Grey's Anatomy: Night Moves (21x06)

Oh boy, this was a REAL roller-coaster of an episode for me, a lot I really loved and a lot that made me roll my eyes. I am obviously having an emotionally challenging week for reasons I don't even really want to write down, in the hopes that some day in the far future I can look back and read this and not know what I was even talking about... but because of that, I was liable to be really emotionally affected by what was happening on my screen. Let's talk about it.

Cons:

Owen and Teddy continue to suck in this really frustrating way where it just seems like they're willfully refusing to understand each other? They don't really come across as people who have been super close for such a long time, they come across completely disconnected and off. Like, Owen's reaction to Teddy's news about being kissed was super annoying, but also Teddy's method of telling him was WAY off. She should have approached it with a bit more seriousness given that she's the one who has a history of cheating within their relationship. She should have been like "hey, I want to tell you about what happened, it wasn't a big deal but I want to be fully honest..." instead, she just shot it off like a joke and it felt tonally very strange. She really couldn't have seen it coming that he'd react badly to that?

And then Link and Jo - I actually have good things to say about one of the romance pairings in this episode that I normally don't like, but Link and Jo continue to just exhaust me. I thought Jo was being so brave in expressing her vulnerabilities to Link about not wanting to do all this alone, and Link doesn't pause for even one micro-second to understand that Jo's trauma and abandonment issues are what's causing her stress - he immediately jumps to this "how dare you" attitude about Jo doubting his commitment. Come on, Link. Let's not. Also, Amelia's retrospective conclusion about her and Link's relationship bummed me out. He was just deluding himself trying to make it work? No! You guys were honestly very cute, and I liked Amelia and Link WAY more than I've liked Jo/Link or anything Amelia's had going on in her romance plots since. Still rooting for Monica/Amelia, but nothing's actually happened there yet.

If Yasuda dies I'm going to be super pissed. Not really a complaint about this episode, just like... come on, Grey's. You already had the perfect way to write her off the show, to say she quits to take care of her sister. You don't gotta kill her. I beg of you.

Pros:

As a general note, I thought this episode was especially good at making me feel invested in the outcomes of the cases. Schmitt with his role taking over as an Attending, and then Mika and Jules with their equipment failure and emergency save of a patient with one lung. As both were going on, I was terrified they were going to take a turn for the worst - that Schmitt's confidence and poise was going to backfire, that Mika was going to make a bad call and kill her patient... but no! Success all around! These stories ended up being more about the personal lives of the doctors (as always), and the lessons they had to learn were not predicated on tragedy this time around. I'm glad! I was stressed!

Let's start with the romances that I'm annoyed at, because honestly up until the end of the episode, I was actually enjoying the Teddy and Jo plots in this episode WAY more than I expected to. For Jo, I feel like we got such a realistic look at what depression can be like. She's soldiering through, but the stress is getting to her and the very real pressures of her life are mounting and negatively impacting her mood. Her attitude with Link and then later with Amelia was really difficult and I'm sure not pleasant for other people to be on the other side of, but also you just want to give her all the grace! Amelia is the star of blended family goodness; she's really in such a good place mentally and her helping and handling of Jo's situation was just pitch perfect. I loved that she managed to get past Jo's defenses and talk honestly with her about things, all while maintaining her place as Scout's mother and being careful not to invalidate Jo's place as a co-parent of Scout either. Just excellent!

And then Teddy, out on an accidental date with a woman in an open marriage? Hell yeah. I want this plot line to go in a direction where Teddy and Owen decide to open their marriage and then Teddy runs off with this woman never to be seen again and Owen fucks off into the sunset and then I don't have to deal with either of them...... but even just within this episode, I liked seeing Teddy relax and have a pleasant conversation with someone, letting off steam. She used to be a character I really liked, and she's so bogged down by unpleasantness that it's nice to get a glimpse of who she used to be.

And we're three for three on "romance plots that I don't generally like having things I actually liked in this episode," because I actually thought Lucas and Simone's little "I love you" plot was pretty cute! Like it was so silly and low-key and Simone was a little freaked out but it wasn't bogged down with unnecessary angst. It was a lovely little subplot. They're still kind of a boring couple, mind you, and my favorite comedy beat was actually from Kwan, saying "I love you" to Simone as she walked away. That was fucking perfect.

I love that Jules and Mika have a sort of getting back together moment, I'm reserving judgment for where this goes because now Mika's life is in peril, but like... I do want these two to get a little more happiness in before Mika's departure from the show, and I'll be so bummed out if this is the end! It was lovely to see them supporting each other and saving the patient's life, and then Jules doing the right thing and giving Mika the credit so she got to do the surgery? I loved it!

I've saved Schmitt for last because I'm going to miss the hell out of him... this was such a good episode that utilized him so, so well, and it makes me wish they'd known how to write for his character better during the last season or so. I've missed him, and I can't believe we're losing him! I loved Richard and Bailey courting him so hard for the attending position, and then I loved that Schmitt fucking crushed it start to finish! I was biting my nails waiting for him to make some sort of a blunder, but he took control and did everything just right, even made a risky and controversial call in the OR that proved to be the right one, saving a patient's kidney. It was fun seeing Owen take orders from Levi in trauma, and Bailey defer to his judgment in the OR. Blue was a little salty about it, but ultimately Levi was victorious!

I like the burgeoning romance vibes between James and Levi and I'm sad it won't go any further, but to be honest the most emotionally devastating moment of the whole episode for me was definitely that conversation between Schmitt and Helm. Helm is a character they've always criminally underutilized. Maybe now that Levi's leaving she'll finally get some cool shit to do, I don't know. But oh my god, the way she immediately teared up, the way he rushed to reassure her that they'd always be best friends, the hug, Taryn's pride in her friend... I really did cry watching it! I love queer friendships!

That's where I'll stop for now! This was honestly a pretty strong episode even though so many of the stories exist within a context that I'm not sure I like.

8/10