Into The Light

S03E17

Dylan and Denny are tasked with talking Meredith through her death and getting her to realize what happened in the water. Fortunately, Doc the dog is also there to be a warm body to pet while she's dead. Bonnie, the girl that died in the train wreck, as well as Meredith's mom's former scrub nurse are also both there to help her out. She's finally able to admit to Denny that for one second in the water she wondered why she was fighting and gave up. But admitting that helps her to realize she wants to live, though it may be too late. It's at that moment that she sees her mom, who dies despite McDreamy's efforts to save her so that two Dr. Greys don't perish on the same day. Once together, Ellis is able to finally tell her daughter that she's "anything but ordinary," which gives Meredith what she needs to go back to the land of the living, much to the relief of Bailey, Webber, and Burke, who have gone to heroic measures to try to save her. The greatest relief, though, is for Cristina. She can't handle her friend's situation and tries to find solace at the 99-cent store, but her fiancÃ©e finally finds her drunk at the bar and gets her to come back to see her "person." She does, and is able to be the one who is there to help Meredith wake up -- with seemingly no adverse side effects from being legally dead for a couple of hours.

Alex, meanwhile, tends to Crush since he can't handle being inactive. She has amnesia, but they are able to talk a bit and start to bond. Izzie is finally facing the consequences of what she said when George picks his wife instead of his friend. And Addison realizes that what Derek and Meredith have together is something she and Derek never did. McSteamy tries to convince her that he could be that man in her life, and so she challenges him to 60 days of chastity to prove that he really wants a relationship with her. It's kind of ludicrous, but actually a good thing, since the rest of the hour could leave the most stoic man alive sitting in a pile of his own soggy Kleenex.

Previously, Meredith's mom yelled at her for being ordinary, Denny died, Dylan turned into pink mist, Bonnie was impaled on a rod and, before she died, asked if "you believe in Heaven." Who "you" was, I cannot for the life of me remember.

Last week was all about disappearances in medicine, and this week looks to be all about miracles. Which leads us to the burning question -- is GA going to kill off their titular star? It looks like it might take a miracle for her to survive, and that's quite a stretch... but let's see if any of these subtle beginnings are going to lead to any sort of miraculous recoveries.

Despite her body having completely shut down, Meredith still is able to provide some voiceover. "There are medical miracles. Being worshippers at the altar of science, we don't like to believe miracles exist. But they do. Things happen. We can't explain them, we can't control them, but they do happen." Mere's body is less purple and more ashy grey than last week. Meredith's grey! Ha ha, get it? You see what I did there? Oh... never mind. Bailey, Burke, and Richard are still working on her, and Bailey asks how much longer they'll do this, expositing that she knows the hypothermia is protecting her vital organs. Richard doggedly continues, explaining that she has to warm up before she can wake up, so at least until then. "This is Ellis Grey's little girl! This is my... " Burke: "We're all on the same side here, Chief." For all of you conspiracy theorists out there, I think the Chief means she's his responsibility, as he promised Ellis he'd look out for her, and not that she's his secret love child. He throws his head back, and Bailey takes over compressions. He says that her body temperature at 86 degrees. "She's not dead until she's warm and dead." They'll warm her to 98.6 and then try to start her heart. Instructions are given to a random nurse, and the camera turns to show Addison enter the room. She stares at what's going on until her pager beeps, and she says she has to go tend to Crush. Bailey knows just what she's trying to avoid and tells her that, "They're waiting. Whatever you choose to say will... " Addison just nods and stares at Mere's body. VO wraps up, "Miracles do happen in medicine. They happen every day. Just not always when we need them to happen."

We head into the light, to Meredith's surgatory. (I'd love to take credit for the brilliant term, but it came from geminigirl789 in the episode thread.) She's sitting cross-legged on a gurney looking at the yummy Denny and Dylan standing before her, staring back at her. Denny thinks she's freaking out, but Dylan is sure she's not, despite Denny's claim that, "People tend to freak out." People? Is this their death day job or something? Talking to the not-really-quite-dead-yet? They're the good cop/bad cop of death counselors. They bicker back and forth, both hilariously charming and good looking in their totally different ways, eventually nearly throwing down before Meredith finally speaks to ask if this is some kind of brain thing. They say it's not, but she points out that if she were dead, "the first person I'd want to see, no offense, would be... Doc!" I'm a softie and an animal lover, so I let out a little happy squeal when the dog jumped up on the gurney to see her. The guys are stunned and confused as she ignores them to talk to her dog, ignoring them. Dylan tries the tough-love, fifth-grade, 1987 approach and tells her, "This is not your brain on drugs," repeatedly adding how she's deader than a doornail until Denny jumps in to remind them they were going to take it easy on her. "This is not 'easy.'" Dylan motions him to take over and he gently asks Mere if she remembers drowning in Elliott Bay. "Yeah, that sucked," is her deep and meaningful reaction. Dylan realizes this is going to take a while, but Denny points out they don't have a while.

Addison finds Derek and gives him the scoop, to which he promptly demands to go in. She wisely won't let him, pointing out he's in no condition to help anyone right now, Meredith or otherwise. She then heads out to the interns and gives them the extremely helpful summary of, "Not good." Cristina starts shooting questions, but Addy cuts her off, just repeating it's not good and they're doing everything they can, but that they should start preparing themselves. She leaves, and Alex elects to go with her rather than wait around, asking Izzie to keep him posted. Cristina flips out, recognizing med-speak for, "Your person is probably about to die." Izzie tries to reassure her that everything will be okay, but George bitterly tells her, "Sometimes you're wrong." Cristina stares at the window and shakes her head, then declares she's not doing this and leaves. George turns to walk away but Izzie stands at the window, just whispering desperately, over and over that Mere will be okay.

A woman calls Meredith's name, and it's another death counselor, this time Liz, her mother's former scrub nurse. Meredith remembers that she died of liver cancer (which actually I think was pancreatic cancer, but if Liz won't correct her, then I won't either), and as with Meredith, death suits Liz. She looks fantastic with some awesome big hair she didn't have when we saw her in life. The other former patient there is Bonnie, who seems tickled that Meredith remembers who she is as well, but Liz explains that Bonnie was an important patient for Mere. Meredith is confused, but Dylan tells her that she called the four of them there, and Denny then asks her to tell them about the water. Meredith just looks completely shocked.

In the hospital of the living, Ellis is thrashing and screaming in her bed. Olivia is hollering at her to hold still, and Mark is there watching the drama, trying to help. Olivia yells that Burke would prescribe Thorazine (I think -- there's a lot of hollering going on behind her), but Burke is busy so Mark okays the prescription. Ellis continues yelling, demanding to see Richard.

Addison is in with Crush, who is also panicking and thrashing as Addison tries to calm her, explaining that they're just trying to help the baby. Crush can now manage a few words and tells them to talk to her husband, looking at Alex. There are uncomfortable glances exchanged, and he explains that he isn't her husband, but is the doctor who rescued her from the accident. Jane doesn't remember a thing from before waking up in the hospital. Addy seems almost perturbed, which is a little bit odd, and asks if she knows her name. She doesn't, but that starts her panic anew. Addy is now more sympathetic and strokes her hair trying to calm her down. She and Alex leave the room, wondering what might have caused her retrograde amnesia, and she orders a chest x-ray. She gently asks if he wants to be with his friends, but he'd rather be working. He admits, "Meredith always makes me think... screwed up people have a chance." Hear that? It's my heart breaking a tiny bit over Alex and Meredith's friendship and how he's clearly worried and coping in his own way.

The senior docs continue to work on Meredith, but nothing helps -- her heart is still decidedly not beating. Just then, Izzie inexplicably walks in. They order her out to wait with George and Cristina, but she's paralyzed by the sight and can only mumble that Cristina's gone. Burke seems appalled that she's gone during her shift. On the one hand, since there do only seem to be a small handful of doctors working at Seattle Grace, and half of them are currently in with Meredith, I understand his shock. On the other, she was just sitting in the hall. Does it really matter? He asks where she went; cut to Cristina, wandering the aisles of the 99-cent store, still in her scrubs, looking dazed yet interested as she grabs items at random off of the shelves and tosses them into her shopping cart.

In surgatory, Mere wanders out of the room and into the hallway looking for Doc. She doesn't seem to care one bit that Denny is arguing there's no time to look for her undead puppy, nor does she seem to care about her own drowning. Bonnie yells at her, trying to get her to listen, then stops and worriedly says, "Oh no... " At that moment, blood starts to stain her shirt, coming from her stomach (where she had been impaled by the pole in life) and she shakes and falls to the ground. The men catch her and all stare at Mere.

Mere's trying desperately to help, wiping the blood off Bonnie's stomach to no avail. There doesn't seem to be any injury, just magical blood abounding, and she's the only one who is worried. Liz tells her, "It happens with Bonnie, baby, you've just got to ride it." Seriously, how do they all know this? Do the four of them travel around in a pack to counsel dead people? We know from Dylan that Meredith called them specifically, so did they also simultaneously impact other random people in their lives who have also called them to help them cross over? And also, when did this become an episode of Ghost Whisperer? And why am I admitting that I watch that show? So many questions, my head hurts. Dylan tries to tell her there's no point, but she orders him to the OR for supplies. He turns and walks away and disappears into the ether. She sees this and tries to shake it off to turn back to Bonnie, but Liz, Bonnie, and Bonnie's blood have all disappeared. Denny asks her if she'd like to talk or waste more time.

Meanwhile, in real life, Bailey says quietly that they've been at it for over an hour and they should prepare. The Chief just continues his compressions and argues that she's young and healthy, her temp will go up, and her heart will start again. "That's the only possibility I'm prepared for."

Cristina has left the 99-cent store for somewhere even more magical -- the bar. She swigs a beer and offers Joe some moisturizer from the many bags surrounding her. He points out that it smells like something burning, but she just dreamily corrects that it's gingerbread. Hmm, so it's gingerbread that I've tried to make, then. She realizes, "You're not getting this, are you," and dreamily marvels at how every single item cost a mere 99 cents. She dives clumsily beneath the bar as Joe cracks another beer (is that a good idea?) and thunks down a child's plastic chair in front of him and gestures like Vanna White. "It's small, it's tiny-sized, it has cat-like creatures on it. But it is a chair. For 99 cents you can buy furniture. THAT is America, man." Joe corrects her, "That's Taiwan, man," all the while looking like he's going to start backing away slowly any moment. He points out that this ferry disaster is a bad thing, and if she should be... but before he can finish "at work," she declares that she's coping, and his only job is to shut up and, "Look at all my crap!"

George and Izzie are having much less drinking-shopping-avoiding fun and wait in the hallway. They snap to attention when they see Bailey, but she's just there to assign them to Callie. They protest, but she seems to have remembered that they're doctors, and this is a crisis, so they should be helping. Callie tells them to head to the clinic, but Izzie refuses. Callie assures her that everyone is scared and they need to help, then turns to leave with George. Ever mature, Izzie rolls her eyes.

Alex asks Crush questions about her medical history, which is frustrating for both of them since she has no idea of any of the answers. I'm not quite sure why he's even bothering since they already established her amnesia, but without it there would be no way for her to lament that she doesn't even know the sex of her baby or if she's even married. She sees that she has a ring line but no ring, and neither she nor Alex knows what that means. He throws down his clipboard in frustration, which understandably scares her, and she asks if she's going to be okay. He quickly assures her yes and that he's worried about a friend. She says that she's sorry, and he just agrees that, "Things are tough all over."

Case in point, Sydney is in the clinic daring to tell everyone that there are no new updates. They do, however, desperately need blood donors, and she asks everyone waiting to consider donating. She's clearly worried but ever chipper. Izzie is going through a cooler filled with donated pints as Callie watches her with a needle in her own arm. When she asks what Izzie is doing, Iz explains curtly that she's looking for Mere's type. Callie starts again to try and comfort Izzie, saying they shouldn't give up. Izzie snarks, "I wasn't going to, but thanks." Callie has finally had enough, long after the rest of us had. She asks what she did to rile up Izzie and adds, "We need to pull together." Izzie absolutely flips out and spits, "Not 'we.'" She is mad that Callie seems to think she knows Meredith and lays that claim just to herself, George, and Cristina. Alex appears to be out of sight, out of mind for this argument, I guess. "We were here long before you and George started fooling around." Callie's pissed and points out George is her husband to which Izzie actually has the gall to reply, "Stop saying that like it means something; it's a piece of paper." I'd like to point out that all of this is coming from a woman who got engaged to a patient after a few weeks. Pot-kettle much there, Iz?

Callie rips the line out of her arm and approaches Izzie, pulling the curtain around them. I thought (and desperately hoped, with unabashed glee) that she was going to punch her, but she instead just informs Izzie she won't be run off, and that George wants her there. She goes so far as to say that if Izzie would get over herself, they might be friends, which is kind of like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Callie also threatens, "Or you can keep on like you are, and be that person that George used to know." Don't judge me for actually saying out loud, "Ooh, burn!" to the TV screen. Izzie's fighting a losing battle and argues that it's George's decision alone. Is she really so dumb that she thinks he's not going to choose his wife first? I feel like it was a rite of passage in college to aggressively hate a friend's significant other and then learn that the friend was not going to appreciate your brutal honesty and you'd have to do a lot of groveling over a private meal in the dorm cafeteria to get them back in your good graces. Izzie was in school for years between college and med school, I find it hard to believe that she was so busy modeling to live through this like the rest of us. Callie, on the other hand, knows what his choice will be. She advises, "You cannot afford to lose another friend. Not when people around you keep... " Izzie finishes her thought when she hesitates. "Keep... dropping like flies. Is that what you were about to say?" She storms out.

Mere's still wandering the hospital, agitated that her ghost minders won't stop pestering her about the little drowning incident. Bonnie's especially mad that she keeps saying nothing happened, asking if Meredith realizes how hard it really is to be dead. Mere tries to argue that Bonnie was so strong in the hospital but she screams that she was in shock and then drugged to the hilt. In retrospect, she points out, she got a fairly shitty deal, as she was young and about to get married when she died. (And here is where we have the final opening credit, 16 minutes into the episode. I feel like maybe that could be trimmed a little bit, no?) She's taking it kind of personally that Meredith doesn't seem bothered by being dead. No one believes Mere's weak protests that she fought but that the water was too cold. Denny counters her by asking what happened in the tub. She continues arguing before recoiling at the idea of him watching her in the tub, but he corrects that much as he'd love seeing a bathing woman, they just know things in their dead counselor world. Liz shows up to argue that any daughter of Ellis's would have to think about dying at some point, so Mere says it's not about her mom. Denny points out that this means it's about Derek. She protests that, too, and Bonnie starts yelling at her again about the lack of respect she has for life. She gets so upset that the bleeding starts anew.

By Lauren S

In the hallway, Derek rants, but Addison interrupts him, telling him it won't do anything to yell at Meredith's mother now. He finally stops and says it's all his fault. He begins to have a panic attack, crying and stuttering as she assures him he's only human. However, she realizes that Derek thinks Meredith might have gone into the water on purpose. He faintly pleads that she's a good swimmer and begins to cry. Addison starts to speak gently but then takes his face in her hands. She orders him not to fall apart while there's still a chance, which seems to pull him together a little bit. She's then paged and leaves.

Mere's now in the surgatory OR looking for something to help treat Bonnie. Denny's still there, seeming to be the only one who doesn't come and go, still asking her to forget about Bonnie and talk about the water instead. She continues to argue that she fought, but he doesn't believe her, and tells her that she can't stay there. She screams that she doesn't want to, but it still rings false, and he admits, "It's easier. But you can't. Because George's dad died. And Izzie lost me. And Cristina... " She's not paying much attention, looking around again, but he drops a bomb about her Person. "When she was nine she was in a car accident with her father. And he bled out right in front of her while they waited for an ambulance to arrive." The 99-cent store, her reaction to Burke's shooting -- it's all suddenly fallen into place. He continues, "And Alex?" She finally turns and tells him to stop, but he says that her dying would be it for them. "This is the big one. So pay attention." He then asks her if she realizes what a miracle it is that Derek is so rare, loving, optimistic, believing in soulmates, blah blah blah blech. He points out that she'll change him if she dies. He's finally gotten to her, and one might ask if maybe he should have brought this up earlier? But at least she's finally snapped to attention, though when she looks up, crying, he's gone. There's some dramatic chiming to take us back to real world Seattle Grace.

Derek is still standing in the hallway outside Ellis' room, composing himself, when alarms begin to ring and a code blue is called from her room.

Speaking of blue, we're back to Meredith again. Bailey has an idea for them to try a cardiopulmonary bypass. Richard likes the idea and pages Burke.

Cristina's still at the bar, slurring to Joe about quality when Burke sits down to her. He tells her there's no change with Mere, but she brushes it off. When he suggests she come back, she spits, "You know I'm not a civilian here. I know the science. It's drinking time." Drink O'Clock, my favorite time. But Burke tells her it's not yet, and that she has a responsibility to Meredith. She's upset, telling him she can't do it, and he should know that. He argues that she was there for him, proving that he's got selective memory, but she corrects him. "After I knew you were going to make it." I'm not proud, okay? I just... I can't. I can't go back there. I can't. I can't go back there and watch. Her." He beeps and orders her to listen, telling her that if her Person dies while she's in the bar, it will ruin her. Either he maybe finally gets the "Person" concept or at least has matured enough to play along. "Come and say goodbye to your friend." He leaves, and she broods.

By Lauren S

The crash of cymbals bring us dramatically back to the real world. Bailey looks like she's given up, sadly watching the Chief continue to work on Meredith. Her temperature has dropped again, and he's shocked and mad.

Ellis, now calm, wakes up to see Derek sitting on the couch in her room and staring at her. He looks like he's been crying. As is her wont, she looks perturbed and orders him roughly to get her some water. He does, very gently, and then strokes her hair as she sips from the straw. Then, softly, he tells her, "You broke her. You called her ordinary. You told her time and time again that nothing she does, ever, is good enough. Every good thing Meredith is happened despite you. She may not survive this, and that's on you. That is on YOU." His voice and his anger grow, and Addison catches him, calling his name. Ellis just looks a bit confused, but not terribly perturbed by the dressing down.

Derek, being the only doctor in the hospital since everyone else is by his girlfriend's beside, works on Ellis. He tells a nurse to page Burke but is told he can't come because he's performing the cardiopulmonary bypass, which Derek realizes is on Meredith. Well duh, Derek, you don't see any other patients in this hospital, do you?

It looks like Mere's procedure is done, and her temperature is up to 96 degrees. The doctors breathe a collective sigh of relief and exposit that now the only thing they need is a heartbeat.

In surgatory, Meredith panics, desperate to get back. Unfortunately, she might have spent too much time on that river known as DeNial, and it might be too late. She hyperventilates and screams, "I had intimacy issues! Do you know how stupid that seems now?" The gallery of ghosts nod their heads and seem proud that she's realized she wants to live, even though she might not be able to. She continues desperately, "It's not enough. It's not enough, just a whiff of Derek, or of Cristina. I need to go back now!" She panics, and they all watch, looking unable to muster up their "concerned" faces.

Things don't look too good in Ellis' room, as Derek yells at her not to die on him today. It's classic TV medical melodrama. He shocks her, but nothing changes.

It's a tough time for the Grey women, as Meredith is also still flatlined. She's now warm, but her heart hasn't taken the cue to beat. Richard's shoulders fall. "So she's warm." Bailey confirms it. "And dead," he says angrily. Everyone stands quietly, when there's one tiny beat. They snap into action and shock her, but nothing happens. Bailey begins to yell at her not to give up and does it in her own way by yelling about all of the effort and resources they've put into saving her. She and Richard have traded roles, as now he tells her there's nothing else they can do, having been on bypass nearly an hour. There are tears in all of their eyes when Cristina walks in. She stares at Meredith, and Burke closes the door behind her.

Sort-of-maybe-ghost Meredith is still panicking that she can't actually die today, and Bonnie nonchalantly assures her it will pass. It's quite a change from the girl screaming at her about not appreciating life, to this one who doesn't seem to care. Can't these ghosts keep things straight? At that moment, Meredith looks up and sees her mom in the hall and asks, "Mom?" Cut to commercial. It seemed redundant to show Ellis and also have Meredith say something. I understand wanting to cut on Meredith saying "Mom" but think maybe that's all we should have seen for now. It's kind of clumsily done.

By Lauren S

Denny's back, and he and Mere sit across from each other in the hallway with Doc, who lies with his head in Mere's lap. She quietly tells him about the bay, where she was swimming and fighting. "And then I thought, just for a second I thought, what's the point?" She starts to cry, and Denny nods with understanding. She admits that she stopped fighting, and tells him not to tell anyone, to which he agrees. I'm still unclear as to why he's the one leading this journey for her, but I love him, and I do think he's been totally in character and is a good person to help her in this time, so I love it.

They sit as a bell tolls somewhere, to remind us that we're in Creepytown. Denny suddenly looks both happy and sad, and a little like he's having a moment for which we should give him some privacy. He can feel Izzie sometimes when they're in the same spot, and he likes to think she knows he's there too. But he grows serious and tells Meredith that's all she gets in death are those moments. Because it appears that if you die at Seattle Grace, you're destined to spend your entire afterlife there, or something. Head hurting again; I'll leave it be. She asks him if this is really happening and he answers, "I don't know. This is your afterlife. Not mine." He's suddenly gone as chimes sound, and water suddenly rushes up to her feet. It looks like maybe this time she'll be given the chance to fight to survive.

Land of the Living. Izzie walks past George and asks if there's been a change, and he icily tells her no. She droops and pleads that they can't do "this" today. Then start by taking your own advice, sheesh. George realizes that too, and demands to know what she said to Callie. She waffles between denial and wanting to know what Callie said, but George just yells that she said nothing, but he saw her face and knows something happened. "Why would you pick now to throw down?" Seriously, it's not just that she's being a complete jerk, repeating her opinion over and over. It's that she's doing it when one of their best friends is hovering on the brink of death. Time and place, which by the way you've already done. She says that she didn't, which is funny since it was a pretty textbook definition. Actually it was textbook fraidy-cat throwing down. You didn't actually throw the first verbal punch, but you took the way I did when breaking up with my first boyfriend, where I didn't want to be the one to say it so I danced around it until he had to make the suggestion. I'm not proud, but I was a teenager at the time. Izzie decides to go with "proud," though, and haughtily says she can't lie about her feelings, but George asserts that she can and people do all the time. "You should hold your tongue because if I'm not making a mistake you're going to look like a jerk. And if I am, I'm going to need you. I need you, and you keep taking that away." He stutters a couple of times, but not like usual. This is a George who's sure of himself and has grown quite a spine lately, and I love seeing it. He walks away and she glowers.

George runs down the hall and sees the women talking. Alex joins then, and Izzie and Bailey are there too. Alex squeezes Izzie's shoulder -- no one says a word, but the happiness is palpable.

That night, Derek is leaning in the doorway to Meredith's room, watching her sleep. She's under navy sheets, and can I take a moment to say that this hospital has more colored sheets than I've ever seen? I've seen many a hospital, but nary a colored sheet except for Seattle Grace. She wakes up and he smiles at her and says a quiet, "Hey." She "hey"s back. It's a cute moment between the two of them; they know what they mean to each other. He walks in slowly and kisses her, then sits to her. She stares at him, never taking her eyes off of his face like he might disappear. He sighs and says her name, but before he can continue she says, "My mother's dead, isn't she." He confirms it, confused. She finally looks away, up at the ceiling and says, "It's okay. I think." She turns back to him and he nods. She repeats quietly, "I think it's okay." It may have been short, and a little bit contrived, but she needed that moment with her mom. She seems to have a calm air about her that's been missing for a long time. She got what she needed to really go on.

Addison watches them from the hallway as Derek holds Meredith's hand. Mark comes up to her and asks if she's okay, which Addy confirms. She's distracted and upset, and finally says, "We never had that. He never felt that way about me." Mark just says, kind of sadly, "I did." And? I get it. He's a screw-up, but I've always felt like he really does have a special place for Addison, he's just a moron who also can't keep it in his pants. Not that I think that's a good recipe for a relationship, but I do believe his feelings." She starts to walk away but turns around to angrily tell him that it does seem like a waste to throw away all that history. I'm not sure if she means hers and Mark's or hers and Derek's; fortunately, it's kind of moot. Mark tells her seriously that he's messed up, but that their relationship wasn't a game. She gapes at him, literally with her mouth open, but then gathers herself and says, "60 days." She challenges him to go that long without sex, and that if he does she'll consider a relationship with him. "Grow up, Mark. Find another way to scratch the itch." Oh, I'd guess he already knows that way and just doesn't like it as much. He's game, and even excited about it, clarifying that it would be them as a real couple, not just as a booty call. As she walks away, he calls out to her (really professionally, in the middle of their workplace) that if he's not having sex, she's not either. She just laughs it off, wondering who on earth she'd sleep with.

Cut to... Alex! He goes to check on Crush. In another nod to the realities of having your face smashed by a concrete pylon, he asks how she's doing and she replies that she "hurts all over." Nobody has claimed her yet, and she's clearly disappointed, asking if that means they still know nothing about her. He corrects her and goes through the test results she's gotten. It sounds like, other than her bones looking like sawdust, she's in quite good health. She's probably around 32 years old. He adds, "And your baby is a girl." She closes her eyes and then, as if she can barely dare to ask, says, "Really? A girl?" She drops her head back happily (and maybe a tad quick for someone with a broken face.) She also adds that she's decided she thinks she's married, since she feels married. Ooh, I like that thinking. I've decided I think I'm rich. Alex tells her that now he knows more about her than about some of her closest friends, which she rightfully announces is pathetic. They both laugh.

Bailey goes to Syd and thanks her for taking care of the clinic. She says everyone is talking about what she did for Mere. "Chief Resident talk." She then admits that it's just her talking, but that nevertheless, Bailey is going to give Syd a run for her money. After she walks away, Bailey agrees, "Yeah I am!" with some awesome swagger. I love having confident Bailey back -- the Bailey doubting herself was painful to watch.

Izzie approaches George in the locker room and leans against a locker. She announces that she knows she let him down, but it rings pretty false. This is clearly an apology that she knows she needs to make, though she doesn't seem to realize WHY she needs to make it. She pleads with him, "It's me. It's us." He finally looks at her and she once again adds, "Please." He leaves. I cheer.

Alive to finish her voiceover, Mere says, "At the end of a day like this, a day when so many prayers are answered and so many aren't... " The Chief is sitting with Ellis, saying a private goodbye. He admits that it's probably a relief for her, but that it's not for him. "I miss the sound of your voice. I miss talking to you. I miss YOU." He then looks down and around and leans in to quietly admit, "I died my hair. For the ladies." It's so sad to see that the last person he clearly felt he could talk to is gone, demonic though she was. He laughs at himself and then sits back and stares at her with tears in his eyes. Meredith continues. "We take our miracles where we find them. We reach across the gap, and sometimes, against all odds, against all logic," she and Derek are spooning as she sleeps in her hospital room, and then we join Izzie in the hall, "We touch."

By Lauren S

They remove Meredith's breathing tube as Addison walks in. Cristina is still holding Meredith's ankles. They confirm that she's breathing on her own, but they don't yet know about her brain function. Addison asks about Derek, but Bailey says she hasn't yet paged him. "I wanted to... giving her more time." Addison watches Bailey leave and sees Cristina, still willing Meredith with all her might to be okay. She leaves the two alone, and after a moment, Mere starts to move. Cristina runs to her side and puts her hand on her face, softly telling her to try again.

Cristina then remembers she's one who takes charge and kicks ass, and gathers herself up and orders Meredith loudly that her brain works and that she needs to form a word. Tears roll down her face. After some effort, Mere manages a single word. "Ouch." I love it, it's so true to be the first response back even if it's not romantic and meaningful. Cristina cries and rejoices, and while crying tells Meredith, "Hi! I'm getting married to Burke! Not that that should be anywhere on your list of thoughts right now, but just in case you slip in the hall later, or... " Mere smiles. Cristina takes a breath and says, "You are the one person I wanted to tell. Thank you for not dying." Mere smiles, Cristina cries, I cry. I love their relationship and the acting by Sandra Oh was unbelievable.

George runs down the hall and sees the women talking. Alex joins then, and Izzie and Bailey are there too. Alex squeezes Izzie's shoulder -- no one says a word, but the happiness is palpable.

By Lauren S

Izzie walks down the hall and suddenly stops, and the camera pans around to show that Denny is standing to her. He says her name, and she closes her eyes, seemingly hearing him. After a moment, she continues walking. After a sad moment, so does Denny, into the light.

Yeah, it was clunky and a little bit weird. But the relationships and the acting were all out of the park. I love Meredith and Cristina. I loved that Meredith got to say goodbye to her mom, in the only way she really could. I love that George is standing up for himself and his wife. Everything. No matter what the strange story, I really loved this episode.