Grey's Anatomy: Pick Yourself Up (19x12)

I'm not sure I've ever had such a tumultuous opinion of a Grey's Anatomy character as I have with Maggie Pierce. Next week is going to be very interesting.

Cons:

I guess I'm a little insulted that they tried to trick us/fake us out with the thought that Addison's life was going to be seriously imperiled. Instead, it's all about Tia and her baby, who they are forced to deliver due to the trauma from getting hit by a car outside the hospital. Addison just has a dislocated shoulder and she gets back to work, powering through like the bad-ass she is. This is all fine, I'm just a little insulted that they tried to up the ante by pretending Addison might be on death's door with the cliffhanger and the promotional materials.

I don't watch Station 19 and I never will, so when Carina's wife, I think her name is Maya, has emotional beats within an episode of Grey's, I mostly just get annoyed that the focus is on a character who has never been introduced to me or explained within the bounds of the show I'm actually watching.

The "old people have sex and get STIs" plot thread wasn't bad by any means, but I feel like I've seen shows do the same story before? The mere idea of older people being sexually active seems to be the punchline, and while it was mildly amusing that the two old friends had the same sexual partner without knowing about it, even that joke didn't go very far, as everyone seemed very good-natured about it very quickly. I thought Jules's roommate giving the little speech about how women are judged for every choice they make was also a little trite. These types of episodes always have a bit of a soap box feel to them, but that's usually something I don't mind. Maybe it was that we also had soap box moments from Addison, and this older woman talking about expectations around sex and motherhood felt like an unnecessary additional example.

Pros:

I've got to say, Maggie and Winston's story is actually fascinating to me, and I'm going to pretend that Maggie isn't set to leave the show soon so I can focus on the merits of the story as it's presented to it. If not for the fact that it's clearly a setup for Maggie's departure, I think I'd actually really like this marital conflict between Maggie and Winston. Which is not something I thought I'd be saying at this point. There's just something so fascinating about Maggie being forced to confront the ways in which her ambition and her brilliance might cause issues for the people around her. I would want to see this play out, I would want to see them work on it. For Winston to understand that ambition is a quality that Maggie admires and that that's okay, and for Maggie to realize that emotional sacrifice is an honorable thing, too. It's too bad this story-line probably won't have a lot of time behind it. I guess it's just left to see if Winston leaves with Maggie to keep working on their marriage, or not.

I was so happy that Tia and her baby both lived, it was really touch and go for a while and they kept us on our toes. I think it's important for there to be some clean wins on this show, to have situations where the good triumph and the bad... don't get the time of day. We hear that the person who ran over Addison and Tia has been apprehended, but they do not get any visibility or a platform for their perspective, which I continue to think is a very good move from the show.

Simone is pulling more and more ahead as the most interesting and nuanced of the interns. I loved her moment with Addison, where she reflected on the miracle and resilience of life, and how her own life begun much like this, with some brilliant surgeon keeping her alive. She and Lucas had a nice moment of connection as they both kept watch over the newborn. I teared up when Tia saw her baby through the phone screen for the first time!

Yasuda had difficulty processing the attack on the hospital, and Richard helped her through that. I feel like this is Richard at his very best as a character, truly being a mentor and a guiding light for a young doctor just learning her way. I liked that they gave Yasuda a chance to process, too, and how her feelings of fear over her personal safety were validated.

Addison Montgomery is a total bad-ass, and Kate Walsh is an excellent actor. All the scenes with Addison were incredible, I love that she shakes off the pain and gets to work, I love that Link bullies her into taking care of her arm. She has the line where she talks about how she can't take a break, because then who would do the work? It's a powerful way of reminding us that the cost of this situation isn't only the people who need abortion care, but also the people giving that care. That this whole environment is dangerous and tragic for so many far-reaching reasons, and we can see the impact of it in myriad ways.

That's where I'll stop for now. I'm still interested, still having a fun time, sad about Maggie leaving, happy to have seen Addison, glad this episode had barely any Owen in it... all in all, not a bad outing.

8/10