Aww! Goodbye Christina! Honestly, I thought they did a lovely job with saying goodbye to this beloved character. They kept it relatively simple, and sweet, and in-character. There's one super duper annoying aspect of this episode, but I'll get to that in just a sec. Let's start with the plot.
It's the day that Christina is finally supposed to go to Zurich. She keeps putting it off, but today, finally, she plans on leaving. However, an explosion at the mall delays Christina yet again, as everyone rushes to deal with the multiple traumas. Christina had been planning on going to the mall, and nobody can find her at first. However, she turns up unharmed, having not gone to the mall after all.
Leah, although she's been fired, comes back to help, and ends up having meaningful experiences helping the patients, even if she's not cut out to be a surgeon. When things have calmed down, she quietly leaves. Callie and Arizona help a surrogate mother who was in the explosion, and the experience makes them think that maybe they want to have a surrogate carry their baby, as well.
The explosion was at first thought to be terrorist activity, but it ended up being an accident. Even so, April freaks out about bringing a child into a world where everyone assumes terrorism. Catherine Avery, at the hospital to help with the emergency and to see her son, gives April a pep talk about the way that the world gets better: good people raising their children right.
Christina doesn't feel like she's had closure yet, so she wants to help the family with the three heart defects get a heart for their son. Even in the middle of this emergency, she asks for the donor heart to be transferred to the hospital so she can perform the surgery. Dr. Pierce, the new head of Cardio, is annoyed that Christina is constantly stepping on her heels. Meredith eventually convinces Christina to leave, and leave the surgery in Pierce's hands.
To get closure, Christina and Meredith dance it out one last time. Christina tells Meredith to stay safe and not do anything reckless, and also not to let Derek make decisions for her. She needs to do what makes her happy. As she's leaving, she says goodbye to Bailey and Webber, when Shane suddenly declares that he wants to come with Christina to Zurich. he wants her to be his teacher. Christina says yes.
Webber tells Bailey that he's recommending her to replace Christina on the board. Bailey is excited about this, because Jackson was trying to shut down her research, but now Bailey can have a say in that. However, it seems that Christina has left her share of the board to Alex, who discovers this final gift from Christina at home with Jo. Meanwhile, Meredith tells Derek that she's not moving to DC, and the two of them fight about what they're doing with their future.
Webber asks Dr. Pierce how she's liking her first few days at a new place. She says it's weird because she was adopted and she recently discovered that her birth mother was an awesome surgeon who actually worked at this hospital: Ellis Grey.
We see Christina and Shane in Zurich, getting ready to face the day at Christina's new hospital. All seems well.
Okay, so what do I think? Complaints?
The biggest problem I see here is this whole twist with Dr. Pierce. I'll admit I'm a bit fuzzy on remembering every detail of the last ten seasons of this show, but when exactly was Ellis supposed to have had another child that nobody ever noticed or knew about? Where the hell was Meredith during all of this? Did Ellis just hole herself away for several months? I can see her ditching Meredith like that, but what about her work? It just doesn't make any sense. It's a cheap twist that I just don't think we needed at this point in the game. We already have Amy coming in as a new sister-like character for Meredith, why do we need another half-sister twist? For goodness' sake, we already did this exact same twist with Thatcher, before!
I don't really have very many other complaints, except for the fact that this show just loves to do its over-dramatic disaster scenarios. A bomb at a shopping mall? Really?
The good stuff:
Actually, speaking of said bomb, I'm really happy they subverted the stupid cliche of having Christina be in the explosion and be badly injured, on the verge of death, blah blah blah. As far as disasters go on this show, this one was pretty mild. It wasn't like the ferry crash, the storm, the shooting, the bomb inside the body, etc. My goodness this show is silly sometimes, huh? I guess I'm saying I appreciated their restraint in this moment.
April and Catherine Avery's moment together was a lovely highlight for me. Catherine wasn't exactly thrilled to find that April had married her son, but she's a good person at heart, and she's helping as best as she can. Her story about when she was a kid was really touching, actually.
Speaking of touching, I love the idea that Arizona and Callie might have a kid after all! I was annoyed by the lack of closure on that front, and the way they seemed to open up a story only to have it closed before it went anywhere. I want them to have a new baby! It would be so cute!
Shane is going with Christina! I'll be sort of sad to see him go, but I think it's fitting, in a way. He's a driven guy who knows what he wants, and he knows he can learn best with Christina as his teacher. It was quite an extreme move to make, but I'm glad he made it. I'm also going to miss Leah, and I appreciated the way the bomb disaster gave her a chance to come in and show everyone - including herself - that she's very talented, even if not at surgery. Her character was given a very graceful exit, after such a tumultuous ride.
Christina gave Alex her share in the hospital! That was adorable. It was such a good way for Christina to say goodbye to Alex. The envelope even said "evil spawn" on it. Aww! In fact, all of the Alex and Christina stuff was great in this episode. When Owen told Alex that Christina might have been at the mall, he freaks out and immediately tells him not to tell Meredith. Later, when he sees Christina, he's very relieved. So cute.
I also like the setup for drama that this gives us. Bailey, an older, more accomplished surgeon who taught Christina how to be a good doctor, has been passed up in favor of Alex, who, after all, already has this golden new opportunity in private practice right in front of him. How's it all going to work out? I guess we'll have to wait and see!
Christina's goodbye to Meredith was really heartbreaking. The first goodbye was short and to the point. Meredith says "I love you" and puts Christina in a cab. But Christina comes back, to dance it out, and to remind Meredith that she's amazing, and to not let Derek push her around. What a fitting way for her to leave. I also liked the way her and Owen parted... just sort of, suddenly, without any tearful declarations. After everything they've been through, there was no way for proper closure. They get what they can get: a silent wave through glass before Christina's gone for good. Ouch.
A last note: I loved all the references to the earlier days of the shows. George was mentioned more than once, Izzie was mentioned, several of the disasters over the years were brought up...
I could say a lot more. In short, I was really happy with the way they said goodbye to Christina. A very fitting end for her character. They didn't pull another 007 on us and kill her off, they didn't let it feel unresolved like with Izzie. They gave her a dream ending. It was perfect. It was sad. It was just cheesy enough for this show. It reinforced what we've known since Season One - Christina and Meredith are each other's person, and Christina deserves all the best.
8.5/10
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