Grey's Anatomy: Blowin' In The Wind (15x08)

I am annnnnnoyed. But also some of this I did like.

Cons:

What is wrong with Teddy? Serious question. What is wrong with her? She drops the news that she's pregnant with Owen's baby while they are in surgery together with lots of witnesses. It's pointless and dumb and overly dramatic. I actually like the gimmick of everyone getting caught in awkward elevator groups, because it is such an iconic Grey's thing. But Amelia, Owen, and Teddy in an elevator with a patient, with that news just being dropped? It's exactly the dumb soap opera crap that I was afraid of.

I know we didn't focus on it a lot this week, but I just want to remind everyone that Catherine having a tumor is dumb. And Richard now thinks that Catherine and Koracick are having an affair, so that's nice and stupid.

Maggie. Ugh. During surgery, she talks to Meredith about how Jackson says she never shares her feelings, and Meredith makes the salty, yet totally accurate, comment that Maggie definitely isn't shy about talking about herself. It's annoyingly true. Maggie comes across as really self-involved even when I don't think the writing is trying to make her seem that way. Meredith breaks patient confidentiality to tell Maggie about Catherine, and then Maggie goes ahead and tells Jackson, so... that's a disaster right there. The tumor is stupid, and the fact that it takes something like this for Maggie to get her head out of her ass just proves that she and Jackson do not make a good couple. They never have.

Pros:

Jo and Alex had an adorable little subplot. They are stuck at home because of the storm. They scrounge for food, look over wedding gifts, and just revel in a mini second honeymoon. It's cute, it's simple, and it really showcases that the two of them are solid. They're such good friends along with being so in love!

Since Alex is stuck at home, Bailey has to jump back in and be the chief during the episode's emergency - a terrible windstorm. I like that there weren't a ton of personal stakes involved in the disaster of this episode. None of our core characters were ever in any serious danger because of the wind. It just makes for an intense day at work. Bailey and Richard have a heart-to-heart about Ben, and it was actually really insightful. Basically, Richard pointed out that Bailey can't keep looking for external fixes for internal issues. She is giving up her job and her husband in order to reduce her stress, but that's no way to live! She can't give up the things that make her happy in order to reach some idealized equilibrium. I don't watch Station 19, so I didn't see Bailey and Ben's fight play out, but I do hope they reconcile soon.

There have been plenty of patients over the years who have only been in a single episode but have affected me strongly. One such patient was the girl with a selfie stick through her brain. She talks to her mom on the phone, without giving away how serious everything is. When the stick is removed, she becomes brain dead. Amelia knew there was basically no chance to save her, which is why she was given a chance to call someone before she died. That just broke my heart all over the place! Turns out, this woman is a match for Meredith's matchmaker patient, so at least maybe a life can be saved out of this tragedy.

While the Amelia/Owen/Teddy thing is just never going to become interesting to me, I did like the stuff with Amelia and Betty. Betty turns up with a mild injury from the wind storm. She did indeed relapse, but she wants to get better. Amelia is obviously in a difficult place here, but by the end of the episode, having witnessed the death of a young woman, she knows that she loves Betty, and wants to be there for her. The moment when she gave Betty a hug and told her to always come home... that warmed my heart so much. And I love the idea of Amelia becoming Betty's official foster mom! That's so great! Hopefully Teddy and her baby don't totally ruin Amelia's happiness.

Meredith takes a bit of a backseat this week, but she does continue her romantic pursuits. She decides to take Link up on that drink, but right after she tells Link this, DeLuca says that he's interested in her, and wants to let her know that he's an option. They then get stuck in an elevator together, so that should make things nice and interesting for the next episode! I like DeLuca so much more now than I used to. I'm continually surprised by how well his whole "cool guy" attitude is working for him.

Finally, we've got more progress on the Nico and Levi front. They are kind of cute. I was annoyed that it seemed like we were repeating the same story from Arizona and Callie, but here we got more insight into Levi's whole personality, and I'm starting to become a little bit endeared by him. Hopefully this relationship can be a good little subplot as we continue on with the season!

I've managed to keep my review to a decent length this week, which is often a difficult thing to accomplish with Grey's Anatomy. Suffice it to say, the things that have annoyed me all season continue to annoy me, but there's plenty here to enjoy.

8/10