Grey's Anatomy: Fortunate Son (22x09)

My hatred is pure, it fuels me, I am invigorated by it in this moment.

Cons:

FUCK Nick Marsh, he SUCKS.

Okay, here's the thing about this character, right, is that he's boring, he and Meredith don't have any real chemistry, he's just kinda... there. Doing nothing. And then whenever they decide to give him glimpses of a personality, it's always a whiny, resentful, overly emotional jackass that peeks through the boring facade! The fact that we get to see Meredith in this episode, and we don't get to see her interact with ANY of the characters that are actually cool and interesting, she's just stuck in a house managing Nick's temper tantrum the whole time? Oh my god. Jesus Christ I hate him so much. The thing is, if he were more of an interesting and full character the rest of the time, giving him a flaw that his sister triggers him into regressive and uncharitable behavior would be fine. I recall when we touched on Nick's family issues the first time, seasons ago, I felt a spark of interest in his character for the first time, and was excited to maybe see more of that explored. But here? Dude. Okay. Obviously his sister driving off and leaving her kid for a couple of hours is not acceptable in any way shape or form. But she showed up, and he immediately started blaming and accusing her and being a sullen little baby while Meredith had to step in and be a good host. I was infuriated. If I were her I would have been SO fucking angry but instead they made her be calm and teach him a lesson about how to be less of a dickhead all the time. That's not Meredith, why should Meredith have to be sitting here dealing with this bullshit. Fuck you, Nick. Seriously.

The rest of the story had some good moments, although I do want to say I thought the residents lying for a patient was sort of... underplayed? Like, shouldn't that be a bigger deal, they're committing fraud, aren't they? Isn't that like a whole thing with these characters, how badly they've fucked up in the past and how careful they need to be for the sake of their careers? My fave Kwan was the only one who seemed to remember that, which kind of annoyed me.

Pros:

The "Richard Has Cancer" plot thread has definitely made me roll my eyes a lot, I've made no secret of that. But I love an old fashioned Grey's moment like we had here, with Richard entering into a dream state during his big surgery and having a conversation with his dead dad. He carries guilt for not noticing his dad's cancer and saving him. It's basically a PSA about getting screenings earlier to prevent this. Very on the nose, but Grey's often does this kind of thing and I can't help but be sort of charmed by it? I don't know. With a character as long-lived as Richard Webber, who I've been watching on TV for 22 seasons, it's fun to get some fresh lore, a new perspective on his past. I also thought it was really cute, him talking about Maggie. (I'd sort of forgotten about her whole pregnancy deal lol, I wonder if we'll be seeing her again this season to deal more with that?)

Again, as much as it pains me to give any props to Catherine Fox, I was sort of amused by the Bailey and Catherine comedy hour this week. Fun to give these characters the comic relief in an episode, since they're both such world-class actors. Catherine being petty enough to resent Richard for his plan to be buried next to Adele, and then ultimately landing on getting cremated and having her ashes spread over his grave was honestly very funny. And poor long-suffering Bailey having to manage Catherine while she over-fixates on this and harasses the nursing staff... I mean, look. Catherine still sucks, for the most part? But I understood this subplot tonally for what it was and it worked okay. I also loved the detail of Bailey wanting to be cremated so her remains can be physically in her kids' houses to haunt them and make them think twice before making stupid decisions. Very Bailey of her.

There were glimmers that I liked about the residents this week, like, I did like how bad Simone was at lying and how Adams pointed that out. I liked how Blue was very Alex-Karev-ish in how he abdicated all responsibility for this situation, but still knows he'll be lumped in if things go bad. And I liked that Winston knew what was up and tries to get Jules to talk, but then seemingly lets it go. There were hints of a stronger story here, and I still find the character work to be enjoyable. They're hitting a stride, with the exception of the Jules/Winston thing, where I'm really enjoying the four of them. Just keep Simone and Adams away from each other please and thanks!

This is kind of a bleak comment on the state of this show, but I think I'll be giving it higher marks than I otherwise would have because we didn't have to see Teddy, Owen, Link, or Jo. Those characters are joy-stealing at this point, and their absence made for a sunnier viewing experience. At least for the parts at the hospital. Still had to deal with that fucking jackass Nick Marsh, unfortunately.

7/10