Grey’s Anatomy – You Can Look (But You’d Better Not Touch)

By: Jamie Steinberg

Wilson, Bailey and Robbins are off to a women’s prison. They are helping a young girl who is pregnant that has a tumor draining the blood from her unborn baby, causing its heartbeat to work twice as fast. The three are clearly nervous. Jo (Camilla Luddington) believes that in life stuff happens to you. Bailey (Chandra Wilson) asserts, “Stuff does not just happen to you. You happen to stuff.”

Once inside, the doctors are separated from their supplies, which are thoroughly checked by a guard at the front door. Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) sees a sign that says weapons are banned and wonders outloud, “Who brings weapons to a prison?” She clearly has never seen “Orange Is The New Black” or “Wentworth.” Eventually, the patient’s [Kristen] attorney arrives and escorts the doctors to her client. She reminds them that Kristen is just another patient, but informs them that Kristen cannot touch them – only they can touch her. The doctors meet up with the head of the infirmary, Dr. Eldridge (Klea Scott). Kristen (Anna Jacoby-Heron) tells the doctor that she is hungry, but is told that she can’t have any more food because she has already had her snack. The Grey’s staff head in with Dr. Eldridge to see Kristen, who immediately attacks Dr. Eldridge over not getting a snack – dislocating her finger.

Bailey is astounded by the patient care in the infirmary. She heads out of the room to check on Dr. Eldridge, who snaps her fingers back in place on her own and claims she’ll just bandage them with gauze. Bailey believes if Dr. Eldridge saved some supplies each week they’d have enough saved up in surplus that she wouldn’t need to simply gauze her hands. Dr. Eldridge scoffs at Bailey, informing her just how much and how often the government gives her supplies.

Back with Kristen, Jo and Arizona have finally gotten her to settle down once the guards have handcuffed her arms and legs to the exam table. Kristen says she saw a movie where there were nurseries in a women’s prison and that babies got to stay with their mothers. Bailey is quick to remind Kristen that “things don’t always happen the way they do in movies.”

Arizona takes a new approach at getting Kristen to focus. She attempts to calm her down by relating to her through telling her how her daughter, Sophia, is now bi-coastal. Therefore, Sophia isn’t always with her. The doctors examine Kristen, who is excited that soon she’ll be seeing her mother. She says that once in labor she was promised her mother would visit. Her mother would then take the baby home and bring her back when the mother visited. Arizona believes Kristen doesn’t understand they are not there to help her give birth, just do a procedure to remove the tumor. She explains what they are going to be doing that day, which upsets Kristen who confirms she believed she was giving birth.

Arizona steps out of the room and runs into Kristen’s mother. Arizona knows that Kristen will be excited to see her mom, but her happiness is quickly thwarted. Kristen’s mom explains she doesn’t want to see her daughter because when she gets custody of the baby (who Kristen has named Ali) she will not be bringing her to visit. Arizona informs Jo of what she has just learned, but doesn’t wish to let Kristen know this development for fear of upsetting her. The doctors do a scan and see they are unable to go in and turn the baby to get to the tumor so they are going to try to use their hands to flip her. Kristen experiences some pain and discomfort and wants them to stop touching her. They try to help, but Kristen is getting overly upset. This is when Jo decides to spill the beans about Kristen’s mom being there…and then the shoe drops about her not coming to visit. Kristen begins to freak out even more!

The doctors must now help Kristen give birth. She is desperate for her mother to come and be with her. She wants them to tell her mother that she is sorry and wishes she could take back what happened. Bailey explains to her that they are there with her and that she should be proud of herself for delivering this baby on her own.

After giving birth, Kristen is refusing to see the baby. She doesn’t want to bond with her and then have her taken from her – never to see her again. Arizona knows that Kristen will regret it if she does not see her daughter. Kristen agrees to see the infant and tells her, “Don’t be like me. I love you, Ali. Be good. I’m your mama. Remember me.”

On their way out of the prison, the doctors run into Dr. Eldridge. Bailey tells her that if she ever needs a job then she should come see her first. Dr. Eldridge replies, “Same goes for you.” In the car, Bailey tells Jo about Alex – how he went to the D.A.’s office to take the prison deal. Jo makes Arizona pull over so she can throw up. When they get back in the car, we hear Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) talking about the reasons doctor’s used to do house calls. “There is a reason doctors prefer to see a patient in person, face to face. It’s the laying on of hands, human touch. We connect with each other because if we didn’t…we’d all feel so, so alone.”