TAKE CARE NOW
Crowen recap 10 x 15 “Throwing it All Away”
By Cinderoni
This episode, “Throwing It All Away” was basically more of an Arizona/Calzona-centric episode. There was also a bit of Crowen, where they had two flirty scenes. There was also, in particular, a very wonderful scene between Cristina and Arizona. These two are not particularly close, as they are more colleagues than they are friends. 10 x 15 was written by William Harper and directed by Chris Hayden, who is the first AD at Grey’s Anatomy.
We first see Owen with April, frantically working on a MVC victim, Donald Mercer. He went through the windshield of his car. His skull is cracked and is spurting blood. Obviously, not a good sign. Even though April manages to get a pulse, the patient is brain dead.
After his ER emergency went south, Owen assumes his chiefly mode and comes up to Arizona, Alex and Jo, who are working on a case of a child with Byler’s disease. As Arizona is barking an instruction to Jo, Owen says that Jo is no longer in Peds and that Alex is suspended from surgery for breaking the non-fraternization rule. As they protest, Owen reminds Alex that it was going to be a slap on the wrist until he decided to give the board the finger. Alex is suspended for three days with no surgery while Jo is being sent to the ER.
Alex says he has his Byler’s case, to which Owen replies that Arizona will take over the case. As Jo and Alex leave, Arizona sarcastically says thanks for making her day easy. Owen tells her it is about to get harder as HR wants to talk to her. He informs her that the harassment complaint came from Leah Murphy and that legally, HR has to investigate and they want her to answer some questions. He says that hopefully, that would be the end of it.
“And if it’s not?” Arizona asks. They both sigh. Arizona says she has no time for this today. As Owen leaves her, he reminds her not to have any contact with Murphy.
Meanwhile, Cristina is having a conversation with Dr Webber about putting Ross back on her service. She doesn’t really want to do it, saying that she had nothing against the resident but she doesn’t think he should be on her service. Webber is insistent, nothing that Ross needs to feel that he has her support and he is trying to find his footing. Cristina admits that he may have lost it because she was not the best influence and that they had inappropriate…..
Webber cuts her off and yells, “Shenanigans!” He reminds her that is what the rule is for, so they could work without the shenanigans. Cristina still insists that it is a bad idea and that the Chief will, too. Obviously, she is hoping that Owen would back her up.
Webber counters, saying that the Chief asked him to keep an eye on Ross, so it is his call. He declares, “I am still and will always be the Chief.” Cristina humbly accepts his decision and goes away. I have to say that they are giving Webber some real gems to say every week. Even though Owen has been the Chief since Season 8, it is sometimes difficult to imagine Webber as not being the Chief.
We next see Owen still in chiefly mode as he checks on Arizona, whose prosthetic leg is broken. Also present are Bailey and Jo. Arizona assures them that she is fine. Stephanie, who was the one responsible for breaking the leg, rushes in with Arizona’s spare leg. She apologizes profusely. Arizona tells her to call cardio and do a work up on the baby. Jo says that she will go with her.
Owen stops her and enquires about the baby. Jo replies that they found a baby in the trash. Owen reminds her that she is no longer in Peds and she is not doing the work up on the baby. “But it is my dumpster baby,” Jo protests. Callie arrives and shoos all of them out, so she could help Arizona with the replacement leg.
Owen and Jo are then seen walking down the corridor towards Donald Mercer’s room. Jo says she knows that she broke the rule but she doesn’t want it to affect her education. Owen reminds her that she spends more time in Peds than in any other service. Jo says that she is interested in Peds but Owen tells her that he is more interested in giving a well-rounded education. They are outside Mercer’s room, as Owen explains who the patient is and that he was injured in a MVC that morning. Mercer is an organ donor and they were just waiting the six hours to confirm the diagnosis of brain death. Jo is put in charge of keeping his organs in optimum condition for donation. He then gives her the good news that she would get to scrub in on the organ recovery. Jo is ecstatic as she realizes that it is six surgeries in one. Owen tells her that trauma isn’t so bad now. She leaves, happily.
April comes up to him to inform him that Mercer’s wife has filled out the donor paperwork and just wants a few minutes with him before she makes the arrangements. Then, they are interrupted by guest star Geoffrey Arend, playing Thom, who is a friend of Mercer. He tells them Mercer had a kidney transplant about four months ago and he was the donor. April tells him that Donald was lucky to have friends like him. He says he was wondering whether he could get the kidney back. April is dumbfounded and turns around to look at Owen.
In the meantime, Cristina is examining dumpster baby, when Arizona comes in to ask about her findings. Cristina lists out a series of things that have been done medically to the baby. Arizona asks if she has cuddled the baby. Naturally, Cristina is more interested in the medical stuff. Arizona picks up the baby to cuddle. Ross comes in to say that the baby was not a former patient and the police are getting statements from Jo and Stephanie. Arizona gets paged and she wants to pass off the baby to Ross. He doesn’t want to but Cristina orders him to take the baby. Arizona squeaks out of the room, since she is using her old leg. Cristina says that Arizona is right the baby should be cuddled and she is not going to do it, leaving it all in the hands of the resident.
Later, Cristina meets up with Meredith and asks if she heard that Grumpy and Hairball (aka Stephanie and Jo) found a baby in the trash. Meredith has a hot piece of news that she cannot keep to herself. She says that Emma Marling came by to get a key for the trailer. Cristina sighs and wonders why Meredith is telling her this. Meredith says it is gossip and she is gossiping.
“To get her things because she and Owen are through,” Meredith informs Cristina. Cristina is surprised and asks why. Meredith says that Emma didn’t say but she didn’t think it was her idea. Cristina’s mouth is agape. Meredith says she can’t tell whether Cristina is sad or happy. Cristina admits that she doesn’t know either.
We next see Cristina with Ross, working on the dumpster baby. She says that somebody tried to fix the baby but did a hack job. She says she is going to reopen and put in a new one. She asks Shane if he noticed anything about the baby’s mitral valve. Shane says he doesn’t know. He has lost all of his confidence, lately but Cristina encourages him and tells him that it is like a puzzle and that she found the corner pieces and he has to help with the sky. Shane takes a closer look and finally says that the baby has the trifecta of congenital heart defects. He says that answers another question why they abandoned him. The baby had one surgery and needed two more. “Someone thought that he was more trouble than he was worth.” Cristina gives him a look. She realizes that everyone has been treating Shane the same way, since his breakdown in that they think he is more trouble than he is worth.
Owen is back in chiefly mode as he notices that Alex is in Donald Mercer’s room with Jo. Owen warns Alex that he could change his three days suspension into a week. Alex is bitter as he asks sarcastically if he got too close to Wilson before he storms out of the room. Owen is headed down the corridor when he sees April explaining to Thom that the kidney cannot be re-gifted. Owen beats a hasty retreat as he does not want to deal with Thom, again.
He is now working in the X-ray consult room when Cristina comes to inform him about dumpster baby. She asks if there has been any word about the mystery baby in a box. Owen answers that Social Services is on it now and asks about the baby’s status. She tells him that the baby needs a mitral valve repair, which she will do tomorrow as he has been through enough for the day. Owen acknowledges this and continues to type on his computer.
Cristina closes the door and wants to broach the topic of him breaking up with Emma. She says that she hears that he has been an idiot. Owen looks startled by this. Cristina continues that Emma was it. “Picket fences, a dozen kids, fresh baked goods.”
Owen replies that he doesn’t want to talk about that. Cristina says that because he is dumb. Owen tells her that is because it was between Emma and himself. “I hurt her and I feel bad so I don’t want to talk about it.”
Cristina is persistent. She wants to know why he would throw that away and wonders if it is what happened at the trailer between the two of them. He tells her to give him some credit and that he knew what that was. She smacks him with a rubber band that was on his desk, still demanding to know why. Owen catches on that she seems to be upset and asks why she’s so upset about it. He gets up to confront her about it.
At this point, the flirty music comes on. Cristina just says, “Because.” He snaps back the rubber band at her. Owen asks her if it was because what happened in the trailer. He steps forward. She steps back.
“I don’t care for the direction this is taking,” she says, feeling like she is being called out on her emotions.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me,” he replies. They both slightly smile.
“Noooo,” she wails, as she leaves the room. I love the fun and flirtiness of this scene. It is just like the old days when they were now getting to know each other. They are really getting back to a good place. The snapping of the rubber-bands was also improvised, which added to the playfulness of the scene.
We see Owen next at the nurses’ station where Meredith catches up with him. She wants to talk about getting Alex off suspension for one day, so he could work on his Peds case. Owen sees Arizona and asks if she has been up to HR as yet. She says she hasn’t because she has been working on developing a biliary diversion using the appendix.
Owen says that he was going to have all of the interns observe that but he says that HR needs that statement today. Arizona tells Bailey to go ahead and by the time she is done, Jared will be on the table. Bailey says she will take Grey to help her. Meredith interjects that it is Alex’s case and he should be on it. Owen reminds her that Karev is suspended and she will be on it.
Later, Owen is passing when Kepner is again dealing with the kidney donor. She asks Owen if they return donor organs when the recipient passes. Owen is emphatic as he says absolutely not. He then asks Thom why he’d want it. Thom replies that it is the principle. He donated it for a purpose and now, it is just being discarded. Owen asks him if his other kidney is failing. Thom says that it could and you never know what is going to happen. Both April and Owen pretend that they are being paged, saying that it is urgent. As they escape, Owen asks April if the guy was stalking her.
Cristina rushes into the PICU where Ross is using the paddles on the baby. “Shane, don’t shock him. His heart won’t take the defibrillation.” Shane said he thought so, too and then explains what he did and he thinks it worked. Cristina, checking the baby, says it was a good call. She adds that the baby might have a mitral valve rapture and tells him to page Robbins and to set up for the procedure.
Arizona comes in to the scrub room, where Cristina is scrubbing up for the procedure. Arizona asks what happened. To which Cristina replies that Oscar had a flash pulmonary edema and his mitral valve blew and she was going to fix it.
Arizona explains that she was stuck in HR. Cristina asks if Murphy is coming after her. Arizona replies in the negative and that Leah’s complaint is against Callie. Cristina is surprised at that and asks why. Arizona says she knows why but didn’t want to believe it. Then, she realizes that Cristina has dubbed the baby, Oscar, because he was found in the trash. Just a long list of inappropriate names thought up by Cristina. Remember the nicknames for all her interns (Two, Three, Four Point Three, Happy, Mousey, Hairball and Grumpy).
Cristina asks Arizona if she needs to be in her biliary surgery because she was good here, since she had Ross assisting her. Ross nods in acknowledgement. Arizona’s pager beeps and she leaves.
We now see Ross and Cristina in surgery, operating on baby Oscar. She remarks that the baby’s heart has so many abnormalities that it is incredibly fragile and they have to be really delicate. Having just spoken to Arizona, Cristina feels the need to speak to Ross about their own ill-fated dalliance. She isn’t sure she could ask him because of the new rules and the very act of her asking could be breaking the rules. Ross gives her the go-ahead to ask. She speaks about the complaint and says that she thought it might have been him. Ross says it wasn’t. She asks if he ever felt compromised, to which he replied in the negative. She tells him “good”, then she realizes that may have sounded like coercion because she was telling him how he was supposed to feel. Ross assures her that he didn’t take it that way. She wonders if he was saying that to just curry favor. He says he wasn’t curry anything.
Then, she launches into a piece of advice, “You don’t have to do that. You don’t have to get Shepherd coffee or fix Callie’s baby schedule or ‘relax’ me. You’re too good of a doctor for that. When you look back, 10 years from now, you’ll be relieved you didn’t.”
Ross, who is still lacking confidence, says he doesn’t know if he will be a doctor in 10 years. She tells him that he better be. This is Cristina in full mentor mode. She knows the mistakes that she made with Ross and is now providing the support that he needs.
After surgery, Cristina is taking care of Oscar. She orders Ross to watch the baby’s SATS through the night. There is a social worker there, filling out some papers. Cristina asks if that is Oscar’s file and if it is going to stay with him. The social worker confirms this. Cristina tells her to add Shane’s name because the adoptive parents will have questions. “In 10 years, Oscar will have questions. You want to answer them,” she tells Shane. That’s her way of saying that she knows that he will still be a doctor in 10 years.
Now comes one of the best scenes of the entire episode. Arizona is in the attendings’ lounge, tending to her blister from wearing her old prosthetic. Cristina comes in and informs her that Oscar is doing well. Then, she notices Arizona’s exposed stump. Arizona says she is having a bad leg day. Cristina collapses into the sofa next to her and says, “Me, too.”
The conversation turns to baby Oscar, with Arizona wondering what would have happened if they hadn’t found him out there. Cristina answers that he would be dead. Arizona says that Oscar will now grow up and have a whole life.
Something about that triggers Cristina to ask if Arizona still has dreams about it (the plane crash). Arizona says yes and usually when she is anxious. She says the other day before Sofia started pre-school, she dreamt about it all night with Mark, Lexie and the pilot, Jerry. Cristina says when she dreams about it was about Arizona screaming. “You wouldn’t stop screaming. So thanks for that,” she says in her droll Cristina way. Arizona reaches out and holds Cristina’s hand.
Good job today, Arizona says. Cristina agrees and says Oscar is a lucky kid. She then leaves.
The scene is really great because it was so unexpected. Arizona and Cristina have never been particularly close. Callie and Cristina are definitely closer, having been roommates. Arizona and Cristina have had a prickly relationship in the early days when Cristina was the resident who made fun of the peds attending, when she spouted such things as fairy dust in children’s IV bags. To see how far they have come is really wonderful. Arizona and Cristina bonded. I never knew I would ever write that.
It is late at night, when Cristina rushes out to meet Owen, who is leaving for the day. She tells him if he wants to know why she was upset. He turns around and asks her why.
“She’s what you wanted. You don’t throw away a future like that. I want you to be happy,” she says. Owen asks if she really does. Of course, Cristina replies.
“Or do you just want to see me squared away?” he asks.
Cristina asks him what he means by that. Owen answers that she wants to see him get what he wants so she doesn’t have to feel guilty.
Cristina scoffs, “About what?”
Owen says, “About not giving it to me.” Then he continues that it is either that or she just wants to get him married off, so she is forced to stop thinking about him.
“Yes, it’s that one,” she says, jokingly, as she strokes her chin. The two head off into the night together. I am going to imagine that they had drinks at Joe’s and then, headed back to the trailer to make love. Yes, that is what I hope.
Even though Cristina is scolding him for breaking up with Emma, I bet some part of her is glad that he did. She was moaning to Meredith in the previous episode how it was all going to be lost forever. As for Owen, for him to break up with Emma as easily as he did, it is clear he was never in love with her. I don’t think it is even possible for Owen to move on, as long as Cristina is still in the picture.
On the other hand, when Cristina says she wants him to move on and be happy, it is probably true in her head. In her heart, however, she probably doesn’t. Owen may be right that Cristina wants him married off so she can force herself to stop thinking about him. Right now, she probably still can’t stop thinking about him. It may be why she showed up at his trailer the previous week. She was tipsy and we all know the truth comes out, whenever there is alcohol in the system.
Looking forward to Episode 16, we know that Cristina has started a clinical trial for the 3D-printed conduit that she used on baby Nathan. She is up for the Harper Avery award and she still doesn’t know why it worked. So till next week, folks.
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