Saturday, October 27, 2018

Grey’s Anatomy 15x05 Review: “Everyday Angel” (Reconnecting) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“Everyday Angel”
Original Airdate: October 25, 2018

After a one-week hiatus, Grey’s Anatomy is back with the characters who are ready to get down to business. With Teddy and Jackson mysteriously missing from the past few episodes, the viewers aren’t the only ones looking for answers. In classic form, "Everyday Angel" also features Meredith putting others before herself (so it looks like her dating life might be put on the back burner for the moment). However, plenty of other Grey Sloan relationships step into the forefront.

BONDING


In the previous episode, Maggie finally spilled the beans about Teddy’s pregnancy to Meredith. Of course, Meredith immediately feels the need to step in and sort out her soon-to-be problem of Owen not knowing that he is going to be a father. Meredith confronts Teddy at a park and forces Teddy to go to her house for a pseudo-therapy session. While Meredith attempts to make homemade cookies for a bake sale at Zola’s school, she tries to find out the truth behind Teddy’s lack of decision making.

Since Meredith doesn’t know how to bake, Teddy decides to take out all her stress and aggravation on the poor cookie dough. Thankfully, beating the mixture seems to do the trick and loosens her up. Teddy explains that she is afraid of telling Owen the truth because of his nature. She doesn’t want him to leave Amelia and his new family to raise his baby and be with her without knowing his true motive. Poor Teddy just wants Owen to love her again, but feels like his motive for being with her will always be clouded by the baby.

Teddy does make a valid point because Owen is the good-hearted guy that she describes. Even though he now has a young family to look out for, he undoubtedly would want to put Teddy and their baby first. Meredith finally convinces Teddy to tell Owen, so it looks like the fireworks are set to go off in the next episode on that front! For anyone who has been dying to see what happens when Owen and Amelia find out about Teddy’s pregnancy since it was revealed five months ago, the moment of truth is so close. Granted, the situation won't be resolved in one episode; the unconventional love triangle will probably play out throughout the better part of the season.

RETURN FROM THE WILDERNESS


This episode sees not one, but two missing characters return from their respective hiatuses. Jackson strolls into the hospital at the beginning of the episode like he never left, which catches Maggie off-guard. I was happy to see Maggie skeptical about Jackson’s return because she shouldn’t welcome him back with open arms. Jackson has only returned to the hospital from his leave of absence to treat a young boy with abnormal scapular growths that he met during his hiking adventures.

The problem with Jackson’s return is that he thinks he can show up and pretend that nothing has changed. He assumes that Maggie is fine and that their relationship will continue exactly where they left off before he disappeared. Maggie, on the other hand, isn’t ready to see Jackson, let alone speak to him. She has no idea if he is really here to stay, if he still wants a relationship, and why he even left without notice in the first place. Sadly, she doesn’t get many answers out of Jackson other than that he wants to stick around.

Jackson recruits Alex and Link to assist on his young patient’s surgery, much to the chagrin of Alex. It turns out that Jo’s little bombshell of knowing Link, which came out at the end of the previous episode, is not sitting well with Alex. After a long surgery with surly glances directed at him, Link finally confronts Alex. Alex wants to know if Link knew Jo’s ex-husband Paul, and, if so, why someone so close to her wouldn’t do something about the abuse. Well, Link did know Paul, but he didn’t know about his terrible behavior. Link assures Alex that he would have beaten Paul up if he had known he laid even a finger on Jo. So now Link and Alex can be pals, and Jo has a pseudo-brother back in her life. Maybe things will start looking even brighter for the Karev family.

THE PARENT TRACK


Back on the relationship front, Amelia and Owen are still enjoying their family life. While dropping Betty off at school, the couple decides to play hooky from work to make sure their recovering drug addict teenager isn’t skipping school. Yes, they have turned into helicopter parents quickly. Amelia has completely changed her worldview since having her brain tumor removed. She has two apps on her phone to track both Betty and Betty's texts. She may be taking things too far, but Amelia’s heart is in the right place. Owen and Amelia spend the entire day sitting in the car watching the school for any sign of Betty trying to leave, and they do catch her once. I never thought these two could make the family life work, but they have been pretty convincing. We will see how well they hold up once they learn about the soon-to-be unexpected bundle of joy.

YOU'RE NOT MEREDITH GREY


The other larger storyline of the episode focused on Bailey and Jo. Bailey is finally ready to start on Jo’s fellowship project when Alex tells them that there is a case he needs them to take. A woman with an undiagnosed illness came into the hospital to see Meredith, and she isn’t happy at all when Bailey and Jo come to examine her instead. She tells her new doctors that she has seen too many physicians, all of whom can’t figure out what is wrong with her. Bailey explains that she taught Meredith everything she knows, while Jo says that she worked with Meredith on the mini livers project. The patient accepts their care, but Bailey and Jo cross off every potential on the differential diagnosis board.

The patient isn’t happy that they too cannot find the cause of her pain, and insists that it isn’t in her head. The kicker is that the patient has actually been causing her distress; she had been fasting before each appointment because of the tests that needed to be done. Well, the patient’s problem only occurs when she eats, so how could any doctor actually find the problem if she had been fasting? For anyone who likes the medical puzzles, this patient had a ligament compressing her celiac artery, which expands when food is being digested in the stomach. Bailey is extremely proud that she was able to solve the case and that Meredith wasn’t there to get all the credit.

However, Bailey confides in Jo at the end of the episode that no matter how much she limits herself, she is still feeling a lot of stress. Jo helps Bailey realize that Ben’s job as a firefighter is causing Bailey’s increased stress because she doesn’t know if he is safe at any given time. Since Ben doesn’t seem to be quitting his latest job anytime soon, Bailey is either going to have to learn to deal with it or get a prescription for anti-anxiety medication to help her make it through each day.

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