The Becoming

Infobox Television episode | Title = The Becoming
Series = Grey's Anatomy
Season = 4
Episode = 14
Guests = Loretta Devine (Adele Webber)
Amy Madigan (Dr. Wyatt)
Lauren Stamile (Rose)
John M. Jackson (Kevin)
Benny Ciaramello (Darren)
Zilah Mendoza (Kyra)
David Giuntoli (Todd)
Airdate = May 8, 2008 (ABC)
Production = 414
Writer = Tony Phelan and Joan Rater
Director = Julie Ann Robinson
Episode list = Episode chronology


Prev = Piece of My Heart
Next = Losing My Mind

"The Becoming" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth season of the ABC series, "Grey's Anatomy". The episode is written by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater and directed by Julie Ann Robinson. It aired on May 8, 2008.

Episode recap

The Chief puts up an article on Preston Burke winning the Harper Avery award on the bulletin board. Cristina eventually sees the article, and becomes a shadow of her former competitive self. She passes on a heart transplant with Erica, opting to spend the day in the morgue harvesting hearts. Lexie finds her in the morgue singing Like A Virgin, and tells Meredith. Meredith goes to Cristina and reveals that she has been seeing a psychiatrist, making Cristina feel slightly better.

Alex has been saving up for a new place for Rebecca and himself, and shows up for work despite running a fever. He works on the heart transplant case with Erica, where the patient has been kept in a plastic bubble to prevent infection while she waits for a heart. Alex learns some parenting skills through his interaction with the patient and her family. The patient’s lung collapses, and Alex is forced to breach the bubble’s isolation barrier to save her life. However, her possible exposure to infection from Alex is too great and the transplant has to be postponed. Alex arranges for hospital gowns for her family so that they can enter the bubble.

Izzie wants to tell Alex that Rebecca is not pregnant, but Bailey warns her not to breach doctor-patient confidentiality. Izzie tries to tell him to slow down, but he mistakes her concern for disapproval and blows up at her. Despite this, she does not tell Alex the truth about Rebecca.

The nurses start boycotting Mark’s surgeries to protest against his philandering ways. The Chief and Mark meet with the nurses’ union representative and mediator, who turns out to be the Chief’s ex-wife, Adele. In order to protect the hospital from future sexual harassment litigations, the hospital board instates a “date-and-tell” policy and gets everyone working in the hospital to declare their sexual relationship history on forms.

In a bid to prove to Adele that he has changed and is now delegating his work, he appoints George as the “Chief’s intern”. George’s first responsibility is to ensure that everyone declares their relationships on their “date-and-tell” forms. He tells Bailey that the Chief has decided to exempt her from filling up the form. She tells off the Chief for singling her out, and not treating her like the single woman she now is. Rose returns the form to George, saying that she does not need it. Later, Mark tries to get her to talk to the other nurses’ for him. After she refuses, he tells her that he hates women like her as they withhold sex to retain their men’s interest. This causes Rose to approach George again for a form, something which Meredith witnesses.

Cristina is called to see the Chief after failing to turn in her form. She puts down Burke’s name, saying that she helped performed his surgeries for him when he had hand tremors, but he does not mention her in the article at all. She was his hand, but is now a ghost because Erica does not let her perform any procedures. After Cristina leaves, Adele admits that the Chief has changed for the better and they sleep together.

Callie has been avoiding Erica ever since Addison pointed out that the both of them look like a happy couple. Instead, she has been approaching Mark for sex. Erica tells Callie off for not telling her that she is now seeing Mark. She reveals that she does not make friends easily, but she treated Callie as one. Callie eventually tells Erica about Addison’s suspicions, and they share an awkward laugh. Mark, on the other hand, has lost all interest in sex after his surgeries were cancelled. Bailey sees him moping, and talks to the nurses for him. She calls him a whore, but reminds them that they knew what they were getting into in the first place.

Meredith confesses to her psychiatrist that she has been fantasizing about Derek, specifically his tongue in her mouth, which is distracting her from focusing on her clinical trial. Her psychiatrist tells her to remind herself that Derek is now with Rose. After her session, she heads off to treat the clinical trial’s latest patient – a young veteran named Darren. Darren is surprised to see that his father has invited Todd, a fellow soldier, to the hospital for moral support. Darren and Todd are in love, and Meredith watches wistfully as they kiss. Darren’s father sees them kissing, and angrily orders Todd to leave. Meredith offers to get Todd for Darren, but he refuses because of his father’s disapproval.

Derek decides to try a new approach, where the virus has to be injected simultaneously into the tumor via two needles. However during the surgery, a nervous Meredith injects the virus at a faster rate than Derek. Derek gets her to look into his eyes instead of at the monitor, and the two are completely in sync. After the surgery, Derek offers to stay overnight and help her. Aware of Rose’s plans with Derek, she rejects his offer and gets him to go back with Rose, despite the fact that he basically begged Meredith to want him to stay in front of Rose.

Todd goes up to Darren’s father to find out about Darren’s condition, only to learn that Darren has already passed away after the virus reverted and attacked the brain. His father lets Todd give Darren a private farewell and he gives him a tender kiss goodbye. Derek comforts Meredith and shows her a bottle of champagne he bought for when they "succeed" in their clinical trial; however, the clinical trial is a metaphor for their relationship: they are, so far, unable to save it, but they are both working hard and learning a lot, and they both know that they will eventually "succeed".

Derek tells Mark that he slept with Rose, but spent the entire time thinking about Meredith. Meanwhile, Meredith tells her psychiatrist that it was a good day, but Dr. Wyatt tells her that it is a load of crap. She tells Meredith that she is portraying herself as the hero by convincing herself that letting Derek and Rose be together is making her stronger, when she clearly wants to be with Derek, but is too scared. Furious, Meredith storms out of the office.

Title reference

The episode title refers to a song by Nine Inch Nails.

Music

*"Carmella (Four Tet Remix)" - Beth Orton
*"Like A Virgin" - Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang, Chyler Leigh as Lexie Grey
*"Mansard Roof" - Vampire Weekend
*"Know When To Walk Away" - Jay Clifford
*"Brightest Hour" - The Submarines
*"Only Yesterday" - Taken By Trees
*"Good Arms vs. Bad Arms" - Frightened Rabbit