Grey's Anatomy: Why Try To Change Me Now? (13x07)

I'm gonna be quick about this. I'm sooo busy.

Cons:

Leah Murphy's return has thus far been rather uninteresting. What's she doing here? I don't get it. I'm hopeful that it'll get better, but I just don't get it.

Oy vey. The continuing drama of Amelia and Owen. She spends the episode avoiding him and sleeping at the hospital. When he confronts her about it, she blurts out that she doesn't want kids, and ends up showing up at Meredith's place to spend the night. I'm heartsick for Owen, that he managed to be married to another woman who doesn't want children. And while I was all ready to support the hasty marriage thing, I'm now just super annoyed that they didn't talk about this before tying the knot. That's a pretty big conversation not to have. It makes them both look like idiots.

Pros:

I did like the bit where Amelia shows up at the end and Alex tells her no, she needs to go home and talk to Owen. She then reveals that she already has talked to Owen, and that that's why she's there. Alex lets her in. Alex and Amelia confiding in each other is a cool element that I hope we can keep around, especially since it gives Meredith a break. Alex remarks "she talks to me, now," and Meredith thanks him. Ha!

The big story of the week is Eliza Minnick, a consultant who comes to the hospital to assess the resident training program. She has this revolutionary idea about throwing surgeons in to the deep end to let them learn more and faster. Richard is furious at first, but by the end everybody has to admit that Eliza's ideas are good ones. Eliza says she's considering coming to the hospital full time, but if she does, she won't be sharing authority. That means that Richard would lose his position as head of the residency program. Uh oh...

I rather liked Doctor Minnick, and I particularly liked all of the drama that she's causing. The Attendings all spend the episode with ruffled feathers, annoyed at this woman for interfering in their practice. The residents are all thrilled at the opportunity to learn more and faster. I think Minnick has a good point, and I love that everybody set aside their pride and focused on what was best for the program. But what will this mean for Richard? Bailey is so sick about the whole situation. The good of the hospital means letting Eliza in, but what about Richard, her friend and mentor? Yikes. I loved the moment when Ben is getting all excited about performing more surgery, and Bailey just looks so upset. They're sort of on different sides of this thing. To Ben's credit, when he realizes that Miranda looks perturbed, he drops everything and asks her what she needs.

Eliza also causes Maggie to question her skill as a teacher. She asks Leah to tell her what she could be doing better, and Leah admits that it would be helpful for Maggie to slow down every once in a while. Later, during a surgery, Leah performs key aspects of the operation while Maggie talks her through it. Then, when Leah gets nervous, she taps out. Eliza says that's fine. That's the way to determine how much a resident knows, and where they still need to learn. DeLuca steps in and gets to help save the patient as well. I loved that Maggie was willing to put aside her pride and confront this problem head on. She knows she's a genius, but that doesn't automatically make her a good teacher. I was happy to see a story line for Maggie that focused on her profession, not on her weird, practically nonexistent drama with Riggs.

Arizona is insecure because she thinks that Eliza left her off of a ranked list of doctors. She confronts her about it, and Eliza says she was just writing names down to help her remember them. Arizona's name wasn't written down because a name like that with a face like hers isn't easy to forget. Looks like Arizona's new love interest has arrived! I was really worried it was going to be Leah, but instead we get kind-of-a-jerk-super-hot-and-ultimately-good-for-the-hospital lady. I like it! Get some, Arizona!

April is on Tinder, and Jackson is a little uncomfortable. By the end of the episode, though, Jackson is encouraging April to "dip her toe in" and get back out there. He wants her to be happy. I'm really rooting for these two to eventually find their way back to each other, but I also really liked seeing them as friends. There's this great scene where they're eating nachos together, and it reminded me that they used to be close friends and nothing more, long before sex became involved. They still have that foundation, and I think their closeness, coupled with caring for Harriet, will bring them back together before the curtain falls on this show. Also, April incompetently using Tinder was pretty hilarious.

See? I typed fast! I tried not to ramble! Lots of good stuff happening right now. I'm glad that the Riggs/Maggie/Meredith love triangle seems to be on the back burner. And Alex's trial is, realistically, taking a while to come, which means that people are starting to fall back into familiar rhythms just in time for things to fall apart again. Yep. That's Grey's Anatomy for you!

8/10