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Now this is what I've been waiting for all season, and maybe even longer. This was an episode that felt like classic Grey's with the jokes and the tears and the awesome characters we love and the angst and all that stuff in the right package. But I digress, let's go through what happened in the first part of the season finale.
Derek and Meredith have two clinical trial patients in the hospital at the same time, both teenagers, and it turns out that they know each other from tumor treatments and are in love. The Chief notifies Meredith that the medical board that oversees trials is going to shut down this trial at midnight if their final patient doesn’t survive. They decide to move up the boy's surgery so that they can do both he and his girlfriend before midnight. Beforehand, though, they team up to give the two some privacy so that they can have sex for the first time. Sadly, the boy dies after his surgery and Derek winds up throwing the celebratory champagne into the garbage in frustration. Meredith's got her own problems, because in addition to the frustration of the trial and another death, she's going to therapy and working through her mother's suicide attempt, which is pretty grisly.
Also grisly is the Major Trauma Finale Event. A boy has been brought in encased in cement, which he lay down in to impress a girl. All the docs have to work together on their own specialties to save him, but they wind up doing a lot of screaming at each other instead. Richard gets them to sort of work together, and they manage to start getting him out of the concrete, but as they're doing this Bailey realizes that they didn't take his bladder into account, and with all of the hydrating they've been doing it could explode at any moment, but we're left hanging as to what will happen. In addition to the general infighting, Richard seems to notice that Hahn is being unreasonably hard on Cristina, who finally got in on a surgery when Meredith gave her the Sparkle Pager, which pulled her right out of her funk. Callie, meanwhile, is getting more and more pissed off at Mark's teasing her about a threesome with Hahn. Clearly, this is all going to blow up sometime in hour two.
George has been shoved out of the concrete surgery and finally unloads on Lexie about how frustrated he is to be doing basically nothing. He mentions having access to the Chief's office where all of the resident files are, but tells her he won't read them. She's overcome with curiosity, though, and pages George to the supply closet where she's just read the charts of all of the first-year residents and tells George that he failed his intern exam by only a single point. One person who is sure to have his file added to soon is Alex -- he's watching after Ava, who can barely function and clearly needs professional help. He won't listen to Izzie and only berates her when she checks up on him. Turns out she was probably right, though, since Ava slits her wrists with a kitchen knife when Alex goes out of the room to growl at Izzie to mind her own business. And with all of these patients' lives hanging in the balance, and talk of Derek selling his land and giving up on ferryboats forever, we head into Part 2.
Missed the second half of the two-parter? Read all about it here!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"My mother used to say that, for a surgeon, a day without death is a rare gift." Mere's voiceover comes as we, from the perspective of the fridge, see Mere reach in and grab something. Right in the middle among the leftovers and whatnot is the bottle of champagne with a "Do Not Drink" note on it. "Every day we face death. Every day we lose life." To illustrate, there's a Death Montage of patients flatlining, Mere and Derek calling time of death a few times, Derek angrily pulling off his surgical mask, and through it all, the bottle of champagne sitting unopened in the fridge.
The scene changes to that of an aquarium as she finishes, "And every day, we're hoping for a stay of execution." The fishes are in Dr. Amy's office, and Mere stares at them as Dr. Amy gently encourages her to talk about her mother's suicide. To Dr. Amy's surprise, Meredith was there when it happened. She doesn't offer any more details, just stares at the fish, so Dr. Amy tells her it's okay to talk about it. Mere finally turns her attention from the fish to her therapist, who looks extra-nice today with her hair all big and curly and some makeup on. Mere tells her that she was there as her mother took a scalpel and slashed her wrists, and that Mere had to sit in a pool of blood and wait for her to pass out so that she could call 911. "It's not okay to talk about it." Dr. Amy closes her book and asks why she waited -- turns out that Ellis told Meredith not to call, and she didn't want to get in trouble. She insists her mother didn't want her life saved. Dr. Amy suggests that Mere is really angry with her mother, but Mere says it's not her mother she's angry with. Dr. Amy asks who it is, but we're not treated to the answer just yet. "We're attached to death. Chained. Like prisoners. Captives," she VOs, as she stares at back at the fish.
Like old times, Mere and Cristina are lying in bed and Mere offers possible pick-me-ups for her friend. She throws out solutions that have worked before -- tequila, dancing, or even calling Mere names and mocking her endlessly. The last one deserves a moment of thought, but Cristina then shoots it down like she did the other suggestions. Cristina tells her to stop and that she's too upset for cheering, so Mere pulls out the big guns and offers her Sparkle Pager. Cristina bolts up and warns her that this wouldn't be a funny joke, but Mere tells her she knows she's really sad because she didn't even ask for Sparkle Pager. Cristina tells her, "If I were the kind of person who kissed people? I would kiss you!" while Mere pulls a pillow over her head at the prospect.
In another nod to seasons, Mark, Derek and Richard are standing (far too close for my afraid-of-heights liking) on the edge of a cliff, basically, on Derek's land. While they gaze down at the city below, Mark feels sorry for himself that his new leaf isn't turning. Richard replies by telling them that Adele wanted him to change but he's still the Chief, and he announces that weekend he's moving back home. Derek asks the obvious question -- if Adele knows this, but Richard just says she'll be fine. "She was wrong, I was right..." Let me give you a hint, sir -- never say that to her or you won't be moving home. Mark cuts in, "Doing it like bunnies. Can't change. I can't change..." Richard tells him to be himself, and they both assert that they're men and they have a right to be who they are." Derek seems a bit skeptical. They all then admire the land, so Derek asks if one of them wants to buy it. Mark and Richard are appalled and talk about his house, this being the view from his living room, etc. Derek says that's all over and he's thinking of getting a place in town. Mark asserts, "This land and ferryboats are who you are." There are many things I've missed about this show, but fucking ferryboats are not one of them. Derek tells them a man can change, he's selling the land, and rolls around a little in his self-pity as he mumbles, "Ferryboats crash."
The victim of one of these crashes is sitting, basically comatose at the kitchen table. Alex serves up some breakfast as Izzie comes in, and she watches as he puts a fork in Ava's hand and helps her to childishly scoop up some food to her mouth. Alex asks Izzie if she can cover his cases at the hospital that morning so that he can watch movies with Ava at home, and she agrees, but worriedly tells him that Ava doesn't look so good. Alex replies, almost confused, "She's fine!" as if helping a grown woman lift her fork and open her mouth is totally normal.
Bailey is staring into space at the hospital when George runs in and delivers a message from the Chief that she's not spending enough hours in the OR, and that she needs to add 15-20 hours of surgery a week to her schedule in order to sit for her boards. He asks if she has a reply but she shushes him and explains that she's trying to see something. As she stares some more, Izzie comes up to tell her how worried she is the situation with Ava and to ask what she should do, but George talks over Bailey's head (hee!) to pass on that Bailey can't see something if she's asking questions. George finally asks what she's trying to see, and still with her dead-eyed stare, she answers, "The bigger picture."
Callie and Mark are, as he puts it, doing it like bunnies, and he's talking dirty to her about Erica being there and what Erica would be doing to Callie right now. Callie seems both disturbed and yet really into it when her pager goes off. There's a trauma coming in, so she tells Mark they have to finish up the fast way and he grins like a devil while his head goes out of the shot. It's probably about as graphic as this show's ever gotten.
Mere is monitoring her interns as they put files together; the clinical trial patients they have coming in are their most promising yet and she wants no mistakes. Izzie comes up and demands to know where she was the night before. Mere tells her that Cristina needed her, but Izzie counters that Ava's at the house, and Izzie needed her, too. George, who followed after Izzie, supplies that she's crazy. Mere turns to George and reminds him that they've talked about it before, and that calling Izzie crazy isn't appropriate. "She's... spirited!" Easy joke, but it worked just perfectly. Izzie smacks George and corrects that it's Ava who is crazy and that Alex is pretending she's not. She seems to earnestly be asking for help but before she can get the question out, Cristina sashays in and greets everyone. Lexie immediately starts stammering that she was just helping and was on her way to check on Cristina's patients. It's the most pathetic Pavlovian response ever. Surprisingly, though, Cristina says it's fine and to take her time. Cristina kicks back smugly against the desk and tells them all she's getting her groove back, while she does a little dance. Finally she gloats, "Meredith gave me Sparkle Pager!" Izzie is aghast and while Meredith justifies what she did, Cristina stands behind her doing what can best be described as a Snoopy dance. Cristina explains that this way she can get out from under Hahn, and if Hahn won't teach her, she'll teach herself. Despite the fact that she's still gloating, it's an excellent point. Izzie argues that she'll use it for good and Cristina for evil, and then turns to George, who tells them he thinks it's non-transferable. After all, he is the Chief's intern. Cristina calls him the Chief's bitch and tells him he has no power and that the power is in the Sparkle Pager.
George is paged by the Chief and leaves, and Izzie turns back to Mere to talk about Ava. But Meredith happily says that they're using a new technique today in their trial so she has no time to think about Ava. "Work it out." Izzie's spirits are lifted when she's paged for a trauma but quickly dashed when Cristina poaches it away with the Power of Sparkle and Izzie has to head to the pit. Callie rushes in and acts all weird and jittery while everyone looks at her weird and Mark tries to sexy talk her. But everyone is struck silent when they walk around the corner and find a terrified boy encased in concrete. The firefighters ask what the docs want them to do, but the docs all stand, dumbstuck, while the boy pleads through chattering teeth, "Help me!"
Callie's saddled with the delightful job of talking to the yahoos who dared the kid (Andrew) to lie down in wet concrete. They're all doing an excellent job of acting like teenage douchebags. Callie doesn't hide her disgust as she listens to them laugh about how they never expected him to really do it. When Callie calls him their friend, the one girl is quick to say that they aren't friends with Andrew, they're just friends with each other. She has the nerve to say that nobody made him do it. "You make it sound like we did something wrong." She tries hard and only sort of keeps her composure as she asks how long he was lying there, yelling that he couldn't move, before they called the police? They all just look at their shoes.
Andrew is also trying to keep his cool, but it's hard when Bailey just keeps looking him over, feeling the concrete, and says nothing. She also has no answer for the fireman asking what she wants them to do. She yells at him, "I don't know!" which sends Andrew over the edge and he starts to cry. This part could have come off whinier -- and it's almost hard to take it seriously because it's such a stunt trauma for the finale -- but this kid really sells it and he's breaking my heart. Bailey notices this and clearly feels horrible -- she tells him she knows she hasn't done a good job instilling confidence in him but that she's going to work with the other doctors to figure out a plan. She even goes so far as to break a personal rule of hers, and she promises the 19-year-old that they'll get him out and he'll be okay. First, she tells him the concrete is leeching water from his body so he can't afford to cry and lose any more liquids.
It's teen central in the hospital today. Mere and Derek's patient is helped by her parents into her bed -- turns out her right arm and her legs don't really work because of her tumor. The girl, Beth, and Mere have already met and Mere tells Derek she has a name for him: The Seattle Grace Brain Butcher. Her parents are aghast, but it shows she's a fun, cheeky patient, which is a rather nice change. They ask Derek about the procedure and the virus, first if it's safe, and then if anyone has survived the surgery before. Meredith is the one to speak up and give them an honest "No." Beth calls herself a lab rat, to her parents' horror, but she seems kind of tickled by it, saying it will be cool if her name goes down in medical history if the surgery works. A voice from the door says, "Not if I beat you to it!" Mere introduces their other clinical trial patient but Beth happily breathes, "Jeremy!" Mere's surprised that they know each other but everyone is even more surprised when they start making out, no one more than her parents.
Out in the hall, they realize that Jeremy is how Beth found out about the trial. The two went through treatment at Mayo together, and were also in a support group there. They explain that they like Jeremy, but that they're worried because Beth says she's in love with him. They're afraid now that if Jeremy doesn't survive, Beth won't want to live and won't fight to stay alive through surgery.
Richard sends George to go to his office and see if there are any toxicology articles specifically about concrete. He also tells George that he needs to speak to either Mere or Derek as soon as he can. He then walks into Andrew's room and after a second of marveling at the sight of him, realizes that the only people in the room with them are the firefighters and demands to know why they're doing nothing. They explain that they haven't been given any directions yet, and Richard looks through a window to the room. It's as loud inside as it was quiet in Andrew's room as each of the surgeons argues about their own aspect of Andrew's treatment. Cristina explains each of these things to a furious Richard. No one can agree on where to start, and Richard doesn't seem to have an answer as they all start yelling again.
While George is looking for articles, he notices a drawer named "Resident's Files." Nice misused apostrophe, there. Inside he finds... Richard's unfinished novel! Well, actually he finds the residents' files. George gazes on them and then slams shut the drawer and runs out before he can succumb to temptation.
Aaaand we're back to the yelling. It's not worth it to specifically go through each argument, but basically the concrete is contracting, crushing his limbs. There's some issue with his liver. The concrete has caused third degree burns where it's touching his skin. And on top of all of this, once they get the concrete off of him and his circulation comes back, the toxins that have built in his blood will rush to his heart and could kill him. Cristina throws in a possible solution but Hahn just snaps at her to let them work. George then runs in and starts to speak, but they all begin arguing over him until Richard again shuts them up and fills us all in on the timeline. The teens didn't call 911 until Andrew had been in the concrete for an hour, and it then took three hours for him to be cut out. So they're left with 4-6 hours max to get him out and into surgery. He orders them to work as a team so he doesn't die. George asks where he should be and the Chief sends him off to work with Meredith for the day since there are already too many cooks in the kitchen.
Meredith approaches Rose who, upon seeing her maybe-not-really-kinda rival, knocks an entire file to the floor. She stammers that Meredith is intimidating because of the Legend of Derek and Meredith. In explaining the Legend (which Mere pooh-poohs), she lets it slip that Derek is selling the land, and even moronic, naïve Rose knows it's because of Meredith even though Derek won't admit it. She tells Mere that she really likes Derek and Mere intimidates her, but Meredith smiles genuinely at her and assures her there's no legend.
The scenes with Alex and Ava back at the house are so hard to watch, I'm not sure I can do them justice. Alex keeps prattling away, trying to engage Ava in the movie, pretending that the woman to him isn't a shell of a human staring into space. He can't ignore when Ava starts to cry, however, and then in a tiny voice she apologizes and admits she thinks she wet herself. Alex seems taken aback for a second, but assures her that it's okay. As he kisses her on the forehead, she tells him she promises to try and do better. I know we've set up Alex to be the poor, guarded, wronged kid from the horrible, alcoholic, broken home, but even that doesn't excuse the fact that he's basically willfully ignoring how badly she needs professional help.
Jeremy is sitting on Beth's bed while behind them, Beth's mom sits in the chair and watches them with a knitted brow. She brings up a woman from their support group but Jeremy tells Beth that she died, and relays details from her husband that she didn't even know him on the last day of her life, and she was in extreme pain. I know Derek is horrified at killing so many people but given how they'd go naturally a short while later, it's really not the worst thing that could happen. Beth says basically that: she and Jeremy are lucky that they don't have to worry about that happening. She assures him that the surgery will work and then adds that if it doesn't, "At least we'll die quick." They touch foreheads, but Beth's mom has seen enough and asks Meredith what happened to the idea of changing Beth's room. Beth's face darkens like a thundercloud as she tells her mom that this room (down the hall from Jeremy) is great. Meredith takes note of the situation and tells Mrs. Beth's Mom that there were no more rooms available, and Beth mouths a grateful thanks to her doc. She then turns to her mom and tries to get her to leave; when the subtle approach doesn't work Beth says she wants to kiss him without her watching. Just as her mom protests, Jeremy's eyes roll back in his head as he's hit with a seizure.
I wonder if Honda knew what this episode was about when they aired a commercial featuring a guy stuck in a block of concrete admiring the car his buddies are using to drive him to the hospital. Having seen what the effects actually are, this seems to be in just a leeeetle bit of bad taste.
Derek and Mere have Jeremy back in bed and he seems okay; he's more worried about how Beth is, but Mere tells him she's fine. George comes running in to report that Richard is looking for one of them, and Mere tells him she'll go. George then offers his services and is visibly disappointed when she asks him to run labs.
Andrew is watching as the guys chisel chunks of concrete off of him, and then asks Mark what he's doing with a little turkey-baster-thingy stuck in through a hole in the concrete on his chest. Mark explains he's putting vinegar on his skin to minimize the damage of the burns inside his skin. Andrew is understandably horrified when he interprets correctly that he's burning from the inside out. He starts to freak out about dying again, but Bailey bans the word. He explains that he's generally the smart one, and not dumb enough to jump into a vat of concrete "for a girl." Callie is appalled to realize he means Lola, the girl in the waiting room who was smarting off to Callie. He says he did it because the guys dared him and, well, she was watching. He's sure she's unimpressed and will remember him after he's dead just as that really stupid guy. Bailey tries to calm him as he keeps berating himself until he claims he's like Han Solo. She just stares at him, and I must admit I was rather devastated when it seemed that she didn't have any idea to whom he was referring.
Mere finds Richard who explains, somewhat sadly, that he got a call from the board that oversees clinical trials. Since she and Derek have had eleven deaths and no successes, they're allowing one more patient. They have until midnight that night, and if this patient (Jeremy) dies then the trial will be shut down. He asserts, "One last patient."
Cut to Dr. Amy telling Meredith that Richard is who she's mad at, but Meredith doesn't understand why. Dr. Amy somewhat desperately reminds her that she's ripped the wound that is her past right open again, and she's mad with Richard, her mom, and herself, but Meredith insists that she understands that Richard went back to his wife and her mom didn't want to live. They each did what they had to do. And when Dr. Amy suggests that she thinks Ellis didn't want to kill herself, Meredith insists she did and they each wonder why the other is so sure. Dr. Amy only tells her to think about it, since the answer is right in front of her.
Derek is quick to jump to the conclusion that he's a failure, and Mere has to be the cheerleader. She convinces him that they could move up Jeremy's surgery and fit in Beth afterwards to do them both before midnight. They're really close to what they feel is the right cocktail with the virus and maybe they could beat the deadline! Rah rah rah! He's sort of on board but then remembers that these are actual people's lives they're dealing with, and stops to ask if his ego is too big. She assures him it's just right, and after he thinks a moment and notes that this bends the rules without breaking them, decides he's in if Meredith will clear it with Richard.
Instead she goes to Beth's room, and is able to report that Jeremy is doing okay. Beth asks if she can see him, which starts a fight with her parents. But they finally manage to convince her they just want to spend time with her before her surgery and she stops fighting them. With tears in her eyes, she admits to Meredith that she and Jeremy are the last two survivors of their support group. Her parents watch her sadly as she lays her head back down on the bed, looking sad.
Lexie comes upon George doing research and nervously tries to figure out where Cristina is so that she doesn't get in trouble for not doing anything. He's really wound up and about to burst, but doesn't want to open the floodgates. Realizing this, she pulls up a chair and says they have two minutes to vent to each other. He immediately begins to rail about how he has no actual power as the Chief's Intern, and that instead of being in with cement boy, he's doing research and running labs. He supposedly has all this power but he can't use it. He tells Lexie that he can waltz into the Chief's office alone, where the confidential files live, but that he has no actual power to look at the files. Lexie asks if he'd feel better if he could look at the files, but that's not what he wants. He wants to feel like there's a point to all that he's doing. One can see what's coming from about a hundred miles away.
Andrew is still marveling at his idiocy and Bailey finally cuts in to assure him he's going to make a lot of mistakes but that it's just a piece of his life and that he should be proud of the whole picture, which is what defines him. Andrew only starts to chant that he's a loser, which sends him into a panic and his heart rate soars. Bailey needs to bring out the big guns. She looks into his eyes and informs him that Han Solo isn't a loser. She tells him that he's not remembered for the carbonite, but for being a hero. And as the other surgeons shoot her surprised glances, she runs down his list of achievements like saving Luke from the sub-zero temperatures of Hoth, and she reminds him that Princess Leia saved him from the carbonite and that they then fell in love and saved the universe. The sound of chipping has stopped as everyone in the room just stares incredulously. Noticing this, she aggressively shoots back that she's a fan of science fiction and asks if they have a problem with that. They all murmur no and get back to work, but the sweetest thing is the happy look on Andrew's face at her story.
An arm reaches out of a hospital room and grabs the wall, followed by the rest of Beth as she tries, with her failing limbs, to drag herself to Jeremy's room. Mere and Derek are going over things, and Mere rather shakily answers Derek that yes, the Chief signed off on their plan -- fortunately for her any weirdness is immediately forgotten as they see what Beth is doing and they run to her aid. She explains that her parents both went out, and in the absence of a wheelchair, she just wants to see Jeremy. She pleads, crying, that she needs to visit him, since she can't have the seizure be the last time she sees him.
Meredith and Beth are looking in the mirror -- I'd assume this would be something for her to use to shave her head for brain surgery, but since we've never seen that happen yet, why start now? It looks like Mere is helping her get her hair back to looking nice after her struggle. Beth asks them if she'll get to really be alone with Jeremy and explains that they haven't "done it" yet because they wanted to be tumor free, but now they've realized that might not be such a sure thing. She asks if it will kill them, and Derek assures her it won't. There's some awkwardness as she asks them how it is and they confirm that it can be magical with the right person.
Back at the House for Wayward Orphans and Head Cases, Ava's taking a shower and Alex realizes she's not carrying her side of their conversation. He goes in and finds her sitting down and shivering in the water, repeating over and over how she doesn't understand, and that she really was pregnant. He jumps in and sits on the ledge while he holds her shoulders and tells her everything will be okay. Yet of course this doesn't mean getting professional help -- Alex will just somehow save the day, and this behavior is nothing to get too worked up about. At least that's how he seems to be treating it.
Jeremy and Beth are ALONE alone and start to make out and work their hospital gowns off while outside, Derek and Mere stand sentry at the door. Derek points out that he's never before gotten a patient laid, and that they're total pimps. But they both think it's rather sweet, and naturally this turns to a conversation about relationships -- Mere thinks they're in the fun and new stage, but Derek replies that he prefers the time after that, when you really know someone. (Thunk! Goes the anvil.) Beth's parents walk up in a panic since they found her missing, and Derek jumps to block the window in the door while Meredith makes up that they sent her down for an MRI. Once she's calmed them down, she steers them away to fill out paperwork while Derek hangs out until the kids are finished.
Back in Andrew's room, Hahn is being snotty and condescending while Cristina does work. Down at his legs, Callie is calling out that each time more concrete is lifting off, his pressure is going up. When Hahn goes down and reaches around Callie for something, Mark makes a saucy comment about loving Twister while Callie glares at him. Cristina finishes getting something into his chest but Hahn snaps that she's not to sew it in until Hahn can check her work. For the first time in forever, though, Richard takes note of this and maybe starts to see what a horrifically selfish and bitchy not-teacher his head of cardio is. Just then, Callie yells that she has to release the pressure in his leg, and slices in as Richard tells Andrew he probably won't feel a thing. I expected a horrific yell at this point, but it seems he really didn't actually feel a thing.
Lexie sneaks a look down the hallway in front of the Chief's office but she's startled by Izzie and really clumsily thinks to ask her, "What's going down?" It's as uncomfortable a delivery as it sounds. Izzie bitches about Cristina taking Andrew with the Sparkle Pager and Alex not answering the phone. She then leaves an irate voicemail and moans, "The things we do for love!" She walks off and Lexie breathes a sigh of relief as she agrees.
Derek and Mere walk in to check on their patients and ask how it went, and while Beth blushes and tries to look for words, Jeremy tells them sincerely that it was amazing, and thanks them. Ah, the magic of TV, when one's first time really is amazing and perfect. But, whatever, the tumor patients are happy and ready to have their heads cut open. Derek tells Jeremy that it's time to take him to surgery, and after a moment to absorb it, Jeremy tells Beth that he'll see her after. Mere cuts in and smoothly tells him that she's not sure he'll be awake yet when Beth goes in for hers -- a nice way to get them to really say what each other has to say. He repeats that he'll see her afterward and kisses her but after a moment she pulls him back and asks what if they die? Jeremy tells her that they won't, but she pulls him in to tell him, through tears, that he changed her life and filled it with joy, and if she dies... he cuts in and says she doesn't dare die, because he's not finished loving her. These two really sell it, cheese and all, and after they kiss Beth sends him off to "get his head chopped open." After he leaves she turns to Derek and orders, "Do not kill him."
Derek prepares the virus and seems to be extra on-edge this time, but Mere asks him if he can feel, "the majesty of lifesaving." He wonders when she became an optimist but she answers by mentioning that he's selling the land. He says he's trying to move forward and she counters, "So am I," as Rose turns around with a worried glance.
George opens a door and when a voice asks who's there, he says that it's George O'Malley and asks, "I was paged to the supply closet?" He realizes that it's Lexie that called out and walks in to find out what's going on -- to find her sitting on the floor, surrounded by files. He's completely horrified as she says, "I couldn't help it! I had to know, and then once I knew, I KNEW." He drops to the floor and tries to gather them together to get them back while Lexie babbles that it doesn't matter, because she's read them all already and she also has a photographic memory, so the info is all stuck in her head. I'd argue that it in fact really does matter so that she's not kicked out of the program for stealing confidential files, but then again if you can stay in the program after cutting a patient's LVAD wire to basically steal a donor heart, you can do anything here. She tells him that she read his file and he tries to tell her he doesn't know, but she talks over him and tells him he failed the intern exam by a single point. He looks like a deer in the headlights after getting that info.
The surgeons are all taking a break in the hallway, having sodas and watching as the firemen keep chipping away at the concrete. Callie joins them and announces that the OR is standing by while Bailey stares into the room, but with her same blank stare from earlier. Cristina asks her what it is but she doesn't know exactly, just that they're missing something. She chants through everything they've done, while the others all watch her. She then drops her drink and announces that it's his bladder. They've been hydrating him constantly for over four hours, and Hahn jumps in to say they need to get a catheter in him. Otherwise, his bladder will explode and they will have accidentally killed him while trying to save his life.
Alex is chopping tomatoes for sandwiches while Ava watches him with her eerie blank stare. She finally mumbles a request for mayo, which he announces is a good thing, because that means she's hungry. Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Alex. His phone rings and he goes into the hallway to talk to Izzie. He gets mad when she asks how Ava is doing and questions if she's eating, if Alex has called her husband, and the like. She tells him not to get mad that she cares, but he calls it "butting in." I'd call it a little of both, but as she's the only one facing the fact that Ava needs medical attention, she's more in the right than not. Alex begins to yell that Izzie can show she cares by covering for him at work, not by calling him and checking in every hour, but his rant is interrupted by a noise from the kitchen. All Izzie hears is Alex beginning to yell Ava's name.
And in Derek and Mere's trial, Jeremy has passed away. Derek angrily calls time of death and pulls off his cap and storms away.
At the house, Alex walks back into the kitchen and then screams Ava's name and runs towards where she was sitting.
Derek and Mere go into Beth's room where she's waiting with her parents, and the look on their faces tells her everything. She puts up her hand and tells them not to say anything.
In Meredith's kitchen, Ava's hand falls, and she drops the bloodied kitchen knife onto the counter into puddles of her own blood while Izzie calls into the phone asking Alex if everything is okay.
Meredith tells Beth she's sorry, but Beth angrily tells them not to say anything. She then begins chanting that like a mantra, getting more and more upset, as her mom takes her and holds her. Derek then goes to the fridge, grabs the bottle of champagne, and hurls it into the trash can. The fridge door then slams closed on the first half of this season finale.
To read the second half of the season finale, click here!