Grey's Anatomy: I Wear the Face (12x17)

I didn't dislike this episode, but I also didn't like it. There were only a few details that made me happy, and quite a few things that annoyed me a little bit. Let's talk it over. Maybe I'll work my way towards my feelings by typing out all the different things going on here. And I'm going to do it quickly.

Cons:

Owen, Riggs, and Meredith go on a rather pointless expedition to retrieve a heart. They get stuck in traffic and the heart is not viable by the time they get there. Owen learns that Riggs bought Amelia the drink that triggered her relapse, and adds that to the reasons he hates him. Owen reveals to Meredith that Megan (his sister) got on the helicopter in part to get away from Riggs, who was cheating on her. That's part of the reason he blames him for Megan's death. This plot thread made me roll my eyes a lot. I'm getting really sick of the protracted conflict between these two. And what a pointless expedition for the three of them to take! There was no real medical angle here at all! And I'm sorry, Owen, just because Riggs cheated on Megan doesn't make him responsible for her death. Get a grip. I guess things will be set to rights when Megan miraculously shows up some time soon...

Jo, Stephanie, and Penny are all trying to go for this special grant that the residents are eligible for. I liked a lot of stuff about this plot thread, but I'm also annoyed... see, Jo and Stephanie end up being quite cruel to Penny when they find out that she applied, after she told them she wasn't going to. Get a grip, girls. You're all supposed to be friends. Also, Penny getting the grant in the end is all well and good, except for the fact that it's causing unnecessary drama in the Penny/Callie relationship. Penny will now have to move away for a year. Last week's episode just took them to the next level of their relationship. It's too soon to throw another wrench in. Also, I was annoyed at Stephanie for being so angry at Amelia for not having her back in recommending her for the grant. Turns out, Amelia did recommend Stephanie, but she also told the truth about her opinions on Penny, and the other attendings came together to choose Penny in the end. Amelia didn't betray Stephanie! I wish she wouldn't be so whiny and childish about it all.

Then there's the April and Jackson stuff. Richard doesn't support Catherine's decision, which I liked, but he's still way too calm about the whole thing, and parts of their argument on the topic are treated like comic relief. Which... no. What Catherine is doing is monstrous. April finds out about what Catherine is up to because she overhears Catherine and Richard talking, and she takes the drastic step of getting a restraining order against Jackson. Jackson, meanwhile, decides to play nice and make peace with April... until he gets served. This is just so annoying. It's a plot thread completely dependent on people making extreme and rash decisions without even a hint of rationality. In a normal world, this could be fixed so easily if April just immediately texted Jackson to tell him what happened.

Pros:

But... I did like quite a few things about this episode too. While I thought Richard's calm attitude with Catherine wasn't extreme enough to match her crimes, I did like that he stuck to his guns. Even after Catherine talks about her own experience with custody battles, Richard points out that April and Jackson need to make their own decisions. Catherine even seems to change her mind, telling Jackson she's sorry for trying to meddle.

April and Arizona worked together on a pregnant fourteen-year-old patient with an overbearing mother. The patient lives in the end, but April tells the mother about her daughter's pregnancy, against the wish of the patient. It turns out okay, as the mother comes through for her daughter and is supportive of her. This also heals the rift between April and Arizona, because April has now done just what Arizona did a few weeks back, in telling somebody about a pregnancy when she wasn't supposed to. I'm glad they're not prolonging this fight, since these two have a good solid friendship. At the same time, the show isn't excusing Arizona or April for their mistakes... it's just examining where they were coming from.

Meredith, Amelia, and Maggie had a cute barely-there plot thread where Meredith and Amelia are bickering over things and Maggie is trying to keep the peace. Maggie is making the whole thing into a bigger deal than it really is, though, trying to enlist their friends to come over and act as a buffer between the two other women. In the end, Amelia and Meredith both concur that they're going to argue a lot, but that they're okay with that arrangement. Maggie is the one being annoying. I loved this plot thread because it didn't go too far down the road of bickering sisters, but just showed the very organic and messy relationships these three women have. They're bound to get into little tiffs now and then, since they're all living together.

Ben and Bailey had a brief moment that was quite lovely. Bailey is annoyed that Ben didn't submit his own name for the research grant, but he says he didn't want to do anything that would take him away from his wife and kid. He says that some day his time will come, but for now he's here for his wife. Hopefully they're going to ignore the weirdness of the last few Ben-centric plot threads and move forward with this one. Ben is such a sweetheart.

I also liked some of the scenes with Stephanie, even though I was annoyed with her by the end. She bonds with a patient named Kyle Diaz, who plays the guitar and continually hits on Stephanie. I hope she can let her guard down and at least get some, because the girl has been on a dry spell for a while. With both Penny and Jo getting it on the regular, Stephanie deserves something too. Also, I loved the earlier scene with Stephanie and Amelia, where they talked in code about how Amelia was going to talk her up at the meeting with the attendings. It was such a sweet and genuine moment enforcing their teacher/student relationship, and I wish the later scene hadn't screwed that up.

Callie and Penny also had some adorable moments. Penny overhears Stephanie badmouthing her because she's jealous that Penny is now working with Amelia so much. Penny rants about it to Callie, lamenting that she didn't say anything to Stephanie: "I didn't have my words." Callie responds: "say your words now." It sounded like this was something they had done before. Penny has a hard time expressing herself, and Callie, always one to say what's on her mind, is helping her break out of her shell. It was such a genuine moment of connection for the two of them. I really like Penny, and I hope she sticks around instead of going off on this weird grant thing.

I'll wrap up there. This episode frustrates me because several of the plot threads feel stagnant and annoying. At the same time, I do have hope that some of these will turn around and become interesting again.

6.5/10