No Good at Saying Sorry (One More Chance)

"Remember when we were little and we would accidentally bite a kid on the playground. Our teachers would go, “Say you’re sorry”, and we would say it, but we wouldn’t mean it because the stupid kid we bit, totally deserved it. But as we get older, making amends isn’t so simple. After the playground days are over you can’t just say it, you have to mean it. Of course when you become a doctor, sorry is not a happy word. It either means you’re dying and I can’t help. Or it means this is really going to hurt. As doctors we can’t undo our mistakes, and we rarely forgive ourselves for them, but it’s a hazard of the trade. But as human beings we can always try to do better, to be better, to right a wrong even if it feels irreversible. Of course, “I’m sorry” doesn’t always cut it. Maybe because we use it so many different ways: as a weapon, as an excuse. But when we are really sorry. When we use it right. When we mean it. When our actions say what words never can. When we get it right, “I’m sorry” is perfect. When we get it right, “I’m sorry” is redemption."

- Meredith Grey

 is the twenty-first episode of the fifth season and the 99th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Thatcher comes to Seattle Grace to make ammends, at the same time Izzie's mother comes to visit. Owen ignores Cristina all day, tension rises between Richard and Meredith and the hospital gets busy treating a man who was shot by his six year old daughter.

Full Summary
The gang sat around Izzie eating chicken skewers, and she wanted her friends to describe what it tasted like. She couldn't taste it for herself because she might be having surgery that day, but needed to be able to describe it on Meredith and Derek's wedding Web site.

"There's a Web site?" Meredith asked.

Meanwhile, Derek stepped out of the bathroom wearing a tux with an ascot tie. Izzie was excited and snapped a picture, but Derek wasn't sure it wasn't another cruel joke by Izzie.

Callie told Cristina she couldn't afford rent (remember, her dad cut her off). Cristina suggested Callie tell her dad that she and Arizona broke up. Arizona left Callie to ponder that.

"You think I should lie?" Callie asked.

"I think you should pay rent," Cristina replied.

Sloan took Callie to a patient who fell out of a tree and broke all of her limbs. "This really good," Callie said.

Meredith's dad, Thatcher, was out of rehab and talking to the chief. The chief suggested "meeting" spots and Thatcher said, "I guess that's one more thing we have in common." Thatcher hadn't yet talked to Meredith or Lexie.

The tree patient was a protester who was knocked out of a tree she named Kaili. Callie and Sloan tried to contain their giggles.

Welcome actress Sharon Lawrence to Seattle Grace, who arrived as "an old friend" of Izzie's. Her jig only lasted a moment when Izzie called her "mom."

The chief called Meredith and Lexie into his office and asked them to hear out Thatcher, who was working his ninth step, making amends. He let Thatcher into the room.

A man named Mike came into the ER with multiple gunshot wounds. His apparent wife, holding a little girl, said, "She didn't mean it."

"She's the shooter?" Cristina asked.

George counted bullet holes on the man, he counted beyond 11. The police wanted to talk to the little girl, Maddy, got the gun. Arizona noticed a cut on the girl's face and Maddy's mom somewhat defensively said the gun hit her in the face when it kicked back. Arizona started to say the cut didn't look like that was the cause. She said Maddy's dad shoots targets in the backyard.

Thatcher apologized to his daughters and said he hoped for a chance to earn their forgiveness. Neither of them spoke, until Meredith stood and thanked him and congratulated him on the fact that he seemed well. Meredith left the room and looked back to see Lexie hugging Thatcher.

Izzie's mom was a talkative one, and seemed relieved when Izzie told her she had skin cancer, not breast cancer. "You made me come all the way up to Seattle for silly old mole?" she asked.

Izzie started to explain her cancer was more serious than that, but then wondered who called her mom to Seattle in the first place. Alex and Bailey said nothing.

Lexie wanted Sloan to meet her dad. Sloan said that dads historically don't love him. He was worried because he was closer to Thatcher's age than hers.

The sister of Willow, the tree girl, showed up asking for "Karen."

"I told you to get out of the damn tree, Karen," the sister said.

Meredith showed up to help with Maddy, the girl who shot her dad. Maddy asked if her daddy was going to die. Meredith said she didn't know. Meanwhile, the doctors summed up that the man suffered 17 gunshot wounds.

"How come he don't die?" Maddy asked. "I shot him lots of times. How come he don't die?"

Maddy's mom said the girl didn't know what it meant to kill her dad. "She was just trying to stop him," the mom said. The chief realized that Mike had been hitting his daughter.

Izzie's mom's psychic told her that Izzie was going to be fine. Izzie's mom, Robbie, went on about how she saw a woman on Tyra's show who had a mole on her privates and the cancer spread because her doctors never checked there. "She didn't have a mole on her privates, did she?" Robbie asked Bailey, and breathed a sigh of relief when Bailey said, "No." Izzie smiled.

Hunt was ready to take Mike into surgery and Maddy's mom, still apologizing on her daughter's behalf, told Maddy to go tell her dad she was sorry before he went into surgery. Maddy was about to go along until Meredith stood and got in the mom's face, telling her Maddy would not apologize. Meredith told the mother that she was a victim and that she couldn't afford to bring her 6-year-old daughter along to be a victim, too. "At least she stood up for herself," Meredith said, repeating that Maddy would not go apologize. The chief saw this and was stunned.

Willow's sister made a deal with the housing developers' attorneys who agreed to pay her medical bills if she agreed not to sue them or trespass on their properties again. Willow refused to agree to it because of the amount of forests the company had destroyed.

Callie and Sloan talked about Callie's issue with her dad, and Sloan suggested she tell her dad she broke up with "roller girl," which was the same advice Cristina gave her.

Meredith stood up to the chief, saying he's not her friend or family and that he had no right to call her into his office on personal business. "It's an abuse of power," Meredith said. "I am a resident, I work for you. And you have to speak to me like I'm a resident." She, then, said she made no apologies for standing for that little girl.

The chief went off on Meredith, saying that if she wanted to just be a resident, she could. He then railed on her for further battering a battered woman, when the hospital was supposed to be a safe place for her to come tell her story. He told Meredith to stay away from the little girl and if she didn't, she'd be suspended "pending revaluation of your emotional and mental fitness for residency."

Meredith told Derek that the chief wouldn't respect the professional line, then she said the chief wouldn't be invited to their wedding. Derek agreed.

Willow's sister continued yelling at Willow about how irresponsible she was for staying in the tree and Callie chimed in saying it was brave. "Trees may not be my thing, but even if I thought it was stupid, it was still brave," Callie said.

"How could trees not be your thing?" Willow asked, before losing consciousness and being wheeled to surgery.

Meanwhile, there were complications with the gunshot victim. Hunt, who'd been favoring George throughout the surgery, told Cristina to run and get a green bag out of his truck. She didn't understand, but he insisted she do it.

Izzie's mom went through tarot cards and asked about how hot the sex was with Alex. Izzie finally got serious with her mom and explained the seriousness of her cancer.

"You remember when Grammy had that tumor on her thyroid?" Izzie asked.

"Grammy died," Robbie said, realizing what Izzie meant. She started to cry. She broke down as Izzie tried to fix it, saying that what she was nothing like what Grammy had.

Izzie went in for a mets scan to see if her mets had shrunk. She said the scan had to be good, because if it wasn't, her mom would never leave. Bailey admitted she was the one who called Izzie's mom.

Arizona came into Callie's surgery and Callie told her about how Willow crapped in a bucket while living in the tree. Arizona said surgeons do a thousand things so they can care a little less about their patients, but Callie cares and that's what she loves about her. Arizona said she'd continue to love that about Callie, even if she decided to lie to her family.

Cristina showed up with the thing Hunt wanted from his truck. It was a powder that simulated the blood's clotting process. It wasn't FDA approved, but it worked.

Bailey showed up and told Izzie's mom that her psychic must've been right and that the cancer was practically gone. Robbie was excited by the news. She went to the bathroom to clean up.

"Just tell me," Izzie told Bailey, once they were alone. Bailey said the mets had shrunk some, but there were new ones. Bailey promised to be as aggressive as she could be with the surgery, "then we'll take it from there."

The chief and Derek talked about the chief giving Meredith some space. The chief was upset, saying he couldn't be held responsible for the fact that Meredith's mom never got over him. "If any other resident pulled the crap she did today," the chief said, "she is still here because of my relationship with you."

Derek told the chief that all of his actions with Meredith showed that he considers Meredith family.

George told Meredith that Mike survived because Hunt is a genius.

Meredith went to Mike's wife and apologized for the way she spoke to her earlier.

"I know I was out of line, and I know I can't possibly imagine what you're been through," she told the woman as her daughter slept next to her and the chief and Derek told Meredith to stop. "But I also know that this cannot be your daughter's story. That she shot her dad 17 times to protect her mom, and you went back to him. You have to change her story while you still have a chance. For both of you, but for her, but for your little girl. You have to change her story."

Meredith turned, walked by the chief and said, "I'll pack my stuff."

Willow was out of surgery and her sister, Julie, stood next to Callie waiting for her to wake up.

"They weighed the cost of killing her over letting her stay up there," Julie said. "And then they got a bulldozer and they knocked her out of a tree. They knocked my baby sister out of a tree."

Willow woke up and Julie told her she filed a $10 million lawsuit against the developer.

"We could plant so many trees with $10 million," Willow said.

Callie realized she couldn't lie to her family. "They're supposed to accept me, they're supposed to support, they're supposed to love me, you know?" she said. "I can't lie."

The chief went to Meredith. He said he knew she didn't like him and she had every right not to, but he said he saw what Ellis was doing.

"I saw how neglected you were, I saw her drive your father off, and I spent a lot of time beating myself up over that. But what does that do for you? Nothing" he said. "I wasn't your advocate. I didn't fight for you, I never stood up for you. I left myself off the hook."

He said he knew better and that he should've fought for Meredith the way she fought for the girl.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry."

She cried, then leaned over and put her heard on his shoulder.

Izzie's mom got ready to leave and told her she was "always too good for that trailer park."

Cristina got upset with Hunt for saying "Take care now," and "Nice work today." He said his shrink gave him a bunch of three-word sentences that he should say to her, so he could stop himself from saying the three words he couldn't say because it would be too cruel. He said he was letting her off the hook.

Meredith watched as Maddy and her mom said goodbye to the abusive husband and father for the last time. Maddy said bye to Meredith on her way out.

Sloan showed up to dinner, apologizing for being late. Lexie introduced him to Thatcher and said, "He's Mark."

Alex sampled the shrimp and chicken for Izzie, telling her what each one tasted like. She was ready for surgery, and Bailey wheeled her away.

Meredith told Derek they had to move the wedding up, for Izzie. She packed up her mom's journals and said she was going to give them to the chief. She then told Derek that if he wanted the chief to be at the wedding, he could go.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie Stevens
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * T.R. Knight as Dr. George O'Malley
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
 * Chyler Leigh as Dr. Lexie Grey
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Stars

 * Sharon Lawrence as Robbie Stevens
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Jeff Perry as Thatcher Grey
 * Kellie Martin as Julie Zelman
 * Nina Siemaszko as Kate Carlson
 * Megan Henning as Willow Zelman

Co-Starring

 * Destiny Whitlock as Maddy Carlson
 * Brooke Blanchard as Jill the Paramedic

Notes and Trivia
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 * This episode's title originated from the song No Good at Saying Sorry, originally sung by The Early November.
 * This episode scored 14.12 million viewers.
 * Goof: George can't count the gunshots: 5+2+9 is 16 not 17.
 * Goof: As Meredith walks past Derek and the Chief, we see Derek stick his hands in his pockets. In the next camera shot, Derek's hands are at his side, and neither he nor the Chief are turned as far as they were in the previous shot.

Quotes

 * Owen: Nice work today.
 * Cristina: "Nice work today!" Seriously?
 * Owen: I'm sorry?
 * Cristina: "Run to my truck". You got O'Malley clipping bleeders, and you're telling me to run to your truck.
 * Owen: You know what my truck looks like. O'Malley doesn't. But, that... that run you took saved the guy's life.
 * Cristina: Yeah, well all day, all day you were teaching O'Malley and you ignored me.
 * Owen: O'Malley wants to be a trauma surgeon. You've already declared cardio. I didn't do anything wrong today. I treated you like I would anyone else.
 * Cristina: (pushes him) No, not like anyone else. Take care now? What is that? What are you like, you know, happy now? What... what are you? You know, just a 'choke 'em and forget 'em' kind of guy? (Owen pulls a piece of paper out of his pants pocket and hands it to Cristina. Cristina unfolds it and reads it) 'Hey there now. Take care now. Nice work, Yang.' What is this?
 * Owen: It's my shrink. My shrink gave me these sentences. We ah, we came up with them together. They're all 3 word sentences. So I could have something to say to you instead of the 3 words that are... that are killing me. The 3 words that you know I feel but I can't say them, because it would be cruel to say them, because I am no good for you. I don't wanna torture you. I don't wanna look at you longingly when I know I can't be with you. So, yeah, I'm smiling, and I'm saying take care now. I'm letting you off the hook. I'm trying, I'm trying so hard to let you off the hook. I'm trying to make it right. What I did to you. Can't you see that? I'm just trying to make it right.
 * Cristina: (teary eyed, she gives him paper back) Take care now.