Grey's Anatomy: Goodbye Horses (22x04)

Even when Jackson's being a bit of a jerk it's good to see him.

Cons:

I'd love to be able to say "get it, girl, we love to see it" about Teddy and Cass having a steamy love affair but the issue is this: Teddy still sucks. I'm not mad at her on Owen's behalf, because Owen also sucks, and that's what makes them so frustrating as a couple. With Jo and Link, a couple I also hate, at least I still love Jo so I can grudgingly accept that seeing her happy is nice. With Owen and Teddy, it's just this big mess of crap. I don't want there to be more relationship drama, but now both the people that Owen and Teddy used to test out an open marriage are back in the picture, and I can't imagine they're just going to quietly separate and move on with their lives. It's going to be more angst, more back-and-forth, and I so, so, so don't want to see it. If I'm supposed to root for these two and want them to move on and find happiness elsewhere, then the show is doing a bad job of that as well. I don't think going to dinner with Nora when you're in the early stages of a painful divorce is like... the smartest move, there, Owen Hunt. But what else is new.

I wish the Hobby-Horse plot thread had gotten like... a tiny bit of additional wrap-up? How did the friend who had surgery feel about his buddy abandoning him? I also wish the episode had been a little more explicit about how this hobby is a real athletic achievement and not a joke. I know it seems silly but really think about it: how does the introduction of a horse on a stick actually make this less legitimate of a competitive and athletic thing than dancing or gymnastics or any other sport that's about moving the body in impressive ways? Unburden your mind, people.

Pros:

This episode was probably my favorite of the season so far. Less of the things that annoyed me, and some fun stuff for a lot of the plot threads.

To start, let's welcome Lucas Adams to a rare guest appearance over into the "pros" section of my review. I liked his rapport with Bailey's stage four cancer patient, Katie. He ends up being the one she leans on as she's processing the bad news about her prognosis, and he asks Bailey if he can stick with her through her case. This is growth for him because he knows it might mean foregoing interesting surgeries in the future, and Bailey is impressed with him for asking. He recognized that he had some growing to do in this area of his career and he decided to do the right thing.

I also really liked the conversation where Bailey broke the news to Katie, because you can tell Katie is just not ready to hear that her odds are super poor, she just goes straight into fight mode and asks for next steps. Bailey doesn't want to push her to confront reality just yet, but it's concerning that Katie doesn't have a support system of friends around her right now. I'd love to keep following her story and I hope she somehow pulls through!

Kwan wins some points back with Kavita by giving up his chance to assist with a surgery so Jackson will let her assist instead. I loved their conversation at the end where it's clear they both know what Kwan has done, but there's not a direct acknowledgment or thanks offered. I love the character type of this guy who can seem like an unfeeling jerk but actually has a way of being perceptive and selfless in key moments.

I also continue to love Ben and Miranda on this show, they're like the only romance in the whole dang thing that I believe in at this point. Ben is really jazzed up about the important surgery he works on with Jackson, and Miranda encourages him to think of doing plastics even though it will mean four more years of residency. Ben wasn't considering it seriously because it means Miranda takes on more of the load at home, but she tells him to go for it. We love how supportive these two are of each other's goals and dreams!

The patient in question is Perry Onikul, who apparently helps to train firefighters in her fitness class. I liked that little connection to Ben's old job, I wonder if they'll throw in more hints and references to the Station 19 gang here and there. It was also nice to see Jackson and Meredith team up and do expert work; we're at the stage with Meredith's character that you never worry she's going to have some sort of traumatic OR experience; I knew that things would work out for Perry with both Jackson and Meredith at the table.

In general, it was fun to see Jackson and Meredith bickering like siblings. Their fight was real and based in some serious shit but also they've known each other for so long and been through so many insanely traumatic events together that there's this automatic companionship even underneath the fighting. It looks like Koracick has published his research, even though he only did the study on male mice. Jackson understands the point Meredith is making about sexism in the medical research industry, but he also keeps pushing back on Meredith that she needs to actually do the work and publish something. He can't stop the progress that's happening elsewhere to wait on her, even if he understands she's got a steeper hill to climb. I feel like this is one of those elegant arguments where they're both right. I'd argue Meredith is more right in a lot of ways than Jackson is, but I also understand where he's coming from. It all ends up with Jackson offering Meredith a ride back to Boston, probably in his private jet because he is That Rich Kid underneath it all. You gotta love it.

I still have lingering resentment for how rude Richard was to Meredith last season about her pulling away from the hospital more, but he redeemed himself a bit in my eyes this week by supporting Meredith's need to go back to Boston and her research, even as she'd been helping him out with Chief duties and putting in the work at Grey Sloan. It was nice to have her around, but she's got a life elsewhere too!

Link was annoying this week but in a way where he was written to be annoying, all so that we aren't too mad at Owen for snapping at him. Too bad, I was mad at Owen because Owen sucks. He sucks more than Link sucks for sure. I honestly felt like Link in this episode was a bit like his old self from when I liked the character, and so I guess it was nice to see him that way. And I'll grudgingly admit that while Owen and Teddy were both snappy and rude to people who didn't deserve it in this episode, they did both own up to being jerks and apologize. Yay for acting like adults for once. Teddy's little story about the crispness of her bed-sheet corners while in the army actually made me smile.

The little interactions between the residents made me smile this week too: there was Blue offering the fact that he had to work with someone who hates him to Adams, to try and cheer him up, and Adams saying that it worked. There was Simone asking Jules to move in with them and Jules's rejection, Simone's anxiety about it, and Jules's eventual explanation about being a heavy sleeper with a million annoying alarms in the morning. There was the moment when Simone went to Blue: "You would want to live with me, right?" / "I do live with you." This was all fun stuff, gave early Grey's vibes. I want these four to be entwined with each other in increasingly messy and complicated ways like the OG five interns were.

I'll stop there. As I said, I think this was my favorite episode of the season thus far. Despite the attention on Owen and Teddy. Everything else going on here, I more or less enjoyed!

8/10