Bailey’s career moves to the next level, Cristina screens another volume of the Ellis diaries while her romance with McBadass progresses slowly but surely, butt jokes crack up the interns (I know you’re laughing, too), Izzie tries to diagnose herself, Lexie wants to go public, Callie wants a relationship, and Derek simultaneously tries to propose and kicks off a crossover!
Bailey had to take a few days off to recover after the organ transplant drama, but she wants the Chief to know that she’s ready to get back to work. The Chief’s not worried about her at all and actually wants her to become the new Attending General Surgeon, subject to the board’s approval and the completion of her residency.
For now, she and Cristina have been requested by The Cylon to assist in a cardiac surgery. Bailey’s all about it until she finds out that the patient is a young girl and spends the rest of the day freaking out at the idea of having a child die on her. Everything goes fine until the Cylon realizes that the girl’s heart is too scarred to be further repaired and she’ll need a new transplant. Bailey runs off to stare at children while the Cylon, in her typical tactless fashion, breaks the news to the girl’s parents that she’ll have to be bedridden and attached to an IV pole until a new heart can be found. Fortunately for everyone, Bailey’s kid-watching yields her idea of having the girl carry a battery operated IV pump in a backpack so that she can remain mobile. The parent’s exuberance freaks out the Cylon (remember she has Asperger’s) and the mother’s spontaneous hugging drives her over the edge. She has a fit and runs off, with Bailey and Cristina following to see if they can do anything to help. The Cylon asks them both to hold her tight, explaining how it calms the nerves by citing the practice of putting cattle in tight chutes to calm them prior to being slaughtered.
After finally calming down, the Cylon notes that Bailey is a natural pediatric surgeon. Arizona (the new pediatric surgeon in prior episodes) agrees wholeheartedly and Bailey seems to consider the idea.
Meredith asks Cristina to screen one of Ellis’s diaries for tales of her affair with the Chief, since Meredith really doesn’t want to read that. Cristina reads the diary while walking the halls, at one point noting that the romance is actually quite chaste, like a Victorian romance novel. This leads to what I thought was a very nice touch – scenes of Cristina and McBadass subtly flirting, walking down the halls next to each-other never quite touching, and catching one another’s eye across rooms and hallways, while chamber music tinkles in the background. Just when the flirtation seems to be reaching a climax, McBadass sees a blonde woman from a distance, runs into a break room, and has a panic attack. Cristina uses her lesson from the Cylon to hold McBadass tight until he calms down. It’s simultaneously a slightly scary yet sweetly touching scene.
Sadie and the horde of nameless interns have been assigned to help Izzie in the clinic and are not at all happy about it. Izzie’s still freaking out about the revelation from Denny’s ghost/manifestation of her subconscious/whatever the hell he was supposed to be and uses teaching the interns how to run tests as an excuse to have tests run on her. Nothing really comes of this tonight other than the revelation that one of the clinic’s patients likely has cancer.
In a moment of comic relief, a man comes into the ER with his wife and refuses to talk to any of the interns or even Alex, saying he needs to speak with “an adult”. The Chief seems to fit this qualification, since the man grabs him as he’s walking by. The couple had decided to try some tricks to “ignite their love life”, especially “number 19”, and something got stuck inside the man. They never come out and say what the object is, but I’m sure we can all use our imagination there. Alex and the interns continually make innuendos and cracks (see what I did there?) mocking the man’s condition during his treatment. The Chief chides them on their behavior and manages to remain professional until the object has been removed. While scrubbing out, Alex snickers over the Chief’s choice of words when he told the patient they’d “bend over backwards” to help him and the Chief finally loses it.
Sloane has finally recovered from his broken penis and is ready to get back in the saddle, but he’s not sure if he should keep seeing Lexie when Derek is about to propose to Meredith. For her part, Lexie is tired of them being a secret and gives Sloane an ultimatum – either the relationship goes public or it ends. No resolution is found this episode, but they both express amazement over how great things have been even without the sex, so I think they’ll be going public soon.
Callie is getting sick of being alone and berates Sloane’s stupidity in considering breaking up with Lexie. She generally mopes about the hospital and the bar feeling sorry for herself until Arizona (the pediatric surgeon) corners her in the bathroom and tells her that people talk and people like Callie and that people will be lining up when Callie stops being so upset. Callie snorts and asks for some names, so Arizona kisses her and tells her that she’ll be able to figure it out. Hopefully that’s not the sign that Arizona’s leaving the show in two more episodes.
Derek is still trying to figure out a way to propose to Meredith. He’s scared to come on too strong and spook Meredith, but he also wants it to be special, so he asks or advice and gets lots of it – although much of it is conflicting. Cristina thinks he shouldn’t make a big deal out of it, the Chief thinks he should make a huge deal out of it. Meredith make mention that their kids will be cute, which Derek finds encouraging, but he also continuously ends conversations on his proposal plans when she shows up, which makes her think that he’s freaking out and doesn’t want her kids with her damaged Alzheimers-prone DNA.
Derek seems to take The Chief’s advice and enlists Sloane to help him spread rose petals, hearts, and teddy bears all over the bedroom in anticipation. Just after Sloane leaves, Derek’s phone rings. It’s Addison, which kicks off the crossover with “Private Practice”. See this week’s “Private Practice” recap for the other side of that phone call.
When Meredith gets home, Derek is gone and the room is immaculate once again, except for a rose petal under the pillow. Expect this to have ramifications next week.
