“ | As doctors, we know everybody's secrets. Their medical histories. Sexual histories. Confidential information that is as essential to a surgeon as a ten-blade, and every bit as dangerous. We keep secrets, we have to, but not all secrets can be kept. In some ways, betrayal is inevitable. When our bodies betray us, surgery is often the key to recovery. When we betray each other... When we betray each other, the path to recovery is less clear. We do whatever it takes to rebuild the trust that was lost. And then there are some wounds, some betrayals that are so deep, so profound that there is no way to repair what was lost. And when that happens, there's nothing left to do but wait. | ” |
From a Whisper to a Scream is the ninth episode of the third season and the 45th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.
Short Summary[]
A traumatic car accident at the local market brings in multiple patients to the ER. Erica Hahn is brought in after George loses confidence in Dr. Burke, while his mother is embarrassing him in front of his peers. Cristina also has a crisis of confidence and confesses to the Chief the cover-up between her and Burke.
Full Summary[]
Cristina stumbles out of the OR and starts running down the hallway, still wearing a bloodied gown. This alternates with Cristina and Burke having sex, while Cristina's voice over talks about keeping secrets.
Derek is doing a crossword puzzle in bed. He'd rather have sex, but Meredith says good things come to those who wait. Cristina comes in and asks Derek to leave. He refuses, but Meredith sides with Cristina. He leaves the room and Cristina takes his place in the bed. She jogged to the house, which Meredith finds odd. Cristina asks what if Derek robbed a bank and got caught while Meredith was supposed to drive the getaway car. Would she turn herself in or let Derek go down by himself? Or would she stand by him? Meredith asks whose idea the robbery was. Cristina says it was his, but could she live with herself if she walked away from the man she loved? Meredith tries to get her to say what this is really about, but Cristina gets up and says she'll see her at work. Meredith says they don't jog. Cristina asks if George said anything, but Meredith has no clue about what he should have said something. Cristina says she jogs without Meredith sometimes and leaves.
Cristina comes down the stairs and runs into George in the hallway. His father's surgery is today. George is not worried anymore. Izzie comes up and asks if she and Meredith were having secret best friend time. She apologizes for being cranky. Derek also comes out of the kitchen and he's happy to be able to return to his girlfriend. Izzie wonders what's wrong with Cristina, but George ignores her. Izzie then rolls her eyes at Meredith's giggling upstairs.
At the hospital, Richard walks in and sees Cristina and Burke talking. They are discussing George's father's surgery. Burke reminds Cristina he operated for 14 hours without any tremor yesterday, but she says she was there, ready to jump in. He hasn't had a tremor all week, so he's not worried about the surgery at all. Cristina knows George knows and he won't stand by and do nothing. She wants to make up a plan, but he dismisses her. She frustratedly tells him she's been working her ass off to cover him, but he says he also covered her. They are a strong team and she can't let this O'Malley thing break her down. They both get paged.
Alex and Meredith arrive at the ER and get gowned. Bailey tells them a driver lost control and plowed through the fish market at the wharf. She needs all hands on deck. Izzie asks if that means her, too. Bailey tells her she can take over from Cristina on Harold's surgery, though she still can't do anything but watch. Cristina asks Meredith why George isn't here. Meredith doesn't know, but he switched shifts with her. Cristina goes to Bailey and says she was with Burke. Bailey says she can be back on the case if and when Burke specifically asks for her. They then enter the chaotic ER as Bailey assigns them cases.
Callie, Cristina, and Derek take care of the driver, Larry Dickerson. He has a head trauma and a leg injury. Callie asks for X-rays. Cristina says Larry's head hit the windshield and his chest hit the steering column. Larry's wife says the car was driving him rather than the other way around. Larry couldn't stop it. Derek tells Cristina to take Larry to radiology. Bailey jumps in and tells Mrs. Dickerson that the police are waiting for her statement. She'd rather stay with her husband. Bailey agrees to ask the police officers to come back later.
Cristina looks worried as she observes Burke and Meredith working hard to resuscitate a patient. Meanwhile, Addison is examining a patient and a bloodied woman standing behind the ER doors catches her eye. Meredith calls time of death on her patient as Addison starts walking up to the woman. Meanwhile, Burke and Meredith are surprised by Erica Hahn appearing in the doorway. She comments on Burke being back. Addison calls for a gurney. The woman says she might be parked in a red zone and collapses. Addison is just in time to catch her.
Alex and Addison are working on Janelle when Mark comes over. She tells Alex she flew through a window. Janelle sells vegetables at the fish market. Mrs. Dickerson comes over and tells her Larry's car went crazy. She's Janelle's best customer. Cristina takes her away. Addison asks Mark to make sure Janelle's okay and leaves, just as Janelle announces she hopes Mr. Dickerson didn't kill her baby. Mark summons Addison, who asks for an ultrasound. Janelle's 10 weeks along. Janelle then starts noticing how hot her doctors are. She then coughs up blood. Addison needs oxygen for Janelle and a portable chest. Mark comments he loves Addison being bossy.
Izzie enters Harold's room. Harold introduces her to his wife as one of George's roommates. Louise asks if there's nothing sexual going on. Izzie says no. Harold says he sent his other sons back to work. Izzie says Burke is Harold's surgeon, one of the best. George then gets paged and says he'll be right back. Louise again asks about sexual things between Izzie and George.
Burke and Hahn catch up. They haven't seen each other since the thing with Denny's heart. She thinks him getting shot was karma. She's here for a consult, and it brings her joy to know it annoys him. He leaves.
Meredith approaches Cristina and wonders if she could get in on Hahn's surgery. She wonders who the VIP patient is. Cristina looks around and sees George shaking hands with Hahn. As they walk off together, Cristina asks Meredith to take her patient to CT and rushes off to follow George and Hahn.
Richard meets with George and Hahn and welcomes her to the hospital. Callie comes up and asks George about his father. George gives Hahn his father's chart and directs her to his room. Richard will escort her and brings up he'd love to have her join the staff. Cristina arrives to see them walk off together. George then reminds Callie they broke up, but Callie says that doesn't mean she doesn't care about his father. She still cares about George, too. He guesses that's why she slept with Mark. He leaves her baffled.
Meredith, Alex, Addison, and Mark are working on Janelle in the trauma room. Meredith says she needs a chest tube while Mark and Alex are stitching up the cuts. Addison says the baby's strong. Janelle says she no longer talks to the father, and he doesn't know she's pregnant. Callie bursts in and asks to talk to Meredith, who says she'll come find her after she's done with the chest tube. Alex wants to put in the chest tube, but Mark says this is what he signed up for as his intern. Addison asks Alex how plastics is. Bailey comes in and says they are not doing a chest tube because the X-ray revealed a shard of glass going into Janelle's heart.
Meredith finds Derek in the CT boot. She's looking for Callie. They discuss the chaotic morning. Derek shows her Larry's scans. He has a subdural hematoma and air in the mediastinum. He also has spinal stenosis, which is so advanced that Derek doubts he could feel his feet at all at this point. That means he shouldn't have been driving. Burke comes in to answer Derek's page to check out the scans. Derek asks what's going on with Cristina. She was weird this morning and now she ditched him, so he had to get his own CT. Meredith jumps in and says Cristina is just working really hard. Burke quickly leaves. Meredith tells Derek that talking about Burke and Cristina is not a good idea. She asks him to cut Cristina some slack today. He hopes he'll get sex in return for agreeing to her request.
Meredith finds Cristina standing outside Harold's room. She's trying to hear what Hahn and Richard are talking about. Richard sees her and comes out of the room. He asks her to tell Burke he wants to speak with him. Cristina will deliver the message. She asks about Hahn's presence. Richard says Harold elected to have her perform the valve replacement. Burke's been replaced. Cristina is meeting with Burke in the stairwell. She fears that Richard knows, and for all they know, Hahn is in the running to be new Head of Cardio. Also, Richard needs to talk to him about something important. She wants to align stories, but he replies that's not him. Burke says he'll talk to the Chief. He's going to tell the truth. Burke leaves, ignoring Cristina.
Izzie is with Harold and Louise. She inquires about their replacing Burke. Harold says George did that, but they don't know why. Louise says maybe Burke and George had a falling-out, but Izzie doesn't think so. Louise then asks Izzie why Callie broke up with George. She claims George has told her everything. Izzie says Callie's a little out there. She's naked a lot. Izzie doesn't know why they broke up. George seemed really into her and he needed her after the whole thing with Meredith. Izzie realizes George didn't tell them about that either. Louise thinks George is now seeing Hahn, but Izzie denies that. They wonder why she's replacing Burke then. Izzie says no one is better than Burke. Louise asks Izzie to find out.
Izzie and Meredith run into each other in the locker room. Callie comes in and rolls up her sleeves. Izzie is alarmed. Callie says she's going to kick Meredith's ass. She pushes her against the lockers and brings up the panties. She was a really good friend to Meredith then and then Meredith went and told George about her night with Sloan. Izzie intervenes to keep Callie off of Meredith, who says Callie never told her she slept with Sloan specifically. George is the one who told her it was Sloan. Callie wonders who told George. Izzie suggests it was Mark. Callie says George thinks she betrayed him, but she didn't. They were broken up. Once Callie leaves, Izzie mocks Callie's aggressive behavior.
Izzie finds George at the nurses' station and tells him about Callie being hardcore. George asks her about his parents. Izzie says they're fine but confused about Hahn doing the surgery. Cristina passes by and George asks her to explain why to Izzie. Cristina just says Hahn is great, nothing else matters. George thinks she's wrong about that. Cristina just walks off. Izzie says Burke is ready to be back. George can't talk to Izzie about this, so he asks her to stay out of this. Besides, her job is to watch only.
Mark and Alex are still working on Janelle's lacerations. She wants to be taken to the OR soon. Addison comes in and says the OR will be available in a few hours. Janelle thinks what happened is a sign that she needs to have the baby. Everyone tells her she needs to tell the father. Alex asks what about the kid when he wants to know who his father is. Janelle says he cheated. Alex says that doesn't mean she has to be an ass. Janelle's blood pressure drops. Addison declares her unstable. They need to prepare her for transport.
Derek and Bailey tell Mrs. Dickerson that they found her husband to have spinal stenosis, which may have caused the accident. She insists there was nothing wrong with Larry before the accident. Derek says they need to operate on the subdural hematoma as well as repair the hole in his trachea. It's a lot for Mrs. Dickerson to take in.
Cristina nervously hangs out outside of the Chief's office until Burke finally comes out. She tells him the Chief can't possibly punish him because they have been flawless. Burke then tells Cristina she was right. He just found out Richard is retiring and he's recommending Burke as the new Chief of Surgery.
In an on-call room, Burke lets it sink in that he's going to be Chief. Cristina says she can work harder. They can deal with George and make sure he doesn't tell anyone. Nobody will ever know once Burke is Chief. Burke says he can't be Chief, not like this. He's wanted this his entire career, but now there's blood on it. It's unethical and dishonorable. They crossed the line together. Burke says Cristina dragged him across the line. Cristina says that Burke made her do it when he told her he wasn't Burke anymore. She's sticking to him. They are both scared every time they go into surgery. Burke says they are not a team, it's just him making allowances for her emotional shortcomings. She decides the conversation is over and lies down. He leaves the room.
George returns to his father's room. He was paged. Harold says they appreciate what he's done for them, but they don't want to cause trouble, especially after all his trouble with Meredith and Callie. Izzie apologizes for that. Harold says they are re-scheduling the surgery since they have decided to stick with Burke. George angrily asks Izzie what she said to them. She only said what she thought about Burke. George tells her to get out. Harold tells him not to talk to her like that, but George bluntly says a patient died last time Izzie was allowed to interact with one. Izzie is visibly hurt and leaves the room.
Derek finds Burke and asks him to scrub in with him on Larry. Derek notices something's up, but Alex comes in and asks Burke to scrub in on Janelle. Both Alex and Derek really need Burke. Burke tells Derek to find Hahn and ask her to scrub in instead. Once Derek is gone, Burke asks Alex to find Cristina and have her scrub in with him.
Callie finds George sitting in the stairwell. She says she slept with Mark to get over George, but it didn't work. She would never betray George. He tells her he can't do this now and leaves.
Mrs. Dickerson comes across Janelle and her surgical team as they are transporting her. She once again apologizes to Janelle, who tells her she'll be okay. Bailey tells Mrs. Dickerson to go back to her husband's room and wait there. She replies he's also in surgery. Bailey stays behind as the rest of the team takes Janelle. Mrs. Dickerson then confesses she knew there was something wrong with her husband's feet. Their daughter took away his keys, but she gave them back to him. Larry would have felt so betrayed. She didn't mean for any of this to happen. Bailey asks Janelle to come with her. They need to tell the police. She takes Mrs. Dickerson's hand and guides her.
Cristina and Burke are scrubbing in in silence.
Burke removes the piece of glass from Janelle's right ventricle. They're going to do a pericardial patch. Cristina offers to do a stitch she's been practicing, but instead Burke tells her to move to the other side of the table. She does so after he repeats his request.
Hahn needs more lap pads. Her colleagues are going to be jealous when they hear she scrubbed in with Derek, because he saved Burke. Hahn says she needs to enlarge the incision to reach the aorta. They need to turn Larry on his back and redress. His pressure bottoms out. The laceration is getting bigger by the second. She needs all hands she can get and everybody needs her help turn the patient over. Meredith is sent out to get Burke.
Janelle is ready to be warmed up again. She can soon be taken off bypass. Cristina compliments Burke's work. Meredith comes in and informs Burke that Hahn needs him for the aortic transection of her patient. Burke goes to leave. He tells Cristina that he can't do anything here until the heart's off bypass, so he can go. She needs to stay behind. Once he's gone, Cristina asks Meredith how bad it is. She honestly says the patient's chest is a mess. Cristina then decides she's coming with, but Burke sees her in the hallway and sends her back. Meredith asks if Cristina thinks Burke can't operate without her, but she derives from Cristina's face that that is the actual truth. Cristina begs her to keep her mouth shut and then returns to Janelle.
Cristina is closely watching the heart. It starts beating, which means Janelle's ready to come off bypass. A nurse comes in. Burke will be longer than he thought, but she doesn't need to worry. He'll be back in time.
Meredith is closely watching Burke's moves, which doesn't go unnoticed by Derek. Burke and Hahn manage to repair the transection. Derek urges Meredith to focus on their part. Burke flexes his hand and assures Derek he's fine.
In her OR, Cristina decides it's time for Janelle to come off bypass or she could stroke out. The scrub nurse asks how she wants to proceed. Cristina asks her to page anyone who can help her take Janelle off bypass, but Burke then enters the OR. Cristina tells him he was gone too long, but he tells her to gather herself. He gets ready to take Janelle off bypass. The heartbeat remains strong once she's off bypass, but suddenly a stitch blows. He needs to rush to repair the heart wall, but he needs to stretch his hand. He says he needs a minute. She says they don't have the time. They need to put her back on bypass. Burke starts working and Cristina is eager to jump in and help, but Burke tells her he doesn't need her for this. This is a known complication of this procedure. The bypass is started again when Bailey comes in to answer the page. Burke says he's repairing the heart wall and he can use her for the second attempt to come off bypass. Cristina is frozen as Burke asks for more 4-0 Prolene and a new pericardial patch. Cristina then walks out of the OR and runs down the hallway as it dawns on her how dangerous the situation is.
Burke enters the Chief's office and says they need to talk. Richard says they need to, indeed. Burke then turns around and sees Cristina.
Cristina is sitting on the catwalk while Burke and Richard are discussing the situation. Hahn approaches her and tells her she's lucky to get to study under Burke.
Alex checks up on Janelle. Addison tells him that Janelle and the baby made it through surgery. Alex wonders if she's going to make the call. Addison doesn't think so, as it takes more than a passionate speech to change a girl's commitment. But she found his take surprising for Mark's lackey. Addison tells Alex he's a decent guy and she'd hate to see Mark beat that out of him. She walks off and Alex can't hide a smile.
Derek and Burke end up on an elevator together. Derek says he would have helped Burke if he had told him. Burke can't do this now. It's been a long day. Derek thought Burke was his friend. Burke thought Derek was his surgeon.
Bailey watches as Mrs. Dickerson talks to the police. Cristina walks by and Bailey watches after her.
Richard is looking at the OR board.
George and Meredith leave the hospital together and see Cristina sitting on a bench. George continues walking as Meredith sits down with her. Cristina then says it was both their idea to rob the bank. She couldn't do it anymore. Meredith tells her she did the right thing. Cristina wonders how come she walked across the parking lot and realized she can't go home. She wonders where she's supposed to go.
Izzie comes home and finds George sitting on the couch. She now knows why he called Hahn. George says he was scared and he knows she knows what it's like to have someone you love end up in the hospital. Izzie says George doesn't get to bring up Denny to her ever again. He apologizes. She tells him not to apologize yet. He says okay. She eats some of his spaghetti.
Derek and Meredith are in bed. He says she was watching Burke's hands all through the surgery, which tells him she knew. She says she can't say anything. Cristina told her things that she can't tell him. Derek says that is not how this works. She has to tell him things like that. Meredith says he cleared Burke for surgery, so he can't fault her for this. Cristina is her friend and she was there for Meredith when he wasn't. They turn towards each other and begin making out, implying that they're going to have sex.
Cristina comes home. Burke is making the bed. They stare at each other. He walks towards her but then closes the door on her.
Cast[]
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
- Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery
- Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
- Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
- Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke
- Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd
Guest Stars[]
- George Dzundza as Harold O'Malley
- Brooke Smith as Dr. Erica Hahn
- Debra Monk as Louise O'Malley
- Lois Smith as Mrs. Dickerson
- Emy Coligado as Janelle Duco
Co-Starring[]
Medical Notes[]
Harold O'Malley[]
- Diagnosis:
- Stage III metastatic esophageal cancer
- Leaking aortic valve
- Doctors:
- Erica Hahn (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Izzie Stevens (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
George, concerned about Burke, brought in Erica Hahn to do the valve replacement on his father. Then his parents decided they wanted Burke to do it instead.
Larry Shane Dickerson[]
- Diagnosis:
- Broken leg
- Subdural hematoma
- Spinal stenosis
- Tracheal injury
- Aortic transsection
- Doctors:
- Derek Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
- Erica Hahn (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Preston Burke (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Callie Torres (orthopedic surgery resident)
- Cristina Yang (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
Larry, 86, came into the ER after running his car into a fish market. He had a broken leg and a head injury. He had air in his mediastinum and a subdural hematoma. Derek also noted that he had spinal stenosis, advanced to the point where he probably couldn't feel his feet at all, meaning he shouldn't have been driving. They took him into surgery. There were complications when Erica found a tear in the aorta while doing the tracheal repair, but she was able to repair the aortic transsection and finish his surgery.
Burke's Patient[]
- Diagnosis:
- Doctors:
- Preston Burke (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Meredith Grey (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Attempted resuscitation
Burke and Meredith attempted to resuscitate a patient in the ER. They were unsuccessful and time of death was called 7:53 am.
Janelle Duco[]
- Diagnosis:
- Multiple lacerations
- Pregnancy
- Traumatic cardiac tamponade
- Doctors:
- Mark Sloan (plastic surgeon)
- Addison Forbes Montgomery (fetal surgeon)
- Preston Burke (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Miranda Bailey (surgical resident)
- Alex Karev (surgical intern)
- Meredith Grey (surgical intern)
- Cristina Yang (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Stitches
- Surgery
Janelle came into the ER covered in blood and collapsed. She had multiple lacerations to her face and body. She then told the doctors she was 10 weeks pregnant. She coughed up blood, so they gave her a chest x-ray, which revealed a large shard of glass puncturing her heart, so they scheduled surgery. When she became unstable, she was rushed into surgery. In surgery, when they took her off bypass, she tore a stitch, but they were able to put her back on bypass and repair her heart.
Music[]
Song | Performer | Scene |
---|---|---|
"You and I Are a Gang of Losers" | The Dears |
|
"9 Crimes" | Damien Rice |
|
"New Day" | Kate Havnevik |
|
Notes and Trivia[]
- This episode's title originated from the song From a Whisper to a Scream, originally sung by Elvis Costello.
- This episode scored 18.51 million viewers, making it the first episode since It's the End of the World (which aired after the Super Bowl) to score fewer than 20 million viewers.[1]
- This episode was narrated by Cristina, making this the first episode to be narrated solely by Cristina, as well as only the third episode of the series to not be narrated solely by Meredith, following What Have I Done to Deserve This? and Losing My Religion.
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Quotes[]
- George: Hey. How's my dad?
- Izzie: George, your ex is hardcore. Passionate, but hardcore.
- George: Yeah, I know. How is my dad?
- Izzie: Fine.
- George: And my mom? Is she driving you crazy? Has she offered to iron your scrubs? She does that. She offers to iron things. Weird things.
- Meredith: Hey Callie, I was gonna come and find you. What did you want to talk to me about?
- Callie: (rolling up her sleeves) Panties.
- Izzie: Ah... Callie, what’cha up to?
- Callie: I’m gonna kick Meredith’s ass right now. (She throws Meredith against the lockers.)
- Meredith: Get off me! (pushes Callie off of her)
- Callie: I kept your secrets, I was discreet! I was a really good friend to you and I didn’t have to be. And then go and do this?! (throws her against the lockers again)
- Meredith: Do what?!
- Izzie: Hey Callie, use your words! Use your words, Callie!
- Callie: Panties, Meredith! I’m talkin’ about the McFrickin’ code of silence pair of panties I pulled off the bulletin board. Not to mention the adulterous McSex I witnessed, you remember that?
- Izzie: (gets between Meredith and Callie) Hey, hey, hey! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but she’s very little and you’re hurting her!
- Callie: You told George! My night with McSteamy was not yours to share!
- Izzie: That’s what this is about? Your sex with McSteamy?
- Callie: You told Izzie!
- Izzie and Meredith: No! No!
- Meredith: Callie! You told me you slept with someone. You never said it was Sloan. George told me it was Sloan.
- Callie: George? George told you... Who told George?
- Izzie: Maybe perhaps the guy you slept with?
- Callie: George thinks I betrayed him, and I didn't. I didn't we were broken up.
- Meredith: Well, then. Go. Tell. George. (Callie leaves)
- Izzie: Dude, she went all cage fighter on you! (Izzie and Meredith laugh)
- Meredith: I know!
- Mark: (to Alex) I'd consider leaving that alone until she goes into the OR.
- Janelle: Yeah about that, when's that gonna happen because there's a big shard of glass stuck in my heart, y'know.
- Alex: You'd be surprised how long people can live with stuff stuck inside their bodies-- glass, shrapnel, bullets.
- Mark: I saw a guy once with half a chair leg in his chest, that was one hell of a splinter.
- Janelle: Can we focus here?
See Also[]
A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
The Grey Matter blog post on this episode can be found here. |
Grey's Anatomy Season 3 | |||||
#01 | "Time Has Come Today" | #10 | "Don't Stand So Close to Me" | #19 | "My Favorite Mistake" |
#02 | "I Am a Tree" | #11 | "Six Days, Part 1" | #20 | "Time After Time" |
#03 | "Sometimes a Fantasy" | #12 | "Six Days, Part 2" | #21 | "Desire" |
#04 | "What I Am" | #13 | "Great Expectations" | #22 | "The Other Side of This Life, Part 1" |
#05 | "Oh, the Guilt" | #14 | "Wishin' and Hopin'" | #23 | "The Other Side of This Life, Part 2" |
#06 | "Let the Angels Commit" | #15 | "Walk on Water" | #24 | "Testing 1-2-3" |
#07 | "Where the Boys Are" | #16 | "Drowning on Dry Land" | #25 | "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" |
#08 | "Staring at the Sun" | #17 | "Some Kind of Miracle" | ||
#09 | "From a Whisper to a Scream" | #18 | "Scars and Souvenirs" | ||
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