What could possibly be more chaotic than having Grey’s Anatomy’s surgical residents running around the hospital? Grey’s Anatomy’s surgical residents running around the hospital in pursuit of a bunch of drunk medical students, that’s what. And that’s exactly what Thursday’s episode teed up, along with a medical crisis for Meredith and Derek’s son and a missed period that could change the whole trajectory of Jo and Link’s fledgling relationship. Read on, and we’ll discuss it all.
OH MY GOD, AND HALF MY JOB IS TEACHING WOMEN HOW NOT TO GET PREGNANT!’ | As “Never Felt So Alone” began, Helm helped Mika study (but not in the fun, naked way that Yasuda preferred), Simone continued to avoid Lucas like he was the plague, and Jo realized that her period was late. But before she and Link had even a second to absorb that shock, they were called into the pit to prep for an incoming trauma along with Bailey and Owen. Turned out, a second-floor deck had collapsed, injuring the sloshed attendees at a white-coat party. One of them, Simone’s patient, almost immediately stole away from his bed, sending her and Blue on a wild-goose chase to find him before he tried to “play doctor” in his state.
Among the other cases, the most serious seemed to be that of med student Sophia, who had a piece of wood severing her spinal cord. Owen and Amelia’s plan was to remove the foreign object and hope for the best. But that didn’t seem to be good enough for Lucas. While operating on Sophia, Owen encouraged Amelia to go further in trying to treat her. “She would want you to,” Lucas called from the gallery. Helpful. Though Amelia was skeptical, the complicated surgery appeared to have worked.
‘YOU’RE PARENTING BY TEXT?’ | In other developments, Meredith learned that Nick had taken lil’ Bailey to the hospital in Boston with appendicitis. She was not pleased. (Is she ever pleased with her significant other?) When Richard happened upon her as she was trying and failing to get an immediate flight out of Seattle, he volunteered to ask Catherine to use her plane. Before take-off, Mer took time to call and berate Nick for not having phoned her immediately rather than wait in hopes that he wouldn’t have to worry her. Any decisions regarding her kids, she made clear, were going to be made by her.
“That sounded like it went well,” Richard remarked drolly. (Apparently, he had time to just fly off to Boston, too.) As Meredith fretted aloud, it came to light that part of her worry was that mistakes happen — like the one that had killed Derek. Once Mom and Richard arrived in Boston and found out that lil’ Bailey’s surgery had gone well, Mer dismissed Nick with her trademark coldness. Mind you, as so on as the boy woke up, Nick was the first person he asked for.
‘I’M NOT GOING TO MOVE AROUND MY SCHEDULE BECAUSE MY PATIENT NEEDS A HUMAN WEIGHTED BLANKET’ | Treating a patient named Gilbert with a rapid heart rate, Winston was distracted by the divorce papers he’d just been delivered. And he and Jules were both distracted by the professional cuddler that Gilbert paid to keep him calm. Later, when Ndugu got pissy that Jules hadn’t prepped the patient for surgery, owing to his accelerating heart rate, she dared to call him on it. She was dying to learn from him, but not this version of him. What had happened to “the coolest attending”? When Gilbert had a panic attack en route to the O.R., “the coolest attending” returned — he acted as the patient’s cuddler. Once Winston was out of surgery, Jules apologized to him, and, in turn, he admitted that he hadn’t been bringing his best self to work lately.
When Simone and Blue tracked down her patient, Eddie, he was on the roof… completely sober… and ready to “let the wind decide” whether he fell off or not. He wasn’t sure whether he’d gone up there to hurt himself, he said. But it was clear that his doing so was not out of the question. By and by, Simone convinced him to at least sit down. If only he’d stayed down. “I think I’m broken,” he said as he tossed his white coat to the street. “I don’t deserve this anymore.” As luck would have it, Ben happened to be visiting Bailey, so the Crisis One vet could race up to the roof to advise. “Calm down and keep him talking,” he told Blue. If Eddie became unstable and went beyond suicidal ideation, Ben and Bailey would intervene. Eddie felt like he was just going through the motions. Blue reached out to him, sharing that the pressure and pain could feel unbearable. He knew all too well, but he was still there. At last, Eddie came down off the ledge.
‘WHAT HAPPENED TO ‘WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER?’” | After Jo took a home pregnancy test, the results read negative. “Whew!” exclaimed Link, who had to admit that parenting was hella hard and he was relieved. Only… wait, no… the test was actually… positive? No. It was neither! The morning after, Jo was able to tell Link with certainty that she was not pregnant — but with him, she did want to have another kid. “I can get there,” he said. “It’s just gonna take me some time.” As the hour drew to a close, Nick barked back at Mer, pointing out that he had been there with and for the kids while she was away. But “I’m all they have,” she said. Except she wasn’t all they had anymore, he pointed out. They have him, too. Anyway, she’d actually come to apologize. “I’ve been doing this a long time alone; it may take me a minute to adjust,” she said. “I’ve got a minute,” Nick replied.
Amelia and Owen reported that Sophia could recover fully — and, promisingly, she was able to wiggle her toes. Mika was stunned to learn that Levi had tried to get her on Sophia’s case, but his co-chief had overruled him. In other words, her own girlfriend had stuck her on crap duty. “Taryn betrayed me” is how she explained what had transpired to Jules. Winston reported to Teddy that she was cleared to return to work the following day; he needed some time off. Lucas happened upon Simone in an on-call room and asked if they could talk. She was too tired for that, but she did pull back the covers to let him climb into bed with her.