Grey's Anatomy: Let's Talk About Sex (19x03)

Grey's likes doing its special episodes, and honestly even when they're heavy-handed I still think they're kind of interesting and often quite effective. Let's dive in!

Cons:

I am... extremely torn about Zola being super gifted. It feels like the more interesting conflict for Meredith's personal life would be if Zola was struggling with a learning disability, falling behind in school, and Meredith could have the chance to be the kind of mother she never had, and encourage and nourish her daughter even if she's not going to be "extraordinary" by normal societal definitions. I'm willing to see where this goes, but it feels a little silly to me. Especially as a convenient follow-up to Zola having panic attacks. Turns out they're happening because Zola is a super genius. Okay then. (Also, this plot thread includes Nick, the most Boring Character Ever to Live, so I'm automatically a little biased against it.)

I'm going to have a lot of nice things to say about the main plot with the sex education thing, but I do want to note a few elements I didn't 100% love... for one, the dancing video at the end, and the cheesy thing where Bailey talks about needing to speak the kids' language... I can see how that seemed like a good idea in the writing of the script, and I liked the goofy energy of the dancing, but I wish we had had a moment of self-awareness that trying to plan something to go viral isn't actually how any of this works. Maybe something about Bailey's idea will charm the youths and a TikTok trend will pop off. Or maybe it will be mocked mercilessly. Or maybe it'll fizzle and die entirely. I don't think you can actually predict these things.

Another element that I wish had been explored with a big more nuance... Meredith's voiceover is about how sex can be healing, sex can be medicine. But that there are different benefits, and that sometimes sex without the proper intimacy and connection doesn't work the same way. I wish this idea had been pushed one step further, talking about the fact that non-sexual intimacy can also be therapeutic in various ways. I wish that Link giving Jo a foot-rub hadn't turned into an erogenous zone thing. For several reasons: I don't like the Link/Jo romance potential, but also in general I wish we could have included a purely platonic intimacy example within the sex montage at the end of the episode.

Also, cannot state this enough: Nick is boring and when he and Meredith were smooching I was literally yawning.

Pros:

Overall, I really liked the new baby residents teaching sex ed to high schoolers. This plot thread was honestly charming and funny and gave us more time with the new characters. I like the way the residents taught the high schoolers about sexual pleasure but also kept the safe sex thing front of mind, suggesting masturbation as a good way to avoid getting pregnant, warning against the pull-out method as being effective. We also got to spend some time with Addison, which is always a lovely treat! We have one young girl who discovers that she's pregnant and decides on a medical abortion. Another girl who has a cyst that is causing her extreme abdominal distress. Issues of health that Grey's would like you to know should remain personal between a patient and their physician, thank you very much!

I liked the way Addison spoke about feeling invisible, and afraid, and angry, about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the way she sees the impact every day in her work. It's important to keep this in mind. It's a societal evil, what is happening in this country right now. It affects everyone, even people who have never been and will never be pregnant.

As a small note I appreciated that the residents used inclusive language, talking about women, or just any person with a vagina. It's a small thing but normalizing it is so important.

Teddy and Owen get a token mention in the "pros" section this week because at least hopefully now that they've had sex to release some tension, they can stop being so gosh dang annoying on my screen every week. Get a grip, you two.

Also featured in the sex montage you've got Amelia and Kai, Kai having turned up as a surprise to see Amelia! I loved seeing their happy reunion, although I am wondering if we're going to pick back up on that drama about Kai not ever wanting kids, and Amelia's identity as a mother. We also see a couple of our newbies, Blue and Jules, hooking up. This could be a fun energy to keep our eyes on.

Probably the most moving part of the episode comes from Simone and Lucas. Simone's grandmother, who has severe dementia, comes wondering into the hospital looking for her daughter, who she believes is about to give birth. Simone tries to remind her grandmother that her daughter is dead, but that only upsets the poor woman. Meredith intervenes and tells Simone that the most humane thing to do is to live in her grandmother's reality with her, something Simone isn't sure she can do. This experience really bonds Simone and Lucas, who both know each other's secrets now. Just as Lucas knows about Simone's rough home situation, Simone knows that Lucas is a secret Shepherd.

Finally, we've got Bailey coming back to work! She wants to take a different approach this time, not taking her chief job back but instead blending attending tasks with teaching. I'm excited she's returning, and hopefully she can finally achieve some of that ideal work-life balance she so deserves.

So that's that. I had fun with this episode, I loved the energy of the sex ed stuff, and I'm still feeling really excited about the potential of these new characters!

8/10