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Grey’s Anatomy Recap: A Can of Worms

Grey’s Anatomy

Don’t Stop Me Now
Season 13 Episode 21
Editor’s Rating 3 stars

Grey’s Anatomy

Don’t Stop Me Now
Season 13 Episode 21
Editor’s Rating 3 stars
Ellen Pompeo as Meredith, Martin Henderson as Riggs. Photo: Mitch Haaseth/ABC

Worms, you guys. So many worms. Yes, much more emotional stuff went down in “Don’t Stop Me Now,” but attention must be paid to those worms.

You know what? If a gut full of worms puts gross-out aficionado Richard Webber in his happy place, we should allow it. That guy needs to spend a little time in his happy place!

The worms arrive at Grey Sloan Memorial via a very unsuspecting and very lovestruck young lady named Mary. She and her boyfriend, Dennis, are in lurve. Like, barf-inducing love. Stephanie’s eye rolls are all of our eye rolls. Dennis promises to be there through anything. Well, except for that time when April rushes into the room, having just pulled a worm out of the puke Mary spat all over April’s hair, and they all realize Mary has a big ol’ belly full of worms. Dennis won’t be there through that. He is disgusted. We all are.

Bailey, however, thinks that since Richard is in a lovely worm-induced happiness, it would be the perfect time for her to attempt to fix his and Catherine’s relationship. She feels guilty, you see. So, she decides to take on Catherine — even if she is the one human whom Bailey fears — and enlists April to work on Webber while they’re deworming their patient. Of course, the fact that Dennis possibly bailed on Mary once he heard about the worms makes it easy for April to work in some pointed thoughts about people not being perfect and giving the person you love a second chance. (Don’t worry, lovers of love — Dennis sheepishly returns to Mary.) It also very easily allows Webber to talk about how sometimes when you find ugliness inside a person, you have the right to walk away.

As you can surmise, April gets nowhere with Webber. After April reminds Bailey that she and Catherine are basically the same person, Bailey casts her Catherine fears aside and goes to talk some sense into the woman. Look at April giving pep talks! In other news, remember when April and Jackson hooked up a few weeks ago? Are we just never going to talk about that again? What happens near a Montana bar owned by Eric Roberts stays near a Montana bar owned by Eric Roberts?

Back to the Bailey at hand. She marches in to see Catherine, and though it starts off rocky, she launches into a Very Bailey Speech about Catherine setting her ego aside so that she can be with a man who loves and respects her. Since Bailey Speeches always work, it’s enough to convince Catherine to find her man and apologize for the Minnick situation. Honestly, we all deserve an apology for that, but beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.

Instead, we’re given a very cute scene in which Catherine simply says she’s sorry and Webber invites her into his on-call room to look at pictures of him removing worms out of a human person’s body. Okay, now Webber is truly in his happy place.

There are some figurative worms in “Don’t Stop Me Now,” too. By which I mean the whole can of worms that gets cracked open by a press conference for our airplane heroes, Meredith and Riggs. As the two docs recount what happened on their flight (they couldn’t bring the pediatric dentist in for an interview or something? Come on!), Maggie, standing in the crowd like the proud little sister she is, notices Riggs rubbing Meredith’s shoulder in a more-than-just-friends kind of way. When Meredith catches Maggie’s eye, it’s clear that Maggie knows.

She was planning on telling Maggie that day, too! Instead of having a sisterly heart-to-heart, as Meredith had hoped and rehearsed for, Maggie wavers between avoiding Meredith completely and making snide comments about her new relationship all day. The real crux of the episode is their eventual blowout argument. Mer has had enough of Maggie’s jerk attitude. She is sorry that she didn’t tell her, sorry that she hurt her, and she wants them to talk about it. When Maggie finds out that Meredith and Riggs have been, well, Meredith and Riggs since before Amelia and Owen’s wedding, she really lets her sister have it. Maggie’s own mother lied to her, and she thought Meredith never would. She trusted Meredith to be honest. Meredith was all she had left. It makes the whole Meredith-Riggs-Maggie shenanigans much more than two girls fighting over a boy. It’s really about trust between (new-ish) sisters. It’s a great moment.

Back at the homestead, Meredith and Amelia head out for a sister unwinding, but Meredith finds Maggie drinking wine alone on the couch. Maggie wants nothing to do with her, but Meredith won’t stand for it. She’s not losing Maggie over some guy. She’s going out whether she likes it or not. They’re sisters! Maggie gets that — she might be mad at Meredith, but she still loves her, too. A girls night it is.

Praise be, you guys! I thought we’d be dragging the Meredith and Maggie fight out for several episodes. Perhaps it’s a reward for sitting through episode after episode of Meredith going back-and-forth on her feelings for Riggs. Man, that was brutal.

Speaking of brutal, Veronica and Jeremy are back. You remember them, right? The pair of best friends who tore our hearts out when they revealed they were having a baby together and that Veronica has aggressive pancreatic cancer and will pretty much only live long enough to give birth? You know, the Veronica who talked about seeing Jeremy watch Star Wars with their child, and the Jeremy who wept when he learned his best friend was dying? THOSE TWO.

They’re back, and Veronica isn’t doing well. Her cancer has spread and Amelia thinks she only has two or three months to live. Arizona and Alex want to deliver the baby now, even if she’s only at 34 weeks. It’s risky, especially with all the stress Veronica’s body is under, but it’s the best option for the baby. It’s a no-brainer for Veronica and Jeremy. They’re having their baby today.

When Veronica has Amelia and Arizona alone, she asks to fill out a DNR. She’s already dying, and if something should go wrong in surgery, she doesn’t want to leave Jeremy with the burden of making that decision. Obviously, something is going to go wrong in surgery. Oh, Grey’s, you evil bitch.

Before the C-section begins, Veronica makes Jeremy promise that their baby is his priority, not her. So, after their son is safely delivered and the three of them get some short time together, Veronica pushes Jeremy to go to the NICU once things start going downhill — and he dutifully does.

Veronica has thrown a blood clot and it’s in her lungs. They need to remove it immediately or she’ll die. But Amelia can’t guarantee that opening her up to remove the clot will save her life, and so Veronica refuses the surgery. As Veronica’s stats drop and she reminds the helpless doctors that she signed a DNR, Amelia sits down next to her patient. She doesn’t want her to be alone. Veronica tells Amelia about how she’s always loved Jeremy, and how he’s loved her for her entire life, and that he’ll keep on loving her after her death. She wants Amelia to tell him not to look back. To be fearless, for their son. And then Amelia holds Veronica until she passes.

We all knew this is where we’d end up. We are all suckers.

Mercifully, we don’t have to hear Alex give Jeremy the news. We just watch as he hands Jeremy his son and tells him that his best friend is gone.

Dear lord, can we bring back the worms?

Laughter Is the Best Medicine, Except for Real Medicine

• “Ma’am. Doctor. Avery. Good night.” Okay, so Bailey’s speech to Catherine isn’t 100 percent like her other speeches. But Catherine’s not a peasant, so…

• What was funnier: Bailey’s disgust when she realizes April had a worm in her hair, or April’s stink-eye when she realizes Bailey doesn’t want to be around her for that very reason?

• Webber’s disbelief that Catherine would even have to ask if he took pictures with the gut worms makes me extra thankful that they finally make amends.

• Perhaps the best reaction to the worms comes from Ben “Are Those Worms?” Warren. That dude has had some solid O.R. gallery moments this season.

• Alex telling Meredith to use the plane as an excuse for how she and Riggs got together because planes have taken so much from them is the truest thing uttered on this show.

Sob Scale: 6/10

Just because you know it’s coming doesn’t make it hurt any less. R.I.P.,
Veronica, you will be missed.

Grey’s Anatomy Recap: A Can of Worms