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This episode fills in many of the blanks between the crash in last season's finale and Mark's death in the season premiere. It sounds like they were out in the woods for about four days and no one is doing well when they are brought to a hospital in Idaho, but Mere fares the best of everyone. Richard, Owen and Bailey immediately fly up to the hospital to meet them, and Bailey brings Zola which thankfully seems to bring Mere down from the brink of panic. She's the first of the survivors to heal, at least medically. Eventually they have to be transported via plane back to Seattle and Meredith orders Bailey to sedate them all so that they don't have to have any memory of taking another flight.
Derek is doing pretty well except for his crushed hand. The doctor working on him guarantees that he can get him back to at least 80% function and for a moment he tries to talk himself into a life of teaching and consulting because he realizes he's lucky to even be alive. But Callie proposes another procedure that is more risky but could potentially restore all his functionality, and he wants her to be the one to do it. She has no interest in taking on that responsibility, but he talks her into it. He and Mere also have a big fight about whether or not to move to Boston; he still wants to do it and thinks it's an important start to her career but she thinks they have too much going on in Seattle (not to mention his unknown surgical future) and it appears that she has won the fight, at least for now.
Cristina winds up with a form of psychosis and when Owen gets to her, she's been restrained to the bed because she kept attacking the doctors. He manages to calm her down but she then just goes blank and doesn't talk or do anything but lay in bed and stare for what seems to be days or weeks. When she finally gets home, Owen gives her a bath and she begins speaking about what happened: she didn't sleep for four days, did all she could to keep Mark alive when he kept almost dying, cleaned the bugs out of Arizona's leg, and tried to keep the animals away from Lexie's body though eventually she couldn't fully do that. (Ew.) When she finally gets back to sort of being herself, she flees as fast as she can for Minnesota (via car) and gets in a big fight with Mere before she goes. (They make up.)
When they get Mark back to Seattle, he's in really bad shape and it's looking like he really might die. He finally comes to and seems totally fine, but Richard suspects this is a "surge" -- terminal patients often will have a burst of energy, experience epiphanies, and deliver a lot of lessons and heartfelt declarations to those close to them. Mark seems to suspect it too and he goes over all of his medical directives with Richard which is where his 30-day life support instructions come from. Avery seems to realize as well about the surge but he hangs out with Mark, goes over cases with him, and generally just acts like everything is okay. When Mark tells him to convince a patient with small breasts that she's beautiful just the way she is, he know that this is likely the beginning of the end. He goes to get Sofia to sneak her in to see Mark and on his way runs into April, whose contract ran out and who is on her way home. He tells her to wait for him at Joe's so they can talk before she leaves, but she just gets on a plane back to the farm. When Avery returns with Sofia, Mark has crashed and that marks the beginning of the 30-day countdown.
Callie really has the worst of it because she's not sure if either her best friend or her wife are going to ultimately survive, and she's got to do a risky surgery on Derek to boot. At one point when she is sitting with Arizona Alex finally builds up the courage to come say hello and to tell her how one of their patients is doing. He tells Arizona that he would give anything to trade places with her and she lets him have it: wishing the exact same thing, blaming everything that happened on his being selfish, and calling him a horrible person who deserved all of this tragedy when she did not. She's desperately afraid of losing her leg and is sure that Callie can come up with a plan that will fix it for her; finally she begs Callie to promise that they won't cut it off and though she seems unsure, Callie makes that promise.
Unfortunately, the infection is really bad, and Callie has to fight with Owen to get him to consider any treatment other than amputation (though even then, she'd likely be facing limited use and constant pain). Callie finally breaks down and admits that the Arizona she knows seems to be gone, and she's sure that if they amputate the leg, she'll never get her wife back again. This gets to Owen, so he agrees to continue with various other treatments for now. While Callie is operating on Derek's hand, Alex goes back to Arizona's room to say goodbye before leaving for Hopkins. As he's talking, though, Arizona starts to crash. He runs into the OR (just at a super crucial part of the surgery involving Derek's nerves, of course) to tell Callie and she completely panics but finally realizes that the leg is killing Arizona. She tells Alex to cut it off, and please do a good job. So this brings us full circle although it throws one more interesting twist into the drama: Arizona is livid with Callie for cutting her leg off but it turns out it was Alex who did it, and Callie is taking the heat because God only knows how Arizona would fall apart if she found out that Alex was responsible for this injustice too.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The sound of a helicopter ushers us into this episode, and we see a filthy and disoriented Meredith squinting and blinking into the light as she voiceovers about playing the game Memory as a kid -- the more cards you turned over, the more you got a sense of how everything fit together. I kind of think a jigsaw puzzle would have been a better metaphor since the cards in Memory are all plunked down at random, but we get the gist. And that is the structure of this episode: each of the crash victims' stories is shown individually and by the end of the episode, we can piece them all together.
Meredith
She is taken to a hospital (in Boise, though I'm not sure if it's the hospital that was their original destination or not) while deliriously insisting that she has to get on a plane. The doctor tells her she was in a crash, which triggers a quick montage full of blood and yelling, and she starts to panic and demand to know to know the whereabouts of Lexie, Derek and Cristina. As the doc tries unsuccessfully to calm her, Richard and Bailey push past a protesting staff member in the hall and walk in; Bailey is carrying Zola and the sight of her daughter seems to calm Meredith. She holds her arms out and Bailey hands Zola over; Mere holds her tight while repeating, "Mommy's here," Bailey looks on, worried and Richard just looks devastated.
Sometime later she shuffles into Cristina's room, wheeling her IV bag along with her, and lays down on the bed to her friend. Cristina just stares at the ceiling as Mere tells her that they are taking a plane back to Seattle the day and have no choice in the matter because Mark and Arizona are in such bad shape. Given that, she ordered Bailey to sedate them all so that they will have no memory of having to fly again. Cristina doesn't respond even when Mere reportedly asks if this was right, and finally Mere grabs her chin and pulls it around so they are face to face. But Cristina's eyes are unfocused and she's not seeing her friend despite Mere repeatedly calling her name.
As promised, the five patients are all dead asleep and strapped to their gurneys while a sixth gurney carried a body bag. The plane is rocking and rolling and Richard and Bailey are terrified, clutching on to straps at their seats. Bailey admits that all she can think is that they are going to crash on an island and be attached by a polar bear, which deeply confuses Richard. She grumbles at him that he should watch more TV.
Sometime after that, she and Derek are both back at home and having a pretty heated fight about whether or not they are still going to Boston. Derek wants to go but Mere can't understand how he can possibly still consider it. She brings up the valid points of his remaining surgeries and their friends who are still not doing well, and his comeback that he didn't mean they should leave immediately is a little bit weak. He claims he's thinking of her career, which is just about to take off, and not his, which is still very much up in the air. He then reminds her that he could end up as 80% of his old self but Mere hollers at him not to say that. This wakes Zola, who they hear crying via the baby monitor, but before Mere goes to get her she declares that they are staying there and moving into the dream house that he built them like they had planned. He replies that this was the plan before Boston was an option but Mere rather effectively counters that with the fact that the Boston plan was before they were in a horrific plane crash. "Besides, I can't leave the show that is named after me when the only other Grey was just killed off; we're not a daytime soap so she can't come back from the dead and they already tried featuring a ghost on this show with rather disastrous and embarrassing results. I am locked in."
The we see of her she's sporting dark blue scrubs in Seattle Grace, where she was meant to be. She, Alex and April are sitting on a couch in a patient's room, eating lunch like in the really old days. April's scrubs are grey; it's a little like she's wearing the hospital's version of the scarlet letter: the Scrubs of Failure. Alex needles Mere for blowing off Harvard but she needles him back about Hopkins and we learn that he postponed leaving so that he could take care of pediatrics until Arizona is better. Avery also did the same thing for Mark. April pipes up that she also chose to stay and it's really almost too easy when Alex reminds her with a sneer that she had nowhere else to go. Please, PLEASE, writers, give us something other than "April is pathetic" this season. Alex has a few moments until he has to leave to go see his patient nicknamed "Chunky Stu" (a nickname Arizona finds awful) on account of the fact that this kid named Stuart once puked on him. Meredith asks how Arizona is doing but Alex doesn't actually know since he hasn't gone to see her yet. He points out that it's kind of awkward to figure out what to say to someone who pushed you from a trip out of spite and then wound up in a plane crash, gravely injured.
Avery comes in to check out the frostbitten toes of the patient in the room and Mere asks him about Mark -- Avery has talked to him about tons of things but work is not one of them because he thinks Mark doesn't need that kind of pressure right now. Meredith is horrified because she can't keep denying the gravity of the situation if Avery and Alex are worried enough about their respective mentors that they don't want to discuss their patients. She insists that everyone is going to be fine and Arizona is not going to lose her leg. Avery gives her a sad smile in reply, like he's humoring a child. Mere repeats again that they will all be fine as she tilts her head to look at the patient, who is none other than Cristina. She's still staring blankly and not speaking, and Alex thinks it might be time to admit that there's something wrong. Mere insists that Cristina gets however long she needs to recover while April uses the quiet moment to take some cheap shots at her former tormentor. She then implores Cristina to take this chance to come back at her, but Cristina just shifts her empty gaze from the group of them to the ceiling.
Later, maintenance crews are removing a smashed window from Cristina's room while Owen and Cristina's doctor scream at each other in the hallway. There's still no reaction from the patient as her doc yells that there is nothing physically wrong with her, and she belongs in psych if she's only going to swing back and forth between violent and uncommunicative. Owen yells back that he's the Chief of Surgery and her husband, so the doc can't tell him what to do. I have to agree with the doc when he points out that this is precisely why Owen shouldn't be the one to make the decision. After they storm off in different directions, taking their toys and going home, Mere goes in and orders Cristina to get up. Cristina finally focuses her eyes on Mere but doesn't say anything despite Meredith's warning that they are going to send her to psych and pump her full of antipsychotic drugs that will leave her a shadow of herself. She resorts to outright begging, but gets no reaction as we fade to the title card, now back in white again. I guess the black was just used especially for death last week.
Derek
Derek's first puzzle piece puts him facedown in the dirt and leaves, unconscious, as the helicopter shines a light down on him. His main memory is of having to shatter his own hand with a rock. He realizes he is in an unfamiliar OR and can see the rather distressing x-ray of his hand; when he hears them discussing if it is salvageable he tries to mumble that he's a surgeon but they can't understand him. A doc assures him that they are going to take good care of him and then he's out again.
Back in Seattle, he and Meredith meet with Callie and doc named Schacter, who I'm guessing is a well-regarded specialist based on the way that Callie beams and gets flustered when he compliments her work. She shows them Derek's current scans and explains that she went in and cleaned up the job that they did in Boise. Schacter is there to try and repair the nerve damage, and Derek optimistically adds that he thinks this surgery can get him back into the OR. Schacter gently tells them that there is hope, but at least conservatively he knows he can get Derek back to the offensive 80% we heard him yelling about earlier. The others in the room exchange Meaningful Worried Looks while Schacter tries to smile.
At home later Derek tells Meredith that he can teach or consult if he can't ever operate again but Meredith also won't hear that kind of talk from him. Her aggressive optimism is kind of scary. He reminds her that he is at least still alive and Zola still has both of her parents, and as she gives him a big hug he concludes that that is enough. Shockingly, at this moment in time, I actually do believe that he is happy with just that.
When yet another previously-unseen brain surgeon at Seattle Grace needs some help with a tricky tumor, Derek is there to look at the scans with her and Owen. He naturally has a better (and riskier) method than the one she wanted to go with and she is suitably impressed and plans to try it. Owen happily comments that this is why they keep him around and while in text that seems extremely condescending at a time like this, Derek actually seems to take it the right way. I totally don't think this mellow Derek will stick around, but it's a bit of a relief with all of the other tensions in the crash aftermath. The surgeon, Dr. Ramsey, happily invites Derek to join her and there's a rather awkward pause to accommodate the elephant in the room that has wrapped itself around Derek's arm. She invites him to observe but he tells her smoothly that he probably has a class to teach. It has to be an excuse because there's no way he'd have gotten set up with teaching this quickly, but Owen does assure him that he is invaluable.
He makes his way to the gallery and sits down to Smash to observe from above. Smash is almost giddy over the awesome technique she's about to use, which he starts explaining to Derek until he kindly tells him he's got it, and holds off on pointing out that he's the real brain behind this operation. Ba-dum-bump. Don't forget to tip your waiters, ladies and germs. Pretty quickly something goes wrong and Ramsey's attempt to fix it is of course totally wrong. Derek runs downstairs and into the OR to yell instructions at her and while she follows his first recommendations she then thinks she's got it and uses a different technique than he suggests to stop a bleeder. She has one moment to bask in her success before the patient codes because she somehow doesn't yet know that Derek's brilliance is never to be questioned. This must mean she's a sub that's filling in while he is gone, and also that she's been living under a rock until now to not know to follow The Brilliance of The Shepherd.
After he tells the story to Mark, Mark assures him it's not his fault she couldn't do the surgery but Derek is pissed because of course, he could have pulled it off without a hitch if he has both his mitts in working order. When Derek starts to despair about never operating again Mark reminds him that he's the original Champion of Hopeless Cases and it gives Derek something to think about. Mark assures him that he'll get back to 100%.
Some time after that -- they are decidedly vague about how much time has actually passed from vignette to vignette -- Callie examines his hand and is happy with his progress. As he puts his brace back on they talk about his upcoming surgery and he asks Callie her opinion. She is a little bit too over-the-top as she assures Derek that Schacter is "the best" so Derek realizes she might have a different idea for surgery. After pushing her she suggests that he could have a nerve graft, which would be a riskier procedure but, if successful, could get him back to full strength. Derek points out that they risk leaving him with even less mobility, and Callie immediately backs down and tells him he's right, and that's surely why Dr. "The Best" Schacter didn't suggest it. She's floored when Derek replies that he wants Callie to try it. She tells him no and then when she realizes how serious he is, tells him absolutely, without a trace of hesitation, that she refuses.
So there's no surprise when the shot is of Callie sitting over Derek in the OR, picking up a gorgeous little nerve to relocate into his open arm. Just as she's about to get to the realllly tricky part, though, Alex bursts in and yells that there's a problem with Arizona.
Cristina
Watch yourself as you fit Cristina's puzzle pieces together. Occasionally, they grow teeth and suddenly try to rip off your finger. When the helicopter found them, Cristina was the only one who was actually up and as the spotlight searched the wreckage, she crawled over things until she made it to the light and she screamed her heart out at the rescuers above. When they try to wheel her into the hospital, though, she thrashes violently and claws at the doctors; They finally set about restraining her since she seems to have the strength of three people in her crazed state.
The doctor who got clawed in the cheek tells Owen that Cristina is suffering from a vicious cocktail of exhaustion, dehydration and exposure which seem to have caused reactive psychosis. She's totally unresponsive until anyone tries to examine her when she becomes violent. When Owen reaches the doorway and sees that she is actually bound by restraints he immediately runs in and unhooks one of her arms against the doctor's warnings. Richard is there too and he tells her that it's all right as Cristina tries to attack Owen but he manages to get his arms around and holds her tight while her attack dies down, assuring her that he's going to help her.
The however long is spent, we see, through a sedative haze where Cristina only registers blurry outlines and faraway voices. She can see that Bailey is taking care of her, and later, that the others are eating in her room as we already saw once from Mere's perspective. But their voices are muffled to the point where she can barely understand them.
A while later, the fuzz seems to have cleared although her behavior is still that of a vegetable. The interns have gathered outside the window, gossiping about her; one of Alex's conquests asks about her and Smash answers that all she does all day is stare and breathe. Cristina turns away from them as the girl comments that people talk about her like she's a legend, which causes one of the others to make a very bad joke about her now being an end table. He's admonished and quickly apologizes but Cristina finds enough energy to reach over, pick up a ceramic vase full of flowers from the bedside table, and hurl it directly at them, breaking the glass and probably loosening the bowels of at least a couple of them, instilling a healthy terror for when she surely returns to work in the great Northwest once again. However, we know from earlier that this still isn't enough to get her to speak just yet.
Eventually she is discharged and Owen takes her back to the firehouse where he puts her in a bath and gently sponges her back while he makes soothing idle chitchat about taking a leave of absence and learning how to roast a chicken. He assures her that she'll feel stronger eventually, at whatever pace she needs, and then when she's ready she'll be back in the OR working her magic. He assures her she'll never have to deal with a patient or their family again; he'll handle all of that for her. She remains totally still with her arms on the side of the tub and her head bowed when he asks if she's ready to get out but when he gets up to grab a towel, she slowly starts to speak. I have a very hard time believing she'd be discharged before she said a word but the look on Owen's face -- like he is trying not to startle a wild animal -- says that this is the first time she's uttered anything and her first words are a totally heartbreaking, "I can't." She straightens up just a bit as he assures her he will help but she doesn't mean physically, and slowly she starts to quietly talk about what happened.
The nutshell is that it was a living hell. She stayed awake for four days straight and mumbles that she remembers every single minute. This includes trying to keep the bugs out of Arizona's leg wound and trying to keep Mark alive even though he kept dying: "It was so annoying." All she wanted to do was sleep on him because he was warm, and everyone else was asleep, but she couldn't seem to do it. When the water ran out, she drank something that might have been jet fuel as well as her own urine. Owen sits down on the floor while she is talking so that he can see her face, but she just continues staring straight ahead, quietly talking in a monotone. She heard animals fighting and growling right near them and was sure that they were going to come kill everyone but when that didn't happen she finally realized that they were fighting over Lexie. At this point Owen breathes that he is so sorry, but he does a good job keeping the worst of his heartbreak off of his face so that he can be there for her. Tears start to form in her eyes when she tells him she tried to keep them off but she couldn't. She then repeats that she can't get out, but Owen assures her that she is out now. He kisses her and reassures her that he has got her but she finally turns and really looks at him and then sadly pleads, "Can't you see? I'll never get out." I also assume, based on her story and the fact that we haven't seen or heard about him yet, that Jerry the pilot didn't get out either.
The thing we see is Cristina decidedly getting out... of Seattle. She walks out of the firehouse with a box of stuff that she dumps in her product placed Ford. Meredith trails after her and asks if she knows what she is doing and after intentionally missing the point Cristina tells her she doesn't want to have the conversation again which she just had with Owen. Meredith suggests she is running away and Cristina replies that DUH, she is TOTALLY running away and the only real question is why Meredith isn't doing the same since so many completely awful things have happened to her and her loved ones in Seattle. It's an incredibly valid question.
When Meredith says that they should stick together Cristina points out that they have, and that they've grown like old, gnarled trees intertwined with each other -- her tone of voice indicates that she thinks this is a bad codependent thing and not a good, lifelong friendship thing. Cristina yells at Mere that she shouldn't be okay with everything that has happened and she should start fresh in Boston but Meredith stands firm and tells Cristina that her life is still in Seattle. I don't think Mere is wrong but she's also still obviously not doing well since she's holding on to, "I'm fine, we'll all be fine" by her fingernails so hard they are starting to bleed. And then Mere says something that finally explains the weird show timeline, once and for all: she tells Cristina that she sounds like the same loner that rode in on a motorcycle five years ago and it's like those past years never happened. So, that means that it is 2010 in Seattle right now. It makes sense, given where they are in their careers, but it had felt like somehow the show had just sort of skipped everything back up to basically current day. I am relieved to find this out, once and for all. Back to the story, Cristina emotionally slaps Mere across the face by admitting part of her wishes those five years hadn't happened. Mere gets rightfully offended and tells her just to go then, and not look back. Cristina calls her name but Mere is having none of it and tells Cristina that neither she nor Owen is her person since obviously Cristina's person is herself and always has been. She walks away while Cristina just jumps in her car and takes off for Mayo and neither of them looks back.
Mark
The first we see of Mark is the rescuers looking at the makeshift bandages on his chest, wondering what the others did to him out in the forest as if they just carved him up to pass the time. There's a quick flash to Lexie's death and then Mark opens his eyes a sliver, now on the plane back to Seattle. He sees the body bag on the gurney to him and proceeds to try to die again. Even once he is back in the hospital, they still have to shock him at least once to get his heart beating.
Julia is frantic at his bedside in Seattle and tells him that she flew to Boise but they refused to let her see him since she wasn't family. In a raspy voice, he chokes out that she deserves better. She's confused, and tells him she's here now and not leaving. "I love you!" He sighs and then replies, "I love Lexie. Loved. I'm sorry." Her face crumbles, and I can't help but feel for her. I always wanted him to be with Lexie but as someone who has been dumped for someone else, I can say with authority that it sucks balls. I did actually wonder during the finale if they were going to show a scene like this (if Mark lived to make it back to Seattle) and am glad they gave that character some closure.
Derek finds Callie sleeping to Mark's bed and tells her in a whisper to go home, but she refuses even though he points out that she's a zombie from keeping vigil at both Arizona's and Mark's bedsides. She mumbles that she just needs coffee but Derek tells her that he'll stay with Mark all night so she can get some rest. She admits that she's afraid that Mark is giving up and they are losing him. When Derek tells her that won't happen, she makes him promise and he does, joking that Mark idolizes him and will do whatever he says. I think by the end of this episode we should all agree that while it's good to make loved ones feel better and to give them hope, making promises about grave medical situations over which they have no real control is usually a really bad idea. Derek does seem to get this and after Callie leaves he tells Mark he's not allowed to make Derek look like an ass by dying and making him break his promise.
Callie later runs into the hospital in a dead sprint in her pajamas, having gotten a call which she's sure means Derek's promise had been broken. Avery steers her towards Mark's room where she's stunned and overjoyed to see him awake and thrilled to see her. She goes in to visit with him and closes the door, giving Derek, Avery and Richard a chance to talk outside. Derek claims that he knows Richard thinks this is a surge, but he doesn't -- Richard just says that it could be. He then explains to the intern there that terminal patients often have a surge of energy right before the end. If this is a surge, Mark will likely begin having epiphanies, telling his friends what really matters in life, and he'll ask for his family. Derek and Avery both insist that it's not the surge, but behind Avery's eyes you can sense some doubt.
And he was right to have that doubt; when going over some patients with Mark he tells him about a breast augmentation coming up and Mark's response is to ask if Avery told the patient that she is beautiful just the way she is. Avery finds this a little weird but as Mark looks over the chart he says that if he says that, and if she believes him, they have just saved her a ton of money. He coaches Avery that this is how he should talk to a woman and that they are in the business of making people feel better. Avery replies that when Mark says things like this, Avery suddenly feels like a male prostitute and it's obvious that half of the reason for that is because it's coming from Mark and is so unlike him. I think Avery is also trying not to focus on the fact that this sounds pretty surge-like. Mark begins to preach that what really matters in life is if someone else feels better or worse for meeting you. The look on Avery's face says that he now knows for sure this is the surge. Mark goes on to tell Avery passionately that if he loves someone, he should tell them no matter how scary it is or however much it might cause problems. Then, to make sure he ticks every box on the surge checklist, he asks to see Sofia. Avery points out that he can't bring a child to the ICU but Mark tells him to sneak her in, or he'll try to get up and see her himself. Avery runs off to try and as soon as he leaves, Mark settles back into the pillows and struggles to get a deep breath. Richard sees him from the doorway and Mark asks somberly if this is what he thinks it is. Richard gently tells him there's no way to know, and they'll take things as they come.
As Avery is waiting for the elevator -- smashing the buttons and begging it to arrive faster -- April unwittingly chooses the worst time in the world to ask him if he has a moment to talk before she leaves. What he doesn't realize at first is that she's leaving for good since her contract is up, and she only stayed a few extra days to make sure Mark was okay. Now that he is, she's hopping a plane back to the farm. Avery wants to talk to her but knows that getting Sofia could be a matter of actual life and death so he begs her to wait for him at Joe's so that he can get the baby first and then they can talk. She smiles and nods, and Avery is too panicked to realize that she's totally not going to do it. I also don't think she ever picked up on the general air of terror radiating off of him and just thought she was getting blown off.
Richard helps Mark lower the bed down, and Mark pleads with him not to tell Callie or Derek what's going on since they are about to do the nerve graft and he doesn't want them to worry. Richard points out that they'd surely postpone but Mark is adamant that he doesn't want to postpone Derek's finally getting back up to 100%. He gets a little bit dreamy as he says that no one has better hands than Derek except maybe Callie, and Sofia inherited those beautiful hands. He thinks that Callie doesn't realize how good she has it, and he wishes that she could see herself the way he does. He then sadly asks Richard if this is just the surge talking, but Richard assures him that this is all Mark, and he can keep talking because Richard isn't going anywhere. It's true -- the epiphanies and reflections aren't wrong, they just happen to also be a sign of impending tragedy. Though I wouldn't have used the words that Callie "doesn't realize how good she has it." I think Callie is actually having one of the worst times of anybody since she's dealing with potentially losing the two people closest to her and having to keep up a good face for everyone while she struggles.
Arizona
A battered, filthy Arizona slides into the scanner so that the docs in Boise can get a look at the damage to her leg and what they find is super bad, and not in an awesome '70s way. The doc there goes over the scan with Owen and because of the extent of the damage and infection, her official recommendation is to amputate. At that, the curtain near them is ripped back and Arizona, having heard everything, demands to see her scans. They must not be able to afford magical sound-blocking curtains in Boise like they have in Seattle. Sucks for them! After looking at them, Arizona announces that she's withholding any consent and gives no permission to anyone to touch her leg, "...certainly not some yahoo in Dumptruck, Idaho." This poor doctor is not going to be sad to see any of these patients leave, between all of the physical and emotional beatings. Arizona begs Owen to take her back home to Callie, since she'll know what to do and/or Arizona can more easily bully her into doing what Arizona wants. Fine, that last part is maybe a little bit of editorializing.
Back in Seattle, Callie is adjusting the giant contraption that is screwed into Arizona's leg and when Arizona asks about the infection, Callie tells her not to worry about it right now and just to focus on feeling good. So the infection is still really bad, then. Alex appears at the doorway, head a little low, and he apologizes for not having come to see her earlier. He reports on Chunky Stu's successful intestine transplant and says that he knows Arizona likes to bring kids their favorite food once they can eat solids, so he wants to pass on that Stuart's favorite is Hawaiian pizza. He's trying really hard and Arizona thanks him quietly. Callie sits near the bed, still facing Arizona so she can see her reaction when Alex then apologizes for everything, saying he feels horrible and wishes he could trade places with her. Arizona tells him that she would let him, and Callie chuckles.
But then Arizona goes on, and as she does her voice gets more and more venomous. She tells him that while they were stranded she often wished it was him out there instead and that she didn't like herself for it, but there it is. She kept thinking that she has a wife and baby while Alex has neither, and that she only went on the plane in the first place because she was mad at him. Her voice rising, she claims that she is only in this situation now because Alex is a selfish and horrible person no matter how much she tried to make him better. Callie looks really worried, but keeps her head down and lets Arizona get it all out. And to his credit Alex stands there and takes it, though he looks like he wants to die. I understand having these thoughts but let's all also remember that the horrible thing Alex did was accept another job. I'm not saying he didn't handle the situation horribly, and he certainly was kind of selfish, but he didn't kill people or force Arizona on the plane at gunpoint or anything. She spits that he's still a horrible person and she's still wondering why this would happen to someone like her instead of someone like him, and then asks him to get out of her room, PLEASE. He nods, and leaves.
A while later, Callie goes in to visit and sees that Bailey has stopped by with Sofia. After Arizona gives Sofia a kiss and they leave, she starts to fall apart while telling Callie to take Sofia to the park more so she can run around outside. She's struggling for breath, and Callie realizes that this isn't actually about the park and asks Arizona what's really wrong. She's panicking because they still don't have a gameplan for her treatment and when Callie points out that they are waiting for the infection to improve, she counters that it's obviously not improving, so they need to attack it with something stronger. Callie then makes the grave mistake of saying that she understands and Arizona comes completely unglued, yelling and crying that Callie doesn't understand since she knows what her future is going to be like while Arizona has no idea if she'll get to go to the park or stand at an OR table. She's in an absolute panic at the idea of losing her leg and is sure that Callie is giving up on her, which has got to cut to the quick since Callie's life is revolving around trying to heal her. Finally, Arizona begs Callie desperately to promise that they won't cut off her leg. Callie pauses because she knows this could be disastrous but there is no other answer Arizona will accept so finally she makes the promise and then holds Arizona as she sobs with relief.
Now that she has made that promise that we know won't be kept, Callie goes to Owen and they have a screaming fight over Arizona's treatment. Owen thinks Callie needs to help her prepare for the possibility of losing the leg but Callie refuses and tries to tell him about the new plan she's devised to fight the infection and save it. Owen asks her to define "save," since Arizona would have a way better quality of life with a prosthetic than with years of rehab and constant pain if the leg could actually be "saved." It's a good point but both of them are so mad that they aren't really listening to what each other is saying. Callie declares that she's just doing it but Owen yells back that she's not and reminds her that Arizona isn't a patient; she's her wife. This is where Callie finally loses it, and she and Owen actually start communicating. Callie cries that the person in that bed isn't her wife but instead is just a shell with all of actual Arizona removed. She's terrified because she thinks that if Arizona does lose her leg, Callie will never get her back again. She goes on that she needs his support and then afterward they will make a plan for him to get Cristina back, but she needs him to do this now. He admits sadly that he doesn't think he'll ever get Cristina back and then gives Callie a menacing glare, but after a moment he starts to ask her logistical questions about her plan and she relaxes as he seems to go along with it for now.
When we see the ladies , Arizona is in much better spirits and Callie passes along a hello from Mark and a report that he is still doing great. Arizona's surgery (the one that was part of Callie's new plan) is the day and she's already trying to be a perfect patient. Callie then gets a page -- it turns out that today is the day she is doing the nerve graft on Derek. She's really nervous but Arizona tells her she is amazing and they get a little bit goopy and kiss before Callie goes off to save the magic hand of Dr. Shepherd.
A little while later Alex comes to the doorway with a piece of Chunky Stu's Hawaiian pizza for Arizona and reports that he is eating thanks to them but now that Stuart is okay, it's time for Alex to leave for Hopkins. When she says nothing he tells her a bit defiantly that he busted his ass to make sure everything in pediatrics is running smoothly so now he's done and can go. Cautiously, he walks over and puts the pizza on the table to her bed as a peace offering and when she still says nothing, tells her that he's sorry this happened to her and that it made her hate him. He turns to leave, but just then alarms start to ring and Arizona starts to convulse.
And then we catch up to the scene from earlier, where he runs into Callie's OR to tell her that Arizona has septic shock and is crashing. Callie's eyes turn to saucers and she asks him everything he did. She's so panicked that she starts suggesting the same fixes over and over, and it doesn't matter anyway because Alex has tried everything and he finally bluntly tells Callie that she's dying. This snaps Callie back into some clarity and she immediately says that it's the leg. Alex agrees. She closes her eyes, takes some deep breaths, the music swells, and then she tells Alex to cut it off.
So now the puzzle is coming together. Before he runs out the door Callie begs Alex to do a good job, and then he leaves. Meredith runs in and asks Callie if she needs anything and what she can do to help. Callie tells her she is fine; when she looks up the two share a long look and Callie repeats that she's truly fine and seems to mean it, at least with respect to being able to complete the surgery. Mere responds calmly that she knows, and then leaves so that they can get back to work. Callie takes a moment to gather herself, and then gets back to the delicate surgery.
Meanwhile, Richard is handling the sad task of helping Mark put together his advance medical directives. Mark realizes that this is likely the end and as Richard goes through everything, Mark doesn't take his eyes off of him, almost as if looking at Richard is giving Mark the strength to get through this last task. When Richard gets to the last section regarding withdrawal of care, Mark doesn't hesitate to say 30 days is the limit for his being kept on life support with no signs of recovery. He's so weak it's a struggle to keep his grip on the pen but he signs his name with purpose as Richard looks on with tears in his eyes.
As Mere watches Derek's surgery from the gallery she pulls out her phone and gives Cristina a call. She gets her voicemail and leaves her a long message which turns into this week's ending voiceover. I have to laugh at the tone of her voice when she starts by saying in a defensive drone that she hasn't called because Cristina hasn't called either -- I have a terrible habit of sounding exactly the same when I don't want to apologize but know I should. She tells Cristina that she was right about everything.
Richard is still sitting with Mark when his breathing becomes even more labored and then after one last heaving breath, his stats drop and his eyes close. Richard jumps up as the alarms ring and calls for a crash cart.
Avery must have decided to take the five-mile route to get Sofia from the daycare because in the time that he was gone Richard was able to have a heart-to-heart with Mark and then take care of all of his paperwork. Avery walks up with her just as the shit hits the fan and immediately covers her eyes, but she starts to cry since it's a tense and chaotic scene. He hands her off to a nurse and runs in to help. Mere admits that horrible things happen in Seattle and Cristina was right to go.
As this is happening, Alex is in the OR and he makes the first cut in the operation to remove Arizona's leg. The biggest shock about this is that we know from last episode that Arizona thinks Callie is the one who cut it off, and she's aiming all of her rage squarely at her wife as a result. But Callie is actually covering for Alex; it is yet another pressure for her to deal with on top of everything while for Alex it's yet another layer of guilt for him to try and cope with. Or, you know, to unsuccessfully try to ignore by having as much sex with various interns as possible.
As Mere continues her voicemail we see a forlorn April sitting on a plane while at the same time, Avery runs into Joe's and looks around for her.
As the sun comes up, Derek wakes up in his hospital room and sees the massive bandage on his arm that signifies a possible return to his work. Mere wakes up at home, groggy and blinking like she did in the light of the helicopter, but this time she turns and sees Zola to her, giggling and generally being adorable. She continues that she knows Seattle has hurt her in ways she might never get over, but it's also where she fell in love, found her family, met Cristina, and learned how to be a doctor.
Back at the hospital, Mark is now on life support, never to awake. Avery is in the room like we saw last week, going over patients with him as if Mark was still there to give him advice. Callie is in Arizona's room, and she looks emotionally destroyed as she waits for her wife to wake so she can tell her about her leg.
In Minnesota, Cristina listens to Mere's message. Mere concludes that she thinks Seattle has given her as much as it has taken, and she thinks she's done as much living as surviving. It's all depends on how you look at it, and she's going to choose the good. After Cristina hangs up the phone she thinks a second and then calls Mere back and says, "You are my person. You will always be my person." Phew.
Lauren S is a writer who lives and works in Atlanta, leading a very happy life that doesn't involve any travel via small airplanes. She wants everyone to know: "The views expressed in my recaps and anything else I might write on TWoP are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer."