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Things are getting worse with Adele Webber at home. She starts a fire in the kitchen, causing Richard to burn his arm. As Meredith patches him up, she tells him to consider round-the-clock care. Adele doesn't take well to their visit to a nursing facility, but she takes even worse to the presence of an in-home nurse. Finally, in a moment of clarity, Adele remembers she has Alzheimer's and agrees to give the home a try.
Picking up from last week, Alex (along with Lexie and obviously Arizona) is trying to keep Morgan's one-pounder of a baby alive. Morgan's BF has arrived from Cleveland and is reluctant to get close to the baby, given the 15% survival chances. Morgan finally gives him an out -- leave now, no strings -- and he takes it, which clears the way for Noble Baby-Saving Alex to eventually move in as her boyfriend.
Derek finds himself getting the stink-eye from fellow parents when he brings Zola to daycare. He think it's racism from people who are weirded out by a white dad with a black baby, but with even Bailey looking at him weird, it's gotta be something more than that. Indeed, by episode's end, Derek blows up at a nurse, making a Big Statement about everybody needing to get over their bigotry, until Bailey pulls him off his soapbox and tells him they're not staring at a white dad with a black baby, but at a clueless dad who's allowed his black daughter's hair to look a mess. Bailey ends up giving a lesson in black hair-care and Derek learns a new thing about the universe.
Cristina and Owen are still having huge problems and Cristina begins to suspect that Owen's cheating on her with Nurse Summer Glau. There's nothing completely incriminating, and she ends up snooping through his stuff trying to find something. She comes up empty, but A) the fact that she has to snoop is a bad sign, and B) the show isn't all that interested in ruling the idea out.
Meanwhile, Teddy is still being awful to Owen, refusing his help with a grant proposal and snapping at him in front of an OR full of doctors. On the latter subject, Callie tells him he can't just take that kind of attitude, as the chief. And Avery is feeling overly stressed about the Boards, so Sloan is his disgusting self and tries to pimp out Kepner to him. Gross old toad.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Cristina is stalking around the halls of Seattle Grace like a zombie, following one particular nurse, played by geek-boy dreamgirl Summer Glau. Meredith runs up to her all buzzing with the knowledge she's been gleaning from Callie's Super-Method tutoring sessions. Cristina pays her the minimum attention possible while keeping her eyes trained on Summer.
Elsewhere, a waaaaay too happy Lexie runs up to Alex and informs him she's on Peds duty today. She must still be buzzing from having saved Rayanne Graff's life last week on Private Practice. She's also jazzed to be off of Derek's rotation, since working the brain-surgery beat has her dealing with a lot of dead patients. Alex is all, "Yeah, well, not so fast," as they'll be dealing with the preemie ward today, meaning babies with low birth weights and slim chances for survival. Like the 14 oz. baby that Intern Morgan gave birth to last week. She's wheeled in by her boyfriend, who looks cute and disheveled and, of the two of them, decidedly pessimistic about their baby's chances for survival. Lexie introduces herself to the boyfriend, Chris, and makes note that they haven't picked out a name for the kid yet. Chris says they should maybe wait until they're out of the woods. The kid's weight is up to 14.3 ounces today, but as Chris plugs those numbers into some program that predicts the chances of preemie survival, it's still only at a 13% survival rate. Arizona shows up and says the weight gain means they're "headed in right direction" BUT there's also a problem with the baby's bowels, so they're going to have to operate. It's a surgery with a 50% mortality rate, Chris frets, but as Alex reminds them, this one's a no-brainer. They don't operate and the kid dies. So it is.
Derek arrives at the Seattle Grace daycare facility and runs into Dr. Bailey. They do some small talk about surgeries, but Bailey finds herself distracted by the sight of little Zola in Derek's arms. The plinky/goofy Grey's comedy music means this isn't something dire, but something is definitely amiss. After Bailey makes a hasty retreat, another woman, blonde and fake-tanned, passes by Derek and Zola and shoots him A Look. Derek is troubled.
Dr. Altman is making a presentation to the Seattle Grace Hospital Board (because I guess Mitch Pileggi had a day off and could use a paycheck). She's got this proposal for a project where she uses stem cells to grow a heart. Too bad she doesn't have her shit together and can't find the right slides on her presentation. Oh, Teddy. Girl, call up Jennifer Garner and Keri Russell and have them tell you it shouldn't be taking you this long to get over Scott Foley, okay? Finally, Pileggi gets impatient and is like, "We have your proposal in writing, we will look it over." Altman reminds them that the procedure could save tens of thousands of lives, and to consider it carefully, but from the "bitch crazy" eyes Pileggi is shooting at her, she knows she kinda blew it.
At the ambulance bay, Sloan and Avery are receiving victims of an espresso-machine explosion at a local coffee house. The barista has burns all over her face and is kind of freaking out about it. Avery gets short with the paramedic over something about the IV bag. Meanwhile, Meredith is treating the other espresso victim, who took the brunt of the actual machine-parts into his chest. Lots of shrapnel wounds. He's also freaking out, but he's asking for "Angie," the barista.
Cristina's still stalking Summer Glau, and now we figure out why: she walks up to Owen and they have something of an extended chat, just outside of Cristina's earshot. She's trying to glean as much as she can from the nonverbal, however, and then she sees it: Summer puts her hand on Owen's arm. The dramatic push-in on Cristina's face feels a bit melodramatic, sure, but come on. The arm-touch is a total flirt-ninja move, and we all know it.
At home, Richard wakes up to the beeping sounds of an alarm. Not a phone alarm or a clock, either. Adele's not in the bed with him, which makes him panic even more. He rushes downstairs to find a pan in flames on the stove. He puts it out, but not before lighting his sleeve on fire a little bit in the process. He calls out for Adele, and she shows up looking confused. She's all right, physically, but that's about all that can be said. She's scared, and Richard hugs her. But who will hug Richard??
Altman is leading Drs. Torres and Robins down the hallway in a pedeconference of bitterness and despair. She knows her presentation to the Board went horrifyingly, and how her proposal for growing a heart from stem cells is as dead as her husband. Arizona barely gets a word of comfort out before Teddy pontificates that the nice thing about your husband dying is that you never have to care about anything again. If it even occurs to Callie to play the George card here, she chooses (probably wisely) not to do it. Instead, she tells Teddy to as Owen for help, as a recommendation from the Chief of Surgery carries some weight. Teddy just spits out that she doesn't speak to Owen Hunt anymore.
Callie joins the surgeons in with Devin, the shrapnel-chested coffee enthusiast -- Cristina, Owen, and Meredith. While Mere preps him for surgery, Cristina gingerly asks her husband why he didn't come home last night. He mumbles something about being busy, and it's all so sad. Thankfully, Callie changes the subject, telling Owen about Altman's Board proposal and that she could use some help. Mere asks Devin if he wants them to alert his parents that he's going into surgery. He says they're old and he doesn't want to worry them; just tell Angie the barista girl of his dreams that he's okay, since she's probably super worried. Just then, some intern pops into the room to alert Mere that Webber's in the ER. Like...in the ER.
Sloan and Avery are working on Dreamboat Angie, whose face is pretty burned. Not Freddy Kreuger burned, but still pretty painful looking. She's freaking out about whether the accident was somehow her fault, and Avery is getting impatient with her fidgeting and talking. It's not lost on Sloan that Avery is in A Mood today. After a couple more short words for Angie, Sloan sends Avery away for more bandages, and then after a moment, he hands off further cleaning duties to some interns and follows Avery out. He's like, "You've snapped at a patient and an EMT in the last five minutes, and those are the last people you should be snapping at." Avery explains that he's super stressed about the Boards, and the expectations that he excel at them, as he's an Avery. Sloan, because he's Sloan and the grossest, immediately wonders if Avery is "getting any" and that's probably his problem. "I am focused," Avery clips, brushing past his mentor/sex-arranger. "There's no time!"
Meredith is patching up the Chief, slathering his burned forearm with anti-bacterial goops of some sort. She's in the middle of telling him that her own mother had a few kitchen incidents, then would get lost driving, then would start leaving the house in the middle of the night. Richard's not prepared to admit that it's getting that bad for Adele. Mere says she could get them a slot at Rose Ridge, where she has some pull after Ellis's stay there. It's a top-notch facility, she says, but Richard is clearly reluctant to consider it.
Arizona, Alex, and Lexie are working on Morgan's baby and alternately bitching about how pessimistic Chris is about his kid's chances. Lexie can't understand why he's acting like the kid id already dead when she proclaims him a champ, like a little Mohammed Ali. Alex explains Lexie's enthusiasm to Arizona: she's on vacation from flatlining brain-surgery detail, so this is all fun for her. "You know what's fun?" Arizona says, brightly and with complete sincerity: "Removing dead bowel. You want to make the cut." Doctors are the weirdest, you guys. Lexie of course is thrilled and begins the delicate work of cutting into preemie intestine.
Meredith and Cristina are preparing shrapnel-chest Devin for a CT scan, and all the while he's chattering away about Dreamboat Angie. He should have known the sexual tension between them was getting to dangerous levels. It's probably his fault that there was an accident since she gets so flustered around him. Cristina is already in no mood, and that's before Devin gets to the part about pheromones. She silently loads him into the scan tube.
Lexie has successfully removed the dead bowel, but now she's on the comedown from her enthusiasm high. She starts wondering about the logistics of the long road ahead for the baby, with two young doctors for parents and the extraordinary medical care he's going to need in the coming years. Suddenly, the baby's heart-rate starts dropping -- nothing Lexie did wrong, but still. Arizona tells her to start CPR, even though the heart hasn't stopped yet. Lexie looks freaked out as Arizona instructs her to use two fingers and apply light pressure. This line of work is for the birds.
Richard and Adele are getting the guided tour of Rose Ridge from the too-chipper, slightly-condescending tour guide. Adele looks nervous and scared and it's not at all clear if she knows much about what's happening right now. The tour guide is all too-happy about their selection of mystery novels in the library or the piloxing classes they've got in the gym. (Piloxing is exactly what you think it is -- pilates + boxing. Sounds like exactly what Adele would be into!) Cut to a tour of one of the bedrooms, which comes with a private bathroom and on-call button for assistance. The guide leaves Richard and Adele alone to look the place over. Adele looks around and says it's nice ... but it's too small for them to raise a family in. After all, they just got married, and where are they going to put a nursery? Guys. Sad. Richard gets a resigned look on his face -- he says she's right. He promised her a house.
After the break, Altman gives Callie the surprising and great news that she got her grant to grow a heart! She's so thrilled. She guesses her presentation must not have been as bad as she thought, or else the board was charmed by her fumbling ineptitude. Yeah, girl, I bet it was that last one. Callie totally knows better but isn't saying.
In Morgan's hospital room, Arizona and the Peds Crew are giving her and Chris an update on today's crises with their baby. The heart crash was rough, but they've got him stable again. The question now is how aggressive Morgan and Chris want them to be in finding ways to get more oxygen to the kid and grow him stronger. Chris, with his 4th-year knowledge, pretty much thwarts every option they come up with, because he knows the risk factors. Alex is getting particularly annoyed by this. Finally, Chris says he thinks they should stop treatment. Morgan thinks they have to try something, but Chris shows her his little phone app with the 13% survival chance. As doctors, they wouldn't recommend operating on someone with those meager odds. Lexie looks at him like he's an asshole. Does it make me an asshole too if I can see where Chris is coming from and feel for the guy? Is that only because I resent the show stacking the deck against him so Alex can move in on his girl?
Avery and Sloan are slathering Dreamboat Angie with goop, and Avery is apologizing for being an ass earlier. Sloan, because he's Sloan and the grossest (have I mentioned?) tries to hook the two of them up, which Avery is not going for. Cristina ducks in with the cappuccino that Devin wanted to send to Angie as a gesture. First of all, the two of you were just slow-roasted by an exploding coffee machine and she's got burns all over her face -- why wouldn't she want a nice hot cup of cappuccino to make her feel better? Idiot. Second of all, Angie's all "Who's Devin?" Cristina explains that it's the guy she flirts with every day and puts little leaf designs in his foam and is generally in love with her. Angie has no idea who Cristina's talking about; those foam leaves are company policy. So. Yeah.
Cafeteria. Cristina sulks silently and watches Summer Glau from across the room. Avery has headphones on and is trying to study. The headphones are coming in handy, because Lexie is ranting loudly to Alex about Chris and Morgan and how she can't believe they're not going to treat the baby (who the doctors have named, "Ali" I guess, because of that Mohammed Ali line earlier?). Alex doesn't want to hear it -- ALEX HATE FEELINGS -- but Lexie continues to rant that "parents didn't make that decision, doctors did. Math did!" God forbid doctors make a medical decision in a damned hospital, you know? She stomps off and immediately her place is taken by her sister. Mere says that Devin is going to need a thoracotomy, but she can't get either Alex or Cristina to react to the news. Cristina finally asks Alex if he's "hit that," in regards to Summer. He says unfortunately no; she usually just goes for Attendings, or so the legend says. Obviously, this is bad news for Cristina but she keeps it quiet. Meredith clocks her reaction, though.
Derek and Mark are doing the Hot Daddy Doctors at Day Care thing with their respective daughters. Derek notices another woman passing by and giving him a funny look. He mentions it to Mark and says he thinks people are being racist about the white dad with a black baby. Mark just thinks people are staring at the Hot Daddy Doctors at Day Care. He also thinks Derek is just self-conscious about bridging the cultural divide with Zola. He shows off some of the Spanish he learned so as to better relate to his daughter. Es verdad? Derek changes the subject from how awesome Mark is to how his "better half is doing." Mark mentions that Avery is stressed about the boards, so he's trying to get him laid. Derek, however, was referring to Julia. WHO?? Exactly.
Alex and Morgan are looking in on baby "Ali." Alex explains to Morgan that for the babies without names, they like to give them "tough" names so as to indicate that they're fighters. Whatever, doctors. Keep perpetuating outdated myths about masculinity in your preemie wards. They both note that the numbers on Ali's levels don't look great. He asks where Chris is, and Morgan says that on the record he's making calls to family, but off the record she just doesn't think he can be present. She asks if Alex thinks they're doing the right thing. He kind of begs off answering that question on its merits, but he does say that while the baby has plenty of doctors in its corner, Morgan should make sure he's got a parent too. It sounds a bit like doctors in these situations look to the parents to make the irrational choices that the doctors can't responsibly make for themselves, which is an idea complicated enough for me to approve. Morgan then says they were thinking of naming the kid Thomas, which Alex gives his full masculine approval to, THANK GOD.
Richard has paged Meredith; he asks her to look in on his post-op patients, as he has to head home. Adele's not having a good day. Meredith once again pushes Rose Ridge, but Richard says they tried that and decided against it. Rose Ridge doesn't have anything he can't provide for her. Mere tells him that while he thinks he can handle this, he can't. She knows from experience. Richard says the difference between Mere and her mother and him and Adele is that he made vows to Adele, to be there for her in sickness and in health. Now, he's broken those vows time and again, but the least he can do for his wife is be there for her now. She stays home, he says, definitively. "And if need be, I stay home too."
Cristina finds April doing Chief Resident-y things in her office and hops down in front of the other computer. They're back-to-back, so April can't see Cristina's sneaky attempts to access April's password. She starts prodding April with questions about family pets and mother's last name. April finally catches on, so Cristina confesses she needs to see the nurses' schedule. April reluctantly checks up on Summer Glau -- a.k.a. Emily -- who recently switched to a night shift in ICU, which April declares strange, but Dr. Hunt signed off on it, so it must be fine. At this, Cristina darts out. "If I see her crying or bleeding, I'll come after you!" April shouts. I don't like April with red hair. That's my takeaway.
Derek and Bailey are in surgery together, and Derek wants to set up a play date between Zola and Tuck. Bailey reminds him that Tuck is 5, and "play" for him means throwing things, so that all might not be a good idea. She suggests finding someone in the daycare closer to Zola's age. Derek them fumbles and bumbles his way around saying that he would like Zola to have some black friends. Well because it's important for everyone to have black friends! Bailey gives him a look and that's all of it.
Back in the Bummer ICU. Morgan is trying to make the case to Chris that they should support more aggressive treatment, but he says it would just do more harm than good. He wants her to admit what they're "both" thinking -- that they got pregnant by accident, that the baby should not be alive, that the chances are miniscule that the kid will have any kind of life worth living, and that all these efforts to save him are just to make themselves feel better when he dies. She tells him to go. He starts to protest that she can't make decisions for the both of them, but without much anger, she just tells him: "I'm not cutting you out. I'm giving you an out." She's giving him the chance to walk, because deep down, they both know he wants to.
Callie, Cristina, Meredith, and Teddy are in surgery together, working on Devin. Mere and Cristina gossip about how Dreamboat Angie has no idea who he is, and isn't that sad. Owen shows up and gets repeated cold-shoulders from Teddy when he asks for a progress report. Callie does her best to play matchmaker, mentioning that Teddy got her grant, but when Owen tries to engage her, Teddy bitchily shuts him down. He finally goes to help her close up her portion of the patient, but she snaps and yells at him to back the hell off. Everybody notices that the Chief got yelled at like he was a fourth grader. It's a bad scene. If feels like every time I recap, they're doing something to make Teddy unnecessarily bitchy.
The less said about the scene in which Sloan tries to convince Kepner to be Avery's fuck-buddy the better. Suffice it to say, she's rightly insulted, and he's all "I'm Mark Sloan. I do this," about it.
After the surgery, Callie finds Owen. She says she knows he must've gotten Teddy the grant money, and he should tell her. It'll help things between them. He doesn't think it will (he's probably right). Callie sticks up for him, saying he's not a bad guy for what happened to Henry. Owen knows it, but he says if Teddy needs someone to be a punching bag while she gets through this, let it be him. Callie narrows her eyes and says he can be a martyr if he wants, but as the Chief? That kind of outburst in the OR can never happen again.
Cristina is in with Devin, updating him on his successful surgery and the hard months of rehab to come. She's being really nice about it -- particularly nice on the sliding scale of IT'S CRISTINA -- until he starts enthusing about the barista again. This week, Cristina's triggers are people who see relationships where there are none, as well as any kind of fool just waiting around for his heart to be broken. So Devin's a lot for her to take. She tells him bluntly: Dreamboat Angie has no idea who he is. She's just being a good employee. He doesn't believe Cristina at first, but there's a certain "why would she lie?" quality to her argument. "You have to stop," she tells him/herself. "You just have to stop."
Bummer Preemie Ward. Morgan says Chris has left, so it's just her and her baby now. They're preparing to do whatever semi-risky procedure they're about to do, and Morgan refuses to leave her baby's side. Whatever this procedure is, it's making the little thing shake in a really scary way.
Cristina has summoned Owen to the on-call room. Having decided to give up the ghost on her visions of Owen having an affair, she figures the best thing is to make sure SHE'S the one sexing up on him. So she makes a move on him without even saying anything. Of course, Owen's still back on the page where they're in therapy and yelling at each other, so he shuts her down. It's pretty devastating.
Richard returns home to find Adele at war with the home nurse. She's chasing her around the living room, throwing dishes around. "Get away from me!" Adele yells at first the nurse and then Richard. She threatens to call the police and doesn't recognize Richard at all. She says her parents will be home any minute. Richard keeps yelling "I'M YOUR HUSBAND!" at her, in hopes that she'll snap out of it. This seems medically dubious.
Alex pops outside to get some air and sees Chris. Looks like a perfect time for Alex to make himself feel better by comparing himself favorably to some other guy who did something wrong. (Again, I'm kind of sympathetic to Chris here? Sorry.) Alex gives him the update on the baby -- stable for now but they won't know anything until tomorrow -- and Chris says he had to know before he left. Alex shoots him a shitty look, prompting Chris to weakly defend himself by talking about all the people covering his shifts in Cleveland. Dude, you're scared to shit your baby is already dead even as you see him in the incubator -- that's understandable. Say that. Alex goddamn Karev doesn't deserve you having to scramble for reasons that are good enough.
Derek walks past a nurses' station and endures one more dirty look from a white lady before he blows up. He's working up a head of steam for quite the lecture about tolerance and racial harmony when Bailey -- horrified at what's about to occur -- nearly tackles him to get him to shut up. Turns out it's not racism that has been drawing all the negative attention. It's that white-bread daddy doesn't have enough sense or experience to do Zola's hair so she doesn't look like Macy Gray. (I'm sorry, but not looking like Macy Gray is important to a child. It just is!) "Do your baby's hair!" Bailey lectures, then stomps away. Derek stands there and learns a thing or two.
Meredith catches Cristina staring at Emily again, and this time she hauls her into the nearest closet. She's not sure whether Cristina is plotting a murder or a nuclear attack or what -- she's fine getting on board with either one -- but this secretive stuff is starting to freak her out. Cristina comes clean about her suspicions that Owen is having an affair. Mere asks if she or anyone else saw; of course, nobody did. But Cristina just KNOWS it. She knows it sounds crazy. She paces and tries to convince herself she's crazy. Mere rubs her pal's back and says, "I really think he's not cheating." Cristina snaps around at this and is all, "I KNOW THAT!" Being someone's Person must be exhausting.
Sloan joins Avery in the elevator and is all, "What's up? Care to partake in my creepily predatory plans to get you laid, as I am not getting any younger and living vicariously through your youthful, lean, tight body and whatever sexual exploits I can throw in front of it would be pretty great for me." Avery reiterates that he doesn't need a girlfriend. "I had a girlfriend," he says. "Now I just can't." Mark realizes Avery still loves Lexie. Bummer the way that works out, huh, asshole? Of course, Lexie not loving Avery more than Sloan is part of the problem too. That reminds me, that episode where she and Alfre Woodard yell at each other about the Twilight books was one of the best parts of the whole season, right?
Speaking of Lexie, she's bipolar-ing like crazy about this preemie business. Now she's down on it again, since it seems so hopeless, and the babies can't even tell you when they've had enough. So Alex tries to cheer her up by taking her to see their Wall O' Success. He tells the stories of the kids in these photos and how insanely tiny they were at birth. So we all get to "Awww" that Alex has a heart, and Arizona smiles in the distance, knowing she's got a real protégée on her hands. Anyway, "Some of them survive" seems to be the lesson.
Richard tries to put the dining room back together again after his wife's outburst. It's all too much for him, like Meredith predicted, and he sits down in a chair and starts to cry. Adele approaches him in a moment of clarity and asks what happened, to the room and to his hand. He says he's fine, but she presses: "Did I hurt your hand?" She gets it. She's clear-headed for the moment and she gets it. "I have Alzheimer's, don't I?" she says. Richard looks at her sadly, sits down, takes her hand, and tells her she does. She remembers seeing Rose Ridge this morning and says it was nice. Richard looks down at the table, ashamed she knows he took her to a home. But Adele says she thinks it's best if she goes to live there. He protests, says her home is there with him. She gets emotional, and maybe she slips away a little; her hands leave his and go to her lap; she's scared again. "I'd rather be there," she says. Richard can't do anything but agree.
Mere VO returns to devour everything in its path, as we see Meredith return home to find Bailey giving Derek a tutorial on grooming black hair. "Did you know our daughter has a kitchen?" Which Mere totally knew, because she's secretly hood. (By the way, please Google for explanations as to why the hair on the back of one's neck is called a "kitchen." Nobody knows, so it's all theories. You will not be disappointed/unhorrified.)
Alex and Morgan make eyes over the incubator, and it's gross.
And poor Cristina, home alone, caves to the pressure and just goes on a crazed mission of snooping: emails, wastebaskets, dresser drawers, laundry. It's an ugly scene, and she knows it. And she can't find anything. When she hears Owen return home, she dashes into bed, in time to avoid getting caught, but alone in the knowledge that this is where her marriage stands right now.
Joe R wants to stop recapping episodes where Cristina is a shell of her former self. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com, and you can listen to him yammer on to his heart's content on the Extra Hot Great podcast.