Grey's Anatomy: Thunderstruck (19x06)

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty underwhelmed and exhausted all at the same time. I'm going to have to search hard to find anything nice to say about the vast, vast bulk of this episode.

Cons:

So like. Meredith is leaving the show, and this is how they want to send her off? What the hell? Everything about Meredith's departure has been treated so bizarrely and like they can't make up their mind what note they're trying to go out on. She's moving because of Zola, fine. But now her house has burned down? Why? What's the point of kicking her one more time with yet one more terrible tragedy, on her way out the door? The Grey house is an iconic setting for this show, so I suppose they wanted to mix things up and do something dramatic here, but it honestly feels so shoehorned in and unnecessary. We're also having to deal with Nick and Meredith drama, because Nick doesn't know whether to follow her to Boston, or else stay put in Seattle to take care of the students he's just starting to train. I obviously do not care about Nick at all, he's boring as sin, so the idea that we might have Nick still on the show when Meredith is gone is truly the worst of both worlds to me. Yeesh.

The author story with Tessa, a fictional Seattle children's author, was way too over the top. She's full of wisdom and knows she might die, but wants to live because she still has more stories to tell in her soul or whatever... give me a break. They were leaning so heavily on how tragic it would be for her to die, that I was pretty sure she'd be safe, and indeed she was. I didn't hate the idea of this character conceptually, I just think someone needed to turn the dial down on the "inspirational older lady" setting. I also found Lucas to be particularly frustrating this week. He chokes during a surgery and is asked to step aside so Simone can take over, and then in the aftermath of the totally successful surgery, all he can do is mope about how he failed and how he's not living up to his family legacy. The truth now being out about Amelia being his aunt, we're having to see this character do yet more angsting about legacy and living up to the family name. Yawn. Also, the Lucas/Simone kiss kind of came out of nowhere. Maybe I won't hate it someday, but for now I'm just kind of uninterested in that angle.

Mika Yasuda being all obsessed with Teddy was an odd note. I kind of wanted to warn Mika to stay the hell away. Teddy (and Owen) are a drama vortex that will suck you in, and I want Mika to have more to do in the story away from Teddy. Owen vying for the chief job and then suggesting that Teddy go for it was supposed to be a sweet moment of them finding some way of connecting, but I continue to be unconvinced by their relationship at its very core.

Speaking of unconvincing relationships: Jo and Link. Cannot go there with you guys, I'm sorry. I just cannot. And Maggie and Winston, y'all are letting me down! They were like the one romantic relationship on this show that I was actually still into, but it's starting to become irritating to behold! Winston switching specialties just doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but Maggie says she can't respect the fact that Winston is making an adjustment to his career in order to help their marriage survive. And I'm just sitting here thinking... Maggie, what the hell? Why do you always have to be in control of everything, to the point that there's no ability to compromise with your husband?  He's doing what he wants to do, he's doing the best thing for the sake of your marriage's longevity. Why is that so hard to see? We're left uncertain as to how this is all going to shake out, so I guess we'll have to wait until February to find out more.

Pros:

Okay, that was a lot of negativity. This is a large show with a lot of characters so there are always some angles I can find to enjoy, in any given episode.

I actually chuckled at Owen's joke about how Teddy would make a great chief and "I could use the money, so..." I can give the man credit for the occasional funny line even though I still hate him.

I liked Schmitt and Jo bickering with each other in the emergency room scenes, with Schmitt "in charge" and Jo pushing back against that, both of them explaining that their gratitude would be implied for the rest of the day.

I liked that Maggie and Winston saved the infamous wedding post-it from Meredith and Derek, that was the kind of call-back that a show like this can do, having been on the air for so many years.

And I still like the new interns, despite my frustrations as stated above. Maybe I'll end up enjoying Mika and Teddy's time together. Teddy was a good mentor for Cristina once upon a time, after all...

And like... literally that's all I can think of. I'm glad Simone didn't kill that author she loves? I'm glad none of Meredith's kids or other family members were hurt in the fire? But my goodness, this was not a strong episode of Grey's Anatomy, and it doesn't exactly make me excited for what's coming in February.

5/10