Grey's Anatomy: Come On Down to My Boat, Baby (14x06)

This episode was your standard Grey's Anatomy fare, meaning it had a big ensemble cast and a million different plot threads going on. I'm going to try really hard not to do too much summarizing, and instead just talk briefly about what I liked and disliked.

Cons:

Amelia and Owen are divorced now but they'd still like to be friends. I don't have any reason for hating this, but I suppose it's time to face the fact that I'm never going to find Amelia a particularly interesting character. Her sleeping with her mentor was also unnecessary and weird, although I do find that guy to be kind of hilarious.

Richard is obsessing over a happy-hour mixer with the new class of residents, and it's weird to see him focused on that. Much like story-lines with children, this is one of those things that gets dropped for such a long period of time that I forget it's supposed to be a thing, so when it gets brought up it's kind of weird. Even worse, this plot thread invokes the dreaded name of Eliza Minnick, as Richard remarks that this is the first batch of interns he's had since he's gotten his job back. Snore.

Maggie is on a dating app and is once again making everything about her. Need I complain more? I'm sure you're all sick of hearing me gripe about Maggie. But seriously. She actually gets called out by Bailey for trying to make something about her when it's really, really not, so at least that's something.

One of the main patient stories involves a girl putting a gun up her vagina in order to sneak it in to her boyfriend in prison. She actually shoots herself from the inside, and hits a nearby hypochondriac patient as well. There was some sort of funny shock value here, but it didn't really lead to anything other than Arizona chastising the young woman as some sort of test for her future of being a mother to a teenager. I wanted either a lot more or a lot less out of this plot thread, if you know what I mean.

Pros:

The most fun and exciting plot thread was that a group of the guys take a sick day and spend their time on Jackson's brand new boat - he's got a ridiculous amount of money, after all. This boat trip leads to a lot of laughs and fun, and revelations for each of the characters as well. You've got Ben spilling the beans about training to be a firefighter, you've got Jackson awkwardly revealing he has feelings for Maggie, and you've got DeLuca and Owen deciding to live together now that DeLuca is kind of being forced out of Arizona's place and Amelia has left Owen's. Alex is there too, basically just along for the ride. They all drink too much and give each other a hard time and use DeLuca as their personal servant because he's the only non-attending. It was just a lot of goofy out-of-the-hospital fun, and I really enjoyed it.

Some highlights: all of the guys talk about their relationships with their sisters, Ben mentioned that he used to call his sister his brother, and the guys razz Jackson for acting like Maggie is his sister. I also love Ben spilling the beans about the firefighter thing, and then saying: "the only thing I've been more sure of in my life is marrying Miranda Bailey. But please don't tell her."

Also, Owen and Carina totally hook up at the new resident mixer, and DeLuca, who has just agreed to live with Owen, is pretty upset. His sister keeps hooking up with all of his friends and roommates!

Jackson is tired of being left out of the surgical game because of his family legacy, so he decides to give half of his absurd inheritance to Bailey so she can set up her own surgical contest, like the Harper Avery. But this one he could have a shot at! I love this idea, and it's so cool of Jackson to use his money for something worthwhile and innovative.

The other main plot sees Meredith and Jo performing a surgery on a Judge who helps low income families and domestic abuse victims in the area. Unfortunately, although the surgery is at first a success, the patient throws a clot and dies suddenly. Meredith and Jo are still reeling from this event when Meredith is pulled into the party downstairs and told that she's been nominated for a Harper Avery! The mixed emotions here are really wonderful and complex.

I liked a lot of things about this plot thread. The Judge character was really good, as was his... assistant? Clerk? Not sure what title that dude held, but you could tell that there was a great deal of respect and admiration between them, and it was a sweet relationship. His being there really made the tragedy of the judge's death sink in all the more. Also, Meredith spends the day being extra nice to Jo, which she finds creepy until she learns that Alex asked Meredith for this favor. Meredith assures Jo  that although the smiles and words of encouragement were because of Alex, Meredith picked Jo to be on her service because she deserves to be there. Jo, inspired by the judge working with victims of domestic abuse, decides to file for divorce from her husband, even though that will mean revealing her location to him.

I really love Meredith's phony kindness. It just cracks me up. Of course it's sweet that Alex asked her to be nice to Jo, but I also like that Meredith's interest in Jo isn't just a favor to Alex. She knows she's actually good at her job. I'm also very pleased with the thought of Jo seeking her own independence. I always imagined the evil husband would turn up at an inopportune moment and ruin everything, but now we're setting it up so that Jo makes an active choice to confront and defeat her abuser, and I think that could be really satisfying to witness.

There you have it. Despite having quite a few things in the "cons" section, this was a solid episode of Grey's Anatomy that I quite enjoyed watching.

8/10