“ | How much can you actually accomplish in an hour? Run an errand maybe? Sit in traffic? Get an oil change? When you think about it, an hour isn't very long. 60 minutes. 3,600 seconds. That's it. In medicine, though, an hour is often everything. We call it the golden hour. That magical window of time that can determine whether a patient lives or dies. An hour... one hour... can change everything... forever. An hour can save your life. An hour can change your mind. Sometimes an hour is just a gift we give ourselves. For some, an hour can mean almost nothing. For others, an hour makes all the difference in the world. But in the end, it's still just an hour. One of many. Many more to come. 60 minutes. 3,600 seconds. That's it. And it starts all over again. And who knows what the next hour might hold? | ” |
Golden Hour is the fifteenth episode of the seventh season and the 141st overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.
Short Summary[]
Meredith, looking to prove she is Chief Resident material, learns that anything and everything can happen in an hour's time when she steps up to run the ER for a night. Meanwhile, Bailey sneaks off with Eli and gets into a little mischief, and everyone is surprised when the Chief's wife, Adele, shows up as one of the ER patients.
Full Summary[]
While Meredith's voice over talks about what surgeons can do in one hour, saying they call it the golden hour, Meredith enters the ER and takes a chart.
6:00 PM
Meredith updates the ER board and asks Cristina, who's eating potato chips, to help her. Cristina performed 4 back-to-back surgeries, so she's going to continue to eat potato chips. When the phone rings, she tells Meredith she might want to pick up the phone. There's a suspected appendicitis, so she asks a nurse to page Robbins. She tells Cristina that she volunteered to run the ER to prove that she's a good candidate for Chief Resident. Cristina notices Meredith is all perky and cheerful, and Meredith admits that she's like that because she's pumped full of hormones due to the fertility drugs. After joking about big boobs, Cristina tells Meredith that Callie has this thing. She's interrupted by Lexie, who wants to discharge her patient. Before signing off on it, Meredith asks if he's neurologically intact, and Lexie assures that he's just suffering from a migraine. With her eyes, she points towards the patient's "girlfriend from hell". Meredith signs off and tells Arizona that a kid is coming in. She also tells Owen that OR 5 is ready for him. Cristina then reveals that Callie asked her to be her baby's godmother. Meredith tells her that she has to say no to that.
Meredith enters the trauma room, where Tyler gives her the EKG results. Oliver, the patient, is on the phone with his wife, and he promises that he can barely feel the chest pain and that he'll make it. Meredith introduces herself, and he explains that he has to take his son, who's a big fan, to the basketball game. He tells her that his chest pain is much better. "And you wouldn't just be saying that to get discharged faster?" Meredith asks, and the father says that he got his son tickets to the game for his birthday. Meredith says that they don't take chest pains lightly around here, and she tells Tyler what to do, promising that they'll try to take care of it as quickly as possible.
Meredith walks back to the desk, where Cristina asks her why she should say no to Callie. Meredith asks her for a second opinion on the EKG instead of answering as Alex walks in. Meredith asks Alex to help out as she's swamped, but he refuses. The EKG looks normal to Cristina, who asks what Alex is doing here. Medical records called to tell him he needs to sign all charts himself or they would suspend his privileges. Hearing he might get suspended, Cristina calls dibs on one of his upcoming surgeries. Alex wants to finish this before the game tonight, for which a patient gave him two floor-seat tickets when Alex told him he didn't have cancer. This surprises Meredith and Cristina, who gets paged for a colectomy.
A father comes over and reminds Meredith that they were promised hours ago that someone would set their 4-year old's leg. Meredith remembers, but there are not enough ORs available for non-emergent cases. They need an OR because Nathan's femur is broken. This requires a full cast on the leg, which has to be set while Nathan is put under due to his age. She apologizes but promises to let him know as soon as there's an OR available. Meredith tries to get Alex to help out, but he can't get Medical Records to answer the phone and he walks away, reminding her he has floor seat tickets.
Walking off, he walks past Bailey and Eli. Bailey says she knows what he suggested and that there are a lot of medical professionals who did that, but she is not a medical professional who would ever do that. Eli tries to convince her by saying it has intensely exciting, toe-curling potential benefits. Meredith walks by and grabs something from a supply rack, greeting Dr. Bailey. With Meredith gone now, Bailey hits Eli on the head with a writing board.
Meredith comes back to the ER with the supplies she just took as Lexie walks up to her patient. She gives him a prescription for a strengthened migraine medicine and tells him not to take it with alcohol. His girlfriend is mad that they're missing their anniversary dinner because he's having a headache, especially because it's hard to get reservations at the restaurant they were supposed to go to. He says it really hurts.
Meredith shoves aside the curtain around a patient's bed and introduces herself, but then recognizes it's Adele in the bed. Richard doesn't know she's here. She got home from work, slipped off the stepladder and landed on her wrist. Adele is perfectly fine waiting until Meredith can make time for her, knowing she has far more pressing patients. Being the Chief's wife however, makes her Meredith's most pressing patient. Behind her, new patients come in and Adele asks if she's sure about that. Meredith turns around and sees two drunken men. One of them turns his head a little, revealing a knife sticking into it. He yells if there's someone who can do anything about it. Everyone in the ER is shocked.
6:13 PM
Jackson and Derek are operating. Meredith enters, and Derek says it's early, as their date was supposed to be at 6:30. Meredith says she's only here because there's a guy with a knife in his head in the ER. "Sweet! I mean, poor guy!" Jackson comments. Meredith says the guy is neurologically intact, but Derek says he needs to take a look rather sooner than later. He orders Jackson to take the guy to have a CT and wait for him there. Meredith reminds him of their date and leaves after Jackson.
On their way to the ER, Jackson asks how the guy has a knife in his head. Meredith says apparently there was a brawl at a tailgate party. As Jackson continues his way to the ER, Meredith holds still and calls Dr. Bailey, who's about to enter an on-call room. Meredith walks up to her and Bailey assures her she was going to take a nap. Because that's what people do in these rooms when they're tired. She's very, very tired. Eli appears behind Meredith, clearly on his way to the on-call room, but Bailey shakes her head to gesture it's not the right time. Meredith just wanted to ask if she had seen Dr. Altman, but Bailey hasn't seen Dr. Altman, nor any other doctors or nurses. Because she will be in the on-call room, asleep. By herself. Meredith sees Dr. Altman at the end of the hallway and runs up to her. Eli comes over to Bailey, fake yawning, and gets into the on-call room with her.
Meredith asks Teddy for a quick consult. She was supposed to be off by 6, but she agrees and takes a look at the scans if Meredith can walk with her. Teddy notices her date is already standing in the main hall and asks Meredith for a second.
Teddy walks up to William and he compliments her looks. She tells him she still has a few things to wrap up and asks if he minds waiting around for a couple of minutes, 10 tops. No problem, he will wait. Suddenly, Henry appears behind Teddy and greets her. He was brought in for a test. He apologizes for being rude when he notices William and shakes his hand. William asks Henry if he's a patient of Teddy's. "Something like that," Henry replies. Teddy feels awkward and leaves, promising to be back soon. She walks up to Meredith, who informs her of the patient. While listening to Meredith, Teddy notices Henry sits down with William. She takes a look at the scans of the patient, which all look clean to Meredith.
Alex is sitting close by, signing his charts. April walks past and he asks her how good she is at forging signatures. Even if she were, she wouldn't do it. He has to finish it on his own.
Teddy orders Meredith to order more tests and to tell radiology to rush it because she would really like to get out for her date. As she walks past Karev, she slaps his head and tells him "no forging signatures". Lucy comes out of the room behind the nurse’s station and she's not surprised to hear the talk of forgery associated with Alex. Alex says he just wants to get out for the game. Lucy is surprised he has tickets and totally gets how important the game is. "Why do you think I'm powering through all these stupid charts?" Alex asks Lucy, who takes some charts from the pile and sits down next to him. She has time to kill because none of her patients are past 3 centimeters dilated, and he needs to get to this game. She asks for a pen as Meredith finishes her call and walks off. Alex thought Lucy thought he was a loser, but now that she knows he likes college hoops, he's less losery. She takes a look at his signature and starts copying it.
Meredith is walking back to the ER and Cristina joins her. She asks about the knife guy. Her colectomy got pushed because the patient ate before the surgery. They get on an elevator and Meredith reminds her that she doesn't want to be Callie's baby's godmother. "I don't?" Cristina asks. Meredith says no because Mark, Callie, and Arizona all have to die before she would be able to step up. That's a lot of people, whereas if she'd be Meredith's baby's godmother, only she and Derek would have to die. One wrong turn down a dark, twisty road and boom, Cristina's in. They get off the elevator, and Cristina says if she's ever going to be a baby's godmother, it's in name only. She won't be taking care of children. That's what boarding schools are for.
They stop at the window of the trauma room where Lexie and Jackson take the drunk guys' beers away. Cristina is amazed and gets inside, while Meredith turns around to talk to Oliver, whom Teddy sent off for another X-ray. He knows they have to cover all their bases, but... Meredith knows what he wants to ask and says she put a rush on the X-rays, so it'll be quick. Suddenly, Richard yells her name.
She walks into the ER, where Richard is standing next to Adele. He found out Adele was there from a scrub nurse. He wants an explanation why she didn't tell him. Adele interferes and asks him to let her do her job. Meredith hasn't even had a chance to examine her yet, she says. She tells Meredith that Richard is acting like this because he's worried about her. She tells Meredith she slipped off the stepladder when she was trying to get out the Christmas decorations. Meredith requested an X-ray and an ortho consult. She'll make sure they're coming down. Suddenly, there's tumult in the trauma room and Meredith says she better go see what's happening.
Meredith enters the trauma room and asks if everything's okay. The patient says it is, while Lexie disagrees. The patient happily tells her that the knife moves when he scrunches his eyebrows. He demonstrates this, and the doctors start freaking out again and yell to stop moving the knife. Cristina tests Stewart's brain with some arithmetic, but he can't answer. Not because of the knife, he says, but because he's so drunk. As Stewart starts bickering with his buddy David, Cristina can't believe his mental status is completely intact, if you don't count for his math skills. It's like the knife did no damage at all. David suggests they just pull it out so they can get to their game. Meredith leaves the room as the guys get more beers, which Lexie takes away again.
At the station in the ER, Meredith gives Tyler updates on all patients and asks for the discharges of the latest hour. Tyler hands them over, and Meredith asks him for a status on the OR for Nathan, the boy with the broken femur. Going through the discharges, Meredith notices something in the discharge papers of Mitch Turner, Lexie's patient with the headache. She asks how long ago he was discharged, which was a couple of minutes ago. Meredith runs outside, where Mitch and his girlfriend Gia are getting in the car. Meredith converses with Mitch and confirms he is impaired. Tyler appears and asks if everything's okay. No, she asks for a stretcher out here, stat, for a code C.V.A. Mitch can't repeat a simple phrase and Gia starts freaking out. They lay him on the ground. Gia has to put her purse under his head and helps Meredith to secure his arm. Mitch is having a stroke.
6:22 PM
While Gia takes her phone, Meredith tells a doctor that Mitch's symptoms started within the last 20 minutes, so they're well within the golden hour. The doctor leaves with Mitch. Gia is on the phone, telling someone about Mitch's stroke. She's worried about what would've happened if he was driving the car what happened. Meredith comes over and tells her the stroke team is taking Mitch to CT. They caught it early, which is good. Gia asks how Mitch is on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being that she has to cancel their Aspen trip next week. She should cancel the trip. Gia returns to the conversation on her phone. "You will not believe this," she says.
Mark is looking at Stewart and his scans. He thinks the best plan is to open up the cranium to remove the knife, while Jackson suggests to just pull it out. Mark guesses Avery just wants to get out early to go to the game, just like everybody else. Lexie supports Jackson, saying that because the knife didn't hit any major arteries or veins, a controlled extraction is both safer and less invasive. Mark asks if that's really why Avery suggested it. Yes, Avery says, and because he wants to go to the game. Stewart is fine with that and suggests they do what Jackson said. Meredith comes in and asks to talk to Lexie.
Outside the room, Lexie thanks her having saved her from that room. It takes everything for her to be civil to Mark, who's being an ass lately. Meredith shows her Mitch's discharge papers and asks her to look closely. She compares the admitting signature and discharge signature. There's a notable difference. Meredith tells him Mitch is now up in radiology being treated for a stroke. Meredith knows Lexie knows the signs of a stroke. She thinks Lexie missed this because she is distracted by the Mark thing, but Lexie is sure Mitch was not having a stroke yet when she was treating. Lexie must know that a headache like that is a precursor to a stroke. Callie interrupts, saying that Meredith could've mentioned it was the Chief's wife when she asked for an ortho consult. If she had known, she would've been down a lot sooner.
Meredith follows Callie to Adele, who tells them that she fell when she reached for something on the top shelf. Her wrist absorbed all the impact, Richard says. Callie agrees it looks painful and says they'll get more pain meds. The X-ray shows a hairline fracture, but it could've been worse. Callie will splint it up and get her out of here in no time. Richard gets a page, and tells Adele she can have him paged in case she needs anything. When he's gone, Meredith thanks Adele for covering up for her earlier, when she told the Chief she hadn't had a chance to examine her yet. Adele has no idea what she's talking about. Seeing Adele told two conflicting stories about the cause of the fall, Meredith asks if she hit her head. Not that Adele can recall. Tyler comes over and gives her the X-rays of Oliver. Meredith orders him to order a head CT for Adele. Meredith swears as she sees Oliver's X-rays and excuses herself.
Teddy has changed and walks up to William, apologizing for the wait. He says it wasn't a problem; he had Henry to keep him company. Before they can leave for the restaurant. Meredith comes over and shows her Oliver's X-rays. Teddy agrees with what Meredith thinks and says there'll be more waiting. No problem for William, who sits back down and continues talking with Henry.
Teddy tells Meredith to get a CT. She'll stick around to look at the results. They walk past the conference room where Alex and Lucy are laughing while signing Alex's charts. "At least somebody's having a good night," Teddy says.
Meredith returns to the trauma room where Oliver has been waiting for good news. Meredith tells him his second X-ray was worrying too, so they'll have to make a CT. He then gets a call from his son and wants to know if he has to tell him they will miss the game. Meredith wishes she had an answer, but saying he'll be late would be a safe bet. Meredith walks out of the room to give Oliver some privacy. Oliver tells his son not to worry.
Owen, Jackson, and Lexie are looking at the scans of the knife guy. Meredith can't believe the knife didn't hit any brain matter at all. They'll take a look with Shepherd when he gets out of surgery, which should be in a minute. While they're saying this, we see David pulling the knife out of Stewart's head. They laugh and David pokes on the window with the knife to get the doctors' attention. "Now can we get out of here?" he asks.
6:32 PM
Meredith is doing a neuro exam on Stewart: he's awake and alert. As Owen asks for more gauze for the wound, Jackson says the reflexes are fine. Lexie takes the knife away from David. Stewart wants to go. He's had hangovers worse than the headache he has now. Shepherd comes in. The others tell him there is no knife anymore. Derek asks Stewart to lay back for an exam. Meredith hears Nathan crying in pain. She leaves the room.
Meredith walks up to Nathan, whose parents are trying to comfort him. Meredith is going to write a prescription for more pain meds. She asks Tyler about the OR, but he hasn't heard back. She wants him to make sure the ortho team is ready to go once an OR opens up. She promises the parents they'll get to him ASAP. Derek walks towards her and he confirms that the blade guy only has a flesh wound. Meredith says he's the luckiest guy alive. Derek reminds her it's past 6:30 and that they haven't had their date yet. Meredith replies she's swamped, she has a patient in CT and she's waiting for an OR. Derek points out neither of those things are ready now and she admits she may have one minute at this moment. Derek thinks it's perfect, he only needs a minute.
He takes her hand and guides her to an on-call room as she starts giggling. He opens the door and Bailey, who's lying in bed under Eli, starts screaming. Derek apologizes and closes the door. Derek says the room was occupied and asks her not to ask him what he saw in there. Meredith asks where they're gonna go now. He has an idea.
They get on an empty elevator. They're going to do it there. She starts objecting, but he simply tells her to drop her pants and pushes the alarm button. He'll be quick, in and out. Meredith thinks he's joking, but he's serious. He asks where her sense of adventure is. It's down on the first floor, she says. He wants her to do it, if not for him, then for her future baby. She agrees and turns around. Derek smiles, pulls down her pants, and gets ready. "Here it is," he says with a satisfied finish, as Meredith experiences a little pain. He then pulls the syringe out of her bottom and said he told her he'd be quick as he kisses her on her cheek. He can't wait to meet their future fictitious baby. She either. Derek gets off the elevator.
Lucy and Alex get on the elevator. They got through the charts fast. "Floor seats, here I come!" Alex says. Lucy wants to know how long she has to wait before he asks her to go to the game with him, as it's only thanks to her help with the charts that he'll be able to go. Meredith is surprised when Alex says that he'll ditch Avery and asks if she wants to come. She can't, she's on call tonight, but she just wanted to know if she could get him to ask her out. She gets off the elevator, and Meredith smiles at an embarrassed Alex.
Meredith and Alex are walking to the ER. She wants him to admit he likes Lucy, but he tells her to shut up. They walk past Nathan's father, who tries to get a nurse to understand that they have been waiting all day with their son, who's in serious pain. He understands a broken leg doesn't take precedence over a guy with a knife in his head, but his son is in serious pain. He begs her to find someone who can get to Nathan's leg. Alex overheard the father's complaint and he can't believe Meredith hasn't helped the kid yet. Meredith asks Tyler about the OR again. They're prepping it now. Richard comes over. He's angry about the fact that even though Callie cleared Adele, Meredith ordered a head CT for a broken wrist. Meredith starts explaining, but Tyler interrupts her. Her patient is coding in the scanner. She runs off to CT.
When she arrives there, they're giving Oliver CPR. Meredith orders to page Dr. Altman and starts defibrillating. Teddy walks in as they have a pulse again. They're informed that the scans are up. Meredith informs her about what happened as Teddy looks at the scans. She orders to book an OR. Meredith wants to have one prepped, but they don't have time for that. The patient's aorta is dissecting as they speak, needing surgery right now. All the ORs are booked, but Meredith tells the nurse on the phone to bump her OR and to prep it for an emergency cardio. They wheel off with the patient to the elevator.
6:43 PM
Teddy tells Meredith that once the elevator doors open, they have to get the patient into the OR and open him up ASAP. Meredith puts on her scrub cap and as they both take off their jewelry, Teddy says there's no time to scrub. Meredith shares some of her hand sanitizer with Teddy. The doors open and they rush out.
In the OR, Teddy says to just pour the betadine straight onto the chest. They have to go get in fast. The surgical team works as fast as possible to have them ready. After both she and Meredith have put on their gloves and so on, they open up the patient's chest. The patient's BP keeps dropping. Meredith asks on how many of these cases Teddy has operated. 40, maybe 50, of which she has managed to save 3. Just as the chest is completely open, the aorta tears wide open. The patient starts bleeding out. They try sucker bypass, but it doesn't work due to all the blood. The heart starts fibrillating and Teddy orders Meredith to give heart massage. Meredith takes the paddles and tries to get the heart going again a few times. The patient starts bleeding out of his ears and nose and he keeps deteriorating. Another shock doesn't work, and Meredith asks what to do. There's nothing she can do, Teddy says, the aorta is in shreds. Meredith has to call it, but she doesn't want to give up. Teddy says there's nothing to they can do and says she needs to call it. "Time of death, 18:52," Meredith says.
6:55 PM
Meredith is watching the babies in the nursery. Cristina joined her, having heard she lost her patient. Meredith says that she doesn't want Cristina to be Callie's baby's godmother, because it's like Cristina is saying Meredith will never have a baby of her own. Cristina wants her to know that she's in no way saying something like that. Meredith knows that, but it just feels that way. They watch the babies for a while, and Cristina says she's going to have a really uncomfortable conversation with Callie now. She asks what Meredith is going to do. She's going to contact Oliver's family now. Before she leaves, Cristina wipes some blood off Meredith's neck.
Adele and Richard are leaving the hospital. Meredith walks behind them and calls him. She wants to talk about earlier, but he says it's all good. Her head CT was clean, her wrist is in a splint and he's taking her home now. Meredith says she still has some concerns, and even more if her CT is clean. Richard thanks her, but claims Adele is just fine. Meredith still insists that Adele has been getting things very confused. While Richard tries to get her to stop talking, Meredith asks why she was getting Christmas decorations down in February. She also has questions about Adele coming home from work, as she thought Adele retired. Something isn't right, Meredith says. Richard calls it enough. He gets what she's implying, but Adele had a scare today. She has the right to have some details confused. If there was something bigger going on, he would know. She just has Alzheimer's on the brain, he says, so she's now seeing it everywhere. "Adele is not your mother, Meredith. She's my wife. Now, good night," he says. He gets outside, where Adele has been waiting in her wheelchair.
On her way back to the ER, Meredith walks into Nathan's parents. She apologizes and explains she was pulled into emergency surgery. They inform her a doctor came by. Nathan's cast is being put on right now. Meredith says that's great news.
She walks to the station in the ER, where Tyler wants her to take a look at the patient in bed 3, but Meredith just wants him to get Oliver's chart. In the bag with Oliver's belongings, the phone rings. Meredith takes it out of the bag and takes a breath. She picks up the phone and greets Max, Oliver's son. She introduces herself as his daddy's doctor and asks if his mother is around. She holds back tears as she walks into a trauma room to make the rest of the phone call.
Lexie tells Mitch, her stroke patient, that they'll have to keep him overnight for observation, but his prognosis is good. Gia says that's great because they might not have to cancel their Aspen trip after all. This comment bothers Mitch, who reminds her he just had a stroke and all she can worry about is their travel plans. "It's a non-refundable trip," Gia defends herself. He tells her to cancel the trip. In fact, cancel all their trips. He doesn't get how he's put up with her for 2 years, he's done with her. He tells her to get out of there now before she gets him another stroke. However, seconds later, he asks her to wait. She smiles and gives him her keys, as he asks for them. He takes one key and returns the rest. "Now you can go," he says. Lexie tries not to smile as an offended Gia walks out.
William is making a phone call. Henry tells Teddy that before he goes, she needs to know what he got to know about William during his "first date" with the guy. He wears driving gloves. He doesn't live with his mother, but until recently lived above her house. And he used the word shan’t while not being funny. Plus, he told Henry many stories about himself but none in which he was not the hero. So, as Teddy's husband, he thinks they can do better. William returns, telling her he not only managed to push back the reservation, but he also got them a table by the window. Henry gives her a meaningful look as she says she's ready. As she and William walk to the elevator, Teddy looks back at Henry.
Bailey and Eli discreetly leave the on-call room. He asks when her next break is, but she tells him this will never happen again at work. "Until your next break," he says as Bailey walks off. She smiles.
Stewart and David are in a cab. Stewart’s leaving against medical advice. Jackson gives him his number and a paper. In case he experiences any of the neurological symptoms on the paper, he has to call him. He tells him to have plenty of fluids tonight, though not beer. "Will do, doc," Stewart says as the cab drives off. Lexie comes outside, who can't believe the guy walked in with a knife in his head an hour ago and now leaves to go to a ball game. Now that they're on the subject, Jackson wants to know if she wants to go to the game by any chance, because apparently Karev didn't want his floor seats. He shows her the tickets and asks if she's interested. Actually, she is. They get back inside.
Alex enters the OR, where Nathan is lying on the table. Alex tells him he'll have two big casts on his legs, which are good because they'll make his leg better. Now, he has a very important question for Nathan. What's his favorite color? "Blue," Nathan replies. "Blue it is then," Alex says, and he asks a nurse to prepare for blue casting material. Lucy is sitting in the dark gallery, watching Alex and smiling.
Richard helps Adele get in the car. He seems to remember what Meredith tried to tell him.
In the trauma room, Meredith finished her call. She walks back to the station and lays the phone on the bag with Oliver's belongings. She takes a chart from Tyler. She opens the curtain around a bed and introduces herself to the patient. As she starts asking questions, the camera pans out to the clock. It's 7:01 PM.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
- Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
- 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
- Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman
- Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
- Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
- Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd
Guest Stars[]
- Loretta Devine as Adele Webber
- Daniel Sunjata as Nurse Eli
- Rachael Taylor as Dr. Lucy Fields
- Jason Gray-Stanford as Josh Englander
- Josh Randall as William
- Dondré T. Whitfield as Oliver Richter
- Elizabeth Bogush as Gia
- John Henry Canavan as Stewart Tyler
- Jeffrey Doornbos as Mitch Turner
- Moe Irvin as Tyler Christian
- Scott Foley as Henry Burton
Co-Starring[]
- Payton Silver as Dr. Knox
- Ariel Felix as C.T. Booth Tech
- Nick Armstrong as Dave
- Jacy King as Whitney
- Cade Owens as Nathan
- Billy Wood as Code Nurse
Medical Notes[]
Cristina's Patients[]
- Diagnosis:
- Peripheral artery disease
- Doctors:
- Cristina Yang (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
- Femoropopliteal Bypass
Cristina performed four back-to-back fem-pop bypasses.
Arizona's Patient[]
- Diagnosis:
- Appendicitis
- Doctors:
- Arizona Robbins (pediatric surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Appendectomy
Arizona was paged for a potential appendectomy on a 10 year old.
Mitch Turner[]
- Diagnosis:
- Headache
- Stroke
- Doctors:
- Lexie Grey (surgical resident)
- Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
- Sumatriptan
- Clot-busting medicine
Mitch came into the ER with a migraine. Lexie did a CT and gave him sumatriptan, which helped, so she discharged him. After he was discharged, Meredith noticed that his discharging signature looked much different from his admitting signature. She went out to the parking lot to find him because he was having a stroke. He was taken to CT to see if he could get clot-busting medicine. Afterward, he was stable and expected to make a full recovery.
Owen's Patient[]
- Diagnosis:
- Doctors:
- Owen Hunt (trauma surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
Owen came through with a patient who was headed to an OR for surgery.
Oliver Richter[]
- Diagnosis:
- Aortic dissection
- Doctors:
- Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
- Teddy Altman (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
Oliver, 42, came into the ER with chest pain. His co-workers insisted that he go to the ER. Meredith did some tests, including a chest x-ray. She took the tests to Teddy for her to look at. Teddy looked at his portable chest x-ray and ordered additional scans. His second x-ray revealed a widened mediastinum, so he was taken to CT. In CT, he coded. He was revived and rushed to surgery once Teddy diagnosed an aortic dissection. While she was operating, he began to bleed out of his nose and ears and Teddy realized there was nothing else she could do. He was pronounced dead at 18:52.
ER Patients[]
- Diagnosis:
- Various
- Doctors:
- Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
Meredith offered Alex the option of taking an impacted bowel, suspicious rash, or a really smelly guy.
Alex's Patient[]
- Diagnosis:
- Doctors:
- Alex Karev (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
- Splenectomy
Alex was scheduled to do a solo splenectomy the next day.
Nathan Englander[]
- Diagnosis:
- Femur fracture
- Doctors:
- Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
- Alex Karev (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
- Casting
Nathan, 4, was in the ER with a femur fracture. He had to wait because they had no ORs available to put him under anesthesia, which they needed to do because they had to cast his broken leg and attach it to the other leg in order for the bones to heal properly. He eventually got into an OR and had his legs casted.
Adele Webber[]
- Diagnosis:
- Broken wrist
- Doctors:
- Callie Torres (orthopedic surgeon)
- Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
- Splinting
Adele fell off a stepladder and fractured her wrist. She came into the ER, where her wrist was splinted, but Meredith was worried that she may have hit her head in the fall, so she ran additional tests. When Richard reviewed them and judged them clear, he had her discharged. Over Meredith's concerns about her confusion, he took her home.
Stewart Tyler[]
- Diagnosis:
- Stab wound
- Doctors:
- Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
- Derek Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
- Lexie Grey (surgical resident)
- Jackson Avery (surgical resident)
- Cristina Yang (surgical resident)
- Mark Sloan (plastic surgeon)
- Owen Hunt (trauma surgeon)
- Treatment:
- Extraction
- Stitches
Stewart had been stabbed with a knife in the head. He was neurologically intact, so they began to work out how to extract the knife, which hadn't hit any brain matter. Mark believed they'd have to open Stewart's skull. While they were discussing it, his friend pulled out the knife. Since there wasn't traumatic bleeding, they stitched up the wound and he left against medical advice.
Henry Burton[]
- Diagnosis:
- Diabetes
- Doctors:
- Treatment:
Henry was in the hospital for a blood glucose test.
Cristina's Other Patient[]
- Diagnosis:
- Doctors:
- Cristina Yang (surgical resident)
- Treatment:
- Colectomy
Cristina had a colectomy that was postponed when his wife snuck him a cheeseburger and fries.
Meredith Grey[]
- Diagnosis:
- Infertility
- Doctors:
- Treatment:
- Fertility drugs
Meredith was taking injected fertility drugs. Derek gave her the shot in an elevator.
Music[]
Song | Performer | Scene |
---|---|---|
"Love Like a Sunset Part 1" | Phoenix |
|
"Bourgeois Shangri-La" | Miss Li |
|
"Lose Control" | Back Ted N-Ted |
|
Notes and Trivia[]
- This episode's title originated from the song Golden Hour, originally sung by Midlake.
- This episode scored 10.24 million viewers.[1]
- This episode takes place in February, as Meredith mentions it's strange that Adele took Christmas decorations down in February specifically, February 17, as seen on a smartphone.
- Teddy wears the standard light blue resident scrub cap as she operates on Oliver instead of wearing her personalized scrub cap. This is of course due to the fact that it was an emergent surgery, but it marks the first time Teddy operates without her scrub cap.
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Quotes[]
- Bailey: Uh, I'm taking a nap! Uh, I'm sorry. What I-I mean to say is that I'm going to use this room to take a nap. Because that's what people do in these rooms when they're tired. Cause I have a child, and a full-time job, and work long hours, so I'm just tired. Just very, very tired.
- Cristina: I choose potato chips.
- Meredith: You don't want to be Callie's baby's godmother.
- Cristina: I don't?
- Meredith: No, I mean think of how many people have to die before you even get to step up. Mark, Callie, and Arizona. That's a lot of people.
- Cristina: What is up with you? You're all perky and cheerful.
- Meredith: Ah, you know, it's the, uh, fertility drugs. We have stepped it up. I'm pumped full of hormones. You know what's perky?
- Cristina: Quoi?
- Meredith: My boobs. They're huge. Am I supposed to like big boobs?
- Cristina: Oh, god, no. They'll make you fall over.
- Cristina: I will not be taking care of children. That's what boarding schools are for.
- Meredith: You know, it's not that I don't want to share you. I mean I don't want to share you, but that's not the reason I don't want you to be Callie's baby's godmother... It just seems like if you agree to be Callie's baby's godmother, you're saying that I'll never have a baby of my own.
- Henry: I just have to say this. I basically spent the past hour on a date with William myself, and I don't know how much you know about the guy, but this is what I know. Um, he wears driving gloves, yeah. And he doesn't live with his mother, but until recently he lived above her house. And he used the word "shan't", and he wasn't being funny. And he has yet to tell a story about himself in which he is not the hero. And as your husband, I think we can do better.
- Eli: So when's your next break?
- Bailey: Ok, uh uh, no. This will never happen again, ever. Understood?
- Eli: Sure. Until your next break.
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 7 | ||||||
#01 | "With You I'm Born Again" | #09 | "Slow Night, So Long" | #17 | "This is How We Do It" | |
#02 | "Shock to the System" | #10 | "Adrift and at Peace" | #18 | "Song Beneath the Song" | |
#03 | "Superfreak" | #11 | "Disarm" | #19 | "It's a Long Way Back" | |
#04 | "Can't Fight Biology" | #12 | "Start Me Up" | #20 | "White Wedding" | |
#05 | "Almost Grown" | #13 | "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" | #21 | "I Will Survive" | |
#06 | "These Arms of Mine" | #14 | "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" | #22 | "Unaccompanied Minor" | |
#07 | "That's Me Trying" | #15 | "Golden Hour" | |||
#08 | "Something's Gotta Give" | #16 | "Not Responsible" | |||
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