Grey's Anatomy: You'll Never Walk Alone (17x04)

Awww George! That was the best possible answer as to who was waiting for Meredith in the pseudo-afterlife. It was so amazing seeing him!

Cons:

I thought Maggie's boyfriend's thing with his dad was a little unrealistic in how blunt it was? Like, he saw his dad on a Zoom call and was immediately like "here is the major family drama that we have, let me explain it to the viewer and then sign off the call." It might have just been an issue of clunky writing.

Okay, Jo and Jackson... tread very, very lightly. I don't mind a good old fashioned friends with benefits situation, but that never seems to go the way we want it to, and I'm not about Jo/Jackson as an actual romantic pairing. This show has convinced me of weirder, but at the moment I just don't want them to pair up because they both happen to be single. Also, any storyline that touches on Jo healing from Alex just gives me visceral flashbacks to how stupid Alex's exit from the show truly was. It's hard to see past that.

Pros:

Okay, starting with a small thing, but I actually thought Nico and Levi's conversation was hilarious. I'm not aboard the ship for them anymore, after everything Nico put Levi through, but it's just occurred to me what the funniest and best way forward would be for them, if they keep this story going. What if Levi actually does a good job with boundaries, is totally emotionally over Nico, and really is just using him as a sex buddy, and then Nico catches overwhelming feelings and realizes how badly he screwed up? And Levi is just like... "nah, man. Thanks, but no thanks." I would watch the hell out of that. I just liked when Levi was like "I want to invite you over, but you and I were not good to each other and nothing's changed." And Nico's like "there's a global pandemic." And Levi's like "good point, let's go." It made me laugh.

While I have serious reservations about Jo and Jackson, I do think their friendship is really sweet, and I hope they continue to be able to lean on each other through the tough times. I'm all aboard the pandemic sex buddy agenda.

George and Meredith talking was so great! I loved how he described being dead, and not getting a choice, and regrets, and do regrets matter? It was so cute, when Meredith got all giggly, asking George if he haunted his mother sometimes. And George bringing up the way Meredith used to dance it out when she got stressed or sad. It was such a lovely callback to the earlier days of the show, the twisted sisters... I miss Cristina so much, I really do.

Giving the main character of the show Covid-19 makes a certain amount of sense from a dramatic perspective, but I was a little nervous going in that they were going to be disrespectful about it. It's still possible they could make some bad choices here, but so far I think the balance is working well. See, Meredith is hovering in this in-between place, and she gets to see Derek, she gets to see George, that's all well and good... but they aren't really implying that it's entirely Meredith's choice. This isn't some metaphysical decision about whether or not to live. She needs to have the will, but also, on the outside, she's sleeping all day and really sick, and her doctors and friends need to make medical decisions to save her life. If it's even possible.

Speaking of, I like the conflict we're setting up here with DeLuca, Teddy, and Richard all taking different roles in Meredith's healthcare. Obviously Andrew is pushing for a risky new trial, and Teddy backs him up, which seems to set Richard at ease... but it's still a big decision for him to make. If he puts her in the trial and she dies, will it be his fault? I loved the moment when we saw Richard come into the dream space with Meredith and George, that subtle blending of these two states of mind.

Amelia and Link for the win! I loved that Amelia lost her shit a little bit, but instead of devolving back into the Amelia of old, who would have totally spiraled and caused big drama, we got Link trying to be a good partner for her, and then telling her in no uncertain terms that he too needs support as he deals with the situation his own way, by not talking and processing, but by focusing on the good things and playing his damn guitar. Open communication for the win!

Poor Tom really cannot catch a break. If they kill him off in a "surprise, you thought Meredith was in danger but it's actually Tom" kind of way, I will be PISSED. The guy is acerbic, and kind of a jerk, but I honestly think he's a good person who tries his best, and he doesn't deserve the crap he's gone through. I'd love for some sort of hilarious reconciliation between Owen and Tom where they put aside their differences and become friends, and both leave Teddy behind in the dust. It's what she deserves, to be quite honest. In any case, I loved Helm and Tom talking about a zombie apocalypse game and doing simulations for COVID... I think this is based on a true story of something that happened in an MMORPG game, although I can't remember which one... probably WOW... it was used to test pandemic conditions.

Even though there was a bit of awkwardness in the writing, I still really love Maggie and her boyfriend. I like how chill and reasonable she's being about this, in a clear example of growth from... oh... all of Maggie's other plot threads! I hope that these two can stay together, and that their long distance relationship will continue to grow throughout the season. I think they're really cute!

I wasn't entirely sure what to think of Owen's racism plot at first, but ultimately I liked how it was portrayed, how you can't exactly hate Owen for making this mistake but at the same time, he needs to own his biases and do better. He says "there's no excuse" and then makes an excuse immediately... and Bailey calls him on it. Owen sucks and I don't like him, but I hope he learns from this mistake. I also liked the intern lady whose name I don't know, who wanted to talk to Owen about his mistake but couldn't figure out how to do it, and the fact that Nico did it for her, basically, telling Owen off in no uncertain terms. That was a good character beat for him.

As always, I feel fairly certain I'm missing someone. This show is just too huge, too many characters to juggle! For now, I'll end things there. This was a perfectly fine installment, it felt like filler for things to come, but I don't mind that! And we got to see George!

8/10