“ | OK. Anyone who says you can sleep when you die, tell them to come talk to me after a few months as an intern. Of course, it's not just the job that keeps us up all night. I mean, if life's so hard already, why do we bring more trouble down on ourselves? What's up with the need to hit the self-destruct button? Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know, maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop. | ” |
The Self-Destruct Button is the seventh episode of the first season and the 7th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.
Short Summary[]
Cristina discovers she is pregnant. George finds out the anesthesiologist has been drinking on the job, but when he tells Shepherd he is thrown out of surgery. George and Izzie catch Derek leaving the house in the morning after he sleeps with Meredith, and when asked who it was, Meredith says it's no one they know. Izzie and George think Meredith is trying to get Derek to favor her, and try to ice her out.
Full Summary[]
George and Izzie catch Derek sneaking out of the house, finally figuring out that he's the mysterious stranger who's been sleeping with Meredith. George immediately becomes jealous, but Izzie is bothered for completely different reasons no wonder Meredith is getting in all the good surgeries lately.
A flu is going around the hospital, and Cristina feels sick to her stomach. She blames Dr. Burke. A gunshot wound victim gets Alex's attention as he awaits attention in the lobby. Alex wants to know why he isn't in the emergency room. Answer: Because he has an appointment. It was a schedule gunshot wound. His friend shot him - with permission. The scars, apparently, make a great addition to his tattoos. Meredith assists Bailey on a case where a normal sized teenager (who is not now, nor ever was, obese) went to Mexico to get a gastric bypass operation a bad one without her parent's permission. Now they have to undo the damage that's been done. Izzie has to help a man who swallowed his girlfriend's keys just as she was dumping him.
George gets to be a part of the biggest surgery of the day well, at least initially he does. George works with Derek on the case of toddler with terrible tremors. After viewing films of the girls' brain just a couple months apart, Derek finds that her brain tissue is dying at too quickly a rate, and that the only way to halt the deterioration is with a hemispherectomy in layman's terms: removal of half the brain (in a young brain like hers, the remaining tissue still has time to adapt and learn how to replace the missing tissue). To George it's an amazing procedure to be done by a man who can seemingly do everything including Meredith. But George has one other issue on his mind: he swears he smelled bourbon on the breath of Dr. Taylor, the anesthesiologist who is to scrub in on the hemispherectomy. Dr. Taylor outranks George, though, and has a great reputation behind him. George doesn't know if he should say anything.
Alex and the tattooed gunshot victim bond over the fact they both wrestled collegiately in the state of Iowa. They also share the same ethos about pain being good for you. Burke, who has seen this patient before, has a hard time hiding his contempt for such self mutilation. He prefers safer hobbies: like playing the trumpet.
George speaks up to Dr. Taylor in front of Derek just before the hemispherectomy. Dr. Taylor is offended George would even suggest such a thing (essentially accusing him of being unfit to administer anesthesiology). Derek, somewhat reluctantly, has to side with his fellow attending Dr. Taylor, and George is kicked out of the surgery, replaced with Cristina.
Meredith discovers that there is more behind her patient's troubles than just a desire to be ultra skinny. She's under extraordinary to live up her Mother's lofty expectations for perfection. "Life shouldn't be this hard" Meredith tells her. Unfortunately, the procedure to reverse the gastic bypass doesn't go well. There's complications, the least of which is the patient's bowel exploding on Meredith. The girl, unfortunately, will have to struggle to achieve proper nutrition for the rest of her life.
Alex's tattooed patient begins to crash, as the stress on his body from the gunshot wound has ecsacerbated an infected tattoo he already had. They can't fight the infection though, as it has spread too far, and the patient dies.
During the hemispherectomy, the little girl begins to wake up as Derek is in the process of removing half her brain! Her anesthesia is too light and Dr. Taylor is fast asleep. Derek kicks Dr. Taylor out of the surgery, and later apologizes to George, where he also comes clean about Meredith, and his intentions with her.
Izzie, who's been giving Meredith a hard time all day, finally confronts Meredith over her indiscretions with an attending. Izzie's vitriol, though, subsides when she makes a startling conclusion: Meredith is actually in love with Derek. And now Izzie isn't quite so upset. In fact, she feels a little sorry for Meredith.
Cristina, thinking her flu like symptoms might not be a flu at all, takes a pregnancy test. Two of them. And doesn't like what she finds.
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 (credit only)
- Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke
- Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd
Guest Stars[]
- Ever Carradine as Athena
- Russell Hornsby as Digby Owens
- Amanda MacDonald as Claire Rice
- Kim Morgan Greene as Tina Rice
Co-Starring[]
- Sarah Utterback as Nurse Olivia
- Joseph Kell as Mr. Rice
- Regan Forman as Gwen Hayes
- Bill Birch as JP
- Larry Cahn as Dr. Taylor
- Doug Sinclair as Brett Hayes
- Steve Monroe as Orderly
- Shenita Moore as Surgical Nurse
- Vanessa Rogers as Jamie Hayes
- Rebecca Rogers as Jamie Hayes
Medical Notes[]
Bailey's Patients[]
- Diagnosis:
- Various
- Doctors:
- Miranda Bailey (surgical resident)
- Meredith Grey (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Various
Nicholas in 3311 needed meds, Mr. Mohler needed an IV re-inserted, and Bailey had four post-ops for Meredith to check on.
JP[]
- Diagnosis:
- Foreign body in esophagus
- Doctors:
- Miranda Bailey (surgical resident)
- Izzie Stevens (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Bronchoscopy
J.P. came in with his girlfriend after he swallowed her keys to keep her from leaving. Izzie did a bronchoscopy to remove the keys. While she was doing that, the keys slipped down farther, causing him to choke. After that, they were quickly removed.
Claire Rice[]
- Diagnosis:
- Abscess
- Edema
- Short gut syndrome
- Doctors:
- Miranda Bailey (surgical resident)
- Meredith Grey (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Surgery
- Bowel resection
Claire, 17, came into the hospital after passing out in the shower. Her parents believed she picked up an infection on her trip to Mexico. However, an exam revealed four scars on her stomach. She had had gastric bypass surgery in Mexico. The surgery left her with an abscess and edema. They operated to reverse her bypass, but because they had to remove a significant portion of her bowel, her parents were told she'd struggle for the rest of her life to get proper nutrition.
Digby Owens[]
- Diagnosis:
- Gunshot wound
- Cracked rib
- Hemopneumothorax
- Infection
- Sepsis
- Multi-system organ failure
- Doctors:
- Preston Burke (cardiothoracic surgeon)
- Miranda Bailey (surgical resident)
- Alex Karev (surgical intern)
- Cristina Yang (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Chest tube
- Antibiotics
- Attempted resuscitation
Digby came into the hospital with a gunshot wound. His friend had shot him on purpose because he likes the scars. A scan revealed a cracked rib and a hemopneumothorax. After they drained the blood and re-inflated his lung, his white cell count was still high. Examining a new tattoo on his leg revealed a severe infection. Combined with the stress on his body from the gunshot, he was in multi-system organ failure. Despite their best efforts to save him, he died.
Jamie Hayes[]
- Diagnosis:
- Rasmussen's encephalitis
- Doctors:
- Derek Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
- George O'Malley (surgical intern)
- Dr. Taylor (anesthesiology)
- Cristina Yang (surgical intern)
- Treatment:
- Diazepam
- Hemispherectomy
Jamie came into the hospital for brain surgery. Her parents said they noticed her foot twitching, so they took her to County, where a CT revealed a brain abnormality, so they took her to SGH. Derek diagnosed her with Rasmussen's encephalitis. Half of her brain had died, so he planned to remove that portion of her brain. The anesthesiologist working on her case fell asleep and she started to wake up while they were operating. Despite this, the surgery was completed without trouble and she was expected to make a full recovery.
Derek's Patient[]
- Diagnosis:
- Doctors:
- Derek Shepherd (neurosurgeon)
- Dr. Taylor (anesthesiologist)
- Treatment:
- Brain surgery
Derek was seen operating on a patient with Dr. Taylor working as anesthesiologist.
Cristina Yang[]
- Diagnosis:
- Pregnancy
- Doctors:
- Treatment:
Cristina took a pregnancy test, which was positive.
Music[]
Song | Performer | Scene |
---|---|---|
"Wish I" | Jem | |
"Downtown" | Tegan and Sara |
|
"Suitcase" | Joe Purdy | |
"Hummingbird" | Wilco |
Notes and Trivia[]
- This episode's title originated from the song The Self-Destruct Button, originally sung by Dana Monteith.[1]
- This episode scored 18.86 million viewers.[2]
- This episode starts at around 5:19 AM.
- Goof: George goes to the OR to talk to Dr. Shepherd and the anesthesiologist walks by. George smells booze on his breath. But then the doctor is closing up. Why would the anesthesiologist show up as the surgery is ending?
- Goof: In this episode, Izzie is overwhelmed when she finds out about Meredith sleeping with Derek; nonetheless, in the pilot episode, when Cristina is mad at Meredith she yells at her how she slept with her boss, and Izzie is present in the conversation, so, she would already have to know about Meredith's fling.
Gallery[]
Episode Stills[]
Quotes[]
- George: Yang. I'm scrubbing in on a hemospherectomy with Shepherd.
- Cristina: (gasps) Get out! I would kill for that.
- George: We're cutting out half the girl's brain, and it's going to work. It's outrageous. Almost makes it kind of hard to hate him.
- Cristina: Why do you hate him?
- George: Oh, no reason.
- Cristina: Oh, you know about him and Meredith?
- George: You know?
- Cristina: When are you gonna figure out that I know everything?
- George: (to Izzie who is walking up the stairs) She knows.
- Izzie: Oh, about doctorcest?
- Cristina: It's been going on for, like, ever.
- Izzie: Seriously?
- George: And you didn't tell us?
- Cristina: Oh, you're a gossip, huh?
- George: I am not!
- Izzie: I am!
- George: He's about to go into major brain surgery on no sleep? That's not very responsible.
- Cristina: Jealous? Sex all night isn't about being responsible.
- Izzie: No, it's about sex all night. I can't believe you're not pissed off about this, you of all people.
- Cristina: Well, she works hard all day. She's good at her job, why should you care how she unwinds? I mean you like to bake all night, others like to drink, others like an occasional screaming orgasm.
- Alex: (walking up) Yeah we do.
- Cristina: This isn't going to make me go home. You know what? You go home.
- Preston: But I feel fine!
- Cristina: The bullet went all the way through.
- Digby: Bounced off my ribs. I have another one still in my shoulder. Nice, huh?
- Cristina: You could hang it in the Louvre.
- George: Have you seen Shepherd?
- Izzie: Not as up close as Meredith has.
- George: What? Are you trying to get her in trouble? She's our friend.
- Izzie: George, this program will make or break our careers. Some of us will make it through, and some of us won't. And that decision depends entirely on recommendations from doctors like Shepherd. There is a reason we don't sleep with the attendings.
- George: It's not her fault, okay? It's Shepherd's. He's the attending, he should know better. He's taking advantage of her.
- Izzie: It didn't exactly sound like anything was happening against her will last night.
- Izzie: If you wait a few minutes, you can have a piece of cake. Baked it chock-full of love. Actually, chock-full of unrelenting, all consuming rage and hostility, but it's still tasty.
See Also[]
A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here. |
Grey's Anatomy Season 1 | |||||
#01 | "A Hard Day's Night" | #04 | "No Man's Land" | #07 | "The Self-Destruct Button" |
#02 | "The First Cut Is the Deepest" | #05 | "Shake Your Groove Thing" | #08 | "Save Me" |
#03 | "Winning a Battle, Losing the War" | #06 | "If Tomorrow Never Comes" | #09 | "Who's Zoomin' Who?" |
Season 2 >> |
References[]
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