GREY’S ANATOMY: ‘It’s a Long Way Back’

Well kids, it’s hard to believe, but this week’s episode of GREY’S ANATOMY marks the beginning of the final run of episodes before the season finale! Not only was this the fourth from the last episode of the season, but we had to wait an agonizing four weeks to get to it. The good news is the writers made up for the wait by cramming eleven weeks worth of events into one hour, so I better get started recapping…

We begin the episode with Callie and baby both still recovering from their respective traumas – Callie having been thrown through a windshield, and baby having been pulled out of a uterus. Neither one of them is in great shape, but they’re hanging in there. The baby is too premature to leave the ICU, meaning Callie can’t even see her since Callie can barely lift her arms, let alone get out of bed. Needless to say, she’s pretty depressed about it, and over the next few weeks she pushes herself hard so she can get strong enough to hold her tiny daughter. Too hard — her wound opens up again and she has to be rushed back to the OR at the same time as the baby needs heart surgery. Both of them pull through, although there’s a pretty tense moment during the baby’s operation. Weeks later, Callie finally gets cleared to go home with her baby — which means she has to get in a car for the first time since the accident. Panic attack. She’s right in the middle of an anxious speech about how a car is too dangerous for an infant when Bailey steps in with some good old fashioned Bailey Words of Wisdom. Yes, the world is a dangerous place for a baby, she tells Callie. But she doesn’t feel that way because of the accident — she feels that way because she’s a mom. (It’s a good speech, Bailey, but I kinda think the accident has something to do with it, too. Either way, Callie stops freaking out and goes home to start living a normal family life. That is, as normal as it gets when there are three parents.)

Meanwhile, Meredith and Derek find themselves with an opening in their Alzheimer’s trial when one of their patients dies of a heart attack on the table. Meredith pushes Derek to consider Adele, which he’s reluctant to do until Meredith shows him proof that Adele’s condition has worsened: a post-it that fell off Richard’s sweater that reads, “This is Richard. Richard is your husband.” Derek accepts Adele into the trial, probably blurring some ethical boundaries in the process. And if Derek is blurring the lines, Meredith is flat-out leaping over them. She sneaks a peek at Adele’s confidential file, and discovering that Adele has been chosen to receive the placebo, switches her papers with another patient who was chosen to get the experimental drug. This will probably blow up in about two episodes, especially since the FDA is being extra watchful ever since the heart attack guy.

Speaking of hearts, this brings us to the unrequited love segment of the recap. Up first in this category we have April and Stark. Contrary to all possible logic, getting rejected by April has somehow made Evil Dr. Stark…dare I say it…nicer. He’s not exactly Mr. Compassion – he still finds time to berate the residents with lines like “Why do you even ask me these things, I thought you were a doctor?” – but he’s definitely showing some improvement. He allows Arizona to be in the OR as he operates on the baby. He lets the baby go home ahead of schedule since she’ll be surrounded by doctors (taking the circumstances into account is a big step for our Starky). And wonder of wonders…he actually demonstrates concern for his patients. Shocking! Unfortunately none of this sudden kindness is reserved for April. Though she tries to be friendly with him, he has nothing but cold words for her. Come on guys, don’t you know there are only three episodes left in the season? Get it together.

That also goes for Teddy and Henry, our other almost-couple. Over the course of eleven weeks, Henry, whose apartment is apparently conveniently located on the way back from every restaurant in the city, watches as Teddy goes on date after date and then stops by his place to complain about them over leftovers. (She’s at his place so often that I got confused and thought they were living together and that I had seriously missed something.) Anyway, Henry finally gets tired of the friend zone and puts together a romantic candlelit dinner, knowing Teddy has a date that night and will be stopping by afterwards. She does stop by – but just to tell him the date went really well and she’s on her way home with the guy now. And poor cute Henry is left alone to blow out the candles and cry into a pillow. Okay, I may have over-dramaticized that a bit. But he’s so cute, I can’t help it! Teddy, why won’t you give poor cute Henry a chance?!? Oh, by the way, the guy from the date was none other than Dr. Perkins, the therapist Teddy had a fling with at the beginning of the season before he left the city. He’s not bad, but…Henry!!! Henry is way cuter. Plus, you don’t have to worry about him moving away, what with the chronic illness and stuff. It’s no contest! Sigh…hopefully these two can figure things out in the next three episodes.

The final storyline of the night revolves around Alex, who realizes he needs to do something impressive to have a shot at being chief resident. Inspired by Arizona, he decides to fly in a bunch of children from Africa who need surgery. The only problem: a little thing called money. Alex is having a hard time getting financing for the plan until he befriends a miserably cranky old woman who also happens to be loaded. After building an unlikely rapport with her, he gets her to promise him $100,000 and things are looking up – until she dies before she can give it to him. But just when it seems all hope is lost, it turns out she did leave him the money after all – in fact, she left him double what he asked for! Cue the scene with happy African kids getting off a bus, and all is right with the world.

And that was pretty much it for this episode! Some final thoughts:

• Callie’s baby’s full name is Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres – who wants to bet that there was a fight between Arizona and Mark at some point about whether Robbin or Sloan would go first? Looks like lesbian fiancée trumped baby daddy on that one.
• The award for most disturbing scene goes to Meredith and Adele, who have a very bizarre conversation in which Adele mistakes Meredith for Ellis, and begs her to stay away from Richard. Can Alzheimer’s really progress this rapidly? This seems way unrealistic to me, but thankfully I have no real life experience to judge by. Anyone have thoughts on this?
• Best line of the episode goes to Cristina, on babies being cute: “Its small features and oversize thighs trigger a hormonal response in humans, it’s autonomic. It’s what keeps us from eating them.” Classic.

What did you guys think? Is Meredith going to be discovered for tampering with the trial? Will Stark and April work things out? Will Teddy get dumped yet again by the hot therapist? Discuss below!