Grey's Anatomy: Everyday Is a Holiday (With You) (18x06)

Oh goodness... Farouk...

Cons:

I literally cannot remember Meredith's boyfriend's name. Hold on, let me Google it. Okay. I'm back. Nick. Nick is boring. Nick has nothing to do. Nick is bland and unoriginal and I'm sorry, but why have we killed off Andrew DeLuca and then pivoted away from Cormac Hayes, only to land her with some dude I don't know anything about or give a shit about? Yeesh. They really tried to make this episode click, give this guy more screen time, and they still couldn't make me root for the relationship even a little bit. I'm borrrrred.

I'm also just rolling my eyes at Link and Amelia... I should be happy that they hooked up, since I didn't want them to break up in the first place, but I just know this is going to lead to more drama and angst and I'm already so annoyed about having to experience it! If they're not going to be a thing, then just let it go and move the heck on. I'm bummed about it, I don't want to prolong the stupidity. They should have just stayed together.

I miss Maggie. I hope she's back soon!

Pros:

If there's one aspect of Teddy and Owen's plots that I don't despise on principle, it's the question of Leo and how he's dressing in princess dresses, and how Teddy is grappling with that/where it's all going to go. I like that the show is doing something here that you don't see on TV very often. Not much movement there, but I've got my eyes open. I also found Owen basically saying goodbye to this guy he's tried so hard to help, to be very moving. Owen with a crusade he can believe in is a lot more tolerable than any other version of Owen available to us...

I'm sure we got much more of Bailey's story over on Station 19, but we see the ripple effects here, when we learn that the little girl she and Ben are meant to care for has been taken in by her grandparents. Poor Bailey is feeling so much connection and pain on behalf of this child who has been orphaned at such a young age... we'll have to see where this goes from here. I like watching Bailey's more nurturing, caring instincts. She's filled with such boundless love.

The Nico and Levi stuff in this episode was super cute! This was the most connected and intrigued I've been by their relationship in a long time. Levi's mom shows up and Nico is treated to a lot of terrifying talk about marriage and kids, and at first I was worried he was going to run scared. But no: when we next see him, he and Mrs. Schmitt are enjoying their food and talking about Levi's childhood happily. During an impromptu Thanksgiving celebration with Nico, Levi, Jo, Bailey, and Richard, Nico and Levi both say they're grateful for each other, although Nico has to change his answer since he originally wrote "toast", unaware they were supposed to be cheesy and sentimental. That made me laugh! I feel like we've really seen Nico blossom in his ability to be caring and loving openly to his boyfriend, and it's wonderful to see.

Then there's the big aspect to this episode... Farouk! I was really surprised they went so dark and serious with his sickness, I'll admit I wasn't expecting it. The actor who plays Megan did such a good job with her authentic reaction of shock and mounting devastation when he flatlined and Teddy started trying to resuscitate him. What a nightmarish thing to happen. I'm glad the kid's still hanging in there, and I have to believe he'll make it through somehow... right? Grey's Anatomy wouldn't bring Megan back and then kill her kid, would they?

We've got a few weeks off to learn the fate of the poor boy, and to check back in with all our other characters as well... I'm not sure what to think of this season, honestly. Lots of little bits I'm invested in, lots I'm not so much caring about.

7/10