Now Boarding

S08E21

It's finally time for the Boards, and after a couple of brief delays, the residents all head to San Francisco to take the most terrifying exam of their lives. The two that hold things up a bit are Alex and Mere -- Alex, because he's suddenly worried about baby Tommy again and is trying to help with his care on the sly, and Mere, because Zola has come down with the stomach flu. But Arizona, Derek and Callie finally get them out the door, and off they go. When they arrive at the hotel April accidentally sticks her foot in it with a total stranger, because she was offered the job he was hoping to get. But she's not the most distressed; that title goes to Meredith, who comes down with Zola's stomach flu and barfs right in the lobby. Alex isn't really paying attention to either of them because he's still completely distracted with how Tommy is doing and keeps calling Arizona to give her treatment suggestions. When he hears that she's about to do yet another bowel surgery, he declares that he has to go to Seattle, and he actually does leave and fly back even though we haven't seen evidence of his even thinking about Morgan and Tommy since he blew up at her three episodes ago. Whatever.

Back at the hospital, Teddy and Owen have to work together to treat a kid who was in a car accident, and they can't agree on a course of action since he needs a whole lot of things fixed and each of them thinks that their portion of the surgery needs to be done first. Callie bails until it's time for her to step in, leaving Bailey as witness to the horror that is Teddy and Owen (not really) trying to work together. Afterward, Bailey return to fine form as she lectures Teddy that she's being an ass still blaming Owen for Henry's death, and that she's also not actually trying to work with him at all in a professional manner. Teddy seems to start to see that this is true and offers a small olive branch by updating Owen when she hears from Cristina that she's about to go in for her exam and she feels ready.

Mark asks Lexie to help out on a surgery because Jackson isn't there and this gets them talking throughout the day. Mark at one point asks her what it was that broke her and Jackson up but they are interrupted so she doesn't have a chance to answer. When they resume their conversation he decides it's none of his business but tells her that if she still has feeling for Jackson she should tell him, since they were great together. He then tells Lexie that he's missed talking to her. She keeps almost saying something to him about her feelings for him but it never works out and after pulling an all-nighter, she gets home and winds up crying on Derek's shoulder that she is completely miserable and has no idea why she can't actually get the words out to tell Mark how she feels.

When Alex gets back to the hospital he walks right in to Tommy's surgery to see what he can do to help, but once Arizona gets over her shock at seeing him she admits there is nothing else they can do and she has to close Tommy up and tell Morgan it's time to let him go. Morgan can't seem to believe that there's really nothing more to be done until Alex comes up and joins their conversation. Instead of pushing him away, she falls into his arms and sobs. At her request he sits with her while she holds Tommy for the last moments of his life, and then he continues to hold her and try to comfort her once Tommy dies. The morning Arizona orders him to stop chickening out and to go take his Boards -- he argues that Morgan needs him but at this point it seems pretty obvious that he's trying to sabotage himself, even if it's unconscious on his part. He claims he can't make it back to San Francisco in time but Arizona tells him to try. However, when we see the examiner call his name to take the test, we don't actually see him there.

At the hotel, Cristina manages to get a hold of an IV to help rehydrate Meredith, but as soon as she hooks her up, she leaves the room for fear of catching the flu herself. She comes back later, though, and just sits against Mere's door in the hallway while Mere sits against the door in her room and the two talk. Cristina admits that Owen slept with someone and Mere admits she knew, and then they almost start to argue because Meredith thinks that Cristina has to leave him and that's that. Cristina, on the other hand, is a lot more conflicted about it but admits that she does kind of want to just leave him and Seattle. Eventually, they wind up holding hands under the door (wouldn't that still be germy?) and both fall asleep there. Mere is still totally sick the morning but Cristina orders her to practice mind over matter. Mere nearly pukes again right before they call her in but Cristina forces her to suck it up and she seems to manage, at least until we see her walk through the door to the exam.

April, who is so nervous she seems about to have a nervous breakdown, goes to dinner with Jackson but while they are at the bar they are confronted by the guy who thinks April stole his job. Jackson stands up for April but ultimately, April actually winds up and punches the dude in the nose. This starts a brawl which is broken up by none other than Richard, who is there to fill in for one of the examiners who also got the stomach flu. Richard orders everyone to leave and go get some rest but when April and Jackson get upstairs, she is so high on punching the guy that she leans in and kisses Jackson. He's really nervous about it knowing she's a virgin, but she assures him that it's okay and she wants to do this, and so they go to the room and do the deed. Afterward he's really sweet and she's elated but then the high seems to fade a little. The morning, as they wait to be called in to their exams, she finally admits to Jackson that she'd been saving herself because of her religious beliefs (what? This is the first we've heard of this...) and now Jesus hates her for having sex and will probably cause her to fail the Boards. She's then called inside.

One other coupling took place that night, though, and ended much more happily -- Richard runs into Catherine Avery and after everything that happened with Adele, he's much more open to Catherine's advances. He does have a couple of pauses but ultimately, they spend the night together and unlike April and Jackson, both of them seem very, very pleased about it the morning.

In a refreshing change of pace, this week's voiceover is actually straightforward and to the point: surgeons go through five years of training but ultimately none of that matters because the only thing that does matter is this one test. At Seattle Grace, an airport shuttle waits in the middle of the ambulance bay to take our residents away to take that test. We pretend that there are more than five residents at the hospital as unknown residents hug unknown attendings and pretend to act nervous and excited. It's nice of any traumas to hold off on happening so that we can have a big, emotional goodbye scene without any sick or maimed individuals needing to actually be brought in right where the van is haphazardly parked.

April had already been on the van but runs off in a tizzy because some of the others are late. Owen tries to calm her but she bursts into tears and cries that her parents told her that their church is praying for her, but what if she doesn't pass? Owen looks about as befuddled as what to do with this crying girl as my dad does when my sister or I turn on the waterworks. He decides to take the tough approach, reminding her that she is a trauma surgeon. Interestingly, I never realized until this point that she really had declared trauma as her specialty. I know she seemed to do well in it, but every time we saw her there was so much focus on her Chief Resident duties that her specialty never remotely occurred to me. He tries to get her to say with conviction, "I am a soldier." She tries a couple of times and never does it terribly convincingly, but he eventually sends her back on the bus as he looks heavenward as if for guidance.

Mark is advising Jackson to have salmon for dinner since it's good for his brain, while Jackson texts someone and tries valiantly to ignore his mentor. Finally, Mark gets him to really pay attention when he pulls out a drug-dealer-size wad of cash just in case Avery needed some extra. Teddy coaches Cristina that they want standard, rather than cutting-edge, answers. Cristina cuts Teddy off and points out that none of her rapid-fire, last-minute advice is actually helping her to relax. Teddy agrees and stops, and then joyously sends her off to the bus; when Cristina gets there she sees Owen and looks at him for one moment before turning and climbing on the van without a word.

Bailey and Arizona are standing together and in response to Arizona's excitement Bailey comments, "They started off with so little promise, I feel like I'm witnessing a miracle!" Oh Bailey, I get that sometimes you have emotions but this is the you that I really love. Arizona then realizes that Alex isn't there, but Bailey reassures her that he'll be there since Arizona trained him right. But this makes her realize angrily that Meredith hasn't appeared yet, either.

By Lauren S

That is because Meredith is at daycare with Zola, who has just turned into a barf factory. She's all worried and thinks she should stay but both Derek and Callie are there trying to convince her to go. Callie is invested because she put in too much effort for Mere's mom hormones to cause Mere to miss the test and Derek reminds her that in fact he is a doctor and he'll be fine to take care of Zola while she is gone. Callie adds a reminder that they are all doctors there, and hey, it takes a village, doesn't it? Mere smothers Zola in kisses -- something I understood completely but thought wasn't thoroughly wise even the first time I watched this episode in real time -- and then leaves. Derek then tries to take up villager Callie on her implied offer of help but Callie shuts him right down since Sofia just got over this very flu. She calls out that she was only giving Mere a handy metaphor, and then leaves Derek with his sick (but still sickeningly cute) daughter.

Alex, meanwhile, is worried about Tommy again and is standing over the incubator looking at his chart. Tommy seems to be deteriorating but as we haven't seen Alex give the baby a second thought over the past few weeks, this feels kind of contrived already. The confused look on Morgan's face speaks for all of us, and she reminds him that Tommy isn't his patient any more. She adds that they are getting along just fine without him and tells him not to butt in now, but I'm not 100% convinced she would actually mind his butting in. Arizona, though, is another story. She sees Alex and calls him away, then refuses to answer any questions about Tommy and just gives him tips about the test as she wheels his suitcase down the hall. Alex tells her he's got it and she tells him she hopes he does; he freaks out wondering what she means, and she changes her tune to act all sure he's going to do awesome.

When Alex gets down to the van April hollers at him for being 23 minutes late and he yells back with a tone of actual malice, asking if it's too late to get a van without her on it. Oh Lord, save me from yet another hour of everybody being genuinely shitty to each other. Bailey is happy to see Meredith finally get on the bus, but she then turns and catches Owen looking longingly through the window at the back of Cristina's head. Bailey's smile fades as she watches him, but she pulls herself together as she walks in front of the van and happily smacks the hood as she goes past. It's the universal sign for, "Good to go," but don't you do that from behind the vehicle, so they don't then go and just run you over? Fortunately, they wait until she walks past to leave and everyone waves and calls good luck.

By Lauren S

Lexie is left working while the others go off to make or break their careers in a single meeting, and Mark finds her and declares, "I need you, Lex." She's shocked, but of course he means he needs her to help out on a surgery because he's got a helpless intern. There's some joking about how Mark's worthless intern thinks "debriding necrotic tissue" is a Nine Inch Nails album, but Lexie gently stops the flirting by telling him he's just sad because Jackson his gone. Mark tells her that the two of them understand each other and work well together, just like he and Lexie used to, so he needs her. She firmly tells him she has to catch up on a bunch of research for Derek and is pulling an all nighter, which he accepts but he's still all wistful. As he leaves she calls after him to wait, but then just tells him he really should check out the latest NIN album, because it's "fresh." If you are neither a prince nor from Bel-Air, and it's not 1991, you shouldn't be using that word and they both know it. After a baffled Mark walks away, Lexie reacts in horror to what her nerves made her say.

With the van gone, an ambulance brings in a teenager who was in a car accident and has a variety of horrible injuries on top of the fact that his heart has already stopped twice. Owen calls for Teddy while Bailey begins to check him out and she calls out various orders. The kid's mom comes in and freaks out, and as Bailey ushers her out of the room Owen and Teddy give each other a look over the kid's body. I can't be bothered to spend too much time worrying about mom or kid since we'll never even see her again or his face at all; he's really just a reason to get Owen and Teddy uncomfortably in a room together.

Some stunningly gorgeous, fog-free shots show that the residents are in San Francisco for their Boards. They get to the hotel and as they walk in through the lobby, April (wearing a shirt that I thought was really cute, and then I realized it's one that I tried on in Banana Republic and which looked so appalling on me I wondered if any person could possibly wear it and look good. The answer is yes, and here she is!) sees a guy wearing a Case Western hat and introduces herself, asking if she knows the head of trauma there. When the guy says that he does, April happily tells him that she was just offered a job there. His mood turns dark and he informs April with a sneer that he'd been waiting to hear if he got that job, and now he seems to know the answer.

By Lauren S

April is all upset that he hates her already, and it sends her on yet another downward spiral. Cristina tells her to quit freaking out but April can't help herself and she screeches that one in five people fail the Boards. Hmm, and isn't it interesting that there are five of them right there? Cristina gives up, but Jackson assures her that they've dealt with worse things in their everyday jobs, and that they will be fine.

Mere has been pretty quiet and she finally stands up, calls Cristina over, and tells her that Zola has the stomach flu. Cristina rolls her eyes, thinking that Mere wants to leave, and tries to assure her that kids get sick and everything will be fine. But Mere repeats what she said with particular emphasis, and it's then that Cristina realizes her friend is looking kind of clammy. She tries to get Mere to take deep breaths but when April comes over and asks if they want to get lunch after registration, Mere turns and pukes all over the floor. Cristina explains that she has the flu, and April looks more horrified that Mere brought in a virus than she does about Mere's well-being after just spewing on a hotel lobby carpet.

Sure enough, as soon as we return from commercial April is hollering at Meredith that she can't believe she didn't tell them about this, as if Mere is out to intentionally poison them all before the exam. They all leave her to go get their packets and even Cristina doesn't want to get too close, but at least she offers to pick up Mere's materials for her.

As they get in line, Jackson notices that Alex dials his phone and leaves a voicemail for Arizona with treatment suggestions for Tommy. But before Jackson can say anything, Alex sees someone across the way and points out to Jackson that his mom is there, much to Jackson's dismay. She's there to help administer and just wanted to catch him and say good luck, and she also tells him she brought "it." He is mortified and after some arguing manages to convince her that he doesn't want whatever it is. Alex is extremely interested, but Catherine keeps the mystery token in her purse and tells Jackson what room she's in if he changes his mind. Once she goes Alex teases him, asking if he has a binky. Jackson admits immediately that his mom brought his lucky pencil, which he used on the SAT, MCAT, and intern exam. Alex points out what Jackson already knows, which is that this test is oral, and therefore surmises that it really is a binky. Well, except that it's just a pencil and if he'd just taken it from Catherine he could have just held on to it and no one else would have been the wiser and it really wasn't worth this big deal. Except, of course, that it maybe, just maybe, this sets up something else later if he wants to go pick the pencil up after all.

Cristina hands Mere her packet and then glances around the room, figuring that if April's numbers are correct then 20 of the 100 or so people around them are going to fail. Mere is too sick to care, and Cristina runs off as Alex tries to call Arizona again.

At the hospital, we see her ignore the call because she's talking to Morgan. She explains that Tommy has another problem with his bowel and they won't know how bad it is until they go in. She warns Morgan that since part of the bowel has already been removed, there's a good chance he won't make it through the procedure. But Morgan has heard this before and he's made it each other time, so she wants the surgery and gives Arizona a little bit of attitude as if Arizona is being too cautious and annoying. Arizona looks deeply unsure, but she agrees.

Teddy and Owen, meanwhile, are fighting about the best way to treat their patient and Callie rolls her eyes at all of their ridiculous sparring over what procedure they will perform first. Bailey thinks Teddy's idea is the best compromise, but she is also able to act as peacemaker and finally Owen grudging gives in to their way. Callie then tells them all she'll be back when it's time to do her own part of the surgery. Bailey wasn't expecting her to leave but Callie can't believe Bailey is going to stay since being in an OR with Owen and Teddy these days is horrifyingly awful. Bailey tries to say they are professionals but Callie says that it's awful, tense, and frankly dangerous. I'm glad someone finally pointed that last part out -- it has seemed like these docs all like to get their own way sometimes at the expense of the patient's well-being. Callie feels so strongly about the horribleness that she describes it as: "Like diffusing a bomb in a haunted house that's built on a minefield and there are bears everywhere. And the bears have knives." She tells Bailey that over the few hours, she has to step up and tame the two fighting surgeons or else they'll take down everyone else with them. Bailey seems confused, and I can't help but wonder where she's been all this time since we've seen plenty of nasty exchanges that totally back up what Callie is saying.

The four healthy residents are all hanging out in a hotel room, and Avery is doing last-minute studying. Alex tells him he should give it up -- if they don't know the info now, they are screwed. He mentions the power of Avery's magical pencil to help see him through and Cristina perks right up and wants to know details. As they make fun of him, April bursts into tears AGAIN because she can't believe the time has really come. They pretty much try to ignore her and talk about Meredith; Cristina is a mama bear on the subject of her person and insists Mere is fine. Alex tries calling Arizona again and she finally answers; as Jackson rubs April's knee and tries to calm her down, Alex asks about Tommy. Arizona wants Alex to let it go but finally admits that his hunch about Tommy's health was right, and they are going to operate in a few hours. He had started to ask about Morgan but cuts himself off, which is probably because he knew Arizona wouldn't even give him any info. But when he hears that they are going to operate on Tommy, he hangs up and then declares to the room that he has to go back to Seattle. When he turns and leaves the room, it's too much for April's delicate psyche and she begins to wail in panic that they are all falling apart.

Mere is already in pajamas in bed, obviously still pukey, but when Derek calls Mere fakes it and says she is doing better. Derek tries to fake that Zola is doing better but Zola's screams bust him. He finally walks away from his crying child and tries to tell Mere that she is now smiling. Derek then gives her the news that there is a position open that he could take at Mass General, but Mere just points out that she's not sure she wants the job at the Brigham and also, she hasn't passed this big, scary, awful test yet. Derek has walked back over to a now-quiet Zola, and she plays with the buttons on the phone and winds up hanging up on her mom. Mere's not terribly worried and just leaves it be and goes to answer a knock at the door; no one is there and she realizes that it's the door to the adjoining room. It turns out Cristina is there, and she's wearing a mask and holding up Gatorade and an IV bag of fluids. Meredith is impressed with her ability to find these in a hotel, though Cristina reminds her that the hotel is currently full of doctors. Mere is grateful for the help but Cristina assures her that as soon as the needle is in her arm, she's fleeing this germ incubator.

As Teddy is finishing up, Owen can't help himself and snipes that he hopes it was worth it for her to get in there first. Callie walks in to find out if they are done and there's some more passive-aggressive needling from Owen and defensive bitchery from Teddy, who still needs a little while. As she leaves, Callie makes a veiled comment that pointedly reminds Bailey that Callie wants her to help fix this problem. Bailey tries desperately to get her to stay but Callie knows better and slips out.

Lexie is reading and eating lunch in the cafeteria when Mark asks if he can join her. After some more intern bashing Mark gushes some more about Jackson. Lexie agrees with him which causes Mark to blurt out the question, why did they break up? She doesn't have time to answer before Idiot Intern pages and so Mark gets up to leave and tells her this is to be continued. She seems at first relieved, but then kind of wistful once he's gone.

Later that evening, Arizona is shocked to have Alex walk in to the OR while she is working on Tommy. Or rather, while she isn't working because she finds that the bowel is far too damaged and there is nothing else that she can do. He tells her he couldn't just sit at the hotel and do nothing -- what is the point of this stupid storyline? We've seen Alex grow a heart before, but at least it's been consistent and not dropped for weeks for convenience. And even if he's grown a heart, Alex would (or at least should) know that he's going to be of no help to anyone if he doesn't pass this test. Is this to show us he's self-destructive? He is, but that doesn't seem to make sense here since we haven't been working towards that, either. It's just dumb. In the OR right now, Arizona doesn't feel like scolding him because she is sad about Tommy.

By Lauren S

April and Jackson are down in the hotel bar having dinner (him) and a drink (her) and mercifully, she's not crying. She is still kind of in a panic about their group falling apart but Jackson just reminds her to concentrate on herself. She finally is able to say, "I'm a soldier," though Jackson has no idea what she is talking about. (Really? I mean, even if he doesn't know that Owen started it, it's not that crazy a statement to make when trying to pump oneself up to tackle something, is it?) The two congratulate themselves on being the last men standing and then hear a laugh from across the bar and notice that Mr. Case Western is there drinking with his buddies, and he starts to walk over. A friend comes with him and I cringe for the guy since he's trying to calm the guy down without making a huge scene, and he's kind of embarrassed at Mr. CW's behavior. Oh man, we have all been there.

By Lauren S

Mr. CW first acts like he's apologizing but once he and April shake hands, he implies that she might have gotten the job offer through some extra special favors. He won't let it go and just gets douchier and douchier, so Jackson tells him to go sleep it off. Mr. CW makes another snide comment and finally April can't stand it any longer and she leaps up and punches him right in the nose, then doubles over holding her hurt fist. Mr. CW is infuriated and calls her a bitch but he won't hit a woman -- instead, he turns and punches Jackson in the face. He can't believe it and the two face off, but when Mr. CW dares him to "go," April jumps in front of Jackson and yells, "Yeah, bitch! I want to go!" She then leaps onto Case Western and clings to him, trying to sock him in the back, and it's awesomely hilarious.

Jackson has to pull her off of the guy and carries her a few feet away while she still kicks and punches in Mr. CW's general direction and screams threats at him. She tries to break free but they stop when a very familiar voice starts yelling that anyone not out in 30 seconds is barred from the test. It's none other than Richard, who is stunned to see two of his residents in the middle of a barroom fight. They ask what he's doing there but he's in no mood to answer their questions and continues to yell and threaten them. They are struggling to keep straight faces and finally run out of the bar, giggling, while he seems to marvel at the idiocy of Kids Today.

When Arizona breaks the news about Tommy to Morgan, Morgan can't seem to process what she is saying and Arizona has to tell her point-blank that Tommy won't survive. Morgan is so used to him pulling through everything that she pleads that there must be more they can do. From behind her, Alex calls her name and then walks up and tells her gently that she did absolutely everything. The sad music starts up as she starts to cry. He tells her he's sorry and eventually puts his arms out; she falls into them and he holds her.

Teddy is finally, really almost finished but as she is about to hand over the reins to Owen, alarms start to ring. Owen just petulantly tells them, "I knew it." Knew what? Teddy asks him the same thing and points out that sometimes grafts leak. But she's also being equally awful to him, lest you worry that I am taking sides. Both of them have reverted to angry children. Bailey and Teddy are working anxiously and need help but when Bailey yells at Owen to knock him out of his angry haze and assist, he declines and says that Teddy can assist Bailey. He announces that his head isn't in the game, so he shouldn't be there, and he'll go ahead and leave them to it. I just hope this kid lives so he's not an actual casualty of their immaturity.

April and Jackson are having a much better time; April is high on punching Mr. CW and Jackson is pretty proud of her. She's so energized, in fact, that once she opens her hotel door, she excitedly tells him that she's realized that they are going to kick the test's ass just liked she kicked Mr. CW's ass. And then, she leans in and gives Jackson a very deep kiss. He pulls back and says her name, worried, but she just leans in again and asks if she shouldn't have done that. She's as confident as we've ever seen her and tells him that if he wants to stop, he just needs to say so. His breathing indicates that it's not that he wants to stop, but he says out loud (reminding himself as much as her) that she's a virgin. She explains that since she was a kid she had an idea of how her whole life was going to go, but now she's not the same person. She tells him it felt good when she punched the guy and when something feels good, it can't be bad, right? Well... now isn't necessarily the time to start arguing philosophy with her. He's tentative but decidedly not opposed to the idea, and she kisses him again and tells him it's okay. That's what he needs, and he pulls her into the room.

Catherine and Richard are having dinner and she flirts her way through a threat to hold Richard responsible if Jackson fails the test. Richard is confident that Jackson is a good kid and will do a good job, so she changes the subject and asks how he is, and how Adele is doing. Richard admits that she's doing fairly well but that he's stopped going to visit her for a while since it seemed to confuse her so much. Catherine seems genuinely worried about him and asks how he is doing with it, and Richard says it's the right thing but still seems terribly sad about it. He does know, at least, that she's happy now. Catherine muses that they never realized at their age they would still have to do some growing up, and then gives him the best bedroom eyes in the entire world.

Back in Seattle, it looks like the teenager is going to be fine as Callie comes in to do her portion. Teddy is ranting and raving about how immature and unwilling to collaborate Owen is, and says point blank that she isn't the problem. Bailey looks exhausted and steps down to go talk to Callie while Teddy continues to rant, not even seeming to notice that Bailey is gone. Callie can't believe that Bailey hasn't done anything and seems to think that her organizing ladies' night means she's off the hook now. I don't believe that, but I do believe her point, which is that Bailey is the only one Teddy will listen to. She seems to accept this, and then walks back over to Teddy and announces that Owen wasn't fighting her, he just disagreed on a treatment which is something that happens to doctors all the time. But, she points out, Teddy sees him not as a doctor but as the man responsible for the death of her husband. "And you know and I know that was not his fault." Teddy finally looks up. Bailey says that Owen is taking this treatment because he thinks it will make Teddy feel better; he's not fighting her, but she's fighting him. Bailey turns to Callie, who gives her an enthusiastic nod of encouragement. Bailey tells Teddy that Owen's life is falling apart right now and she hopes that blaming him is helping her, since it's not helping him at all. Teddy seems to think this all over.

By Lauren S

And now it's time for the sex montage. The sextage, if you will. They get to her room and start pulling each other's clothes off while they kiss. I laughed out loud as he tried to pull the tie out of her wrap dress and he had to keep pulling and pulling because it's so long -- that happens to me just trying to get my own dress off my own self after work in the evening. She gets on the bed and smiles at him, and he has one more sad moment and looks away. But she goes over and takes his face in her hands, and eventually he crawls onto the bed with her and they get down to business.

The younger Avery is also having an amazing time and April is giddy as she rolls off of him. He's really amazingly sweet, and seems surprised that it was so great. She giggles that it was, and he turns and tells her sincerely that she was great. She starts to calm down, and he asks if she's glad they did it. She says that she is, but her mood sobers as the minutes go by. He can sense this, and he sits up and asks her if she's okay. She says she's fine, just tired, but seems wigged out as she says they should get some sleep. He asks her if he should stay there and she agrees, but then starts to comment that he doesn't have to and he realizes that she might want some time alone. The entire time they are talking he's carefully gauging all her reactions and between that and his bare torso, I'm kind of falling in love myself. After asking her again if she's okay he gives her a kiss and then gets out of bed while she lays back, kind of troubled.

Mere and Cristina are now lying down on either side of the door, and Mere offers that Cristina could come live with her for a while since most of the other residents are all gone. But Cristina doesn't want to do that. Mere asks for confirmation that at least Owen is moving out, and can't seem to process it when Cristina admits she doesn't know that, nor if she is going to leave him. She sits up and seems kind of desperate for Meredith to understand how complicated this is, and how there's more to it than just breaking up since they are married. Mere seems sort of to want to understand, but she keeps talking divorce and sees this as very black and white because Owen cheated on her. Oh Meredith, it's GREY, can't you see? This is a horribly confusing situation. And it's actually interesting because it's such a call back to the early storylines on this show that were so good because they depicted realistic, difficult situations that didn't have clear right and wrong solutions. I'm surprised that Meredith can't seem to accept Cristina's confusion but then again, right now she's the mama bear and is feeling protective of her friend, and I get that. I've been through that and played the Meredith role here, so I so totally get it, even though I'm also annoyed with Mere.

Cristina says bluntly that Owen screwed someone one time when he was drunk, and she's not sure that means the marriage is over; Mere tries to say what she'd do if it was her but Cristina doesn't want to hear it. She points out that she knows that she herself could have done the same thing and if that had happened, she wouldn't want Owen to leave her for it. I'm so annoyed that Mere is sitting there being so judgmental but again, that's probably because I can see myself in her right now. When your person has been wronged, you don't want to see all the angles, you want to kill that person. But Mere sits there silent and Cristina finally tells her to spit it out. "You got married awfully fast," Mere says. Desperately, Cristina begs Mere to be on her side -- just like Owen said to Cristina. Both women are frustrated, Mere because Cristina seems to be defending Owen and Cristina because Mere can't seem to understand what she's saying. Well, and it's frustrating and sad for her in general to be the one going through all of this. Cristina finally admits that she wants to leave him, and Mere just says, "Okay" -- a noncommittal answer until she figures out what Cristina really wants to hear. This means Stanford or Columbia for Cristina and Mere points out sadly that she'd be leaving Mere too. Cristina asks hopefully about the Brigham job but Mere admits she's probably not going to take it so Cristina has to admit that yeah, she'd be leaving Mere too. Cristina says that there are phones but Mere reminds her that she hates the phone, and Cristina has to agree. Finally, Mere tells Cristina to stick her hand under the door. She does, and Mere reaches over and weakly pats her hand while a tear rolls down Cristina's face. I would think that's probably still plenty germy, but both of them need the contact right now.

As Morgan rocks Tommy, he finally takes his last little breath and goes quiet. She panics and cries that she's not ready yet, but Alex feels his pulse and realizes he is gone. He puts his hand on Morgan's arm and she crumbles and cries to her baby how much she loves him. As she begins to wail, Alex reaches his other hand to her shoulder to hold her as best he can.

The morning, Arizona walks up to Alex and asks how Morgan is doing; Alex gives a typically shitty reply, asking Arizona how she thinks the girl is doing after losing her baby. He then asks if the nagging can wait but she informs him that it can't, because she needs him as her pediatrics fellow and in order to become that, he has to, oh, TAKE THE FUCKING BOARDS. Alex actually argues that he has to stay there for Morgan but Arizona assures him that they will look after her, and then reminds him that he is just Tommy's doctor and nothing more. Alex whines that he can't make it anyway since the test is in three hours, but Arizona challenges him by saying he's never given up on a patient before, so he shouldn't give up on this. She orders him to at least try to make it. Look, I just don't believe that after these five years, Alex is stupid enough to just let this go. I also don't know how the Boards work, so maybe they can reschedule, but the way everyone has been talking it sounded very much like it is a one-shot deal. I guess the bottom line is that this is aggravating; I know they need drama because this is TV, but let's not make such a cheap effort to create it, okay?

By Lauren S

Teddy finds Owen looking sad, per usual, though this time she actually seems to really see it. He snaps at her, asking what it is, and she tentatively tells him that Cristina just texted that she's about to take the test and she feels good. "I just thought you'd want to know." She then runs off and he opens his mouth to say something, but no words come out.

Nervous residents are sitting on chairs in one of the halls of the hotel, outside the closed doors of what will be their test rooms. Jackson sits down to April and wishes her good luck, but she won't even look at him. He finally manages to get her to turn around and sees that she's intensely sad and assures him it's not him. "It's Jesus." Um, what? "I was a virgin because I loved Jesus. And now Jesus hates me." Where did this come from? I have absolutely no issue with her beliefs, but with all of the focus on April's virginity, how was this never mentioned before? Oh, SHOW. Jackson has no idea what to say, and then April's name is called and she goes in for the exam. Jackson's name is then called, and he gets up and puts his hand out. Stupidly, he's carrying his lucky pencil in that hand and he drops it just as the man shakes his hand, and then the guy accidentally steps on it and breaks it in half. He apologizes, having no idea that he just killed The Pencil, and Jackson just sucks it up and walks over it into the room. Mere VOs that some people crack under the pressure while others thrive.

Mere is ready to crack, or at least her stomach is, but Cristina refuses to let it happen and just reminds her, "Mind over matter." A woman then comes out and calls Cristina's name, and she stands up and very professionally shakes the woman's hand before going inside. Someone then calls Meredith, and she follows them into the room. We then see that the hall is empty, but a door opens and a woman calls Alex's name. She waits a few moments and calls it again, and we wait to see if he's going to make a triumphant sprint up the hall. But... no one arrives, and she eventually closes the door. ON HIS CAREER. Okay, fine, we don't know that; we just have to wait and see what happens week.

Lauren S is a writer and gal-about-town who lives and works in Atlanta, and has never caught the stomach flu before any important meetings though she's been the Cristina in that situation before. She wants everyone to know: "The views expressed in my recaps and anything else I might write on TWoP are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer."

By Lauren S

The alarm on Meredith's phone goes off the morning, and she sits up from where she was sleeping to the door. Cristina is still on the other side and asks how she is feeling, and Mere admits she's even worse. Cristina orders her to get up and open the door and though Mere protests, she finally does it. Cristina walks in as Meredith turns and vomits again, and Cristina rubs her back. But once she's done she announces that this is the last time Mere is going to throw up. "Mind over matter."

Jackson is up and ready and knocks on his mom's door, calling that she was right. But when the door opens, Richard is there in a bathrobe, and both men are thoroughly confused -- Jackson because he thought this was his mom's room and Richard because he thought this was room service. They have an awkward chuckle and Richard closes the door, leaving Jackson to look around and study the room numbers. Finally, he knocks again. This time his mom opens the door in nothing but Richard's shirt, and she's holding out the pencil and tells him, "Good luck, baby!" He's as horrified as anyone would be to catch their mom and their boss in such a situation, and she just gently closes the door. Inside the room, she and Richard begin to laugh gaily over Jackson's trauma and give each other a huge hug. These two do make me happy.

Hey, so did you all hear that Patrick Dempsey is a hero? My very favorite thing is that the kid's mom actually realized when he said his name that he was McDreamy. Awesome job, McDreamy.

That said, I just can't bring myself to call him McDreamy at all these days within the context of the show, even when I have moments of actually kind of liking him, like now. He looks wiped out as he sits with Zola, who is playing at the coffee table in what appears to be... a bumblebee costume? He chats to her that they made it through the night, and hopefully Mere will now pass the Boards. Lexie walks in and asks about the costume; Derek explains that Zola threw up on all of her other clothes. Lexie walks over and sits down immediately spills to Derek that she misses Mark so much. He rubs her back as she starts to cry that she keeps trying to tell him that she still loves him, but each time she does nothing comes out, and everything is terrible right now. Derek just continues to rub her back and assures her that everything will be okay, though I don't think she believes it.

By Lauren S