Grey's Anatomy: Come Fly With Me (19x17)

Okay, this was a solid middle-of-the-road episode, where some of the plot threads worked really well for me, and others were a miss.

Cons:

This Nick and Lucas thing was kind of baffling. We see that Nick is frustrated with Lucas for dropping the ball on some patient care matters, and he tells him to work out his ADHD meds so he can stay on top of his career. Lucas is baffled, having had no idea he had ADHD, but once he looks into it, he realizes that it fits. He and Nick talk, and Nick says that he does too, and that he thought it might derail his career, but he manages it now like every other part of his life. This is... fine, like, I don't have a problem doing a story around this, but for one thing it verged into after school special territory for me with the cheesiness and neatness of the story. This is the first we've known about this being an issue for Lucas, it just kind of came out of nowhere. And the utter inappropriateness of Nick, Lucas's boss, just... making an assumption about his mental health diagnosis and whether he's on meds or not? I was staggered by how clumsy and inappropriate that moment was, and it just felt very forced and unrealistic. So yeah, the concept seems cool to me; if Nick (the most boring character in the world) is really sticking around, might as well give him a mentorship role for Lucas. It just felt weird how they did it.

Doing a quick check-in about the Luna going Deaf thing: I didn't love the fact that Jo talked about all the appointments Luna needed, and mentioned speech therapy among them, but nothing about ASL classes. I hope that changes. Speech therapy is great! But Luna should learn sign language! I really, really hope they go into that.

I think the absence of Simone's shitty fiancé is starting to weigh on this love triangle story a bit. I don't feel at all connected to this choice she's making, to marry this man we've met in one episode, and who didn't exactly make the best impression. So Jules being her maid of honor, proving that she knows her, that's fine. It just feels sort of disconnected from reality.

Amelia apologizes to people for her crappy behavior in last week's episode, and while Mika accepts the apology instantly, Winston is stony-faced and storms off once she's finished talking. I find Amelia's distress just sort of exhausting, and Winston's attitude in response to her genuine apology was pretty harsh. She lashed out at him and that wasn't fair, but she took full responsibility and he just has to hold a grudge? Yeesh.

Pros:

To my absolute astonishment, I rather liked Owen and Link working together, keeping it professional to start, and then all the drama that followed therein. I think it's because I'm so against the romantic relationships that these two men are in (or going to be in), that a story with interpersonal tension that was entirely about work, was honestly refreshing. Like, Owen sucks, and he behaves poorly, but also Link is scared because of his last big complicated high-profile surgery, that ended up killing a young man. They both need to adjust their behavior here, and Simone kind of gets stuck in the middle, but ultimately it's a big damn victory for Link and the entire hospital, as they end up pulling off a complex surgery involving a man with over 90 broken or fractured bones.

Blue made a mistake by letting Jules's elderly neighbor wander around the hospital in a delirium because of a UTI. I like that he immediately worked with the patient and was super gracious and welcoming, but then left out of selfishness to pursue a learning opportunity. He basically made an honest mistake, misinterpreting the severity of Max's condition, and now Jules is furious with him and lashing out. A realistic set of circumstances, I feel. I loved seeing Schmitt, too, come into his role as a leader, as he firmly chastises Blue for his mistake, and also shows great bedside manner with the patient.

My favorite part of the episode is the conversation about the interns. We get a gathering of some of our senior doctors in the firm, as Teddy, Richard, Bailey, Amelia, and Nick meet to discuss some feedback they've gotten from the residents. The thing that stick with them most is the note about the salary, and how it doesn't even meet the average cost of living for Seattle. They reminisce about their own bad memories from early in their career, and weigh the pros and cons of trying to make things better. There's a benefit, as Teddy points out, in upholding tradition and helping people to grow through adversity. But how can they train good doctors if everyone is sleep-deprived and working extra jobs to make rent? My favorite part was when Bailey is remembering not being able to get time off to go to her aunt's funeral, and the attending telling her that being a "resident" meant "living in the hospital." Richard frowns and asks: "did I know the attending at the time?" and Bailey responds: "It was you." That made me laugh!

And meanwhile poor Yasuda is going around all day thinking that she's about to be fired. I love how she storms in to say her piece, and then gets the news: they're going to create a grant, to help interns out financially during their lower-paying residencies. Good for Teddy, for seeing this problem and taking tangible and immediate steps to address it! Honestly, I liked her a lot in this episode. Maybe that's the trick to make me not despise Teddy or Owen as characters, just don't let them share scenes together.

Richard goes to Helm at the bar to ask her how he can get her to come back, too, which I thought was so nice! I'd love to see Helm return to the hospital. I honestly miss her, and Schmitt needs his friend around.

So there we have it. There were things about this episode that kind of concerned me or just annoyed me, but other things that felt like real and surprising strengths! It's awesome that the show is delving into the issues with our healthcare system, up to and including the very busted way we actually train our doctors to do their life-saving jobs.

8/10