ABC
Once again — NOT a crossover!!! Not really. What they achieved with the anxiety and the build-up with Bailey could absolutely have been experienced as a stand-alone event. (It actually weakens the whole viewer experience watching Bailey go through what she goes through knowing what we know.)
But the way they built up Bailey’s whole meltdown of barely keeping it together, wondering whether or not the DOA Firefighter of Station 19 is going to be Ben Warren was striking. It was not. And spoilers, in case you didn’t get sucked into watching ‘What We Lost In The Fire’ but still care about the characters- – it’s Miller. They lost Miller. And they almost lost Vic Hughes too, but she’s going to be fine. (Izzie-George all over again — it’s even Season 5 — just a spin-off show instead of the original series!)
The bigger impact of this week’s episode was Hunt. Watching him spiral out as his PTSD was triggered by what he initially thought was a bomb (and you later learn — or already know if you watched the Station 19 episode is that it was a gas line nicked during construction that caused two separate explosions.) The way they capture the audio-visual experience of Owen going through the PTSD trigger is really impressive and about as accurate as you’re going to get on the televisual medium. What’s even more impressive (because PTSD does not ever go away) is that he still has the experience, but calls his coping strategies into play. It was a great balance.
Megan Hunt — who may or may not be dating McWidow now? There was conversation about ‘having had a drink’, and it does make me wonder since we skip-blipped right over the dating with Mer and Hayes during the break between Seasons 17 & 18, if we’ve skipped over the Megan & Hayes date between episodes 4 & 5. At any rate — she basically busts her way into the surgery (on her son) while Hayes supervises/assists and Winston operates. Winston is getting chummy/friendly with Webber and we get texts from Maggie. (Just like we got texts from Alex when he was ‘gone but not yet gone-gone’) And he managed to get through Farouk’s surgery just fine. (We overstep all the lines … but it is Grey-Sloan.)
Hunt even came to bat at the end, after Hayes went and hunted him down, telling Megan she didn’t have to go at it alone; he and Teddy are her family and there for her! And speaking of family being there for each other — we’ve got Jo melting down over ‘what happens to Luna if I die?’ And of course Link makes a hilarious joke but ultimately reassures her that he’s got Luna, no question.
This is all brought about because of the epic tragedy of losing Miller (from Station 19). Because he has a two-year old daughter whom he’s sort of verbally left behind to — you guessed it — the care of Benjamin Warren and Miranda Bailey. Which Ben of course agreed to without ever actually discussing it with his wife. (They do that. Change careers. Adopt kids. Have heart attacks. All without ever discussing a damn thing. I suppose their marriage is built on the ’tis better to ask forgiveness than permission’ rule.)
And of course Bailey balks. Which is really hard to do in the face of immediate tragedy. And Ben even throws up ‘you brought home Joey without asking.’ And Bailey is 100% right. There is a HUGE difference between an 18-year old boy and a 2-year old girl. But the truth comes out; she’s terrified that because she has always wanted a little girl to love, to teach her how to have her own voice in the world, that she will love this girl and that Miller’s parents will come in and take her away (because Miller never made it official on paper he wanted his baby girl to be adopted by Ben and Miranda.) And — for the moment — it looks like Miranda caves. (To be seen and determined in future episodes. But it’ll be like having Tuck all over again perhaps?)
ABC
On the other side of — well the middle of the country — we’re still getting cute-sy date-flirts with Dr. McTransplant (though PG-13, folks — all chastity belts are on!) and Mer. AND there is definitely the hot and flirty vibe with Dr. Kai Bartley and Amelia. The pair of them have this delightfully awkward conversation where Amelia unabashedly explains that she’s single, despite having a beautiful son back home, and Bartley — well — they play coy and say they are married. To the lab. Non-binary visibility is at the forefront of the season this season and it’s amazing. And the flirtation between Bartley and Amelia reminds us all of every character Amelia has ever flirted with (which could be good or bad for poor Dr. Bartley … see the wrecked messes in which Amelia left Owen and Link.)
Oh, and Koracick popped up. Being the ego-brain that he is. Pissing off Dr. Hamilton, causing Meredith to have to go to bat to defend her choices. She’s not wrong — ‘The FDA is not going to block a potential cure for Parkinson’s because of Tom Koracick’s questionable choices and braggy sexual proclivity’. (Hamilton is pissed because Koracick is a big braggy jerk … who apparently slept with his daughter. Meredith goes to great pains to point out that his daughter was a legal, consenting adult who was in no way coerced and that Hamilton is just pissed because Koracick is Koracick. And that that shouldn’t impede the project.)
All-in-all a solid episode … despite the continuing absence of Maggie, the questionable split-time between Mer’s life in Seattle and Minnesota, and how heartbroken Link is going to be if things really do heat up between Amelia and Kai. Though he does sort of have Jo as a maybe-fall back? Next week has us geared up for Thanksgiving, and the very real horrors of flight cancellations.
What did you think of this episode? Start a conversation in the comments section below.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9:00 PM on ABC.
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