Wow! This was an amazing episode! Last week, I wasn't too happy with a lot of the plot elements, but this week there was really nothing that I didn't love. Several of the things that I didn't care about in the past suddenly became interesting to me. Let's look at the plot.
A married couple comes into the hospital, having jumped out a window to avoid a fire. The husband is holding the wife in his arms. The paramedics think the wife is dead, and the husband refuses to let go of her. Eventually they convince him to, and when they move the wife they find out that she has a pulse after all. The surgeons set to work on fixing them up. When this couples' grown daughter shows up at the hospital, she recognizes Amelia from their Narcotics Anonymous meetings and says she wants another surgeon, yelling loudly that Amelia is an addict in front of a bunch of people.
Amelia asks Richard what to do, and Richard says that she did nothing wrong. Owen tries to ask Amelia about it, but she won't talk to him. When Owen asks Derek if Amelia is sober, and if she's the best person for the job, Derek hesitates, and Owen draws his own conclusions. Derek feels terrible about it, and he addresses the board, telling them that he led Owen to believe something that wasn't true, because he wanted his old job as Chief of Neuro back. Later, Derek confesses to Amelia that he's been feeling angry and helpless all the time, and Amelia says that addicts call that "rock bottom."
Arizona is unsure what to do about Dr. Herman's confession. Should she tell Owen about her, or not? When Dr. Herman disappears for the day, Arizona is stuck with a pregnant patient whose baby will die if something is not done. Since Arizona can't do the surgery while the baby is still in the womb, she decides to do it the way she knows how, and take the baby out, even though it is dangerously premature. She continually calls Dr. Herman, but she won't pick up. Arizona and Alex perform the surgery. Alex is able to save the baby, but a complication arises with the mother, who dies. Dr. Herman later tells Arizona that she was getting chemo all day, but that she was monitoring Arizona's progress. Turns out, Arizona made all the right choices. If she had tried to do the surgery as Dr. Herman would have, it's likely both the baby and the mother would have died. Arizona decides not to tell Owen about Dr. Herman's cancer, because she wants to learn more.
In a brief subplot, April, who was working on the mother during the surgery, is freaked out about what will happen with her own pregnancy. Jackson reassures her that things will be okay, even though they're both scared.
Jo has her first solo surgery, with Bailey supervising. At first, Jo is confident, but later when talking to Stephanie, she second-guesses whether she completed all the steps of the surgery. Bailey is angry, and she marches off to run tests on the patient. Later, Bailey leads Jo to believe her patient is dead, but then quickly comes clean: Jo didn't forget anything. Bailey saw her complete all the steps. Bailey just wanted to teach Jo a lesson about second-guessing herself.
While Meredith and Maggie work on their patient together, Maggie admits that she's really mad at Meredith and Derek for not showing up for the dinner party, since Maggie has been feeling lonely and she was really excited to have some someone invite her over. At the end of the episode, Maggie comes over to Ellis Grey's old house, where she hangs out with Alex, Jo, Meredith, and Callie. They all talk about how they're related through sex (Alex has slept with Callie who slept with George who slept with Meredith). Then, Arizona shows up. She is unannounced, and has a suitcase with her. She's not sure where her home is now, and was hoping to stay with Alex. Alex invites her in.
Okay! Complaints? Uh... nope! I still think it's sort of stupid that Dr. Herman has a brain tumor, because it just feels so soap-opera-y, but honestly they did some pretty cool stuff with it here, so I can't complain too much.
The good stuff outweighs any lingering complaints I might have about the melodrama. First of all, this was the first week that I felt a real connection to Amelia as a character. When the patients' daughter started yelling all that confidential stuff out loud, I felt for her. I was angry and upset and hurt for her. Also, I loved the nuance of the scene between Derek and Owen. Derek hesitates for a moment when Owen asks him about his sister. That hesitation is really Derek wondering if he should be selfish and take advantage of the situation, or whether he should stand up for Amelia. Of course, Owen reads the hesitation as the opposite - Derek wanting to protect his sister, but also wanting to do what's best for the hospital. I loved the speech Derek gave to the board at the end.
Great use of flashbacks, too - we saw a few moments of Derek and Amelia's traumatic experience as kids, when they saw their father murdered. It really worked to solidify our connection to these two as siblings.
Arizona and Dr. Herman had a really interesting plot thread. I was impressed by how well the suspense worked here. I was really, really anxious during the entire surgery. I felt the same panic that Arizona did, when Herman wouldn't answer the phone. I was really scared for the baby, and then shocked when I realized it was the mother who was in trouble. All of this came across really well. The ending to this thread, too, was excellent, as we see that Arizona didn't fail - no lives were lost that could have been saved if Dr. Herman had been there.
Also, Alex and Arizona's relationship continues to be one of my favorites! I loved how they worked together, and how they have such great trust. In the end, when Arizona doesn't know where else to go, she goes to Alex. Very nice.
The little thread with Jo and Bailey was lovely. It reminded me of Bailey teaching some of the interns from earlier years of the show. She has been such a strong figure to look up to for Meredith, Alex, Cristina, et. al., and she continues to be that influence for the newest generation of interns. I was glad that this plot didn't end in tragedy, but rather in a life lesson for Jo: she needs to learn to have confidence in herself!
I was annoyed with April and Jackson's plot last week, but this week they were very sweet. Just a simple little moment between husband and wife, as they contemplate their future. It must be very hard for a pregnant woman to work in a profession where she can see all the things that could go wrong. That was nicely handled here.
My favorite part of this episode, though, was definitely the end scene, where Maggie got to be included with the group of friends. There were so many shout-outs to old moments on the show, such as Callie's one night stand with Alex, and of course they all toasted to George, which was adorable. I loved all of Maggie and Meredith's awkward sisterly moments, especially when Meredith asks Maggie to hang out, and Maggie almost misses the invitation. So cute.
I'm also getting intrigued about where they're going with this whole Derek thing. I was getting annoyed with him for being such a baby, but now I see that he's really going through something difficult. He should probably go see a therapist. I'm excited to see where this all goes next.
I'll stop there! Great stuff this week!
9/10
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