I oddly enjoyed many different pieces of this episode, while still being frustrated as fuck by the same stuff that's been frustrating me for years now. Let's hop in.
Cons:
So... I don't want to be rude about Monica, I don't, but she really wasn't much of a character on this show! She had endless potential, I really liked her, which is why I'm so frustrated by her death. But the way Amelia reacted to it feels wildly out of scope. She wasn't uniquely close to Monica. They like... flirted a couple times. We didn't understand them as close friends. I like the idea of Amelia finding herself in a depression and taking real steps to get out of it, but the stakes here just felt off. I don't find the argument that she's to blame for the explosion particularly compelling, either. Sorry. Also, ugh, how long is Amelia going to be on sabbatical for? She's one of the only tolerable characters left on this show.
Link's angst is also not particularly interesting to me, nor is Owen and Teddy's relationship strain. Still rooting for them to stay broken up, fingers fucking crossed. Lucas needs to knock it off, the way he's treating Simone is beyond inappropriate. And Richard's going to be interim chief? Again? My god, let this man retire! Or rather, at this point, force him to retire. I'm sorry, but when he was giving the first day spiel to the new interns he sounded so tired and checked out. It's too much. It's been going on for too long. This man has been at the end of his career for like a decade at this point. And I must keep banging this drum: Winston, stay away from Jules. Please.
Pros:
But despite all my usual irritation, there were a lot of elements I enjoyed about this episode, in isolation and sometimes in context, too.
As frustrating as the Monica situation has been all around, I did actually tear up at the little moment with Jules, Blue, Simone, and Adams at the end. The actor who plays Jules really just is that good, she can get me emotionally invested in literally anything her character is up to. I liked that her three friends didn't have a ton to say about Monica, they didn't really know her. But they all understood that this was important to Jules and they all treated it with solemnity. That was lovely.
The main patient case of the week was a man getting impaled by a forklift which is just... typical Grey's silliness and I can't even be mad at it, honestly. What I really enjoyed about this plot thread was Ben: the moment when he makes a call that Miranda disagrees with, but he sticks to it and Teddy actually backs his play, was really great, and I liked how Ben and Miranda talked about it later. I'm not sure if Ben serving as her chief resident is a good idea considering they're married, but I do think Ben has earned the job, he's really good at this. Also - I legit applauded when Ben kicked Lucas out of the OR when he was being a dickhead to Simone. As annoying as I find their dumb romance drama, I was all on board for Ben to speak up and tell Lucas to cut the crap. I'm already so tired of whatever drama's going to come from them in future weeks with the intern dude that Simone slept with there, and Lucas now knowing about it.
Speaking of that intern dude, I'm sure I'll be compelled to actually learn his name at some point... I did actually like the Kwan story here. I'm so used to an inexperienced doctor deciding to act without proper supervision and then there's big drama and trauma and a patient dies etc. etc., but in this case, the guy actually did exactly what he should have done, paged for Kwan, and did an excellent job helping the patient. To the point where it's actually Kwan that needs to learn a lesson here, while new intern guy gets to scrub in for surgery with Bailey. Welp. That's what you get, Kwan. I love him and I love how cocky he is and I also love watching him get put in his place sometimes.
So, Link and Jo are never in my "pros" section of these reviews and this week is no different, I was annoyed with Link yelling at her, I was annoyed by her hovering, I was annoyed that this show wants me to feel invested when it just isn't going to happen. However, I wanted to put something here that demonstrates a key problem with this show while also giving it some praise. See, as much as Owen and Link both annoy me as characters, I actually really liked the scene where Owen was encouraging Link to snap at him to let off some steam. I think Owen is just... honestly, he's just a sexist, because throughout the entire run of this show I always feel like he has more respect for the men he interacts with than the women he dates and performatively respects. Owen tries to commiserate with Link about what he must be feeling, Link tells him not to be condescending, and then Owen sticks it out and they keep talking. I really liked this scene in isolation, despite my feelings about the wider context. And this is a problem: I shouldn't feel more compelled by these two guys, (Amelia's exes lol) having a little broment, than I have been by anything in Jo and Link's entire romance arc.
For all that Amelia's grief for Monica feels overblown, for all that Maggie being pregnant is kind of dumb, I will end this review by saying that I did enjoy seeing our three sisters hanging out together. It felt like the good old days. And it's comforting to know that they'll be hanging out off screen in the coming weeks, as much as I'll miss having Amelia around.
This episode actually felt entertaining while I was watching it. The annoying stuff was minimized and there were some stand-out character beats. Ben is shining more and more to me as a favorite these days. Kwan and Jules are great as always. I want to hold out hope that there will be plot threads this season that compel me and keep me excited to see what happens next. Hey, anything's possible!
7/10
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