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Izzie is still making wedding plans, but she's getting weaker and sicker despite her joy at how dapper Derek looks in his morning coat. She then has something even bigger to deal with -- her mother Sharon Lawrence shows up and proves to be a handful, even though she's a well-meaning one. Her mom is convinced the cancer can't be that serious and when Izzie tries to tell her just how serious things are, she winds up comforting her mom and assuring her everything will be okay rather than the other way around. Bailey fesses up to being the one to call her, and then gives her mom false news about Izzie's cancer so that she'll be comfortable going home. Unfortunately, the real cancer update is that more mets have been growing and Izzie needs more aggressive surgery. Alex is stepping up to the plate admirably and hangs out with Izzie being every inch the sweet supportive boyfriend until she is wheeled into surgery. Presumably she makes it out of this one since she's in the -on talking about possibly having a tumor.
Callie is having a hard time dealing with her family completely ignoring her now. Cristina and Mark both tell her to just lie and say she broke up with Arizona, pointing out that it's not her family's business who she dates. Arizona even admits she would be okay with it if that's what Callie chose to do. But Callie has been spending the day treating a girl who was living in a tree to try and save its being cut down -- she was bulldozed out and broke all of her limbs. Her older sister, Kellie Martin, comes to visit and thinks she's a nut who needs to stop trying to save trees, but Callie points out that she's really brave to stand up for what she believes. Kellie comes around and helps her sister, and Callie decides that she can't deny who she is just to make things easier, that her family should love her as she is and if they can't, then that's that. Mark is impressed with her standing up for herself and it winds up inspiring him to take a big step in his own personal life.
Thatcher is back, 29 days sober, and he's in the making amends stage of his recovery. Richard helps him out by paging Lexie and Mere to his office where Thatcher reads them an apology that he has written. Mere hears him out but then just wishes him luck and takes her leave, while it seems Lexie is back on the road to having a relationship with him. She wants to introduce Mark to her father but Mark insists that parents don't like him and declines. After spending the day with Callie, though, he decides to sack up and goes to the restaurant to support his girlfriend and meet her father, and he's rewarded with Lexie looking happier than we've seen her in I can't remember how long.
Cristina, meanwhile, is having a much less rosy day with Hunt. He will barely speak to her, and she gets angrier and angrier as he dotes on George during surgery to treat a man who was shot 17 times. He'll only speak to Cristina in short sentences, and she's finally pushed over the edge when they are leaving the hospital and he tells her, "Take care, now." She yells at him for his behavior until he cracks and shows her a list that he made with Dr. Amy of the acceptable three-word phrases he can use with Cristina to keep him from saying the one three-word phrase he really wants to say, since that would be totally unfair of him as he's such a mess. Cristina seems to understand more but is pretty shattered and tells him to "Take care, now," as she leaves, crying.
And so, back to the Richard and Thatcher of it all. Mere is not happy about what happened with Thatcher, but even less happy that the Chief helped orchestrate the meeting. When the previously-mentioned shot-17-times guy is brought in, and it turns out his six-year-old daughter is the one who shot him, something in her snaps. The girl's mother acts really strangely, insisting the little girl didn't mean to do it and that the man loves them both, so everyone realizes that Dad has been beating the two of them. That, and the fact that the girl asks very clearly how he could not die since she shot him so many times, seems to show that she totally DID mean it. Right before Dad goes into surgery, Mom insists that they have to go see him so that her daughter can apologize in case he dies, so Mere steps in and stands up to the mom, insisting that the daughter not be made to apologize to her shitty, abusive dad. When Richard pulls her aside to reprimand her, she yells at him for giving her special treatment and acting like he's family when he's very much not, and she demands to be treated like any other resident, so he yells back that if she speaks to the family again she'll be suspended. Mere tells Derek she doesn't want Richard at the wedding, so Derek goes to tell him and winds up having a heart-to-heart in which he points out that Richard totally and completely treats Meredith like she's family. They are interrupted when Mere goes and apologizes to the mother, but begs her to stand up for her daughter and not let her life be defined by what happened today. She then goes to pack her things for the suspension, but the Chief visits her to admit that he saw that Ellis was neglecting Mere and he never stood up for her. He apologizes sincerely, and she cries and rests her head on his shoulder in what seems to be the start of some forgiveness. She later packs up her mom's journals to give to Richard, and tells Derek that he can come to the wedding after all.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Party in Izzie's room! The gang is all there eating meats on skewers, and they each report that it tastes like chicken. Izzie is unhappy (surprise!) because she is trying to get them to help her set the menu, and no one will give her any good feedback. She can't eat herself since she is having surgery later, as long as the mets have shrunk -- let me tell you, as someone who has had a couple of late-day surgeries, how there is absolutely no way someone would put platters of food in their room and watch other people eating while they couldn't. I would start salivating at television commercials for Hamburger Helper, and couldn't even fathom inviting people to eat actual food in front of me. But Izzie wants to post the menu to the wedding website she's made for Derek and Mere, so there they all are with the food. Mere is aghast to learn there's a website but she's cut off from her whining by Derek coming out of the bathroom/changing room in his morning coat and ascot. His outfit looks remarkably like what my father wore at my parents' wedding, in a good way. He and his newly-cut hair look skeptical but Izzie is ecstatic at the result. Mere's voice drifts over the action: "Remember when we were little, and we would accidentally bite a kid on the playground?" Well, no. I wasn't a biter. Everyone wishes Izzie luck and leaves, but before he exits Alex helpfully declares that another skewer tastes like pork. "Our teacher would go, say you're sorry. And you would say it but you wouldn't mean it." Izzie gives Bailey a look that guilts her into trying some of the chicken herself.
"Because the stupid kid we bit totally deserves it." The analogy doesn't totally work for Cristina and Owen -- they just have to do with the overall Big Lesson about apologies. But nonetheless, this leads us to see Cristina looking at her clipboard so she accidentally runs into Owen. When she realized that it's him they have an awkward moment until he blurts out, "Take care, now," and walks away. Cristina is livid, which isn't necessarily the right time for Callie to announce she doesn't have the rent, but she does anyway. Cristina just repeats what Owen said and Arizona answers that it's more than Callie has heard from her family. Every single family member is now ignoring her, and while she knew her dad had a lot of power, she wasn't imagining this. Arizona comforts her by saying it will take time, but Cristina just matter-of-factly asks why Callie doesn't just say she broke up with her girlfriend, since it isn't her family's business anyway. Callie chews this over in her head and asks if Cristina really thinks she should do it; Cristina really thinks she should pay her rent. But she's still distracted and leaves with her own, "Take care, now!" Mere: "After the playground days are over, you can't just say it, you have to mean it."
Mark tells a depressed Callie that he got her a gift, and she tells him that even though he's a big-time surgeon, she can't accept money from him since he's a friend and equal. But when he tells her it's not money she quickly clarifies that she was just acting proud for show. Seriously, she got cut off what, two days ago, give or take? And two days later, while still having a paying job, she can't afford rent? Dude, money management, look into it. Even someone living paycheck-to-paycheck can last two days, I'm certain. Regardless, Mark tells her it's better than money as Meredith concludes, "Of course, when you become a doctor, 'sorry' is not a happy word. It either means 'You're dying and I can't help' or it means 'This is really gonna hurt.'" And it will -- Mark gleefully opens the door up to show a girl who, he declares, fell out of a tree and broke all her limbs. Callie positively lights up as she breathes excitedly, "It's bad!"
Hey, you know who I had blissfully forgotten even existed? Thatcher! (I guess that's probably how Ellis felt too.) He's in Richard's office 29 days sober and fresh out of rehab. They have a bit of a post-rehab bonding talking about meeting locations, and then Richard asks very seriously if Thatcher has spoken to Lexie or Meredith. He shakes his head no.
Callie's patient, Willow, lets out a mighty scream as she pops something back into place. In addition to her broken limbs, she's got a busted cheekbone which Mark will repair in a few weeks. In that special haughty way that only a young crusader can pull off, Willow declares that in a few weeks she'll already be up another tree in Utah to protest some corporate bastards -- the very same corporate bastards who just bulldozed her out of Kylie. Callie and Mark are utterly confused until she explains that she named the tree Kylie, a 200-year-old oak whose name means, "divine beauty and wisdom." Callie and Mark's confusion turns to amusement but they manage to hold it in and not openly mock their patient as opposed to so many other patients who come through this hospital. Willow goes on until Callie tells her she's not going to be in any trees for a while, and Mark sensitively asks her how she eliminates waste. Apparently this is too hard for her to understand -- that, plus someone really wanted Callie to get to say the word "poo" as she clarifies Mark's question. She tells Mark he's not being sensitive while Willow is mourning, and I officially take back my comment about them not openly mocking their patient as they try not to laugh rather unsuccessfully.
A shot of some very pink, very high, very Barbie-esque shoes pans up to reveal a black skirt, pink top, purple jacket, and... Sharon Lawrence. She asks Alex for help and when he looks up, immediately turns her flirting up to eleven. He kills the mood a bit by calling her "ma'am" and when she seems to really have no reason to be there, he starts to turn away. She finally tells him that she's looking for Izzie, calling herself "an old friend" so as not to actually appear, too, well, old. When she walks into Izzie's room, flirting all the way, Izzie exclaims, "Mom!" which stuns Alex. Izzie clearly had no idea she was coming, but her mom is more concerned with making sure Alex doesn't think she's that old. I might as well tell you that we are robbed of the moment where she finds out that Alex is actually Izzie's boyfriend, which I think is a shame because I rather love Sharon Lawrence even though she's playing a fairly one-dimensional stereotype.
Lexie is nervously fiddling with the pencils on the Chief's desk in his office when Mere joins her. They both are nervous, but Lexie is really panicked since neither of them knows why they are there. Mere makes a not-terribly-funny crack about if they killed anyone and they don't remember? Richard then walks in and announces that Thatcher is there, recently sober, and taking it seriously. He explains that the ninth step in AA is to make amends wherever you can, and he paged them so they could hear him out. He asks them to do it as a favor to Richard, which... why exactly would either one feel they owed him a favor? Regardless, Lexie looks shattered and dumbfounded while Mere tries to get out of it, but Richard sternly says he'll have someone else cover the pit. She's clearly pissed and her face remains stony as Thatcher shuffles in.
Cristina turns out to be the person Richard got to cover Mere's shift, and she's surprised to see George out in the ambulance bay since it's her territory. She's even more surprised when George says he's on Hunt's service, and Owen walks out. Two ambulances arrive with three patients, one of whom is in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. As he looks at the guy, George comments that someone meant business while a woman holding a little girl comes out of the other ambulance, pleading that she didn't mean it and is sorry. She then turns to the little girl to tell her to tell the doctors she is sorry. Ah yes, because this darling, doe-eyed little girl is the one who did the shooting, much to everyone's shock. Hunt calls for Richard to be paged, and before we cut to commercial there is a drawn-out slow-mo shot of the girl's face just so we really, truly, for sure don't miss absolutely that she's the one who committed this heinous act.
Hunt, George and Cristina are examining GSW guy (who never gets a name, so that's it from here on out) and Cristina is getting increasingly aggravated as Hunt ignores every suggestion she has and works exclusively with George. As they work, he tells her to page Shepherd, which she clearly thinks is a job someone else should be doing.
Arizona, meanwhile, is checking about Maddie and asks her how she got a big cut on her cheek. Maddie still hasn't said a word but her mom, Kate, gets up and tells everyone that Maddie is scared that they are going to take her away because she did a bad thing. Richard tells her that the police want to ask about Maddie's cut, and Arizona adds that social services will be there to give them the support they need and that no one will take Maddie away. Kate seems to think a moment and then blurts out that the kickback from the gun caused the cut. Arizona seems suspicious so Kate jumps in to add that her husband shoots targets in the backyard (I know it's how I love to spend a glorious weekend day) and just put the gun down a second, which was really stupid. (Duh.) Maddie still says nothing, and Richard assures them that it will be okay. This girl is really cute, but as child actors go she's not the most convincing tragic moppet they've had on the show -- she really never changes expression throughout the entire episode and seems a bit like a really cute zombie. And I don't think that's an acting choice to go along with the story.
Thatcher reads his letter of apology from a notebook, telling his daughters how he's sorry for every time he ever hurt or disappointed them, or let them down. Mere's face is still stony, and she taps her foot impatiently while to her, Lexie is on the verge of tears. Thatcher wraps up by telling them he doesn't deserve their forgiveness, but he hopes they will give him the opportunity to earn it. I've never been a big fan of Thatcher, even though I realize Ellis was completely horrible to him, so I'm watching this scene kind of like Meredith is right now. Lexie starts to crumble but Meredith just looks at him with arched eyebrows. He tries to smile at her but she just stands up and thanks and congratulates him. She tells him, not in a mean tone, "You seem well. Good luck," but still leaves right away. As she walks down the hall she turns back and sees him and Lexie embracing in the office.
Izzie's mom, Robbie, is chatting away about all of their neighbors, telling Izzie about how one of them had breast cancer and what a shame it was since she had such a good rack. Izzie looks completely exhausted, more from her mother than the cancer, I think, as Robbie jokes that she had her breasts cut off to be safe and they look even better now. "Life gave her lemons, and she made cantaloupes!" You can already tell that this is the mom you'd want to go talk about boys with after school, but who you might not want to have as your actual mother -- don't get me wrong, she seems lovely and well-meaning, but not motherly. Izzie tries to explain her illness but when her mom hears the words "skin cancer" she breathes a huge, dramatic sigh of relief that it's just a little old mole. She can't believe she was called just for that, while Izzie can't believe she was called at all, and looks from Bailey to Alex demanding to know who called her. They both look possibly guilty, but neither says a word.
After her emotional meeting, Lexie goes to find Mark who notices immediately that she's upset and asks her sweetly if she's okay. I love this Mark! Lexie admits that her dad is there and sober, and tells Mark she'd like them to meet, which causes a whole lot of very hesitant, "Oh" and "Ah"-ing from him. His experience with fathers isn't great -- at least, it wasn't when he was a teenager and he's never tried since. Lexie points out that she's crazy about him and thinks Thatcher will be too -- that's up for discussion, but then again Thatcher doesn't have a whole of room to disagree right now. Mark, though, is still gun-shy about the whole experience with telling Derek about them, and insists that things are so great that he wants to keep it just for them. That is what's known as the "yellow-bellied coward's excuse," boys and girls. He's saved by Kellie Martin walking up and looking for her sister Karen, who turns out to be Willow. Julie (Kellie) is exasperated and before she can say hi she and her sister have yelled at each other about her real name. Mark follows her into the room and looks back at a sad Lexie beseechingly as he goes.
Mere walks into the room where Maddie is being treated and shoots down the Chief as he tries to ask how it goes. Arizona asks her if she can take over cleaning and stitching up Maddie's wounds and she agrees, refusing to engage Richard in a conversation about what happened earlier. As Mere looks at Maddie's cut, Kate again promises them that Maddie is sorry, though she still doesn't it one bit. Maddie then speaks, asking if her daddy is going to die. Mere doesn't know, but she hopes not. Well, at least she hopes that for the few seconds.
Derek has joined Hunt and George to look at the x-rays, and when George announces that there were 17 gunshots Derek is stunned, as he was told it was an accidental shooting. Seventeen gunshots tend to speak for themselves, and what they usually say is, "Die, fucker, DIE!"
And six-year-old Maddie just might have been thinking that after all -- she asks Mere why her dad won't die, as, "I shot him lots of times." Kate furrows her brow and Richard and Mere look appropriately serious as Maddie asks, "How come he don't die?" May she one day learn grammar as well as she has learned to shoot.
Kate's now repeating her story for the police and social services -- Maddie's just a baby, she wasn't trying to kill her dad, etc. Clearly, something is not right with this situation, and she finally slips and says that Maddie was just trying to stop him. Richard guesses correctly that the cut on her cheek is from her father hitting her, and Kate insists that he loves them but just loses his temper. Meredith is extremely skeptical by now as Kate repeats all of her pleas, begging them all to understand -- she has the same look on her face as when her dad was attempting to apologize earlier.
Izzie shuffles out of the bathroom, and Izzie helps her get back into bed, much more the mom than Robbie, who is talking on the phone and doesn't notice a thing. She keeps thanking whoever it is and then happily tells "Cricket" that she'll be fine; Izzie/Cricket guesses correctly that she was on the phone with her psychic. She then notes it's a psychic with an internet connection, when Robbie reports that he said skin cancer is highly curable if caught early. She asks Bailey pointedly if she caught the cancer early and Bailey struggles a bit before Izzie jumps in to say that Robbie can ask her any questions she has. Poor Robbie is trying to understand the best she can, but she just comes off as terribly naïve, talking about a woman on Tyra who had a mole on her private parts that no one caught. She tells them it was bad, "She was bald, and everything." Well, clearly she did not have the luck to have Derek, Saver of Hair, operating on her. (Yes, I know she was probably bald from chemo. Humor me.) Bailey and Izzie are both somewhat amused, but overall it's really kind of pathetic.
Hunt talks to Richard about GSW guy, then turns to Kate and tells her that they are rushing him into surgery because of his major injuries. Kate calls after him that Maddie needs to tell him he's sorry before the surgery and as Mere works on the little girl, Kate goes over and sternly tells her that people die in surgery, putting words in her daughter's mouth about how she doesn't' want him to die without hearing how sorry she is. And here's where I respect Meredith, because while I know Kate is also battered and in a horrible position... Sweet Fancy Moses, woman, this is sick. Maddie goes to jump down and follow her mother, but Mere stops her and declares, "No." Despite Richard saying he name with heavy warning, Mere tells Kate that she should be the one apologizing to Maddie; that she knows Kate is the victim, "But there is no room for you to be a victim when your six-year-old is on the line." She goes on that Maddie was stronger than Kate and stood up for the two of them, which is more than Kate did, and repeats that Maddie won't say anything. There's some very heavy, overly dramatic music just in case we didn't really get the gravity of that scene.
Julie has been on the phone and comes in to give her sister some good news -- the company that bulldozed her has agreed to pay her medical bills and not sue her for trespassing if Willow won't sue back and never trespasses again. Willow is appropriately appalled and yells about everything the company is destroying, while the doctors look uncomfortable about being caught in the middle. They leave and as the sisters continue to yell, Mark comments how grateful he is to not have siblings. Callie just replies that they are yelling because they care, which is what she expected her family to do. Mark adds to the, "Just lie, it's not their business" vote, adding his reasoning that there is no reason for Callie to have to hurt this much. I always knew there was a squishy middle under that tough man-whore exterior!
Richard has pulled Meredith aside for the lecture she just earned. However, he goes about it all the wrong way, telling her he knows he's angry with him and her mother. It's fairly appalling, even for me who thinks Meredith can be too harsh with him sometimes. (Well, and also they've been a little bit inconsistent about the relationship between these two, but I'm trying to just let that go like a good TV viewer and go with the latest, "Meredith hates him" attitude.) She yells at him that he doesn't get to act like he's a friend or family member, calling her into his office on personal business or treating her with kid gloves now. She is a resident who wants to be spoken to like any other resident -- and this seems to push Richard's buttons even more than her earlier unprofessional display. He agrees, and then reminds her that Kate is a victim and the hospital is supposed to be a safe haven, but Mere just further battered her. Mere tries to step in and talk about the girl but Richard cuts her off and orders her to stay 100 feet away from the entire family or else be suspended pending investigation of her emotional and mental fitness. He then pulls the curtain aside to reveal the ten or so people who heard what happened, including Derek.
It's a bad day all around for the best friends, as Cristina suffers through surgery with Owen and George. Hunt is doing a great job teaching his protégé but Cristina is just told not to move while he works. Clearly, someone is going to snap soon, and that someone has a last name that appropriately rhymes with "Fang" given the beat-down that feels imminent.
Outside, Derek is listening to Meredith rant with his usual uptight air. Mere yells that she knows Richard is Derek's friend, but Derek haughtily interrupts and counters that it's not about Richard. She says that it is and that she's tried to draw a line to deal with him professionally but Richard won't respect it and tries to use his relationship with Derek to get around it. Derek denies this too, so Meredith orders him to stop defending Richard; she needs Derek to be on her side. I don't think I will ever get used to Meredith arguing with Derek like an adult, saying what she means. Don't get me wrong, it's great, but it's still just so... mature! Mere calmly tells him that since Richard is not his best friend, his Cristina, it's okay for her to say he's not invited to the wedding -- adding the ultimatum that if he comes, she won't. Derek agrees, but he looks conflicted about it.
Lord in heaven, my ears -- Julie is still yelling at Willow as she tries to get her to take the offer and Willow stands up for the trees. Callie watches them with a sideways glance but after Julie harps on how stupid and irresponsible Willow was, she speaks up and adds that it was also unbelievably brave. She shocks them both into silence as she adds that while trees might not be her thing, it was brave to watch as a bulldozer knocked her off. Too bad principles don't protect one's bones from snapping. Willow drives me up a tree (no pun intended) when she replies by asking how trees could not be Callie's thing. I get it, you love the trees -- learn to say thanks! Sheesh. There's silence while Julie ponders this so Willow takes the opportunity to start bleeding out through her femur. Callie springs into action and shuffles Julie out of the room where she can only watch, worried, through the window.
Hunt, etc. are working on GSW guy when a giant, hose-sized splash of blood fakely spurts out all over the place. (Hmm, Microsoft Word seems to think I've made up the word "fakely." Clearly they didn't see this scene.) Hunt's really worried and Cristina finally calls out that she can help; when he says that she is, she points out that he has more bleeders than hands. She then apologizes after he shoots her a Look, but he then thinks and has someone take over. She's excited for one second until he sends her out to his truck to get a green bag out of the glove box. She's ready to fight but he yells at her to run, so she takes off.
Robbie is now reading tarot cards on Izzie's bed, while Alex eats some more meat on skewers and kills Izzie with his inability to describe anything. Robbie gleefully starts to ask about their sex life so Izzie begs Alex for her scan, and he trots off to see what he can do. Robbie looks terribly pleased and wants to get more details on the couple, but Izzie tries to finally talk about her cancer realistically. However, when she tells her mom that it's not just a mole, it's stage four melanoma that has spread to her organs, Robbie gets confused as she doesn't have skin on her organs. Izzie sighs, but Robbie is making a real effort and tells her seriously to just explain it. Izzie tries a new tack and reminds her about when "Grammy" had a tumor on her thyroid. Unfortunately, the mention of that sets Ronnie off. With panic mounting, she says that Grammy died soon after, and repeats that it's just a mole. Izzie gauges the situation and apologizes for the bad comparison, assuring her mother that her cancer is nothing like Grammy's. Like little Maddie, she takes on the role of protector and holds her sobbing mother, assuring her that it's going to be okay.
Cristina runs across the Great Walkway with a bag under her arm.
Meanwhile, it really is time for Izzie's scan and Bailey helps her get in, chattering away that she has a good feeling that the mets will have shrunk so that she can go in and take the rest of them out. Izzie wryly asks if the psychic told her so, and then adds that the scan has to be good. Bailey keeps up the cheer, assuring her that if it's not, there are more things they can do. But Izzie isn't worried about the cancer, per se -- she knows that if it's bad her mother will never leave. She actually recognizes that this sounds ungrateful, which is a level of self-awareness I thought far beyond her ability, but says that she doesn't mean it to be. Bailey fesses up immediately to being the one who called her, which gets a laugh out of Izzie who figured it was Alex or George. Bailey knew that she'd want to know if her child was sick, or if she were sick she'd want her mom. But she realizes now that Izzie wasn't being proud or protecting her mother, she was protecting herself. Izzie says her mother isn't a bad person, but she's just limited -- it's a spot-on description and exactly the word I was trying to find but couldn't. She then keeps chanting to herself that the scan has to be good, which takes away a little from the scene because by now, We Get It. Oh well.
Callie is operating on Willow, begging her to fight and pointing out she crapped in a bucket and she can do this. Arizona walks in at just that moment, with the excuse that she's never seen this surgery before, and Callie explains that Willow would crap in a bucket, lower it on a pulley to a waiting friend, and that friend would clean it out, put some food in, and send it back up. Arizona's disgusted face mirrors my own, but everyone agrees that's true friendship. Arizona then tells Callie that med school teaches you all sorts of ways to care less about your patients personally, but Callie cares and she loves that. "And I'll keep loving that even if you decide to lie to your family." Callie thinks about this, while I ponder how much I am really liking this relationship and how I'd like to see a little bit more about how it has developed. Because these two seem pretty serious and we never saw it -- it's like, with ALL of the Callie/Erica shoved down our throats they've done the opposite here, and they need to find a happy medium. I will say that the chemistry and the story of these two has me believing this couple more than I ever could Callie and Erica.
Cristina runs into the other OR with the green bag and Hunt has her pull out a bottle of something that looks like sand and hand it to George. Under Hunt's direction, George shakes it liberally onto all of the bleeders while Cristina jumps around behind the other doctors to try and get a look. Hunt explains that he uses this stuff in the field all the time, and while it's not FDA-approved it saves lives by replicating the clotting process and buying a surgeon time to fix all the wounds. George is amazed as the guy's vitals stabilize, while a frustrated Cristina tries to sound sincere as she calls, "Magical!" You know that when Cristina starts trying to sound like a good, wide-eyed student, things have gotten really, really bad.
Izzie is back in her bed and Robbie is assuring her that she is going to be fine. She's holding a tiny stuffed sheep in her hand while they talk, and Izzie is certainly calmer when Bailey comes in with the verdict. With false cheer, she tells them that the cancer is practically gone, and the psychic was right that they caught it early after all. Izzie's face stays in a smile but her eyes show that she knows what this means -- however, her mother is elated and cries and hugs them both. Izzie grabs her mom in a hug and tells her that she loves her while Bailey watches, heart breaking. Robbie finally composes herself and heads to the bathroom to clean up and then call her neighbors with the good news. Since once again, the bathroom door is made of that magical Seattle Grace Soundproofing, Bailey and Izzie can have a conversation about what actually happened -- the mets shrunk some, but there are also new ones on her small bowel. This means more surgery, but Bailey tries to convince Izzie that they will be aggressive and things will be okay, which is something Izzie seems to doubt a little bit by now.
Derek has gone to talk to Richard and tries to convince him to give Meredith some room. Richard is still totally offended and counters that he apologized, and that he's not her father but rather just a guy that fell in love with her mom. But then he goes on, and clearly he's trying to convince himself more than Derek when he explains that he was young, and plenty of people have affairs, and what Ellis did afterward is Ellis' own problem. Derek tells him that Mere is trying her best, but Richard is on a roll and yells that her best isn't good enough, and that she's only there after all the crap she pulled because of his relationship with Derek. At this point, that's completely ridiculous because it's obvious she's there because of that very affair with Ellis. Derek then decides that as long as they are talking, they can get really honest. He calls the Chief out for being totally professional with everyone but Meredith, citing his calling her into his office first to try on dresses, then to meet with her alcoholic father. He wouldn't make Derek Chief because of their relationship, he spilled the beans about the ring, he sent Meredith after Hairy Derek, etc. So while he says he's not her father, he clearly considers her family. At the last moment he tries to soften the lecture, adding, "For what it's worth." For what it's worth, I'm relieved to see Derek actually stand up for Meredith, finally.
Mere, meanwhile, is watching from a distance as Hunt and George debrief Kate on the surgery. She grabs George as they walk off to get an update, and George is breathless in his adoration of Hunt's Mad Skillz. Once they leave, Meredith walks up to Kate. Richard and Derek come out and both say her name warningly, but Mere apologizes to Kate for how she spoke earlier. Richard and Derek call after her again, but Mere goes on. She tells Kate that she was out of line and knows she can't imagine what she's been through, but she does know it can't be Maddie's story that she shot her father to protect her mother and then her mother went back to him. She has to change things to give both of them a chance. Kate has been glaring at the ground, but redirects her glare to Meredith once she's done. Mere simply turns and walks away, telling the Chief that she'll pack her bags.
Callie comes upon Julie watching her sister sleep, worryingly touching her necklace and fretting. Callie updates that Willow lost a lot of blood but is stable, but Julie responds that the corporation weighed the cost. Callie is confused, so she explains that they weighed the cost of killing her versus letting her stay in the tree, then got a bulldozer and knocked her out, her baby sister. It seems to be the kick in the butt she needed to stop yelling, and when Willow wakes up Julie runs in to her. She tells her happily that she filed a 10 million dollar lawsuit, which makes Willow start to dream about how many trees that will plant. Julie gets in the last word, however, that the check will be made out to Karen. Callie watches the fond bickering wistfully and when Mark joins her, Callie tells him that she can't lie to her family. They are supposed to love and support her no matter what and she can't lie. She leaves, but this clearly got to Mark, who heaves a deep breath as he watches Lexie working down the hall.
Mere is packing her things in the locker room, which is super dark, I guess to make things more moody and dramatic. Richard comes in and clears his throat, causing Mere to groan at the idea of another heart-to-heart. But Richard finally learned something today, and he sits down on the bench, to her but facing the opposite way. He admits that he saw what Ellis was doing, neglecting Mere and driving Thatcher off but that he did nothing for Meredith. Instead of being her advocate, he let himself off the hook. Meredith closes her eyes as this all comes out and as tears form a weight seems to somehow both settle on her and yet lift at the same time -- she's finally hearing what she needed to from an adult in her life. He continues that he told himself he was young and didn't know better, but he did know better, and he should have stood up for her like she stood up for Maddie today. As her tears begin to spill over, he reiterates everything and finally tells her quietly, "I'm so sorry." He repeats his words, but unlike Izzie repeating her plea earlier, his has the weight of years' worth of apologies that are due. A tear falls from Mere's cheek and she leans over and rests her head on his shoulder, while he rubs her back and continues to apologize.
With that, she starts to wrap us up: "As doctors, we can't undo our mistakes, and we rarely forgive ourselves for them. But it's a hazard of the trade. But as human beings, we can always try to do better, to be better, to right a wrong even when it feels irreversible." Robbie is in bed with Izzie and asks if she's sure she doesn't want her to stay. Izzie is sure, pointing out that, "We do better loving each other from a distance." Robbie laughs, and then in the most clichéd of television and movie lines everywhere, declares, "You were always too good for that trailer park, that I knew." Yes, rising above the trailer park is a great feat but to Hollywood I say, ENOUGH ALREADY. Find another hardship to overcome, for goodness' sake! To add to it, just to kill me, Robbie adds that she might not be as smart as Izzie, but she knew that. BLECH.
Mere continues, "Of course, I'm sorry doesn't always cut it. Maybe because we use it so many different ways. As a weapon. As an excuse." Cristina walks out of the hospital to go home when Hunt walks up to her and cheerfully says, "Nice work today!" I'm surprised he didn't give her a friendly punch in the shoulder, given his tone, and she clearly thinks so too and demands, "Seriously?" She yells at him for sending her to the truck and for teaching George while he ignores her, and he lamely tries to defend that she knows what his truck looks like, and George is going into trauma while she already declared cardio. He adds that he treated her like he would anyone else, which is his problem, and which she points out as she runs after him and shoves him in the back, yelling that she isn't anyone else. In a thick, deep voice she tries to keep her tears in check as she repeats, "Take care now? What is that?" Then, after demanding to know if he's happy now, asks, "What are you? Just a choke 'em and forget 'em kind of guy?" It would be below the belt except for the actual choking and all the subsequent events between the two, and he looks stunned and just pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to her. She glares and reads out loud various three word phrases: "Hey there now." "Take care now." With a voice that says he'd rather die than be having this conversation, Hunt admits that he and Dr. Amy came up with a list of three-word sentences he could use with Cristina to keep him from saying the three words he really wants to. Cristina is shattered, and tears run down her face as he continues that he can't say it because it's cruel, and he's no good for her and doesn't want to torture her when he can't be with her, so he says these things instead. "I'm letting you off the hook." He then pleads with her to see that he's letting her off the hook. While I think she understands, it's clearly far more than she can handle and she just hands him back the paper and whispers her own, "Take care now," and walks off, leaving him equally gutted.
Mere is working on GSW guy's chart when Kate and Maddie walk in the room. As she watches, her disembodied voice asks, "But when we are really sorry, when we use it right, when we mean it?" GSW guy is intubated and can't talk, which gives Kate the strength to tell him that they are leaving for good, and he'll be too weak to follow them for a while which she hopes means he also won't follow them later. She then tells Maddie to say bye, and in that strange disembodied way of hers, she calls, "Bye Daddy, feel better!" GSW guy is crushed but can't do anything about it and they walk away, Maddie calling goodbye to Mere as they go. Mere smiles at her and says it back, but Kate just looks straight ahead and pulls Maddie away.
Mere: "When our actions say what words never can." Mark, in a sport coat, walks into a restaurant and takes a deep breath as if it will give him courage, then walks up to Lexie and Thatcher and apologizes for being late. Lexie's face could light the entire patio, and she happily introduces him to her dad. Thatcher assumes Mark is her teacher and she stumbles over her words until she settles on explaining, "He's... Mark." I think her joy has worn off, and Mark grins and tells Thatcher very genuinely that it's nice to meet him too. He then sits and takes Lexie's hand, and she grins back -- seriously, it's a regular toothpaste commercial up in here now.
Alex is at least taking his duty to eat very seriously, though now he's moved on to shrimp, which isn't on a skewer. Izzie is fed up when he tells her it tastes like shrimp, so he explains that it's sweet and spicy, like their first date, or at least the good part before he didn't kiss her. Man, with Mark and Alex both realizing their inner awesome, I think it's going to be left entirely to Derek to be the man-child of this hospital from here on out. He then describes the chicken as being like a drive to the beach with the window down and a dog's face sticking out in the wind, which is good, but he votes for the shrimp. Izzie then has him try one more unidentifiable thing that looks vaguely like a pickle, which Alex chews and then spits out, saying it tastes like crap. Bailey then comes in to gather Izzie for surgery, and so Alex gently puts a cap on over her hair and kisses her with his crap-tasting mouth. Aw damn, Izzie points out that now she tastes like crap, stealing my joke. They wheel her out, and we can see she's clutching onto the little sheep her mom had earlier. Mere concludes, "When we get it right, 'I'm sorry' is perfect."
Mere is at home, flipping through one of her mother's journals, when Derek walks in. She tells him they have to move up the wedding to the 100th episode -- er, because Izzie isn't doing well, and Derek agrees. He then notes that she's packing up the journals, and she admits that there's nothing in them for her. She didn't want to throw them away, so she's giving them to Richard. With a look at Derek she admits that Richard can also come to the wedding after all. As Derek helps her tape up the box, She adds, "When we get it right, 'I'm sorry' is redemption." And if it is, hopefully that means we won't have to recycle this storyline sometime soon when they are running short on conflict and need to replay this argument again.
See you week, when pigs might fly and Meredith and Derek might get married!