Izzie, Willie-Nillie

S02E26

In the aftermath of the episode-ending shooting from all of a day ago (this has been the longest 24 hours of my life!), Burke is down, out, and shot. Izzie has cut Magical Heart Patient Denny's LVAD line in anticipation of Burke's return, and had dragged George into her insanity. Denny, I don't so much care about anymore, but Burke? Burke's condition has me in serious conniptions. As I told AB, I gave up ER YEARS ago, because I can't take this sort of stress, yet here I am, smack dab in the throes of another medical drama.

At first, Bailey tries to keep Burke's condition secret from Christina. Cristina tends to the restaurant shooter, who ended up shooting himself, but sees what's going on with Burke and sort of seems to care a little bit. Once Burke is stable, it becomes clear that he might be paralyzed in one of his arms. McMeany knows what sort of operation Burke needs to potentially fix it, but doesn't trust himself to promise its effectiveness and is honest with Burke about this. In the interim, Burke requests ice chips, morphine, and Cristina to ease his pain. Guess which is the most effective? Because it's not the one he sleeps with. Burke asks Cristina what he should do regarding the surgery, but Cristina turns tail and runs away from him. She does the same damn thing when, during Burke's surgery, Webber requests she come in and keep Burke calm while they wake him up for some crucial tests. When Cristina bails and Burke and his intubated lungs flail, McMeany gets in Burke's face, telling him, "It's just you and me." Ssshhhh -- did you hear that? That's the sound of a thousand fanfics being launched. McMeany's calming works, Burke moves his fingers, and Cristina leaves the OR. Presumably to pack up her stuff in Burke's apartment to save him the trouble of kicking her ass to the curb.

Adele Webber is back on the scene and has her teenaged, prom-going niece with her. Turns out, niece tried to lose her virginity and finds instead that her ovarian cancer is back with a vengeance. Adele flips out (righteously so) on Webber for sending his niece's converging promlets home and reads him the riot act for EVERYTHING, including his affair with Ellis Grey.

Denny is in all sorts of trouble and so are every single one of the interns. They've all been dragged into the scene of Izzie's potential murder and are all now trying to help kill Denny only to bring him back. After lots of screaming, hand-pumping, and Bailey's scary looks, Denny finally goes in for transplant surgery. As Izzie looks on from observation, Denny's Magical Transplanted Heart That Belongs To Another Man Who Has Two Kids By The Way beats.

Last week -- er, two days ago, AB's head exploded. Three hours, ABC, really? THREE HOURS?!

Burke is down, and Meredith gives the voice-over -- which, considering how anxious I already am, is TOO CALM BY HALF -- that we all need lots of shit to feel alive. The other interns get to chime in at this point with "family" (George: predictable), "love" (Cristina: ironic), "sex" (Izzie: not getting any from Magical Heart Patient Denny). McWeenie voice-overs his professional opinion that we only need one thing. "To actually be alive," Burke interjects. It's like the audio tape of one of those avant-garde plays where the stage is completely dark, all the actors are in black, and when they say their lines, their heads are the only thing illuminated. I can't stand those kinds of plays. There's a flatline and McWeenie looking down at something unknown. "We need a beating heart," Cristina gets to finish. Why did Bailey get shafted? Oh, and it goes on, but I can't deal. Basically, they're telling us that when our hearts are threatened, we either run away or stay and attack. Hence the episode title. Which is fantastically long, by the way. I'll bet they were worried people might confuse this episode with Enterprise's "Fight or Flight." That's totally it. All this time, Bailey is wrestling with the front of Burke's scrubs and yelling behind her. We can't hear anything because we're seeing and hearing it from Burke's perspective. His eyes are disturbingly open, but not because he's dead. But Marissa is! Marissa is dead: D-E-A-D DEAD!!

We cut to Magical Heart Patient Denny post-Izzie cutting the LVAD line. George breathes, "Izzie?" Alarms go crazy, Izzie stands stock-still, and George makes moves to bring Denny back. Izzie won't let him call a code and screams her MO. Denny needs to get worse so he can get his transplant. Izzie hand-pumps something -- I'm not a doctor, I don't know what it is. It's a Something. Don't email me, I like keeping hospitals and things a mystery. Like sausage making -- and screams that she will hurt George (not a lot because they are friends but enough so things will break) if he calls a code. They wrestle a little bit, and Izzie tells George he can stay and help her, or he can go.

Ambulances. Cristina is panting to be in on the action. She doesn't yet know that Burke is down. Webber tells her to run Trauma 2. Cristina drools and takes off. Webber receives Burke from Bailey. Burke's been shot in the right shoulder and has lost a lot of blood. Webber orders Burke brought to Trauma 1 and Cristina kept in the dark. Except that...don't you think with all her drive, ambition, passion, and power of repressed emotions that Cristina would be the most kick-ass surgeon in this situation?In Trauma 2, Cristina realizes she's got the restaurant shooter who blew off half his head in an attempt to weasel out of his issues. Cristina barks orders and dampens her panties when someone asks, "You running this?"

By Keckler

Trauma 1, Burke tries to get up and check on patients. The cameras show us that, although he's waving his left arm around, his right arm is limp at his side. Bailey snaps, "You are the patient -- LAY DOWN!" Burke quietly lies down. Hell, I laid down! Burke chortles slightly and wonders when Bailey got there. Bailey flicks Webber that patented concerned doctor look that, were any patient to intercept, they'd know they were up shit's creek without an IV. Webber wants McWeenie paged.

Through the window of Trauma 2, Cristina sees McWeenie go into Trauma 1. It wasn't like he was sly about it either. Instead of slipping in, he full-on pushes the door ALL the way open to walk in. Like, I know you've got a huge head, Derek, but did you need all that clearance to get into Burke's room? Drama queen. Cristina sees Burke on the bed. She leaves Trauma 2 to stand, open-mouthed, at the foot of Burke's bed. "You're shot," she states. Burke calls out her name. "Are you SHOT?" Cristina demands. Bailey tells her they've got it. "That guy shot you!" Cristina announces, and runs back to Trauma 2 where she starts beating (in a medical way) the shooter back to life. She tells him that he doesn't get to kill himself and get off that easily. The rest of the team is dubious about the guy's chances, but Cristina says she wants to be able to tell his family that she did everything possible to save the rat bastard's life.

Alex and Hahn stare each other down for the heart.

Bailey and McWeenie can't find an exit wound on Burke, and hypothesize that the bullet could be near his spine. McWeenie explains to Burke what the deal is and gets him to perform some hand functions. There's so much blood on Burke's pillow, it's black. Burke can't squeeze Webber's hand. Cristina bursts in, saying her patient got moved upstairs. I guess that means she sort of saved him. Bailey tries to get Cristina out of there, but Cristina insists on telling Burke that she's there. Burke asks for a moment. The other surgeons leave. Before Burke can even get a word out, Cristina says she knows he's sorry for kicking her off the transplant. She's not mad anymore. She doesn't want him to worry about it, she just wants him to get through it. Cristina repeats that she's there for anything he needs. Burke gets out that he needs Cristina to check on Magical Heart Patient Denny. Cristina pauses and agrees, but then adds, "That was my BEST Supportive Girlfriend and you kinda ruined it with medicine." Hee. She leaves.

Addison is greeted behind an exam curtain by Adele Webber. Addison wants to know what it is Adele wants her to keep secret from the Chief. Apparently, the Chief's niece, Camille, was at the prom and passed out during sex. As Addison reads "sexual intercourse" off the chart, Adele flutters and pulls the curtain shut again. Camille is played by the rather awesome Tessa Thompson. Camille insists she is fine. "When your Uncle Richard finds out that you were cashing in your V-card, none of us will be fine," Adele snaps. I'm looking into opening up a V-card. I hear they have no annual fee. Camille's prom friends arrive on the scene to chatter and gasp endlessly. Camille's date is also there, looking a bit lost and scared. He hopes Adele isn't going to tell his parents. "I even used a condom and everything," he whispers urgently. Izzie continues to hand-pump Denny. Meredith, responding to George's page, arrives. Cristina walks in, and when they both realize what Izzie did, there's a whole lotta noise. I'm really surprised no one outside the room can hear it. Izzie repeatedly bawls that everything will be fine once Burke arrives. Finally, Cristina manages to tell them that Burke has been shot. More noise and wringing of hands. Izzie doesn't know how to handle this now. Meredith thinks to ask how Cristina is. George mutters that he should have gone to San Diego. Izzie cries that Denny is going to die. More screaming and yelling and arguing. Finally, Meredith -- in the BLANDEST way possible -- tells them all to shut up. I'd say she yelled it, because that's probably what we're supposed to believe -- but her voice level was so anemic, I can't believe it cut through the din. Whatever. I'm sure if Pompeo exerts too much effort to raise her voice, that raisin she had for breakfast will be instantly digested and she'll faint. Meredith insists that no one is leaving and no one is dying. Magical Heart Patient Denny thanks her for that since it was "kinda getting on [his] nerves, all this dyin' talk." Furthermore, he thinks they should all listen to Meredith because it sounds like she has a plan.

Prom Night. Camille's friends are worried that Adele will call Camille's parents and tell them what happened. Adele's not about to do that yet, since Camille's mother is prone to hysterics. Webber arrives, and Adele tells Camille's Prom Date to get lost but fast. He doesn't get it at first, but then he catches sight of Webber and scampers away. After wrongly assuming that Adele is there to see Burke, Webber sees Camille through the examining room door and demands an explanation. Adele starts to babble something about Camille's age and how most girls have already lost "It." Webber stops her right there and asks, "You think I want to picture my baby niece...losing It?!" Adele tells him to calm down as Addison reports that she's stopped the bleeding, but Camille's pelvic exam does concern her. She wants to do an ultrasound. Webber tells Addison that three years ago, Camille was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They removed one of her ovaries to try and preserve fertility and her check-ups have been clean ever since. Addison looks calmly concerned, but tells them not to worry until they have to. Prom Date stupidly saunters back in, and Webber starts after him. Adele signals Stoopid Prom Date to run. Webber chases him. Adele chases Webber. Promlets look aghast as they cover their glossed lips with corsaged hands.

By Keckler

Magical Heart Patient Denny's magical room. George doesn't seem to be liking Meredith's plan, which has something to do with them doing an echo themselves. Although the rest of them have never done an echo, Cristina was shown by Burke how to do one. Cristina tries to say she's not involved. More arguing about falling in love with a patient versus falling in love with an attending, all of which is finally silenced by Meredith saying, "We can't help who we fall in love with." "Sheeyah," George snorts. They all seem to agree on that point. The thing is, being "in love" with Crazy Callie of Osteo just doesn't hold the dramatic weight that these three loves -- Attending, Dying Patient, Attention -- hold. Poor George, always getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop.McWeenie gazes down at Burke and realizes Burke's hand is cold. Burke insists that his hands are always cold. Webber and McWeenie look at Burke's chart. "My hand's always cold," Burke keeps muttering to himself. He passes out and sets off alarms. Webber and McWeenie do a mean medical hustle, inject Burke's chest with less pop and panache than Pulp Fiction, and bring him back to consciousness. McWeenie tells Burke that his lung collapsed but he's okay now.

Addison finds Adele, who was sitting in a waiting room, trying to remember the night she lost her virginity. She can't. She remembers who it was and how old she was but she can't remember the details. Addison can remember all the details but wishes she couldn't. "That bad?" Adele wonders. "No, just not good. Good came later. And then really good came," Addison smiles. I like to think McWeenie was just "good" and "really good" was McSteamy. But that's because I want McSteamy back, since I firmly feel Addison deserves a guy who thinks nothing of stitching up his own face. Adele chuckles, then begs Addison to tell her Camille is going to have a chance to know what the good stuff is. Addison looks down. Adele breathes out a shaky, "Ooh." Addison takes her hand and sits with her.

The interns work on Denny. Stuff isn't good. Izzie apologizes to Cristina and begs her to understand and to realize that she loves Denny. This sparks another argument and the credits are STILL rolling and so basically, they argue how well Izzie even knows Denny. Cristina tells Izzie that, in order to preserve her career, a sane person would have run away before it got this far. "A sane person would marry me," Denny mutters. Izzie freaks and tries to get him to repeat it. Dude, the guy is DYING, don't make him repeat that! Izzie wants to know if anyone else heard that proposal. Even after the merciful commercial break, Izzie wants to know if Denny just proposed. George confirms that Denny sort of proposed. Izzie tries to wake Denny up. Flatlines sound and alarms go off. Priorities, woman: heart first, ring later. I think that should be a Stevie Wonder song or something. They paddle him.

When Hahn finds out that Burke is still alive, her comment is, "Shame. He probably would have made a good donor." Okay, Rockette Romano! Hahn goes right back to the disputed donor and starts to cut. Alex argues and badgers and says, "You can't do that," when Hahn cuts into the chest with a steady hand and a number ten blade. "I just did," Hahn points out.

Back at Seattle Grace, Webber finds all sorts of cummerbunded Promlings hanging around. He sends them all home. When they look downcast, Webber apologizes and explains to the two main Promlets that he can't have a bunch of teenagers running around, "People are sick. People are dy--" "Dying?" the Promlet echoes pointedly, "Yeah, we know." Webber walks off.

Burke flexes his right hand. He's able to move his fingers, but he tells McWeenie that he's developing numbness in his fourth and fifth fingers. McWeenie shows projected scans to Burke, telling him that there's pseudoaneurysm in the subclavian artery. He reminds Burke, "We'll wait a few days, maybe the aneurysm won't grow." Burke insists that even if the aneurysm stays the same size, there's too much damage. McWeenie says they'll go in there and fix it, relieve the compression on the nerves. Burke argues that the surgery could cause even more damage to the nerves, and he could lose function in his entire arm. McWeenie knows this, and says so resignedly. Burke wants to know if McWeenie is good enough to do the operation. McWeenie, in a rare moment of fallibility, will only say, "I think so." "But you're not sure," Burke breathes. "But I'm not sure," McWeenie whispers. Burke asks him what he should do. McWeenie smiles and says, "It's not like you to ask those kinds of questions." "It's not like you not to have the answers," Burke responds.

Adele reams Webber out for sending the Promlings home. "Adele, please, you're emotional," Webber says, blandly darting looks around and steering Adele off to the side. "I just told my sister her baby's cancer is back, you're DAMN RIGHT I'm emotional! If you don't want to bend your precious rules for Camille, fine, don't do it for her, do it for me. Do it for your wife who never asks you for anything, who says NOTHING about your long hours, who LOOKS the other way while you have an affair with another woman [D'oh!], who sobered you up when that woman left you, who stayed with you when everyone, EVERYONE said I would be better off alone! I'm not asking you, I'm telling you: you're going to make this up to Camille. You're going to prioritize the needs of your family above those of your other patients or. You're gonna find a new place to SLEEP!" Addison tries to talk to McWeenie, but he brushes her off. He darts into a dark room and sighs against the closed door. From the depths of the darkness, Webber comments that there's never a good place to hide in the hospital. McWeenie sits down to Webber and babbles that he can't get perspective. Webber states that his niece's cancer is back: "She's seventeen and she's going to die. Plus, twenty-five years ago I had a secret affair with Ellis Grey and today I find out that my wife knew the entire time. There was no...secret and she stayed with me." Got your perspective yet, McWeenie? Guess not, because he sort of passes all this off with a glance and sniff that seems to indicate he wasn't even really listening. I mean, I know he was, but there was something so odd, so quick with that cut that it sort of undermined any empathy we're supposed to be reading in him. McWeenie mutters that he respects Burke. Aside from Burke being an arrogant ass who hogs the OR and thinks he's God (so, aside from Burke being a surgeon?), McWeenie thinks Burke is decent and honorable. McWeenie can't get perspective because Burke is one of the leading surgeons in his field and his surgical hand is in jeopardy. McWeenie says, "I can't do this, I can't be responsible for him." Webber comments, "Preston's an honorable and decent man, Derek, but so are you. You are honorable and decent." What color is the sky on your planet, Chief? Well, I guess one adulterer might not want to judge another sort-of adulterer because of the rising rent of glass houses, but Webber just poured his heart out to McWeenie and barely got a sniff. Now, McWeenie pours out his troubles and he gets Webber stroking his honorable and decent ego. Yech. Webber tells McWeenie he is too honorable and decent to run. He might be too honorable and decent not to run from Burke's surgery, but he's not too honorable and decent to run from both his wife and his lover. "You don't know how much I wish this was bourbon," Webber says, looking at his cup. McWeenie smiles because he can still drink if he wants to.

By Keckler

Denny comes to again. Bailey hands off his chart to Nursyphilis and asks, in a very gentle tone, "How you feeling, Denny?" Denny smiles and says he's doing really, really good, "like an athlete or superhero or some other kind of really healthy person." How about like a demon-fighting father? "You're funny, you're a funny guy," Izzie smiles. "Izzie!" Meredith hisses. "No speaking." Seriously, shut UP, Izzie. Bailey keeps her eyes on Denny, who says that he went rogue and cut his own LVAD line. Bailey shushes him: "You're weak enough as it is, please don't waste energy on LYING." Izzie doesn't care that Bailey insisted on no speaking and demands to know if Denny is going to get the heart. Bailey is saved from murdering Izzie over Denny's half-dead body when George returns with the lab results. Izzie looks at the results as well, and continues babbling about why what she reads proves that Denny should get the heart and why Bailey "has" to sign the charts. "Isobel Stevens, I take my medical advice from doctors, YOU are a VISITOR," Bailey snaps. She goes on that Izzie will not be a doctor in that hospital until Bailey says so. This time when Bailey tells Nursyphilis to take over pumping, Izzie lets her. Damn right. "He gets the heart though, right?" Izzie asks.

Bailey approaches Webber with a hypothetical question about the Denny situation. Bailey points out that Webber would want to remain in the dark about the particulars since he would be duty-bound to report the situation, and the hospital could lose its accreditation as a donor site. Webber, getting agitated about such a hypothetical situation actually happening, dispenses the following edict: "Our responsibility is to the patient, if medically he's at the top of the list, then he should get the heart. Hypothetically." Bailey thanks him. "But practically," Webber continues, "whoever removed the LVAD, I expect to be given names and there will be severe, SEVERE consequences." Bailey "yes sir"s him sadly.

Alex stops Hahn as she marches by with her Coleman cooler full of heart. She realizes UNOS gave the heart to Seattle Grace. Alex affirms that the transplant coordinator called and stopped Hahn's transplant patient from being prepped. "Oh, come ON," Hahn snaps, "he has kids, they're four and five. Do you know how long he's been waiting for this? He's a good person, he deserves a heart." And now I despise Izzie even more. Alex is really and truly sorry. For once, he seems sincere, but I think that's because what he's sorry about is Denny not dying. I'm sorry, too, because we're supposed to be all Team Izzie Willy-Nilly in this shit, but she just pulled something so selfishly INSANE that I just wish Denny had stuck to his considerable guns and refused to give into her fucking daddy issues so that another daddy could fucking live! Alex invites Hahn to come back to Seattle Grace with him, presumably to help with the surgery since Burke is down and out.McWeenie sits by Burke's bed. He tells Burke he could always take up fishing since it is so much more fun than being a surgeon. "I don't fish," Burke says. Burke and McWeenie agree that eighty percent of hand function is not enough for Burke. "Fishing, huh?" Burke says. "You don't fish," McWeenie reminds him with a gentle smile. They carefully knock knuckles, which is manly surgeon code for foreplay.

Alex and Hahn arrive with the heart. Denny is wheeled away with Nursyphilis still hand-pumping him. Izzie looks down at Denny before he's wheeled into the OR. Exhausted, Bailey stares at Izzie and silently takes over the hand-pumping. Izzie smiles at Denny and lets go of his hand. The OR doors close, leaving Izzie forlorn on the other side.

Burke is gently laid down on his surgical bed. Not sure whose gentle arms those are. Could be McWeenie. Burke calls McWeenie over. "I'm sure you'll return the favor one day," McWeenie smiles behind his mask. I love that you can read their expressions even though half their faces are covered. Burke smiles and says, "I was going to say, please try not to kill me." Webber and McWeenie snort. McWeenie will do his best. Burke is put under.

Hahn removes Denny's heart and marvels over how fucked up it is. "He wouldn't have lasted another hour with this heart," Bailey comments. The heart goes into a metal mixing bowl.

McWeenie removes the aneurysm from Burke's nerve cluster. Burke's NAPs drop and his arterial pressure is down fifty percent. "Did you cut the nerve route?" Webber demands. McWeenie doesn't see any discontinuity of the nerves, but he wants to do a reflex test on Burke's hand. In an uncomfortably graphic shot for me, McWeenie does something with something sharp in something cut open. Ew! Ew! Ew! The reflex test doesn't work. McWeenie mutters that he would know if he'd severed the nerve. "Derek," Webber asks, seriously, "is the arm paralyzed?" McWeenie says they have to wake Burke up, because he's the only one who can help them determine if McWeenie damaged the nerve relay or not. "He's been through a lot of trauma today," Webber reminds him. "I'm trying to prevent the trauma he's going to feel if I have to tell him he's paralyzed," McWeenie responds.

The interns sit on the floor in a hallway. "Bailey's treating us like we're children," George bitches. "We're not children! We shouldn't have to sit out here like we're in a time-out, or something." Maybe if you weren't sitting on the floor it wouldn't seem like you were on a time-out, dude. Meredith says they deserve a big time-out for what they did. Cristina points out that they could all get kicked out for this. Izzie insists that she did it, not them. She adds, "You're probably right. I probably should run but I'd rather be running towards someone than running away." Aside from woogie-hunting, what does Denny do for a living? Could he support the two of them on his own? Webber comes to get Cristina for Burke's surgery. She insists she's on a time-out and can't come. "Time-out's over. Right now!" Webber orders. Izzie continues to obsess over whether Denny said "marry me" to her. "It really happened," George states, a bit bored. "It really did," Meredith states, a bit tired. Izzie screws the time-out and goes to check on Denny. Burke's surgery. They start to bring Burke around. McWeenie explains that Burke will be disoriented when he wakes up and will probably fight the intubation. Well, wouldn't you? Big ol' thick pipe shoved down your throat and lungs! McWeenie says they can't numb his sliced-open arm because they need him to move his fingers, so Burke will be in additional big amounts of lots of severe pain. They want Cristina to keep Burke focused. They wake him up.

In the time-out, Meredith thanks George for calling her about Izzie. George states that he didn't do her any favors. Meredith insists that it meant something to her that he called. George insists right back that it didn't mean anything. "Right, okay, sorry," Meredith concedes. George yells at her to stop saying that she's sorry. There's a quiet moment. Finally, George admits that he knew that Meredith didn't feel "that way" about him. Oh, Sweet Mysteries of Exodus, get OVER it already! Damn, boy -- didn't you go to college?! George hems and haws his way through explaining why he thought one night with her was better than nothing. Sure -- I mean, the idea is, it's better to have fucked and lost than never to have fucked, right? Too bad she cried when she saw him naked. George concludes that Meredith should stop saying she's sorry because she didn't know any better. "But I did. And [long pause] I'm sorry," George finishes. Meredith looks at George. George painstakingly works up the courage to raise his brimming eyes to hers and looks down quickly, "I'm sorry, Meredith." FINALLY. You're a good man, George O'Malley.

Burke's surgery. Cristina apologizes to Burke and begs him to wake up. From Burke's bleary-eyed perspective, we can see Cristina saying, "Baby, wake up." Burke flails. It's scary. Cristina freaks and can't function. Webber and McWeenie yell at her to "get in there" and hold him down. She can't. She turns and stands off to the side. "Cristina!" McWeenie yells.

More heart surgery on Denny. They take him off bypass and wait for the transplanted organ to beat on its own. It doesn't. Hahn massages it. Still nothing.

Burke continues to flail, Cristina continues to be freaked out. Finally, McWeenie makes Burke look at him and forces him to calm down. McWeenie tells Burke they need him to move his fingers on his right hand. Burke, gasping and choking so much it makes me toke on my inhaler in sympathy, finally calms down as McWeenie assures him it's just the two of them. The camera zooms in on Burke's hand. McWeenie is still whispering, "Come on, come on -- you can do it!" We don't get any finger action. Okay, yuck, that came out weird.

Denny's surgery. They shock his heart with internal paddles. Nothing, nothing, massaging, nothing. Alex looks up at Izzie staring down from the observation room.Burke's surgery: Burke thrashes and chokes. Cristina stares.

Denny's surgery: Hahn massages.

Burke's surgery: Still nothing on the fingers.

Denny's surgery: Izzie looking down. We follow Denny's flatline to commercial.

Burke's surgery: Burke FINALLY does something with his fingers. McWeenie directs Burke to touch each finger to his thumb. He does it. Cristina leaves in the middle of the finger-touching.

Denny's surgery: Bailey starts to say, "Dr. Hahn," but Hahn insists, "Wait for it!" Flatline. Long pauses. Views of Izzie. We center in on the heart...then something. It pulses. It beats. It's alive! IT'S ALIVE! Okay, this -- like my prom theme poll -- is probably a defense mechanism against my easily sprung waterworks, but during this whole heart transplant thing, I can't get out of my head that scene from Airplane! where the heart is jumping all over the Mayo Clinic's desk. Izzie sinks to the floor of the observation lounge and sobs happily. I guess one could say that Izzie stole Denny's heart. Har. Har. Har.

AB? You get to deal with the rest -- good luck with the prom and dying dog thing.

By Keckler

More heart surgery on Denny. They take him off bypass and wait for the transplanted organ to beat on its own. It doesn't. Hahn massages it. Still nothing.

Denny's surgery: Hahn massages.

Burke's surgery: Still nothing on the fingers.

Denny's surgery: Izzie looking down. We follow Denny's flatline to commercial.

Burke's surgery: Burke FINALLY does something with his fingers. McWeenie directs Burke to touch each finger to his thumb. He does it. Cristina leaves in the middle of the finger-touching.

AB? You get to deal with the rest -- good luck with the prom and dying dog thing.