Grey's Anatomy 5.12 'Sympathy for the Devil' Recap

5.12 “Sympathy for the Devil”

Original airdate: January 15, 2009

Written by: Jenna Bans

Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc

We open with Bailey watching over Jackson (the little kid that needs a transplant from 5.11 Wish You Were Here). She’s called Dr. Arizona Robbins at 2:30 in the morning to discuss some ideas for getting Jackson bumped up on the list, but Dr. Robbins thinks getting paged 911 at 2:30am just to have a chat is insane troll logic. She marches off to get some sleep.

Derek shows up at the hospital to check up on William Dunn (Eric Stoltz) who’s got “a brain thing” that could kill him if not operated. William seems keen on the idea of dying from the brain thing, rather than going back to prison and getting executed. Derek isn’t sympathetic. But Dunn says, “I might as well die on your watch.”

Back at Casa de Everyone, Mark is in Lexie’s room (a.k.a. the attic) annoyed that everyone’s downstairs so he can’t sneak out. Lexie tells him that they’re cleaning for Derek’s mom (though by ‘they’ she means Izzie). Mark panics because Mrs. Shepherd raised him and taught him right from wrong and yadda-yadda so she can’t know that he’s sleeping with a fetus (a.k.a. Lexie), because that’s somehow worse than sleeping with his best friend’s wife (I’m guessing…)

Downstairs, Meredith is panicking big time about meeting her future mother-in-law, while Alex, Sadie and George sit around not really making her feel any better. Meredith is certain she’s not the type of girl mothers like, but Izzie is. Enter Izzie, armed and ready with cleaning supplies. She’s been busy making the house presentable while everyone else sits around drinking tequila. It’s gotta be nice to have a friend like Izzie! Where can I get one?

Mark manages to sneak out of the house and bumps into Derek outside. He pretends that he was there to ask Derek to go out for drinks. Derek just looks confused because it’s past four in the morning.

We’re swept into the very next day and Izzie is giving Meredith a pep-talk. She also recommends Meredith do something with her hair.

Derek calls it “an alarmingly high ponytail,” which is about right. Cristina just kind of glances at it like, “Wtf?” But doesn’t say anything. Yet.

In Serial Killerland, Dunn continues to refuse surgery. Derek continues to insist on surgery.

Then we meet our new patient for the episode: Chuck. Chuck flew to Hong Kong to get experimental surgery that – should have – made him 2 inches taller. The procedure entailed breaking bones and stretching and ow ow it hurts just thinking about it. Point is, it didn’t work out very well and now everything’s kind of infected. Callie and Mark tell him he’s lucky to keep his legs, though Chuck only really cares about the two inches in height.

Bailey is still waiting on transplants for Jackson. She does take the time to tell Sadie that she doesn’t trust her and that if she wants to speak, she needs to raise her hand, and I love Bailey but I felt bad for Sadie. She looked like she was about to cry.

Meredith, meanwhile, is carting Dunn around and they bump into Jackson. The kid is interested by the handcuffs and asks what Dunn did. “A traffic violation.” Dunn asks Jackson what he’s in for and the kid replies that he needs some new organs. Dunn offers his.

You can watch that whole exchange here:

And then Mrs. Shepherd arrives! And meets Meredith and her Alarmingly High Ponytail. And Izzie watches on with interest and concern.

Cristina has joined Izzie in watching the current trainwreck that is Meredith. Then suddenly Hunt saunters over and somewhere in between telling Cristina to check on his patients and something about an enema, he asks Cristina for a date. Smooth.

Izzie gets to witness this as well. She’s got front row seats to all major happenings in this episode.

Meanwhile, Jackson is asking Bailey why he can’t have “the nice man’s organs.” Bailey tells him that there are rules.

Dunn is asking Meredith the same thing. He tells her that he wants to save a life before he goes. She asks if he really wants to save a kid’s life, and he tells her (again), “whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Bailey and Robbins start yelling at each other because Bailey feels idle and Robbins wants to trust the system. They yell at each other until Alex tells them – respectfully – to shut up. They found organs. Woot!

Alex and Dr. Robbins jump on the plane? Helicopter? It looked like a plane. Anyhoo, Dr. Robbins keeps asking Alex questions about Izzie and plans and sounding cheerful and Alex kind of manages not to snap at her.

In the cafeteria, Izzie is talking to Cristina about her upcoming date. Giving advice and so on. Izzie is very interested in everyone’s business. Especially Meredith, who is – at the moment – having lunch with Derek and his mother. She’s still wearing the Alarmingly High Ponytail (of DOOM) and smiling way more than anyone should ever smile at anything. Mrs. Shepherd asks Meredith about her family, which sends Mer fleeing.

Lexie joins Mark at his table and all of the interns assume it means Mark invited everyone and so they sit down, which sends Mark fleeing.

He flees right into Mrs. Shepherd who somehow has him confessing about Lexie in three seconds flat.

Meredith is back with the serial killer cause she somehow feels safer with him than with Derek’s mom. Dunn tells her that they let him choose a method of execution; lethal injection or hanging. He asks Meredith which one is – medically – better. She gives a lowdown of each. Neither sounds appealing. He returns to the organ-donation idea, but Meredith tells him that they’ve already found organs. But was Dunn a match? Well, of course.

Lexie runs into Mrs. Shepherd who instantly starts shooting questions at her. “Are you a good girl?” “How many sexual partners have you had?” Lexie looks like a deer caught in headlights (well, more than usual) and answers truthfully. We find out that she’s had six – no, seven, sexual partners and that she got a speeding ticket (for going 12 miles over the limit … down the hill … coasting…) She’s mercifully let off the hook before she passes out.

Callie and Mark are then in surgery, fixing the height-obsessed Hong Kong-leg-procedure guy and of course talking about their personal lives. Mark admits that when he’s with Lexie it doesn’t feel bad what he’s doing. And he tells Callie that if she weren’t so scared of getting burned she might get to find out for herself. But Callie says that she used to walk around tall and then came George … and then Erica. They made her shorter. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Back on the plane-helicopter-plane (still looks like a plane to me), Dr. Robbins is talking and Alex loses his patience and yells at her that they just took organs from a kid (oh, did I forget to mention that? The organs are from a kid that died), and what’s wrong with her that she’s talking about rainbows and relationships. Dr. Robbins gets serious and says that of course she cares but that she’s going to keep talking about rainbows and relationships and make plans because that’s what you do: you turn your back on the tiny coffins and face forward, until the next kid. That shuts Alex up and makes him think. About Izzie, no doubt.

Hunt gets his one-minute interview with Mrs. Shepherd. She questions him about where he was stationed (Iraq). “You must have stories,” she says. “Not any worth telling,” he says, and walks away. We all know that’s not true. And so does she. Cause Mrs. Shepherd is a very wise woman. I bet she can see right through the Alarmingly High Ponytail.

Cristina spots Hunt and sort of bounces over (I know, it’s Cristina and she doesn’t really bounce, but it seemed bouncy to me) and then turns into this weird, bubbly version of herself and – following Izzie’s earlier advice to ask Hunt about his best surgery – blurts, “So what was your best surgery ever?” And Hunt is just like, “Whuuut?” And she realizes her mistake and says, “Nevermind,” and mutters something and walks off.

We move on to Jackson’s surgery and everyone is all smiles – especially Bailey. Until Sadie raises her hand and points out that there’s a spot. Spots are never good. Smiles are lost.

Dunn isn’t doing any better and begs Meredith not to rush him to surgery, to just let him die. But Derek and Cristina come in and rush him off anyway – once he passes out.

Jackson’s not doing good and it seems they will have only 24 hours to find him new organs. Wonder where they’ll get them?

Bailey and Sadie have a moment alone after the surgery and Sadie opens up and tells her that she’s not trying to piss Bailey off by being there, that she’s just trying to keep it together piece by piece. Bailey says nothing, but I’m sure that sank in somewhat. Not that it really matters anyway.

Cristina and Meredith find each other alone for half a second. Cristina takes the time to tell Meredith: “That ponytail looks ridiculous.” Meredith seems to agree and takes it off. No more is said. Can they just kiss and make up already?

Mrs. Shepherd and Mark have another heart-to-heart:

Mrs. Shepherd: She’s a lovely girl.

Mark: Lovely girl that’s off limits.

Mrs. Shepherd: Bologna! She’s not the problem. You are.

Mark leaves Mrs. Shepherd and his wisdom and joins Callie and the Leg guy who is freaking out that he lost 1/4 inch in the surgery. His brother loses it and yells at him that he’s spent his entirely life walking on eggshells because of him. “No one knows how short you are, dude. No one cares.” Chuck realizes he’s been an ass. A short ass. Is that worse than a tall ass?

Mrs. Shepherd tries again with Hunt, stopping him to talk to him. Has he been sleeping well since he got back? He says yes. He’s lying again and she knows it, but what can she do?

Derek and Dunn face off after surgery. Dunn again compares the two of them, but Derek will have none of it. He won’t let Dunn die in that hospital. “You don’t get off that easy.”

Mrs. Shepherd moves on to Meredith, and Meredith – sans ponytail – is back to her normal self and tells Mrs. Shepherd that she’s a fraud, that she’s the type of crazy person that feels bad for serial killers. Mrs. Shepherd puts on her poker face and tells Mer it was nice to meet her.

Izzie – again with the font seats – watches on disapprovingly.

But then we see Izzie in the on-call room with Denny. Nope, they’re not having supernatural sex. Izzie just looks depressed. She tells Denny that she wants to meet his mom and go out on dates with him. That she wants him to be alive. Denny correctly guesses that means she wants to break up with him.

In the elevator, Callie asks Mark if he wants to go out for drinks but he’s busy (Lexie). But before he departs, this exchange occurs:

Mark: Walk tall.

Callie: What?

Mark: All you can do is be brave enough to get out there. You fought, you loved, you lost. Walk tall, Torres.”

Well said, McSteamy.

Meanwhile, Hunt finally shows up for his date with Cristina. He’s apparently very late. And very drunk. And Cristina isn’t happy about either fact. He tries to explain that he’s not been on a date in a long time and that he’ll make it up to her because she deserves better. Cristina tells him to go take a shower. She meant at his own place, but Hunt rushes to Cristina’s bathroom. “Not here!”

Mrs. Shepherd catches up with her son and they sit on a bench. She hands him a ring that apparently his father wanted him to have when he met the right girl. Addison wasn’t it, of course. But Meredith apparently is. Derek is baffled as to how his mother has reached that conclusion from the short time she’s spent with Mer. “You see things in black and white. Meredith doesn’t. You need a spoonful of that. You need her. She’s the one.”

Guess Meredith knocked that one out of the park. Alarmingly High Ponytail and all.

And, hey, there’s the ring. When’s the proposal?

It’ll have to wait, I guess, cause Hunt’s in the shower – with all of his clothes ON. And Cristina is upset about the shoes in the shower. But Hunt begins to tell her the story of his best surgery. There was blood everywhere and he managed to keep him from bleeding out by covering his body with his own for two hours. They made it to the hospital. The guy lived. The guy sent him a letter a month later, thanking him for saving his life. Then proceeded to shoot himself. “That was my best surgery.”

Cristina no longer cares about the shoes in the shower. But she takes her own shoes off and gets in.

Izzie, meanwhile, is back in her room and Alex comes in full of plans. A trip to Iowa? To meet his mom? Izzie’s definitely into it. She gets up to get a bottle of tequila so they can celebrate. Ghost Denny wanders over next to Alex and tells him that they need to talk. Alex can’t hear him, of course, but I can guess what he’s got to say: Izzie is sick.

At the hospital, Meredith checks in on Jackson and Bailey tells her that now they have to wait for a miracle.

Meredith knows there’s a miracle just around the corner, handcuffed to a bed, in fact. She goes to Dunn and tells him that part of his brain is exposed after the surgery. That if he were to hurt it in any way, his brain would swell up and he’d suffer brain death. Meredith tells him to be careful with his head. Dunn understands what Meredith is really saying.

Dunn: Are you doing this for me or the kid?

Meredith: Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Meredith leaves and Dunn begins to bash his head.

Fin.

I wonder if they’re ever going to tell that kid that he got a serial killer’s organs? I mean, I’m assuming that’s where this is going.

What did you all think of the episode? I thought it was really solid. I enjoyed it a lot. I look forward to the next one!