Every patient who gets bad news wants to be the exception. The one in a million. The miracle. But surgeons don't believe in miracles. We have to make them happen. Miracles aren't always huge. The fever breaks, the stitch holds, the bone heals. That's why they can be so hard to spot and why they can be such a pain in the ass. Don't get me wrong. Tiny miracles are great. A little miracle's a miracle. It just may not be enough to save us.

I Ain't No Miracle Worker is the third episode of the thirteenth season and the 272nd overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short SummaryEdit


Full SummaryEdit

As Meredith, Maggie, and Alex drive to work together, Meredith's voiceover talks about every patient wanting their case to be the miracle case. Meredith asks Alex how he is, but Maggie, thinking she's talking to her, answers that things are weird with Riggs, because he has all the power now that she's asked him out, despite her being his boss. Maggie insists that Alex is fine and lucky he still has a job. He's still a doctor in the clinic. Alex also says he's fine. Maggie tells him to page Riggs for any cardio consults, but he says he won't do that. Meredith tells Maggie it's not a real problem. She's just making it one.

Arizona gets off the elevator. Richard sees her and asks how New York was. Arizona says Callie has a great place right near the park and Sofia has a large room all to herself. She loves her new school. Arizona stops walking when she sees Andrew's face. He tells her the gas bill came while she was gone and he paid it and he also fixed the sink, so that's good, too. And when she continues to stare, he tells her it looks worse than it is. At least his vision's all the way back. She says that's good and then says she needs to go.

In the lounge with Meredith and Maggie, Amelia says marriage is like a B&B in Vermont. With sex. The sex is right there. Married sex is dirtier than she thought. Maggie tells her to stop bragging. She's sex-rich and she's flaunting that in front of people who are sex-poor. They get paged for multiple MVCs coming into the ER. Riggs comes in and asks Maggie if she can cover the pit, because he has a valve replacement. She says she can do it. Once he's gone, she asks if that was normal. Amelia asks why it wouldn't be normal and Maggie says no reason. Amelia did notice something was weird, but Meredith tries to silence her. Maggie says she asks Riggs out and he said no.

Bailey finds Ben, who is carrying a large pile of laceration trays. She asks if he's busy. She asks him to go pick up Tuck from school. There was an incident. Ben says there's a seven-car pile up in the pit, which is why she needs him to go get Tuck. Ben says it's too good to miss. A whole funeral procession is in the ER. It's a hot mess of art. Bailey says someone hit a funeral and he wants popcorn and a front row seat. For that, she says he really does have to go pick up Tuck, which he knew he'd have to do anyway.

Maggie is examining Morgan Fisher, who is having trouble catching her breath. Maggie tells her to keep the oxygen mask on her face. Morgan asks for her brother. From the next bed, Julian Fisher says he's right there, just like he was two minutes ago. Julian is being examined by Amelia, who is annoyed he's not following the light like she wants. He says it's not Morgan's first panic attack of the day, but Maggie wants to rule out damage to her heart and lungs. Julian starts to tell the story of what happened. He wants to sue whoever's responsible. His films show a broken arm.

Georgia Fisher comes up to Amelia. She's looking for her sister, Barb. Amelia checks the computer and finds she's getting stitches, but is otherwise okay. She also asks about Morgan and Julian, who are her children. She lists off other members of their family who are also injured. The only person who came out unscathed was Peter, her husband, whose funeral it was. Amelia says someone should be taking care of her and shows her the waiting area. Georgia asks her to find out where they took Peter.

From a room, Richard calls out to Stephanie. He questions why there's a guy in there who is not only dead, but embalmed. Stephanie explains the circumstances, saying the EMTs couldn't just leave him in the road. She called the morgue, but they're taking their time. He says to find somewhere else for the body to go, because this is a room for healing the sick.

Arizona examines Kara, who is 35 weeks pregnant and in a lot of pain. She does an ultrasound. Kara can't feel the baby kicking, so she's worried, but Arizona quickly finds a heartbeat. Amelia comes in just as Kara's films are ready. Amelia asks if they know where the dead guy was put. Kara asks who else is hurt and if she killed anyone. She was the driver. She was late for the funeral. She came around the corner and there they all were. She ran into them. Owen says they'll understand it was an accident, but Kara says her family won't understand. They never did. She hasn't seen them for almost ten years. Dad may have forgiven her, but not her mom and siblings. She just wanted to tell her dad she loves him. Owen tells her she has a pelvic fracture and needs a CT. Arizona sees Alex walking by outside the room and says the page her when she's getting the CT.

Alex enters a supply closet and grabs a cart. Arizona comes in and he says the clinic isn't well-supplied. She says he didn't reply to her calls or texts. She was worried about him. He says she was mad. She says she still is mad. He beat up her roommate. He asks if she's mad because he punched a guy who pays her rent. She asks what's wrong with him. He works with children. She trained with him and always had his back. He says she can't tell him anything he hasn't already heard. Hearing it one more time won't fix anything. He tells her to shut up and back off, then leaves with the supplies he gathered.

Nathan pushes his patient up next to Meredith's. Hers is a possible mesenteric tear. His is a hemothorax. He asks if Maggie's okay. Meredith says she's in the pit. He meant with him. She says Maggie will live. He's not that great anyway. For what it's worth, he feels bad about it. Meredith says she doesn't want to have to tell her sister she can't have the good thing. Nathan wants to come clean, but Meredith tells him to focus on his patient. Nathan then notes she called him the good thing. She tells him to stop, but he says she's not the boss of him. She says she owns a chunk of the hospital, so technically, she is. He gestures for her to go first.

April comes into the hospital with Harriet. Jackson asks what she's doing there. She says now that her incision is healed, she's been prescribed movement. He says she could have walked around the neighborhood. It's a nice neighborhood. She figured he'd want to see Harriet, but he says he just saw her an hour ago, but he can't get enough of her. April says they're going down to the ER to check out the MVC. Jackson points out that taking a newborn into the ER isn't the best idea. So she hands Harriet to Jackson and tells him to bring her back when she's hungry.

Ben tells Bailey that Tuck's teacher told him Tuck got into a fight and he started it. And the teacher said Bailey was told that on the phone. She says she must have misheard. Ben is surprised she's not going to bring the hammer down with Tuck. She says she's going to let him stew, but he knows what's coming.

Amelia updates Georgia on her family. She started to tell her about Kara's injuries, but Georgia hears daughter and thinks she's talking about Morgan, so she says Amelia's mistaken. When she learns it's Kara, she and the whole family are shocked, because they haven't seen Kara in so long. The others, including Julian, Morgan, Jason, and Barb, all speculate on if drugs were involved in the crash. Georgia asks Amelia to take her to her husband.

Stephanie leads Georgia to the room where Pete's body has been taken. She quietly tells Amelia that he morgue guys wouldn't take him because he didn't die at the hospital. They leave Georgia to be with her husband, but Stephanie listens as Georgia says she thought they'd go together, holding each others' hands. She grabs his hand and tells him Kara's back. Their baby's back.

Arizona's in awe that Alex is being charged with a felony. He did beat Andrew up really bad, but Owen got away with punching Nathan in the hospital hallway and no one said a word. Owen says it's not the same, but Arizona says it is. Jo comes in and says Kara's mom is okay, which is good news. Arizona tells Kara over the intercom. She's getting her CT. She starts to cry, upset that her mother knows she is the one who hit them.

Maggie tells Amelia she can't imagine what it's like to say goodbye to someone you've woken up with for forty years. Amelia asks her about Riggs, but Maggie says it's nothing. She also says Meredith won't let her talk about it. Stephanie comes up with the men from the funeral home. They go into the room and tell Georgia it's time. However, she grabs her chest in pain and they rush in to help her.

They work to resuscitate Georgia. Amelia tells her not to steal the show on her husband's day.

Tuck is playing on his phone in his mom's office. Ben comes in and asks him what his mom says. She hasn't been in to talk to him yet.

Ben asks Bailey what she's waiting for with Tuck. No hammer has fallen. Bailey says she has to bring down the hammer down at work all the time and she's exhausted.

April feeds Harriet and watches from outside the room as they work on Georgia. Alex sits down next to her. They talk about them both being away from surgery.

Owen and Arizona tell Kara she doesn't need surgery, but they're monitoring her. She thought coming home was the right thing to do. She got used to being gone, but then she got the call about her dad dying and realized how much she'd missed. She didn't want to miss anymore. Owen offered to get someone from her family, but she said she couldn't face anyone. Arizona says her mom will forgive her, no matter how bad it gets. She should try.

Arizona asks Andrew if he knows where Georgia is. He asks if he needs to move. He understands and just asks if she can give him three weeks, since everything that happened ate up his savings. She tells him to stop and says she doesn't want him to move. He says everyone's mad at him. She seemed mad too. Arizona hugs him, but says she needs to find Georgia.

They're still working on Georgia. Arizona comes in and asks how long it's been. It's been 42 minutes. Maggie decides to stop. They pronounced her dead. Arizona says she doesn't need anything and leaves.

The family is shocked to learn that Georgia is dead. Julian thinks it was the crash that did her in. They want to know if Kara knows. Julian asks where she is.

Arizona comes into Kara's room and says she has bad news. Before she can tell Kara, Julian angrily enters and tells her that their mom is dead and Kara killed her. Kara starts to panic and so Arizona and Jo remove Julian from the room. But Kara's baby starts having decels, so they rush her into the OR for a c-section.

Meredith tells Nathan he's easy to hate. She hated him when they met. Now he's just a bloated corpse. Meredith says he should go out with Maggie and then just be terrible. Be a jerk. Nathan says being himself would be too - but she interrupts him and leaves.

Ben tells Bailey she's not a single parent. Bailey says Tucker is the fun parent. Punishment always falls on her. Ben says Tuck has three parents. He tells her to deputize him and let him handle it.

Amelia questions Maggie about Meredith's reaction when she talks about Riggs. Before she can answer, Stephanie tells them the morgue's on their way for Georgia. Amelia says to tell them to wait and nods to where the family is holding a makeshift funeral in the room with Georgia. Each person is taking a turn talking to her. Maggie continues that it's like Meredith doesn't want to hear it. At all. Like Maggie's annoying her. Maybe she is, but Meredith needs to be a sister. She'd do it for Meredith. Amelia says she'll listen anytime, but now's not the best time because Stephanie's right there. Stephanie says she's not listening, but Maggie asks how she knew to say that if she wasn't listening. The family was primed for a funeral, but not Georgia's. Maggie wishes she could forget things like Meredith. Amelia says she doesn't forget them. She just buries them. She thinks they're gone, but they are not. They always come back. Amelia says this is the problem where her moving out. With three, there was balance. Now there's chaos. They hear Morgan scream from inside the room. Morgan says Georgia squeezed her hand. They say it's residual reflexes, but then Georgia sits up in her bed. Stephanie proclaims that she loves her job.

Bailey questions the circumstances around Georgia. She prefers when they tell family members their loved ones are dead, they be correct. Richard thinks it was a miracle. Bailey tells them to go make sure not to lose her a second time.

April and Alex watch through a window as doctors work on a patient. They critique the doctors as they work. April misses the pace of work and can't wait to get back. Alex says at least she knows she's coming back. He leaves. April is overheard jeering and says they're doing great.

Jackson shows Tuck Andrew's scans and says that's what can happen when you punch people. Ben says he used to be a surgeon, but now he can't be because he's blind in one eye. And the guy who hit him will be in jail for a long time. He asks if Tuck wants to go to jail. Fighting leads you to jail or to situations like Andrew's.

Stephanie talks to Maggie and Amelia about Lazarus syndrome, which is extremely rare. Maggie asks her to be quiet to she can concentrate on the test. Stephanie doesn't think she's too enthusiastic about what is happening.

Arizona delivers Kara's baby and they learn that Georgia's not dead after all. She sends the baby to the NICU and asks for Karev to be paged. Owen reminds her he's in the clinic now and Arizona says just to take the baby to the NICU. Jo points out that Arizona doesn't know that Kara's mother will forgive her. Not every family is like that. It's not the kind of thing you can promise. Kara starts hemorrhaging.

In the scrub room, Nathan tells Meredith about Georgia. Meredith says she has to be gorked. Nathan says it could be a miracle. He asks if Meredith ever has the miracle dream. He has them. He rolls over and she's there, asking him to make coffee. Then he wakes up. Meredith says she never has. She leaves the room, but comes back and says there's a knock at the door. He says he forgot his keys and apologizes for being gone so long. She repeats that Georgia is gorked.

Amelia says she sees no neurological deficits. Georgia is awake and just says she's tired. She asks about Kara. Julian and Morgan are sure she's fine. Amelia says Kara's their sister. Maybe they've had problems, but she came back to her family. They should be celebrating being fine. Once the doctors are gone, Georgia tells them they deserved that.

April looks at the OR board while nearby nurses coo over Harriet. Jackson's surprised she's still there. She asks him about a patient. He notices that she's bored. She admits that she's bored. She loves Harriet, but all they do is stare. Harriet's a miracle, but she didn't know a miracle could be so boring. He sends her to check out a patient for herself and takes Harriet from the nurses.

Arizona brings Kara her baby. He's great. Julian and Morgan come in. They heard about the baby. They asks if she needs anything. She apologizes, but they say it's okay. Even their mom is okay. Arizona tells Jo they forgave her, but Jo thinks Arizona just got lucky.

Ben and Tuck come down the stairs and meet Bailey. Tuck hands over his phone for two weeks. He also says he'll never do it again and he'll apologize to the kid he hit. He also apologizes to his mom. She gives him her keys and tells him to wait in the car. Once he's gone, Bailey wonders what's wrong with them that they waited so long to deputize him.

Nathan sees Meredith outside the hospital and tells her Georgia's not gorked. She says it's great. Nathan says anything can happen and leaves. Amelia pushed Maggie toward Meredith and tells Meredith she needs to listen to Maggie talk. Amelia tells them not to make her move back in and leaves them. Meredith asks Maggie what she wants to talk about, but Maggie says she just wants to go get some food. Meredith agrees. Maggie asks if she has anything she wants to get off her chest. Meredith says no.

Alex looks into the NICU. Arizona says he's not supposed to be there. He heard about her emergency c-section. He knows she's pissed. She says she is. That baby deserved the best peds surgeon they have and he didn't get it because Alex screwed up. Alex agrees. He talks about his day in the clinic. He wanted to quit every five minutes, but he didn't quit. He says he's going to do whatever it takes because he wants to come back. That's the guy she trained and raised. She says she missed him today, but she's still really, really mad at him. He says he is, too.

Meredith's voiceover says tiny miracles are great, but it might not be enough to save them.


  • Meredith Grey
  • Alex Karev
  • Miranda Bailey
  • Richard Webber
  • Owen Hunt
  • Arizona Robbins
  • April Kepner
  • Jackson Avery
  • Amelia Shepherd
  • Jo Wilson
  • Stephanie Edwards
  • Maggie Pierce
  • Ben Warren
  • Nathan Riggs
  • Andrew DeLuca
  • Georgia Fisher
  • Morgan Fisher
  • Julian Fisher
  • Kara Fisher
  • Barbara Davis (left)
  • Lynne Fisher
  • Jason
  • Tuck
  • Nurse Gregory
  • Funeral Director #1

Main CastEdit

Guest StarsEdit


Medical NotesEdit

Morgan FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Panic attack
  • Treatment:
    • Supplemental oxygen

Morgan was in an accident. At the hospital, she had a panic attack, which her brother said wasn't her first of the day, but Maggie wanted to check out her heart and lungs to make sure they were okay. She was also given oxygen in the ER.

Julian FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Forehead laceration
    • Broken arm
  • Treatment:
    • Stitches
    • Casting

Julian was in a car accident that caused a cut on his forehead and broke his arm in two places.

Barbara DavisEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Forearm laceration
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:
    • Stitches

Barbara had stitches for a forearm laceration.

Carl FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Splenic rupture
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:

Carl's spleen was ruptured

Gene FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Broken ribs
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:

Gene had broken ribs.

Lynne FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Whiplash
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:

Lynne had whiplash from a car accident.

Kara FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
    • Pelvic fracture
  • Treatment:
    • C-section delivery
    • External fixation

Kara was in a car accident when she was 35 weeks pregnant. In the ER, she was worried because the baby wasn't kicking, but Arizona did an ultrasound, which showed a healthy heartbeat. Her pelvis was fractured and they sent her for a CT to check for additional bleeding. The CT showed torn vessels, but no active bleeding, so they monitored her instead of taking her into surgery because she and the baby were both stable. When the baby started having decels, Arizona rushed Kara to surgery to deliver the baby. Despite complications, they both came out of the surgery stable and Kara was awake after her surgery. She had external fixation for her pelvic fracture.

Meredith's PatientEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Mesenteric tear
  • Treatment:

Meredith had a patient with a possible mesenteric tear.

Nathan's PatientEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Hemothorax
  • Treatment:

Nathan had a patient with a hemothorax.

Georgia FisherEdit

  • Diagnosis:
    • Myocardial infarction
    • Lazarus syndrome
  • Treatment:

Georgia had a heart attack while holding her dead husband's hand. They attempted resuscitation for 40 minutes, but she was pronounced dead. However, twenty minutes after that, she sat up in her bed. After her revival, Maggie ran a TEE to make sure everything was fine. Georgia came out with no neuro deficits and woke up saying she only felt tired.


Song Performer Scene
"Blown" DNCE
  • Meredith, Alex, and Maggie talk about their lives as they drive to work.
  • Maggie tells Alex to call Riggs for all cardio consults to the clinic.
"Heart in My Hands" Andreya Triana
  • Arizona and Amelia examine Kara and say she's stable.
  • Kara tells them why she came to her dad's funeral.
  • She says she can't face her mom.
  • Arizona says her mom will always forgive her, no matter how bad it gets and she should try.
  • Arizona tells Andrew that she needs to find Georgia.
  • Andrew asks if he needs to move. Arizona says he doesn't.
  • She leaves him to find Georgia.
  • Amelia and Maggie continue the code on Georgia. It's been 42 minutes. They pronounce her dead.
"Diamond" Bandit Heart
  • Stephanie talks about Georgia's situation while they do a TEE.
  • Arizona delivered Kara's baby as they learn that Georgia's not dead.
  • Arizona sends the baby to the NICU and wants Alex paged, but is reminded that he's not there.
  • Jo says Kara's mom might not forgive her, but Arizona tells her to have some faith.
  • Kara starts crashing.
  • Nathan tells Meredith about Georgia, who thinks Georgia's gorked.
  • Nathan asks if Meredith's ever had the miracle dream. He's had it with Megan.
  • She says she hasn't, but comes back and admits that she has.
"Here I Am" Clare Maguire
  • Ben and Tuck come down the stairs. Tuck gives his phone to his mom.
  • At Ben's prompting, he says she'll have it for two weeks.
  • He also says he's sorry and he'll apologize and never do it again.
  • Bailey wonders why she took so long to deputize him.
  • Nathan tells Meredith that Georgia's not worked.
  • Amelia sits Maggie down next to Meredith and tells Meredith to listen to Maggie, because that's what a sister does.
  • Meredith tells Maggie she's listening.
  • Maggie says she wants to go get something to eat.
  • She asks Meredith if there's anything she wants to get off her chest.
  • Meredith says she doesn't.

Notes and TriviaEdit

Grey's Anatomy 13x03 Promo "I Ain't No Miracle Worker" (HD)


  • This episode's title originated from the song I Ain't No Miracle Worker, originally sung by The Brogues.
  • This episode scored 8.08 million viewers.
  • The table read for this episode took place on August 19, 2016.
  • Despite being the third episode, this is the first appearance of Jessica Capshaw as Arizona Robbins in season thirteen as she's absent in the first two episodes.
  • This episode marks the first appearance of little Tuck since Thriller, three seasons ago.


Episode StillsEdit

Behind the ScenesEdit


Maggie: I asked Riggs out. He said no.
Amelia: Wait, Riggs?
Maggie: Yeah. I'm trying not to be weird about it at work, and you just said I wasn't weird, so there. Not weird.
Meredith: Except for the part where you keep talking about it.

Nathan: You called me a good thing.
Meredith: Forget I said it.
Nathan: You ain't the boss of me.
Meredith: Actually, I own a big chunk of this hospital, so technically, I am.

Amelia: Marriage is like a bed and breakfast in Vermont, with sex.
Meredith: Until you have kids.
Amelia: And when I want the sex, I don't have to get out of bed and drive to the sex. I just roll right over.
Maggie: Can you stop it?
Amelia: Why would I want to stop it? Married sex is dirtier than I expected.
Maggie: Not the sex, the bragging. You're flashing your money after going to the ATM. We get it. You're sex-rich. It is not polite to brag in front of people who are sex-poor. Some of us are barely making ends meet.

Jackson: You are bored out of your freaking mind.
April: Oh, my God, I'm so bored. And I can't move as much as I want to, so we just sit and stare and stare and stare. And I love Harriet. I do, obviously. I mean, she's a miracle. She'll make a little face or, like, a little sound at me, and I'm just like dumbstruck with gratitude and joy. Just, like, delighted and amazed.
Jackson: Yeah.
April: But then the delight and amazement fades a little when she goes back to sleep. And I stare. I did not know a miracle could be so boring.

Arizona: What the hell is wrong with you?
Alex: Look, let's not do this. I've had enough lectures. I'm not in the mood for another one.
Arizona: Your job is to take care of children.
Alex: Look, Arizona...
Arizona: Your job is to take care of children. You want to throw your life away? Or your career? The career that I helped you build? I trained you. I had your back, and I always pushed for you, no matter what anybody said.

Arizona: I'm pissed. That baby deserved the best peds surgeon we have, and we didn't have him because you screwed up.
Alex: Yeah. Today, I froze a wart, diagnosed three sinus infections, gave someone a laxative and waited until they pooped. I wanted to quit every five minutes today. I wanted to walk out the damn door and never look back.
Arizona: So now you're gonna complain?
Alex: That's the point. I'm not. I'm gonna do my time, work in the clinic, and help people. I want to come back, and I'm gonna do whatever it takes, and I'm not quitting. And that's the guy you trained and raised and whatever, so... Okay?
Arizona: I missed you today. But I'm still really, really mad at you.
Alex: I know. Me too.

Nathan: You ever have that dream?
Meredith: What dream?
Nathan: The miracle dream. I'd roll over in bed, and there she was, asking me to go make coffee. So real. Then I'd wake up.
Meredith: No, never had that dream. (She leaves and comes back.) A knock at the door.
Nathan: Sorry?

See AlsoEdit

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