Grey's Anatomy: Take Me to the River (22x15)

Why do so many of these characters SUCK omg. Yuck.

Cons:

Where to start? I heard the amazing news that Owen and Teddy are leaving at the end of the season, it is BEYOND past time for that. I assume they'll depart as a couple, having decided to give it another go, and this is annoying and bad story-telling, but at this point I'm just glad they're leaving, so... fine. Whatever. This plot about Owen maybe taking another job and then never mind was just very... blah. Nothing to really talk about.

I already thought Winston was garbage but now... ohhhhh boy. Jesus. Am I supposed to think it's sweet that he broke up with his girlfriend on her birthday so he could be with Jules? The thing is, last week when he was agonizing over the ethics of the situation, I didn't even remember he'd been kinda going out with that nurse lady... so now he's a pathetic loser who doesn't have the restraint or the courage to deal with his current dating life before starting something new? I hate this man so much at this point and I don't want to, I used to like Winston. Blue giving Jules harsh advice was the best part of this story; he's right. (And Jules should be with him instead. Sigh.)

Poor little baby intern Dani crushing on Lucas... the worst possible timeline for me, this is a nightmare. Lucas spends the episode being an absolute dick to Simone, flaking out on Richard, and then hooking up with Dani just to numb his bad feelings. Booooo. You suck Lucas.

Most of Richard's story-lines just make me think everyone is humoring this old man well past his prime who just needs to retire. It's sad, it makes me feel pity for him more than anything. I don't hate this plot thread of him trying to do community care and get people in for prostate cancer screenings, but I'm always kind of cringing with the secondhand embarrassment of it, you know?

Pros:

The minute Blue told Bailey what he'd done with their patient I was like... oh, so you're fired. Blue should be fired. That's NUTS, my dude. But this show is so goofy and sometimes I like it when they lean in to the ridiculousness and just have people doing shit way off the rails for the drama of it all. I like that they made this sick man be a single dad with a teenage son, instead of like an adorable little eight-year-old or something. The scene where Blue sits down with the kid and spells it out for him that his dad doesn't have much time left, was so beautiful. And we know Blue has been here with his own mother, so the connection there was really sweet.

Bailey's arc this season is about being stymied by systems but trying to maintain boundaries and do the right thing ethically and morally, and after trying to wrangle Lucas over the Katie situation, now she's got Kwan injecting patients with an experimental drug, which is... wow. Poor woman should not have to be dealing with all of this shit, but I love it because the audacity and criminal behavior of Kwan is an expression of what Bailey wishes she herself could have done. I'll be excited to see where this goes even though it's messy as hell.

I also thought the drama about the couple who got hurt rafting was interesting enough - I don't know that I have a ton to say about it, but I was engaged with the "twist" when he showed up blaming her for nearly dying, and I like that Simone affirmed she made the right choice trying to keep herself safe, in a really intense situation. 

I'll stop there. The list of characters pissing me off seems to just grow week by week unfortunately. 

6/10