Grey's Anatomy: In My Life (17x09)

Ughhhh. I don't know how to talk about this episode. I'll do my best.

Cons:

See, I don't like Teddy. This episode doesn't change my mind. There's this awesome moment that I'll talk about later, where Amelia is tearing into Owen for not respecting Teddy's trauma. And like... good for her. I don't like Owen, either. And he certainly deserves to be put in his place. But Teddy and Allison were cheating. Teddy was the other woman. Adding in this history of having this woman be the "love of her life" when their relationship was built on sneaking around and lying to their friend? And this is before the trauma that supposedly justifies Teddy's lying? I just don't really buy it as a reason to totally forgive her and sympathize with her actions. If Teddy's treatment of Owen and Koracick is a trauma response, then... well, I'm sorry, but it doesn't just make it all suddenly okay. She still has to own up to it, and it's still completely fine if Owen never forgives her.

Also just... I really don't like it when shows do the whole idyllic flashbacks to a beloved person who has died. Allison seems absolutely perfect in every way, and Teddy's love for her is very cheesy and movie-esque... but I can't get over the infidelity thing. I really can't see past the harm they're doing to another human being, who doesn't even get to appear in Teddy's catatonic dreamscape. I also feel weird about appropriating the tragedy of 9/11 for this fictional character... for some reason it's hitting me in the wrong way, perhaps because I find it so hard to sympathize with Teddy.

I don't know if this was an intended consequence of the episode or not, but god, watching it made me dislike Owen more than ever. As much as Teddy annoys me, seeing their relationship drama from years ago, and then more recently, play out... it makes me realize what a joy-sucking, mopey, entitled asshole Owen Hunt really is. God, he's the worst. He was bad enough with Cristina, and then he and Amelia became instantly insufferable when they were around each other, and then Teddy? I remember liking Teddy, once upon a time! Sigh. The scenes where he's constantly talking to all of his exes and Teddy is trying to vie for his attention were effective at making me furious at Owen, although they didn't have the added benefit of making me sympathize with Teddy. Sorry I'm such a stone-cold bitch about this, but Teddy is not a compelling character to me.

Pros:

I want to take a second to praise the acting. This episode had a lot of weird, surreal material, a lot of brutal imagery, and on top of that a lot of dark comedy. I loved the way Owen and Teddy talked to each other during the dream dinner scene. It was so odd and off-kilter and strange and intense, and the performances were top notch. I do want to say, as much as I dislike Teddy and Owen as characters, that I was compelled by watching this episode because the strength of their acting. Same with Koracick. The surreal nature of all the different versions of Teddy's life, spliced together. All the roads not taken, all the relationships that might have been totally different if not for decisions in the moment.

I liked Meredith and DeLuca, both acting as guides inside the labyrinth of Teddy's mind. It's really chilling to see Andrew just walking around talking and being all cute. I'm going to miss him, and I'm still pissed off that they killed him. But Meredith is different, Meredith is still alive, and Teddy channeling her guilt into Meredith's fate feels like it makes a lot of sense. She can't go back to save Allison or Andrew or her parents or even Henry (I was so glad he at least got a mention), but Meredith might still be saved. I thought that was an interesting plot device.

In the real world, I've just got to give Amelia the MVP for being willing to come over, stick it out, help with the kids and with building a crib and with taking care of Teddy, and with putting Owen in his place. Amelia for the win. She's in such a healthy place right now. She's one character whose drama journey should be definitively over now, you know? She did all the hard things, and now she's got Link and they've got Scout, and Meredith needs to wake up and take her kids back... I don't know, I'm just so proud of Amelia and how she's circled back around to being a character I enjoy spending time with. Super satisfying to see her yelling at Owen, to be honest.

And that's where I'll stop. I'm trying to be fair, I know that this episode was not designed to be one of my favorites, considering the focus on some of my least favorite characters on the show. But for what it was, I found it clever and the acting was engaging, and it didn't make me hate Teddy more than I already did, so... that's a win?

7/10