Grey's Anatomy recap: Tragedy hits home for Meredith
The background of the electric fall finale of Grey's Anatomy is a thunderstorm, and as lightning strikes, Meredith Grey sends an email to the entire staff that she is leaving for Boston. The ripple effect of this one decision affects the lives of many.
Who's going to be the new chief? What's going to happen to the residency program? Will Nick join Meredith in Massachusetts? Does Nick even know Meredith is moving across the country?
These are all excellent questions that no one is answering. Maggie is too busy pretending everything is fine and channeling her energy into babysitting her nieces and nephew and packing up Meredith's house. Bailey and Jo are consumed with the grand opening of the clinic. And everyone else at Grey Sloan Memorial is dealing with storm victims bombarding the ER.
Let's not forget that Adams has a timeline for telling his fellow residents that he is not in a relationship with Dr. Shepherd. Amelia marches her nephew to the lab, where Nick patiently waits for his interns. That's when Adams spills the beans, confessing that Amelia is his aunt. With great defeat, he hangs his head and admits, "I am a Shepherd."
People are surprised for different reasons. Nick is shocked that Meredith didn't tell him. Kwan reports that this news is disturbing, and Amelia has to spell it out for the young ones that she is not, nor has she ever, had sex with her nephew. Good to know.
Now we've got a Whipple procedure to perform in the middle of a thunderstorm. Is everyone good?
Everyone is not good. Nick can feel the heaviness in the room, so he calls it out. Understandably, they are nervous about Dr. Grey leaving, but right now, patients are dying, and lives need to be saved. Also, surgical excellence takes more than one person, and together, the interns are the program. It's not going anywhere.
Who will lead the residency program is still a mystery, but that's neither here nor there. Griffin and Adams head out with Nick to perform the Whipple with Meredith while the others take off to the ER.
Yasuda is paired with Teddy when local TV reporter Jonathan is brought into trauma room three. Helicopters and thunderstorms do not play well together. Jonathan's leg has been impaled by part of the seat, and about a dozen things need to be checked, splinted, clamped, and stabilized before they can even think about removing the chair from Jonathan's body.
Luckily, Teddy has a team to respond to the 75 orders she barks out in two minutes. Amelia is there for spinal issues. Link is there for the broken bones. Yasuda fetches everything, including Owen. Teddy commands the moment with grace, confidence, and authority.
Meanwhile, Meredith, Nick, Adams, and Griffin prep a children's author named Tessa for her Whipple procedure. It's a risky surgery, and Meredith wants to make sure Tessa understands what will happen. Tessa is prepared for a poor outcome, but her readers are not. She needs her surgeons to save her life so she can continue writing her stories.
Which everyone has read, apparently. As Tessa signs autographs, Nick goes over Tessa's scans with Adams, explaining even the smallest detail. He encourages Adams to take an active role in the surgery. Nick tells him to trust his instincts and work ethic and believe he is good enough to make his name in a sea of Shepherds. Then Richard comes in to check on Nick, which is a nice way of asking Meredith's boyfriend if he will cut ties and follow her to Boston. Nick seems slightly irritated, blaming his inability to answer the question on the residency program and his ever-expanding caseload. Meredith checks in with Nick and asks him to keep an eye on Adams during surgery. Nick snaps back, "Why? Because he's Derek's nephew?" Meredith defends her nephew, claiming she kept his secret because he asked her to keep it under wraps.
ABC/Liliane Lathan Scott Speedman as Nick on 'Grey's Anatomy'
Interesting. Meredith seems to be pretty good at keeping secrets. Especially when they involve moving states away without even discussing the topic with Nick. If he asks her to stay, he's a jerk because she's moving for Zola. If he leaves to go with them, he's deserting the class she asked him to lead.
Decisions are the worst. Especially when you're looking for a new chief. With Meredith gone, Richard naturally leans toward Bailey. She shuts that business down immediately. Even though her clinic is currently under bureaucratic distress, she still plans to open its doors, cut the ribbon, and drink champagne.
And when Owen approaches Richard, he all but laughs in his face. Though Owen has the experience and skills, something tells me we need a doctor without a suspended license.
After hearing this news and watching Teddy own the ER, Owen wonders if Teddy should apply for the chief position. She saved Jonathan multiple times during his trauma and devised a plan for the other surgeons' successes. To quote Yasuda: "You are a badass boss lady surgeon, and I want to be you when I grow up."
Yasuda grew up in a family of all girls to a father who wanted boys. So, of course, she's mesmerized by Teddy. We also learn that Kwan knows all about lighting because he attended med school in the Caribbean at St. Kitts. It's not Harvard, but it did the trick when Kwan was forced to forgo several other schools when his mother fell ill and eventually died when he was in college.
Not to be outdone, Millin's able to provide fun lightning-related facts, thanks to her dysfunctional upbringing as well. When a family visits the ER after being hit by lightning through a basketball goal, Millin recognizes the melting points of precious metal (I know!) on the mother's neck as bronze, which has melded into her skin. Horrific visual aside, Millin claims she understands metal because her mother used to make jewelry while her father sold weed at farmers' markets. Families are fun! Just ask Adams, who is slowly losing his grip in the ER. Meredith wants him to pay better attention. Nick wants him to breathe and think through the steps. Meredith wins and calls an audible, asking Griffin to step in and take Adams' place. This is the author of the beloved Tessa books! She must be saved!
As time passes, it looks like Tessa will be a Whipple survivor. All bets are off when Richard walks into the OR and demands Meredith to "remove your hands from the field." Bailey's husband, Ben, just called: Meredith's house is on fire. Nick and Griffin take over while Meredith runs like hell to see if her kids are okay.
They are fine. Maggie and Winston were there the entire time, arguing about Winston's switch from cardio to vascular surgery. Just as Maggie hits Winston in the jugular with the cold hard truth that she would never switch cardio for him, lightning strikes, and we see a flame outside the window.
Two adult surgeons rescued all three children and the framed Post-It of Derek and Meredith's vows. Luckily, Station 19 stayed on an extra hour and was there to put out the flames. The kids are okay, but the devastation is real. For everyone.
Adams beats himself up for failure. His own aunt benched him when he nearly killed Tessa, the Wonder Author. Griffin tries to comfort him, but he wants someone to get angry. And when she doesn't, he hauls off and kisses her with all the passion of a Shepherd.
Griffin pulls away and says she can't do this. Just like a Meredith.
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