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So we pick up exactly where we left off, with Derek bleeding out on the walkway. April manages to blurt out enough personal details about herself that Gary doesn't shoot her and he has her run off. Cristina tries to get Mere to keep hiding but Mere throws her out of the way and goes to Derek, and fortunately Gary is gone by then. They decide to take Derek to an OR (and get April's help after Cristina finds her hiding) where Teddy will be so that she can operate on him. What they don't know is that Teddy and Owen left to try and get their patient to the ICU, but they realize that they can't make it there, and while pondering what to do Teddy tells him that he has to make a choice between the women he loves. He tries to pull a Kelly Taylor and choose no one, but once they are evacuated and he realizes Cristina is still inside, Teddy tells him it's okay to choose, and he gets past the cops and runs back in.
While Mark waits with Alex, Lexie is wheeling a cart of supplies back to the room when she comes face to face with Gary, and she was one of his intended targets. Luckily, he's a chatty gunman, and so there's enough time for a SWAT team member to get in place and shoot Gary in the shoulder so that Lexie can get away. Back in the conference room she tells Alex she loves him, which breaks Mark's heart, but as he gets worse and worse Alex hallucinates that she is Izzie and apologizes to her for everything he said and did, begging her to never leave him again, which breaks Lexie's heart. Eventually they are evacuated and Teddy takes Alex to a neighboring hospital, where it appears that she saves his life, and Mark dies a little more inside when he gets there with Lexie and she drops his hand to go run to Alex's bedside.
It's not all breaking hearts, though, because Callie and Arizona are still stuck in peds trying to help their terrified little patient with the burst appendix. Gary comes in and tells them he's been shot, so while Arizona hovers over her patient and tries to soothe her Callie talks to him calmly and gives him bandages and advice of what to do with them, which is enough to keep Gary from shooting them. After he leaves Arizona holds the girl while Callie talks soothingly, telling the girl about how she's got the best doctor in the world with the best smile that can make anyone feel special, and the two stop fighting and realize they still love each other. Once they all are evacuated, Callie tells Arizona that after nearly dying she realizes that she'd rather be with Arizona than have kids, but Arizona tells her they are going to have a huge family and they kiss and make up.
Bailey, meanwhile, is still trying to help Percy with Mandy's help, and they realize he's bleeding out and they have to get him to an OR. They manage to drag him to an elevator on a sheet, but the elevators have been turned off in order to try and trap Gary, and Bailey finally loses it completely for a few moments. She manages to regain her composure, though, so that she and Mandy can sit with Percy and hold him until he dies. With his last words, he makes them promise to tell Reed that he was crazy about her, not realizing he's going to see her sooner than they are.
When Cristina, Mere and April get Derek to the OR they find Teddy and Owen gone, but Avery is there and helps Cristina realize she's got to be the one to operate -- conveniently, the anesthesiologist and two surgical nurses are still there as well on account of the lockdown. Cristina does it but makes Meredith sit in the scrub room not looking, because she knows she won't be able to concentrate with Mere watching her, and has April stay there as well to keep Mere from peeking. Owen comes in and finds them there, and as he looks in through the window Mere explains the situation. She's a little surprised when he goes in without scrubbing in, but he promises he's going to assess the situation first -- what she doesn't know is that the situation is now Gary pointing a gun at Cristina's head and demanding that she stop working and let Derek die. She is totally freaked out but she and Avery manage to keep it up while Owen tries to talk sense into him. Unfortunately Owen manages to get himself shot, just about a the same time that Mere comes in and tries to get Gary to shoot her instead, promising that she's important to all three of his targets (Derek, Lexie and Richard) and that would hurt them more than shooting them. Cristina and Avery instead put their hands up and let Derek bleed out, and Mere falls to the floor screaming while Gary drifts out... then Avery reattaches all of Derek's monitors. Fakeout! Cristina orders Mere to work on Owen while she works on Derek, and Owen turns out to be fine as the bullet just ("just") went in and out cleanly through his upper chest/shoulder. There are a couple of tense moments, but Cristina manages to save Derek's life. Unfortunately it's all too much for Mere, and while she's working on Owen she also has a miscarriage, because there hasn't been enough going on already, but ultimately she's okay too.
Finally, Richard can't stand waiting outside, especially after he's treated to a montage of 911 calls from all of the doctors that he loves like his own family. He gives the cops the slip and goes inside to find Gary waiting in the same room where his wife was unplugged, but Gary doesn't shoot Richard immediately because he admits he only has one bullet left. See, he wanted to bring his flask because he thought he might need a drink, and so he wound up without enough bullets to finish the job he came for, which was to kill all the docs he held responsible and then finish himself off. He offers Richard a drink and a couple of times but Richard manages to be strong and winds up pouring the booze out while telling Gary that it's not worth it to shoot him, because he's content that he's had an amazing and full life. He points out that if he shoots Richard and not himself, he'll rot in jail, but if he uses the bullet on himself he will get to go be with his wife. As the SWAT team surrounds the room we hear a gunshot but don't see until a few moments later that Richard is totally fine, and we wrap up the season with a discombobulated Mere throwing out her positive pregnancy test on the way to go visit her recovering Post-It husband.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!I realize that a montage of events will be very handy when they aren't airing these episodes back-to-back in repeats and syndication, but considering we go directly into hour two without even a commercial break, it's kind of funny to see a recap of what we saw 15 seconds earlier: Derek getting shot, April freaking out, and Meredith falling apart while Cristina tries to hold her back. As a consolation for taking a bullet to the chest, Derek gets to do the final voiceover of the season: "The human life is made up of choices. Yes or no. In or out. Up or down. And then there are the choices that matter. To love or hate. To be a hero..." Here we are treated to a brief shot of him bleeding out, just so we know for sure that he is in fact the hero. "...or to be a coward." Now we get a quick shot of Gary and his screwed-up angry face, just in case we didn't know that shooting everyone at the hospital where your wife died is in fact a cowardly thing to do. "To fight or to give in. To live, or die." Bum bum bummmmm.
But Derek isn't dead yet -- his eyes fly open and he begins to panic a little as he looks at the blood on his fingers and realizes that he's been shot. April runs up to help him so Gary points the gun at her, and in a crazed, panicky voice she begins to stutter all sorts of personal info about herself: She's 28, she's from Columbus, Ohio, her mom is a teacher, her dad a corn farmer, and she's the second of four sisters. That said, she adds for good measure that she's barely lived, and no one has loved her yet, and she pleads, "I'm a person." As odd as this all seems, it does the trick, and Gary has tears in his eyes as he orders her to run, his tone of voice saying he might change his mind if she doesn't leave immediately. She doesn't have to be told twice, and after she sprints off Gary points his gun back at Derek, who is struggling for breath and trying to talk to him. Just then he hears a sound and looks down to see the SWAT team coming in, guns drawn. Though he has a crystal-clear view of them and in fact is on a catwalk in plain sight, I guess they don't actually look up and see him, but it's all for the best of the story as we still have about 59 minutes of the episode left. As he runs off, Derek VOs, "Live or die. That's the important choice. And it's not always in our hands."
Cristina seems to have gotten Mere back into the supply closet, and all I can think about is how that place must smell badly like vomit right now. Meredith wants to get out in case Derek is still alive, but Cristina points out that she could get herself shot, and tells Mere that she won't let that happen. "You want to go, you're gonna go through me." It's an impressive declaration but she's no match for a twiggy girl whose Post-It husband is bleeding out a short ways away, and Mere throws her out of the way and face-first into a supply rack before running out. I have no idea how Cristina didn't break her nose after that, but she seems all-in-all pretty intact and just dazed.
Teddy and Owen are slowly rolling their patient down the hallway and instead of being quiet, Teddy is babbling that she can't believe they came lived through going to war only to wind up with a shooter in the hospital. Owen has taken the lead and is looking around cautiously, and finally asks if she has a point, so Teddy announces that she thinks he loves both her and Cristina and tried to get Teddy fired so he wouldn't have to make a choice. However, with a shooter out there, she tells him he now has to choose, for both their sakes. Honestly, is this really the time and place to have this conversation when a shooter could be right around the corner? Owen seems to realize that but she also hit the nail on the head and he clearly doesn't want to choose between his women, so he pulls a classic Kelly Taylor and chooses himself neither. He trails off when he sees a dead doctor on the ground and this somehow tells him that they can't go to the ICU, and he realizes they are sitting ducks in the hallway (even more so than normal when they're making a ruckus about feelings rather than keeping quiet to as not draw attention). He then gets his phone out to call 911. Seriously, he just thought of all this NOW?
Richard is outside demanding some answers from Officer Chase, who explains that they are going floor-by-floor and taking visitors out first, then non-essential staff, and then the doctors. I get being deliberate and leaving people to take care of the patients, but on the other hand this seems like a pretty crappy reward for all those years of med school, to get to sit and wait for someone to possibly come shoot you while the others are evacuated. Richard asks if they got the shooter or if they even know who he is, and Officer Chase is clearly pissed at Richard for asking the question since he doesn't know any of that yet. Another officer finally gets sound on her computer and plays a montage of 911 calls from all of our usual suspects, detailing the carnage thus far. One of the last calls he hears is Cristina, telling them that the shooter was searching for Derek and then shot him. First paperwork, then getting shot... this job really isn't turning out the way Derek thought it was going to when he was gunning for it.
Meredith makes it to Derek's side and holds her hand to the wound while begging him to hold on; he tries to get her to leave but she's got the physical advantage over him right now and stays there, begging him to live. Cristina runs out and reports that no one is going to come get them in time to help Derek and then notices the pool of blood spreading from underneath Derek's back. She realizes he needs surgery and after a moment, runs to the other end of the walkway and through the door, while Meredith yells at Derek to stay awake.
Cristina runs and grabs a wheelchair and on her way back notices April, who has turned an unhealthy shade of grey and is sitting against the wall hugging her knees. Cristina tells her that she's going to take Derek to the OR where Teddy is working so that she can save him, but April can only respond by stuttering that she learned on Oprah that if you give personal details to a potential killer, he's less likely to kill you. I think April's PTSD when this is all over is going to strongly rival Owen's, as she's clearly not handling any of this terribly well. And hey, this is not a knock -- I would probably turn to a blubbering mass of jelly if facing the business end of a gun -- but she seems to be having the hardest time holding herself together of anyone we've seen so far, including the ones who were shot. Cristina just yells at her and finally pulls her up so that she can come help.
While Lexie is gone, Alex tells Mark he should have eaten more bacon. Isn't that true for all of us? Can one really have enough bacon? Alex clearly thinks he's going to be a goner and advises Mark to have more bacon and more sex because life can be short, and Mark promises the former while pointedly not responding to the latter. He then tries to get Alex to hold on until Lexie comes back with more supplies.
Lexie, however, is detained -- as she pushes a cart piled with supplies down the hall, she finds herself face-to-face with Gary and mumbles his name, terrified. Gary admits that he didn't plan to shoot a bunch of people, and Lexie tries to play along and agree, but he just goes on and tells her that he only planned to shoot Derek and Webber... and her. He points his gun at her while reminding her that she's the one who unplugged his wife, and she closes her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. There's finally a gunshot and she falls to the floor, but it turns out she just fell in shock, and she sees that Gary is the one who has been shot in the shoulder, then turns the other way and sees a police sharpshooter motioning to her to run. She doesn't waste any time and, sobbing, grabs her cart and runs down another hall. Here's my question, though -- once she was out of the way, the guy presumably had an even clearer shot at Gary then before, and he's obviously the gunman as, well, he's got a gun in his hand and was threatening someone. So why doesn't the guy just shoot him again? Or at least get closer and try to capture him? Yes, it's far too early in the episode for him to be caught, but they might have come up with a more graceful way to work this out than for leaving us questioning the abilities of an elite professional law-enforcement unit.
Lexie runs back in and, showing a little bad-assness of her own, doesn't even mention the fact that she was just nearly killed and instead gets right back to trying to help Alex, who is now unconscious. Unfortunately Mark says there's nothing else that he can do, but if that's the case what the heck was Lexie getting more supplies for? She sits at Alex's head and begs him not to die, blaming herself for all this because she was the one who unplugged Gary's wife. If Mark had considered jumping in and assuring her that this wasn't her fault, he would have been stunned into depressed silence pretty quickly, because Lexie then tells Alex that she loves him.
Arizona and Callie have managed to be adult enough to put aside their bickering long enough to help Ruby and her ruptured appendix. Arizona stands behind her and gives her a shot while Callie faces her and has her squeeze Callie's hand, all the while making kid-friendly impressed small talk to distract her. Arizona looks up at Callie but sees that her face has gone serious and she's staring at something over Arizona's shoulder -- Gary has arrived for his systematic terrorization of every single doctor we know. Arizona announces that there are only children there and then drapes herself over Ruby, repeating herself in a whisper over and over. Callie gets the fun job of dealing with Gary, but since she stays calm and nice (and because she wasn't one of his wife's docs) he doesn't threaten her but instead points out, rather dazed, that he's been shot. Callie offers him some bandages with instructions of how to use them and slowly makes her way over to put them in his hand on top of his gun, then tells him to go; miraculously, he thanks her and leaves, and she then shuts the door in a hurry.
I'm impressed that Ruby, without seeing what was happening, managed to stay relatively quiet with only a few whimpers while that all was going on but once he's gone she cries out for her mommy, and Callie runs back to try and calm her. Arizona's still pretty shaken up and looks at Callie with tears running down her face, which fortunately Ruby can't see. Callie tells Ruby how lucky she is to have the best doctor in the world who also has a "super magic smile" that can make people feel better just when she walks in the room. Callie then looks away from Ruby (who surprisingly doesn't point out, "Hey lady, I'm down here.") and up at Arizona and tells Ruby that Arizona is giving her a super magic smile right now. Arizona actually looks more like a gunman just walked in on them while they were trying to care for a patient, but it comforts Ruby and also shows Arizona just how much Callie really does care. I mean, I get that there's the threat of death and people want to make things right/declare their true feelings but ladies, this whole thing got a little ridiculous with Callie making it all about the two of them. Fortunately, I like them so I'll let it pass. THIS TIME. Callie then goes to call the police and update them on what happened.
Outside, Officer Chase asks Richard if he knows someone named Gary Clark, and after a second Richard realizes he does. I know that it's always a bit nebulous as to how much time passes between episodes but would Derek and Richard really already have forgotten him enough that it takes them a moment to recall his face and name, respectively? That whole part seems weird. But at least they remember at all, and Richard realizes that he's the shooter.
The girls have gotten Derek to the OR and Cristina leaves him with Mere so she and April can go get Teddy. Once they leave, Derek -- a peculiar shade of grey now, but his hair still as lustrous as ever -- tells Mere to kiss him and tells her he's not going to die, and she tells him that's good, "'Cause that would be the worst breakup ever." He would laugh except it hurts too much.
Bailey is with her own grey-tinged patient and is starting to worry because the packing isn't holding, and though the huge hole we see blown in his back he's losing tons of blood. She tells Mandy they have to get them to an OR and when Mandy tries to say that someone will come for them, Bailey has to give her the unfortunate truth that no, they aren't, and Charles needs an OR right now. Mandy then asks a rather legitimate question -- how on earth will they get him there if the two of them can barely roll him on to his side to treat his wound? But Bailey, awesome as always even when she is freaked out enough to unknowingly cry, has the idea to use a bedsheet.
Cristina and April are huddled together as they walk down the hall to the other OR, and April is continuing to panic. Cristina finally yells at her to stop freaking out because she's freaking Cristina out which can't happen, as someone needs to be in charge of this ragtag gang of residents. A door opens and they lose their shit but it's just Avery, and when Cristina finds out that both Hunt and Teddy are gone she does finally start to freak out a little bit herself. Avery just holds her gaze, though, and calmly tells April to go get the anesthesiologist and OR nurses that are still there with him so that they can set up for surgery. April's not at her sharpest and asks what they are going to do without a surgeon, but Avery, while still staring at Cristina, tells April that they have a surgeon, and Cristina realizes that she's the one who is going to be doing the operating.
As she scrubs in Mere asks if she's sure she can do this -- I understand Mere is worried, but as this is the only option she might do well to at least pretend to have a little more confidence. Cristina explains calmly, as much to herself as to Mere (and to us, the viewing audience, just so we realize how grave the situation really is) that no gunshot wound is the same and that this kind of surgery is half skill, half instinct. She finally adds that she's very good, "... for a resident. I'm very good." She then turns to Mere and tells her she can't be in there during the surgery with her "big, sad, don't-kill-McDreamy eyes," and when April comes in to say they are ready, she orders April to stay with Meredith and make sure she sits on the floor and doesn't so much as peek through the window at what is happening. Given how easily Mere overpowered Cristina earlier she'd better hope Mere wants to actually comply. She then tells Meredith that she'll do her best work but begs her to just sit and wait, and finally Mere sits although she makes sure to pout mightily about it. Seriously, Mere, this is the only chance Derek has at survival, so why don't you try to make the best of it and support your best friend just the tiniest bit more? She so desperately is trying to make this all about her but there's just no way she can actually do it, no matter how hard she tries.
Alex has regained consciousness, but his mind is pretty much gone, and he hallucinates that Lexie is Izzie and begins to apologize and desperately beg for her to stay. Lexie tears up but goes with it and promises him she's not going anywhere, and it's heartbreaking how happy he is that he thinks Izzie really came back. Not so heartbreaking that I ever want her to show up on this show again, mind you, but still. He begs her not to leave again and she promises that they will always be together, and Mark can only watch with the most terrible, sad-puppy look on his face. Should Alex survive I think that this might be a very good reason for he and Lexie to break up since he's obviously got some unresolved feelings for Izzie, but the look on Mark's face seems to say he thinks that he's lost the girl forever. I guess we shall see. Mercifully, the door opens and the SWAT team comes in to evacuate them; Lexie slumps over in relief.
Officer Chase tells Richard they've now cleared one floor and are working on the others, but Richard isn't satisfied to know that only five guys are searching the entire expanse of the hospital. Officer Chase assures him that no one is getting out but doesn't seem to get that this is in fact also the problem, with everyone trapped inside. He turns around and tells another cop to pull a DMV photo so that Richard can identify Gary, but during that second Richard manages to disappear.
Teddy and Hunt, being on the lucky floor, run out with their patient and hand him off to waiting paramedics. As they are both frisked Hunt demands to know if they've nabbed the shooter or at least gotten the other doctors out yet, and is dismayed that the answer is no to both. Teddy looks at him and tells him that Cristina is still inside and he should go, then tells him gently that it's okay to choose. He looks at her for a second and then sprints back inside, while Teddy does an awesome little shuffle step to block the cop from getting past her and stopping him. Can I also add: FINALLY. While I think they finally did a good job of explaining why it is that Hunt might still have conflicted feelings, Cristina was totally right to remind him earlier that he already had a choice once and chose her. These last few weeks have been ridiculously painful, watching that whole very well-done storyline get ripped to shreds so that we could maintain the love triangle, and I'm just relieved that they had Owen finally make a decision (again) and that he stuck with Cristina. (Granted, who knows if she'll stick with him, but this is a good first step for a couple that I love.)
Richard, proving that this lockdown is good at keeping everyone inside and away from the lifesaving tools they need but bad at keeping someone out, has made it inside and is walking down the old hallway where our gang used to eat lunch as interns lo those many years ago.
In the scrub room, Mere sits like a statue, her eyes filled with tears, while April sniffles to her. Mere finally tells her sternly to stop crying and explains just how long it took her to find Derek and then to realize she actually wanted to be with him, then points out that now that she's realized all that her best friend is in there operating on him and April doesn't get the right to cry about that. April nods and tries to get herself under control, then manages to squeak that her own best friend, Reed, died today. Meredith doesn't look over but reaches out and takes April's hand, seeming to realize grudgingly that this isn't all about her, her own tragedy, and April's crush on Derek. Though to be fair, I'm sure some of April's tears are totally about her crush on Derek and her subsequent worry for him.
Mark and Lexie run outside with Alex and meet Teddy, who rushes him to an ambulance and goes with him to operate at a different hospital. Before they leave Lexie asks if he's going to be okay, but Teddy doesn't give her an answer.
Cristina is working away with Avery's help, and the desperation in her voice is palpable as she tells him she found the bullet right by Derek's aorta. Avery calmly tells her she can do this and she shoots back that she knows, she just wanted it to be easy, "Not the hardest repair in the world." She feels around and doesn't know what to do , explaining all the shit that's really bad inside Derek's chest cavity at the moment, and finally asks herself what Teddy would do. Avery starts to answer, not realizing the question was to herself, and she interrupts him with, "Pig or cow." She thinks a moment with her eyes closed, repeating that, and then makes a conclusive decision to use a clamp and keeps working. Avery is suitably impressed and tells her she's badass. Someone's crush is only going to get bigger after today...
Bailey and Mandy are hauling Charles, who is only turning greyer, down the hallways toward the elevator and the reason for his ashy color is obvious: they are leaving not just a trail, but a river of blood behind them as they go. Bailey tells herself that it will all be okay once they get to the OR floor, and when they reach the bank of elevators she runs over and pushes the button, telling Charles that it will only be a few more minutes. Mandy realizes that something might be wrong and tentatively asks, "Dr. B?" But Bailey doesn't answer, she just listens at the door and realizes that the dead silence means that the elevators have been turned off. Whatever control she still had melts away, and in the biggest loss of control we've ever seen from her she begins to yell and cry at the elevators to turn back on while Mandy begs her to be quiet and not draw Gary's attention to where they are. Finally, though, she stops, and Charles manages to look up at her as Mandy asks what they are going to do. She doesn't say anything and instead walks past to the end of the hall and stares blankly out the windows, where after a moment she has a silent breakdown. Charles and Mandy can't see as she leans over, mouth agape in a giant, silent, screaming sob -- her will is totally broken, and it's one of the scariest things we've seen during these episodes since Bailey is someone who never, ever breaks. I can't say enough about Chandra Wilson's heartbreaking performance here.
After a moment, though, she shakes her head and pulls herself back together as best she can. She dries her eyes, straightens her scrubs, and though her eyes have an almost dead glaze they turn determined, and she walks back over to her charges. After telling Mandy to call her Miranda -- this experience has put them on a first name basis -- she pulls off her gloves, sits down, and pulls Charles' head into her lap. She then helps him get the oxygen mask off and he asks if he's dying; since she promised she would tell him if that happened, she finally answers, "Yes." He starts to cry, but she immediately tells him he shouldn't worry or be afraid because she and Mandy are going to stay with him, and when she sees that Mandy is silently falling apart herself but trying not to show it, she reaches over and puts Mandy's hand on his. With all the control she can muster, she tells him that he's not alone, and though Mandy has to look away she continues to hold his hand as well.
April and Meredith are still sitting when Owen walks in, and a relieved Meredith babbles to him everything that happened saying that she's not supposed to look but that Cristina might need help. He looks in and his eyes only flit back to Meredith briefly as he keeps his tone light and tells her it seems like Cristina is doing okay, but he'll go in and see what he can do. He grabs a mask and tells Mere that he'll asses the situation first and then scrub in if Cristina needs him, adding that she was right, and Mere shouldn't move. Mere pouts as he opens the door. And while his tone was a little too light and even, and I totally figured something was horribly wrong, they totally got me because I absolutely didn't expect that when he walked in, Gary would be there and would turn his gun from Cristina's head to Owen's. Well played, show.
Cristina desperately calls to Owen but keeps working and Owen tries to get Gary to turn back to him as Gary orders Cristina to stop working and let Derek die. Tears are streaming down her face but she keeps at it, even as Gary starts to yell at her. He turns the gun on Avery and tries to get him to stop helping, but Cristina instructs him to continue, and finally Owen manages to get Gary's attention back over to him and one of the nurses quickly hands over some tools and the doctors keep frantically working. Cristina tells Owen that she can't stop and he assures her that he knows and she should keep going, which causes Gary to point the gun back at her head. Owen threatens him that he loves Cristina and that if Gary touches her Owen will kill him, but Gary just turns around and warns Owen to stay back.
Gary offers that he could shoot Owen first and then shoot Cristina and Derek, and as he's ranting he starts looking crazier and, weirdly, like he's got more stubble on his face than earlier. I guess the rate of one's facial hair growth is directly correlated to the level of insanity that's been reached. Gary just claims that he didn't come to go on a rampage, but just to make Derek pay for what he did to Gary's wife: "An eye for an eye." He again tries to get Cristina to stop working but is interrupted by the door sliding open, and Meredith walks in and tells him to shoot her instead. She then explains that she's Lexie's sister, the closest thing Richard has to a daughter, and Derek's wife, so shooting her would hurt all three of them more than anything else. Gary turns the gun on her and walks forward, seeming to think that this isn't the worst idea, actually. Cristina looks at Owen and he gives the tiniest of nods, so Cristina tries to then distract Gary by telling him that Mere is pregnant, and he wouldn't shoot a pregnant woman, would he? Gary pauses for a second and that's all Owen needs to go after him, but Gary turns and fires right at him, and Owen drops to the floor. We can't see where he's shot, and Cristina and Meredith both start to freak out. Avery then tells Cristina to raise her hands and very quickly tells her, "Trust me," before they both drop their instruments and stand there. Avery tells Gary to watch the monitor because Derek's heart is about to pump all of the blood into his chest until it finally stops beating. Mere comes completely unglued as they all watch the monitor, which shows Derek flatlining. Mere begs and sobs and Avery yells at her to shut up, with Gary all the while staring at the monitor. Cristina tells him it's over and Derek is dead.
They remain with their hands up while Mere falls to the ground, sobbing, and Gary finally shuffles out of the OR, then Cristina goes right back to work as Jackson reattaches all of the wires to Derek's chest. He's so tricksy, that one! Derek's vitals are all fine but Meredith really thought he was dead and is having a hard time computing what just happened, and Cristina finally has to yell at her to get her to go check on Owen, who is unconscious but alive. Cristina instructs her to take him to another OR and for her and April to take out the bullet, and when Meredith tries to say something Cristina points out that she's trying to save Mere's guy, so could Meredith go do the same for her? Cristina then tells Avery to remind her to thank him later, and he assures her he will. Just like with the fortune from a fortune cookie, my instinct is to end this sentence with a saucy, "IN BED." But seriously, I'm praying they don't go there season.
Bailey is, as promised, sitting with Charles, who realizes that it's a bad sign that he doesn't feel any pain anymore. Keeping to her promise to tell him the truth, she agrees that this isn't a good thing, and is obviously nervous by the way she is playing with his hand, even though she's keeping a straight face. Charles then asks her if she can find Reed and tell her he had a crush on her, since he's pretty sure she didn't know. Mandy echoes the reaction of women across the country at this moment and assures him that she knew, that girls always know. It's not clear if Bailey knows at this point that Reed is dead, because her struggling to maintain her composure at this moment could be on account of what he's saying and how extra-sad it makes this conversation, or it could just be because in general, holding one of your employees while he dies isn't an easy thing to do. He repeats his request and adds that he wants them to say he was brave, even if he caves and starts begging for his mom in a moment. Bailey assures him that he's super brave and that she was a coward to tell Gary she was a nurse, but Charles points out that this was smart. He then tells her he knows she never liked him, and Bailey laughs out loud through her tears and assures him that she did like him. He is sure that she didn't, but he tells her that she was his favorite doc, and then finally his voice trails into silence and he dies with Bailey stroking his hair. Look, he was a totally pointless character and never given anything to do, but when I said he didn't need to be on the show any more I wasn't wishing a gruesome, gunshot-wound-to-the-abdomen death on him, and the whole thing is horribly sad and I will admit to tearing up a little. You can't watch Mandy Moore and Miranda Bailey cry and stay stoic forever, people.
By the time Mere and April get Owen on the operating table he's awake again, and he struggles to get up and go back to Cristina but Mere shoves him back down and orders him not to move. This is now the second time we've seen her freaky superhuman strength -- don't mess with Mere when it comes to the ones she loves, it seems. They realize the bullet went cleanly through his shoulder and he'll be fine, which Owen had already figured out, and he tries to get back up but again Meredith forces him back down and he and April prepare to at least clean the wound. But even though she's turned Superman-strong, the stress of the day seems to have taken its toll; she doubles over with some pain and April starts to freak out again when she realizes there is blood running down Mere's legs. April thinks she might have been shot, but Mere calmly tells her she's having a miscarriage, and continues to work on Owen, who has been stunned into cooperation by the revelation.
Richard, who has somewhere along the way lost his coat, walks past a dead doctor lying on the floor and finds Gary sitting in the room where his wife died. They admit they've been looking for each other, and Gary laughs as if Richard doesn't know how silly he is to have actually sought Gary out, on account of his wanting to kill him. Then, he launches into a long story about how when he bought the gun, he bought a bunch of ammunition to go with it, but that when it came time to get ready that morning, he couldn't fit all of it in his pockets. See, because he wanted to bring his flask, figuring he might need a drink. Like many a fine movie/TV gunman before him, it's classic monologuing. He asks Richard for help unscrewing said flask, as it's too much for him to handle with a gun in one hand and a bullet in the opposite shoulder. Richard does it, using only slow and non-threatening movements, and Gary takes a swig and winces. See, because he and Richard are totally different people, right down to their taste for booze. He offers some to Richard but happily, Richard declines it, so Gary goes back to his talking and explains that he only needs a drink now because he's in a pickle -- he intended to shoot Richard and then himself, but he's only got a single bullet left, on account of bringing the flask. Oh alcohol, you ruin everything.
Gary goes on about shooting Richard a bit and the single bullet, so finally Richard dryly points out, "Then it seems you have a bit of a problem." Gary's eyes are getting crazier by the moment, and he again offers Richard a drink, so Richard takes the flask and takes a long, deep sniff of the contents. It's vodka, of course, his own personal preference, but instead of taking a drink he turns and pours it out on the floor, much to Gary's annoyance, and he gets the gun pointed back at his face in return. Richard asks him what choice he's going to make but gives him some things to chew on before he decides. He points out that if he shoots Richard, SWAT will capture him and take him to prison, but if he shoots himself, he's free and will get to see his wife again. Gary doesn't make a decision so Richard adds that he's had a full life -- he's failed and picked himself back up again, he's known joy and had a great love. (Poor Adele -- you know he doesn't mean her.) He walks around the bed and sits to face Gary, and though Gary follows him with the gun, the fact that he doesn't just shoot means he's got serious doubts now. Richard tells him that for himself, death would be the end of a beautiful journey, and he's not afraid. "The question is, are you?" It sounds like he watched a lot of Westerns that helped prepare him for this moment. As they sit, the swell of music and Derek's VO start back up. "Yes or no, in or out, up or down." The camera pans around and we see the SWAT team enter the hallway, and finally when we can't see anything more in the room, we hear a single gunshot.
It looks like saving Owen's life and offering herself up to the shooter to save Cristina earned Mere the right to be there for the rest of Derek's surgery, and she strokes his luscious hair while Cristina finishes up. Owen is also there, his arm bandaged up, observing in case she needs help. Of course things have to get scary once more for good measure, and his heart starts beating wildly.
Mark and Lexie arrive at Seattle Presbyterian, and Mark holds Lexie's hand and leads her in to see Alex. Teddy greets them in some jarring red scrubs, and the second Lexie sees Alex she drops Mark's hand and runs in to go see him even though he's still asleep after surgery. She sighs and takes his hand, much to Mark's chagrin.
Back at Seattle Grace, Cristina pulls out the paddles and uses them on Derek's heart.
Outside, Mandy reunites with Cute Ryan Devlin while Callie and Arizona get Ruby into an ambulance and then stare at each other a moment before Arizona turns to go help kids find their parents. Callie calls after her and says that people died, which at first sounds really accusing, like she can't believe Arizona would... help frightened, lost children? I know, it makes no sense, but there was some definite accusation there even if she didn't mean it, and I don't think she did because the thing she says is that she doesn't want kids if it means she can't be with Arizona. Arizona turns and tells her that no, they'll have all kinds of kids, and that Callie will be an amazing mom, and she can't live without her, and blah blah blah making out. Aw. It's textbook, but it still warms my heart.
Derek's surgery seems to be going badly, what with all the blaring alarms, but after a moment his heart settles back in to a normal rhythm, and everyone heaves sighs of relief.
"Live or die. Hero or coward. Fight or get hit." We see a cop photographing Derek's blood on the walkway and then see a very much alive Richard walking up to Officer Chase, who has forgiven all and shakes Richard's hand. Derek: "I'll say it again to make sure you hear me." It's impressive that he's superior and bossy even in voiceover. "The human life is made up of choices.
"Live or die. That's the important choice." Mere is at her locker and stares at her positive pregnancy test from that morning until Cristina comes in to tell her that Derek is asking for her. So he's going to survive, but I'll bet that this is probably going to put Richard back in charge of his hospital again, at least for a little while. Mere sighs, confused, and thinks a moment before tossing the test in the trash and walking out to go visit him. Derek wraps up: "And it's not always in our hands."
And with that, my lovelies, we wrap up season six of Grey's Anatomy. As always, thanks to all of you for reading and have a spectacular summer! See you on the flip side.
Read the first part of the recap here.
See what made the cut in this list of TV's 50 most shocking moments ever.
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