“Fight For Your Mind”
Original Airdate: May 3, 2018
You might not realize it until you hear Meredith’s voiceover, but this episode is all about the characters’ mental health. While the characters haven’t verbally realized their individual struggles this season, it’s hard for the audience to miss what has really been going on. The best part of this season is that it is coming full circle and wrapping up loose ends.
A NORMAL LIFE
The longest story of the episode follows Alex and Jo to Iowa in search of Alex’s mother. In the last episode, Alex realized that his mom wasn’t cashing the monthly checks he sends her and felt that she must be in some sort of trouble. For those of you who don’t remember Alex’s very private personal life, his mother has been very unstable with schizophrenia for a vast majority of his life. Alex practically raised himself and his two siblings because his mother and drunk, abusive father couldn’t take care of them. We have never learned much about Alex’s greatest vice — his past — so it was a great moment to see Alex open up about his true feelings.
Alex and Jo arrive at his childhood home in Iowa, where a neighbor shocks Alex by telling him that his mom is at work. Alex’s mom hasn’t been well enough to work since Alex was little, so this is a huge surprise for him. They find his mom at the local library, where she works as a librarian. She is as surprised to see Alex as he is to see her working like any other person and tells him that she has been getting better lately, which her doctors attribute to her age. Alex’s mom sticks to a precise routine to help manage the schizophrenia and seems to be doing well, which angers Alex.
I’ve always felt bad for Alex and his troubled past, and I can’t imagine that anyone couldn’t feel for him after his speech about how it’s not right that his mother is getting well when no one needs her anymore. Jo brings Alex to the local batting cages to help him get his anger out, and he delivers a really great monologue while hitting softballs. This is an important scene, giving Alex the time to rant about how every time his family needed his mom, she couldn’t be there for them. He’s right in the sense that life isn’t fair and that people don’t get to choose when they are and aren’t sick. After a while, he cools down and goes back to the library apologize for upsetting his mom. He even gets to introduce her to Jo, which is a sweet moment. As tough as this new situation is for Alex, it is nice to know that he can have a chance at a real relationship with his mom.
CHANGING THE PAST
Back at Grey Sloan Memorial, the hospital is buzzing with press following last episode’s bombshell truth about Harper Avery. Even though Jackson and Meredith thought they could fix everything by rebranding the foundation and giving opportunities to the women, the damage cannot easily be fixed. There should continue to be a lot of fallout on many characters for some time, so I hope this storyline doesn’t simply disappear with the end of the season. Jackson is taking the brunt of the scrutiny at the moment, since the press is focused on how much he knew about his grandfather’s past.
This leads Jackson to decide to personally pay out all of the settlements, which will likely be most of the fortune Harper left him. At least Harper’s money is going towards the right cause! Meredith is also hounded by reporters for her take on the scandal, but she is thrown off when she sees Marie Cerone enter the lobby. Meredith decides to run off to the bar across the street, where she meets a fellow surgeon who is in town to attend her presentation on her mini liver project later that day. I don’t understand why Meredith decided to confide in a total stranger and spill all of her feelings about everything that has happened over the past few months, specifically about the past and present Marie Cerone sagas. I would have preferred to see Meredith work out her issues with a therapist since that has worked well for her in the past, but this appeared to be all the therapy she needed.
After ranting and raving about her life, Meredith realizes that she can’t blame Marie for leaving and abandoning her friendship with Ellis because she was forced to leave after Harper Avery abused her. At her presentation, Meredith announces that she would like the Grey Method to be known as the Grey-Cerone Method from now on. I was surprised that Meredith gave in to what Marie wanted, especially since Marie has not treated Meredith well over the polymer business.
However, it is a nice way to right a past wrong and show the world the truth. Marie is very grateful for the change of heart, but Meredith is still icy toward her and wants nothing to do with Marie for the time being. Meredith has every right to be bitter, and I’m just as bitter that we didn’t get to see her full mini liver presentation and that Jo wasn’t there to present with her.
Amelia also deals with some past demons in helping teen druggie Betty detox. Betty’s struggle to get clean reminds Amelia of herself, which is probably a big cathartic moment for Amelia. After struggling for years with drug addiction, Amelia was able to overcome it and get clean, so helping another person become sober is a dream come true for Amelia even if she doesn’t know it yet. Betty isn’t the most willing patient and winds up escaping through the bathroom window. We don’t know where Betty is by the end of the episode, but we get to see Amelia truly come to terms with addiction at an AA meeting.
TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
It’s that time where we only have two more episodes left with Arizona and April. This episode pretty much confirms Arizona’s fate, which wasn’t hard to see coming. Sofia continues to struggle with living in Seattle with Arizona and gets herself suspended from school when she steals $1,200 of field trip money. After dealing with a difficult pregnant patient, Arizona realizes that she must do what she knows is right for Sofia and calls Callie. While we don’t get to hear Callie, Arizona says that she feels that Sofia should move back to New York City and that she wants to move there too. This is the easy way for Arizona to be written out, but there could be a curveball in the penultimate episode when Dr. Nicole Herman comes for a visit with a potential opportunity for Arizona.
April doesn’t appear much in this episode, but the promo for the next episode shows what most fans have feared: it seems that April has been seriously injured and is fighting for her life. This is a huge potential spoiler because we know that April isn’t coming back next year, so why not kill her off to avoid the issues with Jackson and baby Harriett? When it was announced that Sarah Drew was not coming back next season, April started going off the deep end. Based on April’s behavior, it seemed more likely that she would quit, or get fired, and run away in one fashion or another. She easily could go back to the military or potentially run off with Matthew again. I feel like it would be a cop-out to kill off April now when there were so many past opportunities for her to go. For the fans’ sake, I hope that April somehow makes it out.
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