Episode Report Card Lauren S: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Back in the Saddle
By Lauren S | Season 7 | Episode 11 | Aired on 01.06.2011
In the other OR, Jackson comes in as they are getting ready to go to work and is shocked to see Cristina, draped in a gown and finger still acting as a cork. Teddy brings him up to speed and tells him she wants some "backup"; Cristina bluntly tells him that she's not sure if Cristina can handle it. She's blunt, but she's not bitter -- even she knows it's a fair concern, though she seems to be in pretty good shape. As Jackson goes to scrub in, Cristina nods to herself like she's giving herself a silent, internal pep talk.
The waiting room is almost as chaotic as the scene at the school, and Mere is directed to a woman who is physically shaking, sitting by herself. This is the professor's wife, Mrs. Sturgeon, and Mere calmly tells her what's going on but Mrs. S. is stuck on the word "surgery." I suppose it's just as well since the rest of the info is about how they were going to remove part of her husband's skull. She wants to come with Meredith to the OR since her husband is afraid of hospitals and nearly panics when Mere tells her sadly that she's not allowed. Mere promises to give her lots of updates and then grabs a girl waiting nearby and asks her to sit with Mrs. S., telling them that it will be a long day and they have to take care of each other.
Arizona gets on the intercom in the gallery and tries to suggest options to Stark that don't involve cutting off the girl's leg but Stark just snaps back at her, asking if she has privileges there anymore. She thinks it doesn't matter and when Alex agrees, Stark boots him off the case. They've managed to incense the tiny man even more so than usual, and he hollers that she's unprofessional and he's done talking. One might argue that "unprofessional" is being too lazy to do one's job and hacking off a teenager's LEG to shorten a surgery, but to each his own, right? Arizona takes total exception to all of this, yells at Alex to block Stark so that he can't get to the patient, and sprints downstairs. Awesomely, Alex jumps into a defensive stance, hands up, in front of an aghast Stark.
Richard and April are working away on Faz, and Officer Graham is hovering since he wants them to wake the kid up so that they can ask him about the shooter. Richard clearly thinks this is a bad idea and points out that if they do it, it will be incredibly painful and traumatic, but Graham points out that there are still conflicting reports about the shooter, that the kids are too traumatized to be credible witnesses, but that cops are trained for that sort of thing. He then insists that Faz would be okay with some pain if he could ID the shooter. I love when people say that. I realize it's probably true, but it's become such a cliché in these kinds of TV and movie situations. What if Faz just wants the doctors to make sure he'll be okay and is chock full of pain medication before he wakes up? Would that be so bad? Richard reluctantly agrees to do it after they get a chest tube in. Arizona then bursts dramatically into the room yelling about what a yahoo Stark is for wanting to cut off a good leg, and asks Richard for privileges so that she can take care of things. He agrees immediately since they need all of the help they can get, and she thanks him -- still chirpy even at this time of crisis -- and runs out. Graham points out that it's not an easy day to be the man in charge, and Richard agrees.
Arizona sprints past Callie, who is working on some kid's neck wound, and yells that she needs her in the OR immediately. Callie has Bailey take over on her patient, Chuck, who seems to be in (totally deserved) shock and he wonders out loud who walks into a classroom with an automatic weapon? Bailey doesn't know. Neither do any of the rest of us, for that matter.
Since Arizona needs to get herself some scrubs -- chunky African necklaces not being quite right for surgery -- Callie arrives at the OR first and walks in to find Alex dancing around, still blocking Stark from the patient. She asks what's up and though Stark claims Alex has lost his mind, Alex gives her a rundown on the patient. Callie asks some questions and Stark insists that saving the leg isn't as important as dealing with her abdominal bleeding, but the other doctor, some dude named Dave, calls out that the bleeding is under control for now. This only adds to Stark's annoyance -- that a doctor would actually put the well-being of a patient ahead of backing up another doctor on his ludicrous bad judgment. Seriously, Stark would rather be right than have this poor girl keep one of her appendages.
Callie points out that she can do exactly what Alex thought could be done from the very beginning, and Stark goes nuclear. He screams that he's never experienced anything like this before but Callie goes to the patient while explaining that they take shootings rather personally here and she'll just go ahead and save the leg. When she asks if he's working with her or not, Arizona bursts in and grandly declares that she talked to Richard and this is her patient now. Stark is reduced to angry babbling and storms out of the OR; Alex then jumps up and fist-pumps like he just won a championship basketball game. Callie can't disguise her glee at the situation but she tells Alex they now have enough hands in there so he should go find someone else who needs help. Alex is fine with that and as he runs out, he yells, "All state, baby!" regarding his old wrestling skills. It's a good moment of levity for Callie, Arizona, and all of us in an episode with not a whole lot of that to offer.
Derek and Meredith's OR is much less action-packed, but still nearly as tense when, after Derek pulls part of the professor's skull off, Meredith says she's going back to give his wife an update. Derek returns fully to his douchey, condescending ways and snips that she's a surgeon, not a social worker. He has no patience for what Mere wants to do when they have a patient open on the table and when she says that isn't the whole story in this case, he has the nerve to mutter, "Don't start this again." Man, I'd be re-thinking that post-it about right now if I were Mere. Mere keeps at it so finally Derek yells at her to go ahead and go.
It's time for Richard to wake up Faz, and he's still obviously not happy about it. He warns Graham that he's going to push somethingorother that will wake him up but that he's going to be in some really bad pain, so Graham needs to talk to him quickly. He seems to be hoping that Graham will change his mind, but he doesn't, so they get to the waking. Sure enough, Faz wakes up and starts moaning about how badly everything hurts while Graham tries to ask him about the shooter.
We're left hanging about the outcome and just see Richard walk out in the hallway, where he's accosted by a furious Stark. He demands to know if Richard really approved of Arizona taking his patient and humiliating him, and he's so up his own ass that he doesn't see that Richard doesn't care at all about what happened. He just tells Stark to find another patient and jump in but Stark prissily informs him that he won't do that, he'll go back to his original patient. The guy has no people skills and no ability to read others so he's surprised when Richard finally blows up and yells that people are dying, so he needs to go be a doctor and save a life. Stark stays ticked but at least turns and goes.
Alex, still upbeat from his victory, finds Hunt to ask where he's needed but Hunt and the other doctors are all watching the TV and silently gaping at the news that they just found another classroom of victims, which means they'll be getting at least a dozen more patients soon. The problem is that they are out of operating rooms, but the other hospitals are all out of space too. God forbid Seattle has an earthquake or other large-scale natural disaster if just this shooting puts all of their hospitals out of commission. Basically, they are screwed if anyone else needs surgery and judging by the bloody chaos all around them, someone else is sure to need it.
Richard makes his way to Teddy's OR, and stops short when he sees Cristina. T