We start (of course) with Mere's voice-over, as she lazes around in bed: "We live out our lives on the surgical unit, seven days a week, fourteen hours a day." And the remaining hours are spent drinking or screwing. She continues, "We're together more than we're apart." Mere sleepily opens her eyes and screams. That's because Izzie is looming over her with a mug in her hand. It's very Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. With no preamble, Izzie launches into Mere: "George's room is bigger than mine." Mere pulls herself out of bed and promptly falls on her face. Is she already drunk? Izzie follows Mere out of her room and down the hall, continuing her pitch for a bigger room, noting that she has more clothes than George and thus deserves the larger room, or at least the room with the larger closet. They pass George, who is valiantly guarding the door to his room against a potential Izzie invasion. George makes his case to protect his large closet, pointing out that he was the first to move into the house. Izzie blows him off by telling him that since it's Meredith's house, it should be Meredith's decision. George runs after the girls.
Meredith limps down the stairs, ignoring both of her girlfriends as they continue to fight about who has the bigger closet. I think we can all agree that George has the bigger closet. In voice-over, Mere notes that the first rule of life as an intern is "always keep score." Although there was a time when she was confused and thought the rule was "always keep scoring." But that comes later in the series.
Mere, with yapping bitches in tow, limps into the laundry room and sniffs around a basket for a clean pair of scrubs. The Mere VO continues to list the rules of intern life: "Number two -- do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy." While arguing, George and Izzie exposit that all of the other bedrooms and closets in the house are filled with boxes of stuff belonging to Mere's mother, precluding their use by anyone else. That causes George to wonder when the senior Dr. Grey is going to return to Seattle, and to ask whether they might not put some of her stuff in storage in order to make more room for the spoiled residents. Izzie suggests that they unpack Ellis's possessions and make use of them to make the house a little more homey.
By now, Mama Duck and her noisy little ducklings have gone back upstairs. Izzie reveals that she discovered a box full of tapes of Ellis performing surgery. Izzie and George forget their fight and get excited about the idea of watching the tapes, and George starts pestering Meredith about maybe, possibly watching them. Except that he wouldn't be able to watch the surgery -- instead, he would stealthily stare at Mere, sigh to himself about how unfair life is, and run out of the room every ten minutes. Izzie and George have followed Meredith to the door of the bathroom, which she promptly slams in their faces. And then she reopens the door, reaches out, and snatches Izzie's mug of coffee out of her hands. Mmmm, germy coffee. George leans in real close to the door and murmurs, "Meredith, you want some privacy?" On the other side of the door, Meredith slides to the floor and voices over, "Number three, don't make friends with the enemy." Credits?
No, still no credits. Instead, we cut to Bailey standing on the edge of a busy street with a preoccupied look on her face. McDreamy walks up to her and wishes her a good morning. Bailey: "Shut up." I love her. McDreamy points out that he outranks her, but she ignores him (rightly) and mutters to herself about having forgotten something, something that is supposed to be happening that day. And then as McDreamy starts to cross the intersection, she realizes what it was and snatches him back to the sidewalk, just in time to prevent him from being run over by a horde of crazed bicyclists and the cars whose traffic pattern they are throwing into chaos. You know, Dr. Bailey, if you had waited just a couple more seconds to pull him back, you could have spared us all a lot of angst. The bicyclists keep flying past, jumping the curb, kicking at each other, and occasionally wiping out.
Bailey, trailed by her interns, stalks the halls of the hospital complaining about "fools on bikes killing themselves. It's natural selection, is what it is." Alex wonders what she's muttering about, and George asks him if he hasn't heard of "the race."
On the surgical floor, the Chief, McDreamy, and Burke admire the O.R. schedule. The Chief thinks it looks perfect and even predicts an early night. And then Bailey walks by and tells him, "Chief, Dead Baby bike race started twenty minutes ago." The Chief yells for everyone to prepare for all the Dead Baby bike race's victims (which I hope will not include any actual dead babies).
George explains the bike race to the other interns as they follow Bailey. Apparently, every year a bar (named the Dead Baby, as if you had to ask) sponsors an "underground bike race" (which sounds to me like it should run through the sewers) in which bike messengers compete. The only rule is the rule against eye-gouging, and the winner gets some free tequila. And where are the police in all of this? How hard is it to arrest a bunch of drunken bikers who are breaking a bunch of laws? Is the Seattle P.D. run by Rosco P. Coltrane? George and all of the other women think the race sounds moronic; Alex thinks it sounds cool. Bailey reappears and tells the assembled crew that she needs a volunteer to join the Chief in surgery. Everyone except for Meredith throws their hands up in the air, jostling to be selected. Bailey looks disgusted and picks George, I think because he's the person standing closest to her. Bailey gives all of the other interns the rules they need to follow in handling trauma, one of which is not to fight over patients. And as she leads them go the E.R., they all start running so they can get the very best patients for themselves. Surely there are credits now?
Damn it! Still no credits. Instead, a bunch of tattooed bike messengers are wheeled into the ER on gurneys. Cristina surveys the chaos and exclaims, "Oh, it's like candy, but with blood, which is so much better!" She and Izzie spot an interesting case and run after the patient, arguing about who will get him. Meredith, seemingly uninterested in all the competition, continues her voice-over about how everything in the hospital is a competition -- but then she interrupts herself when she sees a patient with a bunch of wires sticking out of his abdomen. With a gleeful look in her eye, she announces, "Oooh. I'll take that guy." Alex tells her he'll have to beat him to the patient, and they take off running. And now, glory be, we get some credits.
Alex proposes that he and Mere flip a coin to decide who gets Mr. Wiregut. Alex makes a sexist comment (pointing out that he has "a head," and calling Mere "a tail"), and Meredith pulls the curtain on the patient (who is sitting up all alert and not at all screaming about the wires sticking out of his gut). Blah blah, Alex is a pig, Meredith wins the toin coss, Alex doesn't want to give up the patient, they argue, blah blah blah. The patient pulls the curtain back and asks them if they might not remove the wires from his gut so he can rejoin the race. Hey, it's Callum Blue! Don't let him touch you, he'll take your soul! (Man, I miss that show.) Meredith starts to tell him that it's not a simple matter of removing the wires. While she talks, Alex leans over and pulls out the wires. Mere is left speechless as Alex orders her to sew him up and let him leave.
In a trauma room, Cristina (with Izzie at her side) gives McDreamy the bullet on their patient, a John Doe run down by a car swerving to avoid a bike. Hey, Burke is there too. The interns are eager to get in on some surgery, but McDreamy and Burke decide that John Doe is already "corpsed." McDreamy tells Izzie to set up an EEG and to declare the guy if he doesn't respond in the six hours. Izzie whispers to Cristina, "Declare him what?" Cristina either answers her question or insults her, telling her, "Brain-dead." Cristina looks professionally disappointed. Izzie just looks sad.
George enters the...scrubbing-in room (the technical name of which I do not know) and finds the Chief scrubbing in (hence my made-up name). George thinks he's been assigned to scrub in on the Chief's surgery, but the Chief tells him he really needs George to stay on the floor and monitor the Chief's patients since the Chief will be in surgery all day. In particular, the Chief wants George to look after a buddy of his, Lloyd Mackey, who is waiting for surgery: "Give him whatever he needs." But not necessarily whatever he wants.
Harpsichord music welcomes us to Lloyd Mackey's room. He's a dapper-looking black man, wearing lovely silk pajamas and lighting up a cigarette. George enters and panics, yelling out, "Mr. Mackey...no smoking! There's no smoking!" I like George, but he is such a fucking wuss. George takes the cigarette away from Lloyd and walks into the bathroom, trying to figure out what to do with it, all while explaining the dangers of smoking to Lloyd: "Smoking is bad. Smoking will kill you." Lloyd begs to differ: "Liver cancer will kill me." George has apparently already read Lloyd's chart, because he knows that he's at the top of the donor list for a new liver, giving him reason to hope and perhaps not speed his own death. Lloyd calls George "sweetheart" and tells him that he's been on the top of the list for eight months and doesn't expect to get a liver in time. George tells Lloyd that the Chief asked him to take care of Lloyd: "Whatever you need, I'm your man. Just name it." Lloyd gives George an appraising look and slyly leers, "Well, I'm sure I'll think of something." George has been on the receiving end of enough gay passes to know what's up. Commercials.
Cristina and Izzie are checking out John Doe to see if he is responding to any stimuli. Izzie is freaking out, wondering if they're just supposed to watch the guy die if he doesn't respond to the tests. Cristina, ever the voice of reason, responds, "If he doesn't respond to these tests it's because he's already dead." Izzie just thinks he will be "technically" dead, but Cristina gets a bit shirty with her and tells her that he will be "actually" dead. Blah blah, he's breathing but his brain is nonfunctional. Cristina tells Izzie to think like a doctor, but Izzie would rather not think at all, wondering about the possibility of a medical miracle. McDreamy interrupts, telling them that miracles do happen, which is why they are waiting six hours to declare him brain-dead rather than doing it immediately. He empathizes with how tough it must be to stand around and not be able to perform any surgery, but he's clearly not changing his mind. McDreamy leaves, and Cristina bitches, "I wish he'd just go to the light already so I can get on another case." And that's Cristina's less attractive side. Izzie looks at the guy's meager possessions and notices that his shoes are new, his shirt has been recently mended, and he's got a hotel keycard. This is all evidence that "he belongs to someone." Izzie thinks that waiting for him to die is a waste of life. Cristina agrees, but not in quite the same metaphysical way -- she thinks it would be a waste of organs. Cristina's all excited, and she runs out of the room.
Meredith sutures up Callum Blue's taut little tummy. He calls her a "rocking babe," and she asks him if he really thinks he has a shot with her. She's right, he should come back in a few months -- then he'll definitely have a shot with her. Callum does think he's got a shot. She tries to persuade him to stick around for a few tests, but he really wants to get back to the race so he can cross the finish line and join the party that will be taking place. And then he invites her to the party. Meredith ignores the invite and finishes bandaging him up. She tells him that he's leaving against medical advice. He responds, "The frat guy said I could go." Mere: "The frat guy is an ass." Has that statement ever not been true? She tells him he will have to sign an AMA form, and he leers that he'll do whatever she likes. There's some more flirting, and then he signs the form, stands up, and starts to walk away from the gurney. And then he turns back, grabs Mere, and plants a big ole kiss on her. She joins in for a second before pulling back. He saunters away and tells her that the kiss was for good luck. On the way out, he tells her, "Don't worry, darling, you'll see me again." Hmmm, do you think? She hollers after him, "For your sake, I hope not." But when she turns back to the camera, she doesn't look entirely displeased. She starts to clean up the suture area and then sees McDreamy looking at her through one of the windows. She starts to walk out as he walks in. She asks him what he wants, and he asks her, "You make out with patients now?" She accuses him of being jealous, and he denies it. Blah blah, they've had sex and made out and he wants her to go out with him. She turns him down, and he gets a sad puppy look in his eyes and tells her, "You know, I almost died today. I came this close. How would you feel if I died and you didn't get a chance to go out with me?" She tells him to get over himself, and then posits that he's just chasing after her for the thrill of the chase. He doesn't deny it, and she points out that to her, it's not a game because her career is on the line.
Cristina, followed by Izzie, slide into Bailey's OR. Bailey wonders why they're interrupting her resection of a bowel. There is smoke coming out of the patient's abdominal cavity. Please, God (by whom I mean Shonda): enough with the medical realism on this show. I'm here to see pretty people make out or occasionally get blown up -- I'm not here to see beating hearts or gushing blood, and I'm certainly not here to see smoke coming out of some guy's stomach. Cristina explains about the potential organ donor. Bailey wonders why they're wasting time on this. I would assume it's because, you know, there is a serious shortage of organ donors, and this guy's organs could save a bunch of lives. Izzie, still clinging to hope that the guy might wake up, explains that she thinks his death should mean something. Bailey absorbs this, and then realizes that Cristina's in it for the surgery. Bailey explains that they'll need to find the guy's family and get their consent before he dies. They get excited and run off to track down the guy's family. They're like a couple of Nancy Drews. It's a good thing they already have a faithful gal-pal named George who can assist in their adventures.
Alex finds George sitting at a desk with his face buried in a chart. Alex wonders what's going on, and George explains that he has male patient who likes him. Alex doesn't bat an eyelid, encouraging George to "get his." He continues: "I'm down with the rainbow." George does a slow burn, and Alex eventually looks at him and asks, "Um, are you not gay?" George says that he is not, and Alex acts surprised to learn this. He apologizes as he walks away, but it's not clear whether he's apologizing for being wrong about George's sexual orientation or because he thinks George makes a better gay man than a heterosexual. As Alex leaves, Cristina and Izzie approach. George pretends to have something for Cristina to draw her to him, and then asks, "Um, do you think... Does Meredith think I'm gay?" Cristina asks if he is and she too acts a bit surprised when he denies it. George just ruffles his papers and turns away from her. A nurse emerges from...somewhere, and Izzie explains to her that the only clue they have to their patient's identity is a hotel key card, and asks the nurse to give it to the police when they arrive so they can track the guy down. The nurse realizes that the guy is a potential organ donor. George overhears this and perks up at the thought. As Izzie and Cristina walk away, George asks Cristina for the donor's blood type.
Izzie sits by John Doe's bed, watching him. I swear, they're going to be engaged before this episode is over. She gives him a sappy speech explaining that she's pretty sure he has a family and she would really like him to make an effort to live. And this is when I started to fall in love with this show, because the guy starts to crash. Not only do you not get miracles here, you get anti-miracles. Commercials.
Izzie is still freaking out about John Doe's falling stats. Meredith walks by the room, and Izzie calls out to her and pulls her into the room. Izzie explains that he's crashing, and also explains that she can't call the code because John is brain-dead. Meredith thinks it makes perfect sense for the guy's body to join his brain, but Izzie wants to keep him alive until they can find his family. Meredith, being a fundamentally weak person, agrees to go along with this crazy caper, proposing that they transfuse him.
George is examining Lloyd, palpitating his abdomen. (Look at me! I'm making up medical terms!) Lloyd is less of a horn dog than I feared -- he does not suggest that George continue his examination a bit further down. But he does tell George that he has pretty, pretty eyelashes. George tries to continue his exam, but is intrigued when Lloyd goes on to tell him that he has "kind eyes." George finishes feeling Lloyd up, and Lloyd asks him about the purpose of the exam. George claims that it was just routine. Lloyd continues to flirt, and George gets flustered and leaves the room.
It's the stairwell of shameful secrets. Izzie and Meredith are ascending while Cristina comes down. John Doe is stable, but Cristina has learned that he has internal injuries that will result in death soon, unless surgery is performed. For Cristina, the surgery would be about keeping him as an organ donor. For Izzie, surgery would be about feeding her annoying father issues. Um, I mean, "keeping him alive." Izzie runs off to see if there's been any word on John Doe's family, telling the other two stooges to get John Doe into surgery. Cristina tells Mere that Izzie is "Vice-President of Fantasy Land." Mere wonders if they should ask Bailey about the surgery, but Cristina thinks they need to go "higher than Bailey." And I refuse to believe that there is anyone higher than Bailey.
Cut to Burke, relieving himself at a urinal. Mere opens the door to the bathroom and calls his name. Burke tells her to beat it, and she does. (Not like that, you skanks.) However, Cristina is made of sterner stuff than Meredith -- plus, she really wants to see Burke's equipment. She sticks her head back in and apologizes for disturbing Burke while he's busy, and explains that John Doe needs surgery. Burke is surprised the guy is still around, and Cristina explains about the procedure they performed to keep him alive. Burke asks who gave the orders for that procedure, and Cristina ducks her head back out of the bathroom. Burke puts his junk away and moves to wash his hands. The door opens, and Cristina forcefully pulls Mere into the room so she can explain that she gave the orders to keep John Doe's body alive. Burke, with a small smile on his face, accuses them of really enjoying stepping over the line. He continues: "Now, this is the men's room. Either whip one out, or close the door." It looks to me as though Cristina is thinking of whipping one out, but instead the two of them slowly retreat back into the corridor.
In that self-same corridor, Mere is asking McDreamy for advice on how to get around Burke (who refused to authorize the surgery, if that wasn't clear from the last scene). McDreamy accuses Mere of chasing him, and she shuts him down fast, explaining that this is important. McDreamy tells her that to get around Burke, they need to get the Chief interested in keeping John Doe alive. Focus shifts, and we see Cristina and Izzie watching Mere work her magic on McDreamy.
George is eating a sandwich and looks up to find the three Furies looming over him. We establish that John Doe's liver is an excellent match for Lloyd, and that Lloyd is the Chief's good friend. Cristina dangles the prospect of George being involved in the transplant surgery, and he tells her that he doesn't need to be manipulated: "If you want something, all you have to do is ask." Izzie: "We want you to go over Burke's head to the Chief." George: "Ask me something easier."
George, of course, gave in. We see him waiting to ambush the Chief as he emerges from an OR. George, stammering and stuttering, explains that the interns have located a liver for Lloyd. Cut to the three Furies, watching from the side. They think Burke will condemn them straight to hell for going over his head. An extra walks through the scene carrying some sheets, and he does a complicated little piece of business with his glasses. That's some dedication to the craft of acting, right there. Alex comes upon our three heroines and asks them what they're up to. In unison, they tell him, "Nothing." Over their shoulders, we see Burke walk by George and the Chief. The Chief grabs him and explains about the donor. Burke gives George a withering glance, and George turns on his heel and walks away. Izzie laughs aloud, and Burke turns and sees the interns. All three women turn and run, while Alex looks stupid. Burke walks away, but Alex realizes something is going on and chases after Burke, calling out his name.
Gah! Beating heart! Burke is performing the surgery needed to keep John Doe's body alive. Alex kisses his ass. The camera pans up to the gallery, where Mere, George, Cristina, and Izzie are watching. Meredith calls Alex "vermin," noting that the surgery belonged to one of them. Izzie is just happy the surgery is happening at all. Izzie thanks George for his help, and he explains that he now fears that Burke will kill him and make it look like an accident. A nurse enters to tell them that John Doe has been identified; his wife is on the way. Wait, there's a Mrs. John Doe? Well, there go Izzie's chances.
Izzie sits with John Doe in post-op. McDreamy opens the door to the room for Mrs. Doe. She is appropriately emotional. McDreamy introduces her to Izzie and then tells her to call if she has any questions. Mrs. Doe asks Izzie if there's still a chance for John to recover. Izzie tells her that they can hold off until the morning, but that if there's no change they'd like to discuss organ donation.
The Chief enters Lloyd's room while George hovers at the doorway. The Chief wakes him and asks how things are going. Lloyd tells him, "Oh, fine. Except that beautiful boy won't let me smoke. You should reprimand him. Make him change bed pans." The Chief tells Lloyd that George may have found him a liver. Lloyd looks over at George and is overcome with emotion. George backs out of the door.
Mere is in the locker room looking at her pager (or phone or whatever). Alex slams open the door, all cock-of-the-walk. He declaims his own greatness, and boasts that he smells of open-heart surgery. He walks over to Mere and tells her that she has to smell him. She tells him she's not really interested, but he wraps himself around her anyway. She grabs his arm, turns him around, and throws him up against the lockers. Mere: "You have got to be kidding me. Okay, I have more important things to deal with than you. I have roommates, and boy problems, and family problems. You want to act like a little frat boy bitch, that's fine. You want to take credit for your saves and everybody else's, that's fine too. Just stay out of my face. And for the record, you smell like crap." Alex looks surprised, then he yawns, then he leers. McDreamy enters the room and sees the last bit of this. Mere sees him and walks back to her own locker. McDreamy saunters over, his body language clearly asking for an explanation. Alex tells him, "She attacked me." Meredith runs back across the room to beat the crap out of Alex (and I do believe she could take him), but McDreamy gets between them. That's a yummy sandwich, right there. He pushes Mere back to her own locker and tells Alex, "You know what? You might want to leave, before I change my mind and let her beat you to a pulp with her tiny, ineffectual fists." He walks Alex out of the room and closes the door behind him. And then he turns towards Meredith, looking adorable. They do a bit of the "what?" "what?" "nothing" dance, and then she takes her purse and leaves the room.
George and Izzie are sitting in Mere's living room in the middle of a bunch of boxes. They're going through boxes of videotaped surgeries. Mere enters and asks them who unpacked her mother's stuff. Izzie explains that when she's upset, she likes to nest. Izzie and George are pretty oblivious, continuing to go through tapes while Mere stalks into the room and grabs some photos and knickknacks that Izzie unpacked and put on the mantle. Meredith: "No! No! We're not watching my mother's surgery tapes, we're not unpacking boxes, and we're not having long conversations where we celebrate the moments of our lives." She walks back out of the room, but on the way she picks up George's bottle of beer and yells at him to use a coaster. George plaintively calls after her, "I ordered Chinese food." Meredith screams back from another room, "I hate Chinese food!" Izzie and George dissolve into giggles. Commercials.
Cristina and Mere walk along the sidewalk outside the hospital. It's a bright and cheery morning. The beautiful weather has not improved Meredith's mood in the slightest; she's bitching about how helpful and friendly and thoughtful and kind and happy George and Izzie are. Cristina: "Kick them out." But Mere thinks she can't really do that, since she just asked them to move in. Cristina: "So what? You're just gonna repress everything into some deep dark twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?" Mere: "Yep." They walk past Alex, who asks why Bailey is making him work the ER for the second day in a row. Mere exposits that there are cyclists left over from the day's race -- people who were too stupid or drunk to come in for treatment when they were injured. Alex whines about Cristina getting the organ harvest on John Doe. She accuses him of being upset that a couple of women got the primo surgery, and he tells her that "boobs don't factor into it. Unless you want to show me yours." Cristina and Mere give each other a long look, announce that they're going to become lesbians, and walk away.
Cristina is in a conference room, meeting with Mrs. Doe and Little Girl Doe. She's getting the consent for the organ donation, and she's doing it with all the warmth you would expect. Bailey is standing at the door, watching. Cristina asks Mrs. Doe if she'll donate her husband's corneas, and Mrs. Doe is a bit put off. Cristina explains that a corneal transplant could restore someone's sight, and Mrs. Doe decides that sounds fine. And then Cristina asks if they can have his skin, which could be used to help burn victims. Mrs. Doe thinks this will make for an awkward funeral, and is not pleased. Cristina is completely flummoxed by this display of emotion, and walks out of the room. Bailey follows her and asks her what she's doing. Nobody is surprised to hear Cristina announce that she's not a people person. Cristina: "I can't do that. I can't talk to the families of patients. Sorry." Bailey looks like she's about to cut Cristina. She asks the patient's name, and after a few seconds, Cristina tells her that it's Kevin Davidson. Bailey tells her to think of him as Kevin Davidson, not as a corpse or a John Doe. I hope Bailey doesn't read this recap -- I would hate to have her mad at me. Bailey tells Cristina to buck up and get back in the room with Mrs. Davidson. Cristina re-enters the room, but a sappy song saves us from having to hear her awkward apology.
George is examining Lloyd in preparation for his surgery. Lloyd thinks he owes George, but George is just happy to have found the liver. Lloyd invites George to come out for a night on the town after he has recovered. George gets all nervous trying to explain that he doesn't really go for the dudes. Lloyd laughs, and tells him, "George, I never thought you were gay." You were the only one, Lloyd. Now it's George's turn to be surprised. Lloyd tells him, "I'm sick, George, not blind." George wonders why Lloyd was coming on to him if he didn't think George was gay. Lloyd explains that when he thought he was dying, it gave him license to be as bold as he wanted to be. Lloyd asks George if he's ever been attracted to someone he knew he couldn't have. George stammers and lies (badly) that he has never had an experience anything remotely like that. Lloyd asks what the young woman's name is. George spends a few more seconds denying that there is any such young woman before telling Lloyd, "Meredith." Lloyd tries to hold George's hand, but George declines and it gets all awkward in the room.
Burke, Cristina, and Izzie examine Mr. Davidson in preparation for the organ harvesting. Burke expresses his disdain for the procedure, since it means ending a life. Izzie leans in close to Mr. Davidson and tells him, "I know you tried, so no hard feelings, okay?" Cristina looks at her like she's crazy, but Burke acknowledges that there's nothing wrong with saying goodbye to a patient.
In the ER, Mere notices Callum Blue, whose name is apparently "Viper," sitting in a chair. She asks Alex what he's doing back, and Alex doesn't really know. He's pretty useless, isn't he? Mere walks towards Viper, calling out his name. He doesn't really respond, just looking kind of queasy. As she gets near him, he tries to stand up, but falls over with blood spilling out of his mouth. Mere pulls his shirt up -- the side of his abdomen where he was stuck with the wires is horribly distended, and there's blood oozing out of his stitches. Everything goes horribly slo-mo, and then we cut to commercials.
When we return, Viper is in a gurney and Meredith is straddling him with her hands on his junk. And by "junk," I mean "horribly distended abdomen." Mere shouts orders to nurses (all of whom are wearing dark brown scrubs), and then yells at Alex to push the gurney to the OR. Alex wakes up from his stupor and joins a nurse in moving the gurney to the elevator. Once on the elevator, Mere melodramatically shouts out, "Move faster, damn it!"
The gurney is wheeled into the OR where Bailey and some nurses are ready for surgery. Bailey yells at Mere to climb off her patient and scrub in. She also tells Alex to get his ass back downstairs. He protests that he should be allowed to scrub in, since he helped wheel the gurney, but Bailey tells him that she's heard he only wants to take the hot cases in the E.R. She tells him that he's the fool in every group of interns who tries to show off, and shoos him away again.
In another OR, Lloyd is going under anesthesia while the Chief looks on. Lloyd, high as a kite, tells the Chief what a good friend he is. George watches all of this with (dare I say it? Yes, I dare) love in his eyes.
Outside a third OR, Cristina and Izzie scrub in for the organ harvest. Except Izzie's not scrubbing in -- she tells Cristina that she doesn't want to stay for the procedure. She calls all of the doctors who are waiting for his life-giving organs "vultures." Cristina points out how many people will live because of Mr. Davidson's donations. Cristina tells Izzie that she has to scrub in. Burke enters and tells them to get ready for the surgery.
Surgery montage! We see lots of rubbery pink and brown things coming out of Mr. Davidson and going into coolers. One of them is the liver, which goes into a metal dish in George's hands and then into Lloyd's OR. And then it's the end for Mr. Davidson as his heart is removed. Beeeeeeep. Everyone else leaves the OR, but Izzie stays at the table. Cristina says her name, and Izzie says, "I'm gonna sew him up for his family." Cut to Cristina and Izzie sewing him up together. Commercials.
Cristina and Izzie walk down a hospital corridor. Cristina tells Izzie, "You do it." She's talking about telling Mrs. Davidson that the organ harvest is over. Izzie finds Mrs. Davidson and Little Girl Davidson curled up on a chair in a waiting room. Izzie tells them that Mr. Davidson is ready and they can see him. They follow Izzie away, walking past Cristina.
Focus shifts to the other end of the waiting area, where a bunch of grungy bike types are laughing it up. Mere and Bailey approach the group. Bailey starts to give them the bullet on Viper's condition, and one of them asks if he's going to be okay. That is too much for Bailey, who rips into them, telling them that she doesn't care if they want to kill themselves, but that the damn bike race caused Mr. Davidson to die. She's just starting her tear (calling the bikers "snotrags"), but Mere interrupts her and pulls her back to reality. Bailey tells the snotrags that Viper is not "okay," and storms off. Mere tells the snotrags that Bailey is tired and that Viper is going to live.
McDreamy walks into the locker room, where Mere is dressed in her civvies and furiously moisturizing her hands. He tells her, "It's not the chase." He walks over and tells her that he's crazy about her for her tiny, ineffectual fists, her shiny hair, and the fact that she's so damn bossy: "It keeps me in line." He stares into her eyes. She looks at him, smiles, and says, "I'm still not going out with you." He nods and whispers, "You say that now," and walks away. I really liked her when she was strong and knew how to say no to things that were bad for her.
In post-op, Lloyd wakes up and asks the Chief how his surgery went. It went "very smoothly," according to the Chief. Lloyd: "Damn. That means I'm gonna have to quit smoking." Lloyd closes his eyes. The Chief leaves, and George stands to Lloyd's bed and holds his hand. Lloyd: "Ah, the pretty ones always come crawling back."
Mere VO tells us that another way to make it through the competition is to ignore it. She looks through a window and sees the snotrags gathered around Viper, who is sitting up and smiling. He sees her through the window and smiles at her.
Mere walks into her house, where Izzie, George, and Cristina are sitting around watching tapes of her mother's surgeries. George jumps up when she enters, certain she'll be furious. He stutters and stammers and puts his beer on a coaster, and then says, "Cristina made us." Mere looks at them and then asks what they're watching. But she knows as soon as she sees the television, describing it as the one where her mother "literally pulls this guy's face off." Mere sits down between Izzie and George and uses the remote to start the video running again. Something particularly gruesome happens, because they all scream with horror. Credits.