Season seven of Grey's Anatomy, ABC's hit primetime medical drama, picks up just a little after where season six left off with a shooting at the hospital. The doctors at Seattle Grace/Mercy West try to return to normal after such a tragic event. The one who seems to struggle the most is Cristina, who had to operate on Derek Shepherd at gunpoint and can't seem to work past her individual trauma.
This season also tests the relationship of Derek and Meredith, who start a clinical trial to treat Alzheimer's, but Meredith manipulates the trial to help Webber's wife, an unforgivable lack of judgment that Derek must confront. Other relationships are put on the line, Callie and Arizona, Mark and Lexie, and Owen and Cristina all struggle to find their way together in this season.
Start Me Up (7.8)
Halfway through season seven, the doctors are all being watched pretty closely. Cristina is being monitored at work constantly by her supervisors, particularly Dr. Webber, who is still concerned about Cristina due to her breakdown earlier in the season, where she decided to quit being a surgeon after having to operate on Derek at gunpoint.
Dr. Richard Webber also announces that he will be stepping down as Chief and will be looking for a replacement, causing Meredith and the rest of the surgeons to perform at the top of their game.
It's A Long Way Back (7.8)
Callie and her baby, Sofia, are recovering at the hospital after a major car accident that almost killed both of them. Callie has not even met her baby in person yet because she's recovering from multiple infections, and Sofia is in the NICU and can't be subjected to anything like that.
Meanwhile, Derek is dealing with the death of one of his patients in his clinical trial and takes a step back to re-examine his approach and procedures, while Meredith, also running the clinical trial, puts everything on the line to help Richards wife, Adele, who is showing early signs of the Alzheimer's disease.
White Wedding (7.8)
The day of Callie and Arizona's wedding has arrived but the brides are under a lot of stress and are wondering if the wedding is even worth having because, as Callie later argues, it's not even legal and according to Callie's mom it's just "two girls playing dress-up."
Just as Callie is about to give up on her wedding day, Bailey finds her and convinces her to get married because she loves Arizona and wants to have the wedding and they should celebrate how much they love each other. When the officiant for the ceremony cancels, Bailey steps in and marries Callie and Arizona.
With You I'm Born Again (7.9)
In the season seven premiere, all of the doctors are returning to work after the shooting. The doctors who were involved must be cleared by a counselor before returning to work. Meredith is in her interview to get clearance when her pager sounds, it's Derek, paging her from jail.
Apparently, Derek being in jail as become a regular thing, being taken in on numerous occasions for "reckless endangerment." Derek is never formally charged by police because all of the officers like him too much to ruin his career. Derek returns to work, but is clearly still struggling with his trauma.
Slow Night, So Long (7.9)
Derek finds out he is getting the grant he needs to begin his clinical trial for Alzheimer's research and treatment. Derek's fellow attendings decide to take him out for a drink, so as the attending surgeons say goodnight to the hospital and head across the street to Joe's Bar, they say good day to the residents, who are working the night shift at Seattle Grace Mercy West.
The attendings give necessary instructions to the residents and interns before clocking out. Once at the bar, Derek and his fellow surgeons are greeted by a familiar face, Cristina, who quit surgery and is now a bartender.
Unaccompanied Minor (7.9)
This is the episode where everything comes to light regarding Meredith and the clinical trial. Meredith switches the syringes for the trial so that Dr. Webber's wife, Adele, will get the medicine and not just the placebo.
Meredith tells Alex what she did, and Alex keeps her secret for a while, but as the fight for the Chief's position continues and gets more stressful, Alex cracks under the pressure. He goes to Owen to tell him what Meredith did, thinking it will take her out of the running for the position and not realizing all of the consequences revealing that information will actually have.
This Is How We Do It (8.0)
There's a lot going on at the hospital in this episode. Derek and Meredith's clinical trial is in full swing, while at the same time, Webber's clinical trial for diabetes has just been approved. All of the residents are trying to get on Webber's good side, congratulating his new trial, in hopes that he will notice them and consider them for his position once he steps down.
At the same time, all of the doctors are gathering at the hospital for Callie's baby shower. After a one night stand with Mark Sloan, Callie gets pregnant. Arizona has accepted the situation and is sticking by Callie, but Lexie couldn't do the same for Mark.
Disarm (8.1)
The doctors are still reeling from their own shooting at the hospital when they are faced with treating mass casualties from a school shooting at a local university. Cristina has quit medicine and is wandering around Seattle when she sees the slew of ambulances heading toward the hospital.
She follows the trail and walks through the emergency room, taking in what is happening. At the same time, Arizona has returned from Malawi to a very angry Callie, who resents her for leaving and also learns that she no longer as a job at the hospital, having been replaced once she had left.
Adrift And At Peace (8.4)
In the mid-season finale for season seven, Derek takes Cristina on a fishing trip. Cristina has been away from the hospital for a considerable amount of time, and Derek comes to the concussing that he is the only one of all her friends who can really help her heal because they share the same trauma.
Cristina risked her life to save Derek's and performed surgery on him at gunpoint. Derek wants Cristina back at work at the hospital and needs to remind her what a great surgeon she is and how much he and everyone else at Seattle Grace Mercy West needs her.
Golden Hour (8.6)
To prove she can handle all of the responsibilities that come with being the Chief Resident at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, Meredith takes on the task of running the emergency room on a nightshift. Meredith is at first cheerful and ready for the challenge, but as the night progresses and the patients come in, Meredith quickly begins to feel overwhelmed and in need of from all of her doctor friends, who in addition to work, have their own personal life drama to deal with.
Meredith puts everything on her to-do list to the side when she flips back a curtain in the emergency room to find Adele, the Chief's wife in a hospital bed having come to the emergency room after falling and hurting her wrist.
