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There is this playground game that kids play. They lock hands and on the count of three, they try to snap each others fingers off. You hold out as long as you can or at least longer than the other guy. The game doesn't end until someone says stop, gives up, cries mercy. It isn't a fun game. In the game of mercy, when one kid cries out, the other one listens and the pain stops. Don't you wish it was that easy now? It's not a game anymore and we're not kids. You can cry mercy all you want, but nobody's listening. It's just you, screaming into a void.

Everybody's Crying Mercy is the third episode of the tenth season and the 199th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Meredith and Derek adjust to life at home with a newborn, but find it difficult being away from the hospital. Arizona tries to takes steps to fix her broken marriage. Alex and Jo navigate through their new relationship. Owen clashes with Jackson over financial issues at the hospital. Meanwhile, April anxiously awaits her boards results.

Full Summary[]

Callie and sleep-deprived Meredith and Derek are trying to get some sleep in the living room of the house in the woods. The baby is crying, and Callie goes to pick him up as Meredith's incision needs to heal. "Hurry up before he wakes up the girls," Meredith says, as we hear Sofia's and Zola's voices too. Callie and Meredith sigh.

Arizona is in her bedroom, trying to figure out what dress to wear. She chooses a red one.

At the hospital, Bailey watches a sleeping Richard in his bed in the ICU.

Cristina is watching the interns, who are sleeping on the living room floor in Alex's house while eating cereals out of the box. She then goes to Alex's room, where she watches him. The crunching of the cereals wakes him up. He advises her to find someone to get horny with on the Internet, saying that he has a girlfriend. Cristina asks them about his sex life with Jo, and as she figures out that they haven't slept together, she starts teasing him about it. "I knew you'd cheer me up," she says as she gets out the bed.

While Meredith is watching her son, Callie is getting ready to leave for the hospital with the girls, while she makes some comments about Arizona. Derek is still putting on the girls' shoes. He hands the girls over to Callie, who leaves with them. Derek asks Meredith what they're going to do when Callie fixes her marriage and she leaves them, and Meredith says that won't happen any time soon. Bailey is on the phone with Meredith, and she tells her that Richard isn't exactly the easiest patient. Meredith wants to help out when Bailey confesses that he is losing weight, but Bailey says she doesn't need her help. She hangs up.

Shane presents Richard's case, and he says he recommends a feeding tube, but Richard doesn't want this. Bailey sides with him and instructs Shane what to do. 


Jo, Leah, and Stephanie are talking about studying for the intern exam when Stephanie and Leah notice that Jo is wearing sexy underwear. Jo tells them that she wants to be prepared for whenever Alex makes the first move, something she's been waiting on for the entire week. She doesn't want to make the first move herself, as she doesn't want to look slutty. Leah gets paged to the ER while Stephanie agrees with Jo that it's weird that Alex hasn't made a move yet. Cristina and Arizona are following Owen down the hallway. Arizona got a haircut, which Cristina noticed, and asks her to say that she looks nice. Cristina does so, while Owen stops walking. He opens up the doors to the outpatient surgery wing. The wing has been completely destroyed by the storm. As the outpatients are now overloading the regular ORs, he wants the board to come together to find a solution, but Cristina and Arizona are already swamped, as Meredith and Derek are on leave, Richard is down and Arizona and Callie can't be in the same room together. Arizona asks about the insurance company, but Owen tells that they are too busy with other storm cases. Arizona thinks the hospital needs doctors more than it needs board members, but Owen tells them the hospital needs both, telling them that they need to be doctors and board members at the same time. Arizona goes off to see her patient, making Owen sigh. Cristina wants to comfort him, but she realizes they broke up, so she leaves, too. 

In the ER, Jackson stands next to April, who's waiting to hear about her board results. He believes that she passed. "If I didn't, you'll know that the first time it wasn't your fault," April jokes. Stephanie comes over, and Jackson takes her to see their patient, as Leah comes into the ER with a new patient. The paramedic tells April what happened. The woman is impaled by a piece of wood, and she's taken to a trauma room. Callie comes in, takes a look at the wound and asks the husband to wait outside. The woman asks Leah to tell her husband that she cheated on him with his brother, in case she dies. Leah doesn't believe what she just heard.

Callie asks April if she's heard back yet, and hums when April tells her she hasn't. "You think that's bad?" a nervous April asks. "You think it's good?" Callie snaps back. Leah asks if she should tell the husband what the patient asked her to tell him. Callie starts applying the story to her own love life. "I don't have to tell him, right?" Leah asks, and Callie suggests she just doesn't let the woman die. Arizona comes in, reminding Callie that they have couple's therapy in the evening. Callie snaps that she doesn't know if she'll come, and Arizona promises she'll be there.

Shane is on the phone with Meredith to tell her about Richard's condition and asking her to call Bailey to have her agree on the tube, but Meredith doesn't want to as she already called Bailey a lot. She advises him to already order the NG tube so it's ready when Bailey comes to her senses. Meredith hangs up, as Derek enters the house with milk.  He confesses that he fell asleep in the store parking lot.

Stephanie wants to study, but Jackson assures her that she wants in on the case. The patient, a woman with a burned face, and her husband listen to Jackson's plan, and they are extremely happy when Jackson shows them the simulation. The husband is worried about the costs of the surgery, as their insurance maxed out two surgeries ago. Jackson promises that he'll perform the surgery for free. The woman thanks them.

Leah updates Dante Kane on his wife's surgery. Dante's brother, with whom Kathleen Kane has slept, comes over with coffee. Leah feels awkward because she knows of their affair, and leaves.

Cristina is telling her patient that his cardiac function will improve after the surgery. He's already had a transplant, which is why he and his parents are delighted that another transplant isn't necessary thanks to the surgery. Alex reminds them of the risks, mentioning that putting Michael on the list for a new heart is a much safer option. The mother tells them about how she thought that her son was dying while waiting for the heart the first time, and the whole family agrees that they don't want to go through that again. Cristina tells them that they'll proceed with the surgery if the MRI is good. Outside the room, Alex and Cristina talk about the surgery.

Bailey and Richard found out that Shane ordered the NG tube for Richard. Shane defends himself, saying he wanted to proactive. "You wanna be proactive? Get me some soup," Richard says, and Bailey tells him to do it.

Owen refuses to let Jackson do the surgery pro bono because the board decided that all funds should be used for storm repair. Jackson tries to convince Owen to let him do the surgery by saying the surgery was planned long before the storm, but Owen doesn't give in. He reminds Jackson of the outpatient surgery wing, but Jackson says that they'll get to that problem when things slow down. "Things won't slow down until you get to it!" Owen says. Jackson then reminds him that he's the boss over him, so he asks Owen to move some patients around so he can do his surgery. 

While getting ready to take a shower, Meredith is on the phone with Cristina. While Cristina is talking about the surgery, Meredith is desperate to get a nap and angry because Derek took a nap at the store. Cristina now passes Richard's room and informs Meredith that there's no tube. Cristina then starts talking about Owen until the MRI comes up. As we see Meredith sleeping on the bathroom floor, Cristina is trying to get her to answer.

Meredith is woken up by the sound of her crying son. She opens her eyes and sees Derek in the doorway, holding the baby. "Shower works better when you're in it. He's hungry, and my nipples are no use to him," Derek says.

As Stephanie and Jackson are excited to start working on the case, Jackson mentions he's glad Owen got the message that he's doing the surgery, whether Owen likes it or not. They enter the room, only to find it empty. Nurse Kathleen informs them that Owen moved the patient. "I don't think he got the message," Stephanie says.

While Owen is busy rescheduling surgeries, Callie asks why he's been rescheduling surgeries. He says that he'll tell her at the board meeting that he wants her to call together. Callie leaves as Arizona comes over to ask him about the purchasing freeze on the NICU budget. She mentions they're currently low on baby blankets. "Don't tell me, tell the board," Owen says, and as Arizona walks away, Jackson and Stephanie come over. He tells them that he transferred the patient to Seattle Pres. He then informs Jackson that he scheduled three liposuction surgeries for him to perform. 

Leah and April have taken out the piece of wood, and they're looking for the source of the blood. Leah asks again if she should tell Dante as she doesn't want to ignite a family feud. April assures her that the patient will live.

Shane gives Richard the soup. "Are you gonna watch me eat?" Richard asks him, and Shane leaves the room. From outside the room, Shane sees that swallowing the soup hurts Richard. 

Alex enters a supply closet, where he finds Jo studying. As he leaves, she tells him it's okay if he wants to kick her friends out of the house, saying they shouldn't be there all the time. Alex says it's okay for them to hang out now that Heather died. "They can crash however long they want," Alex says. "You've been really great about this, really, really great," Jo says with a fake smile.

Owen finds Cristina looking at her patient's scans. They talk about the surgery, and Owen agrees with Alex. Cristina says she's gonna do the surgery. Owen says he'd normally kiss her and wish her luck. Callie walks by and asks from the doorway if couple's therapy helped them. "Obviously not, right? I mean, look at you guys," she answers her own questions. As Owen leaves, Callie gets a call, and we hear a monitor crashing. "You don't cut the clavicle! No! Don't do that without me!" Callie says as she runs off.

Inside the OR, Leah is on the phone with Callie, telling her that they need to cut the clavicle as there's a subclavian bleed, which is causing the patient to bleed out. Meanwhile, Callie arrives at the elevator, which is filled with people, so there's no more room for her.  "Everybody out! Get out, now!" Callie yells and everybody obeys. "You do not cut a clavicle yourselves," Callie tells Leah while she gets in the empty elevator. She puts on her scrub cap as April says that she doesn't have another choice. Callie hears this and yells that she's on her way, which Leah tells April. As the patient's blood pressure is dropping, April asks for the saw and cuts the clavicle, just as Callie storms in. "What the hell did you just do?" Callie asks.

April is defending herself, saying she fixed the bleed. Callie says that it's difficult to repair the bone now, but April says that there was no way to do the repair without visibility. "No, there was no easy way, and because you're careless and thoughtless, that seemed prohibitive to you. You think you can just do whatever you feel like in the moment and ortho will just put everything back to the way it's supposed to be," Callie snaps. She sends out April so she can fix her mess.

Cristina and Alex are operating, and she teases him some more about the fact that he hasn't had sex with Jo yet. "I can have sex!" Alex yells, surprising everyone present in the OR. She thinks his equipment is not working, but he assures her that it just hasn't happened yet because of Heather's death and the upcoming intern exams. Cristina replies those aren't valid reasons, so he confesses he wants it to be special. "When we're done here, can you braid my hair?" a laughing Cristina asks. Cristina has come to the point where she can still turn back, but she continues to operate.

Jackson and Stephanie are performing the liposuction. They are ranting about Owen and the complicated system of who is whose boss. Stephanie asks if she's really needed in the OR as she really wants to study. He allows her to go.

Derek put Bailey down for a nap and sits down next to Meredith on the sofa. Meredith starts talking about Richard, but Derek is falling asleep. Meredith feels guilty for having abandoned Richard, now that she feels like she's his family.

Meredith enters the hospital with a stroller. Ross takes over the stroller as Meredith reads Richard's lab results on the tablet. 

Stephanie and Leah are studying together outside the hospital. Jo comes over and tells them that they can't come to Alex's house tonight because they are like a "human chastity belt". She yells that she's all grieved out, and it's her last clean pair of underwear, so it has to happen tonight. Leah gets paged and runs off.

In the OR, Callie is trying to resuscitate the patient. She's been down for 15 minutes, so Callie gives up and calls time of death. Leah is concerned about what to tell the husband, specifically the part about his wife having slept with his brother. April thinks she shouldn't tell him, because it'll ruin his last memory of his wife. Callie, however, thinks that Leah should give him an honest last memory. "You tell him, and I'm gonna make sure that you do," she says. April and Callie leave the OR, and Leah walks up to the body. "What were you thinking?" she asks the corpse.

Shane and Meredith approach Bailey. Meredith wants to put in the tube, as Richard is now a patient, so he doesn't get to make decisions. Bailey wants her to go home, and Meredith says she will once Richard is okay. Meredith says that he will only get better if he eats, but Bailey says that a feeding tube will completely take away his dignity. "So will dying!" Meredith says. They go to talk to the radiologist about the swallowing studies. As they walk away, Miranda takes the stroller. Shane enters Richard's room, and he gets ready to put in the tube. He names what can happen if Richard doesn't get the NG tube. Shane tells him that he won't let another person die, and he also says that Meredith won't leave unless he agrees to the feeding tube. Shane offers to take care of the tube right now now that they're alone so that Meredith won't have to do it herself.

Owen tells Jackson that he has another patient for Jackson, but he tells Owen that he's going to call Cara McAdams to do the pro bono surgery anyway. They walk up to a room, and Owen asks him to look inside. Cara and her husband are inside, and Owen tells him that she'll set for him first thing in the morning. Owen lied to him, and he explains that the three liposuctions will pay for Cara's facial reconstruction. "Avery, I needed to make a point with you. I know we're all doctors and we're all busy, but until the board members are willing to solve the bigger budget problems caused by the storm, the doctors' problems aren't going away. So you need to do something now," Owen says. Owen asks him to meet, but Jackson says that he can make them meet by lying.

Cristina and Alex are still operating. Cristina says that he needs to get over the special thing and that he should just throw Jo over his shoulder and take her to the bedroom. "She's the thing that's special, dumbass," she says. She also tells him to stop being scared about the patient. Cristina watches the monitor and realizes that the kid needs a new heart.

April tells Jackson that her patient died, and now she's waiting for more bad news. She says that the previous year, she found out that she failed before she got home that evening. This year, it's been 48 hours and she still hasn't heard. She thinks that they just stop talking to you when you failed twice when she suddenly gets a message. She gives her phone to Jackson as she can't open it, and he congratulates her. She is delighted, and they give each other a high five. "Like you said, it's all you," Jackson says. He congratulates her once again, and they walk away.

Callie and April are telling the Kane family that Kathleen died. When they finish, Leah wants to tell them what Kathleen told her, but Callie interrupts her. "She told us to tell you that she loved you," Callie says. 

Derek is wandering around in the hospital. As Owen starts talking, he sees Meredith and starts upbraiding her for leaving the house with the baby while he was asleep. "The woman is wearing mismatched shoes, cut her some slack," Bailey comes to Meredith's defense. They go to check on Richard, and Derek tells her to leave him a note next time. "You look like hell. You know you're in a building full of beds," Owen says, and Derek goes to one of these beds.

Shane finishes up in Richard's room as Bailey and Meredith come in. Shane says that he did what had to be done.

Cristina and Alex explain that Michael has to go back on the transplant list. The parents break down, but the doctors tell them that the transplant list is still a good option. Cristina says the parents need to convince Michael that there's still hope that there's a donor out there when he wakes up because he won't make it if he won't have that hope.

Derek runs down the hallway, and Meredith joins him. They both got paged along with Callie. In another hallway, Cristina and Arizona are walking together. They got paged too. They meet up with Meredith, Derek, and Callie in front of the outpatient surgery wing. They enter the destroyed part of the hospital, where Owen and Jackson are waiting for them. They prepared a board meeting and they can't believe it worked. They explain there's no trauma, and Jackson says that they're going to have a big fundraising gala, to which they'll invite the richest people they know, so they can charm the money out of them. Owen will explain where the money will go to. It is going to take a while, so they all sit down. 

Jo is waiting for Alex at his house. As he comes through the door, she says they got the house to themselves, and she wants to make sure he knows that she's not a slut who's not sad about Heather. "No more talking," Alex says, and he throws her over his shoulder. As he walks up the stairs with her, she is cheering. 

Cristina and Owen are in all alone in an elevator. Cristina proposes to date other people, as it'll help them to stop being drawn together. She asks him to at least try it. "I'll try," he says as he walks out of the elevator. 

Arizona is sitting in the waiting room at the therapist's office. Callie comes in, and Arizona is relieved that she came. Callie says she wishes that Arizona hadn't told her, so they could go back to their lives. "To being happy, except we weren't happy. At least you weren't, so we do things like having sex with other people," Callie says. Arizona says she made a mistake, and Callie says that she keeps picturing Arizona having sex with Lauren. She's all done with thinking and talking about it, so she won't go to therapy. She proposes that Arizona follows therapy on her own for a while. "Please, I really need to talk. I really need you to do this," Arizona says. "I know, you wore the red dress and everything," Callie says, and she then walks away. 

Meredith is sitting next to Richard, who wakes up. She apologizes for not having been here now that he picked her as his family. "Stop. I didn't call you my family. I'm not your father, I chose you because I thought you could put emotion aside and make the right call. I knew Bailey would be too weak, but you?" he says. He tells her that she shouldn't have brought him back to life. "I thought you wouldn't be sentimental. I was wrong. I chose the wrong person," he says. He turns his head away from her, and she lets go of his hand. 

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Richard Webber[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Starving
  • Treatment:
    • Repleting electrolytes
    • Nasogastric tube feeding

Richard was losing weight. Tube feeding was recommended, but he refused it. Meredith told Shane to order the NG tube anyway, anticipating Bailey changing her mind. Richard continued to refuse the tube feeding and instead unsuccessfully tried to eat. Shane ultimately inserted the tube himself and began tube feeding.

Kathleen Kane[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Puncture wounds to the chest
    • Colles' fracture
    • Coagulation disorder
    • Stroke
  • Treatment:
    • Closed reduction and splinting
    • Surgery
    • CPR

Kathleen was punctured in the chest by a broken baseball bat. She also had a wrist fracture, which Callie reduced in the trauma room and instructed Leah to splint. They took her into surgery to remove the fragments of wood. In surgery, her subclavian was bleeding and April figured out that the only way to access the bleeding to stop it was to cut the clavicle, despite Callie's protests. However, before Callie could get to the OR to stop her, April made the cut. While Callie was trying to repair the break, Kathleen stroked out. Attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead in the OR. The clot formed quickly due to a coagulation disorder.

Cara McAdams[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Severe facial scarring from burns
  • Treatment:
    • Facial reconstruction

Cara had severe burning to her face and she was in the hospital to have the scarring reduced using skin grafts.

Michael Hall[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Mitral valve failure
  • Treatment:
    • Being put on the transplant list

Michael was the recipient of an infant heart transplant. When his mitral valve began to fail, Cristina wanted to try to replace it instead of putting him back on the transplant list. In surgery, there were complications and he ultimately had to be placed on the transplant list.

Jackson's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Gluteal liposuction

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Because of You" C2C (feat. Pigeon John)
  • Callie helps out Meredith and Derek.
"White Lies" Max Frost
  • Stephanie is excited about Cara's surgery, but she and Jackson discover that Owen has moved Cara out.
"Swimming Pools (Drank)" Kendrick Lamar
  • Derek tells Meredith that baby Bailey refuses to sleep.
  • Meredith tells Derek about her predicament with Richard, but Derek falls asleep.
"All Fall Down" Garrison Starr & AG
  • Owen reveals to Jackson he lied about having transferred Cara to Seattle Pres.
"You & I (Nobody in the World)" John Legend
  • Cristina suggests she and Owen start dating other people.
  • Alex carries Jo up to his bedroom to have sex.
  • Callie comes to the therapist's office to tell Arizona she's not staying.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode's title originated from the song Everybody's Crying Mercy, originally sung by Bonnie Raitt.
  • This episode scored 9.60 million viewers.[1]
  • Arizona Robbins got a haircut. It's shorter now and very similar to her hair in season five.
  • A scene featuring Alex and Jo having sex together for the first time was filmed but cut from the episode, possibly because it was quite explicit for the timeslot.[source?]
  • A week has passed since the last episode.
  • Dr. Webber has a condition called dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). In real life, this is commonly assessed and treated by Speech-Language Pathologists. However, Meredith mentions the Occupational Therapist will be seeing Dr. Webber for his condition.[source?]

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

Alex: Try the Internet like everybody else.
Cristina: For porn?
Alex: For dating. Find somebody else to get horny with. I have a girlfriend.
Cristina: Oh, she's passed out with her friends. Again. Does she ever sleep with you? Did you guys have sex and it was awful? Was she awful?
Alex: No.
Cristina: Were you awful? And now you're so ashamed you can't even look at her?
Alex: No.
Cristina: Oh, was it weird? Is she a man? Ow, secret penis!
Alex: Shut up!
Cristina: Well, why don't you guys ever sleep together?
Alex: We will!
Cristina: Oh, you two haven't done it yet!
Alex: We do!
Cristina: You do done it?
Alex: We have. We do. We do. Just get out!
Cristina: Okay, let me just think about that. Cause it's been like a week and you haven't closed the deal. What have you done to Evil Spawn?
Alex: I was sleeping.
Cristina: (giggles) Oh God, I knew you'd cheer me up!

Cristina: Haircut.
Arizona: Yes! (Cristina stays silent.) You can't just say haircut. You have to say nice haircut, otherwise I'll think that you think it's a bad haircut and I'm wearing a dress and I got haircut because I wanna look nice today. Do I look nice?
Cristina: You look tense.
Arizona: Say I look nice!
Cristina: You look nice.
Arizona: Was that so hard?

Callie: Hey Kepner, you heard back yet by the way?
April: No, not yet.
Callie: Hmm.
April: You think that's bad?
Callie: You think it's good?

(Meredith wakes up on the bathroom floor due to the crying of her baby.)
Derek: The shower works better with you in it. He's hungry and my nipples are no use to him.

Callie: Hey, you guys did couples therapy, right? Was it good? Did it help? I mean, obviously not, right? Look at you guys. No offense.
Cristina: Offense!

Alex: She's just bummed about her dead friend and stressed about her exams.
Cristina: Those are not valid.
Alex: All right, there's been a lot of girls since Izzie, a lot of nobodies. But this girl is not a nobody. She's... I don't know, when I think about it, it seems important. Like, it's gotta be the right time.
Cristina: You want it to be special.
Alex: What?
Cristina: Nothing. It's sweet.
Alex: Are you making fun of me?
Cristina: I am not. Can I ask you one thing? When we're done here, will you braid my hair?

Cristina: You gotta get over the special thing. Just throw her over your shoulder, take her to bed, and go to town.
Alex: Every girl's dream.
Cristina: She's the thing that's special, dumbass! God, you have the right person right there, you both want the same thing. Stop being scared.

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.

References[]

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