Push

"Surgeons aren’t complacent people. We don’t put our feet up. We don’t sit still. Whatever the game is, we like to win. And once we win, we get a new game. We push ourselves; residents, attending. It doesn’t matter how much we achieve. If you’re a climber there’s always another mountain. They take pictures of mountain climbers at the top of a mountain. They’re smiling, ecstatic, triumphant. They don’t take pictures along the way cause who wants to remember the rest of it. We push ourselves because we have to, not because we like it. The relentless climb, the pain and anguish of taking it to the next level. Nobody takes pictures of that. Nobody wants to remember. We just wanna remember the view from the top. The breathtaking moment at the edge of the world. That’s what keeps us climbing. And it’s worth the pain. That’s the crazy part. It’s worth anything."

- Meredith Grey

 is the seventeenth episode of the sixth season and the 119th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
A patient who needs an extremely difficult surgery comes to Seattle Grace, and it's Richard and Owen who vie for the opportunity to tackle it. But the decision lies in the hands of Derek, who deems that Owen should take on the surgery, leaving Richard bitter. Meanwhile, Bailey deals with her own personal struggles when she nervously prepares for another date with Ben.

Full Summary
Voiceover Meredith talked about how competitive surgeons are. Sloan was upset that he was told not to have sex with nurses and Callie advised him to find a girl he'd like to go out with and go out with her.

Hunt had a patient who had a massive and nearly untreatable tumor. Webber saw this and asked if he could work on the patient because he didn't have many years left. Hunt gave it and Cristina was confused. Hunt confronted Webber about it and Cristina mentioned that it had "Harper Avery written all over it." It quickly became personal and Derek broke up the argument. He decided to make them compete and present him with their surgical plans and he would choose a winner. Cristina jumped onto Webber's team and later told Hunt it was so she could spy for him.

The anesthesiologist asked Bailey out to dinner.

Avery had a patient whose heartbeat he couldn't find. Alex checked and the patient passed out. Teddy eventually found the heartbeat and said the heart was near his kidney. Teddy said he needed saline implants in place of his other kidney (which had been removed) to keep his heart in place.

Hunt and Webber talked to their patient and she said she'd like to stay alive for one more month to see her daughter get married. Hunt told her that if they didn't try the surgery she might not make it through the month.

Lexie got a patient, a young boy, whose stomach was in severe pain. She called for Arizona. Meanwhile, Teddy went to ask Sloan about breast implants and he was glad she asked because he thought she needed them, too. They weren't for her, of course. They were for her patient. Callie told Sloan that Teddy was the woman he was looking for. He went back and told Teddy that her breasts were "fantastic" and he wouldn't change a thing. He asked her out and Teddy turned him down. But Arizona said she should go for it.

Webber and Cristina were researching their patient's tumor, but he was on to her plan to spy for Hunt. He said she could stay on the case if she didn't leak information to Hunt. Then he asked her to be a double agent.

Bailey told Callie about her date and Callie gave Bailey tips for prepping for her sex date -- immediately suggesting she get waxed in her "surgical field."

Arizona checked on the boy with the aching stomach and his parents argued about whose fault it was.

Teddy decided to take Sloan up on his date, but she got flustered when she realized he wanted to have dinner and conversation. Callie and Arizona talked later about the matchmaking, but they realized they had different impressions on why Teddy and Sloan should date. Arizona wanted Teddy to have a fling, but Callie thought there was a future between Teddy and Sloan.

Alex was worried that Sloan had "crazy eyes" and wanted to hurt him for hooking up with Lexie. He was afraid Sloan would try to stab him when they were in surgery together.

Cristina tried to get some information from Hunt, but she didn't give up any info on what she and Webber were doing. Hunt knew Webber had flipped her. Hunt and Meredith raced to get the patient's scans.

Arizona told the parents of the young boy that he had a cyst that ruptured and caused the pain in his stomach. The mom realized they were doing "bear hugs" and that must have caused the rupture. Suddenly, the boy's heart rate dropped.

Bailey came back from her visit to Callie's waxer and said she left without getting anything done, then she launched into a speech about having "nature" in her "surgical field." Then Bailey worried she was no longer cut out for the ups and downs of dating.

Arizona and Lexie operated on the kid and found that the tumor was bigger than expected.

Webber and Hunt presented their proposals to Derek. Webber's was thought-out and Hunt's was "more improvisational," but Derek chose Hunt's. Webber was upset with Derek for choosing the approach that he would have taken himself. Webber told Derek "it takes vision" for a chief to give surgeons the freedom to approach things as they see fit.

Sloan got over a little hiccup in his saline implant portion of Teddy's surgery, but everything went fine in the end. Teddy thanks him for his effort and Sloan said that was just a hobby. "Professionally, I'm more focused on my work as a male escort," he told her.

Hunt gave his plan to the tumor patient, but she was frustrated that there was no plan. She said it was "a death sentence." She knew it was a gamble. Her husband got frustrated and said her daughter didn't want to see her mother die in an effort to get to the wedding. Webber supported Hunt's plan, suddenly, saying he couldn't foresee what would happen in surgery, but he'd solve it as it came. "That's the plan," he said, "and it's a good one."

Arizona told the boy's parents that he came out of the surgery fine, and they continued to argue over how to prevent something like that from happening again.

Bailey paged Callie to ask whether she should bring condoms to her sex date. They decided she should, but then Bailey asked Callie to get them for her.

Webber and Cristina watched Hunt's surgery, but things went south and Hunt called for Webber's help. Webber scrubbed in and as they struggled for a solution, Webber suggested they take out the woman's liver, so they did it.

Cristina and Meredith lamented whether they were still eligible for a Harper Avery Award and Meredith said they weren't. Cristina called it a waste, but Avery said it wasn't a waste because the award did what it intended: it motivated doctors who are already on top of their games to do even better. Cristina mocked him, then walked away laughing.

Hunt walked up and told Meredith they made a good team, but Meredith shot him down, saying that she and he weren't a team. Meredith said she and Cristina were a team, and she told him that she saw him watching Teddy and Sloan and that he was jealous. She said it took a long time to make Cristina happy and if Hunt messed with that, she would turn on him. "That's a team," she said.

Callie, who was working on creating cartilage, had her experiment work. She decided she was on fire, with the cartilage and with the relationship advice she was offering. She said she and Arizona were "the stable couple now" and she pictured them 10 years from now with a big house with kids and offering sage advice. Arizona then said she didn't want kids. Callie didn't believe it, because Arizona worked in pediatrics, but Arizona said the parents she saw that day would never sleep well again because their son was fine one day and sick the next. Callie said nothing.

Teddy told Mark she'd have dinner with him, but he said he'd rather take her to lunch at a public place and maybe walk down a crowded street together afterward.

"We'll get to know each other and see if we have an interest in the same kind of future," he said. "Because I want to build a life, and a family, and I'm not wasting my time on someone who doesn't share that interest."

He walked away and said, "I'll pick you up at noon."

Bailey was at the anesthesiologist's place, where he was making dinner. She asked him if he was under the impression they would have sex and he said he thought the third date was a little soon. She agreed, then she got flustered and admitted she'd never been with anyone but her ex-husband. He agreed it wasn't something he got into lightly. They kissed.

Alex told Lexie about Sloan and Teddy, and Lexie thought Sloan was just trying to make her jealous. But Alex told her about how Sloan said he wanted to take it slow with Teddy and get to know her. Lexie went into the bathroom and broke down because Sloan was really moving on, and that upset her.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie Stevens (credit only)
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * 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
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest stars

 * Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman
 * Diane Venora as Audrey Taylor
 * Dennis Boutsikaris as Don Taylor
 * Jason George as Dr. Ben Warren
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Geoffrey Blake as Jim
 * Moon Zappa as Kelly
 * Roshawn Franklin as Todd Holmes
 * Elizabeth Ho as Molly

Co-Starring

 * Aidan Walter as Noah
 * Stevie Potter as Kim
 * Alejandro Pina as Intern

Notes and Trivia
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 * This episode's title originated from the song Push, originally sung by The Cure.
 * This episode scored 10.94 million viewers.
 * The computer Richard used while convincing Cristina to switch sides uses the Windows 7 operating system.

Quotes

 * Mark (to Teddy): Sorry about that. Your breasts are fantastic. I wouldn't change a thing.


 * Callie: Find a grown up who wants what you want, and date, like a grown up.
 * Mark: I don't know what that means.


 * Teddy (about the surgery that Mark performs): Dr. Sloan. Nice work.
 * Mark: What, that? Just a hobby. Professionally, I'm more focused on my work as a male escort.


 * Owen: I did not mean your age, I meant the approach. Let's not make this personal.
 * Richard: You just did, Ginger.


 * Arizona (to Callie): Oh. Can we have dogs, and chickens. I have this weird thing for chickens.