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Shonda Rhimes has said that year, "fun Grey's" will be returning. I've got to tell you, though, with the way everything ended up this hour, I'm not sure who it is that will be having that fun. But let's start at the beginning, shall we? On Wedding Eve, all of the doctors end up back at the hospital except for Cristina, who is ordered home to rest up. In addition to delivering the babies that might end up as Joe and Walter's, Addison is tending to Adele. For a while they thought her baby would be okay, but she ends up miscarrying. Richard, however, never leaves her bedside during the ordeal and she starts to realize that he has changed and he does love her, and with this realization she admits that the baby was his. Meanwhile, Derek is working to remove the ice axe from the fourth climber's head, and realizes that it was put there deliberately. When he interrogates the climbers, one finally admits the guy was so badly hurt they thought he was going to die, and he was just trying to put his friend out of his misery.
At the same time, every couple that isn't Richard and Adele is in some variety of turmoil. Derek tells Meredith he met someone and is kind of a shit about it, but ultimately they talk and he admits he totally loves Meredith and could never walk away from her. That said, he says that if she's not in it for the long haul, she needs to end things, but her answer to that is to change the subject and get them to the wedding. Cristina has numerous freak-outs leading up to the ceremony but finally gets herself ready, only to have Burke walk out of the church to tell her that he knows she'd do this for him but that she doesn't want to, and with that, he's realized that they should be over, not getting married. Meredith must tell the guests that the wedding is off, and then goes to Cristina at her apartment, where Cristina has a breakdown realizing that Burke has taken the few things he cherishes and might be gone forever.
Speaking of gone forever, Ava's husband arrives to claim her, and although clearly unhappy, she decides to go home with him. Before she leaves, she begs Alex to give her a reason to stay, which he doesn't. It takes a talking-to from Addison to realize he was an idiot but when he returns to the hospital, Ava's gone. Izzie does much the same sort of pleading, telling George (again) that she's in love with him. It's fairly bad timing, since George just decided to have a patch-up-the-marriage baby with Callie, who is also celebrating being named Chief Resident, which seems to have stunned Bailey. What could be even worse for this scenario? That would be George failing the intern exam. As he cleans out his locker to leave the hospital and seemingly his medical career as a whole, he sees the new interns for the first time, including one Lexie Grey, half-sister of Meredith and the very same perky brunette who hit on Derek at the bar in the episode.
Finally, in the race for Chief of Surgery, Derek emerges victorious when Richard offers him the position. But in a rare moment of maturity and self-awareness, he says he's not ready for it; Richard is the best man for the job and should give it another go, and we're left to ponder who will actually be back at Seattle Grace come fall. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously on Grey's Anatomy, the interns took their intern exams, Izzie told George she had no feelings for him, mountain climbers were brought into the ER missing one of their party who arrived later with an axe in his head, Crush got her memory back, Joe and Walter are adopting but the potential birth mom collapsed at the bar, Adele is pregnant and also collapses, and there's the little matter of the new Chief Resident and Chief of Surgery who need to be announced. In addition, I seem to be competing for Longest Run-On Sentence Ever.
This week, the Chief is giving the voice-over…OR IS HE? His voice tells us, "Being chief is about responsibility. Every single surgical patient in the hospital is your patient, whether you cut them open or not. The scalpel stops with you." Over this important job description, we see him at Adele's side as they rush her back into a room, as Addison and Burke arrive with the mom from whom Joe and Walter hope to adopt. The Chief continues that they need to be able to tell someone that they did everything they could for their child/husband/wife. As an avid watcher of Friday Night Lights, I can't see Rina, the pregnant woman, as anyone other than Waverly, her FNL character. I always suspected that she'd been out of town before we met her having a secret baby, and maybe she was doing that in Seattle. You never know! Addison asks Joe and Walter to leave the room, but they refuse. Addie then catches sight of the Chief and Adele and asks him what happened as his voice-over continues, saying that the Chief gets caught up in taking care of other people's families, as in real time he tells Addie he had no idea why she was even at the hospital. "And you sacrifice your own."
Cristina, Meredith, Callie, and Izzie are gathered together at Mere's house for the shower/bachelorette party, and Cristina says she likes wedding games after all, but she sounds so delighted, I wonder if those were drinking games. Callie is writing Cristina's vows on her hand so that she won't forget them during the ceremony. Izzie is making a bouquet out of toilet paper, presumably to go with Meredith's toilet-paper wedding dress. Izzie is in a right snit and informs Cristina that she doesn't need notes and instead should speak from the heart. Look, I don't care how in love I am with someone; I get really nervous speaking in front of people and I think that I'd need my own vows written down, so lay off. Of course, I'm deliberately trying to avoid the point, which is that Izzie is upset because she can't tell the man she loves anything since he's, oh, married. We've said it before, but let's say it again just for fun. If the timeline of this show is to be believed, didn't Denny pretty much JUST die? I absolutely believe that someone can move on from the death of a loved one, but this seems phenomenally fast. I'm also tired of arguing that I don't believe there's any real chemistry between Izzie and George, so I'll point out that little question this week instead. And back to the vows. Cristina predictably doesn't believe in any of Izzie's advice, telling her that the heart is an organ. "It pumps, circulates blood, gets clogged from time to time. It does not, however, speak. It doesn't have tiny little lips on it." Izzie tells her she's a pessimist, as she gets up and puts the bouquet on Mere's head. So I guess this mean's that I was wrong, and it's a really flowery hat. Cristina just announces that she's going to like marriage; her problem is just the wedding. With that, all the pagers except for Cristina's begin to beep, which upsets her. As she's about to leave behind Izzie and Callie, Meredith tells Cristina that she has to get married, no matter what happens, and that her getting married is a sign. "It's a sign people like you and me can do this! Be healthy, be happy. You marrying Burke restores my faith in me." They banter about Cristina's wedding being all about Meredith, but it's sweet, and these two hands-down have the best relationship on this show. Meredith asks her once more, "You can do this, right?" Cristina says she can, with a "no problem!" tone of voice.
The two McDoctors arrive back at the same time; Bailey lets them know that the fourth climber was brought in. McDreamy asks why they haven't yet performed a head CT, asking if there was head trauma. Bailey says that there is, without giving any details, and just escorts them in the room so they can see the ice axe protruding from his skull. Mark asks, "What the hell happened up on that mountain?" It's a great clichéd Dramatic Line -- I mean, "a great question."
In Adele's room, the Chief is in a panic wondering if it's uterine cancer. Addison has to stop him, and admits that Adele was in the hospital earlier, which understandably upsets Richard. She claims it was doctor/patient confidentiality, but he counters that they're still married and there might be decisions to be made. She stuns him into silence when she breaks in to admit that Adele might be having a miscarriage.
Burke is with Waverly and is trying to pinpoint when her chest pains started, telling her it's important that she be as exact as possible. From a patient's point of view, he's acting kind of scary and urgent, but when Waverly asks what's going on, he says he'll explain everything; first they need to get her to the surgical floor. I certainly hope he at intends to tell her before he cuts her open, at least. She's more worried about the fact that this means the babies will need to be delivered, and she's near tears over the fact that it's too soon and she hasn't decided yet who will be the parents. Joe takes her hand and assures her that it's not important at the moment and that she just needs to make sure she's okay. They're the absolute anti-couple to the Los Angeles adoptive parents that Addison dealt with, and I have to imagine and hope that this caring convinces her that they'll be the right parents for her twins.
The interns arrive at the hospital, and Cristina sees Burke. He explains that his surgery won't take more than four or five hours and he'll be at the church on time. She offers to scrub in, but Addison interrupts to ask about Waverly. He apparently has time to explain it to a fellow doctor, if not his patient, and it turns out her aorta is about to blow. Exposition, blah blah blah, basically it needs to be fixed within the 12 hours or she'll die, so Addie needs to be there to deliver the babies. Cristina is all excited about the surgery, but Burke misreads it as her being nervous about him getting to the wedding in time, and reassures her before he runs off. Bailey has shown up and assigns George to the McDocs, Izzie to Burke, and Alex to Addison, and shoos them away. She then tells Meredith in a quiet voice that she's going to be with the Chief's wife, who might be pregnant. "Yes, I did say 'pregnant.' I recommend that you lose the shocked look and try for something a little more…dignified." Meredith snaps on her Dignity Face and runs off. Cristina asks for something to do but Bailey orders her to actually take the day off that she's been given and go home to sleep; her wedding is in less than 12 hours. It's very much like Beverly Hills, when Kelly was at work the day before her ill-fated wedding to Brandon. If only Cristina had spent a little bit more time watching repeats of and less time being a phenomenal student, she might have predicted that the chances of the wedding actually happening were slim. She tries arguing with Bailey, pointing out that Burke gets to operate. Bailey: "There's only one Preston Burke." Ouch. Cristina squeaks, "There's only one Cristina Yang!" But Bailey just orders her home and leaves as she asks the rhetorical question, "What would you rather be doing, prepping a patient or prepping for your wedding? Go home!" I wonder if Bailey has ever actually met Cristina, if she needs to ask that question. Cristina just stands at the station as she walks away, looking sad, small, and a bit lost.
We now pick up the Chief's speech about being Chief, and it turns out he's been talking to Sloan. Richard tells him he never got the impression that he wanted to be Chief as much as he thought it was just something Sloan was trying to prove against Derek. Sloan is mad and growls, "I was in this to win, sir. I don't know if he's your new Chief but if he is, he's there because I made him fight for it." Richard admits he made all of them fight for it, and Sloan finally admits defeat and says, "So I'm not going to be Chief." Richard confirms this, and Sloan leaves the office.
In the climbers' group room, they appear to have just been told that their buddy was found, and they ask if the body was recovered. Derek corrects them: it was indeed him but he was alive. Derek asks them what really happened. I didn't realize it last week, but these episodes seem to be Shonda's homage to Friday Night Lights, since two of the three actors are also on the show: Herc and Billy Riggins. Herc's lying in bed with his head stabilized between some pads and he's the first to speak. His new story is that when the storm hit, the three of them wanted to get up to a ledge and wait it out. Billy explains that their friend started freaking out and demanding that they go down. He eventually just started climbing down, and since they all were tied together, they all fell. Their buddy -- the poor, I believe still nameless, guy who is the only one not on FNL -- says that he swung out with his axe to try and catch a rock, but instead caught their friend. The camera is back on Herc for this reveal, and the wild, shifty-eyed look on his face tells us that he's not a good liar and consequently that this is probably not going to be true. He closes his eyes and says it was an accident. Derek may be a horrible boyfriend, but he's still got some accurate instincts in his body; he looks skeptical at the whole story.
Adele wakes up and sees Richard at her bedside; in a panic she turns to Addison and just says, "What about --?" in a whisper. Addie admits that Richard knows, and then readies the ultrasound machine, telling her she's going to look for a heartbeat but that Adele should prepare for the worst. After a moment, though, there's a heartbeat. Addison explains that it's weaker than she'd like but liquids and a transfusion might help, and then tells Adele she's going into surgery but will be back as soon as she's done. Once she's gone, Richard asks Adele why she didn't tell him about the pregnancy. She wonders what his reaction would have been if she had, and pouts and turns over, telling him he probably has other work to go do with all the skill of a much younger woman. Richard doesn't take the bait and sits resolutely to her bed, announcing, "I'm good right here."
At the nurse's station, Alex and Addie go over details for Waverly's surgery when Jason London comes up and interrupts them, asking if she's Dr. Montgomery. When she confirms that she is, he introduces himself as Jeff Pope, Rebecca's husband. Alex's face goes stony. From what I can tell, from all of the parties that were interrupted and the fact that the wedding is so soon, I figure the very earliest it could possibly be is 10 PM. It's an odd time to show up, and odder still that she'd be there, but no one expresses any surprise. It's not going to be the first time I puzzle over the schedules of everyone in this hospital.
Aha, it's definitely night! Cristina is lying awake in her darkened bedroom, staring at the wedding gown hanging on the door. At the hospital, Crush is in her own room, staring out the window, when her husband comes to the door. He calls her name and she takes a minute to turn around, looking terrified and sad. When she does, he clearly only sort of recognizes her in her brand-new face, but asks if it's really her, and then grabs her in a hug and kisses her, apologizing. The look on her face as she's in his arms is one of complete terror, and Alex looks at her from the hallway as her eyes look back at him pleadingly. Jeff's oblivious, and tells her, "I'll never let you go again." That might be a little more resonant if we didn't know that he hadn't seemed to be looking for her the last few weeks she's been living at the Hotel de Seattle Grace.
Mere encounters Derek in the hallway and he tries to brush her off, saying he's heading to surgery, but she just keeps talking to him, making best-man-maid-of-honor-hookup cracks and saying she's herself again and wants him to sleep over that night. Again, what night? If the wedding is in anywhere from 5-12 hours, are they even going to get a chance to sleep? And if so, isn't it not even worth it to make plans for so little time? Does she mean after the wedding? And if she meant afterward, wouldn't she just ask him after the wedding rather than at work? My brain, she is sore from all of this exertion. But instead of trying to clear this up, Derek merely turns and tells her matter-of-factly, "I met a woman last night." Um, again, wasn't that approximately two hours ago, which would make it that very same night? I need to stop being surprised by my confusion about timelines; I mean, this is a show that took three years to get through a calendar year. He goes on, "Nothing happened, she was pretty, I noticed, and we talked." It's kind of the return of the Derek who called Meredith a whore, in a way. She asks if she should be worried, which is a valid question with him throwing this in her face so cruelly. He answers, "Should you be worried that I met a woman? No. Should you be worried that for me, flirting with that woman was the highlight of my week? Yeah, you should be worried or something." She's understandably pissed. I think that at some point, if I were Meredith, I'd take a moment to remind him that in the past few weeks I was the one who almost drowned, lost my extremely ill and quite cruel mother, lost my caring, wonderful stepmother, and was slapped and humiliated by my absentee father in front of my co-workers, and that means I still was the one allowed to not always be the perfect girlfriend every moment of every day, and if he really cared, he'd be more understanding, but maybe that's just me.
The Chief is now telling Addison that she's not going to be the Chief either. When she tells him she needs the job and a reason to stay in Seattle and begs to know why she's not getting it, he tells her gently, "Addison, ABC wants to spin off your character in an attempt to create another successful primetime drama, so you can't be Chief here in Seattle." I mean, he tells her, "That's why. If you need a job to give you a life, you either need a new job, or a new life."
Burke and Derek scrub in, and Derek tells him that he's a lucky man. He expands on the thought, explaining that Cristina is there, sure, and willing to commit. Seriously, I'm just for Meredith and Derek breaking up at this point. Rather than whining, he needs to try and solve his problems -- not just bitch at his girlfriend, but TALK to her -- and if he's not going to do that, just get out. This is so old and tired and he seems to think he's the good guy in the scenario, which I quite disagree with. Sloan comes in and announces that it's T-minus five hours, and gives himself a pat on the back for his own excellent best-man skills. Derek ponders this and tells Burke, "Worst-case scenario, I sleep with your wife in ten years." There's kooky music to accompany all of the silly adultery banter.
Bailey saunters past the announcement board and Callie totally catches her, saying that Chief Resident hasn't been posted yet. Bailey tries to deny that she was looking for it, but then laughs since she was caught red-handed. It comes off as self-deprecating rather than as fake modesty, and I add it to the list of things I love about Bailey. George then walks in, and when Callie sees him, she grabs him and shoves him into an empty office.
Once in the room, she's stammering and acting like a crazy woman, which she readily admits. She goes on and on about how something is against her will and she's a surgeon who loves her life as is (well, so would I if I suspected my new husband of having an emotional/physical/all-inclusive affair with his best friend who's been a giant bitch to me) and goes on to say she has no desire to house a being in her body for nine months and then push it out and raise it. Except, of course, that's all she can think about, and it's affecting her life. "It's hormonal. And horrible. But it is happening. To me!" George is stunned, as am I, because this is so out of left field, and I only desperately hope for her and this as-yet-unconceived child that she's telling the truth, and this isn't a move to try to fix her relationship. He repeats that she wants to have a baby, and she just tells him, "Apparently." He points out in a daze that there's a guy with an axe in his head in the other room, and Callie tells him he's a freak and gives him permission to run. He thanks her and does, practically leaving a cartoon dust trail in his wake.
Adele and Richard are still alone in her room, and she tells him she's fine and he should go. He disregards all of it and orders her to drink her water and take her pills. Though she thinks he has people he's dying to boss around out in the hospital, he happily yet sternly tells her that he's got plenty of bossing he can do right there. After a quiet moment, she tells him to go ahead and ask about the father. But he only tells her it's not his place. At that moment, the "my wife is pregnant with another man's child" silence is broken by both Meredith and Patricia, Richard's assistant. Meredith comes in with a wheelchair and a big smile to take Adele to her room, and Patricia asks Richard what he wants to do about the Chief announcements. Adele's face reads, "Of course!" but she insists that he go. Once alone with Meredith, she launches into possibly the sweetest yet most uncomfortable introduction ever, saying that they met when Meredith was a girl, and that Richard used to flirt with her mother. "I didn't want to see that, so I watched you a lot." She says that Meredith turned out well, and then sincerely says that she's sorry about Meredith's mother. Meredith's face has fallen as she pushes the chair, and she says she's sorry about her mother too. Adele continues that it was no one's fault. They got married young and believed in happily ever after, but "Maybe there is no happily ever after." Meredith just looks resigned. Hear that? It's the sound of a relationship falling apart, because everyone seems to think it's doomed, because Meredith isn't acting right after having possibly the worst year of her life.
Mama and Cristina are together, and Mama breathes, "It's stunning." The camera pans to show Cristina with her hair in giant rollers, wearing a, yes, stunning but rather severe diamond choker. It certainly brings to mind a collar image. After establishing that it really is supposed to be that tight, Cristina very delicately says it's beautiful, but maybe not her. All trace of outspoken Cristina is gone. Mama tells her that five generations of Burke women have worn this on their wedding days, and that it's what will make Cristina a Burke. Cristina repeats the words, and I do genuinely think she had never thought of it in those terms before . Mama then tells Cristina that she's not selfish like Mama originally thought, but that she's "given way" to Burke's ideas and been flexible about what's important to him. I wonder what her own marriage is like if she seems to think it's right and romantic to completely lose your personality for another person. But Mama moves on gracefully to ask Cristina what she was planning to do about her eyebrows for the wedding. Cristina stammers out, "N-n-nothing?" with her hand to her face. Clearly they should be dyed to match the flowers. I feel like old Cristina would have thought of that comeback, too.
During Waverly's operation, Addison asks Alex about the Jane Doe/husband reunion. He completely brushes it off and overacts that he doesn't care. "Whatever, he cried like a baby, she looked bored." Addison's surprised at him, but Alex just says that it's complicated since Rebecca doesn't know if she wants to be with him. Pouty Izzie pipes up, "It's not, actually, complicated. They're married, she took a vow. You don't mess with vows. Married is married. Game over. So frickin' over." OH MY GOD SHUT UP. I miss old sassy Izzie who was more than one dimension of stupid and bitter. This Izzie is boring and aggravating, and I'm going to hurt my hand trying to reach into the TV to smack her. The Bad News Beeps begin; Waverly's flat-lining, and Addison hurries to get both babies out so that Burke can start working on her.
George and McDreamy are working on Axehead. They have quite different opinions about him -- George is sympathetic, and believes that he's allowed to turn back if he's scared, but Derek thinks he didn't have a right to do that. "You chose to climb a mountain, you can't change your mind in the middle of a climb." This metaphor is kind of like an ice axe in my own skull right now, it's so subtle. There's a lot of close-up shots of the axe in the guy's brain, which I can't stomach at all. Dear Special Effects Man: You're very good. I get it. Please accept my compliments, after I vomit. Well done. They're now ready to pull the axe out, and Derek says that there will be some tearing around the wound since it happened while they were falling. It's a lot less easy to dislodge than he expected, and once he gets it out, the wound is perfectly clean. George says he's a lucky guy, but Derek thinks maybe the axe didn't actually lodge in his skull by accident.
It's Burke's turn to have his Chief of Surgery hopes dashed. Richard explains, "It's probably unfair, but I hold you to a higher standard. And you let me down this year, Preston, after you got shot, the tremor." Finally! Sweet comeuppance for operating for weeks with a tremor and making his intern girlfriend handle his surgeries! The karma is a sweet little nugget in this super-sized episode of aggravation, one that I'm going to savor. Richard: "This job is about making the tough calls. Sometimes the toughest call you can make is admitting you're in over your head. You don't do that." This speech could almost be used for other areas of his life, but I can't quite figure out exactly what just now; it's a bit too obscure for me. I'll see if I can figure it out by the end of the episode. He tells Burke he wants to give him the job, but he can't. Burke is serene, and without speaking he gets up to leave. When Richard calls his name, he just turns and smiles, saying he has a wedding to get to.
In Waverly's OR, Addison says that the babies are in the NICU and Burke says that she's stabilized, which is perfect because now they can get to wedding chat without having to concentrate fully on the pesky surgery in front of them. Addison asks if he's nervous, but he says he's excited, and the only nerves are about his vows. Addison tells him to try it out on the room full of women he has right there. He clearly has no desire to do so, but he's severely outnumbered, so he begins. "Cristina, I could promise to hold you, and to cherish you, I could promise to be there in sickness and in health. I could say till death do us part. But I won't. Those vows are for optimistic couples, the ones full of hope. And I do not stand here, on my wedding day, optimistic, or full of hope." During all of this, the glances of his audience are getting more confused and worried by the moment, and Addie tries to mercifully stop him. I have to say, though, this is the most honest thing I've heard him express in months. But then he has to go and change it up. "I am not optimistic, I am not hopeful, I am sure. I am steady." Hey, and if he's not, he can just bully his wife into being steady for him! It worked out so well before, after all. "And I know, I am a heart man. Take 'em apart, put 'em back together, I hold them in my hands. I am a heart man. So this, I am sure, you are my partner, my lover, my very best friend." There's a shot of Izzie staring intently, just so we don't forget that she's tortured. "My heart, my heart beats for you. And on this day, the day of our wedding, I promise you this. I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands. I promise you, me." Addie sighs, Izzie's left speechless, and Addison assures him that they all want him to now dump Yang and marry them instead, har har. I still can't get past the really condescending and brutal entry to these vows. I also can't help but think that maybe the two people getting married should know each other well enough that he'd be aware that she thinks of the heart only as an organ, and not as the symbolic centerpiece of his vows.
George wakes up Callie, who's napping in the on-call room, and asks if she really wants the baby, because if it's what she really wants, they can do it. She's stunned and happy, and they both smile -- even though this is possibly the worst idea in the history of worst ideas, they both look so happy, and I remember this is what I wanted to see grow between the two of them, before it was shoved down our throats that this marriage was wrong and that Izzie was his One True Love. Callie grabs George and kisses him.
Jeff is holding his baby when Alex walks up. Jeff makes comments about her looking like Rebecca used to look, and comments that he's giving Crush space since she seemed overwhelmed. Alex seems to be in a fighting mood, and rests casually on the door frame to ask Jeff why, with the ferry crash on the news and a missing wife, he wouldn't look for her. Jeff just explains that he thought she left him. I guess it goes without saying that he then sat in a darkened room with no television, internet, or news of any kind to sulk, since we know her image was everywhere. Jeff then blathers on a bit about how he didn't look for her when she was gone, "but what's worse is, I didn't see her when she was there." Ah, poetry. He can't imagine what she looked like when she came in, but Alex jumps in to menacingly tell him that she looked beautiful. Jeff just nods and turns his attention back to the baby, saying that he loves Crush, and Alex leaves.
Cristina walks into the hospital in sweats, hair still in rollers, holding her wedding dress in a garment bag. She finds Meredith at a desk and calls her name, but without turning Meredith launches bitterly into the story about Derek meeting a woman and telling her all about it. When Cristina again says her name she still doesn't turn, so Cristina announces, "Meredith, you know how sometimes it's about you and sometimes it's about me? This is really, really about me." Meredith turns, and exclaims at the sight: poor Cristina is sporting quite the five-head, and too-calmly announces, "Mama took my eyebrows. She took my eyebrows, and now I am a Burke." Until this moment, I never realized how important eyebrows were for breaking up a solid expanse of face.
Derek strolls smugly and angrily into the Group Room for Frostbitten Climbers. I guess Axehead's name is Lonnie, since Derek announces that he's stable but has sustained significant damage. When Herc asks if he's awake, Derek asks if they want him to be. When they all express surprise, he tells them the axe was there on purpose, and he wants to give them another chance to tell the truth. If only the girlfriend who didn't know about the wife he had back home was there to see this display of integrity. The climbers all exchange glances as best they can -- at least, those who can move their heads -- and non-FNL guy starts to speak but is shushed, and also given the name of Andy. Derek just self-righteously asks Andy if that's how he lets them speak to him on the mountain, and tells them he has to speak to Lonnie's family; they can speak to the cops who are waiting in the doorway. Andy looks tortured, and is clearly going to be the first to crack.
Bailey is looking at a sign on the announcement board; Callie has been named the new Chief Resident. Meredith gets her attention, but she's clearly distracted and upset at being so shaken up by a small, impersonal flyer. Cristina is behind Meredith looking defensive, and Meredith says, "I can't really explain it in a way that won't make you glare, but they took her eyebrows." Cristina is a menacing figure in the rollers with her arms crossed. Meredith also says that they called her a Burke, and Bailey finally turns, confused and exasperated, and tells her to go get on with her wedding. Cristina finally speaks to growl, "Hey!" At one raised eyebrow she lightens it to a questioning "Hey?" She then pleads with Bailey to let her cut, since her dignity has been taken and she needs to feel like a surgeon. "Do you know what that's like? Not to feel like yourself?" Bailey says yes.
Adele's room is now filled with the Bad News Beeps. She's cramping, and Addison rushes in to check her out, saying that this might be from an incomplete miscarriage. They rush her to the OR, and Adele reaches out for one last squeeze of Richard's hand. He looks sad and scared as they rush her away.
In his office, Patricia announces that Derek is there. Derek looks concerned and tells him that they can do this another day, but Richard says they should do it now.
Back to Adele's surgery. Addison comes out to Richard and starts to explain that they did everything they could, but that pregnancy at 52 is a dangerous thing. Not sticking around to hear the rest, he runs off to Adele. He slowly goes into the dark OR and sobs before she opens her eyes and he sighs in relief. I didn't think they left patients to come to in the darkened OR, but it made for some good scary drama for a moment. Richard can't believe he thought he'd lost her, and then asks if there's anyone she should call, like the father of her baby. She admits the father doesn't know, but then comes what I found to be the sweetest and biggest surprise in the whole episode. "I think I misjudged him. I thought he'd go running for the hills but actually, he's a much better man than I thought. He'll get over his initial judgments and he'll sit with you, and he'll make you drink your water." She begins to cry, and he heaves forward, realizing it was his baby. She tells him it was a boy, and apologizes as he lays his head on her chest and holds her.
Music starts up -- the show is about to begin. Derek marches into the OR and orders Burke to head out for his wedding. He asks, "Come on, you want the bride waiting for you at the altar? They don't like that." It's cute, likable Derek again. It's like he's two people. At the same time, Bailey lets Cristina make her one cut. When she's done, she's reluctant to hand over the scalpel, but at Meredith's urging, she does it. Meredith again asks if she can do it.
Cringe time! Izzie goes into the locker room where George is putting on his suit, and checks to make sure they're alone so she can say something to him. Naively (and, I believe, hopefully), George lightly says that they already said everything they had to say, but Izzie shuts him up, and then takes over tying his tie. Inspired by Burke's dreary vows, Izzie counters them to George, saying she is an optimist and is hopeful. George tries to take his tie back in a really meek way, but she's having none of it. She announces that she's his best friend and loves him, and that if he wants to be with Callie, she'll support that. One could very well argue that in the many conversations they've had on the subject up until now, he's already told her very clearly that he DOES want to be with Callie and make things work, regardless of his feelings or whatever is going on with Izzie, but I guess this hasn't sunk in yet for her. George is like a mouse looking into the eyes of a very hungry cat. She continues that also because they're best friends and she loves him, she needs to say this. "I'm in love with you. I can't promise the future, I can't promise perfection because we're us and I'm me and who knows what will happen. But in my heart, I am sure. I'm in love with you, George. And I hope you're in love with me too." Honey, we've all been there, but saying it again and just in a slightly different manner isn't going to get you the answer you want, if you've already gotten the one you don't want. George looks literally green, and they stare at one another as the others all noisily file in to get dressed for the wedding.
It looks like someone finally decided that, if they were trying to get the real story out of the climbers, having them all in the same room and letting them shut each other up was probably not the most cunning idea ever, so Andy is in his own room with an older gentleman sitting in a chair by the bed, who turns out to be his lawyer. Andy asks about Lonnie, and his lawyer says Andy's name warningly, and Derek thinks he got legal representation pretty quickly. Andy orders, "Don't you dare judge me. You weren't there." He then begins to launch into his story, and though his lawyer tries to stop him, he keeps talking. Lonnie was in so much pain, they all thought he wasn't going to make it, so Andy took things into his own hands. "I put him out of his misery. If I was back there right now, I'd do the same thing. He was my friend. I put him out of his misery." Derek finally looks more concerned than condescending.
In the locker room, the interns are all dressed up, and Izzie works to draw some brows back on Cristina's face. George comes in, and the girls tell him he looks nice, and Izzie stares at him creepily. It's supposed to be Meaningful, but the effect is much more Psych-Ward Disturbed. Patricia then sticks her head in and tells them it's the moment of truth, and hands out envelopes with their test scores. They all rip them open and sigh in relief, except George. Izzie asks if he passed, and he tells her he did and he'll talk to her at the church, and then hastily leaves. Derek walks in, and Meredith shoos the others away ahead of her. Derek closes the door so they have some privacy.
They aren't the only couple on the brink of a Serious Discussion. Alex goes to see Crush, who compliments him (very rightfully) on his suit. She then tells him that she's been discharged. Alex starts to protest, but she lists all of the various departments that have given the okay, and adds that pediatrics has discharged the baby as well. Alex continues to stammer, and she closes the door to the room and turns to face him. She tells him that she has every reason to go with Jeff, who is a good guy, and that medically there isn't any reason for her to stay. Alex doesn't seem to get what she's hinting at, and he goes to look at her chart. Exasperated, she cries, "Do I have to spell everything out for you? Did you sniff too much glue as a child? I'm asking you something!" I don't think he's playing dumb. I think there's a switch in his brain that shuts off when comes to feelings. Genuinely confused, he asks, "What do you want from me?" She stammers, embarrassed, and in my gut I feel it too, having made Grand Proclamations of my own: "I want you to give me a reason to stay. A real reason." She tells him that Jeff sees her as Rebecca, but that Alex named her Ava and that's when she felt most like herself. Again, she pleads for a reason to stay. But being the guy who can't deal with something real, he just stares at her and tells her Jeff loves her. She cries and begs for a reason, but he tells her to stick with the decent guy, and leaves her crying. I really do want to learn one day what it is that's made him so horrifically scared of real feelings.
In the locker room, Meredith and Derek have their own talk. She tells him that if he wants to break up with her, he needs to just do it, but he throws her a curveball when he instead tells her that he loves her and can't leave her. "But you're constantly leaving me. You walk away when you want, you come back when you want. Not everyone, not your friends, but you leave me. So I'm asking you, if you don't see a future for us, if you're not in this, please, please just end it because I can't. I'm in it. Put me out of my misery." I still maintain that he's the one who's been causing more misery by getting so upset that she doesn't react to emotional trauma in the way he wants her to react. Either way, I want to put an ice axe into the skull of this story, and have them go one way or the other and get on with it already. Meredith just shakes her head and says she can't, since she has to make sure Cristina gets married. "I really need to make sure she gets down that aisle." Defeated, he tells her, "Let's go. We're running late." You can't break up with her, but you can continue to make her feel guilty and on her toes about your feelings all the time. Boyfriend of the year, that one.
The church is filling up, and Derek and Burke are standing together. Burke asks if Derek is okay; Derek merely responds with some lame getaway-car jokes, as all best men are required to do. Burke tells him that if it's about his being Chief, it's okay. Derek quickly answers, "Richard didn't pick me to be Chief." Which, actually, we now know is a total lie, and I get what he means by saying that, but what he should have said is, "I'm not going to be chief." See, then he's not technically lying in church. Burke is surprised, since everyone assumed it would be Derek, but Derek maintains that he doesn't know who it will be. Burke then presses Derek about how he doesn't look good, and Derek finally sadly admits that he and Meredith might not make it, since he thinks he wants it more than she does. But he puts his happy face back on and tells him today is about Burke. Burke tells him he really is a good best man. Better than he is a boyfriend, for sure.
Outside, Meredith knocks on the door, calling for Cristina. There's a pause to allow everyone to fret, but she opens the door, saying she didn't run. She really does look stunning; even though it's not a dress that I would choose, it suits her. It's strapless and fitted to the knee where it then goes into a wider skirt, and she looks absolutely fantastic. Her mom cries and says that she's proud, and Cristina seems genuinely touched and thanks her. Her mom continues, "I always feared, too emotionally stunted to settle down." Cristina rolls her eyes, showing a spark of her old self, and beside her Meredith assures her she can do this.
Alex flops dramatically into one of the pews, right to Addison, who wonders out loud where you sit if you know both the bride and the groom. Seriously, it's a good question, and one I've often wondered myself. Alex's take is to find the hottest girl and sit there, and Addison tells him to stuff it. Again he tries to pick her up but she just tells him he doesn't want her, because she's moving to the Wednesday at 9 PM timeslot on ABC. Oh, and also, he wants Crush. Alex only pouts and maturely sneers that she's Rebecca and he doesn't know her, so Addie has to put him in his place. "You suck. To me, you suck. I kind of…hate you. But Alex, we do not get unlimited chances to have the things we want. And this, I know. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could have changed your life. And no matter what her name is, she'll always be [Crush] to you." Addison, I'm going to miss you!
At the hospital, George finds Bailey sitting in the ambulance bay on a bench, and they each remark that the other didn't go to the wedding. She's radiating a sense of defeat and sadness, and tells George she's so sorry. He asks what he does now, and she tells him, "You fail your intern test, you have two options. You can walk away from being a surgical resident altogether, or you can start from the very beginning." He clearly can't see taking another three years of being a resident, and gives a little sad, lost laugh. She sits to him, and Bailey turns and pleads, "Did I fail you, George?" He immediately tells her no, and answers, "I failed YOU." She grabs his arm with an air of desperation, and each of them stares out into space. This is what this show did well. DOES well. Forget the forced relationships, stick to the amazing ones that were created and built for the past three seasons. That's what really inspires feeling.
Not to be outdone by Derek's best-man clichés, Izzie peeks through the door into the church as Meredith gets Cristina ready. She's looking for George, which clearly grates on Callie. Alex comes out and compliments the bride with a dash of sincerity and a pinch of lechery, which is just how I like my Dr. Karev. Callie finally confronts Izzie. With a big smile, she says George might be late because of their big day, and proceeds to tell Izzie excitedly that she's Chief Resident and that they're going to try for a baby, rubbing in that they already tried earlier that day. Izzie -- having hoped "emotional day" meant that George had been so moved that he'd dumped Callie in the last 20 minutes, I guess -- can't seem to process the words that she's hearing. It's a kick-ass move by Callie, and I appreciate her finally standing up for her man without having to resort to begging.
Behind them, Meredith checks to make sure Cristina is good to go. Everything is fine until Cristina realizes that when she scrubbed in to make her cut, she scrubbed the vows right off of her hand. Did she not shower between the party where Callie was writing them and now? Even if it was really strong ink, I think they would have been gone long before that. Maybe Burke likes his ladies really "natural," if you catch my drift. Cristina begins to melt down, and inside the church, the crowd turns, totally hearing the shrieks coming from the other side of the door.
Inside, Derek offers to see what's going on, but Burke just assures him calmly, "Cristina wouldn't be Cristina if she didn't need a little push." The idea of that gives me the heebie-jeebies. Their relationship is firmly in the "disturbing" column at this point.
Outside, Meredith keeps saying it's going to be okay, and Cristina finally yells at her to shut up and say something helpful. Mere's at a loss, since this wedding is possibly more important to her than it is to her best friend, so Cristina tells her to say whatever she would say if they were reversed. It's a good starting point; they assume their positions and Cristina tells her to go. Meredith: "Stop whining! This is your wedding day. You will go down that aisle, and you will get married." Izzie and Callie look a bit scared; since they each claim that George is their best friend, they've never gotten the idea of tough love, or even mildly stern love, especially of the Cristina variety. It's a brilliant performance by Meredith. "If I have to kick your ass every step of the way to get you there. You will walk down the aisle, you will get married, you hear me, Cristina? We need this. We need you to get your happy ending." Cristina ponders this, and gathers herself up, announcing she is ready, totally calm.
Inside, at the same moment, Burke decides he needs to check on her. He begins the longest, most drawn-out walk down the aisle, which seems to have tripled in length given how long it takes him to get to the door. Once there, he pauses a moment and then pushes through.
Cristina reassures him; she had a brief freak-out but she's ready, and she tries to send him back. But Richard's words clearly sunk in; he's ready to admit he's in over his head. "But you don't want to do this. I'm up there waiting for you to come down the aisle and I know you don't want to come. I know you don't want to come but that you will come anyway because you love me. And if I loved you, if I loved YOU, not the woman that I'm trying to make you be, not the woman that I hope you'll become, but you, if I did I wouldn't be up there waiting for you. I would be letting you go." He admits he's in over his head, but manages to still keep the old Burke flavor to it, with that air of Cristina not being good enough -- that she's not the right person, and that it seems it's still her problem more than it is his. Cristina is completely dumbstruck. "I am wearing the dress. I am ready. And maybe I didn't want to before but I want to now. I really think I want this!" Without her even realizing it, that's the nail in her coffin. Burke tells her, "I only wish that you didn't think. I wish that you knew." I grudgingly agree. Girls, if you think but don't know, hold off. Don't let someone else determine your life's direction. And…now apparently I'm a self-help book.
Meredith pulls the door of the church open, Izzie and Callie behind her. Their bridesmaid dresses are really nice, chocolate brown and each a different style to suit their bodies. I can guarantee, having been in weddings before, that there's no way they really could have gotten those dresses in the tiny amount of time that we're supposed to believe this wedding was planned. Meredith walks up the aisle alone, towards a confused Derek. She stares right at him a moment before turning around and announcing, "It's over. You can all go home. It's over. Sooooo over." Behind her, Derek looks sad, as she seems to have implied that it's not just Cristina and Burke who have reached the end.
At the hospital, Joe and Walter are each holding one of the twins, and Waverly smiles at them. Through the window, Adele watches them from her wheelchair, with Richard behind her. She reaches for his hand.
Alex makes it back to the hospital and rushes to Crush's room, but finds it empty. He looks completely stunned, I guess surprised that, after he coldly shut down a woman with whom he'd gotten so close, she'd not sit and pine for him a while longer.
Back at their apartment, Cristina stands in the living room alone, still as a statue. Meredith comes in and Cristina turns expectantly, and droops when she sees that it's not Burke. She tells Meredith simply, "He's gone." Meredith tries to stay hopeful, saying she's sure it's not for sure, but Cristina points out that his trumpet, his music collection, his grandma's picture by the bed, and his lucky scrub cap are all gone. Hold on a second -- his grandmother's picture that he kept by the bed? Grandma doesn't want to watch you doing that! Meredith and Cristina look at each other; Mere knows she's right. Cristina says, "He's gone. I'm…I'm free. Dammit." She swears over and over, panic growing with each word, and starts to claw at the choker around her neck. Meredith rushes to her and helps her get it off. Cristina then cries to help her get off the dress, and Meredith takes scissors and literally cuts her out of it to get her free as fast as possible. Once she's stepped out, she grabs Mere's hands and Mere holds her as she sobs. I'm glad at least to see the season end with the two people who have the best relationship of anyone at that hospital together, even if one's heart is breaking.
Callie stares at Izzie, alone in the church sitting in one of the pews. If this storyline doesn't change directions season, I'm going to have an aneurysm. (And clearly, if that happens, I'm going to a more professional hospital than Seattle Grace.)
George is packing up his locker when the new interns come in. They're appropriately immature and excited, exclaiming at the excitement of bloody scrubs and the stink. They see George and uncomfortably say goodbye and clear out to go check out the thrill that is the cafeteria, but one girl stays behind and says hi. It's none other than the same girl who made Derek's week by flirting with him. She tells him shyly, "Well, you look seasoned and wise, got any advice?" He tells her no, but on second thought advises her to learn an appendectomy start to finish before her first day. She looks confused, but takes the advice, and asks if he's leaving for a better offer. He tells her, "Just, you know, life." And may he be able to get some control over his life if he's not working on being a surgeon; we can only hope. She wishes him good luck, and he introduces himself as just George. She is Lexie Grey. As she leaves, there's an actual swoosh of realization on the soundtrack to signal that she is indeed the brilliant younger half-sister of his own Dr. Meredith Grey.
And in the Chief's office, Richard sticks out his hand as he offers the job of Chief to…Derek. But Derek doesn't take his hand, and instead tells him that he's not right for the job. Richard is confused, as am I, since Derek made such a big deal of treating Meredith horribly because he thought he might want the job more than he wanted her. Especially now that he's basically begging her to dump him. Derek tells him, "A good chief learns from his mistakes. I'm still working on that. But you, if you had a chance to do it all over again, you'd do it differently. Go ahead. Do it all over again. You're the best man." About that, he's right. Richard is the best man in this hospital, hands down. He looks out the window thoughtfully, and the season closes with a shot of the Walkway of Drama.
Have a great summer, everyone, and thanks for reading. I just hope that the few months until September give the writers a chance to come up with a brilliant plan for these characters.