Grey's Anatomy: Personal Jesus (14x10)

This was a dark episode of Grey's Anatomy. Surprisingly intense, even for this show. And not in the way that it often is, when it comes to a soap opera-type show like this.

Cons:

Honestly, this was a superb hour of television. I don't have a ton to complain about, save maybe a few things I would have wanted to see a bit more of... for example, Jo, Paul, and Jennie's plot thread seems to have been wrapped up in a pretty bow. I was actually getting kind of excited to watch Jo and Jennie sue him and take him down with the power of law, so this abrupt ending cut off some stuff that could have been quite interesting. Similarly, we don't get to see various people in the hospital react to the truth of Jo's past. I would have liked to see more of that, instead of relegating the rest of this story to a subplot. A really amazing subplot, but still.

And then there's the police shooting and killing an unarmed black child. Great plot thread, handled with surprising aplomb. But our point of view character for this episode was April Kepner. The stuff with her and her faith was actually excellent, and this was the most I've liked an April story in a long while. But for this particular subject matter, I maybe would have wanted to spend even more time in Jackson's head. Or Ben. Or Bailey. Or Webber. Or even Maggie. I'm not saying that April's perspective wasn't valid and a good thing to take a look at, but maybe what I'm reacting to is having so many serious subplots in one episode. As a consequence, there were so many little avenues and perspectives that we didn't get to explore with as much time as we might have if a single plot thread had been given more time.

Pros:

As you'll notice from my "cons" section, the basic thing I have to say about this episode is that I wanted more. Ultimately, that is a very good thing. Let's go thread by thread.

Jo and Jennie are united in their hatred of Paul now, as Jennie realizes that what Jo has told her was true. She let herself get in to this horrible situation, slowly over time. The car crash ends up being a drunk driver, and Paul is only afflicted with a concussion. But when he lunges out of bed to attack Jennie, he falls again, hitting his head a second time. He is declared brain dead. Jo, legally still his wife, gets to make the call - she and Jennie watch as his organs are removed. He is going to save a lot of lives after death. I loved watching these two women bond. The descriptions of abuse and gas-lighting feel very genuine and you can tell that a lot of thoughtful research was put in to them. Great performances from everyone - I particularly enjoyed the moment when Jo realized that she had to make the call about taking Paul off of life support. She starts laughing hysterically, and then breaks into sobbing. As I said, I would have liked to see this plot thread stretch on even further, but what we got felt very satisfying for Jo nonetheless.

The rest of the subplots are all in some way connected to April, as she struggles with her faith in the face of such devastating loss. Matthew, April's jilted ex, is in the hospital with his wife Karin. She gives birth to a little girl, but later dies due to unforeseen complications. Just... ouch. This death was so unexpected and so random and so tragic. Matthew, a genuinely good guy who April hurt terribly, had finally found happiness with a wonderful woman. Karin was a delight - her and April were so awkward but in a really cute, sweet way. They navigated the strangeness of their situation so well. And then for it to end in such an awful way was just... it gutted me.

Meanwhile, a twelve-year-old black boy named Eric gets shot in the neck by a police officer when he was attempting to climb into his own window because he forgot his key. At first it looks like he'll live, but unfortunately he dies. I don't even feel like I have the wherewithal to discuss how horrifying this all is. They really nail in the tragedy of it at every turn. The family shows up, including Eric's little siblings. We never see the police officer who shot him, but his co-workers are on hand to continue to "guard the suspect." Jackson's anger is visceral, and he shares a story with April about how when he was a kid, he was stopped by the police in his own neighborhood, because being black in an upper-class area is suspicious in and of itself. I like that we don't see any wiggle room on the who-is-to-blame question of this. April makes a comment that I hear a lot of people saying when it comes to defending police-caused fatalities, that if a situation is high-pressure, sometimes you shoot first and ask questions later. But April instantly flips - she says she's seen that kind of reaction in a war zone, but for a police officer it's completely unacceptable. Jackson talks about how the bias is there, and how bias is human - but it's a fixable part of the system. The phrase "they were just doing their jobs" is said by a lot of people, but this too is immediately rejected as an excuse. Jackson comments that unarmed children are dying, so maybe the cops need to find a better way to do their jobs.

Just... all of this is so tragic, and the fact that Eric actually dies was another unexpected blow to the episode. Nothing goes right for anybody this week, and it all just builds and builds. The saddest moment of all comes when Bailey and Ben have a talk with Tuck about what to do if he ends up in an encounter with the police. They explain to him that he can't run, he can't climb through windows, he can't mouth off, he needs to always say what he's doing before he does it... this is just heartbreaking. As a little girl, I was told that if I saw a police officer and I was in some sort of distress, that police officer was there to help me. But black kids get this talk instead - the police are not there to help. They are a danger. This is truly horrifying and so sad. These are issues that I've given a great deal of thought and done extensive research on, but I will admit that I have no personal experience. Not only am I white, but I live in an area where these issues are not as prevalent, and only a few people close to me are black. They have been lucky enough not to have anything happen to them at this level. Watching Bailey, a character we've known for fourteen seasons, tell her son how to be safe from the cops, adds another level of understanding to this issue for me. Shit has got to change. Now.

Not to change the subject too abruptly, but there is a somewhat comedic subplot... although it doesn't go full-on ridiculous. A boy comes in after attempting to cut his right hand off because he's been masturbating. The bible says this is a sin, so... Carina tries to explain to him that God created pleasure centers, and later the boy and April talk about scripture. There were some cute and charming moments in here, sure, and I do love the sex-positive attitude as represented by Carina. But this plot thread, like so much of this episode, is really about April and her faith.

April Kepner, like most everybody on this show, has been through a lot of terrible, horrible, nightmarish things. But through it all, she has kept her faith in God. As an atheist myself, I can't relate to April's religious convictions, but I've always found the way the show has dealt with them to be very interesting. There are so many times when it would have been easier for April to forego this belief, but she holds to it. We get a pretty chilling ending monologue from her where she wonders why God has forsaken all of these people. When she tells the cop that she can't believe in a system that would allow a little boy to die, she's not just talking about the social order, but about a higher order that she is struggling to hold onto. Karin is also religious, as we know Matthew is, and we get this recurring theme of God taking pain and turning it to greater purpose. What is the greater purpose in a new mother dying hours after delivering her child? Or a twelve-year-old boy's life being cut short by people who are supposed to protect him? April struggles with this just as the audience does.

I feel as if I could talk on and on about this episode, but suffice it to say, it was a winner. In one short hour, we see a plot thread about domestic abuse and another one about police brutality, and both are addressed with enough nuance and complexity that it doesn't feel like a cheap call for attention. I'm properly impressed.

10/10