Emotions will get so strained in "Grey's Anatomy" Season 13, Episode 8, "The Room Where It Happens," you could cut the tension with a scalpel.

The episode promo (watch below) is set in the operating room, showing Dr. Meredith Grey pulling rank on both Dr. Richard Webber and Dr. Owen Hunt, as the voice-over ominously warns, "A power struggle could have deadly consequences."

Webber: "We need to discuss the options."

Meredith: "No we don't."

Webber: "Why not?"

Mer: "I outrank you."

Hunt: "My patient is fighting for his life."

Mer: "He's not your patient."

In the new sneak peek, we see Webber quizzing Dr. Stephanie Edwards on the "John Doe" he, Stephanie, Owen, Meredith are working on. Stephanie starts talking about the patient's injuries, and Webber interrupts to ask more about him as a person, saying they don't know if the man had a family, if he was a "good" guy or a "bad" guy.

Webber: "What do we need to know in order to do our jobs and not simply be mechanics?"

Owen: "We're not being mechanics!"

Webber: "You're treating this patient like a sack of organs on a table!"

So Webber says they're going to play a game. They'll "make" the patient someone, anyone they want, but not a John Doe. No one else seems to be on his wavelength -- Owen thinks he's wasting their time -- but they may come around to his way of thinking ... once he explains his way of thinking. It doesn't seem like they should need to know or care about the patient's personal history, but this may be what takes the characters into their own pasts, bringing those personal experiences into the OR. The episode synopsis hints to a direction like that.

Here's the ABC synopsis:

"The Room Where It Happens" - A difficult surgery brings back pivotal memories for Meredith, Richard, Owen and Stephanie, as they work together to save a life, on "Grey's Anatomy," THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC.

Here's the promo, and the sneak peek:Want more stuff like this? Like us on Facebook.