This post contains spoilers from the Thursday, May 16 episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
This week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, called “Blood, Sweat and Tears,” may not have been packed with powerful moments that will go down in the ABC show’s long history, but it may have laid the groundwork for a few.
As the episode began, the interns were thrilled that they’d all completed their procedure checklist and were now eligible to return to the operating room — but they also needed to study! The ABSITE test was set for the next day and, according to Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), if they didn’t rank in the 30th percentile, “Joe’s is hiring.”
(According to the American Board of Surgery, the ABSITE test “consists of approximately 250 multiple-choice questions and is administered in two 2.5-hour blocks. It is given as a single examination to all residents.”)
But quizzing, notecards and lucky socks didn’t fill this episode. Below are the five takeaways from “Blood, Sweat and Tears” fans should remember going into next week’s penultimate episode of the season.
Owen Hunt has a big idea
In an attempt to continue prioritizing one another, Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) took the day off to go for a hike. Upon getting lost, they meet a father, Joseph, whose teenage daughter Rosie has fallen into a narrow hole and sprained her ankle. Joseph jumped down to join her and wound up badly injured and bleeding.
Hunt wound up talking Rosie through creating a tourniquet and ultimately saving Joseph’s life. When Rosie later thanked Hunt — saying the fix itself was “easy” but she never would’ve known what to do without him — he sees an opportunity to develop a program teaching such life-saving skills by creating videos and teaching classes.
When he tells Teddy about it, she agrees it’s a good idea and says she’ll check to see what money is left in her research and development fund. Of course, unbeknownst to Hunt, most of that money is currently going to Meredith’s (Ellen Pompeo) secret Alzheimer’s research that goes against the expectations and wishes of the Catherine Fox Foundation — and Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen).
Wishing to separate church and state, Hunt goes directly to Catherine with his idea. She likes it and offers to check into the Foundation’s discretionary fund to help fund it… thus setting up Teddy and Meredith’s big secret to come to light. Eek.
Amelia Shepherd’s flirtation moves forward
The episode began with Monica Beltran (Natalie Morales) buying Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) a coffee, then saw them bonding as they worked together on a case (a trans teen nervous about being naked in front of strangers during her surgery: a sweet story, to be sure), and ended with Amelia boldly asking Monica out sometime. And it wasn’t a no.
“I’m going through a really messy divorce, and my wife’s still in Texas,” Monica said, leaving Amelia smiling and optimistic.
Simone Griffith and Lucas Adams rekindle their flame
Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) was down in the dumps when his patient Dorian spent his 57th day in the hospital in surgery — and it didn’t go well. Toward the end of the episode, Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd) found him in the on-call room studying by himself.
“You’re fearless when you advocate for your patients,” she told him. “I’m a braver doctor because of you. I’m a better doctor because of you.”
And after a speech like that, of course, he kissed her! And of course, they took advantage of that on-call room. Which is one way to study for a test…
Miranda Bailey earns Richard Webber’s approval
After Dorian’s difficult surgery, Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) found Miranda Bailey diligently monitoring the patient. She explained that she sent the interns to go study and expressed her concern that she’d done right by them as well as her patient.
“You’ve done a good job with them Bailey,” Webber promised.
Bailey then expressed how much she hated that Dorian was “one of thousands of gun violence victims,” saying, “I don’t know how to prepare them for that. I don’t want to have to prepare them for that.”
Maggie Pierce is returning
In the preview for next week’s episode, Teddy tells Lucas that counsel advises he do a remedial year as an intern and there’s more talk about those discretionary funds. But there’s also a “sight for sore eyes,” as Richard says: Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) is back in Seattle!
What for — and for how long — remains to be seen. But we do know that she and Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) are getting a divorce, so that won’t be awkward at all.
McCreary left the long-running series in April 2023 as Maggie took a job in Chicago, leaving her husband in Seattle as they worked through issues in their marriage. Earlier this season, Winston received divorce papers.
“I hate goodbyes… but I love you all,” McCreary wrote on Instagram at the time.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.