Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Advertisement

Every doctor has a dirty little secret. We're all competitive science nerds. In grade school, we made the biggest and the best volcanos, which erupted actual, fake molten lava. In junior high, we spent hours laboring over our rat mazes, so that one day, we'd be the person who changed the face of medicine forever. Sometimes, the key to progress is to recognize how to take that very first step. Then you start your journey. You hope for the best, and you stick with it. Day in, day out. Even if you're tired, even if you wanna walk away, you don't, because you are a pioneer. But nobody ever said it'd be easy.

Man on the Moon is the eleventh episode of the tenth season and the 207th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary

April's sisters arrive to help celebrate April's upcoming nuptials and quickly get on her nerves. Matthew and Jackson are forced to work together when they witness a terrible accident, Callie and Arizona work hard to reestablish their relationship, and Cristina is pressured to live stream an upcoming surgery. Meanwhile, a familiar face returns to the hospital.

Full Summary

A robotic hand picks up a ball. Callie says the diagnostic is complete, so they’re ready to try again. They connect Becca McMurdo to the equipment.

Meredith is shaving a sheep in preparation to insert a printed portal vein. She hands the clippers to Stephanie to finish.

Cristina and Shane flop down on an on-call room bed. Cristina says Shane gets an A. He says he’d like to go for an A+. She says they don’t have time, but he says they have 30 minutes.

Arizona asks how Callie’s research is going. She says it’s going well, but she stepped out for a minute to see Richard off. Arizona asks if Callie’s coming to April’s shower, because April is their friend. Callie says she’ll be there if she can. They pass Leah, who greets them formally. They respond in kind.

Stephanie praises Leah, who acknowledges that that was hard for her. Shane comes up and offers the last two seats in the gallery to them. Jo and Leah jump at the chance, but Stephanie objects that they should want to watch her and Meredith put a portal vein into a sheep.

Owen tells Meredith it’s a big day and asks if she’s going to watch. She reminds him that she has her own surgery.

Richard is wheeled out with his stuff on his lap. He doesn’t understand why they’re making such a big deal of it. He says he just needs a break from all of them. Bailey says he did it, he got himself better. He protests that Bailey did it. Once the elevator doors shut, Bailey starts counting her fingers, which prompts Dr. Alma to ask, “Is Dr. Webber leaving very stressful for you?” She says that it isn’t, but Dr. Alma asks why she’s counting her fingers if it’s not.

At a café, April is having brunch with Matthew and her sisters. They toast to their little duckie getting married. They thought she’d be single forever April tells Kimmie to take it easy on the mimosas. They tell her to live a little and drink, but Matthew says they’re on call. Jackson waves to them through the glass and Libby asks April who he is. When she says that’s Jackson, they ask if he’s “The Jackson.” April says she has to go to work and gets up to leave. They ask if she’ll be done in time for mani/pedis. She says she’ll try and asks Matthew to take them back to her apartment. They decide they want to go to the hospital instead. Kimmie whispers to April that she likes Jackson’s eyes and totally understands why April named a pig after him.

Jo comes up to the nurses’ station to check on a page. She is directed to Jimmy, who is struggling to stand. He says he’s trying to get clean, but she tries to send him away. He reminds her of her offer to help, but she says it’s too late. He seizes and she calls for help.

Jackson and Matthew are leaving the café when they see a man (Tim Bowman) steal another man’s (Leo Davis) cab. The cab pulls away, not realizing that Leo’s tie is stuck in the window, causing him to be dragged alongside the cab. Jackson and Matthew rush to help. Leo isn’t breathing. An ambulance is 10 minutes away, but they can’t wait that long. While Jackson tries to control the crowd, Matthew uses a straw from Jackson’s pocket and a knife to perform an emergency tracheotomy, which gets him breathing again.

Owen is talking to Nathan’s parents about them recording his surgery to broadcast so other surgeons can watch it live. The Glaziers are concerned that with the cameras in there, the surgeons will be more focused on putting on a show than on their son. Cristina is confused about the cameras, because Shane had the idea and talked to Owen about it without consulting her first. Owen explains how the cameras will help other surgeons to learn. Cristina assures them that her only focus is their son.

She confronts Owen about the cameras, not knowing what Shane did. Shane defends that he’s been getting emails from surgeons around the country wanting to watch, so he made some executive decisions and he’s happy for her to veto any of them. Alex says she should veto all of them. Owen reminds Cristina that they’re in a teaching hospital and asks her to consider it. She says it’s fine.

Derek asks Becca to wiggle her fingers. She stares at the robotic hand and is unable to do it. Callie says just try to move a single finger. Her husband John tells her to relax and she snaps at him. He decides to go get some food and asks if she wants anything. She says she wants to move the stupid finger. He says she can do it and leaves. Derek asks Becca to try again. She still can’t do it. She’s upset that the sensors have been in for weeks and she hasn’t been able to do it.

Jo has Jimmy in the ER. Owen gives her a treatment plan. She says she’s treated him before and he’s an addict. Owen adds a tox screen and methadone, but Jimmy insists he doesn’t want methadone. He hasn’t used in months and he wants to get totally clean. Owen tells Jo to admit him and watch him. Jo wants to send him elsewhere and tells Owen that Jimmy is Alex’s dad and there’s bad history there. Owen says he’s a patient and Jo is his doctor and tells her to act like it and admit him.

Bailey comes up to Owen and says she finished the two days with Dr. Alma and she’s ready to be done. She says she’s doing better. Dr. Alma chimes in that she’s pulling her fingers again. Bailey wants her to leave and wants to be cleared for surgery. Owen asks Dr. Alma if she’s cleared and Dr. Alma says she isn’t. Owen reminds her that Dr. Alma has to clear her. Bailey asks what exactly she needs to do.

April shows her sisters the ER. They approach Arizona. Once they are introduced, the sisters reveal that they know a lot about Arizona from April. Alice asks if she’ll be at the shower and she says she will. Kimmie chimes in that she has a cat at home who lost a leg and she thinks that watching him move around is real strength. April tries to silence Kimmie and Arizona excuses herself.

Jackson and Matthew come in with Leo. Matthew mentions that he trached Leo. April is surprised. Jackson says he made the incision too low and wide and horizontally instead of vertically, so Jackson will have to fix the damage in surgery. Matthew defends that he had to it the way he did, but April says it doesn’t matter and send him to take her sisters away.

Jo approaches Alex and says she has something to tell him he probably doesn’t want to hear. He tells her not to tell him, but she tells him anyway. He asks her to kick him out. She says she can’t, but he says he can. He goes to Jimmy’s room and tells him to get up. Jimmy says, “Hey, son. How you doing?”

Alex tells Jimmy he’s not staying. He says he helped him before, but he won’t help him again. Jimmy says he knows who Alex is, but Alex doesn’t care. Jimmy didn’t remember until Alex was standing over him like he did when he was a teenager. He says he’s been trying to get clean since then. Jo tries to get Alex to stop. Alex says he won’t help Jimmy, but Jo says she will, because she’s his doctor.

Callie and Derek are discussing what went wrong. Everything else is working, so the problem has to be Becca. Callie says Becca is so negative, but Derek says she’s trying.

Bailey is telling Dr. Alma that she’s quite good at sutures. Dr. Alma insists that she’s not surprised, but she will be surprised if Bailey can do five of them without engaging in OCD behaviors. If she can do it, she can go back to work. Before she can get started, Dr. Alma touches her equipment and moves things around. If she engages in any of the behaviors, she has to start over.

April is upset that Jackson yelled at Matthew because now her sisters think Matthew is a nitwit. He calls her Duckie. She objects and says it means ugly duckling because she had braces and glasses and her sisters still see her as that girl. Jackson says Matthew did a good job and Jackson would have done the same thing. He says she should go spread the word. He says it’s an easy fix, so he says she can leave. But she says she wants to hide in there.

Stephanie is setting up the camera for Meredith’s operation. Stephanie says she’s changing the face of medicine. But Meredith says the people who change the face of medicine don’t say they’re changing the face of medicine; they just do it.

A nurse whispers something to Alex and he announces that surgeons from Baylor have joined them. Cristina explains what she has done. The conduit is on its way. Alex gives Nathan’s patient history. Shane brings in the conduit.

Meredith and Stephanie unclamp the portal vein and there’s blood flow. The sheep’s blood pressure is good.

Nathan’s blood pressure is falling. The conduit is smaller than planned, so Cristina has to adjust for that.

Arizona enters the gallery and sits next to Callie. She asks if Becca moved her hand. Callie says she didn’t. Arizona tells Callie to cheer up. Callie says her research just stalled, so why would she cheer up? Arizona says she doesn’t know, but it’s just something that people say. Callie says she knows and she doesn’t want to fight with Arizona. Callie has to get back, so she leaves.

Jo asks if Leah saw that. Leah, having watched Callie and Arizona’s conversation instead of the surgery, asks if Jo thinks they’re going to break up. Jo directs Leah’s attention back to the OR.

Nathan is struggling.

The sheep is doing well as Meredith finishes her surgery and talks into the camera about what is happening.

Nathan has crashed. Cristina asks Shane to get the cameras off.

Cristina, Alex, and Shane are talking to Nathan’s parents. They’re concerned and believe they should have gone with the synthetic graft. Cristina reassures the parents that it was the right choice. After walking away from the parents, Cristina tells Alex she wishes he had backed her up more. She asks if he believes the conduit will be a success. He says he doesn’t know, but he hopes so.

Jimmy is hallucinating as Jo sees to him. He believes he’s in his house when Alex was a child. Jo gives him something to calm him down.

Meredith gets into the elevator with Shane. She asks how he is and he tells her not to be smug, that she won and they lost and he knows it. Meredith calls him out on the way he is speaking to her, reminding him that she is his boss. He says congratulations and leaves, despite her protests that he stay.

April’s sisters find Arizona at a nurses’ station and ask if she knows where April is. They have decorations for her shower. Arizona tells them that April is in surgery and she’s not sure how long she’ll be. They ask if they have to cancel the shower. Kimmie says that when April came into work, she promised she’d be done on time. Arizona says they say a lot of things, but they’re not really in charge of their schedules. Libby asks why they live this way and Arizona says it’s because they save lives. She tells them that April will pop in at some point. They object that she can’t just pop, but Arizona says they might have to settle for the pop.

Bailey is still trying to do her five stitches. She has completed two. Dr. Alma grabs a bottle of pills and tells Bailey that taking the medication will make this easier, but Bailey remains resistant. Dr. Alma suggests they take a break and needs to use the bathroom. She takes some pictures of the table for reference. While she’s gone, Bailey fights the urge to adjust the tools. Ultimately, she gives in and starts to move on when Richard comes in, interrupting her. He’s there to practice for his return to surgery. He doesn’t just want to sit around home. He comes over and sees that her trays are a mess. He begins to rearrange them.

Derek is having Becca picture the fingers moving. It still isn’t working. She’s frustrated. Her husband comes in with chips. She yells at him to leave them alone. He leaves the room. Once he’s gone, Becca admits that she keeps snapping at her husband and it’s awful. He does everything for her and she was doing the brain mapping so she could do something for him and this was something she could do, but it’s not working. She’s frustrated and she wants to stop doing the brain mapping. Callie asks if she wants to schedule the surgery to remove the sensors, but Derek stops her.

The sheep has crashed. Stephanie tries to save her, but the vet says it’s hopeless and the sheep is dead.

Stephanie is petting the sheep as Meredith watches. Meredith says not to lose hope, that sometimes it takes a lot of mistakes to find what works. They’re going to do a necropsy to find out what went wrong and then they’ll try again. Meredith says progress looks like a bunch of failures.

Callie and Derek are fighting about Becca. Callie says that Becca hates it, but Derek reminds her that Becca still shows up and tries every day. Callie says she doesn’t want to fight anymore. Her whole world is a fight. She fights with Becca at work and then she goes home and fights with Arizona and now she’s fighting with Derek. Derek says they’re just frustrated because they haven’t figured out what to say to her to make it work. Callie spots some bottles of water and says she wishes one were a bottle of gin. Derek grabs it and goes to hand it to her, but hesitates and looks at the bottle for a minute. When she asks if he’s going to hand it to her, he says they need to talk to Becca.

Kimmie is talking to Arizona as they set up for April’s shower. Kimmie says that it’s great that Arizona and Callie are trying to work things out because it’s so much better for the kids. She says April doesn’t know, but her husband cheated on her. They have three kids, so they stayed together. Arizona asks if they went to couples therapy, because she and Callie can’t even agree on that. Kimmie says they didn’t need to talk it to death. She fills her glass almost to the brim as she says that they just keep hoping things will get better and they’re still getting through it.

Bailey is still trying to complete her five stitches. She has had to restart multiple times. Dr. Alma says she needs to consider taking the medication. Bailey shouts, “I’m not taking the damn pills,” which catches the attention of Richard Webber, who is still in the room. He invites her to go up to April’s shower with her to take a break, but she declines.

Meredith tells Cristina that she heard that Nathan’s not doing well. Cristina is doing research to see if she can find something to help him. She also says she heard about the sheep and tells Meredith congratulations before hearing that the sheep died. Meredith asks Cristina about Shane’s behavior. Meredith notices that he has changed a lot and asks Cristina if she thinks he’s emulating her. Cristina interprets that as Meredith saying that she’s teaching him to be mean. Cristina says she didn’t do anything. She gets paged away.

Nathan has stabilized enough to come off the oscillator. Cristina and Shane go down the hall and dance to celebrate the success.

Jimmy is still hallucinating. He is panicked because he thinks he’s back when Alex was a kid and was left somewhere. He ends up pushing Jo into a wall. Alex comes in and pulls Jimmy off Jo and pushes him against the wall. He tells Jo to leave while he handles Jimmy. Jo doesn’t leave and begs Alex not to do anything. Alex tells Jimmy to sleep it off and puts him back in the bed. They put restraints around his wrists. Jo apologizes to Alex. He says she shouldn’t be sorry. His father was an addict and his mother was crazy. He started running interference for them when he was six.

Derek wants Becca to give one last thing a try. John stands a few feet away. Derek wants her, instead of thinking about moving the hand, to think about John and how she feels about him. While she’s thinking about John, the hand moves and then goes up to take John’s hand. John says he never thought his wife would touch him again. Callie is in tears as she watches.

April opens a gift at her shower. Her sister says she uses hers all the time. Meredith says it’s a salad spinner. There’s a gift receipt. Libby hands Arizona the bow so she can make the ribbon bouquet for the rehearsal.

Leah and Stephanie come in. Stephanie asks Leah if she thinks April will notice that they’re late, but Leah’s not sure April knows they’re invited. They walked up to Richard, who is eating. He says you just have to say something nice, no matter what the gift is.

Arizona hands April the gift from her sisters. They said they wanted to save that for later, but April eagerly opens it, thinking it’s their mother’s veil, only to discover that it’s actually a pearl thong. They start to explain it to her, much to her embarrassment. They pick on her lack of a track record with men until she snaps, informing them that she’s not the ugly duckling she used to be. She’s a swan. And she’s a kickass surgeon. Then she reveals, to their surprise, that she has had sex before. She then fires the three of them as her bridesmaids and says that Cristina, Meredith, and Arizona will be her bridesmaids now, as they’re her people. The three of them hesitantly agree.

Matthew finds Jackson as he is leaving a patient room and demands an apology, as April informed him that Jackson said that he hadn’t made a mistake after all. Jackson admits that he had lied to April, that Matthew really did screw up. He calls Matthew out on showboating and asks if Matthew feels threatened. Matthew insists that he was just trying to save the guy’s life. Matthew says he hopes to see Jackson at the wedding. Jackson’s not sure he’ll be there, but Matthew says it’ll mean a lot to April and since there’s no bad blood between them, he should come.

Bailey is in the lab and Richard approaches her. He says that she called him a drunk before the accident. She apologizes and says she regrets it. He says it’s true; he’s an alcoholic. That’s why he’s at the hospital instead of at home, because at home, he’s lonely and bored and when he’s lonely and bored, he wants to have a drink. He always wants a drink because he has a disease that can’t be cured. But he can manage it, just not alone. He tells Bailey she needs to accept that she has a disease and accept that she needs help. She picks up the pill bottle and takes one.

At their apartment, Callie and Arizona are fighting. Callie says she’s sick of fighting. Every time they talk, it turns into a fight. Arizona says everything she says pisses Callie off. Callie cuts her off by pulling her in for a kiss. Callie says she thinks talking may be the problem. Arizona proposes that they not talk as much. They look at each other for a moment before they start kissing again.

Cristina is watching Nathan, who is still stable.

Stephanie and Meredith prepare for their necropsy.

Alex peeks in on Jimmy. Jo is sleeping in a chair in his room. He repeats along with Jimmy, who is still hallucinating, and laughs a little to himself.

Cast

Main Cast

Guest Stars

Co-Starring

Medical Notes

Becca McMurdo

  • Diagnosis:
    • Paralysis
  • Treatment:
    • Brain Mapping

After being hooked up to the equipment, Becca had difficulty making the prosthetic move with her mind. Derek ultimately had an idea which helped her. Rather than having her think about moving the hand, he had her look at her husband and think about how she feels about him, allowing the hand to move naturally based on her desire to reach out and touch him.

Nathan Glazier

  • Diagnosis:
    • Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
  • Treatment:
    • Seeded conduit from a 3D printer

After several failed attempts, Cristina finally was able to print a conduit which she believed would work for Nathan. During the surgery, his vitals were unstable, but Cristina was still able to place the conduit. He was placed on an oscillator to allow him to breathe. Later, her stats were said to be stable, so he was able to come off the oscillator.

Miranda Bailey

  • Diagnosis:
    • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:
    • Occupational therapy
    • Medication

After being diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Miranda Bailey had to be shadowed by Dr. Alma for two days. After those two days, she wanted to return to surgery, but Dr. Alma refused to clear her, saying she was still expressing the compulsive behaviors. When asked what she had to do to get cleared, Dr. Alma said she had to complete five stitches without engaging in her obsessive behaviors under circumstances meant to trigger them. She was unable to do this after several tries. After hours of attempts, Richard Webber came in to use the room where they were working. He spoke to her about his struggles with alcoholism and convinced her to start taking the medication, which she had been reluctant to do, claiming that she could handle it on her own.

James Evans

  • Diagnosis:
    • Drug Addiction Withdrawal
    • Seizure
    • Hallucinations
  • Treatment:
    • Potassium
    • Ativan

Jimmy came to the hospital looking for Jo, wanting to take her up on her offer to help. She initially said she wouldn't help, but when he had a seizure, she took him down to the emergency room, where Owen Hunt said to admit him. Owen also tried to give him methadone, but he said he didn't want methadone because he hadn't used in months and he wanted to be totally clean. After he was admitted, he began to hallucinate. After he attacked Jo, he was placed in restraints.

Leo Davis

  • Diagnosis:
    • Obstructed airway
  • Treatment:
    • Tracheotomy

Leo was trying to get into a cab when Tim Bowman came up behind him and entered the cab. They briefly argued before Tim instructed the driver to drive away, unaware that Leo's tie was stuck in the window. Tim ignored Leo's attempts to inform him of this, so Leo was dragged behind the cab. He was not breathing after he was released from the window, so Matthew used a knife and a straw to perform an emergency tracheotomy, which allowed Leo to breathe, but he made a horizontal incision rather than a vertical one, wider and much lower than it needed to be, leaving Jackson to repair the damage.

Music

Song Performer Scene
"Gun" CHVRCHES
  • April, Matthew and her sisters are having brunch.
  • Jackson comes in to buy a coffee, and April introduces her to her sisters, who think he's really hot.
  • April leaves for work and takes her sisters with her, leaving Matthew and Jackson alone together.
"Make The Money" Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
  • Dr. Alma encourages Bailey to take the pills, but Bailey doesn't want to.
  • Richard overhears this and suggests Bailey take a break, but all Bailey wants is to operate.
  • Meredith and Cristina try to talk, but soon start fighting over Cristina mentoring Shane, who has become agressive lately.
  • Cristina is paged, and finds Nathan's stats are stable, which means the procedure worked.
  • Cristina and Shane do a little silent victory dance.
  • Jo stops charting as Jimmy starts yelling. He gets agressive with her, until Alex comes in and pulls him off of her.
"Team" Lorde
  • April is having the bridal shower with Meredith, Cristina, Arizona and her sister amidst the crowd.
  • Richard is yelling positive comments while eating appetizers.
  • April opens a present from her sister, thinking it's their mother's veil, but it's a pearl thong for her first night with Matthew.
  • Her sisters start teasing her some more, until April fires them as her bridesmaids and hires Cristina, Meredith, and Arizona as her new people.
"Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst" Kendrick Lamar
  • Matthew tells Jackson he should come to the wedding.
  • Richard manages to convince Bailey to take her pills.
  • Callie and Arizona start fighting again, until they realize that they talk to much and need some more sexy time.
  • Cristina is checking on baby Nathan.
  • Meredith and Stephanie begin to perform an autopsy on the sheep.
  • Alex goes to his dad's room, where he remembers what his dad is talking about.

Notes and Trivia

  • This episode's title originated from the song Man on the Moon, originally sung by R.E.M..
  • This episode scored 7.02 million viewers.
  • Filming for this episode was scheduled from November 5 to November 16, 2013.
  • Goof: During the scene at the restaurant with April's sisters, when the shot is switching between Matthew and the sisters, their mimosas are changing from yellow to orange.

Gallery

Episode Stills

Quotes

Richard: I'm just going home. I'm not retiring. But first, I need a vacation from all of you.
Miranda: You did it, Sir. You got yourself better.
Richard: No, you did it, Bailey. You got me better.

Libby: Here's to our little Duckie finally getting married!
April's Sisters: To Duckie and Matthew!
Matthew: Duckie?
April: Don't ask.
Kimmie: We thought for sure you were going to be a spinster for life.

Jo: Alex, I have to tell you something that you're not gonna like to hear.
Alex: Well, then don't tell me.

Stephanie: You're changing the face of medicine. You need to be louder.
Meredith: You know who doesn't talk about changing the face of medicine? People who change the face of medicine. They just do their job.

Arizona: Look, we're just not in charge of our schedule. This is just how it works.
Libby: Why do you live this way?
Arizona: Because we save peoples' lives. She'll pop in at some point.
Libby: No, it's her shower, she can't just pop.
Arizona: You may have to settle for a pop.

Meredith: Edwards, you know how many dogs the Russians sent into space before a man walked on the moon?
Stephanie: Those poor puppies!
Meredith: Edwards, we are going to do a necropsy and we are going to find out what went wrong. And then we'll try again. And then we'll fail again. Because that's what progress looks like.
Stephanie: Progress looks like a dead sheep.
Meredith: No, progress looks like a bunch of failures. And you can have feeling about that because it is sad, but you can't fall apart. And then one day we will succeed and we will save a person's life and we will walk on the moon. Figuratively, anyway.

Kimmie: When I found out you had a boyfriend, I was like "Don't make any sudden movements!"
April: Oh my God, stop talking to me like no man has ever found me sexy.
Kimmie: Duckie?
April: And stop calling me Duckie! I'm not Duckie anymore! My acne cleared up years ago. I got rid of my braces in college. I wear contacts. I use makeup. I did years of physical therapy to correct my pigeon toes and in case you haven't noticed, I learned how to condition my hair. I'm not your hopeless, ugly little sister anymore. I am not an ugly duckling. I'm a swan!
Cristina: Hmm hmm.
Arizona: Yeah.
April: And a surgeon! A freaking kick ass surgeon who, by the way, has had sex before!
Kimmie: Oh, wow.
Alice: Does daddy know?
April: You know what? You're fired as my bridesmaids, all three of you. I don't want a single one of you standing up for me at my wedding.
Kimmie: Honey, don't be silly. You have to have bridesmaids.
April: And I will. These are my people now.
(Meredith, Cristina, and Arizona don't react.)
April: Right?
Arizona: Right!
Cristina: Yes.
Meredith: Yeah.
April: These are my bridesmaids!
Arizona: Yay!

Richard: Before my accident, you called me a drunk.
Miranda: I'm so sorry! There has not been a day since that I haven't regretted it.
Richard: You're right. I am a drunk.
Miranda: Sir!
Richard: I am an alcoholic. Which is why I'm here now instead of home. It's boring there, and lonely. And when I'm bored and lonely, I wanna have a drink. Hell, I wanna have a drunk when I'm happy too. I always wanna drink. Because I have a disease and I can't be cured, but it can be managed. But I can't do it by myself. I need help. Accept that you have a disease, Bailey. Accept help. We're all here for you when you're ready to get started.

See Also

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

Advertisement