Okay then! That was a tear-jerker.
This episode was all about April and Jackson and their baby. They find out that their little boy is unlikely to live more than a few hours after being born. Dr. Herman also tells them that the baby's bones are breaking, and April is distraught to discover that the baby is in pain. She doesn't know what to do, as she is wrestling between what God would want, and her compassion for her child. Catherine Avery arrives and helps out by suggesting that April pick a date, and then induce labor. Then, she can hold her little baby in her arms until God takes him. April agrees to this, but on the day of, she has second thoughts. Dr. Herman wants Jackson and April to sign a death certificate, so that they don't have to deal with it later, and April freaks out.
As she and Jackson are trying to decide on what to name their baby, April realizes that she can't go through with this. What if there's a medical miracle, and she is turning her back on it? She runs out.
The rest of the doctors in the hospital all don't know how to offer their condolences for what April and Jackson are going through. Amelia suggests giving them their space, and lighting a candle in the chapel. Throughout the episode, as everybody has their own stuff going on, people come and light candles to honor April and Jackson and their child.
Callie and Bailey have a patient who was accidentally shot by her husband. Just as they are about to take her into surgery, she gives birth to a little baby. The catch? She didn't even know she was pregnant! They manage to save the woman's life, but it is a close call. Apparently, this woman had been told that she couldn't get pregnant, so this baby is pretty much a miracle. The happy parents celebrate their new little girl.
Amelia is in a grumpy mood, and she acts harshly towards Stephanie, who is on her service. They are working on a blind patient, and Amelia thinks there might be a chance to return his sight to him along with extending his life for a few more years. She will be using a technique that she later wants to use on Dr. Herman, so in addition to helping this man, she'll be getting good practice. During the surgery, Stephanie is upset to discover that Amelia wants to keep working on the man, even after she knows she can't fix his vision. Stephanie thinks it's unethical to practice on an actual patient. However, when the man wakes up from his surgery, he can see. Amelia yells at Stephanie, telling her that she needs to be willing to go the extra mile if she wants to help with Dr. Herman's surgery.
Meredith spends the episode running around looking for someone to cover her shift and watch the kids that weekend, so that she can go have "emergency sex" with Derek. She eventually gets Richard to agree to cover her shift, but Alex doesn't want to babysit. Maggie offers, saying that she considers Meredith a friend, and that she would love to babysit her niece and nephew. Richard, meanwhile, comforts Catherine over the tragedy with her first grandchild.
April meets a woman in the hospital whose fiance had died the night before. She is able to give comfort to this woman, and through this exchange, April feels God give her strength. She goes back to Jackson and says she's ready. The two of them induce labor, and hold their baby boy Samuel Norbert Avery. April feels him grab her finger, and then let go.
I seriously get goosebumps just thinking about how sad this is. I mean, my God. This episode just gutted me.
If I were to have any problems, it would be with Meredith. She's such a fascinating character, but in this episode I was getting a little bit annoyed with her. Everybody else had at least one quiet moment where they reflected on April and Jackson's struggles and tried to offer their help. Meredith spent the whole episode running around asking people for favors. On top of that, the promo for next week informs us that she lied about being with Derek. Wherever she was for the weekend, she wasn't with her husband. How selfish! I hope that next week we address how ridiculous she was behaving.
Other than that, this episode hit every beat it needed to, and it made me cry. Let's go through some of the strongest elements.
First of all, a standing ovation for both Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams for their portrayals of April and Jackson this week. All of these dramatic and sad scenes wouldn't have packed much of a punch if the acting hadn't been spot on. Some of the best moments of tragically gut-wrenching acting were when April was talking with Jackson and Catherine about how she'd hold her baby until God took him, and then again when she talked about how little baby Samuel grabbed her finger, and then let go. Also, Jackson's scene in the chapel, when he asked God to please "show up for April." Ouch, my heart.
Amelia and Owen had a quiet little moment in the chapel at the end, where Amelia revealed the truth about her bad mood - she too lost a child right after it was born. Owen takes her hand, and Amelia lets him. I like this gradual, gentle coming together of these two characters who have both been through so much trauma in their lives.
It was also nice to see Richard and Catherine find their way back to one another. They didn't go over the top with this, but Catherine is obviously grieving the loss of her grandson, and Richard wanted to be there for her. I always rooted for these two, and I hope we can continue to see their relationship develop.
Stephanie was really great in this episode. She was right to be questioning Amelia's methods, but it also makes sense for Amelia to put her in her place. The blind guy was actually really adorable. He smelled Stephanie's lavender shampoo, and when he regained his sight, he exclaimed: "Dr. Lavender!" And Stephanie let out the cutest little giggle. I just really loved that moment of hope. Stephanie has a lot to contend with in this episode, of course, as she tells to Jo when the two of them light candles in the chapel. Stephanie was the one who first noticed something wrong with April's baby, and she tells Jo that she wished bad things for April and Jackson. She feels horribly guilty now, which is probably part of the reason she asked Amelia if she felt guilty for using a patient for practice. I don't know... Stephanie might actually be my favorite character on the show right now. I can't wait to see more from her.
Then there's the miracle baby plot thread. At first I was inclined to be annoyed by this, but honestly I think it worked well as a parallel to what was going on with April. Women do sometimes give birth without having known about their pregnancy! And it was sweet to see a new life successfully brought into the world, as something of a soothing balm on the wound of losing April and Jackson's baby.
Even though I was annoyed with Meredith, I did like the moment of friendship between Meredith and Maggie. Maggie was so sweet to offer to watch Meredith's kids. I liked how confused Meredith was by the offer - she's not used to having people just offer to be her "person" so casually, and she's not used to people wanting to spend a bunch of time with other peoples' kids. We'll have to see how this new and fragile sisterly bond holds up under the weight of Meredith's secrets in next week's episode.
I think that's where I'll leave off. Man, this episode made me sad. I'm not looking forward to the fallout. It's probably going to hurt even more!
9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment
I'd really appreciate hearing what you think!