Season 10 picks off at the very second Season 9 left off -- with Richard in his smoking jacket (…I can't help myself) in the hospital basement with no one realizing that he is near death. All of the Board members plus Bailey (who won't leave them because she's too busy bonding with little Jared Bailey Shepherd… and minus Richard) gather in Mere's room to discuss the state of the hospital: supplies are dangerously low, so they are going to close the ER. Unfortunately, the scores of ambulances carrying firefighters caught in a mudslide didn't get the news so they drop off a ton of new patients. Bailey is worried that Richard is missing so she sends Smash to find him; Smash, meanwhile, has hurt feelings because Derek would rather work with Heather even though Smash is there, eager and willing. So when he runs into Heather, he sends her off to find Richard and then goes to help Derek himself. She eventually locates Richard in the basement, but as she walks towards him, she steps in the same puddle, gets electrocuted and then smashes her head as she falls to the floor, just for good measure.
Once the two shocked docs are found, Cristina and Bailey go to work on Richard while Derek and Smash work on Heather and her massive head injury. Cristina pulls off a miracle procedure on Richard's barely-beating heart but they realize that he's got a bunch of dead tissue in his abdomen that is just going to keep dying off and could kill him. The problem is that Cristina thinks his heart is too weak for surgery, but Bailey thinks he's dead if they don't try to get rid of the tissue. They argue until Owen tells them to go find Richard's file with his medical directive in it and when they do, they learn that after Adele's death he named Meredith to make these decisions for him if need be. She's freaked out and finally has them run more labs, declaring that one of them will determine if they do the procedure or not. The results come back and they are are high enough that she tells Bailey to try removing all his bad tissue, and we are left with Mere fretting about the decision while Bailey picks up a scalpel.
Heather, meanwhile, is in terrible shape and Smash is barely able to contain his guilt. The other interns try to continue working, but are having a hard time of it since it looks like -- even if Heather survives -- she'll have major neurological deficits. Jo wants to make herself feel better with some Alex sex, but she wants to do it somewhere that Alex hasn't already christened with either Leah or Heather (or both) and it appears that location is hard to come by.
As for the others, Jackson doesn't have time to respond to April's desperate declaration of love because of the incoming patients, so that is left up in the air for now. Callie announced during the impromptu Board meeting that Arizona cheated on her the night before, so of course she and Arizona then happen to have to work together on a surgery. While they manage to get the job done, Callie is barely able to speak a civil word to her wife and Arizona realizes she has an uphill battle to try and win forgiveness. And Cristina and Owen are now officially broken up, but Meredith points out that this has happened before and they always get back together. And indeed, as Owen regards Cristina's genius during the crisis, he seems as deeply in love as he ever was. So we'll see what comes of that as the season unfolds.
With that, on to the episode!
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Happy Fall, dear readers! While it's been four months since we saw that Richard was electrocuted, Season 10 kicks off exactly where Season 9 left off. Electrocution means you get the honor of doing the voiceover (from the Great Beyond? We will see…) and Richard talks about doctors and their white coats. Basically, it's an excuse for him to worry us with the thought that, since his life truly began the first time he put on his coat, it seems fitting that he would also be wearing it at the end. While he's talking about doctor fashion we see shots of everyone else to remind us of what is going on: the hospital is calm but very full, the interns are exhausted, and Mere and Derek have an adorable baby and they and Zola are all hanging out in Mere's room. Owen runs in and tells them that they have to get the Board together for a quick meeting, and then realizes what he's seeing and offers them a rushed congratulations. Seriously, that is one giant baby. Are they using the same one they used to shoot the newborn scenes 4 months ago?
In the lounge, Callie and Arizona are still staring at each other after the cheating revelation, until Callie angrily grabs her own white coat and storms out. In another room full of awkward romantic tension, with April having just floated the idea that she could call off her engagement if Jackson wanted her back, she is staring at him hopefully when Jackson's current girlfriend, Stephanie, runs in and gives him a giant hug since she just heard that he was hurt. Jackson just gives April a pointed look over Stephanie's shoulder.
Bailey is searching for Richard and has him paged over the PA system; as we hear them call his name, we see him on the floor, sparks going off around him like fireworks at a BBQ, white coat still smoking.
Instead of actually looking for him, though, Bailey finds herself bonding with her cute little namesake. Richard and Jackson (since he's busy with an injured shoulder and a pleading ex-girlfriend) are absent but Owen realizes they have to start their meeting anyway. Bailey refuses to leave adorable Jared Bailey Shepherd so Owen finally just plows ahead. After they fill Mere in on the bus crash -- having been busy giving birth and having her spleen removed, she managed to miss that whole drama -- Owen warns them that they are super low on supplies and staff because of the storm and he needs the Board to decide if they are going to close the ER. Mere tries to get herself discharged but no one is going for that, so instead she'll make herself useful by calling their suppliers and seeing what she can get delivered. Jackson finally joins them and says that the airport has reopened, so he sent Dr. Boswell on her way. When Cristina asks who that is, Callie uses the opportunity to tell everyone about Arizona's sexual indiscretion the night before. Many, many eyebrows are raised.
The problem with the decision to close the ER is that they were too late to stop a few ambulances full of firefighters caught in a landslide. Since apparently Seattle Pres is even worse off than they are, they take the incoming patients and Jackson orders someone to help him take off his sling so he can work. And let's remember this, because he then goes about all of his duties for with nary a flinch or pinched breath -- obviously this is one of the Magic Slings they got when they upgraded everything in the hospital with leftovers from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, so his dislocated shoulder or whatever it was is fully healed in just a few short hours. Leah walks out in street clothes and whines to Owen that her shift is over and she's tired and hungry… in response to his silent Look, she asks if he can just forget everything she said and she goes back inside to work.
Princess and Alex are frantically making out, anxious to consummate their newfound relationship. He doesn't want to do it in an on-call room because he's a mature adult with a house now, but Princess reminds him that his house currently has a tree in it. She, however, then has a thought and asks Alex if he had sex with Leah or Heather (or both) in that room. His look confirms this, so she cares, then she doesn't, then they get paged and she wants to ignore it for two minutes to do the deed, but then she can only think about people dying and that puts a damper on her mood. And thus begins a storyline we've already seen before, ahem, George and Izzie, and I really hope that by the time these two get it on they don't also have the sex turn out to be horrible.
The first person in is the Fire Chief. He was knocked out at the scene but is back up now, and manages to gasp to Owen and April that he's got 12 guys in the field. He then begins coughing up mud so they get him on his side and April takes him and gets to work, sporting her best furrowed, troubled brow.
Cristina takes a break in Mere's room and they are both in Mere's hospital bed. She admits that she and Owen broke up, but Mere points out that they've done this before and always get back together. Cristina insists that this time it's different and so Mere agrees with her, but clearly doesn't believe it. Mere is grimacing and I was afraid she was going to have complications but no, it seems that they finally realized that they should have people supposedly just out of surgery act like they are just out of surgery. And as it turns out, you aren't super comfortable while your body is knitting itself back together! Cristina tries to take a nap but keeps interrupting herself, first to exclaim about the Callie/Arizona situation and then to ask if there will be any confusion with two Baileys. It's just an excuse for Mere to point out that when she says that Bailey peed on her, it's safe to assume it's the baby. Fine, I chuckled, even though I felt cheap doing it. Cristina then gets paged so she drags herself away.
Derek is checking on a woman pulled out of the mudslide, who is more worried about her house than she is about herself. Smash shows up, all proud that he found a cache of extra supplies, which he seems to think is going to earn him some time working with Derek. But Derek wants Heather and won't even let an eager Smash take the patient for scans; instead, he sends Smash to go find Heather. Everyone is being pulled in a million directions, but Bailey walks up and realizes that Richard is still missing so she orders Smash to go find him. He protests that he is supposed to give Heather a message but Bailey thinks finding one of their missing general surgeons is more important than a message and sends him off.
Shane asks Cristina if she's seen Richard, and finally gets the first hint to his whereabouts since Cristina knew that Richard was going to go check on the generator. Then Heather walks up to answer Derek's page and Smash, in a moment of intense jealousy, tells her that Derek wants her to find Richard. She's doubtful since Derek paged her with their special code meaning he needs her urgently, but the cutesy inside joke just incenses Smash even more and he insists that finding Richard is what was so important. When she finally walks off, he smirks triumphantly, having paid her back for the sin of being naturally better at neuro than Smash is.
Jackson greets a female firefighter named Sasha whose leg was crushed by her own squad car when the mountain gave way. I suspect, based on them talking about her squad car, that she was originally meant to be a cop. But the way she bands together with the guys and appears to treat Lenny as her boss tells me that somewhere along the way during filming she became another firefighter. She also has a nasty neck wound filled with assorted crap, so Jackson gets to work digging everything out. Another firefighter comes by and reports that three guys are still missing and one of those is Sasha's fiancée, Brian. The guy tries to reassure her that they will find him, so she tries to stay strong while she worries and Jackson painfully picks at her neck.
Heather heads down to the basement and opens the door to see tons of sparks showering everywhere. She then sees Richard and runs to him, but somehow misses that there is a giant puddle and she steps right in it. She's frozen in place as she is electrocuted, and then to add to her woes she falls and smashes her head as she goes down. Richard manages to open one eye long enough to see this happen, and then they are both left lying there in their smoking white coats.
Alex, Owen and Princess are working on an unconscious firefighter; when Alex starts to give him penicillin Princess yells and stops him. She shows that someone used a Sharpie (proud sponsor of Grey's Anatomy?) and wrote the firefighter's vitals on his leg, as well as his penicillin allergy. Owen smiles with pride and explains that this is an old military trick and that whoever was out there knew what they were doing and just saved this dude's life.
Arizona has found a Sharpie (best on skin in the field!) note on her guy as well, so they know that his vitals are dropping. He's got a crushed pelvis that needs to be stabilized so she has Leah stand across from her while they tighten a sheet around him to hold him together until surgery. Leah's too nervous to pull as hard as is needed so when Callie walks up she shoves her out of the way and says pointedly that she can't make it worse since it's already as bad as it can be. Arizona knows this is directed squarely at her but at least they get the sheet all tight and knotted. Callie then directs Leah to get Bailey to assist in surgery since she refuses to work with Arizona (who, we are reminded, is a general surgeon as well), and Arizona seems shocked that Callie is taking things so far as to not work with her in an emergency.
Stephanie and Princess, their arms both full of supplies, run into each other and start to barter for antibiotics and a chest tube. Conveniently, they just happen to be outside Mere's room so when they start to argue over a granola bar like lions over a gazelle carcass, she asks what's going on. She's confused to hear about all of the action since last she heard, the ER was closed.
Smash happily gives Lydia's scans to Derek saying that Heather was busy so he went ahead and did it and isn't he a rock star? Well, the last part was implied, and Derek implies back that he doesn't think so when he just gives Shane some instructions to pass on to Heather. Derek then goes and checks on Lydia, who is still fretting about her house, which had crown molding in every room. Look, I'd be worried about that too if I had it. He's more worried about her than he is about the house, especially when she grabs his hand and he realizes that her fingers are all crushed.
The Fire Chief, Lenny, needs a chest tube; as April and Owen prepare him for that he talks to some of his guys about who is still missing. When April asks him who they can call he tells her to call his wife, but to not have her come in because the roads are still too dangerous. Uh-oh. He's caring and wonderful. This could end badly for him. Owen has the other firefighters leave and they get to shoving in his chest tube but when they do, poor Stephanie winds up getting sprayed with feces. Suddenly I find myself grateful that my own chest tube experiences didn't result in the doctors finding out my colon had been squished up into my chest cavity like Lenny's was. They have to open him up immediately, so Owen tells Stephanie to tell Bailey she's in charge of the ER for now.
Bailey is highly displeased that Stephanie is trying to talk to her while smelling of a toilet and scoffs that she can't man the ER since she's about to operate on Broken Pelvis. Again, she hollers to the room at large that someone needs to find Richard.
Finally, someone does, and that someone is Smash. He goes down to the basement and is horrified to see the two doctors down. Fortunately, he sees the water on the ground and while he checks Heather's pulse he manages not to touch it and take himself out of the game.
The thing we see is the two docs being rushed into the ER. Just after someone mentions Heather's "massive head trauma" she has a seizure, and Derek runs to her to take over. The other interns are all paralyzed with shock and fear, especially Smash since he's got a gargantuan helping of guilt to contend with as well -- of course, this is the moment that Derek finally calls him into service. Richard, meanwhile, goes into heart failure so Cristina begins to shock him.
Alex finds the remaining three interns still as statues and tells them he knows they are scared, but they need to help with the other patients. They jump into action, Princess pulling a mess of papers out of her pocket to try and report on someone's vitals. See, since the power went out the electronic charts all went down so everyone's info is on scraps of paper in an intern's pocket. That would certainly make me feel secure. Alex keeps looking over at Richard, who isn't responding at all, and it's clear he's as freaked out as the interns but he knows how to cover it up better. He should, after all, with the laundry list of tragedies he's already witnessed during his career in Seattle. Inspired by the firefighters, he grabs a marker as he goes to see Oscar, the guy who is allergic to penicillin. Oscar is now conscious though with a big gash in his leg, so he's waiting for Jackson to come over and sew him up. Alex goes ahead and writes Oscar's updated vitals on his leg while Princess just looks on with the most annoying proud, smug look on her face as if she can't believe the genius of her boyfriend of five hours. (Honey, it wasn't his idea, which you should know because you're the one who first discovered the notes on Oscar's leg.) She's in quite the new-love sex-anticipation haze.
Callie scrubs in with Leah and offers to relieve her, but Leah says she can handle it and goes to the OR. Then Arizona then walks in -- with Bailey now working on Richard, she is the only available general surgeon to help out with Pelvis. She starts to say, "We should…" and Callie finishes for her, suggesting simple-sounding actions such as not sleeping with others or respecting their marriage vows. Arizona was just going to suggest they try to put aside their fight and act like professionals for a little while, but Callie scoffs at her and just heads inside. For the record, I don't think Callie would ever have done anything that would have sacrificed this poor dude's pelvis just because she felt betrayed by her wife, so I can see where she'd be annoyed at Arizona saying that. Arizona rolls her eyes, which seems like a bit of a bold move given the situation.
Derek and Smash run a scan on Heather, and find out that she has a gigantic subdural hematoma. If possible, Smash is even more dismayed and guilty than he was a moment before.
Cristina is doing some sort of procedure on Richard when Alex runs in with his test results. Bailey is shocked to hear that his lactate is a 2, and insists that this has to be wrong since his abdomen is slowly and consistently expanding. She hollers at Alex to redo the test while Richard inconsiderately crashes yet again.
Alex runs by with updates for Jackson and after he goes, Sasha insists that she'll be fine waiting if Jackson needs to take care of more dire patients. As Jackson tells her it's important to clean out her neck to avoid infection, Oscar hobbles up to check in. It's clear he shouldn't be walking but Jackson lets it ride and Oscar sits down to visit. Sasha notices the writing on his leg and thinks it looks like Fiancée Brian's writing, but Oscar lost his glasses in the slide and couldn't see who was helping him. She's desperately trying to cling to hope as Jackson tells her that some of the tissue in her neck looks a little weird so he's going to get it tested. She's also kick-ass and sweet and wonderful, so she's probably going to have something horrible happen to her as well.
Alex goes to Mere and reports that she needs to get them more blood in all types. She tries to get him to tell her what's going on but he frantically just mutters about what he needs to go do until finally she orders him to pick up the baby. He tries to hand him to Mere but Mere tells him the baby is for him, to get him to relax, and then she orders him to tell her what's going on. He reports on the electrocutions and repeats that they need as many supplies as possible ASAP. Then, as the news starts to sink in, he hands Little Bailey back to Mere and tells her that it's her turn not to freak out. You hear about those cool programs where people bring trained dogs and whatnot to hospitals to comfort the patients -- maybe they should just combine resources and put it into effect with their own newborns. I mean, they are already there, people love babies, and the new parents I'm sure wouldn't mind, right? I'm a genius! This is going to sweep the nation.
A nurse goes to the OR to update Owen on Richard's condition, and he's horrified to hear that Cristina is trying to put in a balloon pump without using floura. I know he means fluorescent dye, which must be one of the supplies they have exhausted, but I prefer to picture "flora" as if she would be carefully threading flowers into his arteries. Owen realizes that she could accidentally rupture Richard's aorta and kind of freaks out, but ultimately he has learned to trust her and refuses to call her and yell since he doesn't want to break her concentration. When he focuses fully back on his own surgery, it's really, really bad. Owen can't help a little medical drama cliché as he orders, "Come on, Lenny!"
As Cristina works, everyone in the room basically holds their breath until she declares that it's too quiet and tells Bailey to start talking. Bailey quietly assures her that she's doing a good job, and she won't rupture Richard's aorta because she's Cristina and she's awesome, and she even told Richard that. Bailey is just trying hard not to cry when suddenly Richard's heartbeat goes back to normal and she realizes that Cristina actually successfully put in the pump. Cristina orders the nurse to get him set up in ICU to give some time for the pump to work and his heart to get some rest. Bailey grabs her and warns her that she knows Cristina isn't a hugger, but she needs her to hug bag just this once. After an awkward moment, Cristina finally hugs Bailey back and the two rather desperately cling to each other for a long moment.
Stephanie takes over care of Lydia, who is still worried about her house. Steph apologizes that she hasn't had time to find out and then tries to check Lydia's vision, but she bats Steph's hand away like she is an annoying fly and yells at her to stop. She begs Steph to call someone, so Steph gets serious, since she's still more concerned about human life than crown molding. She says that this is important and she also has an ER full of other people to care for so Lydia needs to stop worrying about her house and cooperate. You can actually see her spirit drain away from her like a balloon with a pinhole as Steph continues her work.
Richard's lactate (by the way, be careful what you Google when trying to figure out what this is short for – I avoided actual images but saw some links that gave me mental visions that can never, ever been unseen) (and then I realized it's not short for anything so I have things burned on my brain for no reason) (so, by the way, it's the measure of one's lactic acid levels) is now at 6, and both doctors are thoroughly confused by the result. Bailey thinks there's something going on in his abdomen, but Cristina thinks the idea of opening him up is insane and Richard needs to rest before he has more surgery. For our sake, because surely Cristina knows this, Bailey explains that the electricity could have caused internal tissue damage and that Richard's heart failure could then be making it worse. Cristina is having none of it and insists his heart needs to rest. Finally, out of desperation, Bailey decides to pull rank and insist on the surgery. Unfortunately she forgot that Cristina actually has the ultimate trump card since she owns the hospital. And while she does it reluctantly, Cristina totally uses that to force her way. Unsurprisingly, Bailey is aghast and betrayed… but there's not much she can do.
Meanwhile, Lenny's surgery is going terribly and despite Owen and April's best effort, his heart stops.
Derek is prepping for Heather's surgery and he tells Smash that he knows this is difficult for him, but that he has to be her doctor and not her friend right now. He continues that he's going to have to make a lot of decisions that will affect her ability to be a surgeon, her ability to just plain function and possibly, her life. He promises Smash that he'll make them quickly but not lightly, and that Smash is to just go along with it and not ask questions. So nothing heavy, or whatever. Shane shakily says he thinks he can do that, and Derek informs him that isn't good enough. Smash finds enough of a voice to tell Derek he can do it, before gazing at Heather on the table. Smash has the emotional equivalent of a Sharpie note on his face saying, "I CAUSED THIS WHOLE THING AND TURNED MY FRIEND INTO A VEGETABLE," but everyone else is so focused on their work that they don't seem to notice, at least not yet.
Princess is working on Sasha when Alex comes to the door with a mud-covered Brian, and a desperately relieved Sasha orders him over for a muddy kiss. As they talk she mentions the Sharpie vitals and Brian is confused; he was sitting inside an air pocket just waiting for rescue and didn't have any chance to triage anyone. He did have a chance to break some ribs, though. He then asks how Lenny is, but Sasha doesn't know.
The answer: Lenny is doing really badly. He's been down for 20 minutes, but Owen keeps pumping away on his chest and finally tries to make conversation by asking April if she told Matthew yes. She's confused both because she doesn't want to think about it and also because this seems like a bit of an odd moment to make conversation, even for these doctors. Owen explains that the first responders are all great guys, and that's why he can't let Lenny go. Finally, however, he has to admit that he's gone, but he can't resist another perfect cliché as he breathes, "Dammit, Lenny." He calls time of death just as Alex calls for a status update.
we see all the firefighters silent and sad around Sasha's bed, as Owen has told them the news. A chaplain is on the way to tell Lenny's wife, and the guys know she will want to come in. Brian declares that they will bring her in with full lights and sirens. (Both befitting her husband's position and death as well as keeping her safe since Lenny had been worried about that.) One guy is still missing, Lowenstein, and Sasha declares that they have to bring him back, for Lenny, in very, "Win one for the Gipper!" style. She adds, distraught, that if she could walk she'd be out there herself.
Arizona and Callie are in surgery, and Leah gets all fangirl over Arizona's mad liver-sewing-up skills. Callie tersely answers that she was wrong when she implied that Arizona wasn't a good general surgeon, because she's actually amazing. Arizona takes no notice of her tone -- which could freeze a lake -- and instead says that it's okay, they all said things they shouldn't have. What she can't see is the side eye Callie shoots at the back of her wife's head that implies that she's not sorry about anything that has come out of her mouth in the past day.
Owen goes to Richard's room and both Cristina and Bailey jump up to argue their opinions about whether to do immediate surgery or not. Bailey forbids Cristina to call him "Owen" and insists that this is going to stay entirely professional and "Dr. Hunt," thankyouverymuch. Owen listens to them bicker and finally asks what Richard's directive says.
This didn't seem to occur to either of them, so they go on a field trip down to the dusty, gross file room where personnel records are kept. Thank goodness they don't drag this out in an, "Old files are such a mystery and no one ever kept anything in order! How will we find this while the clock is ticking?!" kind of way. Instead, Cristina finds the file immediately and then declares, "Oh, no." Owen is worried that Richard doesn't have a directive, but Cristina says that he definitely does.
Cut to Mere, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Richard put her down as his medical power of attorney. She's having a hard time doing it, and just repeats that he can't name her his of kin without talking to her. Cristina and Bailey have no time for this personal shock, however, and watch her expectantly for an answer. Owen finally tells her that they don't have time, and all three of the mobile doctors stand and stare at her in her hospital bed like she's the bearded lady and they each paid a nickel to gawk at her in the circus sideshow.
The pause only last a minute before the arguing starts again. Bailey thinks that he should have died with the sheer amount of electricity that ran through him but the fact that he lived means he's stronger than they think. Yes, though I would think then that he used up all his strength, you know, SURVIVING. I don't know what I'd do if I was in this situation but that is my knee-jerk reaction to that particular argument. Cristina points out that so far his heart has stopped four times. Mere, as if they aren't there, just wonders out loud why he made her his person. She asks again why he wouldn't tell her, and finally Cristina tells her that no one knows but he did do it and didn't tell her, and now she has to decide. Bailey resorts to actual begging.
Heather's surgery, meanwhile, is going about as badly as possible. The girls are watching from the gallery and say just about that, but Leah adds, with zero humor, that at least Smash is happy because Heather is now out of the competition. The other girls are appalled at her callousness but it's not like they haven't also been pretty horrible too. Well, Princess, at any rate. Stephanie has had her moments but I actually like her the most. Also, I guess this means that they are trying to flesh out Leah and her story is going to be, "Leah is a ruthless bitch," just like we had, "Heather is weird," even if both feel kind of forced and out of left field. Leah tries to pass it off as a joke, but calls Stephanie on not even liking Heather anyway. Princess tries to stop the escalating argument between the two, and finally she and Stephanie leave while Leah stays and watches. (Because she's a ruthless bitch with a tiny sliver of a heart, y'all.)
Meredith is looking at Richard's chart and finally tells a little story, about how she was sitting there before they came in, wishing her mom were there to meet her kids and wondering if she'd make a good grandmother. But she points out that this is delusional because Ellis was a horrible mother and would therefore be a horrible grandmother, which means Mere is delusional and hormonal right now and has to rely on lab results rather than her emotions right now. They'll run the test again and if the lactate is over 6, they'll do the surgery. Under 6 and they won't. Owen and Cristina agree and run out; Bailey keeps quiet but is struggling mightily not to keep arguing.
Stephanie and Princess report back to Alex in the ER, and he's pissed to learn that Fiancée Brian took off to look for his missing comrade instead of waiting to be treated. Alex finally has the idea that if he gets the remaining firefighters to donate blood, they'll be able to shore up their blood supply while keeping patients physically strapped to the table so they can't leave while they are still in need of medical care. Stephanie sees one of the guys who just got back and goes to ask him about Lydia's house. The guy recognizes the address and calls Lydia "Sharpie Lady" -- it turns out that when the mudslide happened, she ran back into her house and this guy screamed at her thinking she was trying to save something dumb. But then she came out with a Sharpie (Loved by firefighters!) and started digging guys out with her bare hands and taking their vitals; the guy admits he feels kind of bad about yelling at her. Stephanie realizes that this is why Lydia's fingers were crushed, and feels like way more of an asshole than the firefighter does for also hollering at the woman. When Princess walks up, Steph reports that her patient is a badass, in guilty awe.
Stephanie goes back to Lydia and tells her that she is a hero, but Lydia can't take any enjoyment in the compliment because she's now struggling to breathe.
In one bit of good news, the firefighters find their last guy and bring him in, but at the same time other guys keep running out to help, ignoring Alex yelling at them to stay put so they can get treatment.
Brian comes back and reports to Sasha that Lowenstein is going to be okay, and then makes to head back out to help stabilize the slide area. Alex stops him and points out that he is still bleeding, so he has to stay there. But all of that is forgotten when Jackson comes in to tell Sasha that she's got a flesh-eating bacteria and they have to get her into surgery immediately. Dang, I knew she was too sweet and in love to get off easy. She's having as hard a time absorbing that as Mere is Richard's health care directive, so Jackson explains that all the mud and water that came loose in the slide had bacteria in it which then got into her wound. He's good at doing urgent yet calm, but I think those limpid green eyes do the lion's share of the work because a person can't help but feel better when they are looking into them. Richard starts up VO about how when doctors take off their white coats, they are as vulnerable as anyone else. And when firefighters take of their coats the same thing happens, it seems.
All of the mobile firefighters then gather outside with April to greet the car carrying Lenny's wife. It's pretty much horribly sad as she slowly gets out, crying, and April asks if she wants to see him. She then helps the woman inside and takes her to see Lenny's body and then once there, gives her back his wedding ring. Of course watching this grief over true love makes her contemplate her own tragic tale of not being able to decide which of two hot dudes she really loves. Richard asks us if we are living our lives the way we really want to.
As Richard is rolled back into surgery, many of the doctors and nurses watch him go by kind of like the firefighters just did with Lenny's wife. Everyone is freaked out, not least Meredith who really isn't confident that she made the right decision. She asks Cristina to reassure her; Cristina does and seems sincere, but Mere doesn't seem to believe her.
The Shepherds are just not having a very good day in general, other than, you know, the birth of their beautiful son and Mere's surviving emergency surgery performed in the dark. Heather's is getting worse and worse and Derek finally decides that he has to take out part of one of the lobes of her brain. Smash finally loses it a little bit and says that this is his fault and Derek is compassionate in telling him it was just an accident, but adds that Smash has to get out if he's going to lose his shit. Smash pulls it together and says that he'll be able to stay so that he can emotionally flog himself some more.
Mere asks Cristina once more for reassurance, and Cristina once again gives it, even more gently. In the OR, Bailey takes a moment to gather herself and then makes a first cut into her mentor.
Lauren S is a writer who lives and works in Atlanta and makes a point to try to avoid living in a landslide zone. 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."