Hello and welcome. Please have a seat. Now, there’d typically be an extremely good-looking person here to deliver this kind of information, since bone structure that don’t quit seems to distract from sadness, but it looks like I’ll have to do.
Unfortunately, we have a good news/bad news situation going on with this latest installment of Grey’s Anatomy.
I’ll hit you with the bad news first, since that’s what Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital outpatients have to come to expect: Denzel Washington is not helming the Grey’s wheel this week. (Come back to us, D!) The good news? We get some forward momentum on a few of the non-Meredith story lines we’ve been patiently waiting to hear about since December.
Aside from the fate of Jackson and April, which will be revealed in its own episode next week (bless you, Shonda!), I’ve been most anxious to get the deets on Handsome v. Handsome, a.k.a. the beef between Owen and Riggs. “All I Want Is You” finally gives us some answers. Sort of.
Post-punching Riggs in the face, Owen is still pretty angry that he’s working in the same hospital as his sworn enemy. Chief Bailey takes it upon herself to continually force Riggs upon Owen, hoping that Owen will eventually get over himself. Sure, that’s great for mending fences, but maybe not for saving lives? Just a thought.
Bailey’s secret plan blows up in her face, pun so intended. As Owen and Riggs bicker while bringing a patient from the ambulance bay to the E.R., the ambulance explodes, sending the hospital into chaos. Unfortunately, watching two paramedics fight for their own lives isn’t enough to stop Owen from being real dumb about everything.
Owen’s anger is eating him up so he attempts to skip out on a date with Amelia, which, yes, is happening again. Amelia doesn’t make it easy for him though, and deploys her superpower — shame-spiraling so hard that a person will say almost anything to make her stop.
Amelia’s tired of being emotionally jerked around because Owen internalizes all of his problems. To stop her from taking the fetal position right there in the street, he finally opens up about Riggs. Back in the day, Riggs and Owen were the two best friends that anyone could have. They went to medical school together, and in their off time they made friendship bracelets for each other. (I’M ASSUMING.) They were joined by Owen’s little sister, Megan, who promptly fell in love with Riggs. Owen entrusted Riggs to keep her safe, and Megan died on Riggs’s watch. Owen blames Riggs for Megan’s death, and he blames himself for ever trusting the guy.
Amelia, not concerned with asking for more details, knows a thing or two about dead-sibling guilt. She tells Owen that if his sister loved Riggs, that makes him family. If for only that reason, Owen needs to give Riggs another chance. This second chance comes in the form of the paramedic’s surgery.
When the EMT starts crashing, Owen knows he needs someone from cardio. He calls for Riggs. The two ex-buddies immediately break into a surgery short-hand. They anticipate each other’s needs, move in tandem, and even finish each other’s sandwiches sentences. Bailey, April, and Amelia watch in disbelief. The beauty of it all is quickly tarnished, however, as Owen and Riggs are back at each other’s throats as soon as the surgery ends. Come on, Grey’s! Either give us the full story of what went down, or wrap this whole thing up. Handsome people fighting makes me sad.
The other non-Meredith doctor who gets some attention this week is Alex. He’s getting iced out by Jo, who didn’t exactly say yes or no to his proposal. (Again, can we get some details?) Also giving Alex a hard time: His 15-year-old bone-cancer patient, Mya.
Mya is a tough kid with no options left, and she’s come to Alex in search of a miracle. From the first meeting with Mya and her mom, it’s clear the girl has taken charge of her situation. When Alex suggests the safest surgery option, she fires him and brings on Callie and Maggie as her new doctors. They agree to a more experimental surgery, in which they give Mya a 3D-printed sternum.
Alex is against it, but he never abandons Mya. He’s there to hold her hand (!) as she’s wheeled into surgery, and when her tough exterior begins to crack, Alex clears the room to calm her down. You guys, remember when Alex was the worst and did stuff like give George O’Malley syphilis? He is so not that guy anymore.
Mya’s surgery becomes much more complicated once Callie gets in there and realizes they’ll have to retract her ribs to properly fit the new sternum. It’s a risky, possibly fatal move. When Jo brings the dilemma to Alex, he gives his blessing to proceed. He knows that Mya can handle it; her toughness reminds him of Jo. Then we watch three doctors work to spread open a kid’s ribs, which, NO.
Alex’s tenderness wins Jo over. (The honest moment he shares with her, wherein he compares Mya’s mom to his own less-than-capable mother, certainly didn’t hurt his case either.) By the end of the night, the two are making out in the backseat of Mer’s car, and I’m wondering where I can sign up for this carpool.
But what of our hero Meredith? The ol’ Tragedy Magnet is saddled with some Bailey-mandated therapy before she can get back to work. Her doctor is, quite simply, my hero. He hears Meredith talk about Alex for about 30 seconds and asks if she’s in love with him. Sure, Meredith is laughing now, but come season 18, that doctor will be high-fiving himself for his foresight. Hi, my name is Maggie and I’m a Mer-Alex shipper. Get over it.
Meredith’s therapy sessions frame the episode, which is pretty brilliant, considering how Meredith uses her time with the good doctor to talk about her friends. Seamless transitions, you guys! She’s also constantly talking about how great she does alone, and that since she woke up in the hospital with her friends and family all up in her face, they haven’t let her be.
Of course, it’s only after Meredith kicks all of her friends out that she realizes something is missing. Meredith is used to people leaving her — thanks a lot, Death — so discovering that she isn’t alone is new for her. And if she doesn’t want to be alone anymore? Well that’d be mind-blowing.
Laughter Is the Best Medicine, Except for Real Medicine
- “Have you read my file?”
- I’ve always wanted to be Bailey when I grow up, but now I’d specifically like to be Bailey eating pizza, judging her friends for their sad, nonexistent sex lives.
- Things I cherish: the carpool, DeLuca and Arizona as roommates, Webber and Arizona’s trivia dates, Ben at Girls’ Night.
- Watching Webber realize that the “wild cat” he told DeLuca could never be tamed is, in fact, his daughter Maggie, is the greatest thing that happened to me this week.
The Sob Scale: 4/10
A scared teenager going into surgery is par for the Grey’s course, but if Alex is involved with reassuring said teenager, I’m never not crying. Extra points for Meredith having flashes of all the people who care about her. Meredith has people now, you guys. That’s more than a person, in case you were wondering.
