It’s been an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking season of Grey’s Anatomy. Meredith and Derek nearly fell apart, Arizona and Callie actually did, April and Jackson lost their child, and of course, Derek lost his life too soon. After all of that loss, the show opted for a more hopeful season finale, even if there were some low points.
Picking up where last week’s cliffhanger left of, April’s car crash victim is still trapped in his car, just right outside the hospital. Meredith jumps in to help April lead the rescue charge. The plan is to operate on him outside the hospital enough to get him to an OR. The tricky part is that his travel time from car to OR has to be no more than five minutes. It’s a risky move, but it’s the only option. Meredith knows what her patient needs to get through this, and brings the man’s newborn son out to meet his father, a chance Derek never got to have with his and Meredith’s daughter.
In the meantime the man’s fiancée is stuck between a rock and a hard place, on the edge of being paralyzed while she is still bleeding profusely after just having had a baby. Given that the paralysis is only a possibility because Stephanie left her interns alone with the patient, she is kicked out of the OR. Stephanie doesn’t understand the first rule of being a resident in a teaching hospital: interns are your responsibility, including their mistakes. She gets a chance to redeem herself, but still earns a stern scolding from Bailey about how she needs to “raise her ducklings” to be the future of medicine. Edwards will make a great doctor if she listens to everything Miranda Bailey tells her to do. Besides, this story has a happy ending, with mother, father, and baby all alive and healing.
After all of this, April is on an adrenaline high that she doesn’t want to end. Jackson recognizes that April wants to go back to the Army since it gave her back the light inside of her that he fell in love with. The catch is, this time he can’t be there when she comes back.
Catherine and Webber’s fight goes from bad to worse in front of the entire staff. Catherine’s never been good at compromise, and choosing not to give Bailey the Chief of Surgery position she’s earned is the last straw. Bailey is overjoyed at the prospect of being Chief, because she still has no idea it is being ripped away from her. After a day of dumb tension, Meredith has had enough and, using her “dead husband card”, orders Catherine and Webber to work it out since they are both still alive to be able to do that. So they finally talk, or rather negotiate, every problem in their relationship, and get married in the hospital chapel. Bailey even takes the news that she is going to have to compete for Chief rather well, saying she feels sorry for the person who is going to lose to her. Seriously, who doesn’t love Bailey?
Jo and Alex are not speaking since their argument about leaving Seattle together, or rather, not leaving Seattle. Alex hasn’t even gotten the chance to talk to her about Meredith and the kids moving in, and Meredith even wants Amelia to come with them. Jo is upset that Alex would consider this and not leave her much of a vote. He insists he wants a life with her, but Jo is no longer sure about what she wants. After some time, she knows she wants to be with Alex because she loves him, and asks that they sell Meredith’s house back to her and get a loft just the two of them. We’ll check back in with these two in a few months.
Maggie has a difficult situation to deal with that she desperately tries to stuff down while at work. Meredith finally gets her sister to tell her that her parents are getting divorced after her mother had an affair. Meredith insists that Maggie come talk to her about these things, because chances are Meredith has seen worse and knows how to get her sister through the fire.
It’s been a difficult season for Amelia Shepherd. Today she is just trying to do her job, but at the same time is forced to face whether she wants a relationship with Owen, and confront her issues with Meredith and the way she handled Derek’s death. It all culminates at the end of the night when Meredith gives Amelia her old phone with the last message Derek ever left her. These are the last words anyone will ever hear Derek Shepherd say, and instead of falling apart, Amelia is grateful to hear them. Amelia listens to her late brother’s last words with Owen by her side, then proceeds to “dance it out” with Maggie and Meredith, the final hopeful scene of the night.
All in all, a much needed upbeat finale after the brutal season Grey’s Anatomy has had.
[Photo credit: Richard Cartwright/ABC]
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Wow, what a crazy season. The way they handle Derek’s death by just moving on so quickly was upsetting, but I really thought was brilliant. It challenged the audience so much and made his absence really hit deeper to me. Even after all this time, this show still can blow me away with the innovative spins they take on the hospital drama format. Geena Davis was also amazing this season.
The music continues to be a strong point of the show, not only do they introduce me to a lot of cool songs,but they always seem to find a song that just fits each scene perfectly. Loved being introduced to “Let the Light Come In’ by Rose Cousins in this episode (when Meredith talks with Alex in the elevator, asking if he’s talked to Jo about her and the kids moving in.)
I really liked how they played some covers of songs we’ve heard before on the show. Jonny P did a great job with John Legend’s “Sun Comes Up” when they’re all mingling at the part. I have heard “How To Save A Life” so much over the years, whether its this show or just on the radio that I went from loving it to kind of dreading the song, but I actually really liked the Nilu cover that plays Jo asks Alex to sell the house to Meredith and move into a loft with her.