Grey's Anatomy: Cowgirls Don't Cry (19x13)

I'm just... I don't know. I'm frustrated.

Cons:

I've been so uncertain on how to come down on the Winston and Maggie debate this whole time, because honestly I thought it was an interesting premise for marital conflict, and I was really willing to see where they took it. But here, we get some things coming to a head, and it turns out we're pinning the majority of the blame on Winston for always running away when things get tough. Yeah, honestly, Maggie is sort of right, but one thing this episode fails to fully address is that while being too conflict-averse can be a bad thing, being too ambitious/ready for a challenge isn't always a good thing either. There's this sort of clumsy metaphor about following one's passion. Maggie sees herself in a patient, a girl who won't stop bull riding even though it might end up killing her. Maggie says it must be so painful for her to be told she's selfish and wrong for wanting to pursue her dream.

But like... Maggie, come on. Pursuing dreams is good, it's a wonderful value to have, but pursuing harmonious married life is also a good goal, and acting like everyone else is unreasonable for having some qualms about your ambition isn't doing anyone any favors! Maggie steamrolls people. She sees what she wants and she goes for it without examining the consequences. She holds to her opinion so tightly that it erodes all the relationships around her. It happened with her ill-fated romance with Jackson, it happened with her ailing mother. I'm completely on board with Maggie's critique of Winston. I think it's right on and should be further explored. But to act like at the end of the day Maggie is the victim here, that she's the one being abandoned? That's a stretch. I wish this was going to get to play out more thoroughly, that we got to explore it in a nuanced way with a reasonably balanced ending. Instead, it seems that Maggie will be leaving us next week, and the only question is whether Winston is going with her. Frankly, I hope not, I liked Winston a lot and would be down to see more of him. But at the same time, what an annoying and lackluster conclusion for Maggie on the show. Really frustrating.

While I liked the story of Lucas and Simone figuring out their patient's pain and not dismissing him as an addict, I felt like there were some aspects of the story that were too on the nose, even for Grey's Anatomy. Having the patient literally say: "you screw up once, you're a screw-up forever" was like... yeah, okay, thank you. We get it. Also, Simone asking Lucas to be her man of honor at the wedding is such an awkward idea. Super unforced error there for Simone. Force Mika or Jules or even Blue to do it, I'm serious. This is weird.

And finally, Jo and Link. They're really laying on the sweetness, showing how well Link knows Jo, how good he is to her. I feel like someone's trying to pitch me on a product I'm never going to want to buy. If they hand this romance to me on a silver platter, I'll take it, I guess. I feel sort of defeated, because it's clear that's the direction they're heading. I don't want it, and yet there it is. I like Link, I like Jo. I want them both to have something good and comfortable and peaceful. The concept of them having a little blended family with their two babies and all that is honestly very sweet on paper. But the energy I get from these two is so familial. Even still, I just see them like a brother and sister, and nothing has been able to change that so far!

Pros:

But I did like that Richard had to be reminded to give people another chance, and that Lucas decided to trust his gut, even though it meant disobeying Richard and Schmitt. He needed that victory to boost his confidence, and I'm glad he got it!

The part I liked best about the whole bull riding story was Blue talking about how cruel it is to the animals. Because like... yeah, he's right. What their patient is doing is her "dream" or whatever, and her parents talk about how taking her away from it would kill her more surely than allowing her to do something that dangerous. But she's not the only factor here. Sometimes you don't get to just chase your bliss without thinking about the other factors. And it frustrated me that everyone else in the hospital seemed to nod their head sadly when told "it's her dream" as if that was the end of it. Maggie's speech about slowing down wasn't actually designed to discourage her in the long-run either. So I really liked that Blue was pointing out how fucked up the whole thing is, from a different angle. I don't blame Jules for being into it!

I liked Schmitt having to learn a lesson about what kind of leader he wants to be. Over the course of this season, he's had to learn to stop conceptualizing himself as the victim, the sad-sack, always at the back of the pack. But he's got a position of actual authority now, and he needs to figure out how he's going to handle that. Bailey talks about how they used to call her "the Nazi", and Schmitt is horrified by how inappropriate that is. I appreciate them bringing that up, it's a sign of how long this show has been on the air that back when it started, that was the kind of thing you could say as an exaggeration of someone being a hard-ass. Instead of like... an actual indication that said person is a literal present-day fascist. Which is what it would mean now. Oof.

And Schmitt takes Bailey's words to heart, complimenting the interns and taking them out for free drinks, trying to engage with them on a more personal level. I love Helm as the wise bartender offering advice; I think it's so cool that they had her quit being a doctor and then actually had her stay on the show. I'm waiting for the romance with her and Yasuda to heat up, that should be fun.

And speaking of Yasuda - I like that Mika was able to connect with her patient and encourage her to go into debt to get the x-ray and treatment she required. I mean, I don't like it, that the system is set up in such a way that people have to risk serious financial strife just to avoid death, but I like the way we're tackling this here. This is an issue that doesn't just affect one type of person in one type of way, but that can seep into so many areas of the world. Mika was able to get through to someone who needed help, and the fact that her personal experience leads her to be an advocate for others is quite heartwarming!

I'll stop there. Still vibing for the most part with the intern stuff, still pretty frustrated by some major developments for our more long-standing leads. Let's see how long we can keep this streak up of Teddy and Owen barely being in the episodes and thus not having a chance to annoy me! :)

6.5/10