Grey's Anatomy: Don't Stop Me Now (13x21)

Maggie is super annoying, actually. But... some things about this episode made me actually cry, so that must mean it had its redeemable qualities. Let's dive in.

Cons:

So, Maggie finds out about Riggs and Meredith, and she is super devastated and goes on and on about how she thought she could trust Meredith with the truth, and how she was the last person she had left since her mom died... I mean, Maggie. You and Riggs didn't have a thing. You told your sister that you had a crush. Obviously Meredith should have spoken up a lot sooner, but this whole plot thread feels like something out of a teen soap, not an adult one. Grow up, Maggie!

I actually liked a lot about the plot thread with Bailey and April trying to reunite Richard and Catherine, but there's a big thing standing in my way of getting totally on board. When Richard is talking about something ugly being inside the person you love, and how he's not sure he wants to forgive Catherine, I'm totally on his side. Like, Catherine did a really, really bad thing. She didn't make an honest mistake. She went behind her husband's back and he lost his job. That's not something I'd be able to brush off.

There was a super tragic plot thread about this pregnant woman with cancer who decided to forego treatment so her baby could reach full term, with the understanding that she'd only have a little bit of time with her child, and then she'd die. The man who is with her through all of this is a friend of hers, not the biological father of the baby. He's going to be the baby's father, though. They are just two good friends who really love each other - platonic love only - and are going to raise this baby toge - oh, no, wait, in the end it turns out she was secretly in love with him. Ugh. As an asexual-aromantic person I really wish that little detail could have been cut out. Honestly, the story is plenty tragic without the unrealized love angle coming in to it all. I feel like I've seen Grey's Anatomy pull this exact same shit more than once. Are they incapable of showing a platonic love story between a man and a woman? I know they're not, because they've been doing that with Meredith and Alex for years. But... c'mon!

Pros:

The one thing that I liked about the Maggie plot line was the way Meredith handled it. She feels really guilty, and she's sorry for hurting Maggie and lying to her, but she doesn't let Maggie walk all over her. She doesn't let Maggie overreact to the situation. In the end, she forces Maggie to come out and hang with Meredith and Amelia, and it looks like their relationship might bounce back from this pretty quickly. That's a silver lining. I also liked the fact that Alex - who is still barely in the show nowadays - acted as a sounding board for all of Meredith's test-runs for her conversation with Maggie. He's such a good friend.

So, like I said, I have a problem with Catherine Avery and it's hard to shake. However, I did like the idea of April and Bailey conspiring to bring a couple back together. Bailey's confrontation with Catherine was great. She points out their similarities - married, divorced, single mom, then married again, then become boss of new husband. They're both strong-willed people, but Bailey has figured out how to be equals with her husband, and Catherine is not sure how to do that. In the end, Catherine goes to Richard and says, simply, "I was wrong." This was a powerful moment for her as a character, and I like that this was all Richard needed. I might think Catherine's no good, but Richard loves her and I want him to be happy. Also, Bailey is hilarious. She yells at Catherine, and then ends the yelling with "Ma'am. Doctor. Avery. Good night!" That just cracks me up.

Okay, and the tragic plot thread with the pregnant girl was really emotionally affecting. I was so sad when she died. Her last thoughts were of her best friend and her new baby, which was really sweet. Amelia had a very hard time with it, as she held this woman in her last moments and told her she did good. In the elevator, there's this wonderful moment where Owen sees Amelia sobbing, and wordlessly rushes forward and pulls her into a big hug. When the elevator stops, he just walks off without saying anything. This was a great moment because it mirrors so many of the famous "elevator scenes" from Grey's Anatomy while still focusing on the tragedy of this patient's death. I'm super annoyed at Amelia and how she's handled her marriage to Owen, but in this moment Owen just sees the woman he loves in tears, and he can't help but rush to her. That's pretty powerful stuff.

There was one goofier plot thread in here, where a patient shows up with her boyfriend. She's in severe pain, and it turns out she's got hundreds of worms living in her small intestine. They are seriously disgusting. The boyfriend is grossed out and seems to pull away, leaving the girl, Mary, thinking that he'll leave her because this is so gross. In the end, he comes back and reassures her that she's not disgusting - she was just sick. There were a lot of laughs in this one. Everybody is so interested/disgusted in the worms at the same time. They can't help taking pictures of themselves in the OR posing with the grossest and longest in the bunch. Also, the young couple is nauseating, with their pet names and declarations of love, but at the same time you feel like they might have a real connection. I'm rooting for those two crazy kids!

I won't go on any longer than that. I'm annoyed by a lot of the characters lately. Maggie especially, but Amelia's whole situation still makes me mad, too. And Catherine sucks. Also, are April and Jackson getting back together? Inquiring minds would like to know. I had my problems with this episode, but I was ultimately still entertained by it. You want to know the scene that made me cry? It was when Amelia and Owen were hugging in the elevator. I know, right? I think their relationship is a total disaster, and yet I still teared up!

7.5/10