Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Register
Advertisement

A surgical residency is all about training for the worst. But, as prepared as we might be, we usually don’t see disaster coming. We can try to envision the worst-case scenario, to foresee catastrophe. But, when true disaster strikes, it often comes out of nowhere. And when the worst really does happen, we find ourselves completely blindsided. Why do bad things happen to good people? We ask that question so often, it's become a cliché, but that's because bad things do happen to good people constantly. You just have to hope that when it's your turn, you'll know what to do, how to cope, how to persevere. But the truth is, you don't know how you'll react to your worst-case scenario. None of us do. Not until it happens.

One Flight Down is the twentieth episode of the eleventh season and the 240th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

A small plane crash in Seattle causes multiple casualties and brings back horrible memories for the doctors, especially Meredith and Arizona. Meanwhile, friction between Owen and Amelia makes for an uncomfortable working situation for Stephanie.

Full Summary[]

While Meredith's voice over talks about how a surgical residency trains you for the worse, Richard is driving through Seattle. As he stops in front of a traffic light, a small plane appears in front of him, flying towards him and only missing his car by a few inches.

Richard enters the ER, which is quiet, and asks April where everyone is. She doesn't know what he's talking about. He tells her to page everyone as a small plane crashed right in the middle of the city. Only seconds later, the phone calls start to come in.

Owen and Amelia end up in an elevator together on their way to the ER. Amelia tells him she doesn't think them being together is a good idea. He says they're more than just playing, but she says she doesn't have any more to give. She's not trying to hurt him. He says he gets it, but he's done. She only wants the high and rush of playing, but he's not interested in that. He gets off the elevator and starts ordering around.

Meredith is on the bridge, trying to call Derek, but she only reaches his voice mail. She leaves him a message, asking what's going on. A group of interns run into the opposite direction. They bump into her and she asks what their problem is. One of them turns around, apologizes, and informs her about the plane crash. She immediately follows them to the ER.

Jo and Stephanie are excited about the incoming injuries. Bailey runs past them and tells them to move it or lose it.

As Meredith enters the ER and sees all the injured being treated by her colleagues, she remembers everything she, Cristina, Lexie, Derek, Arizona, and Mark went through when they were in a plane crash. A woman on a gurney says she was flying the plane while she doesn't even know how to fly a plane. However, Sam's the pilot. She asks where he is. They wheel her to a trauma room and start the work-up. Kate says Sam had a heart attack or something when he was flying the plane, so she tried to land it. Meredith says they'll find her husband, but Kate says it was a first date. They met on a site where you put what kind of date you want, and then you get a match with someone who wants the same date. Then you go on the date. She says Sam was really great. As Kate keeps on talking about Sam and while Stephanie and Owen continue their exam, Meredith stands frozen to the spot as she has flashbacks to the plane crash. Owen says they're gonna have to go to an OR and he asks to have Shepherd paged. 

Meredith leaves the trauma room and she asks a nurse and Alex where Arizona is, but they don't know. She really needs Robbins. She looks in some supply closets and finds Arizona sitting on the floor in one of them. Meredith sits down next to her and they remind each other that they're not the ones who were in the plane crash. They tell each other that they're okay.  Arizona saw a guy with a severed leg, reminding her of her own leg. Meredith repeats they're okay and says that the girl can't find her boyfriend, like she couldn't find Derek after the plane crash. They repeat they're okay.

A flashbacks to Meredith and Derek's last moment together shows Derek looking at a sleeping Meredith. She wakes up and says it's creepy that he's staring. He says her snoring woke him up. In D.C., the trains in the metro station used to wake him up, but now it's her snoring. That's much cuter to wake up to. He teases her and she hits him with her pillow.

Meredith and Bailey are in the ambulance bay as Sam, the pilot, is taken out of an ambulance bay. The paramedic informs them on his status and Bailey instructs to get him inside.

Alex asks Callie if she's seen Arizona or Meredith. She hasn't. He thinks there should be a rule that people who were on a plane crash can't work on plane crash victims. Callie says it's not a bad idea. Alex suggests they should look out for Meredith and Arizona. Callie wants to, but she knows it's not her place anymore to look out for Arizona. Alex understands.

Arizona tells a nurse on what she needs for her patients. Alex approaches Arizona, who didn't see him coming and gets scared. She has a lot going on, as the plane crashed in a prenatal yoga class. Arizona tells Alex about all the injured moms. Arizona is still stressed, so Alex decides to give her a hand.

Meredith and Bailey are examining Sam. He needs a cardio consult. He knows Kate took over. He tried to talk her through the landing and she was so brave. Stephanie comes in to ask if this is Sam, because Kate won't stop asking about him. Sam asks how she's doing, and Stephanie replies they're taking good care of her. Sam says he's gonna marry her. Stephanie thinks the feeling's mutual. Sam's pressure then bottoms out, so Bailey wants to take him to the OR right away.

Right before she's having a scan taken, Kate hears from Stephanie that Sam wants to marry her. She likes hearing that and she tells Stephanie about Sam's beautiful eyes. Stephanie positions her arms for the scan and Kate says about how amazing it felt when Sam was flying the plane. She knows he's the love of her life. Her story has Stephanie convinced that you can meet the one on a first date. Kate thinks it was not fair that a heart attack interrupted their perfect date.

In pre-op, Callie meets with Meredith and Bailey. Callie notices Meredith looks a little weird and she asks Meredith if she's okay. She knows what it was like for Arizona, who had nightmares a year after the plane crash. Meredith tells them that Derek missed his meeting and she hasn't heard from him. They're not the kind of people who call each other all the time and she's a busy surgeon, so she should be fine, but she's worrying. Callie says it's the plane crash that's making her worry. Meredith knows. She leaves and Callie asks Bailey to call her if things start to go wrong with Meredith. Bailey gives her okay.

In a flashback, Meredith tells Derek how she usually spent the night while he was in D.C. and now it feels weird that he's back. She wishes he could just stay in Seattle. He reminds her it's his last trip, and then he's done for good. He says he missed them together. So did she.

Meredith is remembering all that as she's in the OR with Bailey. She apologizes for daydreaming. Bailey says she's distracted. She lists a couple of traumatic things Meredith has been through and says Meredith has reason to be distracted. She asks how long Meredith can go without hearing from Derek before going completely crazy. Meredith guesses 6:00, maybe 6:30. It's 11:38 AM. Bailey then says that Meredith can panic at her heart's content if she hasn't heard from by Derek by 5 o'clock, but not a minute sooner and surely not in this OR. Meredith agrees to this.

In the CT booth, Stephanie is talking to Amelia about Sam and Kate's story. Amelia isn't paying attention because Owen is standing in the doorway. She asks if he's in or out. He says he only wants to know if Kate's good to go to the OR for her abdominal surgery. Owen urges her to work faster, because Kate will die if he doesn't get in there. Amelia looks at the scans and says there's no brain bleed. Owen immediately orders Stephanie to take Kate up to the OR.

Stephanie and Owen are operating on Kate. Stephanie is amazed by Sam and Kate's love story. It makes her wonder if fate exists. Or maybe they're both crazy, but her grandmother used to say that everyone is crazy in their own way, and the trick is to find someone who's crazy is complementary to yours. Owen tells her to shut up, but Stephanie has questions about the procedures and she has the right to learn. Silencing her because of personal problems is unprofessional. Owen gives her the chance to ask questions, but Stephanie says that how he's glaring at her made her forget her questions.

Richard is telling his story to a couple of colleagues. He says he felt the vibrance of the engine in his chest before he actually saw the plane. He says that when he looked up, he immediately saw the descent was in trouble. He says the plane practically scraped the roof of his car. Jo and Maggie are amazed, but April appears not to be. "How close were you again?" she asks. Richard doesn't reply and leaves to go check on things in the ER. Alex comes on. He's looking for Torres for a consult. April informs him she's in OR 6 and she asks if Alex has been working with Arizona today. He says she's yelling at him to do crap, but he guesses that's normal. He asks about Meredith. Maggie wonders what they're talking about. April says they had a bad experience on a plane. Maggie immediately starts telling a story of the worst flight she's ever had, but that was only about waiting for 4 hours while the plane had mechanical problem, but then the plane got cancelled. The others' faces tell Maggie that it was way worse than that. Alex leaves April to tell the story.

Meredith and Bailey are about to finish up in the OR. Just as Bailey says that things look fine, Sam's blood pressure drops. He's going into cardiogenic shock. Bailey asks a nurse to get Pierce.

Maggie is speechless upon hearing about Lexie and how Arizona lost her leg. April says that Callie had to cut it off. Alex says she would've died if the leg hadn't come off. Maggie is shocked. She then gets paged to the OR.

In the OR, Bailey cuts the pericardium. As Maggie comes in, blood squirts out of Sam's chest. The ventricle ruptured. Maggie instructs that Meredith needs to plug the hole, which is what Meredith's trying to do, but she can't find the hole. As Maggie's being gowned, she instructs them to put a hand in there and not to move.

Meredith thinks Bailey isn't compressing hard enough. Bailey snaps she knows how to compress a heart and tells her to remember who she's talking to. Maggie has to put in a patch, but it's doubtful that it'll hold as his tissue is friable. In a perfect world, she'd put him on bypass to give herself some time to check if she's sewing up healthy tissue. However, they can't put him on bypass because that would cause him to bleed out as Meredith and Bailey perform a splenectomy and partial hepatectomy, which they need to do in order to salvage the liver. Maggie remarks there's nothing she likes more than being painted into a corner. Bailey asks her to stay optimistic. Maggie asks Meredith to lift her finger.

Owen tells Kate that they fixed everything. She was lucky, because the internal damage could've been a lot worse with the impact she took. Stephanie informs her that Sam is still in surgery, but he's in good hands. They'll come to inform her once he's out. Kate asks who Sam is. They remind her he's the pilot of the plane. She asks what plane. She doesn't remember what happened to her.

Amelia tells Owen and Stephanie that temporary memory loss is common in cases like this. That's her opinion, but she'll do a repeat CT and neuro checks every hour to confirm. Owen asks if she's sure she didn't miss anything on the first CT. Amelia says she couldn't have missed something as there wasn't anything to see. However, it's possible she had a post-op stroke or an evolving intracerebral contusion. Owen thinks she's meaning it's his fault. Amelia says it isn't, as this happens often. He asks her to call him when she has the CT results. 

Alex informs Arizona on a patient of hers as she's about to deliver a baby. She wants him to go and take care of mom 2 and make sure that her baby stays in her womb. 

As April's taking care of a patient in the ER, she overhears Richard telling his story again to another group of interns, but this time the plane just roared over his head and crashed in the street right behind him. The interns are amazed as he says he immediately raced to the ER to prep it for the first casualties, all the while thanking God for having survived it. April sighs.

Jo and Stephanie are in the tunnels. Jo's talking about what their attendings went through while being stranded in the wood, while Stephanie can only think about the fate of her plane crash couple. Jo informs Stephanie that Callie was the one who cut off Arizona's leg, which makes them think of the attendings as real people now. And Alex used to hook up with Lexie, who died out there in the woods. That makes Stephanie imagine what'd happen if Sam dies, or if Kate never remembers or if Shepherd made the wrong call. Jo says she can never look at the attendings who were in the plane crash in the same way again, while Stephanie says Kate is never going to find that kind of love again.

As Arizona brings the delivered baby to the NICU, she sees Alex bringing mom 2's baby in, too. The mother didn't respond to the meds, so Alex had to deliver. Arizona is going to check up on mom 5 now. Alex offers to assist, but she declines and tells him to get the two babies settled in the NICU.

Maggie does her last suture. They all let go of the heart, but the sutures don't hold. Bypass is the only option Maggie sees, but Meredith reminds her it's not an option. Meredith tells her not to kill her patient. Bailey says Meredith's having a bad day and calmly tells Maggie that she's a smart woman, so she can figure something out. They all stay quiet to allow Maggie to think. She suggests glue, optimistically thinking it'll hold better than the stitches. They side with Maggie and ask a nurse for the glue. She replies they don't have any on hand. "Then go get some!" Bailey instructs her. The nurse quickly leaves as Sam goes in fib. Maggie shocks his heart with the paddles.

The heart rhythm returns after a couple of shocks, but he still has no blood pressure. The nurse comes in with the glue. Maggie needs a finger on the heart and another patch. Maggie does her thing and asks them all to take their hands off the patient. The patch holds and Sam's pressure is good. The surgeons are relieved and take a breath.

Stephanie is asking Kate questions to test her memory. She knows all the answers, but she can't remember the plane and Sam. Stephanie is frustrated and tries to get Kate to remember Sam. Stephanie says she's so invested because she thinks the two of them are supposed to be together. Kate snaps that Stephanie telling her all these things that she can't remember aren't exactly helping her. Amelia appears in the doorway and calls Stephanie's name.

Amelia tells Stephanie she can't force a patient to remember things. That's not how it works. Owen comes over and tells Amelia to stop yelling at her resident. Amelia says she can yell at any resident, especially if they've been tormenting her patient. They start arguing because of their personal issues until Stephanie interrupts. She says this story is all about her not about them being too messed up to hook up or whatever they're doing. She's the protagonist and this story is about love. She's looking for love and she believes he's out there and it doesn't work unless Kate remembers and Owen and Amelia are ruining this for her. Stephanie says that she is hero and Kate is the patient whom she saves. She walks off awkwardly, and so does Amelia.

Alex enters Arizona's OR to inform her all yoga ladies are in repose. She's operating on an abruption. Alex asks where she wants him. She replies outside. She wants him to stop hovering. She knows Meredith asked him to look over her as it seems she's coming apart, but she's not, and it would be easier not to come apart if he were to stop hovering and just let her do her job.

As Sam is wheeled out of the OR, the surgeons go to scrub out. Meredith's checking her phone. Bailey reminds her about 5 o'clock. Maggie asks what's at 5 o'clock. Meredith informs her about Derek and the panic deadline. Maggie knows Meredith is already freaking out, thinking about the last conversation they had and playing it over and over again in her head. Meredith says yeah. Maggie says that's what she should do and tells Meredith go home. Meredith goes back to playing that conversation in her head.

Having that last conversation in their bed, Derek tells Meredith that Zola wants a car as a souvenir from D.C. They laugh about that. He recalls a big fight, when he told that her that she was like coming up for fresh air, like he was drowning and she saved him. He still feels that way. When he sees her and what they have, that's the feeling. It's always been her. He wants more of this, of them. He means it. He wants another baby. He climbs on top of her as she smiles.

In the ER, Richard is telling a group of nurses that he and the pilot locked eyes, and he could see the fear and panic on his face. Then the last second, he dove into the passenger's seat and could feel the plane pass. April pulls him aside for a second. 

In a trauma room, privately, she tells him she heard him tell the story 6 different ways today and every time, the plane appears to be getting closer. She thinks that next time, it'll end with him dying. Richard says she's missing the point. He knows he didn't die, but he could have. He did see the plane flying toward him, and for a split second, he found himself thinking that maybe this is where it'd end. He knows what a near-death experience is, and this morning, his life flashed before his eyes. He saw how much he has. It scared the hell out of him, because the minute you see all the things you have, you see all the things that you stand to lose. Maybe he did embellish the story, but that's just human nature. Right now, he's taking stock of what he has, and he's feeling pretty grateful.

Arizona finds Alex and apologizes for having snapped at him. Alex says he was checking up on her to make himself feel better, because he wants her to be okay. He's sick of feeling bad. She wonders why he'd feel bad. He confesses that he was the one who cut of her leg. Callie decided it had to be cut off, but since she was in surgery, he was the one who made the cut. He doesn't know if she knew that or wanted to, but it's true. She thanks him for telling her.

Stephanie sneaks Kate into the ICU to go see Sam, but Kate doesn't recognize him. Amelia appears in the doorway again and summons her. Stephanie tells Kate to take her time and walks out. Outside, Amelia says that she thinks Stephanie is just trying to get fired, because this is not taking it easy like Amelia told her to do. Kate just had surgery, she shouldn't be out of bed. Just as she calls Stephanie irrational, Kate remembers. They had sandwiches on the plane. Normally, she's too nervous to eat on dates, but she wasn't nervous at all with Sam. She takes Sam's hand and everything starts to come back. Kate wants to see Sam's eyes, because she doesn't remember them and Stephanie told her they were beautiful. She wishes he'd open his eyes. Amelia says he will. Stephanie asks Amelia if she's still fired. Not today, not for this, Amelia says, but who knows what Stephanie will pull tomorrow.

Arizona finds Callie and asks her why she never told her that Alex is the one who cut off her leg. Callie says he's an idiot for telling her. Callie was trying to protect him. Arizona wonders why Callie let Arizona hold it against her. Callie says she made the call. No matter what, she was the one who made the call and she knew that Arizona was going to hate her for that. She didn't want Arizona to hate Alex too, as she wanted Arizona to have somebody. Arizona is visibly moved and thanks her.

Amelia smilingly tells Owen that Kate's memory is coming back. It's still incomplete, but she expects a full recovery. Owen shortly thanks her and walks off. She follows him and says that even though he called her the one who's playing games, she's here ready to talk, but she's getting punished because he's pissed at her. Owen says he's not punishing anyone and says he doesn't want to do this. Amelia angrily says she wants to do this because this is unfair. She drags him into an on-call room. He tells her to back off. She wanted professional, so he's giving her professional. Amelia says he's hardly being civil. She's sorry if she hurt his feelings. He blurts out that this is not about her. He says that he was the one who put Meredith, Derek, Arizona, Mark, Lexie and Cristina on the plane that crashed. He was in charge of choosing the airline. He doesn't care how long he's been out of service, it was his watch and they were his men. He failed them. When a plane crashes, it brings all those feelings of guilt back up. Amelia silently sits down next to him and takes his hand. He says he won't survive another plane crash. That's all the two of them are together, about to crash. She lets go of his hand and walks out.

In the ER, Richard is looking around. He sees April working on a patient, Bailey walking around, and Jo. Stephanie comes to stand next to him. He asks if he can help her with something. She says no. She's just enjoying the view. "Me, too," he says, and they enjoy the view together.

Meredith is at home, staring at the clock. Less than two minutes before 5 o'clock. While Meredith's voice over says that you never know how you react to your worst-case scenario, she grabs the phone, but before calling, she sees a police car approaching the house. Not until it happens, the voice over concludes.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Callie's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Dislocated shoulder
  • Treatment:
    • Closed reduction

Callie did a closed reduction on a shoulder dislocation.

Kate Shaw[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Intestinal tears
  • Treatment:
    • Exploratory laparotomy

Kate came into the ER after being in a plane crash. She had free fluid in her abdomen, so she was taken for a CT of her head. The CT showed no brain bleed, so she was taken into surgery. Her surgery went well and she was stable post-op, but she had memory loss surrounding the plane crash. They did a repeat CT and did neuro checks hourly. Her memory came back when she sat by Sam's bedside.

ER Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Severed leg
  • Treatment:
    • Debridement

Arizona asked Meredith if she'd seen the man with a severed leg after the plane crash.

Sam Garrett[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Abdominal injuries
    • Myocardial infarction
    • Ventricular rupture
  • Treatment:
    • Exploratory laparotomy
    • Splenectomy
    • Partial hepatectomy
    • Cardiac patch

Sam, 36, came into the ER after being in a plane crash, which was caused when he had what looked like a heart attack while piloting. He had abdominal injuries and chest injuries. They got a cardio consult and took him into surgery. In surgery, his ventricle ruptured, so Meredith tamponaded the wound while Maggie scrubbed in to repair the damage. They also had to remove his spleen and part of his liver, so Maggie couldn't put him on bypass to fix his heart. She tried sewing in a patch, but it didn't hold, so she instead tried glue, which worked, and he was stable after his surgery.

Bed 6[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pre-term labor
  • Treatment:
    • Tocolytics

Arizona prescribed tocolytics for a patient in pre-term labor.

Arizona's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
  • Treatment:
    • C-section delivery

Arizona had a patient who was sent for an emergency c-section.

Mom 1[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
    • Pre-term labor
  • Treatment:
    • Monitoring
    • Vaginal delivery

Arizona told Alex that moms one and two were possibly in pre-term labor. Mom one's progressed into actual labor and her baby was delivered.

Mom 2[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
    • Pre-term labor
  • Treatment:
    • Nifedipine
    • Vaginal delivery

Mom 2 was in possible pre-term labor. Arizona told Alex to do what he needed to do to stop labor and keep the baby in her. Despite this, the baby was soon delivered.

Mom 3[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
    • Hypertension
  • Treatment:
    • Monitoring

Mom 3 had hypertension.

Mom 4[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
    • Possibly pre-term labor
  • Treatment:
    • Monitoring

Arizona said mom 4 was possibly in labor or possibly freaking out. Alex later said he cleared her to be discharged.

Mom 5[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
    • Abruption
  • Treatment:
    • C-section delivery

Arizona said that Mom 5 had a slight abruption which might require a c-section. She later did the c-section to deliver the baby.

April's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Scalp laceration
  • Treatment:
    • Stitches

April put stitches in a man's forehead.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"In the Bush" Musique
  • Richard is driving to work.
  • He sees a plane low in the sky.
  • He ducks as it comes closer.
"Jupiter" Sleeping at Last
  • Meredith tells Maggie about Derek missing his meeting.
  • Maggie tells Meredith she should go home.
  • Meredith and Derek talk in bed.
  • Derek tells Meredith they should have another baby.
"Parallel Lines" Future Reference feat. Aron Wright
  • Arizona thanks Callie and walks away.
  • Amelia tells Owen that Kate's memory was coming back.
  • Owen tells Amelia that he failed his men in the first plane crash.
  • He tells her that they're just a plane crash and he won't survive another one.
  • Richard looks at the calm ER.
  • Stephanie comes up beside him and says she's just enjoying the view.
  • Meredith waits at home. The clock says it's five.
  • She gets up to make a phone call and sees police lights outside.

Notes and Trivia[]

Grey's_Anatomy_11x20_Promo_"One_Flight_Down"_(HD)

Grey's Anatomy 11x20 Promo "One Flight Down" (HD)

  • This episode's title originated from the song One Flight Down, originally sung by Norah Jones.
  • This episode scored 7.60 million viewers.[1]
  • Filming for this episode was scheduled from March 11 to March 20, 2015.[source?]
  • This episode features flashbacks from Flight.
  • This episode has an overlapping time interval with the next episode.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

Amelia: I just don't think this... us... is a good idea. Mixing work and play.
Owen: Play? Play? What am I now, some screw?
Amelia: I didn't say that.
Owen: This is more. Amelia, you and I both know this is more.
Amelia: I don't have any more to give! I'm not trying to hurt you.
Owen: I'm not hurt. I get it. And... I'm done.
Amelia: Owen...
Owen: You don't want real. You want the play. You want the high. You want the rush. And I'm not doing that. I'm not interested, so I'm done.

Arizona: Alex, hey. I'm sorry that I snapped at you. I know that you were trying to make me feel better, but...
Alex: I was making me feel better. It's just... I wanted you to be okay, all right? I'm sick of feeling bad.
Arizona: Why? Why would you feel bad?
Alex: Do you know it was me who cut off your leg? Callie was stuck in surgery, and your circulation collapsed from sepsis, and she decided you had to lose it. But I made the cut. I'm the one who did it. Just... I don't know if you knew that or wanted to, but it's true. Are you pissed? I mean, you can be pissed. I get it.
Arizona: Thanks. For telling me.

Kate: You're sure it's okay that we're up here?
Stephanie: Oh, yeah, totally sure. Uh, but maybe keep your voice down. People are sleeping. That's all.

Arizona: Why didn't you tell me?
Callie: Hmm?
Arizona: About Alex and my leg.
Callie: Freaking Karev.
Arizona: Don't be mad at him.
Callie: He's an idiot. I was trying to protect him, but why did he have to...
Arizona: All this time, you let me hold it against you. I... why?
Callie: I made the call. I mean, no matter what, it was still me making the call to take your leg, and I knew that you were going to hate me. I didn't want you to hate Alex, too. I wanted you to have somebody.
Arizona: Thank you.

Miranda: Dr. Grey, do you need to be replaced?
Meredith: No. I'm fine.
Miranda: No, you're not fine. You're distracted. You and Derek went down in a plane. You drowned. He got shot. You gave birth in a power outage.
Meredith: Is this supposed to make me feel better?
Miranda: I'm just saying, you have every reason to be distracted, every reason to think the sky is falling. Do you need to go?
Meredith: No!
Miranda: Okay, well, how long can you go without hearing from him before you absolutely go crazy?
Meredith: I don't know. I... 6:00, 6:30, maybe.
Miranda: Okay, then, let's say 5:00. At 5:00 P.M., if you haven't heard from him, you can panic. You can call the police, call the paramedics. You can freak out until your little heart's content. But not one minute before and not in this O.R.

Maggie: What's at 5 o'clock?
Meredith: Derek missed his meeting in D.C. this morning. I called him, and he didn't pick up, and I haven't heard from him all day. 5 o'clock is my deadline. If there's no news, then I'm gonna go home and freak out.
Maggie: You're freaking out now, though, aren't you?
Meredith: Yeah.
Maggie: Going over everything you can think of. You're going back to the last conversation you had and playing it over and over in your head from beginning to end, right?
Meredith: Yeah.
Maggie: Yeah. That's what I would do, too. You should go home, Mer.

Derek: You know, remember ages ago, you and I had a really big fight? And I told you, I said, "you're like coming up for fresh air. Like I was drowning, and you saved me." I still feel that way when I see you, what we have, our family. That's the feeling. It's you. It's always been you. And I want more. Of this, of us, of... I want to have more. Let's have more. I mean it.
Meredith: You're crazy.
Derek: That's not a no.
Meredith: Another baby?
Derek: Sure.
Meredith: Uh, seriously?
Derek: I'm completely serious.

April: So, I've heard you tell this story six different ways today, and each time, the plane seems to be getting closer. I'm pretty sure, the next time it'll end with, "and then I died."
Richard: I think you're missing the point here.
April: I guarantee I am.
Richard: Maybe I didn't exactly die back there, but I sure as hell could have. I did look up from my car today. I did see a plane coming toward me. And for a split second, I did find myself thinking, "maybe this is it. This is where it all ends on 37th street between a yarn shop and a falafel stand." I know what a near-death experience is, and this wasn't my first. And it's true. Your life flashes right before your eyes. And this morning, mine did. And suddenly, I saw how much I had. Catherine. This hospital, all of the people I've affected, all the people who've affected me. And let me tell you. It scared the hell out of me. Because the minute you see all the things you have, you see all the things that you stand to lose. Look, maybe I did embellish the story some. I mean, that's human nature, I guess. But right now, I'm taking stock of what I have, and I'm feeling pretty grateful.

Owen: This is not about you! Everything isn't about you!
Amelia: Then what is it?!
Owen: There was a plane crash.
Amelia: Yes.
Owen: Not the one today. I'm talking about the plane that had Meredith and Derek and Arizona and Mark and Lexie and... Cristina. I put them on that plane. I signed the requisition for the airline. I paid for it. I was in charge. I don't care how long I've been out of the service. It was my watch, and they were my men. And I failed them. It was my fault. So, when something like this happens today, it brings it all back up. There was a plane crash.
Amelia: Owen...
Owen: And I won't survive another plane crash, Amelia. And that's all we are.

Stephanie: So, am I still fired?
Amelia: Not today. Not for this. But who knows what you'll pull tomorrow.

Alex: We should, uh, you know, look out for them today, you know?
Callie: Yes. Oh, uh, no. No, um, I can't. I mean, I want to, but I can't be that person for Arizona. It's, uh... it's not my place, you know. Not anymore.

See Also[]

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


References[]

Advertisement