Grey's Anatomy: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (21x11)

Nick can fuck right off!

Cons:

I seriously hate that man, he's both boring and terrible to Meredith, where the hell did he get off trying to chastise her about her decision about the liver? I feel like my girl Meredith Grey has done plenty of criticism-worthy stuff over the years but right now she is a SAINT for the way she's dealing with these men in her life (Nick, Richard) who are being so condescending and shitty to her. I also just don't feel the chemistry or connection between Nick and Meredith. That ending scene where they're talking about how they'd go to any lengths to protect each other and how they can't imagine their life without each other? It just... it inspired nothing in me. They just don't have that spark, they aren't believable to me as a couple. And Richard giving Meredith a half-ass, grudging "I can understand why you did what you did" talk? Screw you, Webber, you owe her an unequivocal apology and you're lucky Meredith is being such a saint about this. Yeesh.

I don't care about Blue and Molly... I wish I did... I keep trying to give a crap... it's just kind of tiring, this whole thing about her seizures and her memories and what will she remember, etc. I can't see it working out long-term, this has the vibe of a plot thread that's going to take a significant chunk of the rest of the season and then end in a bad breakup. I can't find the energy to invest in it.

Pros:

Again just to give Meredith her well-deserved flowers, I love how she encouraged Catherine's friend to have patience with her so they can find a way to repair their friendship. Catherine doesn't deserve the kind of grace and understanding Meredith is giving to her, but I love Meredith for doing it anyway.

Trying to be slightly less negative about things here, I'll say that the small Lucas and Simone moment there at the end when he wanted to come with her to see her grandmother and support her after a hard day, that was very cute.

Okay, alert the presses, this is going to shock you - I am about to talk about Teddy and Owen in the "pros" section of a review. This is sort of a provisional interest in things, because I'm prepared to hate them again in future episodes. See, I find the idea of watching these two angst about their romance again to be SO tedious and aggravating. BUT... if there's a chance they're actually going to do a story-line ending in a healthy and happy open marriage scenario for these two?? Honestly, you've got my attention, ABC. It would retroactively make their relationship make more sense to me, honestly. Owen has always been this weird intense jealous guy in relationships, which sucks, and Teddy is a serial adulterer as we know... but what if the secret to their relationship woes is that monogamy isn't the model of relationship that works for them? They've got this blended family situation with their kids, they've got this long and complex history as friends before they were a couple... and now they've each experienced some attraction to someone outside the marriage that they're feeling weird and guilty about. So what do they do? They talk about it honestly, and they express their love, and they share a big hug. I would actually be so down to see them decide to try an open marriage. As long as the angsting and complaining isn't too overwrought, it could be kind of cool!

And one reason why I think they might actually be going for it, is the school competition thing going on in the patient plot-line this week. The one girl whose roommate is in love with her, she has this speech about how she needs all these different people in her life for different reasons. She's not interested in settling down with just one person, because she gets different important nourishment from these different connections. That's kind of the underpinning philosophy of polyamory, and if you take that along with Teddy flirting with a woman who's already in an open marriage, it feels like something that the show might be interested in actually exploring.

My hopes aren't that high, because Owen is such an annoying asshole 90% of the time on this show, and Teddy has really gotten on my bad side by this point too, but... if they could turn this around and do something new and interesting with it? I'd be so down to see that! Plus, Owen being all enthusiastic about the competition and saying "we won?!" at the end was honestly pretty endearing. Whenever he's not in full angst mode, he's actually way more tolerable.

So there you go. No Jo and Link this week, which is just as well, I need a break from being annoyed at so many characters at once. Next week's promo has me perking up as well, my beloved Tom Koracick is here to be a raging asshole to everyone and I'm here to support him in his endeavors even though objectively I know he sucks! What can I say, I contain multitudes.

8/10