Grey's Anatomy Episode 9.05 Beautiful Doom

Cristina catches a ride from her pal Dr. Thomas when her car is buried under a mountain of snow. We'll call the old guy her "carpool buddy." He's not to be confused with her "sex friend." That would be the Mayo Clinic's head of cardio, Dr. Parker. Cristina's sex friend has been striving to get her carpool buddy to retire for some time now. But Dr. Thomas isn't going anywhere without a fight. He's also planning to take out a huge aneurysm around a woman's heart. Cristina is psyched to scrub in with him.

Cristina gets a little panicky when the aneurysm blows during the surgery. Dr. Parker orders Dr. Thomas to put the patient on bypass. That's not gonna happen. Dr. Thomas calmly works to fix the problem. He saves the woman's life, but it may not be enough to save the veteran doc's job. A follow-up operation is needed assure that the aneurysm doesn't return.

Meredith has pee on her shoe as she drives to work. It's a battle scar from Zola's potty training sessions. Mer pulls over to help a woman who is trapped under a car at the scene of nasty car accident. She screams at all the reluctant bystanders to help lift the car off the pinned lady. After a few tense moments, the injured woman takes a breath. She's alive. For now.

Meredith's patient loses a lot of blood during her surgery. Richard orders the woman to be put on ice to let her body recover before they continue. Meredith wants to press forward now, but ultimately caves. Her colleagues are concerned that emotions are clouding her judgment. After all, this woman has similar injuries to the ones that killed Lexie.

Cristina's patient and her boyfriend are doomsday preppers. They have survival backpacks called "bug-out bags" that are ready to go should all hell break loose. Cristina decides to make her own bug-out bag. She tells Meredith via phone that she's stocking it with tequila. These long distance friends decide they need to stay the night at their respective hospitals with their respective patients. When morning arrives, Cristina learns that the second surgery is a go. As for Meredith, she must call on various friends (and interns) to babysit Zola while trying to keep her patient alive.

The Meredith-Cristina phone chats continue. One needs to determine the right time to operate on her patient while the other strives to find a way to keep her carpool buddy from getting fired. Two surgeries involving two best friends take place simultaneously in two different parts of the country. Tension is high in Meredith's OR as she struggles to find a tear that's causing a leak. Cristina's OR, on the other hand, is sea of calmness as Dr. Thomas methodically operates while continuing to mentor his carpool buddy.

As her patient's blood pressure continues to drop, Meredith finally locates and repairs the tear. She orders her interns to join her in a 30-second dance party. If they don't dance, they're all fired. So... they dance. Over in Minnesota, the surgery continues to go smoothly until Dr. Thomas suddenly stops operating. He looks up at Cristina before collapsing to the floor. CPR efforts to revive him are unsuccessful. A short time later, Cristina lets everyone in the lobby know that her patient is going to be fine. The sadness in her eyes is because she knows that, from here on out, she'll be riding home alone.

Cristina watches them wheel Dr. Thomas' body away while his words of wisdom continue to echo in her head. Her carpool buddy believed she has greatness in her. He advised her to not disappoint. Back in Seattle, Meredith's patient asks for her when she finally awakens. The two of them share a nice moment. The good news continues for Meredith when Bailey gives her a list of Tucker-approved babysitters.

Meredith is finally able to head home with Zola. Her little girl is sound asleep when... DING DONG. Someone's at the door. Meredith opens it to find Cristina on the other side. She's been dipping in to her bug-out bag. That's cool. They sell tequila in Seattle, too. After the two friends share a hug, Meredith says that Lexie is dead. Cristina says, "Yeah, everyone's dead." This leads to another hug.