Previously on Grey's Anatomy, if Derek signs the divorce papers, Addie will leave. She won't leave if she thinks there's the tiniest of chances he might want her back. Alex failed his boards and if he fails them again, he won't be a surgeon. He then won't let Izzie kiss him. Cristina and Burke fought, then he held her in the hospital. It's all been very dramatic.
There's a shot of some amazing lightning over the Seattle skyline to back Meredith's opening VO: "Pain comes in all forms." Izzie gets home from her date with Alex, the one that started with no kiss. She gives him some crap about how it was the "best date ever," until he can break in and say he had a good time. But then he dodges another kiss, nicely bookending Izzie's evening. VO: "The small twinge, a bit of soreness, the random pain. The normal pains we live with every day." She exclaims, "Seriously?! Seriously!" before slamming the door in his deserving face, and stomps up to George's room where she wakes him up so he can scooch over and she can get into bed and bitch over his protests that he wants to sleep.
"Then there's the kind of pain you can't ignore. A level of pain so great that it blocks out everything else. Makes the rest of the world fade away." The pain Meredith can't ignore is the sheaf of unsigned divorce papers that her boyfriend has been toting around. VO: "Until all we can think about is how much we hurt." She's yelling at him and he tries to interrupt her, saying her name. She calls his bluff and asks what, but he's stumped. "I usually just say 'Meredith' and then you yell at me." This earns him a deserved beating by handbag until she can also get inside and slam the door with her own, "Seriously?!" She then joins Izzie and George, who remarks on the small size of the bed once two enraged females are in it with him.
Mere wonders how a brain surgeon can be so brainless. Izzie exclaims that she shaved her legs for this date. George shushes them and pats each of their legs. VO: "Pain. We anesthetize, ride it out, embrace it, ignore it." Cut to daytime and Cristina running into the hospital through a downpour. "And for some of us, the best way to manage pain is to just push through it." Now Meredith is just echoing my father's advice when I got hurt playing basketball in high school and wanted to take a week off.
In the locker room, a sopping-wet Cristina tells Bailey she's back and 100%. Bailey's looking pissed at all of the water Cristina dragged in, and skeptical too, but begins rounds anyway. We all know what time it is once rounds start -- flirting time! Alex has the nerve to jokingly ask Izzie if she's not talking to him anymore. She won't play his game and just demands to know what happened the night before and what's going on with him. Shitty, jerkoff Alex is back and replies, "I'm fine, what's your problem?" Izzie announces that she's done and not talking to him anymore.
The day's first patient is Henry Lamott. Cristina tells them that he's in for a spinal implant to help the pain from a herniated disc. Unfortunately for a man with an agonizing condition, he's allergic to all pain meds. George is staring at the TV which Henry is watching and after a giggle, they all look up and realize that it's..."Porn," Mrs. Lamott explains as she knits across the room. Bailey seems to not take this literally until she turns around, and when Alex asks Henry what movie this is, she sends him to wait in the hall. There's a lot of stuttering and nervous laughter as Bailey explains they can't have it on there, but Henry explains that it alleviates his pain. "My doc says it increases endorphins in the brain. Helps keep my pain at a manageable level." George can't stop watching, so he's dismissed as well, and the three girls are just smiling. Izzie asks what Alex did, but is allowed to stay as his wife tells them, "Nasty Naughty Nurses" -- she looks up to make sure -- "Four." From the perspective of the television, all three girls turn their heads in the universal pantomime of watching some complicated sexual acrobatics. Cristina remarks that it doesn't look comfortable and Meredith answers, "Trust me, it's not." At that, they're sent away as well. I was about to make some comment about that being extra unprofessional, even for this crowd, but then I realized that by the time a patient and his doctors are all watching porn together, the usual rules of decorum are pretty much out the window.
It's still raining outside, and rainy B-roll shows a medical helicopter flying over the city. I only noticed it because it made me nervous to imagine being in a helicopter in weather like that, but it also made me notice something funny later on. Stay tuned.
Assignments are handed out: George and Alex are going to the pit, Izzie gets a cardiac patient, and Cristina gets Porn Guy. Bailey then comments that Meredith's mom will be discharged later, and Mere explains that the nursing home guys will be coming that evening. Since that's set, she's assigned to Mr. Dr. Shepherd. Meredith glares, and Bailey singsongs, "Hey! Life is short. Times are hard. The road is long with many a winding turn." She seems almost...dare I say it? Giddy. Very un-Bailey. Since Mere is still glaring, she flatly adds, "He asked for you. You take it up with him." I bet when she went to med school she didn't realize she was in training to be a glorified babysitter.
George and Alex head downstairs to a young rookie cop who got shot in the chest. The guy is in tons of pain, and comments through gritted teeth that the movies never tell you how much getting shot actually hurts. Oh, come now, movies are all about the truth -- now go rescue someone from a burning building before you're taken care of so that you can really earn your stripes! The two boys start bickering with each other over who gets to be the rookie's doctor, until the ER doc tells them to cool down while they've got the Seattle police force watching them through a window. George delivers an overly-cheery thumbs up for the gang and then they page Burke. Alex tries to assert that just he is taking the patient, but George insists that both of them will bring him up. Who would have suspected that this young suffering hero would eventually thank a pissing contest between two interns for his survival? But he's going to be grateful very quickly.
The Chief is in Ellis's room, telling her she can go home. She smiles, telling him that she still has patients, but he firmly tells her no. As he turns to leave, she spits out that she's thinking of leaving Thatcher and that if she did that, he could leave Adele and they could find jobs together after their residency. An embarrassed Richard tells the nurse in the room to go prepare some meds (and presumably not to spread it around that the demented, formerly brilliant surgeon's fantasy life revolves around the married Chief of Surgery) and once alone, he takes Ellis's hand. He reminds her gently that all of this already happened 21 years before. She just continues as if she hasn't heard, and he looks gutted.
Meredith finds Derek and tells him that his wife is looking for him. He has the gall to reply that this is hard for him, and Meredith cuts him off. She announces that she's "not going to be the girl who begs for him or breaks up a marriage." Like the shot of the helicopter, this is also a moment to remember for later. Probably a wee bit more important, though. Meredith finishes by telling him that no matter what, she's out, and with that she goes to see her patient.
Izzie's patient is a nice middle-aged woman who either passed out or had a heart attack. She's in great spirits and says this has happened before and she's sure it's nothing. Her husband kisses her; they seem happy. I'm not sure how to deal with a happy couple in Seattle Grace.
Meredith and Derek's patient is Anna, a twentysomething girl whose legs have gone numb. Just as Derek begins to tell her that she's got a bigger problem, her parents walk in. Her dad is played by Francois Chau, a.k.a. Dr. Marvin Candle, a.k.a. Dr. Mark Wickmund, a.k.a. Dr. Edgar Halowax, a.k.a. the guy in all the instructional island videos on Lost. It's making it a little bit hard for me to watch his scenes without thinking about the fact that he probably just came up from Portland where he's working for the Dharma Initiative. Derek explains to Anna and her parents that she's got a tumor on her spine that needs removing immediately or she could have permanent paralysis. When Anna turns to her father and implores him, however, he says no. Derek and Meredith are both understandably stunned and insist on the procedure, but the dad insists as well and says they're taking her home. Derek turns to Anna to ask what she wants to do, since she is over 18 and doesn't actually need her parents' permission. But she says that she is Hmong and her father is the elder, so what he says goes. If respecting your elders involves paralysis, I might be prone to being a bad seed.
Derek's pondering what just happened while walking up the stairs with Meredith, and tells her to call social services. But when he begins to reminisce about a similar case in New York, she asks him if he needs to tell her anything else actually work-related. As only he can do, he gets indignant and actually growls at Mere about how he was married for eleven years and he's allowed a moment of doubt or hesitation before he pulls the trigger. I didn't see any doubt or hesitation when you were wooing Meredith and not telling her about your estranged wife. I think Mere is quite entitled to be pissed off about her significant other's actions. He raises his voice to a yell until he hears a door open and remembers they're at work. In a low voice he adds, "And a little understanding from you would be nice," and leaves. Here's the thing, Derek. It's not her problem. You were her boyfriend until your previously unmentioned wife showed up, so it's in no way shape or form her problem, so shut the hell up.
Burke sees Addison, still looking for Derek. Cristina then catches up to Burke and super-awkwardly thanks him. He tells her there's no thanks needed, but then asks where they are. She hesitates, falling back on the fact that she's getting back on her feet. A pretty good excuse, I'd say, after having a miscarriage and losing a fallopian tube and having major surgery to repair it within the last short while. He responds with a very clipped, "Fine," at which she starts stuttering. He cuts her off and tells her that he's not waiting forever. Okay, you dumped her unceremoniously and then made one kind gesture, and she's supposed to flip around and be able to decide if she wants to get back together with you? Oh, I don't THINK so. She's allowed a moment to think. Sheesh, it's like becoming a doctor leeches out all of your brains other than what you need to practice medicine. As he struts away, he runs into Bailey and asks her to scrub in on the gunshot victim's surgery. But she's not because she's leaving early. He asks, surprised, if she's got a date, and she very happily replies, "Yes. Yes I do. A handsome man is whisking me away to a love NEST for the weekend." Just do it like Bailey does it, interns. Ignore the man-children.
Alex and George are talking to their shot cop, who's lamenting the fact that this was his first month on the job and he's never going to live this down. George assures him that he will, but Alex seems to doubt it. Meanwhile, Izzie tells Bailey that her patient didn't have a heart attack. Bailey doesn't like this diagnosis and tells her to go back and figure out what it was, then. So demanding!
In the elevator, professional as ever, Alex asks George over the gunshot cop's bed what the deal is with Izzie. I thought she spelled it out pretty well, in that a date isn't very fun when your date is being an asshole, but it looks like that went over Alex's head. George says she shaved her legs for him, eliciting an "And?" Dude, if a guy who's gotten as much tail as you doesn't get that reference, then I think you actually have some form of mental deficiency. Even the gunshot cop realizes what an idiot he was. (IMDB has helpfully supplied that his name is "Pete." If they've said his name already I totally missed it, and I felt that a guy who knew about the state of Izzie's leg hair needed a proper name and not just "gunshot cop.") Alex orders George to mind his own business, but George brings up that when the girls' expectations are crushed, they come home to him, and he has to pick up the pieces and gets no sleep, so it is his business. Touché. To his credit, Alex actually accepts this. It looks like the dulcet tones of bickering young men isn't the soothing balm you'd think, and Pete starts looking pretty bad. There's a thud in the elevator, and everything goes black. Alex points out the obvious, that they aren't moving, and Pete looks understandably worried.
The girls are all hanging out and notice the lights flicker -- I guess the power outage isn't in the entire hospital -- and Cristina bends over in obvious pain. Of course she won't take anything though, because "Drugs are for babies." If being a baby gets me some Percocet after major surgery, then fetch me a pacifier. Izzie responds by announcing that she hates Alex. She apologizes for her non-sequitur but repeats the sentiment, Mere responds by announcing she broke up with Derek, and Cristina rounds things out by announcing that Burke wants a relationship. Izzie replies, "Boys are stupid." Let's not be stereotypical...but based on this episode, she's not wrong.
George is manically repeating the emergency instructions to try to get the elevator working, even though they clearly aren't doing anything, while Alex tries to get the doors. Pete is not pulling any weight at all; he's moaning about the bullet in his chest. The interns go to the end of his bed and start whispering about how there's a lot more blood and he needs to go to the OR. Pete orders them not to whisper, since clearly that means he's in really bad shape, and George assures him that someone will rescue them.
Cristina visits Mr. Lamott, whose dark room indicates he's in the power-free part of the hospital. He asks to be moved, sounding a little desperate, but Cristina doesn't seem to care and just goes about her business. He can't make the suggested conversation with his wife because she had to leave for the afternoon, and as Cristina leaves the room, he cries after her, "I need my porn!"
Addison is walking down the hall with Richard; it looks like in addition to asking where Derek is, her other function this hour is to explain to us and him that one of the backup generators isn't working. She then also orders him to remember to breathe. He refuses, as now the only way to get patients from the ER to the OR is out of order. Funny he should mention that, as a patient with a gunshot wound, traveling from the ER to the OR, is now stuck between two floors with George and Alex. Richard is hyperventilating again. Bailey gets down on the floor so that she can look into the car and demand, "What did you two do?" She clearly doesn't believe them entirely when they protest that they did nothing. Burke then gets down to ask about the patient, who is not doing well.
Mere is giving Anna a morphine drip as the lights flicker. Anna protests that she doesn't need it since she's going home, but Mere administers it anyway. She then tells Anna that she'll have to sign a form saying she's leaving against medical advice. Then, gently, she says that they'll call a social worker, adding that she knows this is all new and confusing. Anna gloriously tells her to knock it off. "Spare me the white-girl cultural-divide love." She explains that she grew up in the area, went to UW, and plays in a band. "I get it. My father doesn't. He says no, it's no." When Mere points out that they're talking about her ability to walk, Anna explains, "That's what you're talking about. I'm talking about my family. Have you ever even heard of the Hmong people? Our religion has got rules that are way old and way set in stone." Meredith asks her what the rules are. There's a glint of respect in Anna's eyes when she hears the question.
Bailey has paged Derek, and when he shows up she says accusingly, "PORN as pain management?" Derek is merely amused, commenting that she must have met the patient. She's having none of it, merely repeating her question, so Derek tells her about studies that have shown it can provide a benefit. When this fails to sway her, he just shrugs that he didn't prescribe it, so she should take it up with the doctor who did. He adds that it can stimulate the brain to produce endorphins. She merely tells him that it's his problem if his patient turns out to be a "sex weirdo," and adds that his wife is looking for him.
Anna must have told Meredith the rules, because she finds Derek (in the stairwell, natch) and tells him he needs to speak to Anna's father because "Having testicles is a requirement." Are you sure he's your man, then? She explains that Anna's father believes Anna is missing one of her souls. "We don't need a social worker. We need a shaman."
Izzie tells her cardiac patient that she didn't have a heart attack, much to the relief of her and her husband. But she then adds that she won't send the patient home until she knows just what did happen.
Pete is becoming delirious in the elevator, he's pulling at his mask and insisting he needs to go home. Burke's watching from above and asks what supplies they have; when they tell him they've just got a code box and gloves, he expresses great surprise that they didn't bring an open chest tray. Seriously -- are you trying to tell me that for a trip that was supposed to take 30 seconds and end in the OR, they should have thrown in surgical tools just in case? Once you're going down that road, why not just have a surgeon do the transport himself? Oh, because they're too busy flirting with the female interns. Which brings us back to two male interns and no open chest tray in a stuck elevator. Pete's blood pressure is awful, and George seems to realize, "He's gonna die." They all have a moment until Burke tells them to intubate him and that he'll be back. He's going to get a [something that didn't sound like "open chest" but that still implied sharp instruments] tray. Before he goes, he announces, "You guys are going to have to open up his chest." Outside, Bailey asks Burke if he's sure. He's not, but he runs for the supplies anyway while George and Alex gape at each other.
After commercial, George is manning the big pump to keep Pete breathing, and Alex is just standing there. When George asks him a question, Alex bites his head off telling him to shut up. Someone seems a wee bit nervous for all his "I'm the real surgeon" talk.
Outside in the rain, Mr. Chue, Anna's father, is smoking a cigar under an umbrella. Derek finds him and asks if he's taking Anna home for a healing ritual. Her father explains that one of her souls is missing and she needs a shaman to get it back, and this needs to take place before she goes into surgery or she'll die. Derek insists that he could have told them this, but Mr. Chue (probably rightfully) says he would have been called a fool. Derek claims he respects their traditions even if he doesn't understand them. "But you're standing beside me in a three-thousand-dollar suit so I also know that you respect the fact that I'm telling you Anna needs a surgeon in the 24 hours if she's going to walk. She can't leave this hospital." When Mr. Chue insists she needs her soul, Derek says they'll have to get a shaman, rather like you can just go pick them up from Shamans 'R' Us from down the street. Mr. Chue calls him an arrogant man (again, not wrong) but Derek says even if that's true, he's got access to a helicopter. Presumably as a sign of consent, Mr. Chue hands him a cigar. As Derek runs back inside, he calls out, "Finding her soul won't be easy!" Derek: "It never is!"
Bailey has now replaced Addie at Richard's side, and he's ranting and raving that they don't have enough power, demanding to know whose fault it is that they didn't order a new generator last year so that he can then kick that person's ass. Bailey gets really vague, but Richard knows that she knows everything, and orders her to tell him. "That would be your butt, Chief. You didn't authorize the replacement generators, saving money for the new MRI machine." Then she makes an excuse and leaves so that he can try to get his foot to reach to his own backside in private.
Burke is back and handing supplies down into the elevator, remarking that it's not a terribly sterile environment (being the social center of the hospital and all) but they'll try. Once he's draped, George hands off the breathing pump to Alex and cleans the area. Alex is looking pretty sweaty at this point.
Outside, Cristina's sitting at the nurses' station when Izzie comes up and requests her patient's medical records, and asks her to be paged since she'll wait on the OR floor. As she dashes off, she nearly collides with Mere. Cristina asks them where they're going and finds out that Izzie is off to watch George and Alex do heart surgery in an elevator, and Meredith is off to a shaman healing ritual. This earns Mere a "Rock on!" from a pumped Izzie. Cristina has wilted, moaning sadly, "I have Porn Guy!"
She then visits Porn Guy and finds him moaning and in complete distress; she's absolutely stunned to see he's really in pain and that the porn had actually helped. Henry asks, "What do you think, I'm some kind of pervert watching that stuff in front of you?" "Well...yes!" she answers. She opens up his chart and tries to figure out what medicine she can possibly give him that won't cause an allergic or otherwise adverse reaction, but there's nothing.
Back in the elevator, Alex says disbelievingly, "We're really going to do this." Burke then hands the scalpel in, and they both look at it. He tells Alex to take it, but Alex is frozen. He's got a huge audience outside the elevator for this choke, including Izzie. After a moment, George yells at him to ventilate and grabs the scalpel himself, asking Burke what to do. He's to make an incision long enough to fit his hands in, and part of Burke's instructions include, "Use the scissors if you have to." I gag a little at the mental image. As George goes to cut, Burke jumps in to add not to cut into the lung or the heart. But when George asks how to be sure, "You just have to be sure," is Burke's answer. Alex is holding up a light now in addition to his ventilating duties as George declares, "We're not in Kansas anymore," and makes the cut. Hold on a sec, did Pete finally pass out? And then...won't wake up when his chest cavity is cut open (possibly with scissors)? Let's assume that they somehow anesthetized him and didn't tell us about it, and ignore the multitude of questions that would bring up in its own right.
It's still raining. Derek and Meredith wait with Anna, and Derek comments to her father that the shaman is late. He replies that his shaman is never late. Derek seems...amused? Because a race between a shaman and paralysis is an entertaining thing?
As Izzie watches the surgery from behind Burke, she comments to some other looky-loos that "Poor George doesn't have the steadiest hands." Bailey turns and points out that George can hear her. I wonder, was it that comment that started the slow burn of true love that would be gloriously realized at the end of Season Three? Because I can totally see that. The firemen arrive to open the doors, but Burke orders them to wait. "I have an open chest and a very nervous intern in there." Burke, Bailey just pointed out that he can hear you. George then makes it through and manically yells that he didn't cut the heart or the lungs. Burke then instructs him to do a pericardiotomy, and without hesitation George rattles off the supplies he'll need. Burke looks terribly proud.
Cristina is in Henry's room, instructing him that if he ever tells anyone about what she's going to do, "not only will I kill you but I will sell your body parts for cash." He nods, and she takes a deep breath and says dryly, "There were these women. Nurses. Three nurses. And they were...naughty. Really, really naughty. Three naughty nurses. Saucy, even. Saucy and naughty and...baaaad." She looks hilariously appalled at herself, but also kind of happy, and as she starts to come up with stuff, you can tell she's getting into it. But then again, it's Cristina -- if she's going to do something, she'll do it right.
Izzie's taken her leave of the viewing party and returned to her patient (Mrs. Bradley! Finally, the poor woman gets a name), where she tells her that she's been admitted to the hospital on the same date for the past seven years. Her husband marvels at this, but she brushes it off until Izzie tells her that it's in her records. Izzie then asks if there's any significance to this date the first time she was admitted. Again she brushes it off and says she's sure there isn't, but she's looking more uncomfortable. Her husband remembers exactly, however, as it was the day their neighbor Ted dropped dead, and they watched as the funeral home took him away. When Izzie asks if they were close, Mrs. Bradley (too) quickly says no. But Izzie gazes at her with Realization in her eyes.
George is still wrist-deep in Pete's chest while Alex gets to hold the flashlight. As Burke gives instructions, George feels around inside and thinks he can figure out where the bleeding is coming from. It's too far in for him to repair, but it's small, so Burke instructs him to take his finger and plug the hole. Pete's heartbeat gets stronger as soon as George does, to everyone's relief. Burke tells him to keep his finger there and George asks, "Now what?" "That's it," Burke says and rolls over to lie on the floor and take a deep breath. George: "I just stand here with my finger plugging the hole?" Burke tells him it's that indeed, until the firemen can get the doors open and they can get Pete to the OR. "O'Malley? You just flew solo." George thanks him as the good-looking firemen come to do their work. I got stuck in an elevator once. (Fortunately the door was open enough for my roommate to slip me an US Weekly while I waited for the firemen. Not quite as cool as surgery, but less stressful. And bloody.) But how come the firemen that rescued me were very, very, nice, but normal-looking? I want hot, young, strapping firemen like the ones on my television! Hot, young, strapping, and so wowed by my beauty that one must ask me out to dinner on the spot! Sigh.
Remember when I told you to stay tuned? Here's where we revisit that scene, as it's exactly the same B-roll of a helicopter coming to land in the rain, only this time it's pertinent to the story. I would have thought they'd have more rainy establishing shots to work with so that they wouldn't need to use the same one twice. ...You probably were expecting a bigger payoff from my noting this in the beginning of the episode, weren't you?
Meredith explains to Anna that they'll turn off the pump, and that means that she'll be in a lot of pain for what Anna calls "the healing ritual." Meredith asks if she's okay with it, and when she says she is, Meredith observes that this isn't just for her father, that Anna believes it too. Anna: "I know it sounds like a lot of crap, but watch the ritual, you'll see." Mere asks what, and Anna answers, "The moment it happens." Music swells as shaman enters.
Cristina, meanwhile, is kicking back on the second bed in Henry's room, narrating. "'Oh yes! I'm so very, very, naughty"...Bianca said. As she dropped her stethoscope. 'Me too!' said Crystal, as she snapped on her surgical glove." Bailey walks by to see and hear Cristina, but also to see that Henry is calm. Not having noticed, Cristina continues enthusiastically, "And then, there was MARTA." Bailey glares at her, but Cristina shrugs and asks where she was. Henry murmurs, "Marta." Cristina: "Marta was the naughtiest nurse of all. Because she knew how to..." We are not to find out Marta's special skillz, however, as the lights come back on, and the giggling from the TV means the actual porn is back on too.
The shaman lights things in the room, which presumably has had all of the explosive items removed, and Anna's eyes are closed as Mere and Derek observe from outside. Derek asks, "How long do you think it takes to retrieve a lost soul?" Mere doesn't know. This was actually a very cool storyline, but it wasn't necessarily the most, hmm, subtle one. My eyes actually got stuck rolling into the back of my head for a moment at that line.
Izzie pops her head into the elevator to congratulate George, who happily tells her, "I have my finger in a heart." She tells him it's very cool, and then turns to look at Alex, who is marinating in his shame and glares at her. Her face falls and she leaves. And at the same time this is going on, Richard is standing outside Ellis's room, gazing at her.
Izzie tells Mrs. Bradley she has stress cardiomyopathy. Her husband is conveniently out of the room at this moment. When she asks what that means, Izzie just says, "It's Ted." While Mrs. Bradley weakly denies it, Izzie explains how each year, on the anniversary of his death, she gets a rush of adrenaline to the heart which causes these symptoms. Mrs. Bradley finally comes clean. "For 27 years, I loved the man door and he loved me." It sounds kind of trite on paper, but it's actually rather heartbreaking. She says that he was her soulmate. "And then he just...died!" Izzie says her heart stops beating because she is grieving. Mrs. Bradley cries and asks what the treatment is. Izzie quietly answers, "I wish I knew." Don't worry for yourself, Iz. You've got TWO soulmates coming up in short order.
George is out of surgery, shaking the hands of all the cops thanking him for saving Pete. Alex leaves the crowd to go stand a ways away and watch longingly. George, meanwhile, is clearly totally pumped. Up in Anna's room, the ritual continues as Mere and Derek watch silently.
Richard enters a beaming Ellis's room, and she announces to him that she left Thatcher. He responds by reminding her that he couldn't bring himself to leave Adele, which reminds her of something. "Painted horses." He tells her that the two of them were on a carousel in the rain. She then announces that she's received an offer from Boston General, and he responds in the present by reminding her that she took the job to get away from him and that they swore they'd never talk again about what happened. It's not clear if she really grasps that this is the past or present, but she tells Richard, "Carousels give me the creeps."
Mrs. Lamott has returned, and Cristina asks her how she can deal with all the naughty nurses. She gives a simple "He's my Henry!" and then explains that she's grateful for anything that will take away his pain, since he takes away her pain. The porn must have addled her brain, because Cristina the cynic seems to accept this answer. Meanwhile, Anna opens her eyes, shakily turns her head towards Mere, and gives her the smallest of nods that her soul is back. The shot is of them operating. Addison walks into the gallery, and Derek sees her and stares. Mere follows his gaze and sees her too. Unfortunately for Mere, Derek can't seem to take his eyes off of his wife. Let's hope he's as brilliant as billed and can do this incredibly specialized surgery blindfolded, like he seems to be doing now.
As he scrubs out of surgery, Meredith joins him, looking pained. Commence the most uncomfortable exchange possible: "I lied. I'm not out of this relationship. I'm in. I'm so in, it's humiliating, because, here I am, begging." He says her name, but she shushes him. "Just shut up. You say 'Meredith' and I yell, remember? Okay, here it is. Your choice? It's simple. Her, or me. And I'm sure she's really great. But Derek, I love you. In a really, really big, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me. Choose me. Love me." Oh god, it hurts just to type it. He just stares. She finishes by telling him she'll be at Joe's that night, and to come meet her there if he decides to sign the papers. He moves towards her, but she pulls away and then leaves. It still hurts to watch this scene and I don't care how much protesting you do, you've either said or thought this with your heart breaking. If you haven't, and you can hold firm that this scene was awful and degrading and unnecessary, then just remember that when you get your heart thoroughly broken for the first time. It's what made the scene so awful, but which also made it so good: It was horrifically, completely, realistically painful. He sighs, clearly tormented.
That evening, Richard and Meredith are with Ellis as the nursing home guys prepare her to leave. As Meredith leans in to tell her she'll visit tomorrow, her mom grabs her arm and hisses that he doesn't love her, but he'll stay with her anyway. Mere is confused and when Ellis gets her attention, she looks at her daughter with a softness we haven't yet seen with anyone but Richard. "Sweet Meredith. You grew up!" She then continues, "It's a shame. It's awful being a grownup. Where the carousel never stops turning. You can't get off." Richard looks gutted -- he needs to work on his poker face if he wants to maintain in front of an employee that he wasn't the cause of her parents' separation. Mere looks at her like it's just rambling, but then gives Richard a confused look.
At the bar, Joe is pouring vodka shots -- okay, don't be silly, we know Mere's alcohol of choice. He tells Mere that "he'll" show, and she keeps jumping and turning each time the door opens. But the man through the door is George.
Derek's busy having a one-person pity party in the lobby of the hotel, but he's interrupted by Bailey, looking awesome in a fancy dress, shawl, and high heels. There's a knock at the window and she beams at the man outside. Derek can't believe it, telling her, "Look at you! You look like a girl! That your date?" It's actually her husband, come to take her away for their tenth anniversary. He can't believe he didn't know she was married, and she points out that it's because he never asked. Imagine that, Derek being self-involved. She realizes that he didn't sign the papers, and he turns and asks her what he should do, and why it has to be so hard. She just tells him, "You know what to do already. If you didn't, you wouldn't be in so much pain." He smiles at her and watches as she goes outside and happily hugs her hubby.
Meredith VO: "Pain. You just have to ride it out. Hope it goes away on its own. Hope the wound that caused it, heals." Cristina bursts into the on-call room where Burke is sleeping, turns on the light, and declares, "So, here's where we are. I work too much, I'm competitive, I'm always right. And...I snore." He's totally confused and groggy -- as much as I don't like him, I give him a big pass here, as I'd be the same way, except probably crankier -- and she shouts, "I'm trying here!" and finally his face lights up with an "Oh!" of realization. He then asks, "So?" It's quintessential Cristina when she deadpans, "Okay, we're a couple. Whatever, don't make a big deal about it." She turns to leave but thinks twice, runs up and kisses him, then leaves with a happy smile as she goes out the door.
VO: "There are no solutions. No easy answers. You just breathe deep and wait for it to subside." Izzie and Cristina are now at the bar, and they're all turning each time the door opens, and each time it's not McDreamy. They're all trying to comfort Mere, and they all clearly don't believe he's coming. When George assures her he'll be there, it earns him a kick, but he protests, "You want her doing tequila shots all night? I'll be the one cleaning up the vomit...besides, I touched a heart today, Porny." Saving a guy's life in an elevator and plugging his heart with your finger to do so gives you a pass on vomit duty for one night, I'd say.
"Most of the time, pain can be managed. But sometimes, the pain gets you when you least expect it." Meredith has Joe pour her another, and he does, even as he tells her Derek is coming. "Hits way below the belt, and doesn't let up." Derek. Still sitting at the hospital. But Addison walks up, saying she's been looking for him all day. She asks the question on everyone's lips. "So, you going to sign those divorce papers, or not?"
VO: "Pain. You just have to fight through. Because the truth is, you can't outrun it, and life always makes more." Mere does another shot. I suspect that, even though he should have earned a pass, George is going to be on vomit duty anyway.