Grey's Anatomy: Someone Saved My Life Tonight (17x17)

I found so many, many, many things about this episode incredibly frustrating! And I'm frustrated by my own frustration, because I just wanted to have a good time and be done with it.

Cons:

Where to start? I think one of my issues with this episode was the time wasting that happened from last week's installment. Why did we have that whole little tiff between Maggie and Winston about when to get married, if they were going to arrange a quick wedding, then call it off literally during the ceremony, then just have a bigger ceremony later on? What was the point of that whole little run-around?

And even more annoying because the stakes are so much higher... why have Jo denied custody of Luna, then go through all of the drama of having Link foster Luna, and then just show that Jo won and got custody... all happening offscreen so we didn't get to see any of that juicy drama play out? Why not stretch this journey out over the past couple of episodes, and instead of showing Jo getting denied, show that there are difficulties in front of her, and that she needs to fight, then have it be framed through that lens of fighting for what she wants? The Link fostering Luna thing was so absurd and then we didn't even really see that play out at all. Link, a man who wants more children, didn't get too caught up in the fact that he's the legal guardian of a baby? Okay then...

And oh god, Link. Amelia. Why the fuck. Seriously, I've long said that I like Amelia as a character when she's not bogged down in too much drama. This season and the last, when it was focused on Link, and the baby, and yeah there were some bumpy patches but honestly a lot of it was just the two of them being an actually good couple and making each other smile... it's the most I've ever liked Amelia's character. And now we're back to drama with Link and Amelia? Whyyyyy. Do not want. It's fine if Amelia doesn't want more kids and doesn't want to get married. I'm not mad at her for that. I'm mad at the writers for deciding that Link just had to want those things, and Amelia had to be bad at communicating her own desires, and that they had to break up. And that I had to watch the most embarrassing failed proposal scene, with Mer's kids standing there eagerly awaiting their Auntie Amelia's response... I was just cringing the whole time.

For the record, if I was in charge, I'd do the Amelia/Link "drama" thusly: Amelia founders a bit on telling Link she doesn't want more kids, but eventually opens up and shares a bit about what she's been telling her NA group. And then Link could think about it, and say he's happy being Scout's father and obviously he's going to have a lot of kids around in his life what with his nieces and nephew and possible future kids if Maggie and Winston have any, and now baby Luna because Jo has adopted her, and he's content with that. But then, he'd propose, and Link would express that for him, marrying Amelia would make him really happy, and it doesn't have to be a big production, he just wants to have that, and Amelia would say yes, not just as a compromise/sacrifice, but because she realizes that she's content with this part of it. Something gentle, after a few minor bumps in the road.

Instead Link is sleeping in Jo's as of yet still unpacked new house with Jo and baby Luna. Sighhhhh. Maybe they'll co-parent Luna as platonic partners? I'm just mad.

And then while we're watching a couple I really like go through a breakup, we also have to put up with Owen being all cheesy and stupid and making it snow in Meredith's lawn, and proposing to Teddy. Ugh. Gag me. Can they fuck off into the "happily ever after" sunset and leave the show for good, so I don't have to watch them anymore? And also, what was the point of Teddy having COVID and then being just totally fine? It added nothing.

For the most part I enjoyed Meredith's plot in this episode but it did feel a little choppy, pacing-wise? Like, she takes the new job but then doesn't seem to want to do the job at all? I wish they could have shown that she was fostering good relationships with the residents in a different way than Richard had done it, but instead they implied that she went all-in on saving Girlie, and kind of neglected them... so then it made sense that Bailey was in a tiff, but her solution was to tell Meredith to go back to doing things the way Richard did it, and then we didn't actually get to see her doing that... just kind of odd and unbalanced.

Pros:

God, sorry. That's such a long "cons" section and I hate that! I didn't have a bad time with this episode; it was filled with plenty of material and moments I genuinely enjoyed.

Even though the Maggie and Winston fake-out wedding was really odd, I did think it was funny when little Bailey asks about cake and Maggie says go for it and then starts chugging Champaign. I like happy Maggie, and I like that she did get to have this really fun and beautiful wedding with a great guy, with Richard officiating, and her dad to walk her down the aisle. Good vibes all around.

Also super happy that Jo got to have custody of Luna, despite the weird way it all came about. I'm happy for her. She deserves this happiness, and I hope the show can focus on Jo as a mother moving forward, while keeping her around in the show proper. Her selling her shares of the hospital to Koracick was so funny. Awesome to see him (and Jackson!) both briefly make appearances to show that they're still around in the universe of the show.

Meredith's plot line in this finale involves her focusing on long-term COVID complications, and helping a patient, Girlie, get a lung transplant to help save her life. This is breaking ground, helping someone who has recovered from COVID dealing with the long-term issues that come from having had the disease. There were some great moments here, especially the residents all suggesting the lung transplant to Bailey, trying to phrase it in different ways because Meredith had made them promise to never stop bringing it up. I like that Bailey and Meredith butt heads on a lot of things, but the support underneath all of their issues is rock-solid. I also loved that Meredith told Teddy that they had to be Girlie's support system, since Meredith only survived because she had so many people advocating for her. Every patient deserves that.

There were just a lot of good Meredith moments, like seeing her be happy with her kids at Christmas, the text convo with Cristina, that little flirty moment with Hayes that we might get to explore next year... I just love her and think she's neat and deserves the best.

This episode didn't really feel big enough to be a finale. It was a time-skip episode, covering about a year of content, and it had just a lot going on, and a lot of it was stuff I straight-up did not enjoy seeing. But none of that means I'm not interested in what next season will bring us... 

6/10