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Woooooo! Hot Major Hunt is BACK! Hooray for hot new men on my Thursday nights. Wait, what's that you say? There were 40-something other minutes of this episode too? Okay, fine, here you go.
The Big Surgery of the Week is a project Bailey has been working on -- a six-way kidney transplant. Guest stars galore abound at Seattle Grace, and it seems only Bailey and Lexie can really remember who is getting whose kidney. (No matter, everyone is color-coded during surgery.) One of the donors is a girl who seems to be donating out of the goodness of her heart, but who bristles every time someone tells her what a good deed she is doing. She finally loses it and begins yelling at the recipient of her kidney, who happens to be the married man she's been seeing for the last three years. His wife, who is one of the donors, gets so angry that she pulls out of the surgery, which means the entire thing falls apart. Bailey, not allowed to coerce anyone into donating, instead just has a talk with the woman in her awesome Bailey way, and so she decides to do the right thing and participate after all. Everything is going like clockwork until Meredith drops one of the donor kidneys on the floor. It's pretty bad timing for her, since she's been really angry at Derek for getting all of the credit from their brain tumor clinical trial of last season. Fortunately, the kidney ends up working fine after all, the Chief tells her to forgive herself, and Bailey convinces an righteously indignant Derek (who thinks that, as the attending, he has a right to all of the credit) to just thank his girlfriend for coming up with the trial in the first place and helping him... so he gives Mere a glowing kidney in a jar for her bedside table -- that means true love.
One of the patients is paying his son to donate a kidney, but everyone is passing it off as a "Christmas gift" instead of reporting that since there are so many other people depending on the surgery. The father and son have a complicated relationship, so naturally Izzie gets too emotional about it while Alex's daddy issues bubble to the surface, which then of course leads to another big, screaming fight. That night, however, Izzie tells Alex she cares about him and she's not going to stop caring, and after saying it to him ten times or so, he finally stops ordering her out of his room and kisses her instead. I would have been so happy about this development two seasons ago before Izzie became such a pain in the ass.
In the non-surgical story of the week, Callie and Erica "Do It," and Callie realizes she might not be that into "It" after all. After spending the day trying to talk to Mark about it (who wants nothing to do with the conversation), she realizes that she might not like it just because she likes being the best at everything she does, but in this case she is a fumbling beginner. So she enlists Mark, cunning linguist that he is, to teach her some tricks of the trade so that she can give it another try with Erica.
Finally, George is having a hard time getting respect from any of the interns except for Lexie, who spends the day running around after him like a puppy. Mere, Alex, Cristina and Izzie all have to give him one of their interns and they spend the day trying to figure out who it will be, but when Bailey and the Chief realize what's up, he's just assigned interns and that's that. Lexie is pissed that George didn't request her and that he doesn't notice her, so she yells at him and storms off, which is kind of a relief because she was getting too pathetic as is. While deciding who to jettison, Cristina entertains the idea of sleeping with one of her interns (it's been a while since Burke left) but eventually realizes she wants a real man and no one at Seattle Grace currently fits the bill. Thank goodness Hot Major Hunt walks into Joe's that night and orders a drink, telling Joe he starts a new job tomorrow. Mmm-mmm good.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"I am a rock. I am an island." No, I'm not dancing around my living room playing Simon and Garfunkel loudly after a breakup. Mere is just voicing over as she sits in bed and reads her mother's journal with a little penlight, with Derek sleeping beside her. "That's the mantra of pretty much any surgeon I've ever met.
"We like to think we're independent, loners, mavericks. That all we need to do our jobs is an OR, a scalpel, and a willing body." Hahn and Callie come in from what looks like a date -- both are all dolled up -- and as Callie grabs glasses and pours wine, Hahn asks if Cristina is on call. She is, much to the clear delight of Erica. "But the truth is, not even the best of us can do it alone. Surgery, like life, is a team sport." Callie hands Erica a glass and tells her that the taking it slow was the Best. Idea. Ever. Hahn grins manically as she agrees that it takes the pressure off and they clink glasses. "And eventually, you've got to get off the bench and decide, what team are you batting for?" Anyone that has ever played or even just knows anything at all about team sports knows that this is a horrible analogy, given that once you're on the bench, you are already on a particular team and can't then change your mind during the game. But if we followed actual sports rules, that wouldn't have been a clever pun there, would it? Having decided what team they are batting for, Callie and Hahn rush at each other and start making out and grabbing at each other's clothes.
The sun rises, and Mere runs into the kitchen where Derek is already eating. She runs through and grabs some toast, and Derek calls after her that one of the bonuses to living together is eating breakfast together. She can't, though, because Bailey paged the gang in early. Too bad, then, that she doesn't have time to read the article about Derek and the brain surgery procedure for which they ran the clinical trial last season. The cover of Distinguished Medical Journal Today, is a shot of Derek looking tough in his scrubs. Mere grabs it to look at it excitedly, but her face drops when she reads about this new method, "The Shepherd Method," and comments on the picture of just him. He notices she's now making a face, but she assures him that she's not and she loves the picture before bolting. Because he's been turned into a completely self-centered moron this season, he seems to take that without question.
Mere is waiting for the elevator when Derek joins her and tells her about all the press he's doing, adding that his face hurts from smiling too much. He better be careful or some pores might appear! He pushes the elevator button and Meredith tells him testily that she already pushed it. He replies that it comes faster when he pushes it, still joking and not noticing the bite in Mere's tone when she answers, "Oh! Must be that Shepherd Method!" Bailey is walking by and stops to observe. Mere tells Derek she's taking the stairs and only then does he realize she's upset, and he has the gall to sound incredulous about it as he asks if it bothers her. She snarks back that they couldn't call it the Shepherd-Grey Method, "Because then people would think you had help!" She storms away and he stares after her with his familiar stony face that says, "Everything would just be okay if she'd shut up and know I'm right about anything and everything, doesn't she know who I am?"
Isn't it convenient that Alex and Izzie got Dixon and his son as their patients? Because this way they can work -- "work" -- together and make an inappropriate spectacle of themselves while fighting like little children! I was thinking I hadn't seen enough of that already, so I'm really glad this gives me another hour to bask in the good times. P.J. is sullen and kind of a little bitch about everything, while Dixon overcompensates and tries to make nice. Izzie asks Dixon about his four-times-a-week dialysis and he explains that his kidneys are basically shot, and that he's super lucky to have a son that would do this for him. P.J. interjects to remind him, "You're lucky you're loaded." Then he asks if he's getting the $10,000 before or after the surgery? Alex and Izzie share a worried look but Dixon just sadly smiles and explains that it's a Christmas gift. Never one to contain his emotions until it is an appropriate time to vent them, Alex snarks that it's only October.
They go and find Bailey, who is in the conference room studying charts and information for the surgery. They hover in the doorway, which she calls them out on, and finally Izzie asks what would happen if, hypothetically, a father was paying his son for a kidney. And seriously, Bailey's awesomeness knows no bounds. She answers pointedly, "Well, as someone who stole an organ herself not that long ago, you should know what would happen is, your patient would be out of the exchange." Alex and Izzie look at each other and Bailey gets up to point to the Flow Chart O'Kidneys behind her and explain that once Brian wasn't getting a kidney, his wife would drop out, so then her recipient's loved one would drop out, and so on until no one was giving or getting kidneys today. Bailey remains just on this side of yelling as she tells them that they better be really sure that the bribery is taking place given the havoc it would cause. Alex tells her that it's just a gift, and the two flee.
Brian and his wife are chatting with Lindsay, and Mrs. Brian is gushing about how amazing Lindsay is for doing such a thing as donating a kidney to a stranger for no reason. Lindsay brushes it off but Mrs. Brian goes on to say that while she isn't giving it directly to Brian, Lindsay's participating in this surgery is helping save her husband's life and how thankful she is. Lindsay is getting visibly more tense as she goes on, and Brian has started to sweat. I'm completely sure these two things are unrelated. While Lindsay smiles tightly, Brian sends his wife for a washcloth.
She walks out of the room past Mere and Cristina, and Mere is bitching about how her mother invented a procedure all by herself. Cristina points out that she might want to stop reading Ellis' journal if it's going to make her feel inadequate, but Mere is deep in Mere-land, where she can't hear anything but her own droning voice. She gripes that even though her mom is dead, she's still amazing. Cristina, knowing nothing she says will be heard, is now ignoring Meredith herself and asks Mere if she knows if a particular cute intern is "clean." Mere is kind of grossed out when she realizes that Cristina is thinking of sleeping with him. Cristina just defends that Lexie had a point that morning, and she'd just be scratching an itch, after all. "It's been a long time!" she hisses. Been there, girlfriend. And I don't have a menu of interns to choose from.
Cristina doesn't find out if he's clean, though, since she's interrupted when Lindsay starts yelling that she can't take it anymore. She's screaming at Brian about how she can't take any more compliments about how wonderful and selfless she is, "Especially not from her." On "her," Lindsay gestures to where Mrs. Brian just was. Brian tries to quiet her but he's practically doubled over in pain and therefore rather ineffective. Lindsay just keeps yelling at him that he promised he'd tell her, and that if the past three years meant anything to him, he'd tell her. If you're surprised that Mrs. Brian arrived at that moment to hear everything, you've never seen a television drama before. She's absolutely horrified.
Back in his room, Brian is a captive audience for his wife's anger. She admits she knew he was seeing other women but that she thought it was just sex. And while that's a horrible thing to do, she's Queen of the Doormats to admit she was just going to keep taking it. Queen Martyr of Doormatia, even. Apparently her line is a woman giving a kidney for her husband, since internal organs mean more than just sex. Hahn has been examining Brian during the tirade and announces that all he had was an acute anxiety attack, and that she can clear him for surgery. Mrs. Brian goes on crying about how she gave up her own life to do everything for her husband, but he interrupts to shoot back that he never asked her to do any of it, that he can drive and pour his own juice. "I got sick, not elderly!" That said, Mrs. Brian then tells him that she'll never do anything for him again, including giving her kidney. At the end of the bed, Bailey whispers urgently to Mere to get on UNOS and see if they can find another matching kidney. It's a long shot, but the only shot they have.
Derek, meanwhile, is pissed that Meredith harshed his medical journal buzz, and gripes to Mark that he made the virus. Slumped over a computer, Mark tells him that no one cares about assists -- does anyone remember who assisted Michael Jordan? Duh, Derek and I both answer, Scottie Pippen. Mark insists Derek knows what he means, and then gripes about how women overthink everything. Derek stops thinking about himself long enough to notice that Mark is doing research on experimental treatments for cleft palates. He teases Mark about wanting his own clinical trial, and teases him that it would be a good thing since he's never made a worthwhile contribution to medicine. Mark banishes him from the room but as Derek leaves, he tells Mark to enrich his life and read Derek's article. Mark informs him, "I'm saving it for the bathroom." Ooh, and if he has some Jon Hamm's John Ham, then he's got a really nice little break for himself there.
Post-outburst, Lindsay is trying to explain herself to Cristina. It started as a fun, light office fling, but then one day she realized he was all she could think about and that she'd do anything for him, including give a kidney. Cristina asks her why and Lindsay defensively answers that she can help save Brian's life too. She's clearly intimidated by Mrs. Brian and explains that in giving a kidney, "... he'll finally have to choose. Her or me." She sounds really satisfied and confident about her plan, and Cristina just smiles with a little hint of sadness.
Callie tries to talk to Mark again, and sits down to him with her lunch. She gripes that Hahn loved it and wants more, and Mark absentmindedly commiserates that it happens to him all the time: he barely remembers some women but their minds are blown. Callie asks if that's the sage advice he can give but he blusters that as an important doctor he has better things to do than give sex advice. She asks him what, and that's the last straw and he takes off despite her yelling that she needs his help.
In the cafeteria, the interns are all lined up with petrified looks on their faces as Cristina, Izzie and Alex discuss their strengths and weaknesses and decide who they're going to give up. Lexie seems as scared as the rest of them but is the only one to speak up, pointing out that they can hear everything the residents are saying. I think that's the point, Lexie. Besides, at least Cristina actually wants to keep her, saying that Lexipedia, "remembers things." And bathes, which is more than she can say for "Stinky Two." Lexie tells Stinky Two that they should leave, arguing that the residents will respect them more if they leave. S2 clearly doesn't believe it and tells Lex to go first. While they do this bizarre window shopping, the residents also talk about the kidney patients. There's been no word from UNOS, and Izzie comments that her guy really needs a kidney. Cristina points out that they all do, too distracted to be as mean as she could about a statement like that. Mere snips that she wouldn't give Derek a kidney, because he'd take all the credit and say he grew it himself. It's rare that I chuckle out loud when Meredith speaks, but that's what just happened. Izzie, not to be ignored, continues that her patient has been sick for 15 years AND also has to deal with a crappy kid. Yes, let's start ranking the suckiness of kidney failure, Izzie. S2 starts to put his tray down, but when Cristina yells at him he picks it back up immediately. She takes points off for lack of stamina, but Alex points out that he also follows directions, and he's back on Cristina's "maybe keep" list.
Bailey's trying to maintain control amongst the domino participants, who clearly have heard that Mrs. Brian pulled out. Everyone is yelling at her simultaneously, and the general theme is that if their loved one isn't getting a kidney, they aren't giving a kidney. Bailey manages to quiet them and assures them she's doing all she can to make sure they all get kidneys today, and she'll keep them posted. As they file out, Richard comes in and glares; before he can say anything she promises that she has it under control. He reminds her that they're being featured on the national news, and orders her, "Fix this." "Yes sir!" she answers. I know now isn't really the time, but Richard is so concerned about the reputation of the hospital that he's really been ridiculous in how he handles everything going on under his (maybe finally fully intact) roof, and I feel like someone might need to point that out to him. I like him a lot, but he's been going overboard with only caring about the hospital's reputation this season.
P.J. is pissed, not that his dad might not get a kidney, but that he might have been poked and prodded for nothing. Dixon tries to tell him that they were able to spend time together, so it wasn't nothing, but P.J. informs him he's about 20 years too late in wanting to spend time with his son. He then asks if he's still getting the money if there is no surgery, because if not he's going to leave. Dixon pleads with him to stay and be patient, that he needs him. Alex and Izzie have been watching the exchange like a tennis match and Izzie storms out of the room, and indignant little Nosy Parker.
She's stormed into the stairwell where she can pace and have a fit about a situation for which she doesn't have all the details. Alex, more gentle than he's been since the first half of the season premiere, muses that Dixon must have done something really bad to make P.J. so angry. But Izzie's so wrapped up in her own self-righteousness that instead of taking into consideration the words of someone who clearly had a horrible father, she says that maybe Dixon cares about him, "But the moron's too emotionally stunted to let him." Alex is pissed, not without reason, since it is getting personal now. He chuckles grimly, gathers himself, and then tells her that this is her problem, getting too wrapped up and caring about the patients. He thinks Dixon is the moron because the son will never give him what he wants, and he'll only be disappointed. The sooner he realizes that, the sooner Izzie might get it too. He stops, but she icily tells him to go on. If we thought she was self-righteous before, we hadn't seen anything. "No, go on, please. Be a selfish ass. Because at least then I know what to expect. Because this being a decent guy one second and a total jerk the -- it's getting really old, Alex. So who's it gonna be? Pick one." Alex picks to leave the stairwell. Yes, he's been a complete asshole this season for a totally dumb reason. But since when is that new? And why can't Izzie get off her high horse long enough to find just a tiny bit of perspective with both her personal relationships and her patients? She could at least hold off on the judgment until she has the whole story -- and this so soon after being reminded of her own selfish, irresponsible, and completely dangerous organ stealing incident. It's kind of gross.
George walks over to the nurse's station looking wiped out and carrying a stack of charts. Lexie is chirping about missing him at lunch, and doesn't seem to pick up on any of his exhaustion. When he says he was doing charts since his interns don't respect him, she dreamily says that she'd respect him if she was his intern, like it would be the greatest honor in the world. I don't think she'd respect him so much as moon over him, and I don't think he'd respect her until she maybe grew a spine. Cristina's been listening and tells George that he gets no respect because he's not scaring them. "Just decimate one every few days. It's not rocket science." To illustrate, she yells for S2 so that she can quiz him about the surgery and humiliate him when he can't answer. He slinks off, and Cristina smiles and shrugs. Quietly, Lexie concedes, "It's brutal but it's effective."
Mere heads through a door and nearly collides with Derek, who couldn't sound more condescending as he announces that he won't do this with her. She asks what and he answers, "This silent fight." Well then, Derek, why not talk to her like an adult and try to maybe understand her really quite understandable anger? He announces that he's going to call the editors and have them print a correction to mention Mere and looks shocked to learn this isn't what she wants. She doesn't want credit because he knows she's angry, she wants it because he thinks she worked hard and deserves it. "You don't deserve it!" He counters. He tells her she's a baby with a lot of potential, but also a ton to learn. She reminds him that the trial was her idea, and then is saved by the beep of her pager. As she leaves she tells him she also hates the picture on the cover. Oh Mere, you were doing so well in presenting a fair argument before stooping to that level. But still, I have to ask, why is Derek such a sucky boyfriend this season? He knows her well, they're together, he knows kind of what he's in for, and so now he has taken to treating her like a child and that if he just perseveres, she'll be what he wants her to be. It's kind of disappointing after everything they went through to get to this point of being together.
Mere goes to see Bailey and Richard in the conference room and tell them that UNOS does not have a match. Richard drops his head into his hand while Bailey stutters and tries to come up with a solution, saying she'll talk to Mrs. Brian. Richard tells her that she absolutely can't do anything that can be seen as coercion, that the rules are clear and that they can't risk losing their status as a transplant center. Oh come on, after Izzie's shenanigans -- if they didn't lose it then, I can't imagine them losing it now. But it's good to see him thinking about actual rules and regulations and not just how to make themselves look good. Quietly he tells Bailey to let the patients go. "It's over." (In my head I added, "Sooooo over," because it was the exact same delivery.) Poor Bailey looks like she's just been punched in the gut.
Hahn finds Callie looking at an x-ray and asks if she wants to get coffee, while sliding her hand familiarly onto Callie's waist. But instead of agreeing, Callie whips around at her touch and blurts out that she's not cut out for this. "For coffee?" If by "coffee" she means, "sex with women," then yes. Callie sounds genuinely regretful as she says that she thought she could do it but she can't. Hahn's confused since Callie did do it the night before, but after a beat she realizes, "It wasn't good for you." Callie looks tortured, and Hahn just turns and leaves.
Izzie and Alex are back in with Dixon, who can't believe he got so close. But when Izzie consoles him that he still is high on the list and has a really good chance at another kidney, Dixon says that's not what is upsetting him. Izzie realizes, "Oh. Your son." What a professional. Dixon tells her it was his chance to get P.J. back, and despite Izzie's dismissive responses he tells her that he knows P.J. can be a jerk but that he was a bad father. P.J.'s mom died and Dixon worked too much and made a lot of mistakes. Izzie, having already made up her mind about the situation, jumps in to assure him to not blame himself. "Some people are just broken." Alex finally looks up and Izzie continues, "I guess you just try not to care too much. Then you can't be disappointed." Dixon nods through his tears, and as Alex hands him his discharge papers to sign Dixon starts pleading, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Izzie just takes his hand.
Bailey hands Mrs. Brian her discharge papers, explaining that once she signs she is free to go. Mrs. B definitely seems troubled, and tells Bailey she's sure Bailey thinks she is a horrible person for refusing to give her kidney. Bailey keeps a straight face and tells her she isn't thinking anything. But Mrs. B goes on to explain how Brian has taken everything -- her love, pride and dignity -- and that the one thing he doesn't have is her kidney. She can't give him that last part, and repeats that Bailey must think she's terrible. Bailey (who does seem like she might think so, just a tiny bit, even if she is doing a valiant job to not show it) explains that there are good rules in place to keep her having an opinion for a reason. Giving an organ that God gave you to someone else is an extraordinary gift, one that can't be coerced but must be given. She does add, though, that if Mrs. B were to do it -- here she stresses she isn't asking her to do it -- but that it would be for five other people that weren't her husband. Bailey is silent while Mrs. B's holds a pen over the signature line, staring at it with tears in her eyes.
Bailey is awesome at not coercing someone to do something -- we see is Richard announcing that all six donors are anesthetized and ready. They will go first, and then the recipients will be brought in. All of the pairs will be color-coded so that there aren't any mix-ups. He tells them to work quickly but carefully. "Use each other. Operate as a team." Izzie shoots a glare towards Alex, obviously bitter that she still has to work with someone who doesn't kiss the ground she walks on and marvel at all of her meaningful personal (and always correct) observations. Richard sends them off to make medical history, then comments to Bailey that they are very lucky that Mrs. B changed her mind. Bailey will only agree.
There's nothing I love more than a surgery montage, and this one features a bunch of shots of kidneys being pulled out of bodies. Weirdly, they're already somehow in baggies, and I have no idea how that actually works. I will just bow down to the wonders of medicine and go on. Each donor kidney is put on ice and then flushed with preservation solution. Donors are wheeled out as recipients are wheeled in. At one point, Richard tells Cristina to do the honors, whatever they are, and she's rewarded with a spray of urine. That is a really good thing, though, and Richard happy that things are going well. In another OR, Mere has finished cleaning her kidney and turns to bring it to the donor. She announces, "Walking with the kidney," when after two steps it slips from her hands and gives a very satisfying "splat!" as it hits the floor. She and Bailey stare at each other wide-eyed for a moment until Bailey starts yelling, "Five second rule! FIVE SECOND RULE!"
Back from commercial, they are icing and cleaning the dropped kidney in desperation -- everyone but Mere, that is, who is forbidden from touching anything. Richard then comes in to holler, "Someone dropped a damn kidney!?"
Callie storms into the on-call room looking for Mark, who seems to have been napping. She basically demands that he listen to her, and he's pretty much a captive audience though he rolls over to face the other way, yelling, "Oh, for the love of God!" She tells him she likes to be good at things, but she also doesn't fail or quit. She wants to be good at this thing, and she needs Mark to show her what she needs to do. His ears perk up at the words, "Show me." She purrs, "Just because you didn't publish a big clinical trial doesn't mean you're not a genius. With that, Mark jumps off the bed and answers, "Fine. Take off your pants," as he pulls his top off to the delight of the entire female audience. She's surprised and relieved as she fumbles to get her scrubs off and he decides, "I'll show you the slow method. It's not in a medical journal, but it should [be]." And how.
The OR is much less sexy than the on-call room. Everyone is staring at the dropped kidney, now clean and in the recipient's body. The problem is that it's grey, and not pinking up to show that it's happy in its new home. Bailey begs the little organ to pink up, while Mere looks terrified over her scrub mask and Richard glares at her. After a few tense moments, though, it turns nicely pink, and everyone in the room applauds.
After the surgery, while Mere moans about dropping an internal organ on the floor (Izzie: "It happens.") the other residents have made trading cards with their interns on them. While they are wheeling and dealing to see who is going to George, the Chief comes up with Bailey and observes a bit before demanding to know what they are doing. When they explain, Bailey chuckles and asks, "Oh, you think I got to choose my interns? And I picked you people because you're all such a surgical dream team?" To Alex: "You're lazy." To Izzie: "You're whiny." Hallelujah, it's finally been said! Naturally she looks disbelieving. To Mere, while shuddering: "Butterfingers over there... downright depressing." And to Christina, who smiles hopefully: "You're just annoying." While she laughs, Richard grabs the cards, pulls one from each resident's group, and hands them to George, declaring that he now has interns. There's no time for celebration, though, since Bailey gets a page that seems to be bad news.
It's Dixon, who is barely conscious while alarms blare, and Bailey calls out a lot of fancy medical orders. Dixon groggily asks for P.J.
In a quieter room, Lindsay declares to Cristina that Brian better be dead. Cristina mildly tells her that he's doing fine, but Lindsay can't believe it since he hasn't called her room or even asked for him. She mentions the last three years and wails, "I gave a kidney for him and he still hasn't made a choice!" Her face is screwed up and her defiant voice isn't doing a very good job covering up her desperation. Cristina tells her quietly, "He hasn't asked about you. Or called. I think he's made a choice." Lindsay wails that she gave a kidney for him, and then seems to let it all sink in; she starts to sob. Lexie watches her sadly.
Alex visit's P.J.'s room and P.J., charming as usual, demands to know the whereabouts of his dinner. With no preamble, Alex announces that Dixon had a seizure. P.J. calms down and asks what that means, not unconcerned, and Alex goes off. "It means he could be dying! And he doesn't know you give a crap!" Izzie comes in to furrow her brow and disapprove of Alex some more while he continues yelling. He tells P.J. that Dixon's been asking for him and that P.J. could be too late. Alex doesn't know if P.J. really cares, but if he does and he's too late then P.J. would have to then live with that for the rest of his life. Alex screams at him, asking if he really wants to live with that, while P.J. stares back.
Lexie walks into the locker room to find George addressing his three new interns. He wants to see them an hour before pre-rounds in the morning, but they think it's too early, and tell him to lighten up before they saunter away. George, unassertive puppy dog that he is, just grins sheepishly when he sees Lexie and comments that his lab coat should say "Doctor" O'Malley on it. Lexie, though, just asks if he even asked for her. George is confused, so she has her own Lindsay-style meltdown. She helped him study, she decorated his locker... his face falls. "You don't even see it! You don't see anything!" Actually, I'm sure he sees a lot, Lexie, but just not you. Or even just not you in That Way. She concludes, "I am such an idiot. And you are a jerk. You didn't even think to ask for me? Screw you, Dr. O'Malley." With that she heads out, leaving him to wonder what even just happened. He may be kind of clueless, but I definitely don't think he is a jerk. He's just a dude, who doesn't have romantic feelings for Lexie.
Bailey is standing in front of the big kidney chart in the conference room and tells Richard that five of them are all stable but that Dixon has a ton of bad stuff going on. Richard tells her that the press is all over it (in a good way) and that she's going to be giving interviews tomorrow. "Make sure you wear your nice scrubs." Given that she wears the same color scrubs every day, I'm not sure which ones count as "nice" or not. Bailey's confused and asks if he even heard what she said about Dixon. He did, but he asserts that she saved five other lives. "That's a pretty good scorecard. Not perfect, but good." It's a little bit dismissive, but nevertheless it's true. He leaves, and she screws up her face and mulls this over.
She then wheels Mrs. Brian down the hall in a wheelchair, while Mrs. B argues that she doesn't want to see her husband. Bailey tells her that's not where they are going and instead she turns the chair into another one of the kidney recipients' rooms. The patient is surrounded by family and friends and when she sees them, cries out happily to tell everyone that this is the woman who gave her a kidney. The family starts applauding and all crowd around to shake Mrs. B's hand and give her hugs. An older couple -- presumable the patients' parents or grandparents -- don't speak English but touch Mrs. B's hand gently and nod. She beams back, surprised and touched. Bailey walks away but steals a look back, and seems to be at peace with the five lives she did save.
Mere looks into another patient's room, presumably the one whose kidney she dropped. Richard joins her and she tells him that the woman is totally stable and that she's keeping an eye on her. He has her join him for a little field trip down the hall. They wind up looking through the window into Dixon's room, and Richard tells her that he is possibly dying, and that's with a perfectly good kidney that didn't get personal with the linoleum first. "There's only so much we can help. AND so much we can hurt. Forgive yourself." Second to him acting as proctor during George's exam, it's the most reasonable he's been so far this season, not just thinking about the hospital's reputation.
Inside, Dixon opens his eyes as Alex wheels P.J. into the room. Izzie snottily informs them that visiting hours are over, but Alex tells her it's okay. P.J. is anything but his defiant self -- he begins to cry when he sees his father. Dixon turns to see him as he starts to sob. Izzie, of course, looks put out to see that this relationship is actually going to turn out okay. P.J. grabs his dad's hand and Dixon smiles happily from under his oxygen mask.
George is in with Brian, who is noticeably lacking in happy loved ones. George reports that his urine output is up, which just makes Brian sad because that would have pleased his wife. Who is going to care about his urine output now? George just tells him that things are going to be a little bit different.
Later that night, Bailey is headed home when Derek catches up to her, and they congratulate each other on their achievements. Bailey tells him that it must feel good to have the article written about him but Derek whines, "It would feel better if Meredith wasn't so... you know. She's acting silly about the credit. She's getting emotional." These last two sentences are said with the undertone of a little kid stomping his foot. Bailey won't bite and instead tells him with exasperation, "That girl worked her ass off for you and you got ALL the credit." He pouts that he would have gotten all of the blame if they'd failed, too, but Bailey reminds him that he didn't. He's clearly ticked off that she's not just agreeing about Meredith's frivolous anger like he wanted her to. He says that it's simple, that he's an attending and she's a second year (oh, so we're in their second year now? Doesn't that mean all of their interns would have then taken the intern exam already? I know, I know, I need to not ask these questions) resident. Bailey adds, "Who you're now living with! That's not simple, it's messy. If it were me I'd start with 'thank you.'" He finally looks a wee bit chastised. Bailey adds, "You'd be surprised how far that one goes, especially with us silly, emotional women." She saunters off, while Derek takes a deep breath, having just been put firmly in his place.
Mere and Cristina are sitting at the bar at Joe's, and Mere is filling Cristina in on Derek calling her a baby with a lot to learn. Cristina's indignant, but Mere actually sacks up and says that he was right about that. She reminds her friend that she dropped a kidney, and she can't just say "It happens," because it doesn't. Cristina yells at her to stop caring so much about what Derek thinks, because it makes her seem desperate. Mere throws back, "Okay to the one trolling for interns." But Cristina has changed her mind about that, since interns are weak and she needs a real man. "Burke was a man." Mere is surprised to hear Cristina finally mention her ex-fiancée's name, and orders them another round. Derek then walks in and hands Meredith a gift bag. Cristina rolls her eyes to the heavens and mimics, "Hi honey! I brought you roses, let me back in the house!" But she's struck dumb when Mere pulls out a diseased kidney in a jar. Mere is elated, Cristina is babbling with jealousy, and Joe is completely horrified and revolted. Mere thanks him and Derek actually sincerely tells her, "I couldn't have done it without you." There's no hint of condescension in his voice, so he did the right thing and took Bailey's advice to heart -- because honestly, he wouldn't even have thought to do the trial in the first place without Meredith. They kiss while Joe begs Mere to move the kidney (that Cristina is holding and staring at with longing) before they freak out the other customers. Mere asks Cristina if she will be okay, and then takes her kidney and leaves with Derek.
She then begins to wrap things up for the week. "The thing about choosing teams in real life, it's nothing like it used to be in gym class." Callie finds Erica alone and shuts the door behind her. VO: "Being first pick can be terrifying." Callie orders Erica to take off her pants, and Erica says with a bit of a sneer, "Excuse me?" Callie repeats the order and tells her girlfriend that they're trying this again, as she pulls off her shirt. Erica starts to seem interested.
Izzie walks in on Alex folding clothes in his room as Mere VOs: "And being chosen last isn't the worst thing in the world." Alex demands, "What?" And Izzie, in a tone that says she's not really happy about the situation, informs him, "I care about you. I care about you, and I'm not going to go crazy, and I'm not going to try to kill myself, and I'm not going to stop caring about you no matter how hard you push me away." He tells her to shut up and get out, but she won't and repeats that she cares about him, adding that it's not too late for the two of them. He tries to banish her again, but she walks towards him, repeating that she cares about him, until he shuts her up with a kiss. I would have been so happy about this a season or two ago if they hadn't made Izzie such a hateable moron in the meantime.
VO: "So we watch from the sidelines, clinging to our isolation." Mere has her kidney on the bedside table, and exclaims when she turns out the lights that it glows! Derek beams at her. No, but seriously, how on earth does the kidney glow? I really want to know this. Mere doesn't seem as curious and tells Derek that when Ellis was a resident she wasn't dropping kidneys. I feel like that's a comment that could come from anywhere, but Derek realizes it means that Mere is reading her mom's diary. Mere tells him, "I'm not half the surgeon my mother was." He just kisses her shoulder in response as she stares into the distance, the kidney glowing happily in its jar.
Mere wraps up: "Because we know, as soon as we let go of the bench..." Joe is surprised that Cristina is leaving already but she tells him decisively that there are no real men left in the world and turns to head out. She's stopped, however, by a familiar voice ordering a beer and a whiskey at the bar. She turns around as the man cancels the whiskey, since he's starting a new job tomorrow. None other than Hot Major Hunt stands at the bar, and though he doesn't see her, she has an interested hint of a smile on her face." Mere finishes: "Someone comes along and changes the game completely." I am so happy he's back, both because he's hot and because this show needed a new doctor to arrive and change the game, if not completely, at least somewhat. And while we're waiting to see just how he does that, I'll spend my time trying to figure out how on earth the kidney glowed, and why Mere didn't seem the least bit disturbed by or curious about it.
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