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Welcome to Season 7, everyone! We pick up about a month after the shootings of last season's finale, and while some people are doing better than others, all the doctors are (understandably) still pretty messed-up and acting out in various ways. There's a new doctor in town, Perkins, who is a counselor whose job it is to help everyone recover, and he's the one who also gets to clear each doctor to resume surgery. Mere is ticked off because she's still not cleared, and because she's repeatedly had to bail Derek out of jail; His reaction to his near-death experience has been to start driving recklessly all over town, resulting in numerous arrests, though supposedly the cops love him and just keep letting him off the hook every time. We also find out that she still hasn't admitted to Derek that she was pregnant and miscarried, nor has she admitted it to Perkins, but the counselor can tell she's hiding something and that's why he still is keeping her out of the OR.
On Derek's first day back at work he realizes he hates being Chief and steps down so that Webber can take the reins of the hospital again, which results in a sassy celebration dance when Richard takes back his old office. Perkins clears Derek for surgery, so he jumps in with both feet, doing a crazy risky surgery that involves cutting a kid's face in half to get to the tumor in his brain, and since Meredith isn't clear for surgery, April gets to assist him instead. Fortunately for the kid, the surgery winds up being successful.
Throughout the episode we see everyone in their therapy sessions with Perkins and flashbacks help fill in what happened after the shooting. Bailey left town with Tuck and went to stay with her mom for a month. She's barely keeping it together when she gets back to Seattle, and doesn't have enough in her to keep dating Ben -- he wasn't at the hospital the day of the shooting because he was playing golf, and while Bailey knows this wasn't his fault, she has a hard time with the fact that he's not currently dealing with demons like all the docs who were there that day. Because he is awesome, he understands, but it's still rather heartbreaking.
We learn that Lexie and her photographic memory started reading up on serial killers and mass murderers, and eventually stopped sleeping and had a nervous breakdown at work. Alex, unable to cope, literally walked away as it happened and left Mark to have her committed against her will. After loads of drugs and 50 straight hours of sleep, though, she came back to her right mind, went back to being a brunette, and managed to get cleared for surgery. Alex's walking away signaled the end of their relationship, and he decides it's for the best because, now, with a bullet lodged in his chest, he can get girls like never before. Old snarky, womanizing Alex is seriously back with a vengeance.
Not everyone is doing horribly, though. Arizona and Callie are happy, though Arizona is fretting that Callie is about to drop a huge bomb like a proposal and she's not ready. It turns out Callie just wants her to move in, and Arizona accepts. Teddy, meanwhile, is continuing to get over Owen by getting under hot new Dr. Perkins. It's a good thing, too, because it means she can cope with the fact that Cristina and Owen are getting married. One night when Cristina freaked out because he was late coming home, he gave her a ring and promised never to leave her again. She then throws herself into wedding planning (though nothing traditional -- no white dress or anything huge or fancy) and seems to not care whether Perkins clears her for surgery again or not. Meredith has a moment where she starts to get kind of worried and judgy, but Cristina shuts her down, and finally, right before the ceremony, Meredith comes around and seems happy for her and, more importantly, seems to accept and support her decision to get married. They have a beautiful small ceremony in Meredith's living room, with Cristina rocking a deep red dress, and unlike at her last wedding, the bride and groom both say "I do" and kiss happily to end the episode.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Welcome to season 7, dear readers! I hope everyone had wonderful summers and that if you are in the greater Los Angeles area right now, you aren't dying of heatstroke. Me, I've got Meredith Grey to help keep my mind off of the inferno I call my apartment. And while it's not dark and twisty Meredith, it's certainly traumatized Meredith, though she's trying to hide it. "Like snakes, in our own way, we shed our skin. Biologically, we're brand new people." Huh? That doesn't even make sense, as I believe biologically, we stay the people we are throughout our lifetime. Even with my worst sunburn and skin shedding, I'm pretty sure that my DNA is still the same as it was before. Bailey is on a plane with Tuck and chats to her seatmate that she just spent a month visiting her parents, so we know now that it's a month post-shooting. When the woman asks what she does, Bailey hesitates for quite a while before admitting she's a surgeon, and the good mood she was in is totally gone, replaced by tension. The woman's face goes very serious as she asks if she knew any of "those doctors." She takes Bailey's silence for ignorance and adds, "From that shooting." Honey, if this were real life I'd have to imagine that everyone in America knew what you meant, and she's honestly very concerned but it's also in that overly-invested, voyeuristic way, and Bailey doesn't even answer but instead just stares into space.
"We may look the same, we probably do, the change isn't visible, at least, not in most of us, but we're all changed completely." A serene Richard is at the hospital, surveying his domain from the catwalk.
There's a new doctor in town, and you all will be relieved to know that he's passed the Seattle Grace Hotness Test. He and Mere are meeting in a conference room and she kinda sorta picks up where her VO left off: explaining to him that change is a biological imperative. She then assures him calmly that she's ready to go back to work instead of just sitting at home, worrying. When he points out calmly that her husband was shot, which is a legitimate thing to worry about, she just replies that Cristina is getting married (!!) and that she is worried about her friend because of the disaster that was her last wedding day. Perkins, the counselor, is for some reason still more worried about her having witnessed her husband's shooting than her best friend's wedding, but Mere just brushes off that Derek's fine and coming back to work that day. We're reminded of his shooting with a slo-mo flashback, and then Mere gets paged and begins to chuckle, but with quite an edge to it. When Perkins asks if everything is okay, she gives him a creepy smile and assures him everything is fine.
"Fine" finds Derek in jail, dispensing free advice to his fellow inmates. Those guys get a big chuckle when they see a steamed Meredith walk up with an officer and she demands, "Again, Derek?" He's not worried about her reaction, though, and just gives a cocky grin in return.
Back at the hospital, all of the doctors are gathering, and Arizona seems nervous that Callie keeps staring at her with an adoring grin on her face. She'll only tell Arizona she's awesome, which doesn't seem to be what's really behind the stare, and Arizona isn't really placated. Bailey seems utterly deflated, but Richard tells her sincerely that she was missed during her month away. He then asks if she's cleared for surgery, but she has no idea what he's talking about. She hasn't yet seen the new man candy having meetings with the docs, but obviously he's the one that is there to clear them all for work again.
Derek and Meredith get out of the elevator and the timing is a little too perfect and scripted when they walk out and immediately fall into step with Cristina and Mere starts ranting about Derek. It seems he was arrested for reckless endangerment, not for the first time, for driving like a maniac, but that he still has his license because the cops love him and won't actually charge him. Derek points out that this is because he's saved some of their lives, and it's a little obnoxious already that he has no qualms about his crazy driving. Cristina is indeed getting married, and she's immersed in the wedding magazine she's holding, trying to decide what color dress to wear since she's definitely not wearing white, nor is she wearing a veil, throwing rice, or inviting her mom. Meredith yells at Derek that she's not clear for surgery and she's sure it's his fault, but without batting an eye he tells her that he's Chief, and so can overrule the counselor. This cheers Meredith up enough to offer some feedback on Cristina's wedding dress options until April comes up, perky as ever and carrying some scans. Meredith is appalled that she was cleared, but everyone ignores Mere and April prattles on about how there's a kid there with some kind of giant tumor that she would normally call inoperable... "But you're back and you're you." So, that crush hasn't dimmed, then.
When the merry gang walks into the lobby all of the assembled doctors begin to applaud, and Derek walks up to the stairs to address them all, saying how happy he is to be back. He thanks Webber for filling in, and Webber looks pleased but very sad to be handing the reins back over to Derek. We see all of our usual suspects in the crowd as Derek tries to continue his speech but gets distracted looking at the scans in his hand, and finally he admits that he hates being Chief, Webber should be Chief, and he quits. Derek's unshaven and rather scruffy, which gives this little piece of theater some added flavor -- he really is the saucy rogue doctor who is off to go take care of this massive tumor. As April trots off after him Bailey finally laughs with glee, but Mere realizes that she's now not getting cleared for surgery after all.
After the gathering, Teddy is examining the bullet in Alex's chest, which we can see outlined against his skin. She's happy that it's moved closer to the surface and is ready to take it out, but Alex wants to keep it, calling it his "war wound." While he does actually have some leeway to refer to it as such, she's still generally not amused by his attitude, especially when he adds that, "Chicks dig that crap," and then walks out.
Meredith, Derek and April are looking at the scans when Mark and Callie come in, and April explains that the last surgeon nicked something or other in the kid's brain which allowed the tumor to mushroom into his brain and down his spine. See? Look what happens when you try to have a brain surgeon other than Derek Shepherd work on you. Mark muses about the different awful things he could do to get in to the tumor through the kid's face, and Derek says he'll have to do all of them at once. Everyone looks at him like he's crazy and Mark reminds him that he'll have to open up the kid's hard palate, split his tongue, and break his jaw. Callie makes a comment to assure us that yes, this would all be as painful as it sounds, but Derek flippantly says that if the kid wants to live he's sure he doesn't care about the pain. Yes and no -- they aren't talking about a little nip and tuck here, but rather LITERALLY BREAKING HIS WHOLE FACE OPEN. And while I'm sure he wants to live, let's give that the moment it deserves, shall we? Meredith tried to point all that out and adds that they aren't even sure they could get the tumor out but Derek shuts her right down, and an excited Callie and Mark run off to clear their schedules and plan out their attack. Meredith reminds Derek that he's not clear for surgery but he just brushes it off and says he'll get cleared. Good gravy, every cocky idiot tendency he had before the shooting has now been magnified a hundredfold.
Richard, meanwhile, is having a little dance party in his office to celebrate the return of his Chiefdom. Meredith walks in and even when he sees her, it takes him a moment to stop shimmying. She wants him to clear her for surgery but he shuts her right down and says that Perkins is the best, that's why he was hired, so he's the one that will make the decision. She's miffed and storms off but he doesn't care, and just gets back to boogieing.
Lexie is back to being a brunette, and while the blonde defied my every expectation and actually grew on me, she looks way better back with her dark, shiny hair. She has no problem talking to Perkins, but will talk about anything but what actually happened to her, and finally he asks her and points out that she's been through a lot since he last saw her. She flashes back to the memory of Gary pointing a gun at her, and that leads into another memory of a group therapy session at the hospital. Her hair is in a ponytail and it looks like someone threw some baby powder or other chalky substance in to give it the illusion of still being somewhat blonde, but really it just looks kind of like straw. None of the doctors assembled want to talk until Cristina brings up some excellent tacos she ate, and they talk about food trucks until Lexie breaks in and begins to ramble about some reading she did. This is clearly where her being a Lexipedia is a detriment rather than a gift -- she rambles about how she read up on the history of mass murders in the US, and explains to all of them how she learned that technically what happened at the hospital was in fact a mass murder: it was in one place, by one person, and more than four people were killed. She's totally twitchy while she talks and the others are all visibly disturbed, while Perkins just stares calmly at her.
Hunt and Derek run into each other and chat about Derek's quitting and Hunt's proposal and both men say they have no regrets. Hunt then turns slightly awkward, but I love him so I find it endearing as he asks Derek if he might act as his best man -- he knows they aren't close but given that he is marrying one of the "twisted sisters" and Derek is married to the other, he figures this makes them brothers of a sort. He's totally not wrong about that, really. Derek doesn't look thrilled, as I get the impression that anything not directly related to his own desires is a total afterthought for him right now, but he claims to be honored. He offers a bachelor party but Owen assures him that he's fine without one.
Bailey's up for her Perkins/flashback meeting. She gazes out the window and Perkins says gently that he understands that she had a particularly difficult day on the day of the shooting. Bailey is subdued, but she's still Bailey; calmly she tells him that on the day Tuck was born, her husband was in a car accident and nearly died on the table while Derek operated on him, but when that day was over, her husband was alive and she had her new baby boy. "That was a 'particularly difficult' day." The day of the shooting, she informs him, was the worst day of her life.
And, cue the flashback! She's putting luggage into the back of a taxi with Tuck held in one of her arms when Ben walks up to her, scaring her half to death. He immediately helps her load everything into the car, but she's completely flustered and out of sorts. He tells her apologetically that he was playing golf and his phone was turned off. While this might be true, and is a totally acceptable and innocent thing for him to have been doing, Bailey reminds him that while he was golfing 18 people were shot and 11 of those died, including Charles' dying in her arms. She then gets into the car with Tuck and ignores Ben's questions about when she is coming back until the taxi finally drives away. She wasn't mean to him, and I completely understand, but I feel for Ben here too.
Derek is in his brain tumor's room -- let's give the poor kid a name even though no one utters it until much later, shall we? His name is Greg, and Greg's mom is understandably against them cutting Greg's face in half to get to the tumor. But Unshaven Rogue Derek tells her grandly that he has no comfort to offer her, but that every medical advance started with the phrase "that sounds crazy." Ugh. This Derek is so already wearing on me. He asks them to try, and Greg gives a nod, so his mother agrees. Meredith, however, feels like someone has to play devil's advocate and so she pipes up to point out all of the things that could go wrong, ranging from paralyzation to death. Derek is seething, but Mere goes on to point out that even if he comes through the surgery, it's a hard, excruciating, long recovery, and she thinks they should understand the risks. Indeed, in addition to her just being a thorn in Derek's side, don't they legally have to disclose all of these risks, anyway? Derek's panties are in one heck of a wad but Mere doesn't back down and instead tells him, "You're driving awfully fast, Dr. Shepherd. The least you could do is wear a seatbelt."
Alex now has his turn, and he's his old belligerent self as he says he's been working in the clinic and the pit, and doesn't understand why they can't do surgery. Perkins brushes that off, instead wanting to talk about an "incident" the week before. Alex says that "she's not his responsibility," Perkins replies that she is his girlfriend, but Alex retorts that she's not anymore. Seriously, so Lexie saves Alex's life, turns down a proposal from Mark, half-breaks her own heart in the process, and they are already broken up? Sigh. Well, let's see what happened the week before, shall we?
Alex was working in the clinic, helping Mark as he did some sutures, when Lexie came up, all crazy eyes and wild, unkempt hair, so we know she's not quite right. Manically, she comes over to the guys and babbles that her patient doesn't know what meds she is on, so Lexie doesn't know what to give her because she could create a drug reaction that could kill the woman. As she rambles more and more frantically, Mark warns Alex to take her away, but Alex is trying to brush her off. Lexie just continues and declares that she thinks the woman wants to die, and then she walks over to her and in fact asks her if she wants Lexie to kill her, advising that a gun would be faster. Mark yells at Alex to get her under control, but Alex just watches as Lexie begins to completely melt down, throwing things around the room and pawing through drawers, screaming that she needs a gun. Finally, when Mark hollers at Alex to get her, Alex just declares he has his own stuff to do, and leaves. So, the near-death experience was not a growing, life-changing event for Alex, it seems, but more an excuse to revert back to his old self.
Back in the present, Perkins asks him why he walked away, and Alex growls that life is too short, and that he almost died trying to stop Gary. I am not taking anything away from the horror of his getting shot but let's at least remember that he got shot walking around a corner to see what the commotion was, and that he didn't have any sort of time to be a hero. The whole thing was a tragedy and he is a fighter, but he's taking a little bit of extra credit here. Because he's never one to stop, he actually goes on to declare that he gets a ton of ass with the bullet in his chest. Perkins isn't terribly impressed and asks if he's always like this or if it is a defense mechanism, and we're treated to a reminder shot of Alex bleeding out on the floor. Alex just answers that he's had too much crazy for one lifetime.
We don't get to hear Perkins' response, however, because Mark barges into the room, livid that apparently Perkins cleared Lexie for surgery when only the week before Mark had to have her committed against her will. Lexie slides into the room as Mark yells but when he realizes she is there, she says it's fine to talk to him. Alex takes his leave, and Mark gets in a dig at his retreating figure that he's really good at walking away. Perkins explains that once Lexie was in psych, she was heavily medicated with antipsychotics and then slept for 50 hours straight, and woke up no longer a threat to herself or others. No longer a threat, yes, but I will admit even I am a little surprised that this qualified her for actually then being clear to go back to cutting people open. But Perkins explains that most everyone there now has PTSD, and that for Lexie that caused sleep deprivation and a breakdown. Now that she's had sleep, the protocol is for her to go back to work. Quietly, Lexie assures Mark that see, she's okay, but Mark is understandably skeptical.
Teddy and Owen, obviously more used to the type of horror they experienced, are both operating away as they catch up. It seems Teddy is now dating someone, though they don't say who, and then his marriage comes up. Teddy says she's happy for him and Owen seems not to believe her, but she seems to be more genuine about it than she has in almost all the time we've known her, and eventually she seems to convince him that she really is happy and things are okay. It's nice to see that slowly they might be able to get their friendship back. (Now, show, let's then leave it at that and not make this a trifecta of doubt on their parts, mmmkay?)
The usual suspects are all gathered in the basement, having lunch like the old days. We quickly learn why: April comes in and announces that in the cafeteria, someone called her Reed and commented that they thought she died. Oh come on, seriously, people? Who says that? Lexie tells her to avoid the points and stares there, but Cristina, in between eating and combing through another bridal magazine, points out that they are staring because they should have died. Seriously, given that doctors do have different shifts, it is kind of amazing that all of our main players just happened to be in the hospital, on the affected floors, at the same time, isn't it? Alex joins them, looking glum, but it's just so he can whip out the letter clearing them for surgery and gloat in their faces. That means that now, only Meredith and Cristina are still barred from surgery. Mere doesn't find it funny but this Cristina pod person doesn't seem to care, thinking only about her wedding instead. They all try joking some but there's still a pall over everything that hasn't shaken off yet.
Bailey walks in and they all welcome her back, but she just stares at them a while like her mind just drifted to something else. After a moment she tells them seriously that she's happy to see them all before giving each orders and scattering them back to work. Before she sends April and Jackson off, though, she tells them that she's very sorry for the loss of their friends. They thank her, and Jackson adds that they are too, before she hands over a patient with a bowel impaction. There are still flickers of her old mojo there, but she seems to be one of the most affected of everyone -- and honestly, who can blame her? I just hope she gets more reasons to smile like she did at Derek's quitting.
Derek finally has his own meeting with Perkins, and he's just cocky and immensely pleased with himself for quitting being Chief. He insists to Perkins that he wanted to quit before the shooting, but didn't have the guts to do it then. After a flashback of him lying in a pool of his own blood, he says life is short and then adds, finally serious, "Now I think less, and just do." I feel like there is a happy medium to be found between doing what one feels obligated to do and just going on a spree of fulfilling one's whims, but Derek doesn't seem worried with finding that just now. However, when Perkins asks if the shooting was clarifying, even this new Derek won't go that far, and as he flashes to a vision of April covered in Reed's blood, he'll only tell the counselor that a lot of people died.
Flash back to him recovering after his surgery. April went in to see him when Mere went to get some food, and she cries as she apologizes for not staying in the office like she was supposed to, which then led to his being shot. She's obviously been tortured, carrying around this guilt, and Derek uses what little energy he has to assure her that Gary came looking for him since he gave the order to pull the plug on Mrs. Gary. "I got everyone shot."
It's rather heavy, and one could see how it weighs on a person... so clearly what he's doing to get that weight off his chest is driving like a madman. We see him drive off in his Porsche SUV (seriously, I can't just call it his Porsche because then one would totally just envision a little sports car, but every time I type that out, it just sounds wrong, somehow) at 125 mph with a deranged, self-satisfied smile on his face, with his clearance letter flapping on the seat to him.
Mere walks in to see Perkins and finds he and Teddy making out -- ah, so that's the new guy! Good for her for snapping him up so quickly. Meredith is pissed and grossed out, and doesn't care when Perkins explains that she was already cleared when he arrived, so she was never his patient and in fact they met in the cafeteria. What she does care about is that Derek's about to do this crazy surgery, and that he and everyone else is cleared for surgery while she isn't. She finally just asks Perkins to tell her what to say, which ALWAYS works in this situation -- I mean, come on, Mere. He doesn't do that and instead proves he's worth his salt by calling her on the fact that he thinks she's not being honest with him nor with herself, and that could be dangerous.
She flashes back to her own day after the shooting, where she is at another hospital with her feet up in stirrups, waiting to see a doctor about her miscarriage. Cristina is with her and Meredith is ordering her to not say anything to Derek, and then orders her to make sure that both Owen and April also keep what happened to themselves. Cristina is surprised when Mere actually sends her away to go find all of them immediately and order them to silence, instead of having Cristina stay with her. Cristina obviously doesn't think this is a great idea but she knows better than to argue and she leaves. A doctor then comes in and it turns out she has to do a procedure as a result of Mere's miscarriage. As she explains what will happen, Mere just tunes her out and stares blankly at the ceiling. Back in the now, with these memories fresh, she just turns on her heel and storms away from Perkins.
Teddy and Arizona are gossiping together and Arizona admits to Teddy that she needed some sort of lame storyline thrown in to this week's episode, so she's freaked out that Callie is watching her sleep since she knows this means Callie has some sort of bomb to drop. Arizona is afraid that it's a marriage proposal or talk of trying to start a family right now, and while she's open to it, she's not ready to do it just now. So, there we have it, they're happy, they're working through their problems, and we get this rather tedious little scene. Arizona doesn't want to pop the happy bubble she and Callie have been floating in, but Teddy assures her that really, the truth is better than the happy bubble, and she warns her friend to just pop it.
Webber finds Derek and happily tells him that the board officially reinstated him as Chief. Derek assures him he doesn't regret his actions for a second, because he's stoked to have this crazy surgery. With both his Chief Hat on and his voice of reason, Webber just asks Derek if he's ready. Derek knows a loaded question when he hears it but he's also not giving Richard enough credit -- the Chief explains that he's still having nightmares and going to two AA meetings a day, and that he knows he's not all the way back and he wasn't the one who got shot, so that's why he asks if Derek feels good. This is all too rational and emotionally healthy for Derek, though, and Derek's best answer is that he feels adrenaline, and that's what feels good. He's seriously like a 13-year-old with no impulse control right now.
At least he's still got his neurosurgeon skills, though, and Greg crawls onto the operating table for his surgery. I caught one glimpse of the surgery itself on my first viewing of the episode and nearly threw up all over my sofa when I saw them break his palate in half and pull it apart between his two front teeth, so, dear readers, you are just getting this recap: They perform surgery. Yay. Mere is up in the gallery, whining about not being part of the action, while Cristina just flips through her magazine. Owen and Richard are also there, and Owen is pretty horrified as he admits to the Chief that he saw less damage done to a person from mortar fire. As Derek finally gets to the tumor, Meredith snaps and orders Cristina to get up and stop looking at magazines. When she doesn't listen, Mere reaches over and literally drags her out of the room.
Outside, Cristina demands to know what's wrong and Meredith yells about Derek decapitating a kid and April being the one to assist while Cristina reads about wedding flowers. Cristina still really doesn't care, even when Meredith points out that Perkins has had a number of opportunities to clear her and yet still deems her unfit. She point-blank tells Cristina that neither of them are better, but Cristina just wants to think about flowers. This then turns to a conversation about the wedding, and Cristina realizes that Meredith might be trying to talk her out of it. Mere wants Cristina to promise that she's sure, but Cristina gets pissed and says that Mere isn't allowed to do this. Mere forges ahead, saying that while Derek is her love, Cristina is her soulmate, so she does get to do this. It's a sweet sentiment, but it does feel a little like Meredith is going to only focus all of her energy on Cristina's issues instead of her own -- obviously Cristina is not yet well but Mere might split her time and worry about herself as well. But Meredith just reminds Cristina that before the shooting she'd broken up with Owen because he couldn't choose her. I would now remind Meredith, though, that when it came down to life and death that day, Owen did in fact pretty decisively choose Cristina. Cristina doesn't bring that up, but pulls out her own big gun, saying that Meredith needs to tell Derek about the pregnancy and miscarriage. Mere tries to deflect it by saying Derek isn't ready, but Cristina won't back down, and finally Meredith won't respond or even look straight at her.
It's now time for Cristina's appointment, but she's not interested and is still flipping through her magazines while Perkins just watches her. He tells her that it's okay if she's not ready, and that the hospital is prepared to work with her. Cristina guesses immediately that she's getting special treatment on account of performing surgery with a gun at her head, and just tells him that if he doesn't want to clear her, don't. It's reminiscent of her usual bravado, but she's quieter than usual and really a shadow of herself, especially with her creepy bridal magazine obsession. After a few attempts on her part to keep the talk on her wedding, Perkins asks how she feels when she goes into an OR. Cristina doesn't answer the question, but instead talks about the women in the magazine, and how she used to feel sorry for those women who just wanted to find a man, and get married, and have the perfect wedding and then just live, calling them "simple." She thinks, "You're either born simple or you're born... me." Her smile is gone, and she quietly and matter-of-factly tells him that she wants to be the simple girl just happy to find the perfect dress, because no one holds a gun to the head of that girl.
There's a quick flash back to the gun to her head, and then the sound mixes with that of someone trying to get in her front door. Cristina is at home and completely freaks out even though it's just Owen, who can't get in the door on account of the chain. She opens it up for them and then runs back to the sofa and pulls a blanket up around herself like armor, yelling at him that it's not okay to be late, before she completely loses it and says she doesn't want to be alone. He moves even closer to her on the sofa, facing her, and promises her that she'll never have to be alone again, and that he'll never leave her again. While she cries, he pulls out a ring, and after a shocked moment she grabs the ring and puts it on like it's a life preserver, then grabs him in a hug and thanks him. Back in the conference room, she gives a sad smile at the memory and looks at Perkins until he breaks eye contact and she can go back to her magazine.
Bailey walks out of the hospital at the end of her shift, clearly troubled, when she sees Ben waiting for her outside. This seems to agitate her even more but she faces him, and he struggles for words for a few moments before finally telling her that he was playing golf, but that he can't apologize for it because it's nothing he did on purpose. She's teary, and looks absolutely defeated, but he tells her that he missed her. Unfortunately for him, she stops him and tells him that he's a good man. Ben can smell a breakup coming and his face falls, but when she tells him how kind, smart, and good he is, he lightens up a little bit, hopeful again. "But..." And there's the "but." She stutters and fights to get the words out as she tells him that she's too busy right now trying to hold herself together, "with tape and glue," and then admits that a part of her wishes that he hadn't been playing golf because then he would be going through the same thing, but the admission finally causes her to begin crying. Because he is, as we know, awesome, he doesn't get mad but rather clasps her hands as she cries again that she's too busy trying to hold herself together. He shushes her and as they stare at each other, she tries to smile. But it's the end for now, and finally he tells her to take care of herself. She returns the sentiment, he kisses her hand, and then after one last look he turns and walks away; she watches him go as she hugs herself, looking as small and broken as we've ever seen her.
Meredith and Derek are alone, and she's gotten over her anger enough to tell him in between kisses how amazing he was in the OR. Gross. Derek, impulses still leading him around, tells her they should make a baby right now, and rips off his shirt. Mere is caught totally unawares, but is saved by the beeper -- Derek can't see how her face has fallen because he gets a page that something is wrong with Greg.
He runs in to Greg's room where the boy is convulsing on the bed, and April yells that she already gave him morphine but that he's in too much pain. Derek grabs his shoulders and pushes him back, and while his mom sobs in the corner, Derek orders him to listen. Greg, his face grotesquely swollen and sewn back together, finally looks at Derek as he tells the boy that this is his fight, and that now he's in the driver's seat and has to fight. Greg finally grabs his arm and nods that he will, so Derek turns to his mom as Meredith walks in. Derek assures Greg's mom that this pain is healing, that it's not going to kill him, and he assures her with a smile that they won. She's still clearly skeptical, and looks just exhausted at what she's been through already, but she still hears what he's saying and nods.
Derek is back in his SUV, speeding away with a self-satisfied smile, when a cop turns his lights on behind him. Of course, McSpeedy actually has the nerve to heave a sigh that he once again got caught at 125 mph.
Meredith walks in to jail, in a long, strapless, taupe dress with a floor-length matching cardigan and a chunky necklace, with awesome hair and makeup. One of my friends texted me just to say she hopes that Ellen Pompeo keeps that five extra pounds of baby weight she has been carrying, because she seriously looks the best she ever has right now. With the hair and the makeup and the necklace, she just looks AMAZING. She walks up and gives him a Look, but he comes up and kisses her through the bars, telling her not to be mad, and that they'll make the wedding. Ah, so that explains the threads. She reaches through the bars into his pocket and pulls out a ring box, then gaily tells him that she'll make the wedding; that she just wanted to see for herself that he was alive before she went to the party. Derek thinks she's kidding, because who wouldn't just continuously put up with his bullshit day after day? I mean, he got SHOT! But she's totally not and he's rather miffed as she walks away.
Back at Mere's house, Lexie is dressed up as well and playing spoons on a tray of empty champagne glasses. Alex walks in and both are silent as he goes and gets a beer, but once he's got it in hand he tells her that she looks hot; the crazy eyes and tight dress are working for her, "For whatever it's worth." I think he's actually making an effort to be extra sleazy at this point. She smiles and shakes her head, then quietly tells him that the thinks he's such a badass because he lived, but that Lexie was the one to save his life, and that while he was dying he was crying out for his ex-wife. She adds that that is the opposite of badass, "For whatever it's worth." Point, set, and match to Lexie Grey, folks. She walks away and shockingly, he doesn't seem too angry, but kind of thinks it over as he sips his beer.
Callie and Mark are at the bar, and she's pumping herself full of liquid courage to do... something. Mark has stayed the changed non-manwhore, and he admits to being jealous of Cristina and Owen getting married. Arizona arrives, and Callie steels herself as her girlfriend walks up. Arizona's Bubble Popping Radar is beeping like crazy, but Callie forges ahead and after some starts and stops, asks Arizona if she wants to move in. Arizona, ever graceful, asks if that's it. As she already basically lives there anyway, she's totally happy to move in, and she manages not to put her foot in it and say she thought this was going to be a way tougher question. They kiss, and despite all my annoyance, it's nice to see one of the few functional couples on this show be happy.
Mere walks in to the house and asks Hunt if he is okay, but Hunt just asks about Derek. Instead of telling him all at once what happened she gives him a wee heart attack by telling him Derek isn't coming, but after Owen hyperventilates a second about Derek having the ring, Mere whips it out and asks if he wants to choose another best man. She even offers up that Mark looks great in a suit. Oh, isn't that the truth. Hunt himself looks delicious in his wedding suit with a small pink rose pinned to his lapel. Hunt's also a little bit nervous because he knows about Cristina's last wedding, and he looks at the stairs and asks Meredith for assurance that she'll come down them tonight.
Mere goes to her bedroom and finds the bride standing on the bed in a floor-length, deep red gown with a plunging back and a long necklace hanging down in between her shoulder blades, staring at Mere and Derek's framed post-it. Cristina, it must be said, looks positively stunning, and much more herself than at her last wedding. She tells Mere that she never gave her shit about the post-it, and Meredith crawls up on the bed and just tells Cristina she looks beautiful. Awesomely, Cristina tosses back that she knows, and then asks if Owen is good. Meredith smiles, and finally comes around on the idea -- she tells Cristina that Owen is perfect. Cristina knows she means more than just "right at this moment," and thanks her. It's a sweet moment between the friends.
And that leads us into Meredith's voiceover, as Owen looks at the ring and then looks up to see his bride and her twisted sister walking down the stairs. "When we say things like 'people don't change' it drives scientists crazy." The two lovebirds smile at each other, my heart melts, and Meredith continues, "Because change is literally the only constant in all of science. Energy, matter, it's always changing." Owen positively beams as, in a perfect touch, Mere basically gives her away, placing Cristina's hand in his. Cristina gives him a little nod, and they walk into the living room where all of their friends are waiting -- at least, all of those who weren't trying to kill fellow drivers on the road earlier.
"Morphing. Merging. Growing. Dying. It's the way people try not to change that's unnatural. The way we cling to what things were instead of letting them be what they are." We pointedly get a shot of Mark, gazing over at Lexie. "The way we cling to old memories instead of forming new ones." Now we're treated to another pointed shot, this of a happy Callie and Arizona. This voiceover isn't going for subtlety today. "The way we insist on believing, despite every scientific indication that nothing in this lifetime is permanent. Change is constant. How we experience change -- that's up to us." April is sobbing as she stands to Jackson, Alex is very serious, and poor Miranda just looks terribly sad as the ceremony continues.
"It can feel like death, or it can feel like a second chance at life." Over in the more well-adjusted section, the Chief smiles while Teddy watches, serene and seemingly at peace with what's going on. "If we open our fingers, loosen our grips, go with it, it can feel like pure adrenaline. Like at any moment we can have another chance at life. Like at any moment, we can be born all over again." Cristina and Owen exchange rings, and as she puts his on he grins like a delighted schoolboy, which only gets bigger when she says "I do," and they kiss to their friends' applause.
Watch the episode below, discuss it in our forums, then see how we think Izzie should have left.
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