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Critic’s Rating: 4.6 / 5.0
4.6
It’s official; Grey’s Anatomy just wrapped for the midseason break, and boy, did the latest episode leave us with a lot to think about until spring.
The first few minutes were deceptively lackluster, with a confusing November heat wave and a six-week time jump to set the stage.
But after that, the rest of the hour kept up a steady pace, with scenes ranging from eyebrow-raisers to jaw-droppers. Let’s get into it!
Callbacks on Grey’s Anatomy Season 21 Episode 8
I’ve mentioned it before, but this season has been stuffed full of callbacks, hints, and subtle references to older Grey’s Anatomy storylines.
This episode kept up the trend with several moments that felt nostalgic.
The most obvious example involved putting Lucas in the center of a convenience store gunpoint robbery, making him the third generation of men in his family to face a gun-related death (or near-death experience).
You may recall from earlier seasons that Christopher Shepherd (father of Derek, Amelia, and their other three sisters — one of whom is Lucas’s mother) died when his own convenience store was robbed at gunpoint.
Derek and Amelia were small children and both were present at the time of their father’s death, marking the first of many major traumas for the two of them.
Years later, Derek would face his own brush with death after a mass shooter in the hospital targeted him on Grey’s Anatomy Season 6 Episode 24.
Suffice it to say, Lucas ending up in this position was probably inevitable, given his family history.
More (Yes, More) Callbacks
The convenience store employee (Gladys) couldn’t keep her eyes off of Jo and Lucas while the gunman was trained on her, leading to him clocking the doctors’ presence and foiling their escape plan.
That moment felt awfully reminiscent of the time during the mass shooting when Bailey tried to hide from Gary, only to be caught because Charles wouldn’t stop looking at her under the bed.
Our memory was also jogged a bit during the moment a grieving Mika reached out to Jules, seeking physical comfort, and virtually begging when Jules tried to redirect her.
On Grey’s Anatomy Season 4 Episode 15, Alex said goodbye to Rebecca when she was hospitalized for her mental health, and he sought comfort for Izzie in much the same way Mika did in the latest episode.
Plus, the patient Amelia and Winston operated on received a surgery that looked a lot like Joe’s standstill surgery during Grey’s Anatomy Season 2!
There are definitely some Grey’s fans who are disappointed in what they consider to be recycled storylines, but I find them comforting in a way.
It’s nice to know that the show remembers its roots and can continue developing characters and their stories by leaning on a history that has already been built.
While there are plenty of reasons to gripe about the directions the show has taken in recent years, their commitment to threading new stories into old ones is part of the reason the series is still enjoyable.
When Will Amelia Get to be Happy?
Look, Amelia Shepherd is my favorite character on this show.
I think she’s criminally misunderstood and underutilized, and while I’m grateful they brought her over after Private Practice ended, I don’t think Grey’s has done a great job of migrating her history with her.
This fall finale proved that even when they do highlight Amelia, they do it in a way that makes her suffer.
Once upon a time, she grieved openly about how every man she’s ever loved has died. Her father, her brother, her fiance, and her son were all taken from her in horrible ways.
The latest terrifying cliffhanger put Jo and Lucas in danger and suggested that Lucas suffered a gunshot wound right before the credits rolled.
That means that when the show returns next year, Amelia will have to face the possibility of yet another man she loves dying horribly, and there won’t be anything she can do about it.
She also just dealt with an almost-panic attack during surgery, which is so incredibly out of character for Amelia that I couldn’t actually believe what I was seeing.
Amelia — competent, brilliant, confident Amelia, who deals with her fear and stress by striking a superhero pose and shifting into life-saving mode — is not someone who breaks down from nerves at the O.R. table.
While admittedly, it gave us a nice moment of camaraderie and friendship between Amelia and her sort-of-ex-brother-in-law, it kind of felt like a needless moment of struggle.
Dr. Beltran was annoyingly missing from the episode, so we didn’t even get any stolen glances or kisses or flirtatious moments between them for our trouble.
Saying Goodbye to Another Fan Favorite
It was no secret that Midori Francis was leaving her role on Grey’s Anatomy this season, and Mika Yasuda’s arc finally came to a close during the fall finale.
Still in the painful grip of grief six weeks after her sister’s death, Mika returned to work despite the fact that she was still reeling from the trauma of her loss and her own brush with death.
Francis’s performance in this episode was nothing short of incredible, and her portrayal of how consuming grief is in the way it rearranges your very molecules was raw and beautiful.
Yasuda experienced a couple of moments where her grief overcame her, even going so far as to scream at Bailey while she ran a code, and it really looked like she was going to be written out of the show by way of a straitjacket.
Mercifully, the writers allowed Yasuda to come to terms with what she needed on her own. When Bailey offered her extended bereavement leave, Mika chose to resign instead.
The decision honored what Mika knew about herself, what she could handle, and what she needed to heal and move forward.
Telling Grief’s Story
Throughout the episode, Mika sought advice and comfort from people she trusted.
Bailey connected with the intern by sharing her experience of losing her mother.
Griffith offered a kind ear as Mika stared into the room where Chloe died, and the advice she gave her friend was a really profound truth about grief.
Mika asked Simone if she’d ever feel normal again, and Simone’s response was beautiful:
“I think this is your normal now, and every day, you’ll get a little more comfortable with it.”
From my own personal experience with loss, I’ve found that to be true. Things never really go back to normal, and you’re never the person you were before your loss.
But you keep going, and the loss gets weaved into your soul and becomes part of who you are, along with a million other things — good and bad.
The Worst Place to Be Pregnant is Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital
Not that I’m interested in getting pregnant again, but if I do, keep me the hell away from Seattle and this hospital.
We’ve seen these characters go through miscarriages, experience stillbirths, lose their children shortly after birth, and deal with just about every pregnancy complication under the sun.
Has the show allowed births that resulted in healthy babies? Sure, but even those deliveries were absurd.
Meredith had baby Bailey during a blackout, Bailey had Tucker while her husband was in brain surgery, Callie had Sofia prematurely after a near-fatal car accident, April had Harriet via a DIY C-section in Meredith’s living room … need I continue?
Anyway, the point is, I think we all knew that Jo’s pregnancy was destined to be dramatic in some way.
So, no one was surprised when she started bleeding and cramping while actively being held hostage at gunpoint.
We won’t find out her fate (or that of the twins) until next year, but a scare like that is terrifying enough even without the added stress of pregnancy.
My guess is that the story will somehow involve Jo feeling immense guilt for how she’s complained and worried about the pregnancy now that the twins are in danger, and I despise that trope.
Pregnancy is hard. It’s often scary, uncomfortable, and limiting. It’s sometimes painful, even excruciatingly so, and can be debilitating.
So if pregnant people can go through it, they deserve to complain about it, guilt-free.
Hopefully, Jo’s situation will provide a good enough reason for one Dr. Carina DeLuca to return, which has been on my wishlist since Station 19 ran its series finale.
Bits and Bobs
- The tension between Beckman and Altman is clearly still there, and so is the heat between Owen and his friend Nora. Maybe the doors haven’t entirely closed on the Altman/Hunt open marriage idea?
- It’s so good to have Ben back, but he’s still just as hot-headed and arrogant as he was before he became a firefighter. He always thinks he knows what’s best, and it’s never not gotten him into trouble.
- Did Gladys skip the convenience store employee training day where they taught the whole “don’t be a hero” thing? Nothing in that safe is worth your life, Gladys!
- I’m not thrilled about the Blue/Molly storyline, and I don’t think it’s fair for her to keep showing up while he’s working. I love Blue and want him to be happy, and he deserves better than this.
- Far be it from me to say anything nice about Teddy, but I have to admit, she’s a highly qualified and effective chief.
That’s all for now, folks! Grey’s Anatomy will return with a new episode in the spring, but the conversations don’t stop here.
Stay tuned for my mid-season report card coming soon, and let’s chat in the comments about the season so far!
I also want to hear all your theories about how the rest of the season will go, so don’t be a stranger.
Grey’s Anatomy will return on Thursday, March 6, at 10/9c on ABC.
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