Grey's Anatomy- Season 9, Episodes 11-16

Don't you love when we don't blog about a show for more than five episodes and then we freak out and hastily write an overlong reaction post to everything? Yeah, we don't either, so we're gonna do that less from now on. In episode 11, AGES ago, Derek and Meredith wake up happy one morning. Meredith is happy that the case will finally be over, and Derek is happy that it's the end of Meredith's first trimester and she can finally tell Cristina about her pregnancy.



 We were not excited about either. Cristina already knows about the pregnancy anyway, partly because of this psychic bond she must have with her Person. Each of the doctors in the plane crash win $15 million, which causes Karev to say, "I should have been on that plane." We love how hilariously honest he is in the face of tragedy. This leads to the hospital deciding to declare bankruptcy and shut down...which we all know by now won't happen.

It seemed like Jo and Alex would be sleeping with each other from day one, so it's refreshing that they haven't yet. Episode 16 and they haven't yet. Way to take it slow, show! One of the reasons we got so attached to Cristina and Owen as a couple way back in season five (before they ruined it) was that the show postponed their sexual relationship and had the tension build for nearly a whole season.

Saving sex for the right moment is always a win on this show. We like the friendship between Alex and Jo, for the most part, and we want to see it for a little while longer. It's good that the show is obviously hinting that they are going to fall for each other so it's not all gross and out-of-left-field like Gizzie. was.

We're ecstatic that Derek's hand is fixed and Arizona's leg problems haven't been seen in a while, because now we can finally move on from those things. Sure, we had that phantom limb episode, but we know this show couldn't pass up that opportunity. We didn't mind it. Arizona wasn't as mean and self-pitying, and it forced her to spend time with Owen. As a war vet, this sort of thing is familiar to him, and he got really excited to help Arizona with the pain.

We like when this show puts unlikely people together for a storyline, and these two didn't have much of a relationship before this episode. We felt terrible for her, because we can only imagine how frustrating that would be. Good thing the show had an easy fix! The foot stabbing! Cured in a second. Thanks, Alex Karev and Owen's depressing as f*** war anecdotes!

A consultant and old student of Richard's, Alana Cahill, comes to evaluate the hospital to see if it can run more efficiently...right before she preps it to sell it to a company named Pegasus. Pegasus is all about the money and not about the research. It's strict, leaves no room for personality or creativity or innovation, and creeps everyone out. Cahill decides that the E.R. is wasteful and will have to be cut. She's crazy.

We kind of like Cahill and hope she sticks around. She could be a surgeon and re-discover the joy of actual surgery. Everyone in that hospital has choked during surgery at least once, so she would totally fit right in. Owen could pull out a depressing story about how a doctor froze during battle and a guy bled out, but he just closed his eyes and thought of ice cream, and then he was able to do it from then on!

She and Owen have some sort of trust relationship, and while she looks a little old to be bearing his kids, we could see them having a healthier relationship than whatever he has with Cristina right now. Owen is determined to help Cahill sell the place so that it doesn't have to close down, but he's the only one. Everyone else admits that there are no better options.

We're not feeling Stephanie and Jackson as a couple, but only because the show hasn't properly developed Stephanie yet. We can't stop thinking about how much Leah looks like a less-attractive, younger Sandra Bullock, but we're starting to like her personality. Maybe because she's reminding us of Cristina, our favorite character?

April has started a thing with a paramedic named Matthew. He's cute AND he's waiting for marriage to have sex. Too bad April can't bring herself to tell him she's not a virgin. She should have. That's so common among people who are waiting. Lots of people do things and then stop doing them. We think he would have understood, but since she wasn't honest with him in the beginning, you just know it's going to backfire.

Cahill starts making changes around the hospital, putting cameras up with doctors watching and advising. This leads to the delightful (no sarcasm) Jehovah's Witness story where Leah tried to give the kid blood to save his life, but was stopped by Dr. Bob, Cristina, and the law. We love that Bob didn't rat Cristina and Leah out. That storyline could have gone stupid places, but it ended perfectly and finally gave us a moment to pause and like Leah, instead of just watch her run around with the other new, scared faces.

That same week, the gymnast who lost her career came in the hospital, and it took tough love from Arizona to get her out of bed. It was perfect and really signalled that Arizona is done being sorry for herself and ruining the lives of everyone around her. Yay! We thought it was funny that one episode featured the doctors in competition to be the new "face" of the hospital. We'd pick Derek's too, because we live in the world we live in. He's white, he's male, and he looks trustworthy. Alex is arguably too young to be taken seriously as a doctor.

We wanted to know more about the transgendered patient, Brian, and what happened to him. Did he ever make up with his dad? We guess the dad offered rent money, so that's a good sign? Callie calls the doctors who won the settlement together and suggests they buy the hospital. We laughed at this idea until the next week, when we realized that they knew they needed more financial backing.

Arizona's initial reaction, lambasting Derek and freaking out over Sofia's inheritance, didn't make us start hating her again, but it came close. She can be mean when she's emotional. We liked her point that anything can happen to anyone, at any time. Ultimately, they all agree to the sale, but they realize that the Pegasus sale is happening soon.

They have to kill that deal by resigning, but they can't tell Owen what they are up to, because he's under some legal duty to have the sale go through (which we'll buy way more than the hospital losing that lawsuit in the first place). Owen feels betrayed by Cristina, because there can't be more than a few episodes where these two AREN'T on the rocks.

So now we have last week's episode, where the doctors are racing to get the money to make another offer before Alana Cahill can get Pegasus back to the table...this time to buy the hospital, tear it apart, and sell it, bit-by-bit. The doctors go after a rich dude, Julian Crest. It's all very exciting and tense. We were on the edge of our seats.

Crest turns them down, but Mrs. Avery sweeps in at the last second to buy her baby boy, Jackson, a hospital and put him on the board of directors. He does not look pleased, but everyone else is ecstatic. Including us. It's time for this storyline to move into its next phase. Also, Jackson is a wise, down-to-Earth doctor. He keeps the melodrama to a minimum, and it seems like he could handle the power. He's a little young, but if he can "fake it until he makes it," he'll catch on.

Owen DID kill the second Pegasus sale after Cristina finally spilled, so we hope there aren't legal repercussions for him. Hopefully the agreements only applied to that first possible sale? You never know in Shondaland. The law is what she needs it to be. It was a good episode though, and a fine climax to this arc. It's time to bring the show back to the love lives and patients though. That's what we love about it. Not the business aspect.

The End is the Beginning is the End: B+
Walking on a Dream: B
Bad Blood: B
The Face of Change: B-
Hard Bargain: B
This is Why We Fight: A-