Grey’s Anatomy can pack quite a punch, but was anyone expecting that one, two, three punch? We should have known something was up when April Kepner started narrating an episode we assumed would be about Alex, Jo, and her abusive soon-to-be ex-husband. Instead, we were treated to a satisfying, slightly shocking, resolution to that storyline, plus two others. A child who comes into the ER with a gunshot wound seriously affects everyone’s state of mind, and swiftly proves that racial bias and racism do not have to go hand-in-hand for someone to get hurt. By the time all of that is said and done, April is so shocked by a return from her past, that there are only two reactions. You have to either laugh at the tragic ludicrousness of it all, or you have to make yourself numb to it all.
It is hard not to laugh as Meredith runs around with suggestions that Jo and Alex flee to Canada when neither one of them was responsible for Paul’s hit and run. As nice as it was that Jenny was willing to cover for Jo if she had to, none of the people who had motive to kill Paul actually ran him down. Turn’s out it was Karma, sent in the form of a drunk driver. Thank goodness, because Jo and Jenny needed a break, especially after they compare notes on just how they both fell for such a monster. It’s because he wasn’t a monster 100% of the time. Then it’s as if God really is answering every prayer Jo and Jenny had every time Paul hit, kicked, choked, and beat them. Paul spits vitriol in Jenny’s direction when she stands up for herself, and when he tries to escalate the attack to a physical one, all he accomplishes is knocking himself out – permanently.
Paul ends up brain dead, and guess who is in charge of the paperwork? Logically speaking, it wasn’t that surprising that Jo burst out laughing when she realized that since the paperwork on her divorce hasn’t gone through, she is Paul’s next of kin. Therefore, she must make the decision to remove Paul from life support. It’s as if someone put the big neon sign blinking “IRONY” in Paul’s hospital room. The only way to take all that evil and turn it into something positive is to donate Paul’s organs.
April and Jackson have one of their toughest days, but it’s shocking to see who comes out of it defeated. Ben brings in a 12-year old boy he picked up on an ambulance ride-along who was shot for lurking around his own house. He forgot his house keys, and was just trying to get into his home after school. He was just a kid trying to get into the one place in the world he felt safe. And he was shot for it. Jackson has no faith in a system that allows that, which is just another reason he became a surgeon. He wanted to heal people, not hurt them. Jackson is half-white, he grew up in an upper class neighborhood, wanted for nothing, and owns a hospital. Yet still, he has to behave differently than a white man in his position.
The boy’s death has a much scarier effect on Ben and Bailey, since they are raising a black teenage boy. In a sit down that should horrify everyone in its authenticity, Ben and Bailey walk Tuck through every single step of what to do if he’s in the sights of a cop. This isn’t even a list that needs to be written down, because if you’re black, you already have it memorized. But it’s a crash course that Ben and Bailey have to walk Tuck through, step by step, if they want their boy to grow up.
April grew up in an idyllic world, and the older she’s gotten, the more loss she’s seen, the less fair the world seems. Yet through a divorce, and losing her son, and working in a war zone, April never completely lost her faith. She hasn’t been quite as vocal about it in the last few years, but it’s been apart of her core being. Then Matthew walks in the door. As in Matthew, April’s ex-fiancee who stood at the end of the altar as April ran back down the aisle with Jackson. He comes in after his wife gives birth in April’s arm. There must have been a more awkward way for Matthew’s wife and ex-fiancee to meet, but nothing else comes to mind. What kind of a reunion could you possibly have after that?
April doesn’t need to fill Matthew in on the losses she’s had since they last saw each other, especially when his wife Karen’s condition slowly deteriorates. Whether it’s because he believes April should have noticed that, or he needs someone to put his anger on, Matthew refuses to be around April longer than he has to be. That is his right, especially when his wife dies. To April, this was the day that everyone who deserved to live, died (it was more like a 2/3 on the deserving scale, but still). To top it off with the religious teenage boy who tried to chop his hand off as penance for masturbating, and it’s no wonder April would want to be numb to the misery.
April has made some serious miscalculations before, but going home with an intern? By the end of the day, Jo finds peace, Jackson and Bailey hold tight to solace that their children are safe, but April is resigned. April’s faith is as shaken as it ever has been, because she’s not fighting the hopelessness.
Which moment of “Personal Jesus” was most surprising?
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Visitor Rating: 5 Stars
Visitor Rating: 5 Stars