Grey's Anatomy: She Used to Be Mine (20x07)

Man, Lucas needs to take several seats, I fear.

Cons:

Of all the new intern characters, Lucas is the one on thinnest ice with me. I've done some flip-flopping over this season, because it's not like I don't understand the pain he's experiencing... but he's making his own rough time everybody else's problem in a way that I just don't find sympathetic. Going off on the patient, Dorian's, friends was just... wow. He was projecting hard about something that had nothing to do with him. While I love Yasuda, I also didn't buy the vibe of the two of them bickering like siblings, and this being a comfort to both of them. She's right: Adams moved out, and Simone was the one who invited Kwan to move in. It's not something Adams has the right to be legitimately pissed off about, to be honest!

The Teddy and Owen stuff... come on. Yawn. Any time someone on this show evokes the long history these two have had, I keep thinking back to when I used to like Teddy as a character and it just sort of bums me out. When she was yapping away in the OR with Richard, I was trying to figure out what angle they were going to take, with Owen being kind of "off" with her... was it just that she was being super annoying after being cooped up during recovery? That could be kind of funny, and played for laughs, if it was just a "oh my god, Teddy, get out of the house and hang out with some friends, you're driving me bonkers." But instead it was this thing of Owen being afraid to lose her, because their lives are settled into such complicated routines? I don't know. It just felt lazy and uninspired, and then they immediately had sex about it which we're supposed to celebrate as them coming back together and feeling connected? I don't know. This whole thing didn't do a lot for me.

I also found Jo's decision at the end of the episode, to focus entirely on pediatrics and drop general surgery, to be a little unmotivated? Like, her not catching what was wrong with her pregnant patient wasn't a consequence of her being distracted by general surgery tasks, was it? It felt like she was attentive and asking the right questions and running tests, and the fact that things broke bad and the mother had to have a scary surgery did not feel like it was because Jo had made a mistake. So this felt a little tacked on, to me.

Pros:

By contrast, Simone having a breakdown about it felt entirely motivated and really informed her character's journey for me. She also didn't actually make any major mistake, but she's got the backstory baggage to back up why this would be a really hard thing for her. I loved, loved, loved, the scene with Bailey and Simone at the end, where she switches into this very gentle, mothering mode with her, and doesn't shame her for her reaction of going to get shitfaced at the bar. It's not stated explicitly that there's a racial component to what Bailey is saying, but it's so eloquently described all the same. Patients like the mother who almost died today need doctors like Bailey and Simone. They need them to make sure their pain isn't missed or ignored or downplayed. It was just such a powerful moment, and I really enjoyed it.

While I was annoyed at Lucas, I do like the ongoing story of Dorian, the patient who got shot and is undergoing a long and difficult recovery. We have a focus here not so much on his life being immediately threatened, but on the psychological effects of this long stint in the hospital. I like how seriously Lucas and Yasuda both take the news that he'll have to go back to a restricted diet and have another surgery and all that: it's a significant problem for Dorian's comfort and mental health. I also like that his friends really wanted to help, and yet there's an inherent distance between them after everything Dorian's been through. I want to keep an eye on this plot thread moving forward.

I was just saying that I thought Simone and Kwan were cuter than Kwan and Jules, but then this episode came along to remind me that they really do have a fun spark between them. They have a bet going as to who will complete their checklist of procedures first, and as the day goes on, they keep escalating the consequence for the loser: is it drinks at Joe's, or is it a full fancy meal out at a nice restaurant, or is it sex in a car? Jules offers that up as something she'll have to do if she loses and then... she loses. We see the two of them having a flirty meal together at Joe's, and the sexual tension between them is just about to lead to the aforementioned car sex, when Yasuda comes over and plops down in a chair at the table. I loved the fun flirty comedy of this plot thread. Knowing this show, there's sure to be more drama between them soon, so I was just enjoying this little detour.

Another comedy-ish story: the two women who got in a car accident because they were hooking up in a car and accidentally disengaged the parking break. The plot twist comes when one of the women's husbands comes rushing into the room. He's under the misapprehension that the two women are just friends, and blames his wife's friend for the accident. Eventually, his wife blurts out the truth, that she's having an affair. I actually did feel pretty bad for the husband in this scenario, honestly! He was being kind of a dickhead about his wife's friend, but I think there's the sense that he was picking up a vibe. This woman is always around, and stealing time away from the family. I loved the part where the woman discovers that her terrible headache goes away only when she's yelling, and I also loved it when the other woman was describing the romance, going on and on about how fantastic the sex was.

And finally, I actually really liked Richard and Winston's awkward little subplot. Richard is trying to show his support for Winston, and say he's okay with him pursuing new romantic interests and that he won't be mad on Maggie's behalf. This leads to Winston seemingly bailing on a surgery in order to avoid spending time with Richard, but when he calls him on it and re-states his support, it turns out that Winston just had another surgery run long. So Richard's the one making it into a whole thing! I liked Richard trying to be supportive and a little emotionally vulnerable, and then Winston getting to laugh at him for it a little bit. Good fun! I still have some lingering resentment over the way they handled Maggie and Winston, but I guess I'm glad Winston is still around, if we had to lose Maggie.

That's all for this one! Lucas Adams is on my list right now, he needs to shape up in a big way. But the more we keep the focus on these intern characters, the more this show is truly coming back to life for me. 

7/10