Amazing episode. Sort of different from what we've been seeing so far this season. I liked the fact that it was totally unrelated to the hospital. Most of the episode took place in Meredith's house, in fact. Let's take a look at the disastrous dinner party from Hell!
Cons:
There was one subplot that didn't work for me. Jo and Stephanie are at odds, as Jo now realizes that Stephanie was telling the truth about her childhood sickness. Jo tries to apologize, and eventually Stephanie agrees to listen to her. They seem to patch things up, but then Jo says she understands Stephanie better now, and feels a sense of closeness because of their shared hardships (Jo was poor, Steph was sick). Stephanie accuses Jo of being jealous, of needing to find an excuse as to why Stephanie is better than Jo at their job. Stephanie leaves, disgusted with Jo. I didn't really understand the direction this plot thread took. I liked it right up until the end. I wish there could have been a more complex handling of events. I was hoping that their "repaired" friendship would show signs of strain, but I was baffled by Stephanie's anger. It didn't really work for me in terms of the narrative.
On a smaller note, I thought the utter incompetence of Amelia, Maggie, and Meredith in hosting the dinner party was funny at first, but there's a certain point at which it becomes ridiculous. It made me question why they were bothering to have a dinner party in the first place. They so clearly didn't want to be hostesses. Maggie bailed for most of the night, in fact!
Pros:
The main chaos of the dinner party is caused by the introduction of Callie's new girlfriend Penny - the doctor who worked on Derek as a patient when he died. She is horrified to realize that she's just walked into Meredith's home - she had no idea that Callie knew Meredith and Derek. The ripples of Penny's appearance continue throughout the entire event, and each of the characters interact with her and with the situation in interesting ways. I loved the complexities of all of these relationships, and how this one small event snowballs into some serious consequences.
First, you have Meredith. She decides not to say anything, even when Alex notices she's being weird. She thinks that if she can get through this horrific evening, it will all be over. Then the other shoe drops - Bailey recognizes Penny's name as that of a new resident transfer to Grey Sloan Memorial. Uh oh! Meredith reveals the truth, unable to contain it any longer. This of course causes even more mayhem. I like the fact that Meredith was trying to keep it together, and I loved the final exchange between Penny and Meredith. Penny says she still thinks about Derek all the time, and Meredith tells her that she'll see her on Monday at work. Yikes. This is going to be tense!
Then there's Amelia, who had been friendly and cozy with Penny all evening. Upon hearing that she killed her brother, Amelia is furious - not just with Penny, but with Meredith for letting her make friends with this woman. Amelia and Meredith's relationship has never been what you might call solid, but this latest rift might prove too difficult to come back from. I can't wait to find out more.
Owen and Amelia took strides in their relationship, as Amelia angrily asked Owen how he could be so calm about everything. Owen was trying to see this from Penny's side, which Amelia objected to. Owen informs Amelia that he's not at all perfect - when he heard about the plane crash, he was relieved that Cristina might be dead, so he wouldn't have to deal with her leaving him. This admission relaxes Amelia, who is happy to hear that he's as screwed up as she is. Their relationship is interesting to me because it seems to be the calm in the storm for both of these deeply troubled individuals.
The comedic star of the night was Miss Arizona Robbins. She gets a little too friendly with a bottle of wine, nervous about meeting Callie's new girlfriend. As a result, she's overly friendly to Penny, drunkenly rambling about "find a Penny pick it up!" I loved drunken Arizona, and I'd love a continued examination of how Arizona is handling Callie moving on. I think it's an interesting dynamic, to have one person who's obviously doing much better with the breakup than the other.
Speaking of Callie, she is totally blindsided by all of this too. She's in a tough spot, because she can't find it in herself to turn off her feelings for Penny, just because she now understands that Penny was one of the reasons that Derek is dead. She's angry with Penny for not telling her the truth, because of course Penny knew that Callie worked at the same hospital as Derek. But at the same time, Callie and Penny's relationship is already pretty strong. I think a continued relationship between these two is going to cause intense tension between Callie and Meredith, since Meredith might not be able to forgive Callie's continued involvement with this woman.
Totally separate from all this crazy conflict, we've got Maggie and Andrew's continued relationship. Maggie has a UTI, and is worried that Andrew may have given her an STI. She goes into the hospital to have tests run on her, and Andrew is - hilariously - the intern assigned to her case. The two of them end up talking and bonding, and it seems like they're both starting to notice each other for more than just the hot sex. I'm all in favor of this new relationship blooming, even as it looks like April and Jackson's is not going to recover any time soon.
April was another one of my favorite parts of this episode. The dinner party is so ill planned that she ends up making the meal instead of the hostesses. Jackson compliments her on the meal, and actually helps her with the dishes. It seems that, like Callie, Jackson can't turn off his feelings for someone just because he doesn't think loving her is a good idea.
And there you have it. This show continues to be awesome. I love how no matter how convoluted or creative the angst, I still feel connected to these characters. They're fantastic, and complex, and feel real. I can't wait to see what comes next!
9/10
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