Grey's Anatomy: (If You Want It) Do It Yourself (22x11)

Did I cry at the Eric Dane tribute at the end? Yes of course I did. Oof.

Cons:

I actually don't have a ton of strong negative feelings about this episode, which is the first time that's happened in a while. I maybe could have done without the Teddy and Winston conflict, as it feels a little rehashed, and I also think this show has done a weirdly large number of plot threads focusing on the humbling of Ben Warren, like, does anybody feel like he's had to learn his lesson about how to be a good doctor one too many times? But these are relatively small complaints, I was actually overall very happy with this episode.

Pros:

I think there are versions of the plot thread about Simone and Jules freezing their eggs that might have made me mad, but they threaded the needle pretty well here. Jules isn't suddenly compelled to be a mother, but she is acknowledging that she doesn't know how she'll feel in the future. And I like the promise they make to each other, to offer support as they go through the process! Shout out to one of my favorite lighter moments in the episode, when they start talking about this process and Blue just goes "do I have to be here for this?" lol. I also didn't mind Catherine's role here, her no-nonsense attitude about operating on a colleague's scrotum, her discussion of her many accomplishments, first of which being Jackson's mother... it was all lovely stuff.

Lucas continues to not make me angry, this has got to be some kind of record. I mean, he behaves incorrectly in this episode, he is a bad resident and he leaves Dani vulnerable to making dangerous mistakes, all in the name of his concern for another patient. Bailey has to teach him a lesson, and Lucas does in fact owe Dani an apology. But I like this story for him, his preoccupation with a woman he has come to befriend overshadowing his other responsibilities. It's good tension and a good growth opportunity for him.

Teddy and Owen have a solemn moment where Teddy is finally read to sign divorce papers. I feel like I've been burned too many times by this show and the awful romantic pairings that sometimes come out of it, so I am holding my breath that Teddy and Owen are actually, completely, totally split up and not getting back together. Praise the gods if so.

Amelia is the real highlight here, I'm so glad she's properly back, I missed her! She gets a lighter story this week, encountering an old med school figure who she thought must have hated her back then: turns out, Toni Wright didn't hate her, she had a crush on her. And Amelia realizes - she had a crush too, she just hadn't realized what her feelings were back then. We go from Toni giving Amelia the cold shoulder to the two of them smooching up a storm by the end of the episode, so we know they're not messing around. It feels like it's been forever since Amelia has had a romantic prospect that felt legitimate and healthy... so I'm hoping this really goes somewhere and is a good thing for her!

I'm sure there's more to talk about, but I'll stop there. This isn't an episode of Grey's that will stick with me as anything especially significant, but it also managed to be delightfully unobjectionable and made me enjoy hanging out with these characters!

8/10