I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Season 5, Episode 16, Aired
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Episode Summary

After learning at a deposition that more of his patients have died than survived, Derek decides to quit, even as Meredith refuses to give up on him. Meanwhile Bailey and the Chief continue to bicker over her peds fellowship until Adele steps in to mediate. The interns discover something unsettling on a "patient x," unaware that the charts they're looking at are actually Izzie's.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (13)

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  • A weird and mixed up episode with all kinds of things happening at once.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Lyta_499, Nov 24, 2010 Report Abuse
    This episode seemed too fragmentary to me, as if they were trying to fit too many things into too little time. Everything was happening very quickly and before you had the chance to process one major event, another one followed. Derek gets depressed and of course, his ego issues surface again and he behaves like a jerk to everyone, especially Meredith. The marriage proposal is off and we are left wondering what on earth is going to happen between those two. The constant back-and-forth, breaking up- making up is making me tired and frankly, I think they have overstretched this plot way beyond its normal survival rate. Instead of basing the show's central plot on continuous break-ups between Derek and Meredith, they could actually try to figure out new things instead. Like Christina and Owen, Lexie and Mark, Callie and Arizona. All three of these romances got very little screen time in this epi, and unjustly so in my opinion. The only good thing about this episode was Izzie and the diagnosis that came up for patient X, as well as Izzie's whole attitude towards the subject. It remains to be seen whether she will survive the melanoma and stay on the show or lose her battle with cancer and pursue a film career. In any case it was good to have some closure, and the way it was presented was emotional without being melodramatic. Let's hope there's some more consistency in the next episodes, and for god's sake that Derek will finally come to his senses...moreless

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    5 1

  • Izzie and the interns finally diagnose her mystery condition. Alex discovers something about a patient and proves himself to Dr. Robbins and Dr. Hunt. Derek refuses to return to work. The feud between the Chief and Bailey escalates.moreless

    8.0
    "Great"
    By JayMc416, Nov 24, 2010 Report Abuse
    As the dust settled from the crossover event and things tried to return to normal at Seattle Grace, as normal as they could in the drama addled hospital. Derek learns he has killed more people in his career than he saved. Izzie continues on her quest to diagnose herself freely with help of the interns. Alex begins to really shine amongst his fellow first year residents. The Chief continues to demean Bailey for choosing pediatrics, and their tension escalates in the O.R. Lexie decides to fight for Mark, despite the odds. Callie comes clean with Dr. Arizona. Cristina deals with Owen's PTSD. Meredith learns from the Chief of Derek's intentions and comes clean to Derek.

    The big story of the night was finally learning what exactly is wrong with Izzie, it turns out it is metastatic melanoma (Stage IV). What exactly that means is still not clear with me, the disease spread to her skin, liver and brain, thus explaining the hallucinations, but the important thing to take away from it is that there is a 5% chance of survival. Throughout the episode her fellow residents were either concerned or annoyed that she stole the interns for her "Patient X" diagnosis, and then bothered by her weird predictions of what they will be like years from now, and the interns then disappointed for not getting anything out of the contest. Izzie delivered one of her great little speeches demanding that they become better doctors. Then she had a great conversation with Lexie who was the only one who asked what they do next about "Patient X" because her own mother died of the hiccups which has a 100% survival rate, so "Patient X" should fight it, because no matter the odds there are things worth fighting for, and you should want to fight.

    A patient comes in with seizures and Owen and Alex realize that they could kill her by shocking her, but do it anyways and she survives. Alex is forced to babysit the girl, a band geek, who he tries to diagnose despite her band geek friends who were frankly annoying. Alex realized that the seizures were caused by a heart condition, after noticing that she flatlined before seizing, again medical technical things that go over my head. In surgery Dr. Arizona, wanted to believe that Alex was wrong while her and Dr. Hunt operated and had Alex ready the paddles, but he was right and saved the girls life, and won the praises of the two attendings. If Justin chambers ever hoped to win an Emmy this episode would be the one to get him there, unless Izzie dies.

    So The Chief vs. Bailey hit a big bang this week, as they treated a family with a history bad stomach cancer, or some sort of disease. Their tension escalated while they were teaching Cristina and Meredith and arguing over procedures. Then came my favorite moment of the episode, Adele walking out of the elevator to scold her husband and Bailey, a great scene made better with Loretta Devine. Bailey soon realized that The Chief is always coming down on her when she is expressing her feminine softer side, having a baby or specializing in pediatrics. Hopefully this will end the feud, cause The Chief being pissed at his girl Bailey is just plain annoying. It was nice to see Michael Rady in the scene as well, as the one who did not want the surgery because he the president of his frat, Kappa Tau Gamma perhaps?

    So after his fight with Derek, Mark had broken his hand and wanted to desperately get back into the operating room, and had Callie juice him up or something, if they go down this road again i may need to stop watching. If you are unfamiliar remember back to season three with Preston and his hand, once was enough. I hope that the storyline is more a solidifying act of Lexie and Mark with her saying that she is willing to fight for them despite the fact that he is Mark Sloan and she is Little Grey and the odds are against them.

    My favorite new relationship is between Callie and Dr. Arizona Robbins. I love saying her name Dr. Arizona Robbins, it sounds better if you say it with a raspy voice and maybe add your own little side afterwards, like "I am Dr. Arizona Robbins where did you put my Winstons?" something along those lines. While they only had like a few minutes of screen time this week they decided to give it a go, I think, on this show you never know with this show.

    The end presented an interesting role reversal of sorts, after learning that Derek has been carrying his mother's engagement ring for weeks now, she goes to see him at his trailer and land. By the way what ever happened to that house they were going to build? When she confronted Derek saying that she knows there is a ring and that he needs to return to surgery, he blows up at her stating that he is giving her the easy way out because she always runs from commitment. I will hand it to Meredith given her track record she should have broken down right there, but she held it together nicely and without tequila. In the end the most important thing was what is Izzie going to do now? Who can she tell? She decides telling Alex would be risky after his "You can do it Izzie" speech, so she tells Cristina who is not going to be sympathetic, in the air shaft thing with the loud vent to block out the sound so we do not know the exact wording, we just see her mouthing the words. I am wondering what will Izzie do now? And will Cristina keep her secret? I honestly think that Cristina is changing given the fact that she hasn't run from Owen yet given all his issues.

    This was a great episode to come back to, but could we give George a bigger story, he at least had more than one line this week.moreless

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    3 0

  • The best episode of the season by far, maybe even since season three.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By stewie1423, Nov 24, 2010 Report Abuse
    I loved this episode. It was by far my favourite of season five and maybe even since season three. Every storyline was engrossing, all the characters flowed and their was humour and drama at just the right times. My favourite part would be how Izzie finally learned what illness she has to fight. It was just heartbreaking watching the excited interns work out her fate.

    Katherine Heigl is an amazing actress and it would be a shame to see her killed off the show. How intense was it when she shouted at the interns, seeing Cristina's face as Izzie told her...just brilliant stuff. I was surprised to see her confide in Cristina but it made sense. She was funnily observing people throughout the episode, Meredith and Cristina at lunch, Alex's skills...this storyline has seriously gone from painful to superb.

    Secondly we move onto an equally intense situation with Derek breaking down and essentially quitting. I feel sorry for him but I don't like how he ignores this support...but it must be hard dealing with death so much of the time. Meredith cares and its a great step for her. That ending scene between the scene was painful to watch but in a good way. He was slaughtering her but she didn't walk away. I can't believe he did that to the ring...he is a broken man.

    Alex was great her as well, he did great work with the band girl case and I liked how he just let rip with Izzie, told her to start working because he wants her at the top with him. Bailey and the Chief's feud is entertaining but I have to side with the former, she wants to help children. What's wrong with that?

    Cristina and Hunt are really interesting, way better than her and Burke anyway. He pushed her...it seems they have issues to deal with. He was good with Kurev. Callie and Arizona are good, I liked how she tried to play hard to get by saying 'maybe' but couldn't resist. Lexi and Mark are a hilarious couple but the former is a stand out character and the scene where she thanked Izzie talked about patients fighting was really well acted and enjoyable.

    So this really was an episode to watch, all the storylines are getting to the point of brilliance. Cannot wait until the next episode.moreless

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    3 0

  • I loved it!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By ZSinnett, Sep 18, 2010 Report Abuse
    In this episode "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" was the best of the season thus far! One of the things that I found most interesting was that Izzie told Christina her secret first. Izzie is by far my favorite and she was just great during this whole episode. I also actually even like the whole MerDer storyline, I found it intriguing, even though i wish they would just hurry up and get married already. Alex makes me sad because he is so happy these days and I feel that he is gonna fall hard soon. Callie and Arizona was ok, Adell, Baily, and the Chief were funny, and i always love Mark & Lexie moments. Personally, this episode, for me, hit the ball out of the park!moreless

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    5 2

  • Reminded me why this show is still worth watching.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By koogepanini, Sep 18, 2010 Report Abuse
    It has been a while since there was an episode of Grey's that brought about the emotions and anticipation as it did in Season 2. But this episode proves to me that there's still something left in Grey's worth waiting around for in the fifth season. Great perfomances in this episode, especially by Heigl and Dempsey. The speech that Izzie gave to the interns about being a doctor and getting it right was the real prize was powerful and grounding. I realized how much they've developed her character (from the intern who cut LVAD wires) and she's growing as a teacher. I was a little taken back by Derek's emotional breakdown with Meredith at the end but it was about time we see a more selfish and irrational Derek. Also sweet moments in all the relationships: Bailey fighting with the Chief, Lexie keeps hitting Mark's broken hand, Hunt throwing Cristina into the medicine shelf and Alex's joy and finally opening up to share it with Izzie.

    But the most touching scene was at the very end. I thought it was very fitting that Izzie chooses Cristina to reveal her secret and Cristina takes her to the room with the huge blowing vent. They muted Izzie's voice but you can see from both of their facial expressions that there will be more drama waiting to unfold at Seattle Grace in the upcoming weeks!moreless

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    7 1
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • Goof: While operating on the first of the siblings, the Chief's eyes change from looking at the patient to looking at Bailey between camera angles. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • International Episode Titles: Slovakia: Pôjdem za tebou (I Will Follow You) Czech Republic: Do temnot půjdu za tebou... (Into the Darkness, I Will Follow You...) Edit
    • Original International Air Dates: Italy: May 25, 2009 on Fox Life Latin America: May 25, 2009 on Sony Entertainment Television (aka Canal Sony) Australia: June 4, 2009 on Channel 7 Germany: July 22, 2009 on ProSieben The Netherlands: September 28, 2009 on Net5 Norway: December 8, 2009 on TV2 Slovakia: February 1, 2010 on STV1 Czech Republic: June 10, 2010 on Prima Edit
    • Music Featured In This Episode: 1. Front Row by Metric 2. Duet by Rachael Yamagata 3. Treeology by Shady Bard 4. A Storm Is Going To Come by Piers Faccini Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Arizona: So, I've had quite a day. I got my ass handed to me by Alex Karev, a second year resident. Which is humbling, for a surgeon, especially a know-it-all, type-a -- Callie: We don't have to do this. We don't have to be friends, it's a big hospital with lots of floors, lots of places to hide. And I'm perfectly okay with doing that for the next few years. Arizona: You're not hearing me, Calliope. Sometimes, I panic, in the moment, and I call it wrong. I misjudge a situation. So, if you're up for it, I'd like to take you to dinner. Callie: Maybe. (gets off the elevator) Arizona: Maybe? Callie: Yeah. My schedule's kinda insane right now, so I'll get back to you. (walks off, the elevator doors start to close, she walks back over and before they close she puts her arm between them so they don't) How's, uh, tomorrow? (Arizona laughs, Callie smiles) Edit
    • Richard: You told Adele on me? Bailey: You stopped speaking to me, sir. That didn't exactly leave me many options. I'd like to know if you'd have reacted like this if I left general surgery for neuro or cardio? Richard: I don't follow. Bailey: Or is it because you regard peds as a soft specality? Is that what's bothering you? Richard: Oh, that's ridiculous. Bailey: Well, maybe, but it seems to me that every time I do something that you perceive as soft, like havin' a baby, takin' some time off to see my baby, specializing in babies, I'm dead to you. You wanna know what I think, sir? Richard: Not particularly. Bailey: I think that you're scared that you've gone soft. You blame this whole hospital's decline on it. And you wanna know what I think about that? Richard: You're gonna tell me anyway. Bailey: It's not doin' one bit of good. I mean, surgeons are still droppin' like dominoes around here. So, maybe it's time that you got in touch with your femnine side. Maybe you need a little soft. Richard: ... You still shouldn't have ratted me out. Bailey: Sorry. Richard: Me, too. Edit
    • Owen: You did a hell of a job today. The Chief is gonna hear about it. Arizona: Pretty impressive for a resident. You fix that attitude of yours, you could be the future of this hospital. The one to watch. ... You go Karev! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Cristina: Hunt won't even look at me without going all Apocalypse Now on me this morning. Apocalypse Now is the 1979 movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola where Martin Sheen as Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a god for a local tribe. Edit
    • Derek (regarding all the people who have died under his care): There's just so many people. More than Dahmer, Manson, and Bundy combined. Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, and Charles Manson are all infamous serial killers, they each killed 20 or more people in the United States. Edit
    • Episode Title: I Will Follow You Into The Dark I Will Follow You Into The Dark is a song by Death Cab for Cutie taken from their album Plans. When Ben Gibbard (the band's lead singer) wrote that song, he began to think about death and the importance of people in his life, just like Izzie. Edit

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