Recap: Grey’s Anatomy: Mayday! Mayday! Waifish Doctor Overboard!

We are now in week two of the epic Grey’s Anatomy three part mass casualty event, and I really hope things have bottomed out because the episodes are literally becoming painful to watch. I cannot tell you how many times I found myself scratching my head and thinking, “Wha? Did that just happen?” during the course of this latest episode. I’m not saying that there weren’t any good parts, but it seemed like the episode was constructed in an effort to cause as much suspense as possible following Meredith’s not-so-Greg-Louganis-like introduction to Puget Sound. I am hoping that once everything shakes out, the show will once again become Grey’s Anatomy instead of ER Did This, Let’s Make It Better!.Like I said, disappearances happen. Pains go phantom. Blood stop running. And people, people fade away. There’s so much more I have to say, but I’ve disappeared.

Well, that was an introduction to think about. The words themselves are very interesting, but when you look at what is happening on the screen, I can’t help but laugh. No, I am not saying that Meredith’s drowning is funny, but the way they choose to portray it is awful. I am not sure if Meredith is just a bad swimmer or whatever, but we just saw this guy with an open fracture climb onto the same platform that Meredith fell off of like fifteen minutes ago. She’s perfectly healthy. A little thin, yes, but still healthy.

Of course the creepy girl that won’t say anything exacerbates this whole situation. I actually don’t think her portrayal is that bad. It’s clear that the girl is in shock, and even though she felt attached to Meredith, I’m not surprised that she isn’t running around looking for help. But why did they have to make her so…CREEPY? If the Grudge had taken place in Seattle instead of Japan, I am sure this girl would have been prominently featured.

So, Meredith has fallen, and at least she is treading water. I know that she doesn’t have a lot of insulation to protect her from the elements, but it’s not like she fell off the platform one minute and was two miles off shore the next minute. The water is cold, but it’s not like she is dodging icebergs out there. Really, I can hardly take this moment seriously.

The worst part of this situation for Meredith is that there are people out there looking for her, but most of them are back at the hospital. I could have lived with the rest of the episode if the hospital scenes were at least something to write home about, but they weren’t.

George is still looking for the son of the woman who was about to go into surgery with Dr. Bailey. George lied and said the boy would be OK, and when Dr. Bailey called him out on that, he gave what I thought was a great explanation. He said, “If my lie helped saver her life, I am OK with that.” Instead, Bailey is complaining that when the woman came out of surgery, she would have to explain that the woman wouldn’t die, but she might wish that she were dead because her son wasn’t around. Well, I would like my own explanation, like why is Dr. Bailey using a surgical intern to play Sherlock Holmes when there are people who, I don’t know, NEED SURGERY?

And let’s not forget about Alex. Karev is still trying to keep tabs on the woman he rescued, and he has been given unofficial mourning triage duty in the clinic. He complains that there isn’t any system, and although it takes him about 30 seconds to work up his Alex-anger and lash out, he really wants to help these people. Instead of waiting for help to come to him, he improvises instead.

The family members were all worried because they had a bunch of lists to look at, but they were not being updated. The problem the hospital had is that there were a lot of people being treated that couldn’t be put on to lists because there was no way to identify them. Alex decides to grab a Polaroid camera and starts taking pictures.

Karev’s system is working great, and a lot of family members were able to find their loved ones, and he even found the husband of the pregnant woman he found. He was so happy, he went in to take a picture of her while she was in surgery. When they brought her in, Addison was wondering how hard it must be for the woman. She was alone, and was there anybody who even noticed she was missing? This, of course, led Addison to wonder if anybody would notice if she went missing, and Alex, who is clearly crushing on Dr. Montgomery even though he may say otherwise, is excited to bring her news of the woman’s husband.

The problem with all of this excitement is that Karev found one pregnant woman. That ferry can hold hundreds of people, and so there is a good chance more than one pregnant woman was in the accident. It’s great that Alex has been giving people hope with his pictures, but he is neglecting the other part of the job. Many people died, and those people have to be notified as well.

Alex gets his picture, but realizes that he has a little more work to do. And speaking of work to do, was it just me or was Addison’s presence in the surgery completely unnecessary. I know the woman was pregnant and that presents a lot of complications, but it seemed like her job was to stand there and read the fetal heart monitor. What does he do? Start beeping if it goes to low?

Then again, if Addison wasn’t there, she would have never been able to remark to Dr. Burke what a crazy bunch of interns they had, and then Dr. Burke would have had no reason to go off on the interns, calling them headstrong and saying they let their emotions get the better of them. I say that is mostly true, but Burke should really follow his own advice sometimes. The attendings are supposed to teach the interns about medicine, but it seems like the interns are teaching the attendings about everything else.

I thought the best part of the episode was Izzie’s story. Last week, I commented on how she was so very much in over her head, and this week, she started off by nearly giving up on her case. She broke down saying that she has been out of practice and that there was nothing else she could do.

Izzie’s problems is not that she doesn’t know what she is doing, but she has been second-guessed so often that she is starting to lose faith in her own ability and has been second guessing herself. The guy’s friends start to giver her a little encouragement, reminding her that she was able to stop the bleeding, and that she is the only chance that their friend has.

Suddenly, Izzie has some inspiration. She needs…a cell phone? What does she need a phone for? Is she hungry? Does she need to call 9-1-1? No, she needs to call Chief Webber. Sometimes the sign of greatness is knowing when you need help, and Izzie needs help. She fills Webber in on the situation she has. Although she has stopped the bleeding abdominally and fixed his bone fracture, her patient is showing signs of an intracranial bleed.

The chief knows that there is only one way to relieve the pressure on the brain, and that is to start drilling some holes. He tells Izzie to find a drill and then starts his own search for a book on neurosurgery. Luckily, Sloan is nearby, and he has seen the procedure done in the field.

it was not so long ago that I thought the grossest drilling scene that I would ever come across on television was when Morris was being tortured on 24. Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t having any of that with this scene. These guys work construction, so one of the people had a drill in his truck. This is a procedure that happens in ERs and hospitals all over the country, but they usually have the aid of an intracranial drill, which automatically stops when it’s not drilling bone. Izzie was going to have to do her entire procedure by feel, and if she is not careful, she’s going to start drilling into grey matter, and that is not going to be good for anybody.

While Izzie is getting ready to drill into the guy’s skull, Alex has decided that he is going to help George look for his kid. At first, George is really excited to be getting some help, but then he learns that Alex wants to help him by looking for dead people in the morgue. They don’t find George’s kid, but they do find another woman who is pregnant.

Karev takes the pictures of the people in the morgue and returns to the clinic. It’s difficult for everybody, but at the same time necessary and although Alex doesn’t particularly love dealing with this part of the job, he is pretty good at it. He also catches up with the guy who said he was missing a pregnant wife and does his best to try and convince him that the woman with the smashed face is really her. Her face is hard to recognize, and the guy has some hope his wife is alive, but when the hair color and eye color are incorrect, they both realize they are talking about different people.

If there was any good news about this scenario, it is that it gives Alex and Addison another tender moment. She was worried about not being remembered, and Alex says that if she went missing, he would remember her. I like this seen not just because I think Kate Walsh looks hot in glasses, but because I want these two to get together. She deserves to be happy, and although I think it is sort of weak to date an intern just like every other resident and attending in the hospital, of the characters we know of right now, Alex is the one that can make her happy.

George also found his patient. When he couldn’t find him in the morgue, he figured that the only other place he could be is at the bottom of the sound. Then he happened to take a look at the board, and saw that there was a seven year-old boy scheduled for surgery. He goes into the OR, and Callie is working on him. She is upset, because she is trying to work and George is mumbling so much he isn’t actually telling her why he is there.

When he finally gets around to asking about the kid, Callie sees the picture her beloved is holding and says the boy she is operating on is the same. George is so elated, I feel like he wanted to hump Callie right there. Instead, he’s about to tell the entire operating room staff what he’s going to do to his wife when they are back home, but she cuts him off. Are these two not perfect for each other or what?

Back at the ferry, it is go time for Izzie. If there is any time you can forgive somebody for being squeamish (other than imagining Cameron Manheim in your shower) it is when a doctor is about to drill your buddy’s head open two feet away from you. And even thought the doctor is hot, that still doesn’t help. Sure you can stare at her tits and that will past the time, but you still have to deal with the sound the drill hitting bone. That’s just the scenario they are in as Izzie starts the drill.

I really didn’t know what was going to happen here. With the way Izzie has been handling things lately, I was sure that she was going to slip and drill a little too far, and when you are dealing with the brain, a little too far can meant the difference between helping out your patient and a frontal lobotomy. And Izzie didn’t have to drill just one hole, but several. I seriously thought I would look away every time she put the drill in, but I made it through and so did Izzie. She cleared the blood clot and stopped the bleeding.

Everybody was so happy when she was done, and one of the guys said “Is he going to be OK.” I know everybody is a little out of sorts and everything but what kind of question is that. This guy is perfectly fine except that he’s losing a lot of blood, has some paper towels stuffed in his brain, and THERE IS A FUCKING CAR RESTING ON HIS CHEST.

The paramedics did come and although I thought this guy was bleeding for way too long to be considered anything more than a vegetable, he was heading for surgery. When they got to the hospital, Webber was so impressed by her performance, he told Izzie to scrub in, which is huge because she has officially been on probation (meaning nothing in the operating room) even though she was back at the hospital.

That leaves us with Meredith. Izzie was happy to gloat to Christina about how much of a Jesus Surgeon Superstar she was, but it wasn’t worth it because Christina was so worried about finding Meredith that she didn’t even realize she should be jealous.

Now, if you were also wondering why Christina cared so much about telling Meredith, you are not the only one. Burke was starting to get down right upset about it, and couldn’t understand what the big deal was. Christina should be happy they are getting married and shouldn’t need to look to her friend for approval. I thought Christina was freaking out a little bit too much as well, but she tried to explain that Meredith was the one she would turn to should she ever need to drag a dead corpse and bury it. Burke was NOT happy being compared to a corpse, and I can just see how this is going nowhere. I don’t see this engagement lasting AT ALL.

So, where was Meredith? Well, McDreamy was still at the ferry taking care of triage. I guess nobody needed brain surgery or anything, which is convenient, because this allowed Derek to stay behind and notice that the creepy girl had Meredith’s jacket. Creepy girl was able to shake off her walking coma long enough to shake her head when Shepherd asked if Meredith was OK and even managed to take her to the edge of the landing where Meredith fell off.

This scene could have been worse, but they spared us the sight of Derek jumping in the water. I have not had the luck of being in love with somebody like Derek is with Meredith, but I think the first thing I would have done is run to get some help. There is NO WAY I am giving this creepy girl the responsibility of finding help should I not be able to save my girlfriend.

Derek does jump in, and a cadet from the Coast Guard notices the creepy girl a few minutes later, just staring out across the water. And just that moment, we have the dramatic scene where Derek has pulled Meredith out of the water and rushes her to the ambulance. They rush her to the hospital, and suddenly it is all hands on deck to save Meredith.

Dr. Grey has a few problems. She’s not breathing and her heart is not beating. I know that it’s hard to tell because Ellen Pompeo’s face is usually frozen over with botox emotion, but she wasn’t moving at all. Let’s be honest folks, it doesn’t look good for her, and the only thing that might be saving her is that her body is so cold there might not be permanent damage to her organs.

Everybody is in Meredith’s trauma room at this point except for Derek, who was sent out by the chief. Everybody is trying to help, but nothing is working. When Dr. Burke found out, he immediately came to console Derek, who told him to go into the room and save her. Once Burke got inside he said, “She’s hypothermic.” OH REALLY? She’s hypothermic? And here I was thinking she had simply painted her face purple because she was at a UW basketball game. Good thing Burke was first in his class at Johns Hopkins or the world might have missed out on a great surgeon and CAPTAIN OF THE OBVIOUS.

It looks hopeless and outside of the room, the interns have gathered and are despondent. George has written her off as dead, but Izzie retains hope. She stars to make a speech, and at first I thought it was going to be one of those inspirational speeches where she talks about miracles and for miracles to happen, you have to believe in miracles. That is sort of what she did, but in the middle of it, she suddenly decided it was a great time to tell George that he thought marrying Callie was a mistake, but that’s OK because she will be there for him and they will get through this.

Where the hell did that come from? OK, he made a mistake. Your friend is dying, and you just got off probation. Maybe you are so nervous about surgeries because you are still debating the pros and cons of eloping to Las Vegas instead of, I don’t know, MEDICINE?

So, is Meredith going to die? She might already be dead. Now, the saying goes that you aren’t dead until you are warm and dead, so there could still be hope, but in the final scene, we see Meredith wake up in an operating room with two familiar faces. That bomb squad guy from Code Black and Denny Duquette. In other words, they are both dead. Are they going to be able to bring her back?

I know I am being a little harsh on Grey’s Anatomy, but I started watching because it wasn’t like anything else that was on TV. It was fun. It had drama. It made you laugh. It made you cry. It had a great combination of characters and writers who seemed to know what they wanted from those characters. I just feel like the writers have become a little lost along the way. There is plenty of time to fix it, and I believe they will, I just hope they decide to do it sooner rather than later. I still love the show, but it is starting to make Lost look coherent at times.

What did you think of the episode? Is Meredith a goner? How long before Alex and Addison hookup? Will Christina and Burke ever get married? Was George making a mistake marrying Callie?