Grey’s Anatomy: Mystery at Seattle Grace

I really enjoyed this episode.  The writers switched it up a little bit by using the classic whodunit mystery format of beginning the story with a death and then piecing together the facts, leading to the revelation of the culprit at the end.

Our docs finally see some action when a hotel fire sends an array of victims to the ER.  This mystery episode even takes place on a clichéd dark and stormy night.  We find out immediately that a patient has died unexpectedly, and the Chief will not rest until he sniffs out the physician at fault.  Patients die all the time, but apparently there was a gross degree of negligence involved, because the patient only had minor third-degree burns that were easily treatable.

Now that Seattle Grace has merged with Mercy West, the Chief’s actions are more heavily scrutinized, including his hiring and firing.  Gone are the days when sympathy clouded good medical and business judgment.  The hospital is under new management and that includes human resources.  Now when people screw up, heads will roll.  And that’s exactly what happens when a thirty-something woman in otherwise good health goes into organ failure and dies under the watchful eyes of no less than 7 or 8 doctors.

The Chief interviews the residents one by one, each giving their account of their interaction with the patient, whom no one wants to claim.  No one’s stories conflict in terms of truthfulness, although perceptions do vary.  We see that Alex was distracted the entire night, pre-occupied with Runaway Izzie.  Cristina was her usual high and mighty self, and the only doctors who were remotely interested in helping the patient were Lexie and her adversary, the particularly green-looking resident from Mercy West, April.  Most of the docs want the sexy, challenging patients, the ones who are all effed up, not a simple third-degree burn.  Lexie dressed the patient’s burn easily enough, and then was called by Arizona and Mark to help with a teenaged boy who was very badly burned.  April treated the patient after Lexie, but she too became distracted.  As the episode unfolds I wondered who would prove to be responsible for the patient’s demise.

This episode humanized the Mercy West group a little bit, and we as viewers will have to incorporate them into our mental framework of the show.  Right now they still feel like outsiders, in part due to the Oldhead’s interpretation of them, and in part because they feel like guest stars.  I don’t care about them as characters yet, and I’m not interested in them.  Except for this hottie right here, HELLO?!

Despite my prior apathy, I felt sorry for April when it is revealed that she inadvertently killed the patient when she became distracted from the most rudimentary task in a medical exam: looking in the patient’s mouth.  She was about to check it out but was sidetracked by a patient with an ax lodged in his chest.  If she would have examined the woman’s mouth she would have seen all the soot from the fire and given her the proper care.  Instead, a simple medical mistake lead to a great tragedy, and April has got to go, much like Izzie was sent packing last week.  This is a new era and incompetence will not be tolerated, though Cristina empathetically pointed out that the only difference between April and the rest of them was that their patients survived the mistakes they made.  Looks like this might be the beginning of a temporary truce between the Seattle Grace and Mercy West factions.  If they put the patients above competition maybe they can find common ground.  I can’t wait to see how it plays out next week, and so far I’m enjoying this season much more than the last.

For another take on this episode, check out The Blame Game by Allison Toner.

Season 6, Episodes 6: I Saw What I Saw (Originally aired October 22, 2009)

For more Grey’s Anatomy, click here.

Thursdays 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC, Ron Tom