‘Grey’s Anatomy’ — The Infection Spreads
The April 3 episode of Grey’s Anatomy starts out like a mini-version of the film Contagion. Have you ever seen that movie? Well, if tonight’s episode of Grey’s grossed you out… I don’t suggest you picking that DVD up at a Redbox near you any time soon.
A small child sneezes, in slow motion, on Arizona (Jessica Capshaw). It’s disgusting. It’s even more disgusting when Arizona then wipes her face clean with her hands, and then picks up her iPad with those dirty hands, and then touches the nurses desk, and her stethoscope, and the wall, and Karev (Justin Chambers), and the button to open the door, and then hands her dirty iPad to Karev.
Then, Karev touches the elevator buttons with his now infected hands, and a pile of papers, and his girlfriend, Jo (Camila Luddington).
Then, newlyweds April (Sarah Drew) and Jackson (Jesse Williams) get into the elevator and touch the buttons that Karev just touched. Then they touch each other, if you catch my drift. Hopefully you do, because it’s Grey’s and there is a couple in an elevator which means chances of physical romance are higher than normal.
April then steps off the elevator and bumps into Leah (Tessa Ferrer) as Dr. Hunt (Kevin McKidd) is giving the staff a speech about a nasty viral infection that is spreading throughout the hospital. Coincidence? I think not.
Either way, please start washing your hands more often, people.
The Boy Without An Immune System
April is immediately assigned to a young boy that lacks an immune system who describes himself as “almost a tween.” If you missed that first part though, this little boy lacks an immune system and is in a hospital that currently has a viral infection spreading within it. This… is not going to be good.
In another part of the hospital, Dr. Webber is doing a role call in the locker room — but everyone is out sick. That leaves Leah, Jo, Shane (Charles Gaius), and Stephanie (Jerrika Hinton) to be dispatched among the residents. Except that Leah has the virus and looks terrible, so she’s on her way out already.
Later, Jo gets assigned a man who looks way too happy to be in the emergency room. It turns out the mans jaw muscles have stiffened because he cut himself while composting — gross — and refused to go get a tetanus shot. When Jo pulls back the bandages it’s clear the cut is infected, but Jo handles it like a real pro.
Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Shane are working on a young girl who needs a heart transplant, but they are having some issues with their conduit trial patients because the Harper-Avery Foundation is watching them like hawks. Especially with the bug going around, which compromises all of the patients.
April realizes the severity of the bug going around before anyone else and finally gets the “almost tween” without an immune system put into isolation, which she probably should have done right after meeting him. However, it is nice to see that someone is paying attention to what is going on around her. April makes sure that even the kid’s parents are wearing gowns, gloves, and masks when they go into his room to see him. Everyone is sick, and if they aren’t sick yet they are coughing, sneezing, throwing up, or blowing their noses. It’s gross, and you can only imagine how many germs are hanging out inside that hospital right now.
Unfortunately, this little guy’s future isn’t very bright because the enzyme he was taking to help keep him from getting sick isn’t working.
Dr. Butt Hole Wants To Recruit Karev For His Own
Derek (Patrick Dempsey) is practicing a really important sounding speech in front of his adorable little son Bailey, and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) walks in on him. Apparently, Derek took their son Bailey out of daycare so that he had someone to recite his speech too. Meredith steals little Bailey away though, and you can’t help but wonder which one of them is going to contract the nasty virus first. Meredith, Derek, or little Bailey?
Arizona knows she is getting sick, and Karev is tired of hearing about it. But it’s Callie who comes to Arizona’s defense, claiming that knowing when she is getting sick is her “super power.” Arizona can’t go home just yet though, because she has a doctor named Oliver coming in to perform a really specific surgery on a patient that was born without a butt hole. Karev has affectionately started calling Oliver Dr. Butt Hole, and I think we’re gonna stick with that from here on out.
Dr. Butt Hole performed an amazing surgery on a baby boy, and he invites Karev to go play golf. Little does Karev know it’s not outdoors, it’s at Dr. Butt Hole’s clinic. It also turns out that the golf invite was a ploy to try and recruit Karev into his practice. Karev isn’t opposed, but he does admit he’s comfortable where he is. I can’t help but wonder though — is Justin Chambers the next main cast member to say goodbye to us? Time will tell.
Jackson is sick, and no one notices until he walks out of the little boy without an immune system’s room. The little boy needs surgery, so that leaves him with April and Bailey.
Leah is still working even though she is also sick, especially to her stomach, and she’s helping a man who has bowel issues. It’s a miracle she hasn’t puked on him yet. During surgery with Meredith and Dr. Webber, she’s so sick she has to wear an IV to keep herself on her feet. It doesn’t work though, because before the surgery ends Leah pukes in her mouth, which is why Meredith kicks her out of the operating room.
Even McDreamy Gets Knocked Off Of His Feet
Meredith catches on to the fact that Derek is starting to not look so good either, but he claims he’s fine. Derek thinks his super power is not getting sick, apparently.
Meanwhile, Shane gets put in charge of scanning parents before allowing them into the pediatrics ward. After blocking out a mom who has a fever, he also blocks out Stephanie and Leah. Leah, who is so sick she’s now wiping snot on the back of her hand, and not bothering to wash them. So gross. These are medical professionals! I don’t understand!
Jo’s lockjaw patient is refusing a tetanus shot because he is a hippie who is anti-pharmaceutical companies. Because of this, his muscles spasm and cause the bone in his upper arm to snap in half. I have not decided if this is worse than Leah wiping snot on her arm or not.
Now the lockjaw patient needs Callie’s help, which means her and Jo are headed into surgery together. Jo has more fun than anticipated in the operating room, and it seems as if Callie may have recruited her into ortho now. Callie even gushes about how Jo “gets” ortho to Arizona while she’s hugging a toilet bowl because her bug finally took over.
The little boy without an immune system has spinal fluid leaking into his body, which means April and Bailey can’t help him. They need Derek, but Derek’s symptoms are getting worse. He almost hurls in the classroom solely because someone is eating onion rings.
Somehow, Bailey and April find out that Derek is sick and when he walks into the operating room they stop him at the door. In order for him to get anywhere near the little boy without an immune system, he has to put on what looks like a space suit. Hopefully, he makes it through this surgery without puking on himself in the suit.
Derek barely makes it through the surgery, and when Meredith finds him he is stumbling out of the restroom after just having thrown up. There’s a large group of people waiting to hear the speech he was practicing earlier, so Meredith suggests he cancel. It happens, you know? People get sick. Even McDreamy! But, he resists… at least until he passes out in the hallway outside of the room where he is supposed to be giving a speech. Looks like you lost this round, Derek.
To Be Continued…
Later, Derek wakes up in a hospital bed, and he is not happy about it. In his own typical stubborn fashion, Derek tries to resist by getting out of bed, but a nurse we’re not too familiar forces him back into bed. Derek finally caves, if only because he’s about to hurl into a bucket. Thankfully, his wonderful wife Meredith saved the day by giving his speech for him. Or her own version of it, at least. That’s love!
Cristina’s heart transplant surgery for Ivy goes really well, but at the same time they find out that Ivy’s sister suffers from the same disease – cardiomyopathy. While discussing how or why two siblings could have the same heart disease, Cristina realizes that it’s not genetic, it’s viral.
She runs a biopsy only to find out that she’s wrong, it’s not viral. Hunt and Cristina suggest that the parents have their home inspected, because something is not right here. Both of their daughters hearts have failed, and now their son is coughing up what looks like white foam.
In other part of the hospital, Stephanie tests Shane for the virus, and even though he’s fine, he swears that he’s sick. He bargains with Stephanie, and while she’s taking care of the conduit babies for Cristina, Shane is taking a nap. Later, when Stephanie checks on him, he’s still fine. Somehow, both he and Stephanie have remained unscathed from the virus.
Jo, Karev, April, Bailey, Meredith, Arizona, Hunt, and Cristina have also managed to avoid it. Thank goodness for this, otherwise who would be there to take care of the dozens of sick people in the emergency room right now?
Grey’s Anatomy Lesson of the Week: Wash your hands. Wash your hands a lot.
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — What do you think caused the virus to spread? Do you think Karev is leaving the hospital? Let us know your thoughts below!
— Lauren Cox
Follow @Iaurencox
More ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ News:
- ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Recap: Cristina Has An Imaginary Relationship With Hunt
- ‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Tessa Ferrer & Gaius Charles Leaving After Season
- Isaiah Washington Returns To ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ After Shocking Comments