Last week on Grey’s Anatomy, Derek Shepherd stepped into the spotlight, saving a co-worker’s legs and life. This week, Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) steps into it, testing her ethics while trying to save a patient — a 10-year-old whose parents have millions to donate to the hospital. Could Arizona bring Seattle Grace out of economic turmoil? Capshaw tells TVGuide.com about the challenges her character will face, the upcoming speed bumps for Arizona and Callie (Sara Ramirez) and the possibility for wedding bells at Seattle Grace…

TVGuide.com: What can you tell us about the Arizona-centric episode?
I have a patient who I fight very hard for. Everybody feels strongly about it and it’s a very high-stakes episode. It’s life or death. The episode speaks to the whole idea that money runs a hospital. The chief [James Pickens Jr.] is having a hard time figuring out how to make the hospital ascend the ranks of the numbers game, [and] money helps make that happen. Arizona’s case happens to be with a set of parents who have the ability to give or not give in a very consequential way.

TVGuide.com: Arizona seems to have a pretty straight moral compass. How will she feel in making these decisions based on money?
Yeah, she’s a little perfect that way [Laughs]. This episode has all of that in mind, but at the same time, we are all only human and we can all only ever do the best that we can. Sometimes the best we can, in her case, leaves her a little more vulnerable to the elements and to the story and what’s happening. She has to make choices that are very hard as a surgeon, but also as a pre-eminent doctor in a hospital that is part of the reason that people are giving money or not giving money.

TVGuide.com: This episode also features Arizona’s birthday.
She has a birthday and very in line with Arizona’s character, who is not about herself and just very clear about who she is, she’s not the one to be asking for balloons and candles. She thinks it’s a day like any other day. There is a party, but it’s not one that she knows about. Given that in this particular episode we’ve centered on her professional and personal life, the two definitely crossover. She doesn’t have the typical reaction to someone going out of their way to throw them a big party.

TVGuide.com: What’s in store for the future of Callie and Arizona’s relationship?
This season has been about cementing a very mature and grounded relationship and taking it forward. This is a drama, of course; there will be conflict, but for the time being, they’re enjoying being in a relationship that seems stable.

TVGuide.com: We have not seen Callie and Arizona get intimate this season. Sara Ramirez said they probably are. What’s your take on that?
Definitely, of course it’s happening. They’re in a committed relationship. It’s like the beginnings of any relationship, but I think they’re very much together and all of that is happening. I’m sure that we’ll have our time.

TVGuide.com: Callie has vacillated about her sexuality. Could that be an issue that comes up?
There’s definitely ample opportunity for that to happen. Obviously the halls of Seattle Grace have been well known for missteps. These are doctors, they’re in intense situations and their personal lives follow suit. They make mistakes. They kiss the wrong people, they sleep with the wrong people, they sleep with the right people, they kiss the right people. We get to see how things unfold and if there’s forgiveness. Callie could find another guy or girl. Her playing field is vast.

TVGuide.com: Will Sloane (Eric Dane) and Arizona butt heads because they’ve slept with the same woman?
In a way it’s implied that they might. Whenever there’s been a chance to play that I am intimidated by him or being standoffish, I’ve always chosen to make it very playful. It’s much more Arizona’s style to find it very amusing.

TVGuide.com: Could there be wedding bells for Callie and Arizona?
There’s probably a lot more stuff that has to happen before that happens. Listen, being that I’ve been married for five years now and I’ve been with my husband for nearly eight, you have to make sure you’re with the right person and you need the groundwork to be laid. I don’t think they’re going to get married just to get married. As Arizona goes, I think she has incredible discipline and she does, as you said, have a very strict moral compass and marriage would not be something she would jump into without giving it a great amount of thought.

TVGuide.com: Arizona refers to her family a lot. Will we meet her dad?
I hope that we do. They’ve certainly set it up that we could and it would be a great opportunity to take advantage of.

TVGuide.com: Arizona has been much less fazed by the merger. Is she just superconfident?
It’s sort of funny, she never thinks she’s wrong and you don’t hate her for it. There’s no ego though, she just always thinks she’s right and she is. Cristina wanted to get on my service because no one was going to let go of the person that saves babies, so maybe that’s part of it. In Thursday’s episode, it will be revealed whether or not she’s worth her weight in gold and how important she is.

TVGuide.com: You’re such a trouper. You just had a kid, and yet here you are out promoting the season finale.
Chyler Leigh: Hey, I love what I do so…

TVGuide.com: How was this pregnancy versus your previous ones?
Leigh: Oh, it was wonderful. It was my third baby, so I knew more about what was to be expected and listening to my body and whatnot. Yet while it was easier in a lot of ways, this was the first time where I worked throughout the entire pregnancy. And it will be the last time! But everybody was so cool on the set, bringing me stools to sit on, and bringing me water….

TVGuide.com: Does a part of you wish Grey’s had written it into your storyline?
Leigh: You know, at first I was like, “That’d be a really great thing,” but looking back, I’m glad they didn’t. It would have been way too much too soon [for Lexie and Mark].

TVGuide.com: Did you enjoy the episode where they had Lexie binge-eating?
Leigh: Oh god. [Laughs] When that first came up, I was like, “OK, I get it.” But I swear I gained an extra three pounds in that episode.

TVGuide.com: Meredith had that funny line about anxious Lexie’s butt getting “huge.”
Leigh: Yeah, a big, fat ass. I was like, “That’s sweet. Thanks, guys.”

TVGuide.com: The last time we spoke, you lamented the fact that Mer hadn’t yet warmed up to her half-sister. You must be happy they have since reached a détente.
Leigh: Yeah, I’m really glad that they developed that more. I’m such a fan of the show anyway, but when she asked Lexie to be a bridesmaid, that was such a huge thing in their relationship. From Lexie’s perspective, to be a part of something that big really took their relationship to the next level.

TVGuide.com: What’s going on with Meredith’s wedding anyway?
Leigh: They’re still planning on getting married; it’s just a matter of when and how.

TVGuide.com: I must tell you that about half the mail our Mega Buzz column gets is about Lexie and Mark. Why do you think they have struck such a chord?
Leigh: I think it was just so unexpected. For me personally, when I found out about the storyline, I was like, “What? I don’t get it.” But you’re now seeing these two characters individually grow. There’s only so much of the “manwhore” story you can do, as far as Mark goes, and keep it interesting.

TVGuide.com: Yeah, Eric Dane must have welcomed this story as well.
Leigh: It’s far more interesting when you see somebody accepting change, and being proactive about it. Because the relationship between them is so new and unexpected, it raises the maturity level in both of them.

TVGuide.com: So what’s next for them? What’s the next big step after his meeting Papa Grey?
Leigh: Well… that comes up in the finale. I can’t tell you what it is specifically, but it does definitely throw Lexie off, when Mark wants to take it to the next level. She’s got all of her ducks in a row as far as what she wants for her career. Now, to have fallen into a relationship that she wasn’t expecting, throws some of those plans off. It will be interesting to see what happens next season.

TVGuide.com: For all those Mark-Lexie fans, will the season end for them on a high note or a low one?
Leigh: Oh, it’ll end on a high note. It is definitely good.

TVGuide.com: Last week when Lexie was helping George with the traumas, I literally had to remind myself that those two were on the cusp of romance last fall. Were you disappointed that story got dropped?
Leigh: At first I was. I was like, “Wait a minute? What happened?” I think, though, that the reality was that George was the first person who cared about her, in any way, and gave her any sort of positive affirmation or welcome to the hospital. He was the first smiling face that she saw, and there was an infatuation factor in that — “I want to keep that around; I need that from somebody.” But the depth to it wasn’t as genuine as what we’re seeing with Mark.

TVGuide.com: There are rumors that the season finale features a big — perhaps tragic — development for George. Is it possible that you’ve had your last scene with T.R. Knight?
Leigh: Not that I know of. Not that I know of. I know nothing, and it’s still too early to say; we literally just wrapped [production]. I haven’t been told anything, and I’m not even sure T.R. knows, or even what’s going on with [regards to] Katie [Heigl] and all that stuff, I don’t know if anybody knows what’s going to happen.

TVGuide.com: So, as far as you know, you expect to see the same ol’ gang on the set next season?
Leigh: As far as I know!

Maybe you just watched the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. And maybe you’re freaking out. Oh, who am I kidding, you are freaking out. Well, good news: I just got off the phone with series creator Shonda Rhimes and obtained exclusive intel on last night’s jaw-dropping climax. Will Izzie and John Doe George survive? Was that really Meredith and Derek’s wedding we witnessed? Is Jessica Capshaw here to stay? Yep. Rhimes answered all those questions and even found time to address the “ghost sex” controversy, Katherine Heigl’s Emmy chances, TR Knight’s alleged unhappiness, and more. So before you combust from the excitement of it all, I give you this, my first-ever one-on-one with the one and only Shonda Rhimes.

Rumors have been swirling all year that Katherine and TR wanted off the show. The season ends with both their characters’ lives hanging in the balance. Purely coincidental?
SHONDA RHIMES: I don’t think there are any coincidences. I think Katherine’s stated publicly that she’s happy to stay. I think that there have been lots of rumors about TR, but TR’s never said anything. Take from it what you will.

This kind of cliffhanger almost seems tailor-made to capitalize on some of those headlines and generate buzz.
RHIMES: You have to remember, I have two shows. It’s not as if I spend a lot of time reading the press. We talk about stuff in the writers’ room that other people have read, but, mostly, we were really moving on character. Every year at the beginning of the season I pitch what the end of the season is going to be. And I literally sat down and pitched the last 10 minutes of this season at the beginning of the season, so we were headed towards the place that we knew we were going to go.

Do you know which one of them lives and which one of them dies?
RHIMES: Yes. And I don’t know that you should be saying “which one of them lives and which one of them dies.” I know what happens to the characters.
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