“Save the Last Dance for Me”
Original Airdate: February 13, 2020
While this week’s Grey’s Anatomy isn’t a traditional Valentine’s Day episode, it does focus on many different types of romanticism to give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. From sibling love to parenting to a long-lasting marriage to hookups to proclamations of love, hearts are in the air all over Grey Sloan Memorial. The show also introduces us to primetime TV’s first deaf doctor, Lauren Riley, played by the wonderful Shoshannah Stern.
DISTRACTIONS
The episode opens with Mer and DeLuca waking up in bed together after an eventful night. DeLuca gets a page that his patient, Suzanne (Sarah Rafferty), is getting sicker. For those that don’t remember, Suzanne was introduced in the last episode and seems to have a mystery illness that no one can diagnose. DeLuca tells Mer that he has a consulting doctor coming in from San Francisco today, who just happens to be one of the best diagnosticians. He convinced her to come to Seattle by name dropping Mer and lying about whose patient Suzanne is. Before leaving, DeLuca informs Mer that they need to talk about what’s going on with them, which Mer brushes off. Mer is clearly using DeLuca as a distraction from her attraction to Hayes, and it’s only a matter of time before she gives in.
Over at Bailey’s house, Ben arrives home from a shift at the firehouse just as Bailey is ready to leave to go to the hospital. She wants to get to work to check in on the foster kid that Ben brought in the previous night. This storyline is a direct continuation from Station 19, which introduced teen Joey and his three younger foster siblings. Joey and his siblings have been living on the streets since their foster father was recently arrested. They didn’t want to be split up by social services, so they decided to live on the streets. Joey fell in a warehouse and broke his collarbone and it went downhill from there. His younger sister got firefighters Jack and Ben’s help, and the siblings followed their brother to the hospital. Bailey is dreading telling Joey that his siblings were taken by social services, but knows she can’t avoid it.
Things get more interesting when the scene changes to Pac-North. Owen finds Richard, who tells him that Catherine has gone through with her threat from the previous episode and purchased their hospital. Catherine plans to shut down Pac-North, so all of the staff is to report to Grey Sloan Memorial to interview with Koracick to keep their jobs. Neither Richard nor Owen is happy with the news, which is when Maggie walks through the doors to report for her first day of work. It’s a bit comical when she learns that she is out of a job again. Owen asks Richard if anyone told Alex what’s going on, and Richard says that he did text Alex. Apparently, Alex is still dealing with his mom in Iowa and doesn’t plan to come back for an interview and found the situation in Seattle to be very funny.
The action switches over to Grey Sloan Memorial, and Schmitt is finally back at work. We learn that he has been staying with Nico since moving out of his mom’s house. Nico isn’t as happy with their current living situation as Schmitt is and informs Schmitt that he doesn’t think they should be moving in together yet. He would rather Schmitt find his own place, which surprises Schmitt. In the hospital’s lobby, Hayes is walking around with his two boys and introduces them to Mer. It’s parent/teacher conference day at school, so they will be hanging around the hospital until their scheduled time. As Hayes walks away, Amelia flies in to corner Mer about seeing DeLuca leave the house this morning. She wants to know if they are back together, and Mer is as cagey as ever and doesn’t give an answer. She’s clearly got two men on her mind, and we might be seeing another love triangle come into play.
Mer gets in an elevator to leave the conversation, and Amelia runs into Jo next. She’s glad Link isn’t with Jo because she has been avoiding him since their conversation about him wanting a paternity test. Jo confides in Amelia that Alex hasn’t been returning her calls and says that he needs some time. She also tells Amelia that Link loves her and she needs to stop avoiding him. Jo is very anxious about the Alex situation, and if this is the way that the show handles his departure, I will be very upset. Alex leaving Jo high and dry would be the most un-Alex thing. It would be so out of character and can’t be the best way to handle Justin Chambers’ exit, especially after Jo and Alex got married again earlier in the season.
In a different hallway, Jackson is talking to Koracick about which doctors he will bring back from Pac-North. Bailey walks by and hears their conversation, butts in, and finds out about the Pac-North acquisition. She immediately offers up her help in deciding which staff should be hired at Grey Sloan, but Koracick doesn’t want her input. Koracick has the Pac-North staff sitting in a waiting room, and Owen isn’t happy about having to wait around all day. Richard is the first one to be interviewed, although Koracick couldn’t seem less interested in hearing what Richard has to say. After a few minutes, Koracick tells Richard that Catherine has given him job security and that she wants him to work at Grey Sloan. Richard is not happy to be a pawn in his wife’s chess game. He storms out of the conference room and leaves a stunned Koracick behind.
Elsewhere in the hospital, DeLuca has the recovering residents working together in Helm’s hospital room to figure out what is wrong with Suzanne. DeLuca goes to check in on Suzanne, who does not look very good. Dr. Lauren Riley walks in, plops a computer down, and Skypes in a translator to introduce herself to DeLuca and Suzanne. She is a master diagnostician and plans to figure out exactly what is wrong with Suzanne. Think a more pleasant, personable, and all-around nicer version of TV doc Gregory House. DeLuca is quite stunned at her entrance and doesn’t know how to react to her immediate orders of several new tests. Riley also wants to see Mer, as that’s the reason she came to Grey Sloan, which is the last thing DeLuca was hoping would come up.
UNWANTED SITUATIONS
Schmitt’s first patient is an elderly lady, Irene, who came into the ER with shortness of breath. She and her husband, Norman, are in town for a ballroom dancing competition. Norman informs Schmitt that Irene has colorectal cancer. Upon examination, Schmitt thinks that Irene’s abdominal pain is indicative of an intestinal blockage, so he decides to run some tests.
Maggie is the next person to be interviewed by Koracick, and he’s even less interested in talking to Maggie than he was Richard. This aggravates Maggie, but she keeps getting distracted by her phone ringing. Koracick tells her to check her phone, and it turns out that Maggie is getting paged. Koracick reveals that Catherine reinstated her privileges last night, but Maggie will be working under Teddy and not getting her title back, much to the chagrin of Maggie.
Nico is examining Joey when Bailey walks into the room to tell him about his siblings. She tries to make Joey understand that she legally had to report them to social services. Joey is reasonably very upset. Bailey doesn’t know if the kids were split up or are together and promises to call social services to find out whatever she can. Back in Suzanne’s room, DeLuca has asked Maggie for a consult. Maggie finds that there is fluid building up around Suzanne’s heart. Riley tells the doctors and Suzanne that they need to start over on the case in the event that something slipped through the cracks along the way. Maggie and DeLuca aren’t too pleased with the new direction. They leave Suzanne’s room and find Mer in the hall. Riley is happy to finally meet Mer, who lies through her teeth and doesn’t quite know what to say since Suzanne isn’t her patient. Mer gets paged away, and as she leaves, Riley turns to DeLuca and tells him that she knows he lied to her. She wants to leave, so DeLuca quickly tries to guilt her into staying.
IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL...
As the day goes on, Owen is the last attending still waiting to be interviewed. He is getting increasingly impatient, which he doesn’t realize is only adding fuel to Koracick’s fire. Koracick is purposefully not interviewing Owen as punishment for being engaged to Teddy. We then see Joey walking through the halls and bleeding through his hospital gown. Jo finds him and sees through his lies. She forces him to go back to his room and takes care of him when they get there. Jo gives Joey some tough love by showing him that he will lose his arm if he leaves the hospital. Bailey walks in to tell Joey that social services said that they will try to keep his siblings together. Jo tells Joey about her experiences as a foster kid and how she had a system of staying in touch with her foster siblings when they eventually got split up, which seems to help Joey calm down. Jo continues to be real with Joey by telling him that he can’t help his siblings if he is dead, and that seems to do the trick and get through to the teen.
In the green room, Amelia and Link meet up for the first time in a few days. Link is happy that Amelia called him and seems genuinely happy to see her. Amelia says that she is getting the results of the paternity test tonight and wants to know what will happen to them once they get the results. Link is honest and says that he doesn’t know. Amelia asks if he wants to be with her and be in the baby’s life if Owen is the father, as Amelia wants him to stick around either way. Link says that he loves her, but her history with Owen is in the way. He needs to know who the father is first before making up his mind. Amelia is hurt by his candor, but honestly, he’s handling the situation pretty well and in the most adult way possible.
HISTORY
Maggie is getting ready for Suzanne’s surgery in the OR wing. Jackson walks by and tells her that he is happy that she is back. Maggie is mad that she isn’t the head of the department anymore. They then talk like siblings and tell each other that neither of their parents is coping well with their split. Maggie wants to know if Jackson thinks Richard and Catherine can fix their relationship and get back together, and Jackson hopes that they will work it out in the end.
Hayes runs into Mer again and asks if she has seen his boys anywhere. He can’t find them and they are going to be late for their conference. Mer unfortunately hasn’t seen them, and Hayes runs off to keep searching. Schmitt sees Mer and calls her over to look at Irene’s scans. Schmitt is upset to see that Irene has lots of tumors. Mer goes with Schmitt to give Irene the news, but Schmitt can’t bring himself to tell her. Mer tells her that the cancer has spread to her lungs and liver and that they can’t recommend surgery because her immune system is too compromised.
We then see Bailey and Jo in the OR fixing Joey’s collarbone. Bailey asked social services for Joey’s history and tells Jo that he has been raising his three foster siblings for several months. She also found out that he is seventeen, and Jo says that no one will adopt a 17-year-old foster child. In another OR, Suzanne is going into surgery with Maggie and DeLuca, who reassures her that Maggie is the best surgeon for the job. Suzanne tells Maggie that she can’t let her die because her kids love her too much. Maggie is confident that the procedure will go well and that Suzanne has no need to worry. This is the first bit of confidence that Maggie has displayed since her cousin died, so it’s nice to see Maggie starting to act like herself again.
RISK TAKERS
Norman finds Schmitt and asks for a favor. He says that Schmitt is kind and gentle like his grandson and needs some help with something. Schmitt is happy to oblige, as he feels terrible about Irene’s diagnosis. Back in the OR, Suzanne’s surgery is going very well. DeLuca keeps double checking every step, as he has clearly gotten too invested in the case. It has become personal, which is never a good sign on this show. After the surgery, Riley is trying to figure out a diagnosis with the other residents. DeLuca and Maggie show up to tell them that the surgery was successful. Riley proposes taking Suzanne off all her currently prescribed medications because there could be a clue being suppressed by the medicine. Riley feels that a clue will present itself if Suzanne isn’t on any medication. Maggie and DeLuca are not on board with the plan. They feel that it would be a massive mistake and that Suzanne would die of sepsis in a few days without the medication. Riley advocates for her idea by telling DeLuca that he wanted her to consult and that this is the best way of diagnosing their patient.
Elsewhere, Owen is still waiting around and has resorted to spying on Koracick. Amelia finds Owen watching Koracick through a window and sits down with her ex-husband. Owen is still annoyed at Koracick because he was finally interviewed and has to wait around while Koracick consults on the phone with Catherine. Owen doesn’t want Koracick to win, so he’s playing along with the game by letting it play out. Amelia tells Owen that he has already won because he got the girl and the family. She says that he should let Koracick have his fun because he is in pain and this is the way he is showing it. Owen wants to know how Amelia can feel everyone’s feelings all the time, which leads to a nice moment between them. However, it is unclear if Amelia has told Owen that he might be the father of her baby, and I’m guessing she hasn’t.
Schmitt gets his fellow residents to help him with Norman’s favor. He brings Irene to the cafeteria, which has been cleared out to make a dance floor. They find Norman wearing a suit, much to the surprise of Irene. Norman wants to dance with Irene, who is sad that she doesn’t have a dress to wear. The residents give her a decorative robe to wear instead. Mer and a bunch of other staff arrive to watch Irene and Norman dance, which is a very nice moment.
Outside of the hospital, Jackson finds Richard sitting on a bench. Jackson is happy that Richard is back at Grey Sloan, but Richard says he’s not working here by choice. He’s quite upset because he liked working at Pac-North and building a program from scratch. Richard is beyond annoyed that Catherine took it away from him by buying the hospital and shutting it down. Jackson assures Richard that one day they will all look back on this moment and laugh. Richard compares Catherine to Godzilla and tells Jackson that he doesn’t think they will ever work out their differences before walking away.
PROBLEM SOLVERS
Schmitt puts Irene back in bed after the dance, and she asks Schmitt not to be sad. She tells him about her very happy life and that she is okay with her diagnosis. Irene asks Schmitt if he has met the love of his life yet, as she had a wonderful life with Norman and wants the same for Schmitt. Oddly, Schmitt doesn’t answer her question.
Bailey walks into her office and finds Mer on her sofa. Mer starts talking about how there was a time when she would have been the one to build a dance floor in the cafeteria and how she was that romantic once. Mer is a bit down about it, and Bailey plainly tells her that she grew up and is not lacking in passion. Jackson busts into the office and tells them that Richard left and doesn’t want to work under Koracick. He also doesn’t want to work that way either and asks Mer and Bailey if they want to let Koracick rule the hospital. The three of them run out of the room together to come up with a plan.
Riley and DeLuca tell Suzanne and her sister about the idea to take her off the medications. Suzanne’s sister is not on board with the plan. DeLuca tells them everything that could happen if Suzanne goes off her medications and that it is a tough choice. Riley tells them this is the best option they have to solve the case. She goes on a lovely speech about how she can’t hear, but she listens with the rest of her body. She spins a nice yarn about siblings being there for each other and says that she thinks she can save Suzanne’s life. Suzanne gives her permission to stop the medications. After walking out of the room, Riley tells DeLuca that she made up the story to get her to agree, which again shocks DeLuca.
Richard, Bailey, Mer, Jackson, and Owen corner Koracick in a conference room and tell him that they are all prepared to quit their jobs. They don’t want to annoy Catherine, and they know that Grey Sloan can’t afford to lose its best doctors. They continue to say that them leaving could make Catherine question Koracick’s title if he doesn’t do everything he can to keep them. Koracick tells them to name their terms. Bailey says that they are a family and Koracick doesn’t get to rule over them with an iron fist. The demands are Owen and Richard keeping their jobs, Alex and Hayes being co-chiefs of the pediatric department, and Maggie and Teddy co-chiefs of cardiothoracic surgery. They also say that Koracick can take all the credit with Catherine. Koracick caves to their demands, and the doctors celebrate their win.
We then get a quick, steamy moment with Schmitt and Nico in an on-call room. Schmitt wants a commitment and deeper relationship with Nico, but we don’t get to hear Nico’s thoughts. The scene then flashes to the green room, where Amelia sees Link crying inside. He is waiting to hear the results from Amelia, but instead, she sends him a text saying that she didn’t get the paternity test and needs some time. She apologizes via text and doesn’t go in to talk to him. Why Amelia can’t do the right thing for once is beyond me. The episode ends with Jo walking into her and Alex’s apartment and realizing her husband hasn’t come back yet. She sighs audibly. It’s good that we are finally getting to see how Alex’s absence is affecting Jo, and hopefully their situation will be cleared up sooner rather than later.
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