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Biology determines much of the way we live. From the moment we are born, we know how to breathe and eat. As we grow older, new instincts kick in. We become territorial. We learn to compete. We seek shelter. Most important of all: We reproduce. Sometimes biology can turn on us, though. Yeah, biology sucks sometimes. Biology says that we are who we are from birth. That our DNA is set in stone. Unchangeable. Our DNA doesn't account for all of us though, we're human. Life changes us. We develop new traits. Become less territorial. We stop competing. We learn from our mistakes. We face our greatest fears. For better or worse, we find ways to become more than our biology. The risk of course is that we can change too much to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Finding our way back can be difficult. There's no compass, no map. We just have to close our eyes, take a step, and hope to God we get there.

Can't Fight Biology is the fourth episode of the seventh season and the 130th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

Things are hostile on all fronts when a visit to the obstetrician results in some disturbing news for Meredith and Derek, and Lexie loses it when she notices Meredith and April getting closer. Meanwhile a car crash brings in multiple traumas and Jackson tries using his physical attributes to get ahead in the operating room, while Cristina's self-doubt carries outside of the hospital and into her house hunting with Owen.

Full Summary[]

Jackson's in the shower while Lexie is shaving her legs, April is brushing her hair, and Alex is brushing his teeth. Jackson asks for a towel and April bumps into Lexie as she hands it him, causing Lexie to cut herself. Meredith and Derek watch from the doorway. Derek says this is not normal.

Arizona and Callie are making out as Mark knocks on the door. Callie forgot they were supposed to work out together. Arizona yells to go, but he comes in. He says they can finish, he'll wait.

A realtor shows Cristina and Owen an old firehouse. Owen sees the potential, but Cristina doesn't seem too interested. Owen tells the realtor they'll think about it.

Meredith and Derek are about to meet a fertility doctor, waiting for the results. The doctor comes in and says they got some things to discuss.

Meredith hates the fact that the doctor called her uterus hostile. She's likely to miscarry again. Derek says she's healthy. He wants her to think about the fun they're going to have trying. Meredith's late for rounds.

Richard paged Bailey to his office. He's looking for a space for a bariatric clinic. She won't allow him to go near her clinic. Richard says they need money as they've been in survival mode since the shooting. They need to get back to being number one. Bailey says she has Cristina on her service today, and that's all the fight she has in her today.

Lexie asks Meredith if she knows how long April and Jackson are planning to stay in the house. Meredith says as long as they like. Lexie says she lives in the attic and April got Izzie's room. Meredith says April's best friend just died. Lexie says April is annoying. Cristina finds Lexie more annoying. April comes running past, yelling about an incoming trauma. Cristina won't be coming, as multiple traumas is not baby steps.

Arizona asks Teddy to sleep with Mark again as he won't leave her and Callie alone. Teddy refuses, as she's too tired from dictating charts again. Jackson is on her service and he's just not that good. Arizona says he's at least nice to look at. Jackson and Alex overheard that and Alex mocks Jackson.

Eleanor, a patient in the ER, asks Lexie and April about her husband. Eleanor drove her car into the laundromat somehow, and her husband was in there. April asks Lexie if she wants to take her to CT or order labs. Lexie says she can take it all, since she's a taker. Owen, sitting on a gurney while performing CPR, asks for a defibrillator. Eleanor says that is her husband.

Meredith's doing an ultrasound on Lila. Lila hopes there's nothing wrong, as she's going to Brazil next week. She asks Meredith in Portuguese if she has a condom. That is the one sentence she learns before traveling someplace new. Lila says she has Huntington's. It's not on her chart as the paramedic was really sexy and her disease doesn't scream sexy. She doesn't have symptoms yet, but she knows she has the gene. Lila wants Meredith to work really hard to fix her up, because she can live with the fact she's going to die, but not to die while doing laundry. 

Alex and Arizona in Jake Fisher's room. His father is enthusiastically talking about Jake's ballet dancing, but Jake says it's time for the cancer now. He has an osteosarcoma on his right tibia, so they're going to perform a minor bone dissection. Jake wants to know how long it'll take before he can dance again, because his company is doing Swan Lake. Callie says his recovery depends on today's scans, but they'll have him back on his foot as soon as possible.

In the ER, Bailey is taking care of Ivan Fink. He's a biologist in the middle of an experiment. He throws up, but he doesn't want Cristina to throw away his vomit. She then sees worms inside. Ivan says he's working on a cure for asthma. Cristina shows Bailey a worm.

Ivan has read research that worms produce an enzyme that cuts down on allergies, so he's applying the theory to asthma. Bailey asks how long these experiments last. He's had the worms inside him for a year so they could produce a lot of enzymes. He hasn't had an asthma attack in 6 months. Cristina and Bailey look at his scans and see a nasty bowel obstruction. He'll need surgery. Ivan says that'll throw off the entire experiment, three years worth of research. Bailey then says they'll put an NG tube down his nose, which is painful but might resolve the obstruction. However, if there's no improvement in a few hours, he'll have to have the surgery.

Cristina thinks Ivan is crazy. Bailey says crazy is relative, as some people might say missing rounds when she is in charge is crazy, too, yet Bailey trusts Cristina to take care of the patient. Maybe she is crazy for trusting Cristina.

Jake is in the scanner. Mark comes in and tells Callie he got them and Arizona a table at the new sushi restaurant. Arizona pretends she doesn't eat sushi anymore. He leaves to go change the reservation. The scans come up and Callie says she hates this job sometimes.

Teddy tells Lila she has a ruptured diaphragm. Jackson explains how they'll take care of that in surgery. Lila smiles at Jackson, who proposes a mesh repair. Meredith suggests a direct repair with sutures because the defect is so small. Teddy says Meredith is right, so she gets to scrub in. Lila would like Jackson to wait by her bedside. Once Jackson and Teddy are gone, Lila says she hopes that Meredith's made out with Jackson. Teddy says every woman in the hospital feels like that. Meredith says she's married, so no. Lila asks if she has any babies. Meredith says they're thinking about it.

Jackson asks Teddy if he should scrub in, too. She says the question should be if he may, and the answer is she's got all the hands she needs. Jackson stares into Teddy's eyes and says he knows he's been off his game, but he asks for another chance. He really wants to scrub in. He smiles at her. Teddy smiles back and says okay. She gets on the elevator and then seems to realize what he did.

Lexie thinks Eleanor needs an EEG. April asks really, and Lexie snaps that she lost control of her car and has no memory how it happened, so she thinks it's necessary, but April outranks her, so it's up to her. April consents and asks how Lexie feels about a chore wheel at the house. Lexie asks if she's moving in permanently. April wonders if she should talk to Meredith about that. Lexie says that's up to her, but advises her not to bring up the chore wheel. Meredith comes over and asks about Eleanor. After Lexie's updated her, April brings up the housing situation. Meredith thinks it's about Izzie's room, but Lexie jumps in and says it's about a chore wheel. Meredith thinks it's a great idea. April silently asked what happened this morning. Meredith says not so good, but she's fine. Lexie wonders what that was about. April says she should talk to Meredith about it.

Jake's parents are talking to Arizona and Callie outside Jake's room. Jake asks Alex if the chemo didn't work. Alex says they should wait for his parents. Jake realizes they want to cut off his leg. There has to be another way. He needs his leg. He can't explain it, but he needs his leg. He can show Alex.

In a physical therapy room, Jake dances for Callie, Arizona, Alex, and his parents. They are all amazed. Jake asks the doctors to build him a leg that will allow him to do all that.

April, Meredith, and Cristina are in the tunnels, talking about Meredith's hostile uterus. April will research treatments. Lexie comes over and sits down with them, noticing the sudden silence. She asks if it's the same as this morning. Meredith says she was at the OB's office and tells her about her uterus problem. Lexie can't believe April knew. Alex and Jackson join them, too. Alex is waiting for Jackson to get fired by Teddy. Alex asks Lexie if she has an option for his patient so they won't need to cut off his leg. Lexie asks if her memory's all she's good for. April says she read about a cadaver bone being used. Alex thanks April by giving her his fries.

Owen paged Cristina to his OR, as Dr. Knox's sister is selling her house. She can't believe he paged her to talk about real estate. He also thought she'd like to observe, as the crush injuries are quite unique. She passes him as she has to monitor worms.

Alex, Arizona and Callie are trying to come up with a plan for Jake. Callie asks Arizona to admit she doesn't like Mark. Arizona says she likes him, but they're different. Callie wants to hear how. Arizona says the thing with Mark is that what you see is what you get. Alex then finds the article April was talking about.

Cristina asks a nurse to page Bailey and book an OR. Ivan's bowel is about to perforate, so they can't wait. Ivan asks her to salvage the worms, but she reminds him it's all for a hypothesis he can't support, or he'd have the backing of an accredited institute. He should let the worms go. Ivan says he worked in those institutes his whole life, sat in labs, and ran other people's experiments. He was dead inside, and now he finally knows what to do with his life. It doesn't matter that people find him crazy, because at least he knows who he is. He asks her again to salvage the worms.

Lila is about to sign her consent form for surgery, but can't grasp her pen. Meredith asks when the chorea started. Lila just calls it her spastic hand trick. It started a few months ago, but she hasn't told her doctors. She watched her mother go through this, so she knows what's ahead, ending with dementia. She has no time for doctors. She's going to Brazil.

Meredith enters Richard's office. He shows her a model of a billboard featuring Derek. She says that is a lot of doctor. Meredith asks if her mother ever tried to tell Richard about her Alzheimer's. She wonders when it started, and if Ellis maybe tried to tell him without him realizing it. Richard guesses it's possible, but he doesn't remember. He asks Meredith if everything's okay. She says yes, and that she would never go to a hospital that puts its doctors on billboards.

As Ivan's taken into the OR, Bailey tells Cristina she did good work. She can scrub in, even just to observe. Cristina says she's not ready, but thanks her for asking.

Callie explains her plan to Jake and his parents. They'll take out the cancerous bone, treat it with high doses of radiation, and then put it back. They usually replace it with a cadaver bone so there's no risk of putting cancer back, but they couldn't find a match for Jake on such short notice. If Jake agrees, they'll monitor him closely, and if the cancer returns, they'll amputate. It's only been done a few times before. Jake asks Alex what he'd do. Alex says if he couldn't operate anymore, he'd do everything he could to keep it.

April and Lexie tell Eleanor all her labs look normal. She says the police is outside, waiting to take her statement. Lexie says it was just an accident. Lexie says there's another test, which can tell them if she fainted before the accident. Lexie will schedule it right away.

April asks Lexie if she has permission, but Lexie says there's no chore wheel. She'll run the tilt test.

In the OR, Teddy says she'd throw a huge party on a sandy beach if she had Huntington's. Meredith would sell her house and travel around the globe. Derek can tag along. Jackson says that's sad, though. Wandering around is not a life. If he were gonna die tomorrow, he'd still want to do surgery. He looks into Teddy's eyes and asks if he can do the diaphragm repair. She says no and does it herself. Meredith noticed something was going on.

Cristina is watching Bailey operate from the scrub room. Ivan's pressure drops. Cristina enters the OR. Bailey tells her the bowel's perforated. Cristina says the suction will destroy the worms and he wants them back. Bailey is not concerned about his research right now and goes out.

Callie tells Alex he did good today. She didn't think he'd be good in peds just by looking at him. Arizona then confesses she doesn't like Mark. Callie says she never even tried. Callie says Jake's dad probably wasn't thrilled when he found out his son wanted to do ballet, but he tried and learned what was to love about it. Arizona says Mark stares at her boobs. She's tried her whole life to avoid boob-staring guys. She doesn't need to apologize that she only wants Callie to stare at her boobs. Callie says they're good boobs. Alex leaves with the bone.

Owen informs Eleanor they had to remove her husband's spleen and a kidney, but he expects a full recovery. Eleanor asks about the girl that was inside. Lexie says she's doing great. Eleanor herself is also doing great. Lexie will tell the police to come back tomorrow so Eleanor can have some time with her husband. Eleanor then says Larry isn't her husband anymore. He left her three months ago. He needed time to himself, but then she found out he was living with someone else. He lives with Kimmy, who sings in the choir at their church. On her way to the post office, she saw Larry's car outside the laundromat, while he never did laundry in the 38 years they were married. She pulled over, and saw he was inside, folding a pair of pink panties. Kimmy wasn't even there with him. The next thing she knew, she drove into the laundromat. She feels badly for that innocent girl she hit, but she knows now why people call jealousy the green-eyed monster. Eleanor figured they always hear stuff like this because of the doctor-patient confidentiality. Lexie says that only applies to medicine.

Jackson takes off his scrub top as Teddy comes in to ask him something. He says it's cool and asks what she needs. She wasn't sure if she was making stuff up in her head, but now she knows. She asks how to start a CABG. He can talk her through the procedure. She says she's relieved. He's more than the pretty face he makes himself out to be. He knocks over trays, has poor penmanship, and has the wrong answer sometimes, but flirting into her surgery can get him fired. She won't do that this time. She tells him to put his shirt on and take care of her post-ops.

Meredith finds Cristina in a lab. She's trying to save her patient's worms. Meredith needs Cristina to take her blood. She wants to get tested for the Alzheimer's gene. Cristina says this a lot bigger than a baby step, but Meredith tells her to go ahead. 

Meredith enters Lila's room to drop off meds for her hands. Meredith says she'll have to see her doctor to get it refilled when she gets back from her trip. Lila will do that.

Bailey tells Ivan he'll be fine, as long as he quits the work. Once she's gone, Cristina gives him a jar with his worms in pieces. She's sorry. He says every experiment has his ups and downs, and asks how much time before his bowel is healed. She says he could die if he does this again. He says only if he makes the same mistakes, but he won't. Cristina wonders why he'd want to put himself through this again. He says he loves what he does more than anything. You don't find something you love that much and throw it away.

Arizona and Alex watch Callie talk to Jake and his parents. Alex tells Arizona that Mark risked his life to save Alex's. He may stare at boobs, but he does have a soul. And Arizona has nice boobs, and he stares at them, too.

Eleanor is talking to the police.

Meredith joins Lexie and April. She heard about Eleanor. Lexie says Eleanor was heartbroken. She tells Meredith she has been a complete bitch to April all day because of her. Meredith worries about April and lets her have Izzie's room and talks to her about her doctor's appointment. Lexie went crazy, Alex left her in the psych ward, and Mark slept with Amelia. Now she finds herself relating to the crazy lady. Meredith tells April to go. April leaves. Meredith says she had a miscarriage and April was there, so that's why she knew about the appointment. She didn't think Lexie cared about Mark sleeping with Amelia as she never knows what's going on between Lexie and Mark. And, as far as the psych ward goes, she sat by Lexie's bedside for 36 hours while she slept. She's not crazy, she's a Grey.

Arizona stops Callie and Mark. There's a change of plans. Mark will take her out to dinner tonight, alone. Mark asks if that is to make up for the fact that she doesn't like him. Mark knew about that. He says fine, but Arizona's buying. Callie thanks Arizona.

Lexie enters the crowded bathroom and throws the guys out. April says she can have the room. Lexie says she admitted she wanted to run April over with her car, so taking the room on top of that would make her feel worse. But if she puts up a chore wheel, she'll kill her.

Derek lies down with Meredith in their bed. They start kissing. She says she's getting tested for the Alzheimer's gene. She thinks they should know, but he says no. Meredith says they probably can't have a baby, and even if they can, she'll be suffering from Alzheimer's so she won't remember the kid, and she'll pass her genes on to that kid. Then Derek will have  a drooling wife and a drooling kid. Derek doesn't care. He really doesn't want to know. He says no more doctors and no more labs. Just lots of sex. They might get a baby, and she might get Alzheimer's. Just screw the odds. Let's just live. Whatever happens, happens. She smiles and agrees to that. He climbs on top of her.

Owen enters the firehouse, looking for Cristina. She's in there with booze and welcomes him home. This place is theirs now. She bought it for the two of them. He doesn't know what to say. She says there's nothing to say except there's a firepole. Cristina really doesn't care where they live, but Owen does. She knows he loves this place, and she loves him. They share a kiss in their soon-to-be living room.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Uncredited[]

Medical Notes[]

Meredith Grey[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Hostile uterus
  • Treatment:

Meredith was informed that she had a hostile uterus, which was probably the cause of her first miscarriage and made it likely that she'd miscarry again. Meredith later had Cristina draw blood so she could be tested for the Alzheimer's gene. However, she and Derek decided not to get the test results.

Eleanor Davis[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:

Eleanor came into the ER after running her car into the laundromat. Her scans were clean, but Lexie wanted to look into how she ran her car into a laundromat and had no memory of what happened. All her scans came back normal. Lexie proposed one last test for her. She later confessed to April and Lexie, wrongly believing that they were legally obligated not to tell the police, that she and Larry had actually split up and she ran her car into the laundromat on purpose.

Larry Davis[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Crush injuries
  • Treatment:
    • CPR
    • Surgery
    • Splenectomy
    • Nephrectomy

Larry was brought into the ER after being hit when Eleanor ran her car into the laundromat. He was caught between the car and a washing machine. In surgery, Owen had to remove his spleen and one of his kidneys, but he was expected to make a full recovery.

Lila[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Huntington's Disease
    • Ruptured diaphragm
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery

Lila came into the ER after being in a laundromat into which Eleanor ran her car. Lila then revealed to Meredith that she has Huntington's Disease. Lila was revealed to have a ruptured diaphragm from the crash, pushing part of her stomach into her chest. They scheduled surgery to fix that. When Lila went to sign the consent form for her surgery, Meredith noticed chorea in her hand. The surgery was successful and Meredith brought her medication for her hand, but noted it would have to be refilled after she got back from her trip.

Jake Fisher[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Osteosarcoma
  • Treatment:
    • Chemotherapy
    • Radiation
    • Surgery

Jake, 15, had cancer in his tibia. He was scheduled to have a minor bone dissection. They were waiting on scans to show how much the chemotherapy had shrunk his tumor. A scan revealed that the chemo didn't work and Callie was recommending amputation. Jake, a ballet dancer, didn't want to let them amputate. He danced for them to show them why he needed his leg. Callie, Arizona, and Alex researched other possible treatment options. Alex found a treatment which involved removing the affected part of his bone, blasting it with radiation, and then re-implanting it. Post-op, he was stable and his labs looked good.

Ivan Fink[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Asthma
    • Bowel obstruction
  • Treatment:
    • Surgery

Ivan came into the hospital vomiting up worms, which he was developing as the cure for asthma. He'd had the worms in his body for 343 days and hadn't had an asthma attack in 6 months. However, he had developed a bowel obstruction. He didn't want to have surgery because it would skew his research, so Cristina tried to relieve the obstruction without surgery. When that didn't work, he was taken into surgery. Ivan asked Cristina to try to save his worms, but she was unable to do so due to a complication that required the use of suction. He was cautioned that he needed to stop the worm experiments.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Don't Be Fooled" Walking Sleep
  • The roommates compete for space in the bathroom.
  • Callie and Arizona are having sex when Mark interrupts.
  • Cristina and Owen look at the old fire station as a possible place to live.
  • Meredith and Derek talk to a doctor, who says they have things to discuss.
"You Got What I Need" Joshua Radin
  • Alex tells Jake he can have a great life with prosthetics.
  • Jake dances for the doctors to show them how much he needs his leg.
"Refresh Me" V V Brown
  • Cristina and Meredith talk to April.
  • Lexie joins them and Meredith confesses where she was that morning.
  • Alex asks Lexie for options for Jake. April has an idea.
  • Owen pages Cristina to the OR to tell her about a house for sale.
  • Callie and Arizona suggest options for Jake.
  • Callie confronts Arizona about Mark.
  • Alex finds the option for Jake.
"Until the Last Falling Star" Matthew Perryman Jones
  • Teddy quizzes Jackson and tells him to stop using his looks to get by.
  • Meredith finds Cristina trying to save her patient's worms.
  • Meredith asks Cristina to draw her blood so she can get tested for Alzheimer's.
"Tumblin Down" Jenna Andrews
  • Meredith gives Lila her pills.
  • Bailey updates her patient and tells him he needs to quit with the worms.
  • Cristina gives him his destroyed worms and warns him he could die if he tries again.
  • Alex updates Arizona on Jake and tells her that Mark's not a bad guy.
"Further" Correatown
  • Derek talks to Meredith about the test results. He doesn't want her to get them.
  • They agree just to live and what happens happens.
  • Cristina has a surprise ready for Owen. She bought the firehouse for them.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode's title originated from the song Can't Fight Biology, originally sung by Drop Dead, Gorgeous.
  • This episode scored 12.11 million viewers.[1]

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

Meredith: I need you to take my blood.
Cristina: For what?
Meredith: So I can get tested for the Alzheimer's gene. I mean it's time I know one way or the other. I have a hostile uterus, what's a little Alzheimer's too?
Cristina: All right. This is a lot bigger than a baby step.
Meredith: Just do it before I change my mind.
Cristina: Okay.

Arizona: Mark stares at my boobs when we talk. He starts at my face, but then somewhere along the way, he gets distracted and ends up on my boobs. I love guys - I love them. But I've tried my whole life to avoid the boob-staring guy. Biology even helped me by making me gay. But now, my girlfriend's best friend is that guy. And I don't think that I need to apologize for the fact that the only person I want staring at my boobs is you.

Alex: Sloan risked his life to save mine. Even when I was sleeping with his girl. That's not a guy without a soul. Maybe he's an ass who stares at boobs, but whatever. And your boobs? You have nice boobs. Maybe they're lesbian boobs and you don't like men staring at them, but men don't discriminate when it comes to jugs. You have hot boobs. And I stare at 'em, too.

Callie: Boobs... really, you're making this about boobs?
Arizona: He stares at them.
Callie: 'Cause they're good boobs!

Meredith: I drank a lot of tequila in college. After.
Derek: Well, it's been a while since I've done my OB rotations but I don't recall tequila getting in the way of conception. It's the opposite, actually.

Derek: I love you and you love me. And whatever happens, I don't care. I don't want to know. I mean it. I don't want to know.
Meredith: Well the lab already has my blood so...
Derek: Here's what we're gonna do. No more doctors, no more labs. You and I we have a lot of sex. Maybe we make a baby, maybe we do not. Maybe you get Alzheimer's, maybe you do not. Just screw the odds, screw science. Let's just live. Whatever happens. Happens. Me and you.

Lexie: You worry about April, you let her have Izzie's room, you talk to her about your doctor's appointments. And I went crazy, Alex ditched me in a psych ward, Mark slept with Derek's sister, and now I find myself relating to thazy, jealous lady who drives into laundromats.
Meredith: April, you should go. Lexie, I had a miscarriage that day. April was there. That's why she knows about my doctor's appointment. And I did know that Mark slept with Amy, but I didn't think you cared. I can never tell what the hell is going on with you two. And as far as the psych ward goes, you were not alone. I sat by your bedside for 36 hours while you slept. You're not crazy, Lexie. You're a Grey.

Arizona: Look, it's not that I don't like Mark, it's just that he's Mark. What you see is what you get. Besides, you like him. What do I care that his abs are where his soul should be.

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.

The Grey Matter blog post on this episode can be found here.

References[]

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