Grey’s Anatomy- Deterioration of the fight or flight response

13-05-2007 04:01

Sunday 13th May 2007

20.00–22.00

Concluding tonight is the second season of the award-winning hospital drama. Currently the toprated show in the US, Grey’s Anatomy charts the personal and professional lives of a group of young surgical interns.

In tonight’s first episode, Izzie and George attend to Denny as the race is on to find him a heart, while Derek struggles with the idea that he has a friend’s life in his hands. Izzie’s feelings for Denny have affected her judgement regarding his treatment from the outset, and tonight her actions put him in the most danger yet.

With two surgeons fighting over one donor heart, Izzie knows that the only way Denny will get the heart is if his condition suddenly worsens – and if there are test results to prove it. To this end, she has cut the wire leading to the LVAD device keeping Denny alive, knowing that when Burke arrives with the donor heart, he will be able to save Denny. “When Burke gets here, everything will be fine,” she hysterically tells Cristina and George, who have found out what she is up to. But what Izzie does not know is that Burke has just been shot by the disgruntled postal worker who caused mayhem in the ER earlier in the day (see episode 20, ‘17 Seconds’) – and is currently being rushed into surgery himself.

While the interns try to keep Denny stable – and deal with the wrath of Bailey when she finds out – Derek is faced with a difficult decision. A scan has revealed that Burke’s gunshot injury has caused an aneurysm in his shoulder, which could result in a loss of function in the arm. Derek must decide whether to operate or wait to see if Burke regains feeling in his hand, but cannot face the idea that the wrong decision may end Burke’s career as a surgeon.

“I can’t be responsible for this,” he tells Webber. But how much longer can he wait? Also in this penultimate episode, Webber is forced to deal with some personal issues when his young niece is brought in suffering from a relapse of the cancer she thought she had beaten three years ago.

George finally begins to allow Meredith back into his life. Cristina panics when she is called in to help with Derek’s surgery on Burke. And Webber warns of “severe, severe consequences” from the Denny debacle. Could one of the interns be heading for the chop?

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