Original Airdates: May 18, 2023
A wedding, an awards ceremony, and lots of drama: it sounds like another Grey’s Anatomy season finale is upon us! This year’s two-hour ender is packed full of intense moments in what might be our final episodes for a while with the writer’s strike underway. The episodes are highlighted by the on-screen returns of Meredith and Maggie and plenty of reunions to go around. So buckle up for a wild ride.
WEDDING DAY
On the morning of her wedding, Simone wakes up to a text from Trey saying that he has left a latte outside her bedroom door. She gets out of bed and opens the door to see Trey standing with the hot drink in his hand. Simone isn’t sure he should be there, but decides it is okay since she isn’t in her dress yet. They kiss, Trey leaves, and Simone walks down the hall to Lucas’ room. She is upset to see he has already left for the day, and we see Lucas and Mika on the way to work in the latter’s van. Simone grabs her wedding dress and goes to leave the house only to find Jules at the door. She is glad her maid of honor is there because she needs a ride to Grey Sloan Memorial.
Over at the hospital, Winston gives Teddy parting instructions for his patients before he leaves for Boston. Blue tails behind them and takes notes for his boss. Teddy has a toothache, so Winston offers to stay behind so she can go see a dentist. She refuses to let him miss the Catherine Fox Award ceremony and names him chief of cardiothoracic surgery. Teddy says he has earned it, and Winston is thrilled for the promotion and tells Teddy she won’t regret the decision. After Winston leaves to catch his flight, Blue tells Teddy he can skip Simone’s wedding, but she tells him to go and skip the reception instead since the hospital is short staffed.
Up in the ICU, Jules shows Max the dress she is wearing to the wedding. She didn’t have time to buy a new one, so she is wearing her Renaissance Fair dress. Max tells Jules to stop over-checking her chart and asks if she finished her toast. Jules is horrified that she didn’t know she needed to write one, and Max assures her it will be easy to make up. She then asks Jules if Blue is her date, which Jules scoffs at.
Mika present rounds on Sam to Owen and Link. After four days of formal rounds, Sam is done with the process and asks the doctors if they can just act like his friends now since they practically live together. Mika puts Sam in his place by explaining that they are not friends since she is his doctor and worked incredibly hard for eight years to get to where she is now. All of the men in the room are impressed and gain a bit more respect for Mika.
Simone walks into the hospital and past Schmitt, who wants to know why she is there. She asks if he knows where Lucas is and then goes to find him in the skills lab. Simone tells Lucas she is upset he left the house without her. She starts giving him notes about their now-mutual patient, Toby, the breast cancer patient from a few episodes ago. Simone says that she can’t be at the hospital today because she is getting married and wants to leave Toby in Lucas’ hands. She also tells Lucas that she can’t deny his feelings and the connection they have, but she wants him to know that Trey does love her. She thinks their relationship deserves a chance even though she doesn’t want to hurt or lose Lucas. She asks Lucas to take care of Toby for her, and Lucas replies that he would do anything for her.
Outside Sam’s room, Link tells Mika that she did a great job and that Sam needed some humbling. Owen tells the intern to order a CT angiogram for Sam, and Mika reminds them that she has Simone’s wedding to get to. Link and Owen are more than happy to cover for her. Before she can go, Link asks Mika if Sam has been inappropriate to her or anyone else. Mika says if he is asking about Jo, the inappropriateness is reciprocal. Owen offers to take over Sam’s care, but Link refuses the help.
We then see Simone and Jules running from the hospital to the parking lot to get to the wedding and right past Blue, who winds up with a situation of his own. Blue sees a mother, Carmen, looking for help for her son, Enzo, who is passed out in her car. Blue scoops up Enzo and carries him inside the hospital while shouting for help for a potential opiate poisoning in an eight year old. Carmen only speaks Spanish, and it so happens that Blue appears to be fluent in Spanish. Blue calls for someone to page Owen to help with Enzo. After Owen arrives as backup, Blue asks Carmen if she gave Enzo any medications, which she didn’t. Blue tells Owen that he thinks he might be wrong, but it seems like a textbook case of opiate overdose. Right on cue, Enzo wakes up. Owen wants to admit the boy for further testing and tells Blue to call Child Protective Services since they now know Enzo overdosed. Carmen then collapses, and Owen orders a toxicology screening for her too.
BUMPY RIDE
Mika is driving herself and Helm to Simone’s wedding in her van and tells her date how proud she is to have shown the attendings who she really is that morning. She can’t believe how great she can be when she isn’t working multiple jobs and is getting eight hours of sleep each night. Mika thanks Helm for taking the kryptonite out of her system and standing up for her. She then asks Helm if she can kiss her at a red light, and the two share a very passionate kiss.
Back at Grey Sloan Memorial, Lucas meets Toby, Simone’s breast cancer patient from a few episodes back, in the lobby. Toby wasn’t aware that Simone was getting married that day and realizes her doctor didn’t mention it to make sure she kept her appointment. Lucas tells Toby that Simone asked him to be there for her, and he promised to do so for her and won’t leave to go to the wedding. Toby thanks him and goes to pre-op before her mastectomy.
Link wheels Sam into an elevator to go upstairs for the angiogram, and Jo sneaks into the elevator too. She shows Sam some of the ASL that she learned in the past two days and is surprised to find out that Sam also knows a few signs. The two flirt, which visibly angers Link. When the door opens on the next floor, Jo decides to join Link and Sam for the test, much to Link’s chagrin.
Mika and Helm make it to Simone’s grandmother’s house and are instantly bombarded by an anxious Trey. He tells Mika that he was in charge of ordering the flowers, which didn’t show up because the company had the wrong date. Trey is freaking out, so Mika tells him to take a deep breath. She offers to go get Simone a bouquet, so Trey asks her to try to find tulips because they were her mom’s favorite flower.
We then see the party going to Boston get on Catherine’s private plane. The hostess greets Nick when he gets on, and we see that Winston and Richard are already there too. Bailey makes it in time and tells the group that Ben couldn’t make it due to the floor collapse at the firefighter’s ball in the Station 19 season finale. Bailey talks about how she didn’t want to go with them on the private plane at first because planes terrify her, which is clearly a nod to the season eight tragedy that took the lives of Lexi and Mark. Catherine walks over to the seated Nick and tells him how happy she is that he was able to come. Richard then tells Nick that he is sitting in Catherine’s seat and makes him move to a couch where Winston is sitting. Amelia then pops out of the back of the plane, and Winston is not thrilled his sister-in-law is joining them. When she sits on the couch next to Winston, he makes Nick switch seats with him so he doesn’t have to sit next to Amelia. With tensions running high before the flight takes off, it seems like it will be a long trip to Boston for this crew.
At the hospital, CPS arrives to ask Carmen questions about Enzo, who has been separated from his mother. Blue is with Carmen and asks the agent if he can stay to translate since she knows very little English. The agent says a translator is on the way and kicks Blue out, but Carmen asks the intern to stay with her son and tell him she is still there before he leaves. Blue finds Owen and tells him that Carmen only had a vasovagal response and did not overdose. Owen says Enzo’s tests came back clean, but he could have fentanyl in his system since that doesn’t show up on a normal blood test. Teddy comes over to see what is going on, and Blue tells her that he is skipping Simone’s wedding to help Carmen and Enzo. Teddy keeps grabbing at her face, so Owen tells her that she needs to go see a dentist. She would rather rip her own tooth out because she is pulled in four different directions at once at work and can’t step away to take care of herself.
On the plane, Amelia can’t wait to see Meredith. She assures Nick that he made Mer very happy, to which he replies that Mer has a funny way of showing it if that is true. Amelia reveals Mer asks her about him and thinks she might be ready for them to be in a relationship now. Nick says that the harder someone chases Mer, the further she runs, which makes it sound like he has given up. Winston sarcastically quips that it is perfect that all three sisters are single at once. At the back of the plane, Bailey tells Catherine and Richard that she wants to get as far away from the couch situation as possible, while Catherine is happy to watch the show. The plane hits a bit of turbulence, which makes Bailey nervous.
Next, Jules helps Simone get dressed for her wedding. Simone is missing her mom and tells Jules that her mom’s favorite bird was the robin. On her first date with Trey, a robin was perched close to them, so she took it as a positive sign from her mom. Simone knows Trey is a good, steady man, which is what her mom would have wanted for her. She thinks her mom would be proud of her on her wedding day.
Simone’s dad then shows up, and a bird flies into the window of the room they are in. Jules looks out the window and sees that the bird is not okay. Simone wants to know what kind of bird hit the window, but Jules won’t say, which tells us that it was a robin. Jules then rips Simone’s dress when trying to zip it up, which makes the moment anxiety central for the two interns. The count is up to three bad things occurring before the wedding even starts, so maybe the signs are pointing the opposite way than Simone first thought.
THE PLOT THICKENS
In pre-op, Toby is waiting for her procedure time, so Lucas goes to check in on her. Toby talks about how she regrets not appreciating her breasts more, and Lucas reminds her that the surgery will save her life. She knows it won’t be the same, which Lucas agrees with because she will be cancer-free. Toby tells Lucas that he is cute, a doctor, and knows the right thing to say, so she is curious why he isn’t going to the wedding. The look on Lucas’ face tells her the reason instantly, which they will bond about later.
Teddy joins Link and Jo for Sam’s scan in Winston’s place. The scan shows Sam has a grade one aortic transection, which Teddy thinks is a deceleration injury from the crash. She says this injury usually heals on its own and that they should rescan him in 48 hours. Jo volunteers to watch Sam, so Link tries to override her and say he will do it himself. Jo complains that Link doesn’t even like Sam, so Link snaps back, “Not the way you do.”
Elsewhere, Blue finds Max wandering around the ICU as he brings Enzo up to a room. Max says she got turned around and wants to know why there is someone in her room. Blue explains that she must have wandered from the north side to the south side, and her room is on the north. Enzo asks for his mom, and Blue gets a page for a consult. Max says she will sit with the boy and can rest in a chair instead of a bed. Blue decides to let her do that because he can’t seem to say no to Max. Before he can leave, the police come over to Blue and say they need to ask him a few questions because Enzo tested positive for fentanyl, which makes it a criminal case now.
Back at the wedding, Jules is trying to fix Simone’s dress when the latter’s grandma wanders in. Simone pretends to be her mom since that is who her grandma thinks she is. Her grandma tells her not to marry Kenneth if she doesn’t want to. She also says she should go with Dwayne, Simone’s father, if that is who she wants to be with. Jules and Simone are stunned at the revelation, to which Jules says, “The plot thickens.”
Blue goes back to the ICU and finds that Max got kicked out of Enzo’s room. She now knows the full situation after eavesdropping on everyone and asks Blue why the mom would give fentanyl to her son. She then asks if the police have the situation wrong. Blue thinks they do, but he feels he might be partial to single moms and their sons since he had a single mom. Max tells him to fight if he thinks it is wrong, but Blue is worried he will lose his job if he does speak up. Max tells Blue a story about how many years ago, she didn’t ask a coworker why she had bruises on her face and then that coworker turned up dead a few weeks later. She says not asking still keeps her up at night. Blue goes down to the ER to find the police handcuffing Carmen. He questions Schmitt as to what is going on and asks if there was an interpreter for her interview with CPS. He doesn’t want to see the family split up and knows the system is making assumptions they wouldn’t make if Carmen was speaking English. Owen overhears and tries to calm Blue down, but the intern won’t let it go. He goes over to Carmen and asks her if Enzo ate any candy or if she left him alone at all. Carmen replies that Enzo did not eat any candy and the only time he was alone was when she took a shower.
WHAT TO DO?
In the sky, the private plane is still experiencing a lot of turbulence. Amelia is freaking out, and Winston thinks it tracks that she wants to tell the pilot what to do. We see a flight attendant fall from the turbulence, but she is fine. Amelia tries to apologize to Winston again, but he wants nothing to do with it. He asks if there was any truth to what she said about him being the reason Maggie left. Amelia admits that there might have been some truth to what she said, but she thinks Winston should love Maggie, not compete with her. Winston feels Amelia doesn’t know him at all and doesn’t understand what he overcame to be there. He doesn’t appreciate the fact that she called him small and a coward because his marriage didn’t work out. Winston then says that maybe Amelia is the reason Maggie left. Catherine tells Amelia and Winston to stop wasting time with petty arguments just as the turbulence gets a lot worse, which worries everyone on board.
Catherine thinks the plane is going down and says this isn’t the way she is supposed to die. The plane starts to plummet, and Amelia says that she can’t die because she is a mom. Winston reaches out and tells her to give him her hand. Richard takes Catherine’s alcoholic drink and looks like he wants to drink it, but Bailey slaps it out of his hand and exclaims, “Oh hell no!” before he can take a sip. The plane gets through the turbulence and the pilot apologizes for the roughness. Catherine inappropriately laughs at the situation, while everyone else looks worse for wear
At the hospital, Max gets to sit with Enzo again, while Blue and Schmitt watch from outside the ICU room. Blue thinks he is going to get fired for sticking up for Carmen. Schmitt tells him that he also grew up with a single mom, which he finds to be a strength. He knows not all single moms are like his and Blue’s, so they have to follow protocols. Owen arrives to give some good news. The police searched the rental place that Carmen and Enzo are staying at and found a bag of weed gummies and fentanyl that was left behind by previous tenants. Owen tells Blue that he fought the good fight, but the intern doesn’t know what to do with the rage he feels about the situation. The police have let Carmen go, and mother and son are reunited at last.
Down the hall, Sam is still flirting hard with Jo as she checks his chest tube output. She thinks they can remove the tube in a few days and finds that the nerve signal in his right leg is still strong. Sam asks if they can tell their kids this was their first date, and Jo laughs and leaves the room. Link is waiting outside the room for her and isn’t happy about watching the flirting. Jo asks if there is something he needs to say to her. Link doesn’t approve of the relationship because she is one of Sam’s doctors. Jo is surprised he is going that route and says, “You slept with an intern. Did I judge you?”
Simone and Trey’s wedding is finally about to start. As Simone steps into the backyard for the ceremony, we see that Mika found flowers and got enough to decorate a bit. Mika gives Simone a bouquet of flowers that she collected from the neighbors’ yards. Simone instantly pricks her finger on a thorn and proceeds to bleed on her wedding dress. Jules immediately steps in to help Simone hide the blood with the bouquet. Surprisingly, Simone doesn’t freak out, and her dad starts walking her down the aisle. After a few steps, Simone sees a dead robin outside the window of the room she was getting ready in, and she starts to realize she might not be able to go through with the wedding. Mid-aisle, Simone asks her father if her mom was engaged to someone else before him. They stop walking, and Simone wants to know the truth before going any further. Jules tries to stall Trey at the altar to ensure he doesn’t think anything is wrong. Simone’s dad tells her that he met her mom two months before she was going to get married. Her mom called off her wedding last minute, and they both knew they were meant to be together. Poor Simone is confused and doesn’t know what to do with all the signs now pointing to a not-so-joyous day.
CODE BLUE FOR EVERYONE
Blue finally gets Max back to her own bed, and the elderly patient thinks she and Blue are a dynamic duo. She also sees why Jules is falling for him. Blue doesn’t believe her since Jules barely talks to him anymore. Out of nowhere, Max start having trouble breathing. Blue calls for help and gets her oxygen as she starts to crash. Blue begs Max to hold on. A nurse comes in and reminds Blue that Max has a DNR. She tries to stop Blue from saving Max’s life when he asks for an intubation tray.
Teddy goes to her office and is followed in by Owen. He wants her to eat and brought her a smoothie, knowing that it would hurt her mouth to chew. Teddy is glad that Owen always takes care of her, and the two sit on the couch together. The Catherine Fox Award crew then lands in Boston. Bailey calls Ben and asks Nick if he is going to follow everyone else when he doesn’t immediately get up. Nick wants to meet up with them later because there is something he needs to do first. Bailey leaves a voicemail for Ben and exits the plane. After taking a deep breath and sighing, Nick gets up to leave too.
Back at Grey Sloan Memorial, we quickly see Blue trying to revive Max, but the nurses won’t bring him an intubation tray due to the patient’s DNR. Then, Link goes into a supply closet and pushes a cart into the wall to let off some steam. The scene cuts back to Schmitt finding Blue attempting to save Max’s life. He tells Blue not to intubate because that is not what Max wanted. Blue informs Schmitt that Max has a collapsed lung and was fine one moment and coded the next. He begs his boss to help him save her, and Schmitt caves and asks the nurses for a chest tube tray.
Downstairs, Lucas is still sitting with Toby and talking to her when Simone comes running into the hospital in her wedding dress with a desperate look on her face. She locks eyes with Lucas through Toby’s room’s window and walks slowly toward him. Lucas gets up and goes out to meet her. Simone calmly tells him that she didn’t get married. Toby tells them to go and that she will be fine by herself. Lucas and Simone start walking down the hall and straight into an on-call room. Simone locks the door behind her, and Lucas immediately kisses her. She turns around so he can take off her dress. As the dress falls to the ground, they kiss again. Simone takes off Lucas’ scrub top, and they continue to make out. Lucas carries Simone to a bed, and the rest is left to your imagination. It’s about time these two got together, and we will see more of how it plays out in the second episode.
The first episode ends with Nick taking a taxi to Mer’s new house in Boston. He takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. A man answers the door, and Nick, along with the audience, is quite stunned. Nick asks if Mer lives there, and the man replies that she is at work. He introduces himself as Michael and says he will let Mer know he came by, but it is probably best if Nick texts her. It is quite surprising to see a man answer Mer’s door, but don’t forget that there are multiple reasons he could be there. This would have been a fantastic cliffhanger to a normal weekly episode, but thankfully, we don’t have to wait a week to find out what happens next.
“Happily Ever After?”
The second hour opens in Boston, where Nick is drowning his sorrows at his hotel’s bar. He thinks Mer has moved on with a new man, but he can’t wallow long because he gets a text from Mer asking him to go to her lab, stat. We then see potential new lovebirds Simone and Lucas lying in bed after sleeping together. Lucas asks what happened at the wedding, but Simone wants him to stay in the moment as long as they can. They start kissing and are interrupted by Lucas getting a page. He groans when he sees that Schmitt needs him to cover the ER. Simone says she should check on Toby anyways, and they kiss before parting.
Jo then goes to check on Sam. His friend Kwame has returned and shows him photos of his new baby boy. He tells Sam that they named the baby Sam after him, which was his wife’s idea. Kwame says he will be back the next day and leaves. Mika comes in to tag out Jo per Link’s order. Jo protests, so Mika tries to tell her that since she is wearing black scrubs, she is currently an OB resident, which means Link outranks her. Jo sternly replies that she outranks Mika no matter what color scrubs she is wearing and sentences the intern to cover the pit. After Mika leaves, Sam comments that Link doesn’t want Jo alone with him and asks what the story between them is.
Over in Boston, Nick arrives at the hospital Mer works at and finds Bailey, Richard, and Amelia walking toward Mer’s lab too. They deduce they all got the same text from her. Mer, who is wearing her Dartmouth sweatshirt, is on the floor trying to figure something out and talking to herself. She says that everything is wrong and that they need to question everything they know about Alzheimer’s if they are going to cure it. Understandably, the group is quite confused.
Back at Grey Sloan Memorial, Blue and Schmitt talk about the Max situation after they save her life. Blue tells Schmitt that Max was perfectly fine before she coded, and he isn’t sure why her pressures aren’t rising after reinflating her lung. Schmitt wants Blue to report what he did to Teddy and document everything for the committee that will be looking into it. Jules comes into Max’s ICU room and wants to know what happened. She angrily asks who intubated Max when she has a DNR, and Blue owns up to saving her.
Owen is working in the pit and sees Helm walk in. She tells him that she was in the getaway van and since she is at the hospital, she will change and start working immediately. Owen seems happy to have Helm back, but he is immediately forced from his reprieve when an ambulance pulls up with a car crash victim with a left arm injury. When the gurney comes out of the ambulance, we see that the patient is Trey. Lucas comes out to help too and mutters, “Oh shit” under his breath when he realizes who he has to help.
STRONG REACTIONS
Up in the ICU, Schmitt explains to Teddy and Jules what happened and why he and Blue saved Max. Jules, who is still angry, says that Max was clear with her wishes. Teddy states that Schmitt and Blue need to speak to Max’s medical proxy to decide what happens next. Blue looks at the paperwork and sees that Jules is the proxy. Teddy tells them that it is Jules’ choice to put Max on pressers or to take the tubes out. Jules asks Teddy if Max will survive if they extubate her, but Teddy can’t answer the question. Jules agrees to the medication and asks Blue to not talk to her. Teddy then asks Schmitt to look at her tooth for any sores, which is a comical scene. Schmitt doesn’t see anything and respectfully says that he isn’t a dentist.
Elsewhere in the ICU, Jo tells Sam about her and Link’s history. When she is done, Sam says he gets why Link is acting the way he is and tells her that Link loves her. Jo immediately disagrees, but Sam argues that no guy does all of the things Link has done for a person who is only a friend. Jo is tired of explaining their status to people when she doesn’t think it is like that between them. Clearly Jo is just lying to herself at this point. Sam tells her that Link had years to figure out what he knew in minutes and that he plans to sweep Jo off her feet like she deserves when he is out of the hospital. Jo says she needs to check on other patients and leaves because Sam hit a nerve.
Downstairs, Simone has decided to stay and work for the rest of the day. She meets Toby to go to the OR for her surgery and tells her patient that she wants to be there because her failed wedding is enough for one day. Lucas comes around the corner and tells Simone they need to talk. He tells her that Trey is in the hospital as a patient with a minor arm fracture from a car accident. Simone sprints off and leaves Lucas to chase after her once again.
Blue then finds Jules in the intern locker room to tell her that Max is stable now and the drugs are working. He tells her about how he chose to save her life. Jules tries to explain that being kept alive by machines isn’t life according to Max, which is why she had legal papers drawn up and signed. Jules says, “It’s not for you to choose. Do you know the position you put me in?” She hates that she might have to decide to unplug her favorite person in the world, which must be the real reason she is upset. Blue is also visibly upset.
In a trauma room, Trey asks Owen, Link, Helm, and Mika if Simone is in the hospital. He explains that he knows what his injuries are because he is a second year surgical resident in Baltimore. Owen and Link clearly don’t know who Trey is, and the women don’t tell them. Link explains that Trey needs surgery to repair his arm. Simone and Lucas rush into the room, and Trey immediately realizes that Simone must have left him for Lucas. He gets out of bed and punches Lucas square in the face with his unbroken arm.
In Boston, Mer tells the group that top scientists believe in plaque therapy to treat Alzheimer’s and that they use medications that are approved to remove plaque. She says they can no longer trust what is being published about the disease and its treatments because a doctor in Tennessee found evidence of tampered images. Nick asks Mer the last time she slept was. Mer doesn’t answer and says that Jackson had to go to London, which means she is probably working around the clock. It seems odd that Jackson would be in London when the Catherine Fox Award is handed out, but I guess that was the best excuse the writers could come up with for Jesse Williams’ schedule. Mer says that she gathered everyone who knows her best to show them her new Alzheimer’s theory before telling the world what she found.
In the hotel, Maggie sees Winston in the hallway and asks him to help with her dress. Winston is blown away by Maggie’s dress and new hairstyle. They go into Maggie’s room so he can help zip up her dress. Mer is blowing up Maggie’s phone, but Maggie is in no rush to answer. She instead congratulates Winston for becoming chief of cardio at Grey Sloan Memorial, and he sarcastically replies he was left with a messy department. Winston gets the door for Maggie and they start to walk out. Midway, Maggie turns around and kisses Winston, and they go back into the room to reunite.
REUNIONS
In the hospital ER, Mika cleans up Lucas’ face and says that she is on his side, but she doesn’t want to get dragged down in a fight between him and Simone. She doesn’t want to live in a house like that either. Owen asks Mika to help with Trey’s surgery, so Mika asks Lucas to look after Sam for her. We see Simone looking out the window of Trey’s trauma room at Lucas to see if he is okay. Trey thinks Simone and Lucas were having an affair. Simone tells Trey there was no affair and that she didn’t leave him for another man. She felt that she had changed and wanted different things. He doesn’t understand why she said yes and moved up the wedding if that’s the way she felt. Trey asks if any of their relationship was real, post-Baltimore. Simone admits it was real, so Trey says he will move to Seattle so they can figure out their relationship. She apologizes for letting it drag on, but she wanted to do the right thing and was confused. She now knows what she wants. Trey thinks her whole life will change if she is with Lucas because he has a family name to fall back on, while Simone has nothing. Trey says that he won’t be there to clean up the pieces when it gets messy.
Schmitt finds Blue taking a break outside to tell him that Max is doing better. Blue wonders what will happen if she doesn’t wake up and is also surprised that Schmitt isn’t yelling at him. Schmitt tells Blue how he killed a patient the year before when he was sure he knew how to save him and didn’t. He learned more from the mistake and the wounds that ate at him, not from someone yelling at him. Schmitt knows he didn’t have to yell because he has been in Blue’s position
We then see Winston and Maggie in bed together. Winston decides to rapidly fire questions at her for fun. He asks what she would name a dog, and Maggie replies Ruth, which makes them both laugh. The next question is what she would buy with a million dollars, and Maggie wants new boots. She asks the same questions to Winston, who answers: Marlon and a time machine. He wants to go back in time to tell his mom that he was nominated for a Catherine Fox Award. Maggie knows Winston’s answers were much better than hers and decides to get dressed so she can finally check in with Mer before the award reception.
At the Boston hospital, Nick, Bailey, and Richard are shocked after finding out Mer’s thoughts on Alzheimer’s. Richard tells Mer that she will be written off as crazy, not cutting edge, and will jeopardize her reputation with the foundation, which could destroy her career. Mer wants to know if Amelia sees what she sees and wants her sister-in-law to say that plaque may not be causing the disease after all. Amelia is still a bit stunned, but she isn’t happy that Mer’s findings insult Derek’s work as well. Richard wants Mer to keep her discovery to herself but Mer doesn’t want to lie and let science catch up to her. Richard thinks she should do the Alzheimer’s work on the side and not make it public in order to maintain the respect she has built for herself.
GO WITH YOUR GUT
Not long after, Nick is looking around Mer’s lab and she comes in to chat. He knows all the equipment because he did a lot of research as an intern. Mer reveals that Lucas told her that Nick has been very supportive, which makes her happy. Nick doesn’t think they need to do small talk when she has moved on, is happy in Boston, and has broken new ground. Mer asks Nick what he would do if he were her. Nick asks if she came to Boston to follow rules, and if she did, that would upset him more.
At the hospital, Lucas finds Simone as she finishes calling Trey’s mom to let her know that her son is in surgery. Simone says Trey’s family is mad at her and that Trey was on his way to GSM to see her when he got into the accident. She doesn’t think it would have happened if not for her. Lucas reminds Simone that she can’t marry someone she doesn’t love, but she doesn’t want to be let off the hook because she hurt people. Lucas decides to leave to check on Sam and tells Simone to text him if she needs him.
Blue finds Jules sitting with Max in her ICU room. He tells Jules that he understands what she loves about Max. He knows Max isn’t just a funny, sweet old lady, but she is also brave and generous with advice. She reminds him of his own mother and says he has never met anyone like her. Jules says Max is always worried about her in ways that her parents never were. Max wakes up and tries to pull her breathing tube out. The interns try to tell her to relax and that she is okay to make her stop.
Maggie and Winston show up to the award ceremony together and go straight to the table they are sharing with Richard, Nick, Bailey, Amelia, and Mer. Richard wonders aloud why Maggie didn’t come to Mer’s lab and Maggie lies about the reason, which Bailey doesn’t buy. Catherine comes over to their table to steal Mer for two minutes to talk to donors and give them an update on her work. Amelia is looking up the validity of Mer’s research on her phone and walks away after Bailey tells her to put the phone down at the table. Catherine and Mer go over to a table of donors, and one tells Mer that his mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a year ago. He is happy to have hope from her research. But Mer tells the donor that scientists are focusing on the wrong thing so his money is not being well spent. Catherine tries to silence Mer before she digs her own grave.
Jules and Blue have gotten Max to calm down and stop fighting them. Max asks for a pen and writes a note to them asking to take out the tube. Blue tells Max that she isn’t dying and how he had to make a decision to save her. He thinks she was wrong about it being her time to go and wants her to give them 24 hours to let them help her and stay on the vent. After that, they will do whatever they want. Max agrees to Blue’s plan, and this scene epitomizes the amount of growth Blue has had in a single season.
AND THE WINNER IS...
Lucas goes to check on Sam, who immediately sees the wounds on the intern’s face and asks if the other guy looks worse. Lucas explains he was hit by a disgruntled patient and tells Sam to rest. Sam doesn’t want Lucas to withhold a juicy story. Lucas tells him there is a girl, and Sam stops him and says he doesn’t need to finish because he knows the rest. Sam starts to feel funny and immediately crashes. Lucas calls for someone to page Teddy and jumps into action.
Trey’s surgery is finished and is successful. Link tells Helm that Trey doesn’t want pain meds, but that might change. He tells her it is good to have her back and walks away. Mika comes over and asks how it is to be back. Helm replies she is coming down off a high from their date and is happy to be back at Grey Sloan Memorial. She is happy they got to spend the day together too. Mika gets a 911 page for Sam and runs off. She and Teddy arrive in Sam’s room at the same time. He is bleeding out into his chest, and Teddy knows his aorta must have ruptured.
Jo finds Link outside in the rain and asks him what he is doing. He decided to take a break and was enjoying the quiet. Jo asks if she should leave, so Link counters by asking if that is what she wants. Jo wants to know what is going on and Link asks what Jo wants. She stutters and then asks him to move out. Jo has been thinking about it for a while because she thinks it is confusing for the kids if they keep living together. Link wants to know if it is really about the kids or if it is about Sam. Jo wants to meet someone and isn’t comfortable bringing people home like Link is. Link proclaims that he has been too busy changing his whole life to revolve around Jo and “us” and hasn’t brought anyone home in months. Jo replies that she didn’t ask him to change his life. Their conversation is cut short by a change to another scene, which is annoying.
But at least it is changed to a good scene: it’s time for the presentation of the Catherine Fox Award. Catherine goes up to the podium to introduce the award and how it is given to a surgeon who shows excellence in the field while pushing boundaries. She introduces the most well-known boundary push, Meredith, and Bailey feels slighted and overlooked since she was supposed to present the award. Ben arrives and sits down next to Bailey, which surprises her. Mer tells the room that for the first time ever, Catherine decided that this is the year to break rules and give the award to a non-surgical project and a non-nominee. Bailey wants to know what is going on, but no one at the table answers. Mer says that in the midst of a national public health crisis, one doctor is trying to change it one procedure and one trainee at a time. She is thrilled to present Bailey with the Catherine Fox Award for significant contribution to medicine this year. Bailey is beyond shocked, and Ben pushes her to the stage. She doesn’t know how to react, and Mer thanks Bailey, who is getting a standing ovation. Bailey is beyond overwhelmed and tries not to cry as she tells the room of doctors, “It has been such a long year.”
Afterward, Maggie debates the logic of a non-nominee winning, and Winston is confused why she is questioning it. She decides that she is happy Bailey won and if she had to lose to someone, she is glad it was Bailey. Maggie asks Winston to get a drink with her, and he wants to know if that is what they are now. Winston randomly asks if they should get divorced, so Maggie quietly asks if that is what he wants. He wants to excel at his job and break new ground. He doesn’t want this to be his last nomination, rather the beginning of many. Maggie suggests they start with that and figure out the rest later.
Bailey hugs Mer, and Ben tries to get his wife to go take pictures. Bailey is upset that she ugly cried in front of a room of big time surgeons. Mer says that she, herself, is going to cry on her way home because she is going to lose all her funding. Bailey assures Mer that she won’t lose anything because she is too stubborn. Amelia comes back into the ballroom and tells Richard that she missed Bailey getting an award. She wants to go to an AA meeting and asks Richard to join her. Richard admits he almost took a drink on the plane and that is the only thing he can think about. They both know they aren’t like everyone else and can’t take the edge off the same way. Richard wants to stay behind and wait for Catherine, so Amelia decides to find a meeting and text him the address. After Amelia walks away, a waitress puts a vodka tonic down in front of Richard, which he ordered. We don’t see if Richard breaks his sobriety, which might be the most surprising cliffhanger of the episode.
END OF THE SEASON
Mer goes upstairs and slips a letter under a hotel room door. As she walks away, Nick opens the door and asks what the letter is. He reads it, but doesn’t understand it. Mer explains she did pretend not to hear him because she was tired, overwhelmed, scared, and thought she should focus on her kids. She is still tired, scared, and overwhelmed and may have blown up her career, but she tells Nick she misses him. Nick reveals he met Michael. Mer smiles and says Michael is wonderful and great with the kids. She tells Nick that Michael is Zola’s tutor. Mer didn’t know Nick went to her house and wants to know why he didn’t mention it earlier at the lab. Nick replies that Mer was in mad scientist mode and he didn’t want to talk about it. Mer assures Nick that Michael exclusively dates men. Nick tells Mer he thought he was going to die earlier on the plane and realized how badly he wants to live. He spent years trying to avoid pain and went to Mer’s house to never let her walk away. Nick says he wants to live a whole life out of love and pain and her. Mer happily says “okay” and kisses him with a big smile on her face.
Blue checks on Max again, who is sleeping. Jules is still sitting next to her and tells Blue that Max is on minimum vent settings, which he says is good news. Jules is still mad at him and proclaims that Blue is the most selfish, arrogant, impulsive, enraging person. She doesn’t think he cares about anyone else and what they feel or want. He put her in an impossible situation and hates him for that. Jules says she is going to cry to express anger, which will make her hate Blue more for letting him see her cry. She finishes by saying that the worst part is that he saved her favorite person, so she has to love him too. Blue hands Jules a tissue as she cries.
Sam is in the OR for emergent surgery, and Teddy tells the doctors and nurses the surgical plan. She says they will need to stop the blood loss before doing the aortic repair, and everyone will need to work quickly and anticipate what could go wrong. Teddy then faints, and Mika calls for a crash cart.
We then finally get to see the rest of Link and Jo’s fight/conversation. Link is yelling at Jo about how many times he has changed his work and Scout schedules to be there for her and Luna. Link says he cares about the two of them and wants to know if they are just roommates like she told Sam. Jo replies, “What was I supposed to say?” and claims it was semantics. Link says it isn’t semantics, rather it is love. Link finally proclaims, “I’m so completely in love with you, Jo. How don’t you see that?” He talks about loving her since they were in high school and worked at a restaurant together. Link wanted to tell her a hundred times and says it all the time to himself. He knows he should have said it out loud sooner, but he didn’t want to freak her out. Link concludes with, “I love you, and I’m gonna love you forever.” Jo smiles and replies, “You unbelievable dummy. I love you too.” Link is shocked that they both feel the same way. They stare at each other for a second, and Jo walks over and kisses Link. The whole story of Jo and Link getting frustrated at each other and then proclaim their mutual love would have worked better if it was one full scene, not spread out.
The season ends in Sam’s OR. Teddy is passed out on the ground, and Mika is telling her to wake up. Simone comes in and finds Sam bleeding out. Teddy now has no pulse, and both she and Sam are critical. Lucas decides he is going to do Sam’s surgery himself because they paged all the attendings and no one is coming. He and Simone know they have to do whatever it takes to save Sam and Teddy. Simone asks a nurse for a gown and gloves, and Mika protests Sam’s surgery because her name is on his chart, so it will be on her. Lucas and Simone start operating on Sam, and we see a nurse get Owen in the ER and tell him to get to the OR immediately. Owen runs, and we get a quick glimpse of Jo and Link kissing in the rain. They are soaked and don’t care as they smile at each other. The happiness is fleeting as Teddy is crashing when Owen arrives. Mika has to shock her, but it doesn’t work. Owen then takes the paddles and tries, while the Lucas and Simone continue working on Sam. Owen begs Teddy to stay with him and shocks her again. There is no response on the monitor, and the episode abruptly ends.
Normally this would be a pretty massive cliffhanger, especially with not knowing when the next season will air. There are two reasons why this isn’t the shocking ending the show wants it to be. First, Teddy’s constant tooth problem over the two hours should have clued you in that something bad was going to happen to her. Second, casting announcements for next season were announced the same night the finale aired. So if you want the spoiler of whether Teddy lives or dies, you can see if Kim Raver signed on for season 20 with a simple Google search.
It will be interesting to see where everything goes for all the potential new couples next season as Grey’s Anatomy enters its third decade.
.png)
.png)
