This episode did not feel like a mid-season finale. It didn't have any over-the-top catastrophe with multiple deaths. None of our principle characters are in physical danger. A few big moments are interspersed with a lot of smaller details. Despite it not feeling as big as a mid-season finale normally does, I still greatly enjoyed what I got.
Cons:
Normally, I don't mind the voice overs in Grey's Anatomy, even if they can be a bit hokey. This week, though, the whole "fire" analogy felt particularly forced. The fire itself was rather unnecessary. We could just as easily have had all the patient-based plot threads this week without trying to centralize things with a big disaster. The only thing this served to accomplish was to have Bailey handle her first serious catastrophe as chief. This idea wasn't given a lot of time to develop, so it almost felt like it could have been done away with altogether.
Speaking of very little time to develop, Penny had almost no screen time in this episode. Believe me, I'm not complaining about that on principle - I'm not exactly a big fan of Penny, as I find her character to be pretty boring as of yet. But in terms of the pacing of this season, I find it odd that her character didn't have anything to do in the mid-season finale. It seems like after all that buildup and the fallout of her identity, she should continue to play a bigger role moving forward.
But with that being said, I did like the characters that were brought into play by the fire plot thread. The chief of the firefighters was the only one to die, and his scenes with his wife were extremely touching. It was fitting that he was the only one to lose his life - if somebody had to die, he was glad it was him and not one of his men. Bailey was devastated over losing him, but knew that there was nothing she could do to help him. As chief, she oversaw the disaster and every single patient was saved but one. She tells Richard that she can't stop thinking about the one she lost, and Richard tells her it's always like that. I'm enjoying this exploration of Bailey's role as chief.
Jo has a lot of screen time in this episode, which is good. I've been sort of uncertain about her role in the season so far, but I was happy with what I saw here. Jo is unhappy with Alex, since he continually prioritizes Meredith over her. When Jo confronts him about it, he shuts down her concerns. Although this sucks for her, one positive thing does come out of it. She and Stephanie finally talk out their problems, and they make up. I'm really happy that these two are back in a good spot, because Jo needs somebody in her corner.
As the episode ends, Jo makes the agonizing decision to take a break with Alex. As she starts to tell this to him, he interrupts her, pulling out a ring. He explains that the ring has been with Meredith, and she's been keeping it hidden so Jo wouldn't stumble across it. We end on a cliffhanger, as we don't know what Jo's answer will be. This is so deliciously complex. Jo is completely right to be angry at Alex for always prioritizing Meredith. But at the same time, in this particular instance Alex's keeping Jo at a distance was part of a surprise for her. It was the wrong time for Jo to put her foot down, but she's not wrong to raise the issue in the first place. I hope that these two can salvage their relationship, because whether or not they get engaged right now, I think they make each other happy.
Jackson and April's plot thread makes it in to the "Pros" section for the first time this season. Basically, after they have sex, April ignores Jackson. At the end of the episode, he finally chases her down and forces her to talk about it. April has been trying to avoid this because she thinks that the sex was goodbye sex, and she doesn't want to deal with what comes next. As the episode ends, we see the two of them poised on the edge of the inevitable discussion that will break their marriage apart forever, or else take the first step towards healing it. I'm not quite sure what made me like them in this episode, except for maybe just the acting. Their scene was filled with such tension and heartbreak, and I found myself very distressed by the thought of this being the end. I guess we'll have to wait and find out.
Arizona had another comic relief plot thread, and I loved it. Basically, Arizona ends up treating one of the firefighters, and this woman is quite the flirt. Arizona tries to get up her courage to ask her out on a date, but just as she does so, the woman's girlfriend shows up. All of this was made especially humorous by the fact that the patient's burns were on her butt, so Arizona was basically trying to ask out a woman while examining her naked ass. Arizona also, hilariously, tries to enlist Richard's assistance once again, but Richard tells her he won't wingman a patient for her. I love this unlikely little friendship between Arizona and Richard, and I hope they do more with it.
Maggie and Andrew continue to make me very happy. This week, we see them both admit that they have real feelings for one another. Maggie asks Andrew if they can separate work and their private lives. She thinks that having feelings for him at work is too much. He agrees to this, and the two fall into bed together in the on-call room. These two are so sweet, and their relationship is refreshingly simple and happy right now. I hope they hold off on the drama for a bit, as Maggie tries to find her footing and stop pushing away the people who try to get close to her.
Meredith and Amelia have quite the falling out here. I was almost tempted to put their part of the story under the "Cons," because it's kind of extreme, and for a minute there I wasn't really sure I saw where it was coming from. Basically, Meredith finds out more about Owen and Nathan's past (I'll get there in a sec) but does not share it with Amelia. Amelia is pissed that Meredith is showing loyalty to Cristina, who made Meredith promise to look after Owen. Amelia says that she's Meredith's sister, and Meredith says no - "Cristina is my sister. You're Derek's sister." Amelia comes back with some choice comments about Meredith playing the pathetic widow, using Penny as a grotesque widow's shroud to keep Derek close. She then crosses a serious line when she says that Derek would be disgusted to see her now. Meredith tells Amelia to get out of her house, and Amelia is all too happy to comply. As the episode ends, we see Amelia get a drink at a bar, effectively ending her sobriety.
Oh boy. This was the part of the episode that was the most intense to me. I think what made it work so well was that Meredith and Amelia didn't really raise their voices. They were eerily calm as they said the words most suited to ripping each other's hearts out. See, I understand why Amelia wants to know what's going on with Owen, and why she would be pissed that Meredith won't tell her. But Meredith is right to keep Owen's secrets. It's not her business to tell Amelia anything. Both sides of this had a lot of merit, which makes for some great TV. And then you have that ending, with Amelia drinking. Oh no! I never watched Private Practice, but I know Amelia's addictions were very serious and very damaging. I'll be interested to see how they handle her falling off the wagon.
Owen's mother's boyfriend is one of the firefighters who ends up in the hospital in this episode. Owen is disturbed to find that Nathan Riggs is one of the doctors assigned to him. Things get really interesting when Nathan sees Owen's mom, and the two share a big hug. Later, Nathan talks to Owen, saying "I saw Ma." Owen angrily insists that they're not family. Meredith asks Owen's mother what's going on, and we see that she tells her. At the end of the episode, Meredith approaches Owen and remarks that she never knew he had a sister.
So! My guess is that Nathan was married to/dating Owen's sister and then she died, and Owen blames Nathan. Or, maybe Nathan was sort of an unofficial third child of the family (he called Owen's mother "Ma") but he still somehow caused Owen's sister's death. Or Owen perceives it that way. I love the ambiguities here. It makes it all the more tragic to think that Owen and Nathan may once have been close friends, even like brothers, but then something happened to change things so irreversibly. It sort of reminds me of a much more intense version of Derek and Mark's relationship from the early days of the show. They managed to patch things up and become close again. Can Owen and Nathan?
On the humorous side, I really loved how the whole hospital was gossiping about Owen and Nathan. Arizona thought maybe the two of them (Owen and Nathan) had had an affair, which was hilarious. Some people thought maybe Nathan and Owen's mom had hooked up. People were coming up with all sorts of crazy theories. I loved it when Meredith suggested that maybe they were brothers - that Owen's mom is Nathan's mom. She remarks casually that that's happened to her before. That made me laugh. This show is ridiculously dramatic and convoluted, but its ability to make fun of itself is one of its biggest assets.
That's all I've got for this one. Like I said, I didn't really feel like this episode was a mid-season finale. But as it stands, it was very strong, and opened up a lot of serious dramatic tensions for the show when it returns.
8/10
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