Grey's Anatomy: The Distance (11x14)

Wow. Another great episode. In a way, you can look at last week's episode and this one as a two-part story, because we're focusing on the same key story and characters. Let's jump in.

Amelia and Stephanie get ready for Dr. Herman's surgery. They stand in "superhero" pose to gear up for the task ahead. The gallery is full as Amelia and Stephanie get started. The surgery is long and difficult. At one point, Amelia gets stuck. Richard goes down into the OR to see what's holding Amelia up. She asks Richard to call Derek and get him on a plane. She doesn't think she can do this. Richard convinces her that this is her surgery, and she needs to be the one to make it happen. Amelia steps up and gets past the obstacle. Stephanie, exhausted after hours on her feet, passes out. Meredith steps in to help assist with the rest of the surgery.

Amelia risks her own life when she takes her gloves off to do a delicate part of the surgery, exposing herself to direct radiation. Owen and Meredith both freak out, but Amelia manages to do it without exposing herself for too long. Days later, Dr. Herman still hasn't woken up. Amelia obsessively looks over the scans, needing to understand what went wrong. Stephanie notices a spot on one of the scans, and they realize that Dr. Herman had a stroke. She does wake up, though. The tumor is completely gone, but it has come with a price - Dr. Herman is now completely blind. Amelia tells Stephanie that she should be celebrating their victory, despite Dr. Herman's blindness.

Meanwhile, Arizona has to do fetal surgery by herself for the first time, on Bailey's patient. Arizona wants to operate without delivering the baby, but Bailey doesn't think she's capable. Arizona gets more and more anxious as she remembers Dr. Herman yelling at her as Bailey also tells her she's not good enough to get the job done. Even Alex thinks that Bailey is right. However, Arizona presses on, telling Bailey to get on board or get out. Arizona manages to save the mother and baby without delivering the child!

Arizona is there when Dr. Herman wakes up, and she is very upset to find out that she's blind. Dr. Herman is proud of Arizona for her successful surgery. The episode ends on a bittersweet note.

I only have one real complaint, if it can even be called that. Arizona and Dr. Herman's relationship is really wonderful, but it would have been nice if we could have had a more gradual buildup to it. As I look back on their characters, it seems like there was a sudden and abrupt shift in Dr. Herman, and then they were instantly friends. I just wish there could have been a better exploration of their friendship, to make the moments between them even more poignant.

But hey. This episode was a real winner. It reminded me of old-school Grey's Anatomy, with the prolonged OR scenes and the tension building up during a big scary surgery. This is something that I normally wouldn't mention, but did you notice that most of the heavy acting in this episode is done by people who have their mouths covered by surgical masks? That's impressive! These actors are having to get a lot through with just their eyes visible, and it works surprisingly well.

There were a lot of little moments in this episode that need to be talked about. We saw April briefly, and it was heartbreaking. She comes in because Dr. Herman was there for her on her worst day, and she wants to be there in turn.

Richard Webber had a lot of winning moments in here. He was a real fatherly presence for Stephanie, who was horrified that she passed out during the surgery. Richard tried to make her feel better by congratulating her for lasting as long as she did. Richard's talk with Amelia was his finest moment, though. He was firmly on her side, and didn't even once waver and suggest that maybe Derek would be better for the job. It was a nice little insight into what Richard thinks of Derek, too. He knew that Derek would take the surgery from Amelia and probably screw it up.

Stephanie continues to be one of the best things about this show. She wanted to be there for Dr. Herman, and she probably felt like such a failure when she realized that she didn't last through the whole thing. However, she was the one who got to close, and she was also the one who noticed the mark on the scans that explained why Dr. Herman hadn't woken up. She ended up being a really valuable player, and Amelia recognized that. The two of them really are superheros.

Meredith had some great moments in this episode as well. I loved it when she was talking to Maggie about the surgery, and Maggie was a little put off by how everybody was treating it like entertainment. Meredith insists that that's not what's going on, but she did bring snacks to the gallery, and she knows when the "good part" begins! Meredith also stepped in to help with the surgery, but she let Amelia run the show, and complimented her on being bad ass when she took her gloves off during radiation.

Amelia and Arizona win the bad ass awards for the evening, for sure. Amelia had to persevere and work so hard to succeed. Seeing her break down after the surgery was really emotional for me, but I'm glad that she can count this whole thing as a success, even considering Dr. Herman's blindness. Arizona knew she had to step up to the plate to help Bailey's patient, and she did an amazing job. There was a nice balance in these scenes, as I could completely understand where Bailey and Alex were both coming from. But, at the end of the day, Arizona held firm, and it paid off.

Jo only had a brief moment in this episode, but it was really funny. She was disappointed not to be watching the big surgery, but she got really excited when Owen asked her to stay in the trauma ward as the only resident working. That was adorable.

I think I'll leave it there. I can't wait for more!

9/10