Seattle Grace: Message of Hope - 1 ª Season

In a conference room at the hospital, Karen, a P.R. rep, tells Richard that the shooting has been a nightmare for the hospital's public relations and that the hospital is still in crisis mode, and therefore people are afraid to come to the hospital. Richard tries to brush her off, saying that he knows what to say. Karen tells him the board doesn't think so and that's why they hired her. She then shows him a news interview he did. The interviewer asks him how a gunman could've gotten into the hospital. "Anyone can just walk in with a gun?" the interviewer asks. Richard assures him that that's not possible as the hospital has security guards. "Unarmed security guards," the interviewer says. Richard then tries to change the subject and to respond as eloquently as possible to the interviewer's questions. Only his answers are in the montage, making him look bad. The montage ends with Richard screaming "No comment!". "Dealing with the media is like catching a bus. You do it right, you get where you wanna go. You do it wrong, you will get run over," Karen says. She then says they need to control the message and show the hospital's positive side. She proposes that they make a couple of sizzle reels, explaining to Richard these will be like commercials for the hospital. Richard declines the offer, saying he doesn't need a sizzle reel, nor a P.R. expert. He thinks his interview on the news was good. Suddenly, April comes in. She realizes she's disturbing and wants to go, but Richard asks her about the interview before she can do so. She smiles awkwardly and clearly makes up some good notes. Richard then realizes it was bad and Richard relents.

We'll have the synopsis for you soon.

April promotes the hospital in an imaging room. Jackson is in there with a patient, while April is promoting the hospital's patient care and facilities. Behind the camera, Richard says that Karen was completely right. Karen is looking at Jackson and says that that's the face. Richard thinks that she's talking about April, and agrees, saying she's bright and perky. Karen then yells "Cut!" and makes some changes to make the next take more dynamic. She switches April with Jackson. She tells the make-up girl to do something about April's lips as they look dry. She then says to another make-up girl, who wanted to start working on Jackson, that that won't be necessary as Jackson doesn't need any touching up. Karen then suggests giving Jackson the lines as he's in the front. April asks what she should do as she learned the lines, but Karen says she gets to operate the machine. She objects that that's the tech's job, but Karen says it's creative liberties. Richard asks to have a word with her, saying that April is a doctor, not a tech. Karen says she knows that, but that she'd like a doctor as Dr. Avery to take out her gallbladder. Karen then mentions Massachusetts General Hospital, saying that that hospital is so successful because they listened to her from the beginning. She then suggests that Richard fires "bright and perky" from the campaign as well. April overhears her talking, and asks who they are gonna send off. Richard then asks her to have a word, clearly feeling uncomfortable with what he has to do.

Jackson is repeating his lines before filming. Karen starts cheering him up and giving him compliments. She then opens a button of Jackson's shirt. When Richard asks her about this, she says that women choose the hospital for their family, and that Avery's eyes will make them choose Seattle Grace Mercy West. The crew then gets ready for filming, but Jackson is still somewhat uncomfortable. He starts laughing, saying he's just nervous when the camera is on him. Richard tries to ease him, suggesting to try it with his eyes closed. Karen says that would be crazy as she really likes his eyes. She tells Richard to let her handle it and gives Jackson five minutes. While Richard suggests that they may be able to piece together something out of what they already recorded from April and Owen, Karen suddenly realizes that Richard should be the one on screen. Richard is still doubting. "Chief, you wanna fire me? No hard feelings, Hunt and Kepner already told me the drill," Jackson says, while he's getting snacks at a small snack buffet. Karen says he's perfect and asks herself why she didn't think about Richard sooner.

Richard is practicing his lines. Karen comes over. They really have to start now. He just has to be himself, but lose the glasses first. They take their positions and start filming. Karen reminds Richard to smile while talking, but she cuts. They forgot the award cart. Someone rolls over the cart with all the awards, which turn out to be not even Richard's own awards. Karen decides to just skip to the family part. They bring over a family that supposedly was just told that the dad is now officially cancer-free. To sell this, Karen wants them all to hug. Richard objects that in a situation like this, the patient would be in recovery and not going home, so no hugs. Karen then wants to settle for a really big smile, but even that's difficult for Richard. She agrees to let go of the awards, but since this is a message of hope, she needs him to show a little compassion and emotion. It's for the sizzle reel. Richard blurts out that the sizzle reel is not working. The man that supposedly just got cured from cancer doesn't look sick at all. The large issue is that Richard would never do any of these things, nor say the things that are written on his text cards. Karen says they're losing them; the board is expecting to see something tomorrow morning. Richard says this is not how things work around here. In that case, Karen says, he should pitch instead of bitch. What do they do around here then? Richard starts thinking.