Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Advertisement

The surgical scalpel is made of sterilized, carbonized stainless steel. This is a vast improvement over the first scalpel, which was pretty much a sharp stick. Medicine is constantly reinventing itself, that means surgeons have to keep reinventing themselves too. There's constant pressure to adapt to changes. It can be a painful process. But without it, you'll find yourself moving backwards instead of forwards. We have to keep reinventing ourselves almost every minute because the world can change in an instant, and there's no time for looking back. Sometimes the changes are forced on us, sometimes they happen by accident, and we make the most of them. We have to constantly come up with new ways to fix ourselves. So we change, we adapt, we create new versions of ourselves. We just need to be sure that this one is an improvement over the last.

Valentine's Day Massacre is the fourteenth episode of the sixth season and the 116th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

It's Valentine's Day, and the doctors must treat dozens of injured people after the roof collapses at a popular romantic restaurant. Derek tries to manage his busy schedule as Chief of Surgery. Meredith wrestles with her new duties as the Chief's wife and Mark and Callie team up to convince Sloan to do the right thing for her baby.

Full Summary[]

Derek is driving to a restaurant with Meredith, Cristina, and Owen to celebrate Valentine's Day. Meredith and Cristina claim they don't do Valentine's Day, agreeing there's nothing more to life than the hospital. A bunch of ambulances drives in the opposite direction, but Derek refuses to turn around. If it's big, they'll get paged. Only seconds later, he and Owen get paged. Cristina and Meredith cheer as Derek turns the car around.

Callie is wiping the OR board clean. There was a roof collapse at Grandinetti's, a fancy restaurant, so all scheduled procedures are canceled. The restaurant was packed because it's Valentine's Day. Callie knew something like this is gonna happen, which is why she and Arizona had dinner at 4. They show Bailey the necklaces they gave each other, but Bailey doesn't really care. Ben comes over. Their surgery was pushed, which disappointed him. He suggests they make up for it over dinner. She tells him she's too busy with surgery every day for that. He says they'll see each other in an OR then. Bailey gets on an elevator with Arizona and Callie. They think Bailey likes Ben and start giggling about it, much to Bailey's discomfort.

Mark asks Callie if she knows how to put a crib together because Sloan is coming home tonight. She doesn't recognize him as a sweet, nerdy dad. Mark notices a blonde girl at the nurse's station. He decides to go for it. Now Callie recognizes him again. Mark uses a pick-up line, but as the girl turns around, it turns out it's Lexie, who's dyed her hair. She realizes he didn't know who she was and that he was hitting on her, calling that pathetic. Mark snipes back that she can't pull off being a blonde, as blondes are either badass or fun. Jackson says "Damn" in reaction to their fight, but Lexie tells him to shut up as she walks past.

Lexie takes her chart to another nurse's station, where Alex comments that he gets why she changed her hair as chicks always do that. Lexie insists she didn't do this for Mark. She just wanted a change.

The patients are brought into the ER as Owen and Derek arrive. Callie updates them on what happened and tells Derek more about the patients as Owen starts working. April comes over and tells Derek about his duties as Chief in the midst of the crisis. Derek decides to go with his duties as a doctor first.

As Owen is yelling orders around, Bailey takes her patient upstairs. A woman asks Meredith where they're taking her husband, Bailey's patient. Teddy does a quick consult with Meredith and bumps into Owen as she walks off. There's an awkward moment as they continue on their way.

Alex tells his patient his break is gonna need to be reset. He wants to know if there's a chance he can be put in a bed next to Meredith's patient. Alex apologizes, saying it doesn't work like that. The man says he should've known, as he's been the head waiter for 25 years. He knows how it works. He gives Alex some cash, which makes Alex decide to see what he can do.

Derek diagnoses his patient with a depressed skull fracture and a subdural hematoma, so he needs an OR.

Arizona asks Derek to sign off on a reassignment document to get Ben on Bailey's surgery. She's playing Cupid for Bailey. Derek signs off as April comes over, telling him there are reporters waiting for his statement. Nelson can take his skull fracture. Also, he's got a charity breakfast in the morning and the people will want to see his face on the 11 o'clock news. Paramedic Nicole brings in a patient with a severed arm. Owen takes on the case. April helps Derek to put on his jacket before he walks out into the ambulance bay, where a bunch of reporters are waiting for him. 

Meredith and Alex have put their patients in the same room. Mrs. Banks, Meredith's patient, explains that she and her husband have dinner at the restaurant where Emile is the head waiter every week. He takes very good care of them, but she thinks it's now time he takes care of himself. Emile explains he thought she'd want someone with her until her husband is okay. She thanks him for that.

Outside the room, Alex and Meredith place a bet on whether or not Emile will make a move on Mrs. Banks, whom he clearly has the hots for. April comes over and calls Meredith "Mrs. Shepherd", asking her if she'll be joining Chief Shepherd to go to the breakfast in the morning, or if she'll meet him there. Alex is surprised to see that April is Derek's now, but April replies he just needed a little more help on the administrative side during this transition period. Meredith is not even sure she's going to the breakfast thing. April doesn't understand, saying she has to go as she's Derek's wife.

Callie bumps into Sloan Riley at the nurse's station. Mark doesn't know she's in, and she's looking for the free clinic. She wants to have an ultrasound to make sure everything's okay after the surgery. Callie says the clinic closed an hour ago, but she has some time to help Sloan out.

Owen and Lexie are working on the guy with the severed arm, while Jackson is cleaning out the arm. It had been lying in dirty dishwater a while before it was found. The patient says everybody forgot he was in the restaurant, but he understands as he's not really a talker. He doesn't want to end up with only one arm, as he doesn't like being stared at. Lexie assures him they'll do everything they can to reattach the arm. Owen tells Frankie they'll take him up to surgery right now. He instructs Lexie and Jackson on how to debride the arm and tells them to bring it up to the OR as soon as they're done. Jackson mockingly calls Lexie "trauma room Barbie".

Arizona is in the OR with Bailey and Ben, making small talk about the destroyed restaurant. She thinks it's not a good fit for a first date and asks Bailey where she would go on a first date. Bailey tries to get Arizona to leave, but she wants to stay. 

Callie finishes up and tells Sloan that everything looks fine. Sloan asks if she can have that in writing. She doesn't mean the picture that Callie gives her, but more like an official document. Callie wonders why she needs it. Sloan admits it's for the adoption attorney. She's found a great couple in San Francisco. Sloan is not ready to be a mom yet. She hasn't told Mark yet, and she's not planning to. She forbids Callie to tell him.

As Meredith examines Mrs. Banks, Emile is concerned she's cold. Alex notices he must take better care of her than her husband does, as they come to the restaurant every week. While Mrs. Banks sleeps, Emile tells Meredith and Alex that when she first came in, they started a game. She'd try anything they served and when she'd gone through the entire menu, he'd get the chef to make something new. She became his favorite part of the week. Until she came in with her future husband one night, on their first date. The night he proposed to her, Emile was the one who placed the ring in the crème brûlée for her to find. He watched her say yes from the kitchen window. They never stopped coming in, but now he orders for her, the same thing every time. He's witnessed their conversations getting shorter and shorter, and now all they do is eat. They have no children, so if her husband dies, she'll be all alone. He can see she's afraid of that and he wants to comfort her. She'll never have to be alone if she doesn't want to be. Meredith then notices that Mrs. Banks is awake, but she's turned her head away from Emile, so he doesn't know.

Sloan is in a hurry to leave the hospital. Callie chases her, trying to convince her not to leave without telling Mark. That's exactly what Sloan wants to do, but they run into Mark. She distracts him with the ultrasound picture. He immediately recognizes the Sloan nose. He gets paged but asks her to wait in the hospital because he has a surprise for her at home.

Alex thinks Meredith has won the bet because Emile still hasn't told Mrs. Banks after 15 years, but Meredith honestly tells him that Mrs. Banks was awake. Meredith thinks she'll tell Emile that she loves him too. April comes over with the keys to Meredith's house. Derek told her Meredith might not make it in time, so he gave April the keys so she can go pick up a dress for Meredith. Meredith doesn't allow her to enter her closet. April objects that Derek needs her by his side, but Meredith is more concerned with being a surgeon than the Chief's wife.

Jackson is surprised that people get work done around the hospital, as everyone seems to be involved with a colleague. He asks Lexie about her and Sloan. Lexie explains that he forgot about her, deciding to start a family without even asking her. Jackson opens up and says that in his family, he's the pretty one. His family is smart and driven, which is also what they look like. They expect nothing from him, so he had to push himself. His point is that she can't just change her hair. If she wants to be unforgettable, stop being mousey, she has to actually change. 

As Bailey extracts the glass from her patient's abdomen, Arizona asks Ben if he knew that Bailey almost became a pediatric surgeon. She said no to general surgery, but then she thought about it and changed her mind. She wasn't afraid to rethink her decision, she just needed to be asked again. As Ben understands what she means, Bailey gives her an angry look.

Before giving Sloan the document, Callie lists all things Mark did for her. If Sloan's not gonna tell him, Callie is. Mark comes over as Callie paged him. Sloan is forced to tell him, so she does. She wants her baby to have good parents, which will love the baby more than she will. Mark blurts out that he'll adopt the baby. He understands her, and he knows he hasn't the best track record as a dad, but he wants to do this. Sloan says she wants a family for her kid, and he's just a guy. Callie jumps in and says she'll help out. They can raise the baby together, as a family. Sloan is moved by the offer and she agrees to stay in Seattle to talk about it.

Alex joins Meredith in front of Emile and Mrs. Banks' room with Valentine's chocolates he took from a comatose patient. Cristina joins them too and they explain the situation to her. They're waiting for Mrs. Banks to say something to Emile. Just as Mrs. Banks reaches out to Emile to say something, she's suddenly unable to breathe. Meredith calls for a crash cart and she and Alex rush into the room. 

Teddy is examining Mrs. Banks and they take her out of the room for tests. Emile stays behind, worried.

Jackson and Lexie walk into Owen's OR with the debrided arm, but Owen says it's gonna have to be an amputation. He and Mark found that the stump is not eligible to reattach the arm. They're gonna have to treat it with antibiotics to let it heal, but by the time it's healed, the arm will be dead. Lexie tells Jackson they can attach the arm to a healthy zone to keep it alive. He encourages her to stop being a mouse and tell it to Mark and Owen. It's never been done before with an arm that was severed above the elbow, but after briefly consulting, Mark and Owen decide to try it when Lexie advocates for the patient. As Mark and Owen get ready, Jackson tells her that what she just did definitely wasn't mousy.

Meredith and Derek discuss the breakfast thing in the morning. Meredith has a surgery she'd have to give up in order to be able to go there with him, and she doesn't want to do that just to stand there on a stage, smiling, just to be his wife. He totally understands. She also feels obligated to care for her patient, who's someone's wife too. 

Teddy joins Owen in the scrub room. They share an awkward talk about their patients. Teddy then blurts out she rented a beautiful house, followed by more facts on her recent personal life. She was thinking about getting a puppy, but she decided to get a fish instead. As she brings up her bikini wax, he asks what she's doing. "You were my best friend!" she yells. Her best friend, whom she could tell everything to, and now he won't even look at her. That's because she said she loved him, Owen says. She recalls he said he loved her too and then he chose Yang. "You chose her too," Owen says, adding that he feels like he's cheating on Cristina every time he talks to Teddy. He admits to also missing his best friend. Teddy walks out as he continues to scrub.

Mark sits down with Derek in the gallery, the closest to inside an OR he's been in a week. Mark says he's adopting Sloan's baby with Callie. Derek congratulates him, and Mark says he's happy for Derek and his new job too.

In Bailey's OR, Arizona concludes that Bailey seems to be about done, meaning she's just in time for dinner and maybe even some dancing. Through a metaphor, Bailey tells Arizona that she's perfectly capable of making the decision about whether or not she wants to go dancing on her own. She doesn't need any help, so Arizona can go. As Ben tries to chat up Arizona, Bailey finds a big bleeder because the splenic artery is torn, meaning she has to take out the spleen.

Alex asks nurse Tyler where his patient is, as Emile's bed is empty. Tyler doesn't know. Alex enters the room to take a closer look. As he wants to write something in the chart, he drops the money he won from his bet with Meredith. Picking it up, he sees Emile lying on the other side of the bed. He calls for help.

As Derek answers a page, he walks into April, who got an outfit for Meredith and made him speech cards. He asks her if she wants to be an assistant or a surgeon. April confesses she's not sure if she can do surgery. It's easier to come back as an assistant than as the doctor who made a mistake and killed someone. So if he's not sure he needs her, then maybe she shouldn't be here. Alex comes over, telling Derek he has a patient with an epidural bleed. Derek asks April to come with him.

Lexie, Jackson, and Owen tell their patient that they managed to save his arm, albeit through extraordinary measures. Owen explains they needed an active blood supply to keep the arm alive, and they show him that they attached his arm to the side of his body. Frankie is shocked, yelling he didn't want to be a freak.

As Callie enters her apartment, Sloan leaves Mark's with all her stuff. Sloan looks busted as Callie asks her if she even told Mark she's leaving. Sloan explains she only needed a place to stay and some money, but seeing how much he cares freaks her out. She walks off, but Callie stops her, trying to convince her to give them the baby. Sloan says that if she'd do that, it would still be her baby. She needs him to be somebody else's. Mark got a clean break from her as a baby, and she thinks she deserves that too. Callie tells her she needs to take her prenatal vitamins as she takes all the cash from her wallet and gives it to Sloan. She warns her not to miss any doctor's appointments and asks her to call them if she has any problem. Sloan thanks her and leaves.

Meredith informs Mrs. Banks that there were some complications during her husband's surgery, which Bailey is trying to fix. She'll update her once there's more news. Mrs. Banks asks about Emile. Meredith tells her about his brain bleed. Mrs. Banks is shocked. She can't believe Emile didn't say anything for 15 years. She knew, which is why she kept coming back to the restaurant, but then she met Bob and since Emile never said anything, she never left Bob. She made a choice, and Bob loved the restaurant, so it became their place. He does order for her because he knows what she likes. It may seem like they have nothing left to talk about, but sometimes it's nice not to have to talk. 15 years ago, she made a choice and she keeps making it every day. That's what marriage is.

Bailey is having a lot of difficulty getting the bleeding under control.

Derek is operating on Emile with April and Alex, who wonders how he could've missed the bleeding. Derek says it's the kind of bleeding you never find until it's too late, so he didn't do anything wrong. At this time, Derek doesn't know yet if they're too late for Emile.

In both ORs, they struggle to keep their patients alive.

Alex and April are scrubbing out. Emile has died. Alex thinks he may be better off, as all he did was wait on tables and watch his life happen without. A crying April has more difficulty with accepting the loss. Derek comes in too and April tells him she can't do this, watch people die. She shouldn't have come back. Derek comforts her by telling her about the mistake he made last year, which almost made him walk away from surgery. If she doesn't feel the losses, if she's not hurt by them, that's when she can know she's not cut out for this work. He assures her she can be a good surgeon, which is why he brought her back.

Ben congratulates Bailey on having saved their patient. She doesn't want to talk to him, because he makes her nervous. He makes her forget what she wants to say and say things she doesn't want to say. She just goes stupid when she's with him because she likes him. Arizona overhears them and smiles as Bailey agrees to go to dinner with him tomorrow night.

Alex tells Meredith that she can tell Mrs. Banks that her husband is okay, whereas Emile passed away. Alex wants to give her back the money, but she thinks he won. Also, she doesn't want the money, and she thinks Mrs. Banks would've stayed with her husband anyway. From the end of the hall, Teddy asks Meredith if she wants to scrub in on her valve replacement. Meredith checks her watch and asks if Yang can scrub in instead.

Mrs. Banks is watching her sleeping husband as Alex comes over. He tells her about Emile's death and says he's sorry. As he leaves, she starts sobbing.

As Lexie is checking up on Frankie, people have gathered outside his room. Frankie knows they want to stare at him. Lexie explains that is because he's very rare and special. There might even be some press, and there's some personal injury lawyer floating around who thinks that the restaurant owns him a whole lot of money. Upon hearing this, Frankie agrees with Lexie that sometimes change is good.

Mark comes home, finding Callie working on the crib. He says she doesn't have to do that, and she also doesn't have to help him raise the baby. He thanks her for offering though, and says it's gonna be amazing. Callie proceeds with what she was doing. She wasn't putting the crib together, she's taking it apart again. As his eyes tear up, he asks her what she's doing. She asks him to sit down.

Lexie joins Alex to eat the rest of the chocolates. She tells him to get used to her hair, as she's keeping it blonde. He thinks it's good, as it shows she's moving on, which is what she should do. They state they hate Valentine's Day and share a look.

Moments later, they're making out in a supply closet.

Owen and Cristina are on their way out together as Teddy comes running over. She wants to talk to Owen, but she wants Cristina to stay. She knows she said she loves him, and it's out there, and she knows she can't unring the bell, but she's unringing the bell. She misses her friend Owen more than anything. The rest she can deal with, but she has a job she loves and an amazing student to teach and a cottage and several waxed body parts, so she's gonna be fine. She tells Owen they're gonna be friends again, and she tells Cristina that they're doing a valve replacement in 10 minutes. As Cristina runs off to prep the patient, Owen tells Teddy she can't unring the bell. She knows, but she's gonna try like hell.

Meredith arrives at the breakfast, surprising Derek. She knows that she didn't have to come, but she chose to. He walks into the room with her, but she then sees that the board outside the room says "Dr. and Mrs. Derek Shepherd".

Derek is driving the car as Meredith is putting on her scrubs on the backseat. She's mad about being called Mrs. Shepherd. She tells him she doesn't do brunches, she doesn't miss surgeries, and that she hates Valentine's Day. He smilingly watches her in the mirror as he agrees to make it up to her with a lot of sex.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Bailey's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Hemicolectomy

Bailey had a hemicolectomy scheduled, for which Ben was going to be the anesthesiologist, but it was pushed due to the roof collapse.

Derek's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Depressed skull fracture
    • Subdural hematoma
  • Treatment:

Derek tended to a patient with a skull fracture in the ER. The patient also had a subdural hematoma. Dr. Nelson said he could take the surgery.

Bob Banks[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Embedded glass shard
    • Splenic artery rupture
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery
    • Splenectomy

Bob was injured when the roof at the restaurant where he was eating collapsed. He was taken into surgery by Dr. Bailey. He had a large shard of glass in his abdomen, which Bailey removed. His splenic artery was torn, so she removed his spleen. He also had damage to his pancreas. Despite this, Bailey was able to repair all his injuries and he survived.

Mrs. Banks[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pneumothorax
    • Tracheobronchial tear
  • Treatment:
    • Chest tube
    • Supplemental oxygen
    • Surgery

Mrs. Banks was injured when the roof at the restaurant where she was eating collapsed. She had a pneumothorax, which Meredith treated with a chest tube. Later, she got an air leak in her chest tube, so they took her for a bronchoscopy. She had a tear in her throat, so they took her into surgery to repair it.

Emile Flores[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Broken ankle
    • Epidural bleed
  • Treatment:
    • Reduction
    • Casting
    • Surgery

Emile was injured when the roof at the restaurant where he works collapsed. His ankle was broken. He later collapsed on the floor from an epidural bleed. He was rushed into surgery, but his meningeal artery was completely severed. Derek was unable to repair the damage and he died in surgery.

Frankie[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Traumatic humerus amputation
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery
    • Temporary ectopic replantation

Frankie's left arm was traumatically amputated when the roof at the restaurant where he works was collapsed. The arm was able to be saved, but his arm tissue had devascularized too much. Lexie suggested temporary ectopic replantation. They attached his arm to his leg to keep it alive while his stump healed enough that they could re-attach it.

Sloan Riley[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
  • Treatment:
    • Ultrasound

Sloan went to Callie for an ultrasound to check that everything was okay because she was planning to give the baby up for adoption and wanted to be able to tell the parents that the baby was okay.

Teddy's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Valve replacement

Teddy asked Meredith to scrub in on her valve replacement, but Meredith asked if Cristina could do it instead, so Teddy asked Cristina.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"The Magnificent Seven" The Clash
  • Derek, Meredith, Cristina, and Owen are going on a double date.
  • They see an ambulance and then a few more. When they get paged, they turn around to go to the hospital.
"Shine Right Through" Correatown
  • Meredith and Alex eat chocolates and watch their patients. Cristina joins then.
  • The patient goes to say something, but starts choking.
"In These Arms" The Swell Season
  • Callie gives Sloan money and advice.
  • Meredith updates her patient on her husband and Emile.
  • She tells Meredith that her life was happy.
  • Bob and Emile both start coding in surgery.
"Starring" Freelance Whales
  • Ben congratulates Bailey on a good surgery.
  • She says she likes him and agrees to go to dinner with him.
  • Alex tells Meredith Emile died.
  • Teddy asks Meredith to scrub in, but Meredith passes the chance to Cristina.
"Islands" The XX
  • Alex and Lexie have sex in a supply closet.
  • Teddy stops Owen and Cristina while they're leaving.
  • Teddy tries to unring the bell and then asks Cristina to scrub in with her.
  • After Cristina's gone, Owen tells Teddy she can't unring the bell.
  • Meredith goes to the trustees breakfast.
  • On the way out, Meredith complains about being called Mrs. Shepherd.

Notes and Trivia[]

Grey's_Anatomy_6.14_'Valentine's_Day_Massacre'_-_Promo

Grey's Anatomy 6.14 'Valentine's Day Massacre' - Promo

  • This episode's title originated from the song Valentine's Day Massacre, originally sung by Rustic Overtones feat. Imogen Heap.
  • This episode scored 12.74 million viewers.[1]
  • This is the first episode where Lexie has blonde hair.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

Meredith: You're gonna have to make this up to me with a lot of sex.
Derek: Yes, dear.

Arizona: Bailey, where would you go on a first date?
Miranda: Isn't there a dying child somewhere?

Mark: Torres, you know anything about putting together cribs?
Callie: You got a crib?
Mark: Sloan's coming home this week and I got one and I put it together but it wobbles. It can't wobble!
Callie: You're like a cute nerdy dad now. I hardly recognize you.
Mark: Who's that new blonde over there? I may be a dad, but I'm still a single dad. Excuse me.

Lexie: He wanted to start a family and he didn't ask me. He just forgot about me. He left me lying in dirty dishwater.
Jackson: What?
Lexie: Nothing.
Jackson: I'm pretty.
Lexie: What?
Jackson: To my family, I'm the pretty one. You know, um, my eyes and my smile and my body - I mean, you should see me without a shirt on, it's kind of ridiculous. But my family's smart, driven, crazy over-acheivers, you know, and, and they look like they're smart. They don't look like me, which has its perks, except my family treated me like I'm pretty. They expected nothing from me. Ever. Never pushed me, never thought to. So I had to push myself. Hard. I didn't even tell them I was taking the MCATs until I'd aced them. My point is that you can't just change your hair. Kay? You wanna be unforgettable, you wanna not be mousy? You can't just change your hair. You have to actually change. Just saying'.

Meredith: I didn't marry Derek to be the chief's arm candy. I'm a surgeon.

Callie: We're a family, sort of. I live right across the hall. We're doctors and we're best friends and we're good people.


See Also[]

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

The Grey Matter blog post on this episode can be found here.

References[]

Advertisement