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In the hospital, we see addiction every day. It's shocking how many kinds of addiction exist. It would be too easy if it were just drugs and booze and cigarettes. I think the hardest part of kicking a habit is wanting to kick it. I mean, we get addicted for a reason, right? Often, too often, things that start out as just a normal part of your life at some point cross the line to obsessive, compulsive, out of control. It's the high we're chasing, the high that makes everything else fade away. The thing about addiction is it never ends well, because eventually, whatever it is that was getting us high stops feeling good and starts to hurt. Still, they say you don’t kick the habit until you hit rock bottom, but how do you know when you’re there? Because no matter how badly a thing is hurting us, sometimes letting it go hurts even worse.

Love/Addiction is the second episode of the fourth season and the 63rd overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Lexie tries to befriend an unwilling Meredith and while Bailey is looking for a way to show off her skills, Callie struggles with her Chief Resident Duties. Mama Burke returns to collect her son's belongings, while Cristina trades the wedding presents for surgeries and favors. Alex investigates a case involving the victims of a massive explosion.

Full Summary[]

George tells Izzie he feels an exhilaration, like he finally figured it out. It's amazing. She smiles.

Naked in bed, Meredith tells Derek that this is the best break-up ever. He wants to stay and sleep over, but she says no. Broken up people don't sleep over. Sex is the only part of their relationship that works. He could live with a relationship without dinners and conversations. She thinks he's mocking her emotional limitations. She agrees to sex and mockery only. He kisses her again.

George says that his father loved Callie, and then he died. He realizes he never should've gotten married to her.

Cristina is sitting in a chair in Burke's apartment, which is now filled with wedding presents. She starts opening the presents.

George tells Izzie it wasn't right to get married. They lean in to kiss, but George stops. He has to go tell Callie that the marriage is over, as it's the right thing to do. He walks out, but comes back in and asks if she saw how determined he was. She did, and it made her proud. He really leaves now and Izzie happily tells herself that he loves her, too.

Richard is looking at the OR board, which is looking good, and tells Derek that he's delegating. He's doing everything different to make time for Adele. She will talk to him again once she sees he's delegating. Derek says he's a junkie. He walks off as Mark comes over to talk to Derek, and notices he looks all strung out. Mark thinks Derek and Meredith are back together, but Derek clarifies they're just friends. Sexy friends, Mark says. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Derek asks how many nurses he's slept with this week. Mark says that's not a problem, it's an adventure.

At the nurses station, Cristina is trading wedding gifts for surgeries. Meredith thinks she should return them, but Cristina says that Burke registered for this crap and now she has to deal with it. So, she's using it for professional gain. She allows Mark to take the espresso machine if she can scrub in with him later. He agrees to that. Izzie really wants the mix master, but Cristina says Izzie has nothing she wants. Bailey comes over and reminds them they should be working. Cristina orders intern #4 to go put the stuff in her locker. She gets paged for a carnage in the pit. She tells her interns to follow. Lexie asks if they're not doing rounds. Cristina says carnage always trumps rounds, and to write it down.

George finds Callie. She got swamped with paperwork last night and fell asleep in an on-call room. George wants to talk, but she doesn't have time as this Chief Resident thing is kicking her ass. She asks if it's serious, but Richard arrives and asks what they got. She informs him there was a gas main explosion in an apartment building. 

The paramedics unload Marla Kristler from the rig. She has a skull fracture, abdominal injuries, and third-degree burns over at least 40% of her body. Richard takes the case and orders Callie to triage the rest. Cristina gets to assist Richard and she orders her interns to go help Bailey in the clinic.

Dave Kristler climbs out of another ambulance as a paramedic takes his 18 month old son inside. Dave asks about his wife and Callie informs him she's gone into surgery.

In the ER, the paramedic tells the doctors that Brian may have a head injury. Callie assigns Alex to the case, even though he's supposed to be on plastics. Izzie asks what about her. Callie says she looks tired and suggests Izzie sit this one out. Izzie clarifies she went to bed early and alone.

Izzie follows Callie into a trauma room, where Mark is about to start examining Archie. He has burns as well, and may have a shoulder fracture. Callie sends Izzie out to get her a trauma series and shoulder films. Archie wants the doctors to take care of the baby, because the Kristlers are basically his family.

Derek is asking Dave about the explosion. He and Brian were in the living room while Marla was in the kitchen. He thinks it was the stove that exploded. Derek asks Alex to run tests on the baby and to keep him posted.

Bailey, Meredith, and George are taking care of Clark. He's a friend of Marla and Dave's. He was leaving the apartment as the kitchen blew up and he was thrown into a wall. The doctors find severe bruising on his abdomen and Bailey says they need to take him to CT to check for internal bleeding.

Bailey asks Callie for a resident to assist her in the clinic to oversee the new interns while she's working on her patient here. Callie says she can't help. The clinic is voluntary so she won't force residents to go in there with everything that's going on in here, but Bailey can have all the interns she needs.

Cristina tells a nurse that Webber needs OR 2, so they have to bump another surgery. Tyler comes over and asks for the waffle maker. This time, he has something she wants. He gestures with his head and she sees Jane Burke, Burke's mother, approaching. She ducks to hide behind the nurses station. Jane introduces herself to Tyler and says she's looking for Cristina. Tyler says he'll page her, but he thinks she's in surgery. Jane says she'll wait and walks to the waiting area. Cristina tells Tyler he can have the waffle maker.

Cristina paged Meredith to tell her about Burke's mother. Izzie comes over and says she's working with Callie. She needs to find George, and she thought Meredith would know where he is, given that he's her intern. Cristina needs Meredith's help. Izzie offers to help in exchange for the mix master. Richard is ready for his surgery and Cristina follows him into the scrub room after asking Meredith to get rid of Jane.

Dave is trying to calm his son down, but he won't stop crying. Alex picks him up to calm him down as one of his interns comes back with the CT results. Alex takes a look. It looks like Brian's okay, but he's gonna do some more tests. He quietly tells his intern to order an MRI and a tox screen.

Bailey is giving Lexie and Steve instructions about the clinic. He asks if they can do procedures on their own. Bailey says they are in charge of nothing. All procedures and basically everything they do has to be run by an upper-level. Lexie asks what if they can't find anyone as she accidentally knocks some supplies off a kart.

Meredith pretends she's surprised to find Jane in the waiting area. Jane recognizes her has as the maid of honor. She recalls Meredith said "It's over. It's so over." at the wedding, and she wonders if Meredith said that to smash the hopes of the best man or in order to be funny. Because making light of that situation would be inappropriate, and to use that moment to send a message to her boyfriend, that's selfish. So, was she inappropriate or selfish? Meredith apologizes for that and says she has to go. Before she can leave, Jane tells her to report back to Cristina that she will continue to wait for Cristina.

Izzie keeps knocking things over in the trauma room while Mark is working on Archie's arm. Archie asks for news about his neighbors, but Izzie doesn't have an update. Callie has taken a look at Archie's films. He has a 3-part proximal humerus fracture so he's gonna need a percutaneous reduction and internal fixation. Archie talks about Brian. He's a beautiful boy. He asks Mark if he's got any kids. Mark says not that he knows of. He hasn't found anybody who'll put up with him. Archie advises him not to be a bachelor his whole life, like he has been. Suddenly, he realized that his whole life had passed by and some parts aren't working anymore like they used to. Archie turns to Callie, who says she's off the market. Izzie knocks over a tray as Callie says she's very happily married.

Izzie has found George and tells him that he cannot tell Callie. Callie is her boss. Maybe it'll work itself out if they wait. Maybe George and Callie will grow apart in time. George asks how long she wants him to wait. She doesn't know. George says they can't do anything until he's told Callie, so she better walk away.

Meredith informs Bailey that they're waiting for their patient's blood work. Bailey says she needs Meredith to work in the clinic. Bailey needs this from her. She has idiot interns in her clinic. Bailey does not have the authority to tell Meredith to go there, so she's asking nicely. If she ever did something for Meredith, like saving her life, and if Meredith ever felt like she owed Bailey some gratitude, now is when Bailey would like to collect. She concludes with a "please".

Meredith enters the clinic and hates to see Lexie there. Lexie, on the other hand, is excited because she's been waiting for an opportunity to talk to Meredith.

George is with Clark as he's about to have a scan taken. Clark seems anxious. He says he was just stopped by a friend's place on his way to work and now he's in a CAT scan machine. He starts to breathe heavily.

Alex's intern delivers Brian's test results. She comments it's crazy. He tells her to stay in the room and make sure that Dave doesn't leave with his son.

In surgery, Richard brings up that he saw Burke's mother in the waiting room. Cristina says she wouldn't know. Richard loves to give good people a second chance.

George is talking about going down the wrong path, but he finds his patient unconscious in the scanner. He calls code blue and asks for a crash cart.

Alex enters Richard and Derek's OR and says that the kid was strung out on meth. The explosion was a meth lab that blew up.

George shocks Clark, after which he opens his eyes and gasps for air.

Derek thinks Marla doesn't really deserve to be saved. Richard tells Alex to go tell Callie to follow the exposure protocol for children. He's counting on her to take care of this. Derek asks if he's sure he doesn't want to take care of that himself, but Richard says he needs to delegate if he wants to get back together with his wife. He's confident that Callie can handle it.

Alex tells Callie that the baby was on meth because of all the fumes that were released in the apartment. Callie tells Alex to call the police and social services. They'll take care of the dad so that Alex can take care of the child. Callie will spread the word and begins by telling Mark.

Archie tells Izzie she's doing a fine job debriding his burns, despite her seeming nervous earlier. Mark comes in and asks Archie if he uses crystal meth. Archie says no, he only takes his blood pressure meds. Mark explains Marla and Dave ran a meth lab, which is what caused the explosion. Archie says that is impossible. He's known them for five years. He even babysits for them.

Bailey is informed by George that Clark coded out of nowhere. Callie says he was probably a drug addict and tells them about the meth lab. Clark could have cardiomyopathy from the meth use. Callie is surprised to hear that George ran the code by himself and asks where Grey is. George says she's in the clinic. Callie turns to Bailey, who says she didn't want interns. Callie angrily leaves. George apologizes to Bailey, who says some things don't need to be told.

Meredith is examining Jennifer in the clinic, but Jennifer feels weird because she thinks Lexie is staring at her. Meredith says Lexie is staring at her and leaves to go talk to Cristina, who just came in. She tells Cristina she tried to get rid of Jane, but she wouldn't budge. Cristina wonders what she wants. Meredith says she has to go deal with her, and then came back to tell her all about it because she could really use a pick-me-up with Lexie staring at her all the time. Cristina says she's gonna stay right here until she's paged away. She's soon annoyed by Lexie staring, so she sends her off to get her some coffee.

George is genuinely surprised to see Jane in the waiting room. He introduces himself as Burke's guy. He sits down and tells Jane that Burke let him sleep on his sofa when he had no place to stay. George asks her how Burke is doing. She replies Burke is a gentleman so he doesn't like to talk about it, and she doesn't know what to say to him. George suggests to tell him that he dodged a bullet. Once you're in a marriage, you're in. George knows Burke avoided a mistake. You can't take back a marriage. George admits he's married already. Jane says staying in a marriage out of obligation is no way to live or love, but she thinks George knows that. He does, sometimes.

Meredith tells Derek the timing of his page is perfect. She wants to go to an on-call room, but he wanted to go grab a bite. She reminds him: sex and mockery only. He still is going to get lunch. She tells him to meet her in the lobby at 8 PM.

Alex is working on a crying Brian. His IV came out and he needs to be hydrated. Dave is freaking out. He'd like an update on his wife. Alex says the recovery will be long and difficult if she makes it off the table. Dave yells at his son to stop crying. Alex tells him he can't, because his nervous system is shut and his organs are compromised because he's in withdrawal from crystal meth. Dave says that's impossible, as Brian wasn't in the room. Alex says it was all over the apartment; he could smell it on Brian's skin. Dave says he loves his son. They were broke, but he doesn't use drugs. He loves his family. Alex says he can do that from jail. Dave suddenly knocks Alex out and leaves the room with his son.

Callie and Izzie are in the OR, working on Archie's arm, as Richard comes in. He delegated the meth lab situation to her and now a resident has been attacked and a baby's missing. She better hope that baby shows up. He leaves. Izzie tells Callie she's a good Chief Resident. She knows Callie's been having a hard time and it's clearly not an easy job. Callie orders Izzie to leave her OR.

In the clinic, Meredith is stitching up Alex's scalp lac. Cristina is pacing around them and Meredith explains to Alex that she's avoiding mama Burke. Lexie is hovering again so Cristina orders her to go fold sheets or something. Alex says that Lexie is hot. Alex gets paged. The police wants to talk to him. 

Derek sits down with Jane in the waiting room. Derek says Burke has stopped returning his phone calls. Jane says he's doing his best. She wonders if Cristina really loved him. Derek says she loved him the best she knew how. That wouldn't have been enough for him either. Derek says Burke is stronger than he is. Jane says honorable men are all built the same. Derek is not so sure he is one. She asks if he knows when to walk away, when not to take less than he deserves. If so, he is.

George explains to Clark that he went into cardiac arrest. He's also bleeding internally so he's gonna need to stay for observation. He's gonna go into withdrawal soon but he can't leave, because there's a good chance he's gonna need surgery. Clark wonders if he's got any good news, too. George wishes he had.

Callie is looking for the baby. Mark asks about her surgery. Callie is freaking out. The baby got lost on her watch so she's not okay. Also, she thinks that George is having an affair. Mark says he's an idiot if that's true. Mark advises her to talk to him, as an alternative to destroying her career.

Lexie approaches Meredith and asks where the thermometers are. Meredith thinks it's an excuse to talk to her. Meredith realizes she's mean. She's generally not a mean person, but she really doesn't want to know Lexie and Lexie is making that really difficult.

As Derek is checking up on Marla, he hears noises in the bathroom. In there, he finds Dave and Brian. Dave tells him that Brian was shaking and now he won't wake up. Dave says he doesn't want to leave his baby. Derek suspects Brian had a seizure and takes him away from Dave.

As Derek is operating, Bailey and Alex are up in the gallery. She can't believe a one year old had a stroke. Alex says she can yell if she wants. He deserves it. She says he really does for his stunningly poor decision making and his unbelievebly destructive tactical error. It was extremely stupid to get in the face of a drug dealer with his child present before the police arrived. She taught him better than that. Alex thanks her. Bailey thanks him for letting her yell.

Lexie tells Meredith she's a nice person. She doesn't know what it is she did to Meredith, but they have the same dad. Meredith says they don't. Meredith's dad disappeared when she was 5 years old, and she never saw him again. That's not the man Lexie grew up with. Meredith says she can't let a perfect man love her. It's because Thatcher chose his new family over her. Meredith is sure Lexie is a nice person, but she's not someone Meredith ever wanted to have to get to know.

Clark has gone into withdrawal with George sitting next to him. He talks about the first time he used meth at a party. In the middle of his story, he codes again.

Cristina finally arrives in the waiting room. Jane says she came for Preston's key. She'd like to pick up some of his things and the necklace she gave Cristina for the wedding. Cristina gives her the key and tells her to leave it under the mat when she's done. Jane wanted to tell Cristina she's sorry. She's come to know Cristina. What she loves even more than Preston is being a surgeon. She's sorry that Cristina lost the man she loves, but even more so that she lost her teacher. With him by her side, she could have become a brilliant heart surgeon. Jane says Cristina is strong and she respects that. She wishes she could've been born in another time so she could've been more like Cristina. Cristina asks her to also take all the wedding gifts. Jane promises she will. Cristina realizes Burke is never coming back, not even to say goodbye. Jane tells her to remember that she's a strong woman.

Clark's body is transported to the morgue. George tells Izzie that there was too much damage to his heart, he just couldn't take it. George says he won't be this guy. He's going to tell Callie.

Callie wants to talk to Richard, but he's drowning in paperwork about the kidnapped baby. He was planning on maybe going to see his wife, but he gets to do this instead. Callie offers to help, but he says she's helped enough for the day.

Marla wakes up and wonders how she got here. Cristina tells her about the explosion. She informs Marla that her husband and child are okay, although Brian had a stroke and Dave has been taken by the police. Cristina is sure they're also gonna come talk to Marla. Marla starts panicking. Cristina calms her down. It must feel like everything's coming apart now, but she can get through this.

Lexie is crying in the intern locker room.

Mark finds Derek and asks if he wants to go grab a drink. Derek admits he has a problem.

Archie asks Izzie what's going to happen to the Kristlers. Izzie says Brian's grandmother is coming. She'll probably take custody. Archie says they were his family. After 60 years on this planet, his family is a couple of drug dealers and a kid. Izzie says just because people do horrible things, it doesn't mean they're horrible people.

George finds Callie. He still wants to talk, but she says no. She begs him not to say anything. She can't deal with it tonight. As his wife, she asks him to do this for her. He says okay. They leave together.

Mark, carrying his espresso machine, finds Meredith in the lobby and asks if she wants to get a drink. She says she's meeting someone. Mark says Derek asked him to tell her that he's stuck with a patient, so he's not going to make it. Derek is watching from a distance, unbeknownst to Meredith. She tells Mark she's not coming to Joe's. As she's on her way to the elevator, Derek calls her name and joins her.

Meanwhile, Meredith's voice over talks about how things you're addicted to can hurt you, but how it can hurt even more if you have to let them go.

Cristina comes home and finds that Burke's things and the presents are gone. She sits down in a chair as she lets it sink in.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Marla Kristler[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Skull fracture
    • Abdominal injuries
    • Third-degree burns
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery

Marla, 34, was injured when the meth lab in her kitchen caused an explosion. She had a skull fracture, abdominal injuries, and third-degree burns over at least 40% of her body. She was taken directly into surgery from the ER. Her surgery was successful and she was stable post-op.

Brian Kristler[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Contusions
    • Head injury
    • Meth withdrawal
    • Stroke
  • Treatment:

Brian, 18 months old, had a possible head injury from the explosion in his apartment. A CT scan revealed no acute injury, but Alex smelled meth on him, so he said he needed to run more tests and ordered an MRI and a tox screen, which revealed that he'd ingested meth. He started to go into withdrawal at the hospital. Then he had a stroke, so he was rushed into surgery. His surgery went well and his grandmother came to take custody of him.

Archie Roche[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Second and third-degree burns
    • Facial contusions
    • 3-part proximal humerus fracture
    • High blood pressure
  • Treatment:
    • Burn debridement
    • Percutaneous reduction
    • Internal fixation
    • Blood pressure medicine

Archie, 60, was brought into the ER after the apartment above his had an explosion. He had serious burns, which were debrided, and a humerus fracture, which was reduced and fixated.

Clark West[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Meth withdrawal
    • Internal bleeding
    • Cardiomyopathy
  • Treatment:

Clark was brought into the ER after the apartment he was leaving had an explosion. He had severe bruising, so he was checked for internal bleeding. While getting a CAT scan, he crashed. He was able to be resuscitated, but he had cardiomyopathy from his meth use. He had to stay in the hospital because it was likely he'd need surgery. He started to go into withdrawal and coded again. This time, he died.

Jennifer[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:

Meredith examined Jennifer in the clinic.

Alex Karev[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Scalp laceration
  • Treatment:
    • Stitches

Alex had a scalp laceration from being attacked by a patient which Meredith stitched up.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"From My Heart to Yours" Laura Izibor
  • George rants to Izzie about how he feels about her.
  • Derek and Meredith are post-coital. Meredith tries to stop him from sleeping over.
  • George is trying to explain why he married Callie when he shouldn't have.
  • Cristina opens all the wedding gifts.
  • George says it was wrong to marry Callie. He wants to tell Callie their marriage is over.
"The Yard" Trolle Siebenhaar
  • Izzie tells George not to tell Callie their marriage is over.
  • They nearly kiss.
"Castle-Time" Chris Garneau
  • George goes to talk to Burke's mom.
  • She's surprised to learn he's staying in a marriage out of obligation.
"Little Bit of You In Everything" The Rentals
  • Meredith sews up Alex's head. Lexie is hovering nearby.
  • Meredith tells Alex not to ogle Lexie.
  • Alex gets paged to talk to the police.
  • Cristina wonders why Mrs. Burke is there.
"Carousel" Amy Obenski
  • Mrs. Burke apologizes to Cristina for the loss of her teacher.
  • Cristina asks her to take the wedding gifts with her.
  • Mrs. Burke tells Cristina she's a strong woman.
"Moon and Sun" Gomez
  • Cristina tells Marla to breathe.
  • Lexie sits alone and cries.
  • Derek tells Mark that his situation with Meredith is a problem.
  • Archie asks about Brian. Izzie tells him Brian's grandmother is coming to take him.
  • Izzie says people who do horrible things aren't always horrible people.
  • George tries to talk to Callie, but she tells him not to do it that night.
  • Mark tells Meredith that Derek is stuck with a patient, but Derek steps in and leave with Meredith anyway.
  • Cristina goes home to an empty apartment.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode's title originated from the song Love/Addiction, originally sung by Morris Day.
  • This episode scored 18.51 million viewers.[1]

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

Mark: Let me guess, you and Meredith are back together and you've been up all night doing the horizontal salsa.
Derek: Mambo. Horizontal mambo. Meredith and I, we're just friends.
Mark: Sexy friends.
Derek: You're like the worst, most juvenile human being I've ever met in my life.
Mark: You know the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem?
Derek: How many nurses have you slept with this week?
Mark: That's not a problem, man. That’s an adventure

(Pager beeps.)
Cristina: Carnage in the pit. My day is improving. Follow.
Lexie: We're not gonna round?
Cristina: Carnage trumps rounds, Three. Write that down. Carnage always trumps rounds.

Alex: What's with her?
Meredith: Well, Mama Burke is here and we don't know why. My guess is that she's here to kill Cristina.

Lexie: I am a nice person, okay? I am and I don't know what it is that I did to you but you know... We have the same dad, so I was just thinking that a simple conversation...
Meredith: We don't have the same dad, Lexie. You and I, we do not have the same dad. My dad disappeared when I was five years old and I never saw him again. Does that sound like the dad you grew up with? I kicked a man out of my bed in the middle of the night. The world's most perfect man, who loves me. And I can't let him. And it doesn't take a shrink to figure it out why. Because our dad chose you. So I'm sure you are a very nice girl, Lexie. But I hope you can understand, you're not a girl I ever wanted to have to know.

Meredith: Hey, what's the 911?
Cristina: Mama is here.
Meredith: Your mother?
Cristina: No, not my mother. Mama. MAMA is here.
Meredith: Oh, Burke's mother.
Cristina: Yeah, make the synapses fire a little more quickly, Meredith.

Richard: What do we have?
Callie: Gas main blew in an apartment building, five injured, some badly.
Cristina: Excellent.... Horrible, horrible! Sad.


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.

Transcript

References[]

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