Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki

Hello! Welcome to Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki! On this website you can read character, actor and episode pages, or if the pages don't exist already or they can be improved, you can edit them! You can also view images and have discussions on blogs! Please create an account and join the community, it is absolutely free!

READ MORE

Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Official wiki
11,304
pages
in: All Episodes, GA Episodes, GA S21 Episodes

Love in the Ice Age

Edit

“ The classic experiment on pain tolerance is to submerse your hand in freezing cold water and see how long you can take it. You can try to distract yourself by counting slowly or focussing on your breath, but no matter how high you count, or how deeply you breathe, that water is still undeniably cold. When you're in pain, you can grin and bear it all you want. You can try to pretend it's not there. But there's no glory in suffering. There's no reward. It doesn't make you wiser or stronger. It doesn't make you immune. Sometimes it makes the pain even worse. ”

Love in the Ice Age is the fourteenth episode of the twenty-first season and the 444th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Bailey welcomes a renowned surgeon, whom she greatly admires, to Grey Sloan to help on a challenging case. Meanwhile, Teddy, Owen, Jules and Ben team up to save the life of a patient who has been impaled by an ice pick.

Full Summary[]

Teddy is greeted by her kids and Owen as she arrives home from the conference. She goes to say what happened but the kids interrupt her.

Simone finds Benson playing video games on the couch. He barely slept. He asks for 10 minutes and leaves to get ready. She throws in an extra five so he can shower. Lucas wanted to head in early. Simone explains that Molly is back in California, so given his broken heart, she wants to wait for him. She and Lucas decide to make the most of the 13 minutes.

Ben tries to bribe Bailey into letting him on her service today rather than Teddy's. Bailey is bringing a renowned surgeon for grand rounds today and points out that the only way to get back into Teddy's good graces is to work with her.

Richard joins the audience in the lecture hall. Bailey saved him a seat. Jules is tired because Maxine and her new boyfriend kept her up all night. Bailey introduces them all to Gabby Mims, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer four months ago and has received neoadjuvant chemo. The tumor encases several critical vessels so it doesn't meet the guideline criteria for surgical resection. Bailey then announces her hero Joseph Chase, who has taken on difficult surgical cases like these. While the audience applauds, Simone tells Jules that this is the surgeon who got her kicked out of her surgical program in Baltimore.

Jules follows Simone to the hallway as she starts spiraling. Simone says Chase always looked past her and never remembered her name. She learned to handle it but when he neglected a Black patient with chronic pancreatitis with worsening symptoms, she expressed her concern. He told her to go be disrespectful at another program, which lead to the scrub room incident. During her expulsion review, Chase called out her "subpar surgical skills" and "aggressive behavior". Jules convinces her to go back in and lay low during the lecture, after which she'll never have to see him again.

In the lecture room, Chase is going over his surgical plan. Benson and Lucas answer questions correctly. Richard questions how Chase can ignore the recommendations, feeling like they are experimenting on patients here. Gabby says she wants to live. The guidelines may give her a year, but this surgery can give her much longer. Bailey adds that Chase's success rate is stellar. As Richard leaves the room, Chase says he wants to include Gabby in his study. He asks which resident Bailey has chosen to assist. Bailey picks Simone just as she walks back in with Jules. Jules advises her to shove her excellence down Chase's throat. Bailey introduces her to Simone. Chase says their paths crossed back in Boston and says it's good to see her thriving here.

Ben finds Teddy in the ER. She ignores his attempts at small talk and says they have a suspected diverticulitis and incoming trauma. She needs Ben to get the first patient to CT. Owen comes up and suggests they go to an Italian restaurant today. Teddy blurts out that she came close to sleeping with someone else but it made her realize she only wants him. He feels the same way. She deduces that he did, in fact, try it. Ben alerts her that the rigs have arrived.

The paramedics unload Brendon Browning, 29, who has a penetrating chest trauma. He fell onto an ice pick. He says he's in love with him climbing partner, whom he just met this morning. They move to a trauma room.

Link finds Winston to invite him to a baseball game tonight. He received tickets from a former patient, for places right behind home plate. The only catch is that Link wants to swap interns. Winston agrees.

Lucas catches up with Richard, who comments Lucas has been doing good work. Lucas has been working hard in an effort to make Catherine change her mind about his remediation. Richard re-iterates that it is not happening.

From the X-ray, Teddy diagnoses a small hemothorax. Jules comes in. She's not happy to hear she's having to deal yet again with a patient who's found love. Teddy says the FAST exam is negative. In 17 minutes, Brendon learned about this girl's trip to Japan, foster kittens, and book collection. She's perfect. Ben comes in to inform Teddy that the CT confirmed diverticulitis. He's distracted by the ice pick. Teddy urges him to focus and get the patient admitted and started on antibiotics. Teddy wants a CT to confirm that the heart isn't involved.

Benson presents Jack Moss, who is in for a corrective osteotomy for a malunion of a tib/fib fracture. He was scheduled for surgery six months ago, but his tourist visum came through so he want to Tanzania instead. Jack denies any pain, which Link finds hard to believe upon finding that Jack's lower leg has significantly bent. At first glance, this looks like an amputation. Jack refuses as he has more trips lined up. Link wants to start with more tests.

Gabby's surgical team meets her in her room. Gabby's mother is worried about her baby girl undergoing an experimental procedure. Gabby thinks this is her only chance to get to Chicago, a library building that she has been working on for four years. As one of the architects, she wants to see it finished. Chase can't promise a good outcome but he'll use his decades of experience to offer her the best shot. Gabby has faith in him. Chase asks Simone to prep Gabby.

As they wait for Brendon's scans, Teddy starts asking Owen questions about his sleeping with someone else. Owen reminds her they agreed on no details, and what he did was within the boundaries they set. Ben and Jules come in. Jules knows this is one of those situations where he is way more into the girl than the other way around. Ben says every pot has its lid, to which Teddy replies that some pots have multiple. Owen calls her a kettle. The scans come up, revealing that the ice pick has breached the descending aortic arch and is essentially plugging the hole. If it moves, he will bleed out.

Richard finds Bailey and asks her about Chase. He remembers that Bailey asked him for a consult on Gabby's case two months ago, and clearly she didn't trust his judgment. Chase offered her a new option. Richard says multiple studies have found that the risks outweigh the benefit. Richard says there is nothing to Chase's technique but arrogance, and he's surprised Bailey is letting him use it on Gabby. Bailey scoffs at his suggestion that she used Gabby as surgical bait to finally meet her hero. She actually believes that this may be the future of pancreatic cancer surgery.

Brendon has been updated by his team on the predicament he's in. They will carefully move him to the OR. Ben thinks they can get him through this so he can go be with the girl. Brendon then realizes he never asked for her name. Owen calms Brendon down. Ben goes to clear the hallway while Owen sets the pace for the transport.

Simone informs Gabby that her pre-op labs came back good. She's cleared for surgery. Gabby's mom asks Simone if Chase is actually as good as they say. Simone affirms his excellent surgical skills. Gabby once again tells her mother that this is her only chance. Gabby's mom has trouble letting go of her baby girl. She hugs her tightly. Gabby tells her she has been the best mom. She gave her the courage to think big and dream. That's why she can do this. Bailey comes in to fetch Gabby.

Lucas finds Richard to update him on his work on his service. Lucas was hoping to go watch Chase's surgery but Richard is not interested in that. Richard has a better idea.

Benson joins Link to study Jack's scans. The bones are fully healed at an obvious angle but there is only one big vessel to keep the foot alive. Benson thinks they're looking at an amputation and is hyped up to do it. Link doesn't want to give him the satisfaction and assigns him to other patients.

As they cautiously move to the elevator, Ben asks Brendon to talk about the woman. He thinks she is a graphic designer. Owen says they'll get him a second chance. Teddy orders Jules to get out her phone and use her millennial skills to find this girl. Brendon doesn't have a lot of specifics to help her. They move the gurney onto the elevator.

Winston finds Link to talk about a recent baseball game. Link wants his original intern back because something's up with Kwan. As long as the seats are still available, Winston is good with that. Link talks about his complicated case. Winston says he can bypass anything, but it means he's missing out on the game tonight.

While riding the elevator, Brendon wonders what if he never finds the girl. Teddy says Seattle is not that big, while Owen says he'll find someone else. Jules thinks this is getting creepy. Teddy says you don't give up when you're in love. She urges Jules to keep looking. The elevator arrives and they carefully continue on their way to the OR. Jules thinks she found the girl and shows him a picture. In his excitement over seeing her, Brendon goes to sit up, thus moving the ice pick, after which he loses consciousness. The team rushes to the OR.

In the OR, they rush to get Brendon on the table. They get gowned and gloved without scrubbing. Teddy removes the ice pick and tells Ben to give them space. She and Owen open Brendon up.

Lucas wants to go back to work while Richard looks for something in his office. He eventually finds a video tape of his surgeries. Those are the real deal to learn surgery, not Chase's cowboy nonsense.

Chase is done with the first shunt. He cautions Simone to suction carefully, as aggressive moves can lead to disaster. Bailey talks about Simone completing her first solo surgery recently. He congratulates her, as well as on the fact that she's about to see her first mesocaval shunt completed. Bailey cautions him about a specific margin, to which he snaps that he's seen it. Chase asks a question, meant for Simone, but Bailey replies in her enthusiasm. She still thinks of herself as an eager student, especially when there are amazing teachers. As they move on to the SMA, the spectators in the gallery applaud.

Benson joins Winston and Link in Jack's room as they go over the surgical plan to correct the malunion while preserving vascularity to his foot. Link says they will only go for this approach if he promises to stop travelling while he heals. It will take months, about the same as an amputation. Without urgent intervention, the wound on his leg could lead to fatal sepsis. Jack agrees to the surgery.

Chase finds that the tumor tissue peels right off the vessel with sharp dissection. Bailey is amazed. Simone then sees there is bleeding. Chase finds that the tumor breached the arterial wall. He decides to suture the SMA and then close. Bailey is confused as they haven't finished. Chase says that continuing the procedure puts Gabby in more danger. Simone says the blood flow to the small intestine is compromised now. Chase says that is out of the scope of this procedure. He declares that he is done. Bailey wonders why stop now when he's successfully completed all of his other cases. Chase says Gabby won't be part of his study as the procedure was incomplete. Bailey realizes that is how he managed to keep a perfect record. As Bailey's admiration is shattered, Simone notes that Gabby's bowel is turning dusky. Bailey stresses that Gabby will die if they stop now. Chase repeats that he is done here. Bailey points him to the door and says she'll take it from here. She moves to the other side of the table while admitting that she has no clue what to do next.

Link and Winston are working on Jack's leg. The original fracture was 18 months ago, treated abroad, but he started bearing weight on the leg way too soon. Benson adds that happened because he didn't want to cancel his trip. Link picks up on Benson's judgment and says Jack has been lying. Jack's brother booked himself a trip around the world, motorcycle tours mostly, but died unexpectedly before he could go on the trip. Jack has been completing the trip and spreading ashes in every country that his brother wanted to see. He damaged his leg but the travelling probably did some mental healing for him. Link is done with his part of the surgery.

Richard walks Lucas through the procedure they are watching. The video tape lags. Lucas starts picking up on the value when Richard is paged 911 by Bailey.

Bailey is beating herself up over falling for Chase's antics. She asks if Simone had any idea. Before she can answer, Richard and Lucas arrive. Bailey and Simone update them on what happened. Richard admit that Chase did a beautiful job on the re-routing shunts so far. This gives Bailey the idea to use a saphenous vein graft to restore the SMA. They could remove the damaged vessel and the whole tumor with it. Richard thinks it could work. He and Lucas go to scrub in.

Owen and Teddy struggle to contain the bleeding. Brendon has gone through four units of blood already.

Bailey removes the tumor.

Brendon's heart won't restart. Teddy calls in Ben to start cardiac massage.

Bailey and Richard work to accomplish their plan.

Teddy defibrillates multiple times. She's not ready to give up. Owen says it has been too long while she keeps going. He tells her it's over, she has done everything she can. She lets go and calls time of death, 19:24. She leaves the OR.

Owen finds Teddy in her office. He spoke to Brendon's parents. She hates how it happened. He wants to talk but she think it's not a good time. He wonders what she thought was going to happen when they opened up their marriage. Teddy just says she's going to be home late and tells him not to wait up for her. He leaves.

Simone shows Gabby's mother to Gabby's ICU room. Gabby's doing good. Her mother thanks the doctors and asks if dr. Chase went back to the D.C. already. Bailey replies he wasn't able to complete the surgery but other surgeons stepped in and they managed to resect the tumor. Gabby's mother thinks Dr. Chase taught them his technique but Simone says that Bailey came up with her own. That is what saved her. Gabby's mother thanks them again for saving her baby girl. Gabby wakes up.

As they walk away, Bailey says Dr. Chase must have been terrible to work for. Simone says she ended up in the right place. Bailey tells her she did excellent work today.

Jack wakes up in the ICU. He asks if his leg is still there. Benson says they were successful. Jack knows that Benson thinks he's an idiot. Benson understands that he's in pain and taking the time to heal. It sucks, especially after losing someone. Jack hates that he's not stuck in a bed. Benson brought him a pair of VR goggles from the skills lab. He downloaded a program that will allow him to visit spots around the globe. Jack thinks him. Link has been observing from outside. Benson goes to apologize for his behavior today, explaining he has been going through something in his personal life. Link is happy that he has a personal life, as he didn't have one as an intern. Benson says that is probably for the best. Winston comes up and wonders why Link is still in his scrubs. They can still make the third inning.

Ben finds Teddy as she's leaving for the night. He completed her post-op notes and will check for consults in the ER before he leaves. She tells him to just get it done rather than announce it. Ben apologizes for screwing up during the heat dome. He can't go back in time and change his actions. All he can do is play by the rules today and he's trying to really hard. However, if that is not enough, she should just call it.

Bailey finds Richard watching a hospital soap opera in his office. Adele taped over one his surgeries. Bailey says she thought Chase's work was too good to be true when she first read it, and yet, she still fell for it. Richard says people like to pray on optimism and hope. Bailey feels guilty that she brought him here. She misled their residents into thinking those tumors can be resected. Richard says she was able to do it. Bailey corrects him: they were.

Simone gets off the same elevator as Dr. Chase. She calls for him. He says he cannot change Baltimore's decision about her. She's actually glad to be here. In the beginning, she spent a lot of time wondering what she could have done to make him see what a great surgeon she could be. Today, she realized it wouldn't have mattered. He only cares about himself. It doesn't make him a good doctor. Chase tells her she could have been more specific in her post-op notes, been more assertive with her patients, and practise her sliding half-knot stitch, which he saw today was still lacking. That stands to reason, given her subpar mentor here. He wishes her good luck here. She'll need it.

Winston is driving Benson to the game. Benson is over the moon about their seats. Link was right about him needing a night out. He loves baseball. Winston needs him to be quiet while they are at the game.

Over wine at the intern house, Simone tells Jules about Joseph's remarks and his insulting Bailey. Jules says karma or a malpractice attorney will get him. Lucas comes home with the news that Richard will talk to Catherine about letting him back into their class. Jules will not allow good news in Mope Town. Lucas was hoping they'd be happy for him. Simone says she is but it's been a long day. He decides not to join them and heads upstairs.

Teddy comes home to find Owen waiting for her. She sits down and asks if he even hesitated when he slept with someone else. He did. He tells her that night meant nothing as he only loves her. She breaks down crying. He takes her into his arms to comfort her.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Molly Tran[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:

Molly had been discharged from the hospital and was back home in California.

Gabby Mims[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pancreatic adenocarcinoma
  • Treatment:
    • Chemotherapy
    • Surgical resection

Gabby, 38, had been diagnosed four months prior with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. She had chemotherapy to shrink her tumor, but it encased several critical blood vessels, so she wasn't a candidate for surgical resection. However, Joseph Chase believed she was a candidate for his study developing a new technique to remove tumors like hers. They took her into surgery, but when she had unexpected bleeding, Chase discovered the tumor had invaded her superior mesenteric artery. Chase said that they'd suture it and then close. Bailey realized that his high success rate was due to him not reporting on cases in which he didn't complete the surgeries. Not wanting Gabby to die, Bailey took over the surgery. Richard came in to help and they decided to use a saphenous vein graft to reconstruct her SMA, allowing them to remove the affected vessel along with the tumor. This plan was successful and Gabby was stable and awake after her surgery.

Brendon Browning[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Impaled object
    • Hemothorax
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery

Brendon, 25, came into the ER after accidentally stabbing himself with an ice pick. He had a left hemothorax. His FAST exam was negative, but an x-ray showed the pick had hit his lung. He was taken for a CT, which showed that the ice pick was penetrating his descending aortic arch. A contained hematoma had formed around the entry site. The ice pick was plugging a hole and preventing massive hemorrhage. They moved him very slowly to the OR. Just before they got there, he moved suddenly, causing a hemorrhage. They rushed him to the OR and started operating, but they were unable to control his bleeding and he was pronounced dead at 19:24.

Ms. Rygalski[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:

Lucas did a central line on Ms. Rygalski.

Mrs. Grandy[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Acute diverticulitis
  • Treatment:
    • Antibiotics

Mrs. Grandy was in the ER. She had a CT, which confirmed acute diverticulitis. Teddy told Ben to admit her and start her on antibiotics.

Jack Moss[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Malunion of the leg
  • Treatment:
    • Corrective osteotomy

Jack, 36, had been in a motorcycle accident over a year prior that caused a tibia-fibula break. He developed malunion of the leg when it didn't heal properly. He was in the hospital for a corrective osteotomy to re-align his bones. When Link examined him, he found the problem worse than he believed and warned Jack they might be looking at an amputation. He promised to do what he could and ordered more imaging to look at the leg. His scans showed that the malunion had compressed the vessel in his leg, decreasing blood flow to his foot. Link consulted with Winston, who said he could do a bypass to restore proper blood flow. They presented the plan to Jack, but told him they wouldn't operate unless he agreed to stop traveling until he was fully healed, meaning months. His surgery was successful and he was stable and awake afterward.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Grace" Dolores Forever
  • Owen and the kids welcome Teddy home.
  • Owen and Teddy get interrupted.
  • Simone checks on Benson.
  • Lucas and Simone talk and kiss.
"Everyone Pays" Texada
  • Richard and Lucas scrub in to help.
  • Brendon is bleeding out.
  • Richard and Bailey work on Gabby.
  • Teddy calls time of death on Brendon.
"Clockwork" Sophia James
  • Gabby's mom hugs her.
  • Bailey and Simone talk about Chase.
  • Benson checks on Jack.
"The Breakthrough" Stillman
  • Chase leaves.
  • Winston and Benson drive to the game.
  • Jules and Simone talk about Chase.
  • Lucas comes home.
  • Teddy comes home and finds Owen waiting.
  • They talk about him sleeping with Nora.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode's title originated from the song Love in the Ice Age, originally sung by Pat Benatar.
  • This episode scored 2.02 million viewers.[1]

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.


References[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.