Grey's Anatomy: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (22x05)

There were a couple of things I liked about this episode, where my faves got lots of fun stuff to do, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't also have my complaints.

Cons:

The biggest "ugh" of this week to me was the Jo and Link story. They've done story-lines before where a romantic couple featured one religious person and one atheist, and really tried to grapple with it, but this was just... not it. Jo being a Christian who would want to baptize her kids is just nothing that's ever been addressed before. She didn't give a shit about having Luna baptized, did she? It came out of left field for me. It was also frustrating because I wanted Link to make the best and most undeniable argument against it for Jo: it's about consent. Let's teach our kids about different faith traditions and if when they're old enough to give it some thought they want to be baptized, then great, we'll be there to support them. It frustrated me that Link didn't lay it out for her like that, and it's annoying that things are so unsettled now as we go into Jo's Dramatique Giving Birth Episode next week. I find the topic tedious and Link, while annoying and bad at presenting his argument, is 100% in the right here.

A couple of smaller annoyances I want to track: I don't like that Amelia ditched her child to go hang out in Boston? Like, I wish there had been something in the childcare convo with Jo and Link about, like, Amelia is gone for a specific amount of time and she's coming back partway through to take Scout for a long weekend before going again... I don't know. Something. This show has always been so bad at the parents actually behaving like parents, and that moment really rubbed me the wrong way.

Also: still riding that anti- Jules/Winston train. Please no. They want us to think that little moment at the end where she offers him a velociraptor to help him with his fear of public speaking is cute, and I don't think it's cute. No thank you.

I didn't hate Simone's plot thread, but I still find her and Lucas tedious in the extreme. Just wanted to note that quickly. 

Pros:

While I didn't like the baptism conversation, I did like Jo's story with the stubborn mother-to-be. She's being really rude and grumpy and refuses to listen to Jo's professional advice about her birth, but when we find out her husband died three months ago, the vibe changes significantly. I loved the moment when she guided Jo's hand to her heart to try and help calm her anxiety, like her husband used to do for her, and then she says it didn't work and was actually pretty weird. That tension-breaking laughter from the two women was really lovely. And despite all the dicey possibilities for this birth, both mother and baby make it through safely.

Simone meets an old friend of her mom's and learns a different side of her that she hasn't heard about from her dad. There was nothing groundbreaking here, but I was relieved to have a Simone story that for the most part wasn't about Lucas. There was a moment at the end where an olive branch was extended, as Simone confides in him about her mom's friend, and Lucas offers to drive her home. But Simone gently declines the offer. So... maybe we'll get less of them being annoying and resentful at each other, but I still don't want to see them get back together. So I'm of two minds there. The stuff with her learning about her mother was great, and it was so heartbreaking for her to lose that connection so soon after finding it. And then an extra whammy at the very end when she calls her grandmother with Alzheimer's and falls into the role of pretending to be her dead mom, because that's who her grandmother thinks she is. Poor Simone! I want someone (not you Lucas) to give her a big hug!

The highlight of this episode for me was absolutely Kwan and Jules. These are my two favorite characters on the show these days, and I loved their antagonistic flirting and hooking up early on. I kind of want them to get back to that, but I also like the bickering almost sibling-like vibe they had in this episode, so I'm fine with it either way as long as they're getting more screen time together. Grey's is no stranger to the "very special episode" vibe, and this plot thread certainly fit the bill. Kwan and Jules go to make an unsanctioned house call on a clinic patient and learn that she is very sick and her foot is incredibly infected. She is diabetic but hasn't been to pick up her insulin because she is worried about ICE agents who have been hanging out around the hospital. Because of her fear, Kwan decides to try and help with her infection at home, and in a rather gruesome moment, one of her rotted toes ends up coming completely off. She still begs not to be taken to the hospital, so Kwan calls in Bailey for reinforcements. Bailey is able to help out from an ambulance, and she chastises the two residents for being so irresponsible but also praises them for taking a risk and saving a life.

There was a lot to love here: the secret to Kwan's character is somewhat similar to that of Karev's back in the day, like, he's prickly but he cares so, so much and he'll go the extra mile every time. I also liked Jules bonding with the patient's son; she gets the honor of receiving one of his toy velociraptors as a thank you for helping take care of his mom. Bailey and Kwan both say the quiet part out loud in this episode regarding ICE and the horrific treatment suffered by immigrants in this country: Bailey says that people will die because of it, because they're too afraid to leave their homes to go seek help. And Kwan points out that even though they were able to help this time, that little boy is going to be scared every time his mother leaves the house for groceries, or to pick him up at school. They are facing constant and oppressive threat of separation at all times. I thought this episode did a good job of showing how a caring, loving mother who seems like she has her life together, could get to the point of having her foot rotting off on her own living room couch out of sheer terror of being ripped away from her family and everything she knows. It's a fucking horror show out there.

That's all I've got to say for this one. Yay for more Jules and Kwan, boo Lucas, boo Winston, boo Jo for her baptism thing. Yeesh, these people piss me off sometimes but at this point I feel like I'm stuck with 'em.

7/10