You know it’s a tumor-centric Grey’s Anatomy episode when scary sound effects reverberate when people discuss the mother of all tumors / the great white of tumors / the you-can-retire-on-this-tumor tumor. On “Give Peace a Chance” the hospital’s lab-tech Isaac has an inoperable tumor and everyone is thrilled/amazed at it, probably in spite of themselves, since a tumor’s supposed to be a bad thing, right?
But Derek’s (Patrick Dempsey) hubris/determination is at an all-time high, so he’s up to the challenge of taking on a nearly inoperable tumor. The Chief (James Pickens, Jr.) obviously won’t hear any of it and points this out to him quite emphatically. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the hospital – most notably Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) – are all in Team Derek and stopped short of tackling the chief just so he wouldn’t interfere with the 10-hour super surgery.
Derek versus the tumor versus the Chief
It’s no secret to everyone that Derek is being offered the Chief’s job, so already that’s not a very good foundation of a working relationship. When he goes on consulting to the chief about the tumor, obviously, he doesn’t like it. But Derek is one determined doctor who probably already considers himself equal with the Chief, so he proceeds with the surgery.
The first attempt isn’t successful, and he ends up standing in the OR staring at the problem area for ten hours. Thanks to Callie (Sarah Ramirez) spilling the beans, the Chief goes to the OR like a party-busting cop. Unfortunately, Derek appears to not be on this dimension and cannot be reached. But with the Chief blaring in his ear, he goes back to this world and stops the operation. Spell anticlimactic.
On his second attempt, he gets permission from the Chief by lying that he’s just going to do a routine surgery on Isaac. More hours are put in the OR and it’s stretching way beyond the pretend surgery. Then suddenly Derek is all “Take off my mask! Take off my mask!” after which, he pukes. Lexie (Chyler Leigh) wants him to drink some water but for some unfathomable reason, he refuses. Good thing Lexie puts her foot down and goes all water Nazi on him.
When the other doctors’ cover-up falls and the Chief gets wind of the secret surgery, he once again begins charging to the OR. But Arizona blocks his way and goes, “You don’t get to go in there and be a bully. Not on my watch.” And slowly, the Chief backs away. Hilarious.
In the end, it comes down to which cord to cut, the blue one or the red one, so naturally, Derek, the world’s foremost neurosurgeon, resorts to eeny, meeny, miny, moe. He proceeds to make the cut, and everyone is plastered and cannot move. To the eternal torment of negative people (like me), the surgery is successful.
So that means, Derek – 1, the Chief – 0, right? But the Chief proceeds to drop the bomb – he tells Derek he’s fired. Weirdly, Derek doesn’t panic and instead admonishes him to go home and think about it. He also goes home to a giggling Meredith with a bottle of champagne, but he dozes off right away.
Diaper-wearing Cristina and Owen
Cristina (Sandra Oh) is turning out to be Grey’s Anatomy‘s comic relief. First, she is all smug and yawning and stuff at the skills lab when Derek is picking people to scrub in for the super surgery. Then later on, she gives a pretty ridiculous rant about diapers and NASA-style surgeries to Lexie (Read: “I want to have to pee in a diaper!”) Owen (Kevin McKidd) assigns her to a ten-hour surgery, but this is canceled because of Derek’s even more super surgery. Walking away, she reveals that she’s wearing diapers.
Reed and Alex – Bonding?
Alex (Justin Chambers), who spends the whole episode trying to call MIA Izzie (Katherine Heigl), once again breaks down at the end of the episode in that heartbreaking way of his. And understandably so, but what’s surprising is the person who consoles him – Reed (Nora Zehetner), one of the invaders. So maybe the title is in reference to this little weird bonding?
What did you think of this episode? Do you think Derek is out of line? Or is the Chief just being a crybaby dinosaur? Do we think Arizona was awesome for a change?
– Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
