Thankfully, for the most part, the Grey's gang proved they deserved to wear the navy scrubs of an attending. Alex successfully performed a breast reduction on a 13-year-old boy, saving him a lifetime of embarrassment. Meredith lost out to Avery on a surgery but, while he choked in the OR, forcing Derek to take over, she pulled off an emergency craniotomy.
Cristina's triumph was even more impressive. At first, it seemed like she'd remain lost in her post-shooting funk, considering she was barely participating in the potential lung-transplant case she and April were assigned, even after Teddy threatened to go to the Chief and have her sent home. Patient Roy labeled Cristina a "sourpuss," but it might've been another of his comments – that she reminded him of his estranged daughter – that inspired the doc to step up and fight for a spot on the transplant list.
Million-Dollar Pitch
Meanwhile, the actual attendings met individually with the Chief to make a case for why their departments deserved a $1 million grant. An uber-competitive Callie did her best to psyche out the others, including girlfriend Arizona – mostly, it turned out, because of her own insecurities. But the Chief had little sympathy when he learned she was using the competition to try and level the playing field in her relationship.The other surgeons' pitches reflected their own issues as well. Teddy wanted to keep the money from going to neuro – and, more specifically, Derek, whom she pricelessly compared to a "charismatic cult leader," because she still held a grudge against him for trying to get her fired. Mark wanted to expand the burn unit and build a new cosmetic surgery wing, ambitious endeavors he now had time for because, for the first time probably ever, he has no sex life. Practical single-mom Bailey thought the funds would be best used on fixing broken equipment. And Derek wanted to conduct a clinical trial in an effort to find a cure for Alzheimer's because every time Mer forgets her keys, he worries she might be developing the disease that killed her mother. Guess that speech he gave last week about not worrying about the future was more for her benefit than his own.
While it seemed likely that the Chief's soft spot for Meredith would give Derek a leg up in the competition, in the end it was Owen who won. His plan? Make everyone at the hospital fluent in trauma training so that they're better prepared if – shudder – something like the shooting rampage ever happens again.
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