This post contains spoilers from the Thursday, April 4 episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) returned to Grey Sloan Memorial on this week’s Grey’s Anatomy.
Alongside Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington), the beloved pediatric surgeon presented a case study on a pregnant patient named Vida Madera — who had a history of vision loss and whose baby had a blood vessel abnormality in its brain.
Robbins explained that they plan to “operate on the baby’s brain before delivery,” which had never been before. She asked, “So who wants to make history?”
Read on to learn more about this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy.
Risking It All on First-of-its-Kind Surgery
Attempting to make history came with challenges for the team at Grey Sloan Memorial. During a check-in, Vida informed the surgeons that she was having second thoughts about the surgery. She told Robbins, “I’ve changed my mind. I can’t have the surgery…I can’t lose this baby.”
After she asked to be discharged, Bailey was annoyed with Robbins for not disclosing that Vida would be the first patient to undergo the surgery. She promptly dismissed her, saying, “Sorry this didn’t work out. It was good to see you, travel safely home.”
The father of the baby raced to find Robbins and told her that she couldn’t leave, saying, “Our baby can’t die. If she dies, Vida won’t survive that.”
Despite not having the mother’s approval, Robbins decided to move forward with her plans for the surgery but intern Lucas (Niko Terho) wondered why they weren’t first trying to get her onboard. Neurosurgeon Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) reminded him, “We don’t convince anyone of anything. That’s not what we do.”
However, Lucas’ comment sparked an idea for Robbins who decided to “walk through” the procedure with the expectant mother. Robbins told her, “I know it’s hard when you can’t hope based on what others have done before…I know that’s painful but this pain has purpose, this could have life on the other side of it.” Vida ultimately agreed to the surgery.
When Robbins found out that interns were banned from the OR, she told Bailey, “You got an award for teaching, which is not surprising because you raised surgeons like Cristina Yang and Meredith Grey…so can you imagine how excited I was to come back here and to teach but interns are even allowed in the OR. I mean, Bailey, we might fix a baby’s brain inside a womb, that is magic.”
“I don’t know what the interns did to get themselves banned — and I’m sure that it was awful — but if you don’t let them see the magic, then how will they be motivated to get back in?”
After the conversation, Bailey allowed the interns to watch as Robbins navigated a complication that put the procedure in jeopardy. She ultimately repaired the blood vessel, which Bailey called “magic.”
Following the surgery, Bailey gave the interns an additional rule, explaining, “I gave you the opportunity to watch history be made today and all you care about is which one of you is doing what procedure, how many or whose fault it is, everything in that OR today happened because some of the best surgeons put their heads together…You want to get back in the OR? You need to learn to work together so here’s the new rule, nobody operates until every procedure card is completed.”
The Interns Face Consequences
The interns — including Lucas Adams, Benson “Blue” Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.), Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane), Simone Griffin (Alexis Floyd) and Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis) — were interrogated about their past mistakes.
Blue defended attempting to save Jules’ roommate Maxine, telling the board, “Ms. Anderson didn’t want to die, I could see her in her eyes” while Lucas said Sam Sutton (Sam Page) “didn’t have minutes, he had seconds” when attempted to operate on him without an attending.
Following the interrogation, the interns were still worried about the repercussions of their actions. Blue questioned his ability to place a central line while Lucas worried Simone had told the hospital lawyers about their unauthorized procedure.
She finally confessed to Lucas, “This morning, the lawyers if I would have opened Sam if you hadn’t asked me to and I said no” and he responded, “So you threw me under the bus.”
When Simone said she was defending herself, he replied by “slitting my throat.” However, she insisted she was only telling the truth and they didn’t get a chance to “align their stories” because he “walked away” when she decided to put her career first.
Later, Lucas returned to Amelia’s home — where he was staying after moving out — and asked her, “Did you almost flame out in your first few months? Did you alienate all of your friends? Did you have to leave your family’s shadow, wondering if you’ll ever live up to those expectations?”
“Your uncle Derek was a legend. You have no idea what it was like working here with him,” she responded and he said, “I meant you.”
Another Dr. Millin?
A patient arrived at the hospital and was waiting to see Dr. Millin. But, there appears to be a mixup because when Jules went to see him, he was actually waiting on her brother Doug, who is “not a doctor” but rather an influencer who gives medical advice online.
Doug soon realized his medical knowledge wasn’t up to par and allowed Jules to step to help the patient. When she couldn’t get his abscess to drain, she called in Yasuda, who insisted they needed Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) when nothing she was doing worked.
“I would really rather not get in trouble for doing something without attending after already being in trouble for doing something I didn’t do,” she said, referring to the earlier interrogation.
Jules tells her brother not to embarrass her in front of Owen with his “Dr. Millin crap.” She adds, “You are going to wait outside and don’t talk to anyone, don’t move, I’d say don’t think but you’ve already got that covered.”
While watching Yasuda and Jules drain fluid from abscess, Doug fainted in the hallway and Hunt raced to get in on gurney. When Owen overheard the siblings arguing about him using the title of doctor, he told Doug, “Misleading others in their health and wellness is questionable at best…so I recommend you find other ways to influence people.”
Teddy Tries to Get Back in the Game
Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) was still working to get back in the OR and offered to step in as a replacement for Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary), who left Grey Sloan Memorial last season. She told Dr. Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill), “I’m strong and I’m more than ready.”
Winston insisted she was only ready “to return your desk, not the OR.” He added, “It’s about stigma, not skills.”
Her skills were then put to the test in “a scrimmage” set up by Atticus “Link” Lincoln (Chris Carmack) and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). Once she proved she was ready, Richard agreed to go back into OR alongside her.
However, Richards — who also took a break from the OR amid his sobriety journey — struggled with returning to the OR and left her alone to do the surgery. When he questioned his competency as a surgeon, Teddy reminded him she would always have his back, saying, “Trust me if I ever believe that you do not belong in there, I will tell you.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.