Life During Wartime

Season 5, Episode 5, Aired
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Episode Summary

The chief gives Bailey new power and responsibility. He also gives her a very difficult surgical assignment: remove a girl's inoperable tumor. Meanwhile, new trauma chief Owen (Kevin McKidd) challenges the attendings' methods and the residents' skills.
8.9
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EPISODE RATING: Great
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Fan Episode Reviews (8)

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  • Owen Hunt is hired on as Head of Trama and stabs pigs. :(

    8.0
    "Great"
    By Valentine_76, Mar 20, 2011 Report Abuse
    Owen's first action after being hired as Head of Trama is to stab 5 pigs with a knife and tell the residents and interns to save their lives. Izzy becomes furious and says that she is out and then leaves. The Chief gives Bailey point on trying to save a 10 yr old girl with an inoperable tumor. Thanks to Meredith and her doll Jane they are able to figure out a way to cut the tumor out. All they have to do is take out all her organs, cut the tumor out, and then put her organs back in. Hahn and Bailey fight like crazy during the surgery but finally get along enought to finish.moreless

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    0 0

  • A little confusing...

    8.0
    "Great"
    By WilliamThBloody, Aug 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    I love Grey's anatomy, don't get me wrong, but this episode was a little confusing. What's with the subthemes on the main plot? Animal rights? Bisexuality?. It was a political statement after another. Anyway, the show was great as usual nonetheless. I loved the part where Christina would run around the hospital trying to hide from the new doctor, only to realise that he did not remember her name. LOL Izzie and Alex discuss their relationship, and it seems that this time it's going to work. And O'malley seems to be oblivious of his love interest. DUDE!! c'mon!!! does she have to hit you with a stick?. Well it seems that Seattle Grace it's going to be #1 after all. We shall see.moreless

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    2 0

  • The chief gives Bailey power, a 10 year-old with an unoperable tumor is saved by Meredith's doll. Trauma doctor Hunt is added to the staff. Lexie is mad at George and Alex and Izzie are trying to figure out their status as a couple.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By lauraale1411, Aug 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    I loved it! I mean, it was about time for Izzie and Alex to get it on right. And the new trauma guy brings something different to the table, what I don't find really really interesting is the Torres-Hahn situation it's not like we haven't seen it before and finally Cristina is getting something in her love life I was starting to think she was going to be an old maid or something. Anyway, great episode! The Meredith naming the organs in the Anatomy Jane part was cute too, I was getting kind of tired of watching her being dark and twisty all the time.moreless

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    9 0

  • I really dont like DR. Hunt...

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By carly-hope, Aug 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    I think he is on an even bigger ego-trip then Pretty & Prettier and he always has to have the last word. he thought all the students a lesson in this one but Im not sure it were the lessons he intended them to learn. Cristina was awesome in this one and I like the relationship she is developing with Lexie. I was actually relieved there was almost no George and I didnt even realize it till the final sequence. who was great though was Bailey - again. and the Mark/Callie friendship. the look of hopeful surprise as she asked him to hang out almost broke my heart. its nice to see more sides of him. the best scene for me was the father talking to chief during the operation - it said so much in so little words. Izzie standing her ground was great and as she finally realized that Alex is actually asking her to "go steady" with him - so sweet. thats why I gave it a 9. otherwise it would have been a solid 8. but Im a sucker for a romance, especially if it is Alex & Izzie.moreless

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  • Greys 101: Intro to optimism, bisexuality, animal rights.

    7.0
    "Good"
    By sequoa84, Aug 26, 2010 Report Abuse
    Life during war time' definitely would go down as one of the sub-par episodes of this season. For one reason, though it was a good one hour of drama, I felt this one was one subtle portrayal of various themes. The powerful performances from the cast was evidently missing.

    The sales pitch for Owen (Kevin McKidd) did not work out well. I felt he fit the role of an arrogant army-surgeon who is still enlisted, rather than a Iraq-returned full time employee of Seattle Grace. The on and off references to animal rights was pretty much the highlight of this episode. Christina's character development on the backdrop of this issue was so Un-Christina-ish. I always liked her more as a no-nonsense surgeon. The second theme dealt was optimism, with Bailey, Richard, and Erica taking the spotlight. The case of an inoperable tumor was one good part of this episode. The icing on the cake was when Bailey emerges victorious after crushing Erica's pessimistic dismissal of her ideas. Meredith has been nothing short of useless this episode, with her 'anatomy jane' doll.

    Derek, Callie, Sloan, Lexie, and George continue to annoy me. Dempsey desperately needs some material to act. His 'I don't give a damn' attitude when it comes to work, is not creating the desired effect on the viewer. Grey's was doing good so far. This one was bit of a show down. The writers need to put in more of medical cases and less of filler material. I can live with this. Hope this is just an occasional bad day for the cast and crew.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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  • Notes

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    • International Episode Titles: Slovakia: Život v čase vojny (Life During Wartime) Czech Republic: Anatomie války (Anatomy of War) Edit
    • Original International Air Dates: Italy: March 2, 2009 on Fox Life Australia: March 5, 2009 on Channel 7 The Netherlands: March 9, 2009 on Net 5 Latin America: March 9, 2009 on Sony Entertainment Television (aka Canal Sony) Germany: May 13, 3009 on ProSieben Norway: September 22, 2009 on TV2 Slovakia: October 26, 2009 on STV1 Czech Republic: March 25, 2010 on Prima Edit
    • Music Featured In This Episode: 1. Walcott by Vampire Weekend 2. Days Go On by Greg Laswell 3. The Valley To The Stars by El Perro Del Mar 4. Prelude by Raining Jane 5. Ordinary Girl by WAZ 6. No Time To Sleep by Tina Dico 7. Boys With Girlfriends by Meiko Edit

  • Quotes

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    • Izzie: Thought you were sleeping with Michelle tonight. Or was it Jackie? Alex: Izz ... Izzie: I've had a hard day Alex. Would you please just leave me alone? Alex: Izzie ... Izzie: What?! Alex: I'm not good at this. I'm not good at ... relationships or talking about stupid feelings. And you are, so maybe you could teach me or something, you know, tell me what I did wrong. Izzie: ... You don't want us to see other people. You don't want us to see other people and that's how you tried to tell me! (laughs) By asking if it was cool if you screw Michelle? Alex: Laughing is not helping. (he goes to leave) Izzie (laughing): I'm sorry, I'm sorry. (grabs his arm, and kisses him) So, you want lessons, huh? Alex: I want lessons. Izzie: Okay. You start with 'Isobel Stevens, you are staggeringly good in bed. You are amazingly smart, wonderfully funny, and you care about animals.' Alex (chuckles): That's where I start? Izzie: Yeah. And then you say 'Do you wanna go steady with me?' Alex: That's what I would say if it was 1952. (they kiss) Izzie: Alex? Do you wanna go steady with me? Alex: If that's what you want, I mean yeah, whatever. Edit
    • Mark: So, I guess no more on-call room then? Callie: I'm afraid not. Mark: That's too bad. Then I- I guess I'll be seein' 'ya around. (starts to walk off) Callie: Hey, you wanna get a drink? Mark: Really? Callie: Just because we're not sleeping together, doesn't mean that we can't hang out. We're friends. ... You're good for more than sex, Mark. Mark: I'd love to get a drink. Callie: She's not gonna cry everytime, right? Mark: No, no, that passes. Edit
    • Richard (to Meredith): You weren't imagining things. You used to run around here with that doll on the time. Took her everywhere. Cafeteria, OR gallery. Tori's got a whole army. You didn't have anyone. Seeing Anatomy Jane ... reminded me of how much I'm to blame for that. You're a living reminder of every failure in my life. And that's not your fault. And if I thought 'I'm sorry' would hold any meaning for you at all, I'd say it. I'd say it a thousand times a day. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Bailey (to Erica): You may be a fine surgeon, God knows that I know that. This is a refernce to the episode Lay Your Hands On Me (S4 Ep11) in which Erica performs an emengency surgery on baby Tuck to save his life. Edit
    • Izzie: Flipper babies. 10,000 babies were born with birth defects in the 1950's because the pregnant mothers took filitmide, first developed on guieuna pigs. The guieuna pigs didn't have any side effects. Thalidomide, or Contergan, was a medical cure-all largelt perscribed to pregnant women as a cure for morning sickness between 1957 and 1961, when it was taken off the market when doctors realized that it was causing the babies those mothers were carrying to be born with stubby arms like flippers and major mental defects. The babies, termed Flipper Babies because of their physical defects, were used as test subjects for a variety of drugs afterwards, because it was deemed that the children could never be productive members of society and were, therefore, the same as lab animals. Edit
    • The names of the pigs: Wilbur, Babe, Reggie Wilbur is the name of a pig from Charlotte's Web a children's book turned movie about a pig named Wilbur who makes friends with a barn yard spider. Babe is a 1995 Academy Award winning Australian film that tells the story of a pig who wants to be a sheep dog. Reggie is the name of a pig who stars in the tv show Pig City. The show is about three pigs and how they live. Reggie is a "Rocker Pig" in a band called "Reggie And The Rashers".He is Martha's brother and he just hates her big mouth and let's not talk about school. Edit

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