Grey's Anatomy: Back Where You Belong (13x14)

Grey's has never been the most subtle show on air, but this episode was really hitting me over the head with its foreshadowing. Let's take a look.

Cons:

One plot thread featured a mom giving a kidney to her son, when suddenly her remaining kidney fails, leaving all the doctors in a pickle. Who gets the kidney? Good thing the abusive husband and father is around to offer his own kidney and also to freak Jo out. See, she's mighty uncomfortable with the idea of an abusive husband coming in to the picture and making decisions for his wife, who tried to escape him. Hmmm I wonder when we'll be seeing Jo's husband?

Then there's another plot thread where a girl shows up rambling and raving. It turns out that she's schizophrenic, and her parents thought she was dead for seven years. Riggs is all twisted up at the thought that this girl has been alive the whole time, and the parents have been living their lives and moving on. It's almost like his fiance, Owen's sister, is destined to re-enter the picture at some point! Subtle. Really.

Meanwhile, Minnick has bounced back from the catastrophe of Stephanie's solo surgery by easing up just a little and allowing the attending surgeons more guidance in the OR. That's fine, but what's not fine is Jackson being a total dick to April. He's being unreasonable, honestly. I get why he feels betrayed, but he's acting like a little baby about it. And so is Meredith! Bailey takes the day off to go sit with Meredith and talk through the Minnick issue. Meredith staunchly refuses to come back until Minnick is out, and Richard is re-instated as head of the residency program. This seems ridiculous to me, and in fact Meredith changes her mind after Richard talks to her and tells her to stop being so stubborn. I feel like the drama of the Minnick situation has become overplayed. I get where everybody is coming from, but so many of the characters are digging their heals in way too much here.

Pros:

Despite the heavy-handedness of the foreshadowing, I really liked the various patient plot threads this week. My favorite touch was when Jo asks Owen to get the abusive husband out of the hospital. He tries to ask her what's going on, but when she won't explain, he trusts that she knows what she's doing, and he goes to remove him. There was something very sweet in Owen taking the threat seriously and doing what he could to make Jo more comfortable. Alex also checks in with Jo to see if she's okay, given the situation.

Alex is back this week, and there's no big fuss made about it, which I actually rather liked. Alex's whole assault plot thread really ran out of steam there at the end, so I think it might be best to just let things lie quietly for a while. Maybe in future, Andrew can start to be resentful about everybody brushing it under the rug, but for now I think we need a break from that nonsense. Amelia is apparently back living with Meredith and her various strays, which I would find annoying except for that, like Alex, they didn't make a big production out of it here. I'm assuming we're going to have to deal with the Amelia problem soon, so I'll reserve judgment.

The schizophrenic prodigal daughter was portrayed very well by the actress. It didn't feel overdone or too silly, and it also avoided too much melodrama. I liked the twist that the parents had moved on as best they could from the death of their daughter, only to now have to contend with the fact that they abandoned her, even if they didn't know it at the time.

Arizona and Eliza are already locking lips! I like that Arizona has a new love interest, even if Eliza is never going to fill the Callie-shaped hole in my heart. The two of them spend their time in the hospital getting to know each other, only to pretend to be antagonistic the minute somebody walks by. Eliza likes the fun of sneaking around as friends, but Arizona tells her she hates it, because she wants people to know how great Minnick really is. That's when they kiss. Aww! I think this could be the start of something really great, if only the rest of the attendings could get on board and stop trying to tear Minnick down.

As silly as Meredith is for boycotting Minnick, I did like the conversations between Meredith and Bailey, and then later between Meredith and Richard. Bailey and Richard are Meredith's work parents, in a sense. They're the ones who trained her. They're the ones who know her best. Of course Meredith is going to side with Richard, but that doesn't mean that she and Bailey don't still have a strong connection. Even if some of the reasoning here is a little stupid, I still like the drama for what it brings out about these characters.

I guess that's all I've got for the time being. While a subtler touch might have assisted this episode in a few key ways, I think ultimately there were more strengths than there were weaknesses.

7.5/10