Grey's Anatomy: Trigger Happy (12x20)

Okay. I really liked this episode in a lot of ways, but there were a few big things that I'm just having trouble getting behind.

Cons:

This episode tackles the issue of gun control. Sort of. I rather liked the fact that they didn't tackle the bigger political issues of gun regulation and stuff like that, because I just don't think there's a way to convincingly cover the topic on a show like this. Instead, they kept it small, specifically looking at the dangers of having a gun in the house, as a kid accidentally shoots his friend with his mom's gun. The complaint I have about this is that the show didn't address the fact that all of these characters should have severe gun-related PTSD. Alex mentions that he got shot, but what about the fact that Amelia's father was killed via gunshot, and her brother Derek was once wounded severely as well? A lot of these people have lost loved ones or at least watched the people they care about suffer due to guns, and yet that wasn't really brought up or addressed.

Amelia does a good job of comforting the kid who shot his friend, which I'll get to in a second, but Owen uses Amelia's kindness and compassion to continue harping on the Riggs/Megan drama. Apparently Megan called Owen and told him that Nathan was cheating on her, and Owen told Megan to get on the chopper and get away. So now we find out that Owen told Megan to get on the helicopter that ended up "killing" her. My God, am I sick of this plot thread. It's moving at a freakin' snail's pace.

My other big complaint? Arizona is being an idiot. This whole episode, I just kept thinking: did you learn nothing from April and Jackson? Take a step back. Talk to Callie about this. Callie was totally jumping ahead and making plans without taking Arizona's perspective into account, and I get how frustrating that is. But honestly? Callie realized she was going too fast, stepped back, and tried to be reasonable with Arizona on this. Arizona is the one who went too far, way too quickly. Why hasn't either one of them brought up the fact that this is just for one year? Why doesn't Arizona suggest that Sofia spend the entire summer and winter breaks and stuff with Callie, and then she can stay at home during the rest of the school year, with visits every month or something? I don't know. I just think this is a lot of angst over what is going to be only one year of some admittedly difficult custody sharing. I guess my main complaint is that this conflict just doesn't feel earned.

Finally, there's this online dating subplot that I hated. The weird thing is, I loved the parts with Meredith and Stephanie, and I loved what the subplot led to for Stephanie in particular. I'll get there in a second - what I hated was the actual "catfishing" plot. A girl in the hospital is getting ready to meet her online boyfriend for the first time. When he shows up, turns out he's kind of fat and balding, and he showed her a picture of somebody who wasn't him. The guy is a total dick for doing that, and the girl is immensely shallow to let that one thing totally undo a whole year of talking. And then we find out that the girl is catty and shallow because she lied about the severity of her tumor, making her online beau think she was dying. Basically, both of them came across as horrible people. And not only that - the whole thing was embarrassingly predictable. Oh, so you mean you've never met this guy in person before, and he's coming to the hospital today? I wonder what kind of terrible lie he will have told you when he shows up? God forbid he be... unattractive! Gasp! As somebody who participates in online communities and has even made a couple of friends that way, I resent the implication that this is always the consequence when meeting people online. I know it happens. Maybe it even happens often. But it's definitely not a given.

Pros:

The confusing thing about this episode for me is that even though I just complained about three of the most significant plot arcs, I actually had a very favorable impression of this episode overall.

In the gun plot, there were a lot of really solid elements. First of all, I appreciate the fact that this episode addressed a serious issue without veering into "Very Special Episode" territory. It told a specific story about a specific situation, and didn't veer too much into using it as a soap box to make a larger point. In particular, Jo had a nice little arc. She admits that she has a gun, but by the end of the episode she realizes that she doesn't need it anymore. When she lived in her car when she was sixteen, she needed the protection to feel secure. Now, she's outgrown it. That was nice, and I liked the fact that Jo came to this realization on her own, without any sort of contrived conflict with Alex. They disagreed on the topic, but Jo, who is so stubborn, actually decided to change. It was the first time in a long time that Jo has had a significant story arc that I haven't hated.

Then there's the setup itself: two mothers rushing in to the hospital because one of their sons has been shot. They don't know which one until the ambulance pulls up. We then learn that one of the boys shot the other by accident. The one who got shot, and ends up paralyzed, was the one whose family owned the gun. The mothers obviously have a conflict here. The second they figure out which boy has been shot, one of them can't help but be relieved, while the other has been destroyed by what has happened. One mother blames the other for keeping a gun in her house, while the other blames her friend's son for the condition that her own son is in. There's lots of twisty-ness going on here, and I actually wish we had even more time to explore the dynamic.

Then there's Amelia's shining moment that actually made me cry - she talks to the little boy who shot his friend, making him promise to tell himself that it was an accident, and he didn't mean to. This little boy was one hell of an actor, too, let me tell you. Cutting through all the stuff about gun control, and who is to blame, and the poor boy who is now paralyzed, we see Amelia identify another victim of the situation, and do what she can to help. That was really touching, and was probably my favorite element in the whole gun plot.

This whole situation also creates some drama for Maggie, who is really shaken by the fact that a little kid got shot. She has come to care so deeply for Meredith's kids that the thought of anything bad happening to them kills her. She talks to Meredith about it, expressing her confusion at how anybody can stand to love somebody so vulnerable so much. It was a sweet moment, and it really cements the fact that Maggie has found her family here. She has never had the experience of loving somebody so fragile before, but it's good to know she's found that sense of community. Also, I loved the scene at the start of the episode where Amelia, Maggie, and Meredith are all helping to get the three kids ready in the morning. It was a lovely scene of domesticity. I'm glad Meredith has some co-parents around.

I also loved the detail of Maggie interrogating the babysitter, demanding to know how she could have let the kid get shot. Maggie is ruthless with her, basically blaming her for the situation, and the girl gets worked up and starts crying, insisting that she should be allowed to leave the room to prepare them food. The two boys are eight, not infants! Maggie feels terrible about driving the girl to tears, and asks her if she has somebody coming to the hospital to be with her. I appreciated this episode acknowledging how this incident was affecting everybody.

While I think Arizona is being moronic and the whole custody battle thing is stupid, I did appreciate how reasonable Callie was being about the whole thing, and I really appreciated the fact that Penny stayed out of it. She understood that it was not her place to have an opinion on this topic, and she respectfully bowed out. That was great! It made me mad at Bailey for disparaging Callie's choice to hurt her career for a "resident." Um... Bailey, aren't you married to a resident? Yeesh.

Let's turn to Ben's little subplot, which I quite enjoyed. He is going stir-crazy staying at home, and confides in Jackson about the struggles of his suspension. In the end, he decides to come back to work as an anesthesiologist, against Bailey's protests. Since I think Bailey is pretty much entirely wrong in this whole scenario, I was glad to see Ben taking a stand for himself. Also, the friendship between him and Jackson was quite nicely portrayed. It's obviously going to cause problems down the road, but for now I'm glad to see Ben back at the hospital.

Speaking of Jackson, he and April survive the whole episode still on good footing. In fact, April asks Jackson to come with her to her ultrasound in the morning, and Jackson seems grateful for the chance to be there. Yes! Now I want the scene where the two of them tell Catherine Avery to go to Hell. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

Finally, let's talk about the most hilarious plot thread: Meredith and Stephanie. Stephanie has been sexting with Kyle, the hot patient from a while back. She accidentally sends a steamy text to Meredith, and Meredith spends the rest of the episode giving her a hard time about it. In the end, though, Meredith offers Stephanie some advice: just go for it. Don't be alone. Stephanie, who saw the disaster that happened with the online couple, worries that she's better on paper than she is in person, but she decides to go out with Kyle anyway. They end up in a recording studio and they sleep together.

I love Stephanie. I love Meredith joking with Stephanie about this whole situation. I don't even have much else to say about it... Meredith was funny, Stephanie was funny, Kyle was hot, and their scene together at the end really interested me in the potential of their romance. I can't wait to see more!

And that's where we'll end. Unfortunately it looks like next week will be focusing on this idiotic custody battle between Callie and Arizona. I'm so not a fan of that. You know, when I said I wanted more for Arizona to do this season, this was not what I meant!

7.5/10