Grey's Anatomy: Good Shepherd (15x21)

So, I don't like Amelia generally. This episode is Amelia-centric. I was nervous about how I would feel about it... and mostly pleasantly surprised with the results!

Cons:

Amelia's sisters weren't just kind of annoying and passive aggressive... they were nightmares. Like, truly awful people, especially Kathleen (Amy Acker). Their terrible behavior made for some good character moments for Amelia, and I can understand why they would be upset once they learned that Link wasn't really Owen... but they were unrealistically nasty! I would have been able to connect to this scenario a bit more if Kathleen and Nancy weren't so terrible. I couldn't understand why they were being so vindictive and cruel to their little sister.

Pros:

I really liked the story of the two brothers. I was genuinely scared that the patient was going to die, because I'd formed a really strong bond to their characters right away. Obviously the older brother is always taking care of the little brother, but at the end, big bro confesses to Amelia that he's scared of losing his brother when he goes off to college. It's not a one-way street. They are family to each other, and neither of them wants to lose the other.

I'm very close to my sisters, but I also appreciate that this episode showed that not everyone is close to their siblings. Amelia is right to keep toxic people out of her life, honestly. It sounds like the Shepherd family is carrying around a lot of baggage. There are the obvious things, like the death of Amelia's father, and the death of Derek. But the fact that Amelia has had problems with addiction, intimacy, and even a brain tumor, and isn't getting the support she needs from her family... that's some heavy stuff, and indicative of some bigger problems going on underneath the surface. I could have wished for a bit more nuance with the way Amelia's sisters were portrayed here, but I do like the fact that the episode didn't go for an easy fix at the end. Amelia has a healing conversation with her mom, which is great, but she doesn't suddenly make up with her sisters and reintegrate into a big happy family. Sometimes that's just not how life works.

I don't want to understate the comedy of this episode, either. Obviously it's troubling that Amelia can't share the fact that she got divorced with her family, but Link getting roped into this thing is actually hilarious and great. It's such a fanfiction trope - fake dating in order to smooth things over with the family. I love that Link is easy-going enough to go along with it at first, after some prodding from Amelia. But then, once he's there, he wants to stay not because he finds it amusing, but because he wants Amelia's family to appreciate her. We go from a comedic scenario to one with an actual emotional underpinning that I really appreciated.

As I keep saying over and over, I'm not a fan of Owen/Teddy being together. But that's because I like Teddy/Tom, not because I like Amelia/Owen. It took me forever and a day to get on board with those two, and at this point I'm cool with them never working it out. I wasn't impressed with the idea of Amelia/Link when it was first introduced, but honestly? I'm starting to get on board after seeing this episode! Link was so cute, being supportive of Amelia in this crazy scenario. He sees her, he knows her value and her skill level. It was great to see Link confront Amelia in the hospital. He needs to know if her head is on straight to go into a complicated surgery. But what's nice about Link is that when Amelia tells him that she's got this, he believes her and supports her.

Think about it - Link just got quite the info-dump at that dinner. He learned about Amelia's brain tumor, and her strained relationship with her family, along with numerous indiscretions from her younger days. He already knew she was an addict, and about Betty, Owen, and Leo, but still. The guy is getting a lot of new information here. And yet he doesn't have the baggage of only seeing Amelia as a screw-up. He knows her in a professional capacity first, as their intimate relationship has only just gotten started. He trusts her to be on top of her crap, and I think that's such an important thing.

Amelia's conversation with her mother was pretty darn touching. I like it when characters can admit that they screwed up big-time. Amelia is her own person with her own agency, but it's impossible to deny the impact of a neglectful or challenging childhood. I like that Amelia was able to have a healing conversation with her mother, because it didn't feel like a quick fix, but like the start of something that could be really beneficial to both of them moving forward.

I'm anxious to get back to the rest of the gang next week, but given how little I care, historically, about Amelia as a character, I was pleasantly surprised by this episode!

8/10