Freedom (Grey's Anatomy)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Freedom
Series = Grey's Anatomy
Season = 4
Episode = 16 & 17
Guests = Amy Madigan (Dr. Wyatt)
Lauren Stamile (Rose)
Elizabeth Reaser (Ava/Rebecca)
Loretta Devine (Adele Webber)
Jurnee Smollett (Beth)
John Cothran (Beth's father)
James Immekus (Andrew)
Kathryn Meisle (Beth's mother)
Marshall Allman (Jeremy)
Jana Kramer (Lola)
Airdate = May 22, 2008 (ABC)
Production = 416 & 417
Writer = Shonda Rhimes
Director = Rob Corn
Episode list = Episode chronology


Prev = Losing My Mind
Next = Dream a Little Dream of Me

"Freedom, Parts 1 & 2" are the sixteenth and seventeenth episodes of the fourth season of the ABC series, "Grey's Anatomy". The episodes are written by Shonda Rhimes and directed by Rob Corn. It aired on May 22, 2008.

Episode recap

Alex takes care of a depressed and confused Rebecca, feeding and bathing her. Izzie urges Alex to get Rebecca professional help, but he insists that Rebecca is fine. He decides to stay home to look after her and gets Izzie to cover all his cases. Alex is preparing food for Rebecca when Izzie calls to check up on them. He turns his back on Rebecca, only to turn around and see her cut her wrists with a knife.

He brings her to the hospital to treat her self-inflicted wounds. Izzie tries to get Rebecca a psychiatric consult but Alex refuses, calling a stunned Izzie “stupid bitch”. She comes back with a psychiatrist and firmly holds her ground. An emotionally charged Alex tries to argue, yelling that he had experienced the same thing with his mother before. After calling Rebecca’s husband, he learns that her husband had left Rebecca two months ago with their baby and that she has underlying Borderline Personality Disorder, something that probably developed after the ferry accident. He eventually decides that sending her to a psychiatric facility would be better for her. She apologizes for not being able to be there for him.

Cristina, Bailey, Erica, Mark and Callie are paged to the ER, where they find a boy almost entirely encased in a block of cement. The patient, Andrew, was dared into lying in a vat of cement, which he did to impress a girl. Bailey comforts the patient by expanding on a Star Wars allusion he made earlier comparing himself to Han Solo being encased in carbonite, telling him that the carbonite was just a piece of the entire picture. Callie tries to convince the girl, Lola, to see Andrew, but she is too shy and cares too much about what her friends would say. Lola ultimately refuses and Callie tells her that she would hate herself for this.

A clot develops in Andrew’s pulmonary artery, but Erica is not around to resolve it. Cristina convinces Bailey and the Chief to let her proceed without waiting for Erica, and they agree. When Erica walks in midway and tries to butt in, Cristina tells her to shut up and the Chief backs Cristina up. After the surgery, the Chief tells Erica that she needs to learn how to teach her residents, an exchange that Cristina overhears. This inspires Cristina to teach Lexie how to perform a running whipstitch. Bailey realizes that her priorities lie with her family and performing surgery, and decides to give the free clinic to Izzie. Callie finds Lola still in the waiting room, and tells her that she should be honest with her feelings. Lola eventually goes to Andrew’s bedside and kisses him.

George continues to work hard as the Chief’s Intern to impress the Chief in the hopes that he can become a resident. As he helps the Chief research on cement toxicology, he stumbles upon the files on all the residents in the hospital. After being taken off the cement surgery, he vents to Lexie that although he has so much power as the Chief’s intern, he does not get to do anything because he is still an intern. Overcome by temptation, she sneaks into the Chief’s office and steals the residents’ files. She tells George that he failed his intern test by one point, and he is angry at her for letting him know that he just almost made it. She also lets him know that he had the highest number of recommendations, which spoke of how great a doctor he was. George later tells the Chief he deserves a second chance, and the Chief agrees to let him retake the intern exam.

Meanwhile, a young couple, Beth and Jeremy, are admitted into the clinical trial. However, the Chief tells Meredith that after losing 11 patients, the Institutional Review Board will shut down the clinical trial at midnight if they lose a twelfth patient. Meredith convinces Derek to go around the rules by operating on both Beth and Jeremy before midnight, and promises to clear it with the Chief first. Beth confesses to Meredith and Derek that she and Jeremy are very much in love and want to consummate their relationship. Meredith and Derek make arrangements to give them some time alone. Afterwards, Jeremy is taken into surgery but dies on the table.

After breaking the news to Beth, Derek dumps the celebratory champagne he bought for when the clinical trial first succeeds. He tells Beth that she does not have to go through with the surgery, but she insists on proceeding because Jeremy would not want her to give up. Derek is furious at Meredith for encouraging Beth to participate in a doomed procedure, and after Beth’s surgery, wants nothing more to do with her. Beth survives the procedure, and Meredith discovers that her tumor is shrinking. She asks Rose to tell Derek the good news, but Rose tells her that she should do it herself. Meredith frantically searches for Derek and the bottle of champagne. Meanwhile, Derek sees that Beth is conscious and better, and grabs the champagne from the trash can.

Meredith confesses to Dr. Wyatt that when she was little, her mother slashed her wrists with a scalpel after Chief Webber left her, telling Meredith to be "extraordinary". Dr. Wyatt tells Meredith that she is angry at the Chief, her mother and herself. The Chief confronts Meredith about cramming both surgeries before midnight, but she turns it on him by telling him about her mother’s suicide attempt. With Dr. Wyatt’s help, she realizes her mother was just trying to get Chief Webber’s attention by slitting her wrists. If her gifted surgeon of a mother really wanted to kill herself, she would have cut her carotid artery instead, which would have been instantly fatal. Impressed, Dr. Wyatt tells Meredith she is just like her mother except that now she can learn from her mother’s mistakes.

Mark encourages Callie to overcome her fear and approach Erica, saying that he is growing. Callie goes up to Erica and kisses her. Chief Webber goes back home to Adele and tells her that he is her husband and he wants to come home to his wife. Adele replies saying that that it was about time, and they kiss. George tells Lexie that the Chief is letting him retake the intern exam, and gives her a platonic kiss on the mouth, causing Lexie to touch her lips as if to contemplate if she has feelings for George. Izzie apologizes to a devastated Alex for Rebecca and his mother, and he kisses her. She pulls away, but he desperately begs her to let him. Alex breaks down and cries on her shoulder.

Derek eventually finds Meredith on his land where he planned to build their future house, muttering to herself about how stupid and cheesily corny what she's doing is. She had outlined their future house with candles, and yells at him for taking so long to show up when she is now “whole and healed”. He interrupts her mid-rant by kissing her, and pulls away. He tells her to stay where she is and wait for him, while he goes and talk to Rose.

Title reference

The episode title refers to a song by Wham!

Music

*"Death and All His Friends" - Coldplay
*"Mercy" - Duffy
*"Heavy Eyes" - The Rosewood Thieves
*"Dream" - Priscilla Ahn
*"Giving Up" - Ingrid Michaelson
*"The Cure for Pain" - Jon Foreman
*"Hometown Glory" - Adele
*"The Quest" - Bryn Christopher
*"Keep Me Warm" - Ida Maria