Sunday was the first hour of the three hour, two night season finale of Grey’s Anatomy [abc]. After the jump, a hastily-written recap to get you up to speed for watercooler talk and the special Monday night episode. Why Monday? Why so many hours in this season? Only the ad wizards at ABC can answer those questions.

The episode opens in the bar. Joe’s bar. The only bar in all of “Seattle”. Dempsey and Burke play darts over drinks. Karen O howls on the soundtrack and Meredith voiceovers about the seven deadly sins, primarily the anger one: “In life, we are taught that there are seven deadly sins. But the sin you don’t hear much about is anger. Maybe it’s because we think anger’s not that dangerous, that we can control it.” The interns sit together, imagining their bosses imagining their ex- and current girlfriends’ faces on the dart board. Sandra Oh still doesn’t see the point of being angry over one bit of intimate narcolepsy, and Meredith is standing firm on her “he lost the right to call me a whore” position. When Alex shows up to tease Isabel about being away from her beloved Tin Man, she snaps back saying that their part of the bar is for surgeons, not loser gynecologists (like she used to want to be).

“My point is, maybe we don’t give anger enough credit. Maybe it can be a lot more dangerous than we think. After all, when it comes to destructive behavior, it did make the top seven.”

Cut to Chris O’Donnel’s office. He has bad news for Meredith, Addison, and Dempsey. Doc the Dog has bone cancer, and Dempsey doesn’t see the point of treatment if it will only prolong the suffering. Back in the elevator of the Grey-Dempsey Relationship Developments, the three of them have an extended awkward moment. In one word answers, they assure addison that nothing is going on and that they’re all still friends even when that’s clearly not the case.

Sandra Oh heard that Burke found a heart. That is, a heart for a patient. She asks to tag along for the retrieval operation, but he doesn’t need her help.

Ambulances arrive, bringing thirteen gunshot victims with them from a restaurant shooting spree. George heard that the shooter’s on the lose. God, I hope that this isn’t meant to be an extrapolation of the Septieme standoff. Because that would be incredibly tacky. None of the cases really develop storylines of their own, but provide nice stand-ins for the major characters’ drama. The first case is a metaphor for Burke and Oh’s relationship troubles. The guy ducked behind his fiancee when the shooting started, leaving her more than a little peeved. She says that “love means never having to use your girlfriend as a human shield.” and wants to call the whole thing off. Needless to say, they have differing interpretations of the significance of the bullet that went through both of them without resulting in serious injury. Sandra Oh agrees that love is overrated and thinks they should call it quits.

There’s also a poor woman’s Donnie Darko busboy whose tibia injury results in a lot pain while he waits around for an O.R.. The pain is intensified by the ridiculously annoying manager, who escaped the gunfire by jumping out of a window. He mocks all of his employees for their inferior bullet-avoidance skills. It’s likely that the gunman was out to shoot him, probably because he doesn’t seem to know when to shut up about his own excellence.

Still being punished by the AddiSatan, Alex drops by the E.R. to look for an enema tray for his obstetrics rotation. But the prospect of tagging along on the heart pickup provides him a way out. On the roof of the Fischer Pavillion, he begs his way onto the helicopter. Burke still picks him over Sandra Oh, probably for dramatic purposes. Because once they’re taking off over the Pacific Science Center and past the Space Needle, he finds out that they’re heading off to Mercy West to get a heart for the Isabel’s beloved Tin Man.

[ main title ]

Bailey doesn’t want Isabel to prep Denny for surgery. I can’t imagine why. Maybe because she has a grossly inappropriate doctor-patient relationship? But Izzie fast talks her way into the job, claiming to the be the most expertest intern on this case and promising to treat him with the same protocol. For some unknown reason, Bailey allows it, but forbids her from sitting on the bed.

Patrick Dempsey and George look at some pictures of the brain of one of the shooting victims. After Dempsey ruminates on the suckitude of going about your job just to have someone lodge a bullet lodged your brain, George points out that, by the way, the woman is pregnant.

Meanwhile, the blowhard manager continues to be annoying, leaving Donnie Darko hoping for more morphine. He also asks about Dempsey’s patient, who happened to be the nicest waitress in all the world.

Isabel drops in on her boyfriend/patient to bring the good news about the heart. He asks her to repeat it for dramtic effect, saying that this means that he’ll have to start taking her out on some better dates. During all of this good news, a social worker shows up so that he can sign the DNR papers he requested because if he doesn’t get the heart, he’s done. This causes the first of Izzie’s freak-outs, saying that she won’t let him sign the papers since the LVAD could keep him alive for years. Denny tells her that believes in heaven. If he had to choose between this life and one in heaven, he’d choose heaven so he signs the papers.

Sandra Oh checks in on her designated stand in couple. The guy tells her that however this turns out, she should operate on his fiancee first. This is his way of making up for his instinctual self-preservation in the face of danger. But it’s pretty hollow since neither of them need surgery. And the fiancee is seriously rethinking their relationship even though wedding announcements have already gone out. Sandra Oh openly conflates their problems, discouraging her from falling for his talk because after all of this loving crap, they still pass you over for surgery. The bullet shield girl points out that Sandra Oh is very very bitter. This is exactly what her cowardly husband was thinking, which (to him) confirms that they’re meant to be together.

Wow! A new flyover of Mercy West. It sure is ugly. We feel sorry for the losers that have to work there instead of Seattle Grace. Burke’s old rival works there because she came in second to him in their class at John’s Hopkins. Loser. She’s getting the runner-up heart. However, when Burke goes to get Denny’s heart, he finds the donor in v-fib. After a few rounds of shocks, it turns out that the muscles are dead and the heart is useless. With this he bolts to the other O.R. to halt the other transplant.

–commercials–

This segment begins with a standoff between the onetime med school classmates over the fate of the remaining transplant heart. Burke’s counterpart says that just because his patient died, it doesn’t mean he should get her heart. Later, they call the transplant board to find out whose patient is higher on the transplant list. She finds this really pathetic, but it turns out that her patient was is higher because he was admitted to the program 17 seconds beforethe Tin Man. When Isabel finds out that the other patient will be taking her patient/boyfriend’s heart, she quickly makes up some bad stats to make him seem like a sicker/better candidate. Burke demands that they hold off on the transplant until the hospital can run some tests to see if Denny’s bad condition trumps otherguy’s. On the phone, Isabel looks really worried and waves goodbye to her career.

Elsewhere Meredith tells Crazy Torres that she’s finished the workup on all five ortho patients and asks to scrub in on one of the surgeries. But she’ll have to wait because Crazy Torres thinks that everyone is screwing her over and delaying the surgery. While they’re waiting, Meredith asks about bone cancer and goes on and on explaining about the dog. Unsurprisingly, Torres isn’t sympathetic, angrily saying that she knows all about McDempsey, but doesn’t care, chiding Grey for caring about her pet when there the hospital is swimming in actual suffering humans. As if we needed another reason not to like her.

Later, Addison stops in to talk to Grey. She has a question, even though she’s not sure that she wants the answer. But she asks anyway, querying Meredith about whether she’s sleeping with her husband. Meredith says no, not since she knew he was married. Addison felt like she was witnessing a lover’s quarrel this morning, but Grey assures her that she’s moved on and is dating Chris O’Donnel. With this, a lightbulb appears over Addison’s head.

– commercial –

Dempsey’s on bullet extraction surgery goes bad quickly, leaving his patient brain dead. Soon he and George are telling the parents that there’s nothing left for them to do for their daughter. But they quickly change the subject to the baby, asking if they could keep it alive. Dempsey says it’s not the point (again with the eagerness to pull the plug and move on) and George says that they really don’t want to do that. The grieving parents don’t want any such adivice.

The only upside of the manager’s blathering about his high pain threshold and driving his fellow patients insane is that it gives Bailey a chance to bring out her inner Nazi and bring on some pain. She lets him know that most of the other people, suffering from more substantial wounds aren’t praying for themselves. Instead, they’re praying for him to shut the heck up. This takedown pleases young Darko.

– commercial –

In the Hallway of Intern Hangouts, Sandra Oh and Meredith commiserate over their respective issues. Oh is mad about being left out of the heart pickup, saying that being punished for girlfriend problems with surgery withholding is cause for relationship termination; Grey is upset that Dempsey doesn’t care about the dog. If Doc the Dog wasn’t so goddamn cute, it might be easier to dismiss Meredith’s attachment and obliviousness here.

Isabel busts in on their pity party. She told a lie to Dr. Burke and doesn’t know what to do. She is panicking about Denny not getting the heart. Sandra Oh reassures her that he’ll get the next one. Izzie thanks her, and exits promptly. Oh says that if she was going to pick someone to go psycho and shoot up the place, it would be Isabel.Meredith agrees.

Back in his room, Denny reacts to the news that the surgery isn’t going to happen. Before he gets too depressed, Isabel says “not necessarily.” She says that they need this to be real, he needs to get much worse and quickly. And she’s going to make it happen. Crazy Torres has nothing on Crazy Isabel.

– commercial –

Back at Mercy West, Burke and Alex note half of their hour allotted for determining whether the Tin Man is worse from offscreen guy has passed. They haven’t heard from Isabel, presumably because she’s running tests and Bailey isn’t answering either.

At Seattle Grace, Denny insists that Isabel abort her crazy plan. He thinks it’s wrong and is willing to take his chances. Isabel begs him to do it, she doesn’t care about her career and has gone into complete nutcase mode. We all pray for an intervention, but the best we get is Tin Man’s assurances that he’ll be fine and that she doesn’t need to worry. This, however, is not enough. She wants to know what happens to her when he skips off into the light. If he dies she’ll never forgive him for making her fall in love. She freaks the fuck out, bawling and begging him to agree to let her sabotage his health to win the precious heart. The tears work, and he agrees.

Walking down the hall together, Torres complains to George about Meredith’s concern for Doc the Dog. When George “defends” his once-again-roommate, Crazy Callie snaps, unable to understand why he’s sticking up for her after the whole weepy sex incident. George says that she [and Isabel] are family. He can hate her, or be angry, but he’ll always defend her. If Torres wants in, she’ll have to try not being a dog-hating jerk.

Isabel calls Burke to tell him to get the heart and be quick about it. Ominously, she informs him that she doesn’t know enough to know how long Denny will have once she starts. She tells him to just hurry and hangs up. Back at the Conference Room of Heart Assignment, Burke tells the other doctors that he needs to go back to Seattle Grace to confirm the staggeringly bad test results in person. Alex jumps in to “explain” that Burke needs to go because all of the shootings. With this, Burke is off to his helicopter, leaving the interns behind to protect the heart.

Dempsey asks Addison to talk to the nicest braindead waitress’s parents about the pregnancy. Dempsey smugs as Addison confirms that keeping the daughter alive to incubate the fetus is dangerous, particularly since the woman was only a few months pregnant. But they’ve decided and refuse to listen to this advice. This being the Addison-Dempsey stand-in patient, we get a speech from Addison about the folly of thinking that simply loving their daughter is enough keep her around. In fact, their daughter is brain dead, and they’re looking to use her corpse as an incubator.

She and Dempsey exit for a fight. He chides her for being so harsh, saying that the parents love their daughter and don’t want to let go. Addision says they’re just like him, with the holding on. All she wants is for him to care: she slept with his best friend and he walked away; the friend came back to rub it in his face and he still got a good night’s sleep. What does she need to do? Sleep with the vet? But she realizes that this wouldn’t work because she isn’t Meredith Grey.

All of this arguing? It occurs on one of the balconies, so everyone — including Grey, Oh, and the Chief — overhear it.

– commercials –

This time it’s George’s chance with the waitress’s family. They haven’t decided on anything; so George talks about how you don’t always like what your family members decide to do, but you have to respect their choices. This, for the record, seems to be all about setting up the next scene. Somehow, George has the idea that the braindead daughter would prefer to be an organ donor rather than an incubator. Because, as we learned from Donnie Darko downstairs, she was the nicest waitress in all of the restaurant.

Elsewhere, Torres does her part to earn her way into “the famliy”, but taking Meredith to the X-ray viewing room to show her some slides of osteosarcoma patients. The human with the case most similar to Doc the Dog’s had exceptionally bad progress. They use each other’s first name for the thank you / you’re welcome bit, suggesting that Callie’s efforts at being nice are paying off.

Sandra Oh’s young quarreling couple have made up, too. She’s decided to give him another chance and he claims that being shot has changed him. The bullet will remind him to always do the right thing. The fiancee/human shield suggests that Oh should forgive Burke, too. Being mad really is the suck.

Bailey stops by to tell Donnie Darko that they’ll get him into an O.R. soon. She also breaks the bad news about the incubator waitress. The asshole manager comes over and does his best to be a decent human, talking about the difficulty of management.

In a dark corridor, the Chief talks to Addison about her inappropriate public arguments, reminding her that everyone in the hospital has those days and they don’t a scene. He tells her get it together; she responds by saying that she can’t compete: the only people who don’t know that Dempsey loves Meredith are Dempsey and Meredith.

The end is near, because Grey’s Voiceover kicks in to tell us all “what makes anger different from the six other deadly sins. It’s pretty simple really. You get a into a sin like envy or pride you only hurt yourself.”

Surprise! Grey and Dempsey alone in the elevator. Saying not much, just the usual awkward romantic tension.

In the Intern Locker Zone, Torres confesses her love to George. Before she can figure out whether he’s freaking out, Izzie interrupts to say that she needs George’s help. Since she’s “family”, George bolts away from the surprise declaration.

Back at Chris O’Donnel’s place, Meredith asks him to tell her the truth about Doc the Dog’s cancer. He says that a best case scenario would be a year left, but Doc is not the best case scenario. He’s very sympathetic, saying how sorry he is about the bad news as he knows how much she loves him. Grey hugs him and cries, she does. She loves him so much. It’s not really clear whether she realizes which doc she’s crying over.

Back in the Tin Man’s den, Izzie explains her plan to shut down his heart. Rather than say any last words before the big deed, they just kiss (it’s worth 1000 words) She in complete insanity mode. George walks in to say WTF? Because she’s acting crazy. Really fucking crazy.

“try lust or coveting, you’ll probably hurt yourself or two others.”

Asshole manager limps out. A few seconds later we hear gunshots. It’s another shooting. The jerk manager is down.

“anger. the mother of all sins. not only can anger drive you over the edge. when it does you can take a lot of other people with you.”

Isabel tells George to just make sure nobody comes through the door (while she’s cutting the power to the Tin Man’s fake heart). He doesn’t move to stop her. She tells them not to worry, Burke will be there any minute. With that, she slices through the cable.

Little does she know that outside, Dr. Burke was also shot. He lies there bleeding on the sidewalk. The screen goes black and the heart monitor makes the “dead” sound. Yikes!

Two hours of finale tomorrow.
—
previous episode [mb] | next episode [mb]