to be a warm body to pet while she's dead. Bonnie, the girl that died in the train wreck, as well as Meredith's mom's former scrub nurse are also both there to help her out. She's finally able to admit to Denny that for one second in the water she wondered why she was fighting and gave up. But admitting that helps her to realize she wants to live, though it may be too late. It's at that moment that she sees her mom, who dies despite McDreamy's efforts to save her so that two Dr. Greys don't perish on the same day. Once together, Ellis is able to finally tell her daughter that she's "anything but ordinary," which gives Meredith what she needs to go back to the land of the living, much to the relief of Bailey, Webber, and Burke, who have gone to heroic measures to try to save her. The greatest relief, though, is for Cristina. She can't handle her friend's situation and tries to find solace at the 99-cent store, but her fiancée finally finds her drunk at the bar and gets her to come back to see her "person." She does, and is able to be the one who is there to help Meredith wake up -- with seemingly no adverse side effects from being legally dead for a couple of hours.
Alex, meanwhile, tends to Crush since he can't handle being inactive. She has amnesia, but they are able to talk a bit and start to bond. Izzie is finally facing the consequences of what she said when George picks his wife instead of his friend. And Addison realizes that what Derek and Meredith have together is something she and Derek never did. McSteamy tries to convince her that he could be that man in her life, and so she challenges him to 60 days of chastity to prove that he really wants a relationship with her. It's kind of ludicrous, but actually a good thing, since the rest of the hour could leave the most stoic man alive sitting in a pile of his own soggy Kleenex. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously, Meredith's mom yelled at her for being ordinary, Denny died, Dylan turned into pink mist, Bonnie was impaled on a rod and, before she died, asked if "you believe in Heaven." Who "you" was, I cannot for the life of me remember.
Last week was all about disappearances in medicine, and this week looks to be all about miracles. Which leads us to the burning question -- is GA going to kill off their titular star? It looks like it might take a miracle for her to survive, and that's quite a stretch... but let's see if any of these subtle beginnings are going to lead to any sort of miraculous recoveries.
Despite her body having completely shut down, Meredith still is able to provide some voiceover. "There are medical miracles. Being worshippers at the altar of science, we don't like to believe miracles exist. But they do. Things happen. We can't explain them, we can't control them, but they do happen." Mere's body is less purple and more ashy grey than last week. Meredith's grey! Ha ha, get it? You see what I did there? Oh... never mind. Bailey, Burke, and Richard are still working on her, and Bailey asks how much longer they'll do this, expositing that she knows the hypothermia is protecting her vital organs. Richard doggedly continues, explaining that she has to warm up before she can wake up, so at least until then. "This is Ellis Grey's little girl! This is my... " Burke: "We're all on the same side here, Chief." For all of you conspiracy theorists out there, I think the Chief means she's his responsibility, as he promised Ellis he'd look out for her, and not that she's his secret love child. He throws his head back, and Bailey takes over compressions. He says that her body temperature at 86 degrees. "She's not dead until she's warm and dead." They'll warm her to 98.6 and then try to start her heart. Instructions are given to a random nurse, and the camera turns to show Addison enter the room. She stares at what's going on until her pager beeps, and she says she has to go tend to Crush. Bailey knows just what she's trying to avoid and tells her that, "They're waiting. Whatever you choose to say will... " Addison just nods and stares at Mere's body. VO wraps up, "Miracles do happen in medicine. They happen every day. Just not always when we need them to happen."
We head into the light, to Meredith's surgatory. (I'd love to take credit for the brilliant term, but it came from geminigirl789 in the episode thread.) She's sitting cross-legged on a gurney looking at the yummy Denny and Dylan standing before her, staring back at her. Denny thinks she's freaking out, but Dylan is sure she's not, despite Denny's claim that, "People tend to freak out." People? Is this their death day job or something? Talking to the not-really-quite-dead-yet? They're the good cop/bad cop of death counselors. They bicker back and forth, both hilariously charming and good looking in their totally different ways, eventually nearly throwing down before Meredith finally speaks to ask if this is some kind of brain thing. They say it's not, but she points out that if she were dead, "the first person I'd want to see, no offense, would be... Doc!" I'm a softie and an animal lover, so I let out a little happy squeal when the dog jumped up on the gurney to see her. The guys are stunned and confused as she ignores them to talk to her dog, ignoring them. Dylan tries the tough-love, fifth-grade, 1987 approach and tells her, "This is not your brain on drugs," repeatedly adding how she's deader than a doornail until Denny jumps in to remind them they were going to take it easy on her. "This is not 'easy.'" Dylan motions him to take over and he gently asks Mere if she remembers drowning in Elliott Bay. "Yeah, that sucked," is her deep and meaningful reaction. Dylan realizes this is going to take a while, but Denny points out they don't have a while.