Derek and Richard

The Chief talks about his group of residents with an AA meeting, where he also announces that he's 45 days sober. But that doesn't mean he gets his job back.

Derek tells him it'll be a while before the board is willing to consider reinstatement, and he's been authorized to offer him a general surgery attending position.

The Chief refuses, but ends up participating in lecture day, in which he, Bailey, and Callie share stories about some of their most significant cases.

Richard and Ellis

The Chief's story as part of said lecture series is very interesting, as it gives us a glimpse into what Ellis Grey was like when she was younger.

It's 1982, and Richard's the only African-American resident in the program and Ellis is the only woman. They both take their share of abuse.

Ellis and Richard work on a patient with mysterious symptoms that the  suspect is GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency, an early name for AIDS).

The patient throws a fit and threatens to sue for slander, and their attending has no interest in trying to save a lost cause.

The point of the Chief's story, in addition to showing us how he and Ellis fell in love, is perseverance and fulfilling the oath to always do right by your patient and fellow clinicians.

The patient ended up back in the hospital with complications from Kaposi's Sarcoma, and even though they had no idea what caused his disease or how it spread, they operated.

They were there with him when he drew his last breath after suffering complications from pneumonia. Richard and Ellis clearly struggled with their affair morally, as all she wanted was for them to leave their marriages and be together.

We also got to witness Richard's transformation from a straight arrow to someone whose road to alcoholism was paved early.

No matter how much you think you can keep from losing your way, you can. As he retakes the Physician's Oath from the stage, and it's more inspiring and effective than any kind of apology he could ever have offered - and the whole room lights up.

Bailey

We're back to her intern year, 2003, at Seattle Grace, when she was meek and quiet, with long braids, pink glasses frames and a resident who was pretty much downright evil.

Bailey proves that she's a born (and magnificent) teacher in recounting her case, supplementing her storytelling with chocolates thrown to those who correctly answer questions.

Bailey's patient was a young woman with chronic pain who had been through many surgeries, including having her ovaries removed, yet nothing worked.

She diagnosed it as an appendicitis and got to operate with the Chief monitoring - and was wrong.

"Surgery is a shark tank," the Chief tells her. And she needs to make sure she's a shark too, with teeth - not a minnow.

The patient came back again, and they still couldn't figure out what was wrong. The resident keeps stealing her ideas about what could be wrong and taking credit.

Bailey frets to Joe about being a minnow in the shark tank. The next time the patient comes back, Baile cancels her surgery, incurring the wrath of her resident but diagnosing correctly and saving the patient one more surgery.

The patient's history is the most important part of diagnosis. She goes off on her superior and the Miranda (not Mandy) Bailey that we know and love is born.

Callie

After an awkward beginning, Arizona and Alex push her to tell the story of Sunder, a graduate student whose legs had been twisted and his lungs damaged by polio as a kid.

The case is supposed to have come up in Callie's third year of residency, and Alex, during his intern year, assists her.

Callie does a remarkable job during the first surgery, but is forced to end it after eight hours because of the patient's weakened lungs.

Yet he's willing to move forward, and they end up doing a series of surgeries that are incredibly grueling for the poor patient.

But he ends up walking.

Amusingly. Callie mistook Alex for George, having heard about their exploits with heart surgery in the elevator, and he doesn't correct her - which becomes a problem when the patient crashes in surgery and she needs him to work on his heart.

They celebrate their patient's success by hitting the sack in Callie's makeshift living space in the hospital basement. 'Member that?