"Bring the Pain" is the fifth episode of the second season of the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 series, Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

. The episode was written by Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is an American screenwriter, director and producer. Rhimes is best known as the creator, head writer, and executive producer of acclaimed television series Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off Private Practice. In May 2007, Rhimes was named one of Time magazine's 100 Time 100 people who...

 and was directed by Mark Tinker

Mark Tinker

Mark Tinker is an American television producer and director. Tinker was an executive producer and regular director on the HBO original series, Deadwood. Prior to Deadwood, Tinker served as a director/producer on NYPD Blue which was co-created by Deadwood writer, David Milch. Tinker has also...

. It originally aired on Sunday October 23, 2005, running for 42:11 min.

Starring

• Ellen Pompeo
  Ellen Pompeo
  Ellen Kathleen Pompeo is an American actress, known for playing the title role of Meredith Grey on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.-Early life:...
  
   as Dr. Meredith Grey.
• Sandra Oh
  Sandra Oh
  Sandra Oh is a Canadian actress. She is best known for the role of Dr. Cristina Yang on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, for which she has won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award. She also played notable roles in the feature films Under the Tuscan Sun and Sideways, and had a supporting role on the...
  
   as Dr. Cristina Yang.
• Katherine Heigl
  Katherine Heigl
  Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and producer. She is possibly best known for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on ABC's Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2010, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series in 2007...
  
   as Dr. Izzie Stevens.
• Justin Chambers
  Justin Chambers
  Justin W. Chambers is an American actor and former Calvin Klein male fashion model. As of 2005, he is starring in the ABC drama series Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Alex Karev....
  
   as Dr. Alex Karev.
• T.R. Knight as Dr. George O'Malley.
• Chandra Wilson
  Chandra Wilson
  Chandra Danette Wilson is an American actress and director, best known as Dr. Miranda Bailey in the ABC television drama, Grey's Anatomy.-Early life:...
  
   as Dr. Miranda Bailey.
• James Pickens, Jr.
  James Pickens, Jr.
  James Pickens, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Webber on the ABC drama television series Grey's Anatomy, and for his supporting role as Deputy Director Alvin Kersh on later seasons of the Fox Network science fiction series The X-Files.- Early life...
  
   as Dr. Richard Webber.
• Isaiah Washington
  Isaiah Washington
  Isaiah Washington IV is an American actor. A veteran of several Spike Lee films, Washington is best known for his role as Dr. Preston Burke on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy from 2005 to 2007.-Personal life:...
  
   as Dr. Preston Burke.
• Patrick Dempsey
  Patrick Dempsey
  Patrick Galen Dempsey is an American actor, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to Grey's Anatomy he made several television appearances and was nominated for an Emmy Award...
  
   as Dr. Derek Shepherd.

Episode Recap

Meredith and Dr. Shepherd have to use more than medicine when a young Asian woman’s traditionalist, religious father forbids her to have a life-saving operation unless a shaman is called upon to "retrieve her souls". Meanwhile, the chief of surgery does not have a backup generator when the hospital needs one. This means than George and Alex are forced to perform surgery in a trapped elevator in an attempt to save a patient’s life. George shows his potential while Alex shuns the challenge, and it is decision time for Derek and the two women in his life.

Premise

In the official writer's blog for the show, Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is an American screenwriter, director and producer. Rhimes is best known as the creator, head writer, and executive producer of acclaimed television series Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off Private Practice. In May 2007, Rhimes was named one of Time magazine's 100 Time 100 people who...

 noted the following about this episode:

"Bring the Pain" was originally conceived, written and shot to be the finale of Grey's Anatomy's first season. But then we aired after Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

and, well…everything changed. Ratings, timeslots, a really great audience following…it was mind blowing and humbling for all of us. The network made a decision — our first season needed to end in conjunction with DH's season. And so suddenly, the arrival of Derek's wife became our perfect season-ending cliffhanger

Cliffhanger

A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...

. And this episode became one of a series of big episodes to launch our second season. But if you watch it with that in mind — the fact that this was the final episode — you can see me trying to bring the characters full circle from the pilot

Television pilot

A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

.

Music

• "When I Come Home" - Blue Eyed Son
• "Yellow Horse" - Cowboy Racer
• "Love in the Making" - Róisín Murphy
  Róisín Murphy
  Róisín Marie Murphy is an Irish singer-songwriter and record producer, known for her electronic style.Murphy first came to note as part of the electronic music duo Moloko. Her partner in the band was then-boyfriend Mark Brydon. After the two ended their romantic relationship, Murphy released her...
  
  
• "I Hear the Bells" - Mike Doughty
  Mike Doughty
  Mike Doughty is an American indie and alternative rock singer-songwriter. He led the band Soul Coughing in the 1990s, and in the 2000s, became a solo artist...
  
  
• "Don't Forget Me" - Way Out West
• "Not Tonight" - Tegan and Sara
  Tegan and Sara
  Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie band composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin . Both Tegan and Sara play guitar and keyboard and write songs.-History:...