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This week we get about 95% heavy, 5% fluff -- though I doubt any males in the audience wouldn't consider having one's, er... member fractured as fluff. But that's what happens to Mark when he and Lexie are having a tryst. Callie and Hunt come to the rescue to fix him up, and when Sadie realizes that Little Grey was involved, she pretends it was her to save the other interns finding out about the relationship.
In far more serious corners of the hospital, Mere tries to let Eric die quietly and pages Bailey instead of Derek when he starts getting bad. However, Bailey is pretty adamant that Mere should call Eric's actual doctor and should save her patient's life. When Cristina arrives and checks Eric out she realizes something is horribly wrong, and it's at that moment that Eric changes his tune and manages to wheeze that he doesn't want to die. They rush him into surgery, but are interrupted by a nearly delirious Bailey. She begs Derek to let Eric die so that she can have the organs for Jackson even though that would be blatantly against the Hippocratic Oath. Derek goes so far as to put the scalpel down and has Bailey make the call as to what he should do, and she comes to her senses enough to allow him to continue.
Unbeknownst to her, the Chief has sent George to quietly scour the hospital for patients who might have organs that would work for Jackson. George finds a man who is a match, but his wife is too upset to even contemplate the issue. The Chief winds up doing what he's yelled at his employees for doing so many times before and kinda-sorta talks her into donating the organs. Just as Bailey and Arizona finally give up and Jackson's mom begins a sad goodbye with her son, Richard runs in to say they've got organs and they manage to rush the boy to surgery. At the end of the episode Jackson opens his eyes and asks for a drink of water, which I think means that he's going to be fine and have no brain damage as a result of how close he came to death.
Meredith is in an even worse headspace when Eric wakes up from his surgery, realizes he's alive, and admits he was just playing Meredith earlier. Imagine how much more screwed up she'd be if she knew that Derek had arrived at the hospital that day with his mother's ring and plans to propose before he knew that his girlfriend was trying to let the serial killer die quietly and comfortably? But only Cristina knows about the ring and she pretends not to care. Cristina is also being pursued by Hunt, who wants to apologize for what happened before and asks to take her out again. She tells him he's got some major issues and he agrees, but asks if she'll go out with him anyway and she accepts. Meredith ends up on a very different kind of date -- she winds up going to watch Eric's execution after he says it would be nice to have a friendly face there when it happens. Derek is outside waiting for her when she leaves the prison and she's absolutely shattered by how horrible it was. She admits she just wanted to show Eric compassion, and she knows Derek doesn't understand her because she doesn't even understand herself. Derek winds up driving to Cristina's and begging her to come see Meredith since Mere won't stop crying, so Cristina goes out to the car and they seem to finally start to talk things out with each other though we don't get to hear what they say. ["That would involve the writing staff having to come up with dialogue for people and a storyline we're actually interested in." -- Angel]
And finally, Izzie gets increasingly mad with Denny when he won't leave, even though she dumped him. He won't tell her anything other than that he's there for her, and she gets increasingly distracted and upset trying to figure out what that means. Finally she comes to the realization that it doesn't mean he's there to support her, but that he's there to take her, as in, she's sick and dying! She's livid that he didn't just tell her that earlier and orders him gone, even though he says that while he can now leave, he's not sure he can ever come back. One can only hope that he really never can come back, and that we can finally see the medical side of what's been going on these past waaaay too many weeks.
Look back at the most annoying moments on this show (there have been a lot). Come back week for our full detailed recap of this episode.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!It's nighttime, and there's an ominous rumble as we pan over to see... Izzie brushing her teeth. That must be some bad breath to require that kind of soundtrack rumbling. Of course, Denny is behind her. But this week he has special duties -- he's taken over Mere's voiceover. "I believe in heaven. I also believe in hell." Hell here is illustrated by Eric, still banging his head on the bed while a pool of blood seeps out of his bandages. Mere watches Eric's stats calmly and ignores the banging as Denny explains, "I've never seen either but I believe they exist. They have to exist." Izzie, cutting a tomato, nicks her finger and Denny jumps up to help before realizing it's not his place. "Because without a heaven, without a hell, we're all just headed for limbo." Eric lets out one last strangled cry, blood pouring down his neck, and lays still. Sadie walks up to Mere at the monitors and asks if she's coming, but Mere tries to act nonchalant as she tells her that the nurses will come and get them if it's bad. On cue, Tyler (yay!) comes to tell her he's seizing. Hey, how come Sadie is helping out anyway? Wasn't this a strict "no-intern" operation? Sadie asks rather smugly if they can go now, but Mere just stands up and quietly tells her to go find something else to do, "That's an order." Sadie looks confused but actually goes with it while we're treated to a shot of Eric seizing, eyes rolling up in his head, as the screen fades to red and then white for the show's title card.
Izzie's in bed not sleeping, and finally turns her light on and turns to ask ever-present Denny why he's still there. Once again he says, with that hangdog yet maybe-almost-laughing look that only he can do so well, "I'm here for you, Izzie Stevens." I guess now she's the Joey Potter of the show, since he seems to enjoy using her full name for (not actually much) impact. She points out that since she broke up with him, he's not there for her and so he has to go, but he says that he can't. I think that what he maybe could do is talk in riddles less, but that doesn't seem to be an option, unfortunately. He keeps repeating that he's here for her, to the point where even Izzie gets fed up, yells at him to stop, and turns out the light.
Mrs. P is sitting with an unconscious Jackson and while Bailey watches them, Alex comes to update her that Jackson is officially #1 on the list for a liver and small bowel. Bailey points out that this is good since his ammonia levels are rising, and Mrs. P overhears and freaks out mildly that they were supposed to have 24 hours. Bailey calmly tells her that they are doing everything they can and then excuses herself to answer a page.
That came from Mere, and when Bailey enters Eric's room she exclaims over the mountains of bloody bandages and linens that she sees. She asks if Mere paged Derek about the stroke and when Mere answers that she paged Bailey, Bailey reiterates that it should have been Derek. Mere says those aren't the patient's wishes, and Bailey sasses, "He tell you that?" Eric comes to and whispers not to page Shepherd because, "He's terribly unpleasant." Hee! I couldn't agree more. Mere tells Bailey that Eric is a match for Jackson. Bailey reminds Mere that Eric has a brain bleed and needs Shepherd, but Mere calmly replies again that Eric is a match who is going to die anyway. Eric adds that he presumes Jackson wants to live, and so he's got organs and he's ready to die. Bailey just looks at him, almost twitching at what she's just heard.
Lexie and Mark meet up in the hallway and greet each other formally; he then formally holds open the door for her into the on-call room. After a swift look to make sure no one was watching, he follows her in with a little smile.
Mere and Bailey are discussing the issue outside Eric's room and Mere admits, "I know it feels wrong. It feels wrong on so many levels I don't even know how to count them." But her point is that they have organs, and no medical book tells you what to do in the "serial killer wants to donate them" situation. Bailey says that the book tells them to do what's best for their patients and when Mere says that she is, Bailey asks if she's paged Derek yet. Mere responds very maturely by asking if Bailey is going to page him. Okay, I take that bit of snark back -- I think Mere is actually acting quite adult through this whole thing given that there is no precedent and she's treading in extremely murky moral waters. Bailey thinks a moment and tells Meredith that she is going to do everything she can to keep Jackson alive until they can find him organs, and she suggests Meredith do everything she can do keep her own patient alive. "Because we're doctors, Grey. We're not... executioners."
Ryan Spaulding, Number Two and an intern I haven't yet identified are all waiting outside the on-call room impatiently because they want to actually use it for some sleep. I honestly didn't think that it had occurred to anyone that this is what these rooms were designed for -- this is progress for Seattle Grace! They listen to the spirited moaning inside, but then hear an anguished yell from Mark and scatter like chickens. Inside, Mark starts to whimper as Lexie observes in a panic that it's, "It's bent in the middle!" Mark orders her to run and get Callie for help and she takes off wrapped in a sheet. I've seen the episode once already so I'll just say here that it does remain a mystery who caused this injury, which is ridiculous. Someone other than Callie would have seen Lexie wrapped in a sheet and been able to put two and two together, and then we know how word spreads through the hospital. But yet, their secret remains safe for now. I guess it was just too much story to put into an hour where you had serial killer organs to worry about, but come on, folks.
Cristina is sitting in her bedroom, looking at Hunt asleep in her bed. She eventually gets up and slams the door on her way out so that he wakes with a jump. After a moment he realizes where he is and that the other half of the bed is still made, and looks rather horrified to remember everything.
Bailey tells Alex and Izzie that they are with Jackson all day, and explains for our benefit that since he doesn't have a liver or a small bowel that toxins will build up in his system, causing his brain to swell. The best they can do is try to slow that down since they can't stop it. Denny's standing to the side and has stopped his wisecracking -- now he's Serious Dead Denny -- and tells Izzie she doesn't have time to think about anyone else. Bailey thinks (rightly) that she's not listening and asks for confirmation, and when Izzie says she's all Bailey's, Denny gives her a snide "thanks for listening." Clearly being dead has not blessed him with self-awareness -- if he's not going to give her a good, non-riddle reason for his being there, she's going to try and ignore him. Richard swings by to ask how long they have, which is 16 hours at the most. Arizona offers that there is a liver dialysis machine being used elsewhere in a clinical trial, so Bailey sends Alex off to go get it for Jackson and sends Izzie off to do various tests. Once they are gone Bailey starts mildly hyperventilating as she repeats to herself that she wants off this case, and then tries to brush it off. She says to Arizona that she can't watch Jackson die, but then tries to suck it up and get back to work. She won't hear of it when Arizona suggests that maybe she get some much-needed sleep. (All the better for a completely crazy-eyed showdown with another surgeon later. Sleep makes you rational and rationality doesn't make good TV!) (Whoops, did I just give away the scene that they already put into every advertisement for this episode for the past week? Bad Lauren.)
Derek arrives at work all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and pulls Meredith into an office to cover her with "my mother likes you and so now I can really like you too" kisses. He realizes she's not as perky as he is but she brushes it off, saying it's just that she's been working all night. He asks how Eric is doing but Meredith neglects to give him any pertinent info, so Derek just happily tells Mere that she got the Mother Seal of Approval and then practically skips back out the door. Bailey watches him go and then sees Mere slink guiltily out after him and gives Mere a bit of a disbelieving face since it's clear she didn't admit anything.
Lexie is waiting impatiently in the hall when Callie walks by to answer an emergency page. Lexie is stuttering so badly she can barely explain that she was the one who paged Callie. It takes even longer for her to explain that Mark is hurt and that, "He broke a bone. I... broke his bone." Callie breaks into a grin until she realizes that the look of terror on Lexie's face is real, and both women immediately turn and hustle down the hall.
Hunt sees Cristina in the supply closet and after a moment, goes in and closes the door. He apologizes for showing up drunk the night before and she quickly jumps in to tell him that it's fine. He goes on to explain that when he showers with a woman, normally it's with his clothes off... take a moment ladies, mull it over... okay, back to the scene. He also normally has a different night when he gets into her bed naked, which doesn't include passing out. She tells him that it's okay but he responds that it's not, and she agrees. But, she tells him he doesn't have to talk about it, and takes the moment of pause that this response gives to flee from the room and the conversation.
Eric is having trouble breathing, and Meredith asks him if he really wants to go on like he's doing, and asks if she should page Derek. Eric asks, "He's your boyfriend, isn't he?" She turns around quickly and he knows he hit the nail on the head, and he goes on needling her that he had figured they were dating, and that Derek has very good taste. Mere is struggling to keep her cool. As she goes to leave, Eric says he's thinking about lemons. This gives her enough of a distraction to turn around with an even face and ask what the heck. When Eric's grandfather died he said he could smell lemons, so Eric has been waiting for the same thing but can't smell anything. Of course, he adds with his creepy grin, his grandfather was a liar. Mere asks again if he's sure he doesn't want her to page Derek, and with the grin gone he tells her he's sure.
The Chief pulls George aside for one of his few weekly scenes, this time to tell him to check with all of the nurses who have patients that are brain dead. Seriously, is it that easy? Wouldn't we then just see them going upstairs to find this convenient batch of brain-dead people every time they needed a new organ? Well, for this week at least it works. He wants to know if any of them are potential matches for Jackson, but he reminds George to be sensitive for their families, adding that they can only ask but they can't pressure or coerce anyone. George agrees and trots off.
What do you know, Derek surprises me this week. He runs up to Cristina to show her the ring, and asks her opinion on if Meredith will like it or if he should change the setting. Cristina tells him it isn't her job, so Derek asks, "Look, I know you two are still fighting, but isn't it about time you wrapped that up?" He says it like they've been playing video games for too long and need to go do their chores. But regardless, I think it's sweet that he's actually trying to bring them together, especially with what he says : "I ask because when I propose to her, she's going to need somebody to freak out to." He seems finally to actually understand his girlfriend, at least somewhat -- enough to know just what her reaction would be to a proposal. He tells Cristina that Mere misses her a lot and asks if she doesn't miss Mere too. He suggests that though he has no idea what's going on with her, there must be something she needs to freak out to someone about too, right? She looks right over at Hunt when Derek says this, but then tells him that he should ask somebody else and walks away.
Izzie asks Mrs. Prescott if she's eaten that day and offers to keep an eye on Jackson so that she can get some food to keep her strength up. Once she's gone, Izzie turns on Denny and tells him he's like the pathetic guy who has graduated high school but still won't stop hanging around. How true... and, like, four episodes late. Denny responds by asking her if she believes in heaven, she responds to with an assuring, "I don't know, I guess." Apparently Denny thought this was his heaven, being there with Izzie, but now he is rethinking that idea and supposes it might be hell. Well, it feels kind of like that for the viewers, at any rate. She asks him what he's talking about and maddeningly he tells her he's there for her. She gets pretty pissed at that point that he keeps repeating it, and then reminds him that she chose Alex and she's really sorry, but there you go. Denny points out that yet, he's still there. Oh, we all know, dude. He asks her if that means anything to her, and she pretty fairly guesses it means that he's jealous and doesn't want her to be happy with Alex. He responds by actually yelling at her that she can't pick Alex, because he's there for her. He then tells her that he'd love to go since he hates being there when she's told him she wants another man, but that she won't listen to him. Try just telling her what you mean then! He repeats that he's there for her, AGAIN. But when she asks him what that means he says, "You're a doctor, Izzie. Figure it out." I guess she could try to figure out why she's having conversations in a room with a glass wall and plenty of other people on the other side who could see her seemingly talking to herself. But then again no one has called her on it but George, so maybe it's MAGIC glass. I do think that with that sentence she should be able to pretty quickly guess that he means something is wrong with her.
Mere and Cristina are at the nurse's station and Mere just stares at Cristina for a long while as Cristina demands, "What?" Mere finally says it's nothing and so Cristina asks if she monitored Eric the night before. Even though they're fighting, she knows her friend well enough to guess that the weak, "Yeah, I've got it covered," Meredith responds with has a whole lot behind it. Cristina shakes her head and stomps off to go check on him herself, where she finds him sweating and struggling for breath. Cristina warns, "Tell me you paged Shepherd." Meredith responds that Eric wants to die, he's going to die anyway, and if he dies in the hospital they can donate his organs to Jackson, which Derek won't stand for. So, she answers, she didn't page him and she hopes Cristina will just let Mere handle it. They stare at each other a moment, and then look at Eric, who manages to tell them in a shaky whisper, "Help me. I don't want to die." Mere looks gobsmacked as Cristina hits an alarm and yells for Derek to be paged.
Izzie is helping Arizona give Jackson some sort of catheter, and Denny has decided to just ruin any possible residual good feelings we might have for the character by being a complete asshole. He starts to talk over Arizona about how he wants to visit the Grand Canyon, so Izzie can't hear her directions. She whispers at him to shut up, which Alex and Arizona hear, but Izzie covers for herself and they continue. Not content to be ignored, Denny then starts babbling about the Great Wall of China. He actually goes so far as to call Izzie stubborn, but I can't blame her for wanting to get on with her work since he hasn't actually told her anything meaningful at this point. He keeps talking at her, finally yelling that he can't do anything else until she wakes up and figures it out. Izzie loses it and yells, "Just tell me already!" From all of us who have suffered through way too much of this storyline, word to the WORD. Izzie apologizes, but Arizona tells her to take a break while Alex looks on, worried.
Their fear at being caught gone, Ryan is excited to blab that Mark broke Little Mark and that Ryan heard him scream. They all speculate that it might have been Callie but they don't know, and Lexie seems to be trying to shrink into her chair. When the others leave, Sadie asks her if it was Callie and Lexie gets all defensive about how it's none of their business. She then adds that even if she did know, "I wouldn't even tell you because we're not even friends. I took out your appendix and almost ended my career. That doesn't make us close." Sadie looks more stunned than hurt at the declaration of non-friendship.
Derek has checked out Eric and tells Cristina that they'll operate in 20 minutes. He then turns on Mere in a righteous fury, pointing out that she should have paged him earlier or told him the truth when he asked how Eric was doing. She responds calmly that she was following a patient's wishes, but Derek spits that he gets no wishes since he killed five women. What I like about Mere is that she calmly stands up to him and defends herself, but not in a whiny or defensive manner. "As much as you believe you're right I think I'm just as right." Derek throws in her face that Eric has been manipulating her, and that's what he does -- preys on young women. Meredith just replies that she made a decision as his doctor. And then... Derek can't help himself and goes back to self-righteous blowhard: "It was a bad decision. It was the wrong decision. You're going to scrub in on this surgery. And you're going to watch when I try like hell to undo what you did." He leaves, and Mere sees that Eric witnessed the whole conversation.
Meanwhile, things are deteriorating in Jackson's room. Arizona tries angling his bed differently but admits to Bailey that it won't do much. Mrs. P comes up and starts to talk to her son, ordering him to stay with them and fight, that he doesn't get to go yet. As Bailey watches, a dazed look comes over her face. She then starts to amble down the hall with the same look, and sees Mere and the others wheel Eric into surgery.
Callie has called in Hunt for help with Little Mark, and Hunt diagnoses it as a penile fracture, to Mark's utter dismay. When he says he'll do the surgery Mark freaks, not wanting a "meatballer" taking care of his precious jewel but Callie retorts that Hunt is meticulous and will do a good job. Turns out he's done this a few times before, though Mark can't believe that this is something that he runs into on the battlefield that often. Hunt just tells him, "I don't think you and I should talk about how guys 'run into' this." He then says they need to get to an OR fast so they don't risk permanent damage, and Mark pleads for that not to happen. After they leave, Lexie comes in but Mark is completely embarrassed and sends her out, begging her to not look at him like this.
George has some info for the Chief, who exclaims when he sees the paperwork. There is a patient who is not an organ donor and who is about to be unplugged.
But first! The Drums of Doom have started rumbling as Bailey pauses outside Derek's OR and then, after a deep breath, pushes her way in. It couldn't be more obvious that this is your Scene of the Week, folks. In a quavering voice, he tells Derek she needs him to put down the scalpel, and to let Eric go ahead and kill himself. The music comes to a head as everyone has their "worried eyes" on over their surgical masks.
Derek calmly tells her to leave the OR, but his anger is bubbling just underneath the surface. In her pathetic trembling voice, Bailey tells him that Eric is going to die in 5 days anyway. (Actually, I think it's technically now 4 days.) She reminds Derek that Eric will die in 5 days and his organs will be buried with him which will go to waste, a "crime against life." Everyone in the OR is exchanging looks that say, "She's completely lost it." She tells him that they are only taking 5 days away from Eric and it's 5 days he doesn't want anyway. (Four!) I'll say it. Derek looks completely ridiculous as he stands with his hands folded and his scalpel at the ready, like some figure of judgment, with Cristina and Meredith flanking him and seemingly afraid to make any sudden movements. He reminds Bailey that she took an oath. She agrees, but points out that the oath doesn't make any sense right now, so just stop. Derek explains that stopping the surgery now is the same as if he just stuck the scalpel right in Eric's brain, and asks if that's what she wants. And so help me, I totally giggled when she said that yes, that is what she wants. The acting here was just a leeetle over the top.
Richard is unaware that his star pupil is trying to commit murder in the OR and is busy trying to get organs. He speaks to a woman sitting to her brain-dead husband's bedside and tells her that he knows it's difficult, but he needs the man's liver and small bowel. Way to make a smooth entry there, Richard. She explains how she has to unplug her husband after a car accident and that it's all too much for her to handle, so she can't possibly handle anyone cutting out his organs. It's all very deep and powerful, yadda yadda.
Izzie rejoins Alex in Jackson's room, but Alex seems to have had his fill of being the accommodating boyfriend. When Izzie said she had some stuff to do he guesses she means talking to Denny, and he reminds her that they are trying to save a boy's life and that things are so bad that Bailey can't even be there to watch, so this isn't the time to go talking to one's dead fiancé. "Look, you want to get in that crap at home, fine. But not here. Here you're a doctor." Sorry, it's easy to forget since she's been doing administrative paperwork and having sex with a ghost instead of actually acting like a doctor lately. Jackson's alarms start to go off then, along with more Very Dramatic Music. They're really getting a lot of mileage out of these cues this week. They go through some medical stuff while Mrs. P looks on, worried, and Arizona tells Alex that she hopes that Bailey is having better luck than they are, whatever she might be doing.
She's still in a stand-off with Derek. Cristina points out that Eric is hemorrhaging and asks if she should put in a drain, so Derek answers that it's up to Bailey. She asks Bailey and Bailey growls a, "No!" Derek then cuts off Cristina reminding him how bad things are getting and continues to stare at Bailey, then shows her his scalpel and deliberately puts it down on the tray. If overacting created energy, they would be powering all of Seattle Grace right now. Derek tells Bailey that it's her call. "Am I an executioner, or am I a surgeon?" He forgot to ask if he's also a giant blowhard, which he is. After a moment, Bailey tells him to pick up the scalpel and they get to work. Meredith watches as Bailey flees from the OR.
And after his worry that Bailey had coerced someone into donating a kidney, Richard does just that as he walks back in to the room with the grieving wife and her dead husband and announces that he can't take his liver with him to heaven. He does concede that he knows she doesn't want to think about it, but repeats that he can't take his organs with him.
The interns are all watching Mark's surgery, which just seems wrong somehow. They all are speculating about who it might be and Ryan says admiringly that whoever it was, "is going down in Seattle Grace history," given that Mark is a legend. Legend/man-ho -- Po-tay-to/Po-tah-to. Lexie finally yells at them all to shut up, that it's no one's business, which of course makes them realize she knows something. When she doesn't give up any info, they then have the idea that maybe it was Lexipedia herself. Sadie jumps in to save the day and prove that she just might be a real friend by falling on the sword (so to speak) and telling them that it was her. Lexie sneaks her a small, grateful smile.
Izzie, at her own breaking point, pulls Denny into an empty supply closet to demand to know what's up. She reminds us all that she can see, feel and even smell him and wonders if maybe he didn't actually die and that his death was just some sort of crazy bad dream. Sadly no. She asks him if he's a ghost or a dream, and again he tells her that she's a doctor and needs to think like a scientist. She yells that scientists believe what they can see and feel, and slaps him to prove she can feel that. Oh barf, then she kisses him again. She's starting to panic, and when she asks what's happening he just again says, "You tell me." She admits in a whisper that she's scared and grabs him in a bear hug. I'm scared too -- scared that this isn't going to be settled one way or another and we're going to have to not only keep seeing Denny, but keep hearing him talk in riddles.
Bailey puts her lab coat back on and composes herself before going back to Jackson's room. Inside, Alex and Arizona are trying more things to keep him going, and Mrs. P leans in and again begins telling him he has to hold on. Bailey tries to tell her that she needs to step back and let the doctors work but her heart's not in it and Mrs. P clearly doesn't even hear her. Izzie comes back to be a doctor and takes over with what she's good at; she gently pulls Mrs. P away and holds her while she panics and cries.
Eric's surgery wraps up and Derek congratulates Cristina on a job well done. After he asks her to close up his head Mere mutters, "What a waste." Derek isn't done with his overblown statements so he informs her, "He's alive, Dr. Grey. We saved a life. That's never a waste." He then takes off.
Izzie has a bereft Mrs. P outside,who is begging to be with Jackson, and Izzie tries to tell her that medical miracles happen all the time, and that even when people shouldn't live, they do. Mrs. P pleads to be with him again and Izzie assures her that she is with him, even outside the room. "You're here for him, even though you aren't in the room." She repeats this until she realizes that this is what Denny has been saying all along and we're "treated" to a montage of him saying he's there for her over and over and over again. Then Alex comes out to say that Bailey thinks Mrs. P needs to come back now. So Denny is there for her because she's going to die? That seems to be the point.
Mrs. P comes back in to see that the doctors have stopped working, and Bailey tells her that it's time to hold her son and to help him go. Mrs. P goes to Jackson and holds him, and begins to whisper that it's okay and that he can go now. Bailey and Arizona each fight back tears as they watch and don't seem to register what happens when Richard runs in and yells, "We have organs!" He repeats himself and yells to get the boy to an OR just as he starts to flatline, and the doctors immediately begin CPR.
We're treated to a scene of intestines being transferred in a bowl. In the waiting room, George sits with the woman who donated her husband's organs while Melinda paces, in tears, behind them. They get everything in and Bailey checks for black spots; there are none. However, he then starts to code.
Izzie runs outside in a sweaty freakout. She asks, "Heaven or hell?" and Denny answers, "Yes." She then repeats that he's there for her and he agrees. And then comes the emphasis game. She says, "You're not here for me, you're here for me." The first time I watched this, I took this to mean that he wasn't there to stand by her, he was there to take her to the great beyond. But on second viewing she seems to be saying that he's not there as a gift for her to play with (so to speak) but that he's there to support her as... she dies? It's all rather confusing but the crux of it is, Izzie's sick. With tears in his eyes, Denny tells her how much he loves her, and how when he got to come back for her he thought it might be his heaven. But he thinks now that he might be Izzie's hell. Finally she breathes, "I'm sick." But then she gets mad and goes on, "Instead of telling me to save my life... you son of a bitch!" She yells that she hates him while he defends that he didn't know she had a chance. But, he now repeats her words back to her about medical miracles. Dude, so this wasn't all some sort of game where Izzie had to figure it out for herself? It sounds like he very well could have told her straight out if he wanted to but he didn't and instead decided to get a bunch of ghost nookie. Seriously, any residual goodwill I had for Denny is 100% gone. She orders him to leave and he says, "I can go now. Because you know." So... yes. He really did just fuck around with riddles so that he could get some sex for a while. And also? I just wrote that about a GHOST. Or fine, the writers and Steve McPherson want to get all technical and point out that he's not a ghost. I just wrote that about some non-human spirit-type-character in the form of Denny. This is insanity. He tells her that it's her choice but that if she chooses for him to go he's not sure if he can come back again. She yells at him that between heaven and hell, she chooses heaven and she chooses life, and again orders him gone. He starts to say he hopes this is heaven and again she tells him, "Go." He nods, and she asks what he's waiting for. Of course, he comes and kisses her passionately. And with that, he's gone. Sadly, I don't actually believe that's the last of him.
Meredith is taking care of things in Eric's room when he wakes up, surprised to find himself alive. He then announces that Derek was right and he was playing her the whole time and he wanted to destroy her career. She just goes about her business while giving him a stone-faced expression. He then adds that he wanted to be around to see the fallout, but that statement lacks some of his usual charisma, and the look on his face is more him trying to see if this gets a reaction from her than anything else. She doesn't give him what he wants, instead saying evenly and without a change of expression, "Death is scary. I would have been scared too." He thinks about this, and then changes tack completely, telling her, "It would be good to have a friendly face in the crowd. When they kill me." Her face remains stony but a shadow of repulsion darkens her features for a moment. He does a good job showing just how ill-equipped he is for any normal social interaction, at least.
Hunt finds Cristina sitting slumped over on a gurney in the hallway and sits down to her. He tells her that he had planned "a real date" for them that included going to a lighthouse and watching the Northern Lights together. She doesn't respond, and so he continues by telling her he would like another chance. She then turns to look at him a bit like he's crazy, so he repeats his request. She responds in no uncertain terms, "You've got some problems. You've got some big problems." He looks her straight in the eye and agrees, but asks, "Will you go out with me anyway?" Something must be sexy about his honesty, because she responds, "Yes." His eyes widen with surprise, and it's cute how happy he seems.
Lexie walks into Mark's room where he is recovering from his mortifying surgery and begins to close the blinds. I'm glad to see that an employee can have sex during work hours -- and that everyone knows it and has proof given his injury -- but that he can escape any sort of reprimand for such behavior. Such is the cushy work atmosphere of Seattle Grace. He pleads, "Little Grey..." but she cuts him off to inform him that it's not Little Grey, it's Lexie. She then stutters an apology for breaking him, and that she's sorry he's humiliated but she's also not going anywhere. Lexie has a "good friend" guarding the door so that she can climb into bed with Mark and stroke his hair, since that's what she likes done when she's hurt. It's kind of sweet, and not the least believable of pairings, but it's also not one that has me totally convinced just yet. Outside, her "good friend" is revealed to be Sadie, who clearly earned some respect by helping Lexie keep her secret earlier. Sadie smiles to herself, and seems genuinely happy for once to have a real friend.
Jackson is out of surgery, and his mom is asleep with her head on his bed as Richard and Bailey watch. Richard asks how the surgery went and Bailey says that they were so late getting the organs in that they have no idea if he'll have brain damage or if he'll even wake up. After a moment, she admits, "I crossed a line today." Richard absorbs this and admits, "So did I." She looks at him, surprised, and gulps -- he reaches over and puts a hand on her back, which is the final straw. She starts to lose it, hands in prayer, sobbing but trying valiantly to stop as Richard watches her helplessly.
Izzie is standing outside, sans Denny for the first time in weeks, but he's still around for us with his voiceover. "Heaven. Hell. Limbo."
"No one really knows where we're going." We go to the prison, where Eric is led (with a full head of hair and just one bandage wrapped around, not even really covering where he was bleeding profusely just at the beginning of the hour) into a chamber with shackles on his hands and feet. He searches the crowd of unforgiving faces beyond the window and sees Meredith, still with her slightly repulsed look, but there nonetheless. She does seem somewhat sad for him as he's pushed onto the table, strapped down, and given an IV. Staring at the ceiling he says, "Lemons! My grandfather wasn't lying after all." There's no smile at the idea that his grandfather would tell him the truth, just surprise. Denny goes on: "Or what's waiting for us when we get there." Eric turns to look at Mere and she looks down as an alarm starts to blare. A line of syringes then all discharge and the cocktail heads through the IV and into Eric's arm; we then see his body go slack and his eyes slowly close.
Things aren't all bad this hour, however. As Denny tells us: "But the one thing we can say for absolute certainty..." Jackson's eyes flutter open and he asks for some water. His mom cries and laughs with relief as Bailey stares with her mouth hanging open. Denny: "... is that there are moments that take us to another place."
Mere walks out of the jail, wiping tears from her face. Outside, Derek is leaning against his Jeep waiting for her. He doesn't jump up to meet her, but he does look worried. When she reaches him she begins to sob. "I know you don't understand me. I don't understand me. I wanted to show him compassion. That's why I went. That's the reason. And it was horrible. It was horrible." It's some of the most genuine emotion I've ever seen from Ellen Pompeo, so kudos. Derek immediately pulls her in and hugs her, whispering that it's okay.
Cristina is in her apartment when she opens her door to see Derek waiting outside, looking worried. Without preamble he says, "She's in the car. She's in the car and she won't stop crying." Dryly, Cristina asks if he proposed. It's pretty awesome Signature Cristina. He tells her that no, Mere went to Eric's execution." Denny says, "Moments of heaven on earth."
And finally we get the moment that has been too long in coming as Cristina heads outside to the Jeep. She opens the car door and looks at Mere, staring straight ahead, then after a moment she climbs in. Derek watches this from afar and sits down on a bench outside the building, in a nice nod to the girls' friendship. I do like that he really knows that he's got one place in Meredith's life and that Cristina has a separate -- but just as important -- one. Inside the car, Meredith turns to Cristina, who looks terribly sad. Mere then starts talking in seemingly a rush, but we don't hear what she says over the soundtrack. After a moment, Cristina nods and we can see her answer, "Okay," and the two friends finally seem to start to talk out the issues between them. Denny finishes, "And maybe for now, that's all we need to know." Oh, Denny -- we still need to know why we were forced to deal with your stupid storyline for way too long. But if Cristina and Mere really have made up, that will help soothe my irritation, at least for a little while.
If you think 24 has some ludicrous plots, get a load of the shenanigans at Seattle Grace in our Grey's Anatomy: Dramatic Malpractice gallery.