ABC
Get ready for all the ups and downs of this week’s emotional landslide because in true Grey’s style, the winter finale – though not packing much of a cliffhanger – is going to take you for a ride!
Meredith Grey is awake! Well, long enough to have a very heart-warming and touching, and honestly sort of funny, conversation with Tom Koracick, who is on the road to recovery (presumably) and who has been snuck into her room.
It’s sort of tragically beautiful the way we’re getting to see the raw humanity behind the ass that is Koracick … desperately wanting to know his now deceased hospital roommate’s full name for his prayers … it’s easy to forget a few seasons ago how he told Kepner that he re-found God … but getting to see him like this is a reckoning. The laughter that they share – even if it does pain Mer’s lungs – is precious, probably because humor in these darkened times is so rare. (Treasure it because it’s really all we get this episode – and definitely all we’re getting until March of 2021!)
And then she pulls a Derek – has to go save a life at the risk of her own – and BAM. Right back to the COVID-induced Dream Beach. (Because someone was coding in the room across the hall, she hobbled out of bed, intubated the coding patient, and promptly collapsed in Helm’s arms.) And now she’s on a vent. But are we really surprised? This is the same show that let us watch Derek Shepherd flatline three different times before he actually died. And Meredith has been dead before. So we’re right back where we started with Mer and her COVID, but at least she got to speak to DeLuca and be happy for a few moments with her sisters and with Tom.
Maggie, who rails a justified and righteous rant (though poorly aimed at Amelia) about the injustice of people of color in the world, and particularly in the pandemic, does get one good thing out of this episode. MysteryWintston shows up at her door (her hotel room door) after cutting her off in a phone call earlier, telling her that the long distance thing wasn’t working out. Apparently what he meant was ‘I need to be on the show more full-time and less screen-time’ so POOF now he’s in Seattle. (And they hugged it out – without masks despite his TRAVELING ACROSS THE COUNTRY and probably not actually quarantining for 14 days – and even if he did – she’s on the COVID-ward at the hospital …)
ABC
Teddy’s trying to come to terms with her self-destructive life choices after Richard gave her a telling off that honestly? She deserved. And maybe this is just another case of ‘doesn’t believe she deserves happiness’, but man oh man did it blow up in her face when she tried to explain it to Owen. ‘Our daughter is named after a lie.’ BOOM. Well, guess that’s over. (Maybe, when Koracick survives his COVID and finishes his ‘Who Wants to Date a Neuro Surgeon’ app, she can apply.)
No Kim this week (no idea if he’s still a series regular.) Barely any Jo (she’s still on the ‘baby-train’) or Schmidt, though he did get the intake on our heinous redhead sex-trafficking psycho. SO glad DeLuca (conveniently) ran into Carina in the parking lot and they’re going to tail her – she had the good sense to say she’d drive. (Like Bailey, I’m super proud that they’re making his character arc true to the responsibility of dealing with mental illness, knowing that he has to set reminders to go home, get sleep, take his meds, etc.) and Bailey – that speech DeLuca gave her about even SuperWoman needs to take a minute – was so SO pertinent.
No Link this week either (home with the kids, while Amelia is doing things at the hospital.) And Amelia – having to come in to do surgery on our crossover-patients – THAT was intense.
I’m not a Station 19 fan, supporter, or even watcher. But this week was a must-watch because there was so much Ben (and his sister Roz and Tuck and whatever Tuck’s foster brother’s name is.) And they were dealing with the fallout of Bailey’s mom dying. But more importantly, the stark, raw reality of white privilege, racism, and police brutality, which carries over to Grey’s. (The last five minutes of Station 19 alone is emotionally on-par with any gut-punching episode of Grey’s in the canon, and the sad, harsh truth is that is the reality for persons of color living in this world – whether they’re fire fighters or victims.)
The fact that Jackson – who’s also minimally featured this week – was able to use his mighty financial prowess to get that poor, innocent, mother (a victim in the sex-trafficking/police violence carryover from Station 19) out of lock-up, hits the nail on the head. He even says as much to Hayes: ‘Money is the only language this country understands.’
Two of the three powerful quotes actually come from Jackson this week – despite his only being present for a scene or two. The one about money and the one he tells the teenaged sex-trafficking victim, ‘That’s what growing up is all about, you’re supposed to be able to make a few mistakes and live through it.’ And she almost didn’t.
Grey’s is slamming the social justice hammer like Thor, battling the pandemic, and still finding ways to make our hearts explode. And now we have to wait until March to find out if DeLuca catches up with the sex-trafficking villain, if Teddy can ever heal herself enough to reconcile her life, and who Meredith will encounter next – we hope it’s some more McDreamy and maybe also some Lexi – on her beach.
What did you think of this episode? Start a conversation in the comments section below.
Share this post
