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“Grey’s Anatomy” recap (10.22): Swiss Miss

As Meredith’s voiceover advises us, sometimes it’s good to get the hell out of Dodge. It can help give us much needed perspective. Sometimes, you need a good dose of it, especially when your head and your heart have become so mired in all the things you have lost or could lose one day. Even while Cristina’s star is on the rise, she can’t help but feel stuck. She’s been invited to the Cleveland Clinic to speak, but considering the Harper Avery winner works there, she’s not interested. A clinic in Zurich has invited her present as well, but she’s hesitant. Meredith tries to encourage her to go for it, and take a few days off. First, duty calls.

Richard has called a board meeting, conveniently without Jackson, to discuss some big news. Dr. Russell is abandoning ship, and so will other doctors as soon as word gets around that no one at GSM is eligible for Harper Avery Awards. Richard is on an absolute tear about the foundation, and wants Cristina to appeal the decision. Not interested in being the poster child for righteous indignation, Cristina balks. Without these awards, the hospital will lose top talent. Without top talent, they will lose money. Cristina has about enough and storms out with Meredith hot on her heels.

In the sonogram room, a gloomy Jackson and April get a look at their little one. Neither can muster up any excitement because they are still pissed at each other. The doctor performing the sonogram mistakes this for a desire to end the pregnancy, which horrifies April.

Amelia and Derek (who are twins, in case you forgot) are working together on a major surgery. They will be separating conjoined twins, 25-year-old Annie and Lizzie Cooper. Accompanying them is their lifelong pediatrician Dr. Kenzie. The girls crack jokes, but this surgery is serious business. They really have no choice now since Annie’s heart is failing from working too hard pumping blood for the both of them.

Alex, who is wearing a suit!, drops Jo off for work. It’s so weird because GSM doesn’t feel the same without him, and Jo tells him so. He jokes that she can’t do her job without him around, which naturally ticks her off. Alex, that expensive suit doesn’t make you immune from being a jerk face sometimes.

Since the Coopers’ surgery is so complicated, nearly the whole damn hospital is involved in one way or another. The Shepherd’s will do the brain business, Callie will take care of the skull, Avery will cover reconstruction, and the residents will likely fuck something up.

Experiencing a wonderful recovery is little Brayden, whose parents watch him in awe, not having a clue that Dr. Bailey actually went ahead and gave him the genomes anyway. His mother is smug, but his father is worried that Dr. Bailey is avoiding them because she’s mad. Well, sir, yes, she is avoiding you, but not for the reasons you think.

Sitting alone on a room, clutching a pillow, is Frankie’s mom Sabine. Cristina finds her and discharges her two remaining children to heal and grow stronger at home. You can’t heal here, Cristina tells Sabine. Taking her own advice to heart, Cristina boards a plane to Zurich to do a little healing herself.

The next time we see her, she is eating a lush breakfast in front of the worst green screen version of Zurich in the world. Seriously, I’ve seen better alpine backgrounds in a community theatre production of The Sound of Music. Anyway, Cristina is having an amazing time in her hotel room in her giant, fluffy bed, eating croissants and chocolate and being overall fabulous. She tells this all to Meredith’s voicemail.

Jo finds Dr. Bailey to convey her conversation with Brayden’s parents. His labs are in and he now has over 500 T Cells. Jo has no idea how this happened, but we do, and so does Bailey. Both Owen and Arizona interrupt Jo to assign her to their patients. Jo is the only resident not in on the Cooper surgery, so she’s stuck juggling a few too many balls.

In the surgical prep, Derek keeps referring to his sister as Amy, not Dr. Shepherd, so she calls him out on it. She’s a brain surgeon for crissakes, not your waitress at Olive Garden, Derek. (Soup, salad and breadsticks for life.) Afterwards, Amelia acknowledges to her lifelong position as Twin B.

You know what is super cute? Dimples and tousled hair. Oh hi Arizona! Our plucky peds attending is collecting baby names to present to Callie. There are awful ones like Agamemnon, mixed in with cute ones like Raynbow. (We know you are gayer than a box of birds Ari, but please don’t name that child, Raynbow. You might as well call her Unicorn Lesbianmoms. Didn’t you watch The L Word? Oh wait…never mind.) Moving on, she chats April up about the wee baby soon to be planted in her wife’s womb, and April keeps her own baby news to herself.

In Zurich, Cristina is delivering a lecture on her conduits and totally killing it with that updo. Soon a voice rises up from the crowd, and it’s enough to make the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The voice continues and gets clearer, and before you can say, “Mama took my eyebrows” Preston Burke appears in the light. Instead of having a panic attack like I do whenever I run into an ex, Cristina keeps her cool. Burke, the last time we saw you, you were dumping Cristina at your own wedding. This was, a weeee bit dramatic, no? After the speech, Burke sticks around and Cristina finds out that it was Burke that sent for her, and this clinic, is his. He was worried that Cristina wouldn’t respond if she knew he was behind it. He asks Cristina to scrub in for a surgery, as if he didn’t rip out her beating heart six years prior. She hesitates and tells him that she needs to make a phone call. He sends Meredith his regards. We all may grow up and evolve, but Burke knows some things never change.

Of course, Cristina doesn’t reach Meredith, so she has to leave another voicemail. Meredith is listening to it, as Owen sits across from her in the cafeteria. She has to hide her shock when the message tells her about Burke. At another table, the residents all sit, watching Leah use a powertool to practice drilling into the Cooper sisters skull. This was the exact procedure that she so colossally failed in Callie’s OR. She manages to screw it up at the table, but Shane gently talks her through it. I know that Shane can be an ass, but he is actually quite good at teaching.

April and Jackson are having a depressing lunch and halfheartedly discussing baby names. Jackson shuts down any that could doom their child to a life of awful nicknames. When Jackson sees Richard, he confronts him to find out why he was left out of the board meeting. Richard gets all heated and calls the partnership with the Avery Foundation a “doomed marriage.” You can practically hear April gulp.

Poor Jo has 99 problems…literally; she’s got like a hundred patients. Her routine procedure on an elderly patient hits a snag, just as Arizona drops by to roll her eyes and chastise Jo for not taking care of her peds patient. A little help, Arizona? Nope? OK. Jo calls Alex who is busy, and she chickens out asking for help.

When Derek and Callie get a moment alone, she warns him not to treat his sister like an idiot. He’s taken aback, and denies that is the case. He knows his sister is a very capable doctor. Derek also realizes that the research he was doing with Callie has taken a new direction: one without him. She has created a new prosthetic, without the need for Derek’s sensor’s after all. Give this woman a Harper Avery! Oops, too soon?

In Zurich, Cristina listens to Meredith’s voicemail about Burke. Mer reminds Cristina of all the pain, and all the eyebrows she lost while with Burke. Of course, Burke walks up to Cristina mid-listen. She tells him that she will be leaving and unable to scrub in with him. He gives his patented Burke smirk that is still on point after all these years. “You are manipulating me,” Cristina says, and asks if he’s been following her work. Of course he has, he replies, don’t even try to pretend you haven’t been following mine. He shrugs off her concerns and insists that she scrub in to this new, groundbreaking surgery. Well, how can a girl resist?

The Cooper sisters are about to go under the knife when Dr. Kenzie pulls Meredith aside. He asks her about the twins and who has the best prognosis. He’s been with them since birth and watched them grown, go to school, have boyfriends (you get it girls!) become young women. He needs to know. Meredith tells him that Lizzie is twin A. If something goes south in surgery, resources will be put towards her survival. Lizzie is the more outspoken of the two, the one who always seems to be in control. The whole crew gathers for the delicate surgery. Leah aces her burr holes and manages not to kill anyone! Four for you Leah. Unfortunately, she then whoops like a fan watching March Madness and pisses Richard off. When Amelia and Derek start their part of the surgery, they find out that there are major complications. Now it’s time to make the call. It is actually Annie who has a better chance to survive. They manage to separate the girls, and get to work on saving their lives.

In Burke’s OR, he switches on a sweet cover of “Like a Virgin” in order to set the surgical mood. He talks to Cristina about his own Harper Avery award. Sure it felt great to win, but afterwards the pressure was immense and he worried that his best work was behind him. He had to get away, so he ran off to Zurich. While he was there, he met a very rich benefactor who put up the money for this fancy clinic they are all standing in. Cristina is like, “Sweet, so why are you telling me this?” Then Burke does something that rarely happens. He blows Cristina’s mind. His clinic has developed a surgical hologram that moves, and will completely change surgery, as they know it. It’s pretty frickin sweet. Cristina stares at it like a child in absolute wonder. Holy shit, she’s in love. Not with Burke, with this hologram.

Afterward, Burke walks her out onto a balcony overlooking a sea of advanced 3D printers. Cristina admits that she doesn’t know what to do next. She knows it’s something big, but she’s worried that losing the Harper Avery will compromise any future funding. Burke presses her to reveal her dream. She wants to build fully functional 3D printed hearts. Burke looks at her as if she said something as simple as, “I’d like a BLT” and says, sure, you can start doing that tomorrow.

Richard, who is still is a very bad mood, walks into the operatory theatre, asking about Cristina. Meredith tells him that she went to Switzerland for a few days, which causes him to freak out. Richard then directs his anger at Jackson, yelling at him in front of a whole group of doctors and nurses. April, who can really muster the courage when she needs to, steps in and tells Richard to stand down. Her husband deserves respect, not to be humiliated in from of his peers.

Jo, who is still in way over her head, runs into Steph and begs her to deliver Brayden’s labs to Bailey for her. One look and Steph knows why Brayden has made such a miraculous recovery.

Amelia is working on Annie in a separate OR when Derek comes in to check on her. She’s got it under control, so he quickly exits. The residents comment on how it was awful quick how Derek got Lizzie stable. Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Lizzie is not ok. Jo goes to check on her little old lady, only to find out that she’s been taken down to surgery. Owen is less than pleased that Jo left his patient in such a state.

Burke takes Cristina to his office, and casually suggests grabbing dinner. Cristina accuses him of creating a ploy to get her back in his life. Burke then shows her pictures of his wife and child. He’s married to the love of his life. (That must have felt like a kick in the gut to Cristina, because it felt like that to me.) His wife gave up her surgical career to be a full time mother. When he begins being presumptuous about what Cristina wants and needs, she reminds him that he doesn’t know her anymore. He pauses then agrees. What he does know is that she is amazing and everything he ever dreamed she would be.

Cristina leaves another heart-wrenching voicemail for Meredith. Burke has a family and a holographic heart. All she wants is here, but so is Burke and she really wishes her person was there to tell her what the hell to do.

Annie and Lizzie are both wheeled into a recovery room. Annie is in tears as she watches her sister, lying there, helpless. Sadly, she will soon be withdrawing care from her twin. Meredith meets up with Richard to give him an update, and also ask him to cool it on the Harper Avery Foundation. She tells him that they need to find a way to work with them, but Richard is resolute. He feels that Catherine and the Foundation have cheapened the integrity of the hospital and he wants out.

Owen stops by asking to speak to Richard as well. Jo overhears them saying that some of the residents aren’t cutting it.

Stephanie, with Brayden’s labs in hand, tracks down Dr. Bailey. She confronts Bailey who is at first defensive until she realizes that Steph is amazed and impressed. Bailey then acts coy, pretending not to know what Steph is talking about, but her satisfied smile gives her away.

Jo spills the beans to the other residents about their possible firing, and each decides they are on the chopping block. Shane, for essentially killing Alex’s dad, Leah for that whole outburst in the OR, Jo for not being able to manage a million patients, and Steph for being the ex-girlfriend of a board member. Alex shows up, all smiles because he loves his new job. Jo doesn’t want to spoil it for him.

Cristina marches into Burke’s office and refuses his offer. Burke assumes Cristina has spoken to Meredith, who is still holding a grudge for destroying her best friend’s spirit a few years back. Cristina gives it to him straight. She never wanted to work for Burke. She wanted to be Burke. The best gift that Burke ever gave her was walking the hell out of her life on that fateful day. Burke lets her finish, then clarifies an important part of his offer. He doesn’t want her to work for him, he wants her to take over his clinic. He knows that his passion for Cristina would turns his world upside down and likely ruin his marriage. His wife wants the family to move to Italy, and he wants to support her like she’s supported him all these years. Cristina is pretty shocked and asks if he is the Willie Wonka of medicine, simply offering up his multi-million dollar clinic. Yes, that is indeed the case. “Do you want it?” he asks.

Jackson walks into the chapel and finds April sitting there alone. He mentions that he really ought to get used to these uncomfortable pews if he’s going to be accompanying his wife and child to church. April is beyond thrilled. Jackson reiterated that he this doesn’t change who he is, but it matters to April, so it matters to him. Well, as long as post-church waffles are involved. Of course they are Jackson. Of course they are.

In the elevator we get our only Calzona scene. Arizona thinks she’s got Callie all figured out until Callie chooses Agamemnon as her favorite name of the bunch. Take that Raynbow!

Amelia and Derek get to have a quiet moment alone on the MerDer Mansion deck. He tells her that he has recommended her for Callie’s research project. That would mean a permanent move to Seattle, so Amelia mulls it over. He tells her that she is his favorite sister, and for the first time, she almost believes him.

Meredith waits at the airport to pick Cristina up from her trip. Cristina is baring delicious Swiss chocolates, well minus a few. For the moment she locks eyes with Meredith, her best friend knows the score. “You’re leaving,” Meredith says, with sadness in her eyes. Cristina doesn’t answer her, but Meredith knows she’s as good as gone.

A huge thank you to my screencapper Chen Drachman who you should totally follow on Twitter (@shokoshik) and Tumblr.

Here are our favorite #GreysGays tweets from this week’s episode.

       

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