I made a prediction before watching last night’s Grey’s Anatomy that I would start by crying and end the episode feeling despair. I was totally right. Other critics can say that after 11 seasons this show is just a whole lot of drama, but Grey’s has managed to continually pull at the heartstrings by bringing in real cases, and real-life dilemmas. If anything, having a show on for such a long period of time, with much of its original cast still present, allows for greater possibilities for grounded storytelling.
Case in point, the ripped from the headlines trauma of the day, a mother who purposely drove herself and her two children off a bridge. We jump from different scenarios surrounding this woman, from her being overwhelmed, to losing her footing on the gas pedal, to being intoxicated, to simply being a monster. Meredith is determined to find a medical cause for this woman’s behavior, because “you want to believe she didn’t have any choice”. The situation makes the woman’s husband question what he knows about his wife, whether he should have known something was wrong, and where his family goes from here. Turns out, the woman had a tumor on her pancreas which caused her behavior. If only that was the case for all real scenarios like this.
Jackson and April by far have the most horrifying storyline this season, and perhaps in the history of the series. After Jackson tells April about their baby’s fatal disorder, he tells Owen that his wife should not be in the OR at all, though doesn’t go into the specifics of why. Though it may seem like April is in denial trying to cope, she really just needs to be able to help someone the way she can’t help her own child. I’ll admit, when Jackson broke down in front of Webber, I couldn’t stop myself from crying with him. The tears kept flowing as April screamed to everyone about how selfish the mother in the trauma was to just throw her children off a bridge. As it turns out, April has already researched other cases like hers and studied her own ultrasounds, and is all too aware of the reality. And for a person of deep faith, the reality that God would let her child die is too much for April to bear. Jackson has no answers, but promises to be there for his wife. When April tearfully tells Jackson they are having a boy, they both let themselves break down, and I cry for the next half hour.
Children are a recurring theme for others as well, as Bailey, Alex and Jo deal with other children who were injured in the trauma from the bridge. Alex and Bailey have a minor disagreement about how to handle the oldest child’s surgery, with Alex making the final decision as the senior attending, while Bailey pushes the younger child for their parent’s contact info. After all is said and done, Alex comments on how Bailey is a good mother, because not only does she prove that with her own son, she proves it with her patients, and she still sort-of parents Alex. See what I mean about grounded storylines made better by longevity of the series?
Amelia and Arizona deal with Dr. Herman’s brain tumor, more specifically the idea that Amelia could remove the tumor altogether, even though Herman has resigned herself to death. “Ultimately she’ll be happy” that Arizona illegally took Herman’s scans and that Amelia could cure her. Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the case. Herman was furious, first at the invasion of privacy, and then at the notion of yet another doctor dangling what she believes is false hope in front of her. But when Jackson comes to Arizona wanting to be prepared for what comes with his baby, Herman warns Arizona again about the dangers of false hope. The difference is, as Arizona angrily points out to Herman, there is a difference between a small chance and no chance at all, and it is selfish to take that for granted. This is where Geena Davis takes a minute to lose her composure and let herself grapple with the decision to fight one last time for her life. Arizona, Amelia, Owen, and Herman come to a compromise: they will wait until the last possible moment when they can no longer operate, so that Herman can continue to teach Arizona and live her life, and then they operate.
Which brings us to supercouple Meredith and Derek. We’ve seen this couple through their courtship, exes, honeymoon period, children, all the while furthering their careers. This season’s storyline is actually extremely grounded and complex. To recap, Derek got an opportunity to work on a project funded by the government, but it means moving to Washington, D.C. Because the move would set back Meredith’s career and uproot their children, she refused to follow Derek. So Derek then stayed, felt miserable for missing a once in a lifetime career opportunity, and passively aggressively took it out on Meredith. She finally yelled at him to leave if he was so miserable, and so he packed up and left for the airport.
Here’s the thing, neither one of them is wrong because both of their careers are important, and they’ve never stopped loving each other throughout this process. So after talking to Owen about how he had to let Cristina go, and a tearful cry to a potential nanny (“I need someone who understands that if I can’t be there [with kids], it’s because I must be where I am. I need a person who believes in that”), Meredith calls Derek. They decide to no longer fight, that Derek will go to D.C. and that they will make it work.
So after all of this, after so much uncertainty, where do we think things will go from here?
[Photo via ABC]
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