Last week’s season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy introduced new characters and new roles for the returning doctors. The second episode is much of the same, as a lot of focus is put on the new core interns. New roles this time around include Nick accepting Meredith’s offer to become the new residency director and Schmitt starting his reign as hardcore chief resident. If Grey’s Anatomy feels different to you this fall, that’s because it very much is. It’ll be an adjustment, but changes like this are nothing new to the longtime medical drama.
NO GOOD ASSIGNMENT
The theme of the season thus far is “new.” Everything is new on the show, so it’s fitting that the episode begins with showing how each of the new interns arrives at work while simultaneously giving more background details on them. Simone lives in a house with her grandma, who has memory problems shown by packing a lunch for her granddaughter with everyday objects like a television remote control. Jules walks through the parking garage at the hospital and finds Mika living in her first place of her own: a modified camping van rigged with a wifi hotspot. It’s not fully clear, but Mika may be living in the parking garage.
Luke is practically living at the hospital too, but he at least has claimed an on-call room as his own. All his personal belongings are thrown around the small room, and Aunt Amelia comes a-knocking. She isn’t thrilled to find her nephew living at Grey Sloan Memorial and offers to have him stay at Mer’s house for a few days. Luke refuses and tells her that his situation is temporary until he finds a place of his own. They had agreed that there would be no special favors from any member of the family in Seattle. Amelia casually says his mother wouldn’t like this, but they still haven’t said which Shepherd sister is Luke’s mother. I’m not sure what the secret is, but maybe they haven’t booked one of the past actresses to reprise their role yet and whoever agrees will wind up being Luke’s mom.
Luke walks out of the room and almost gets run over by Blue, who says they are late. The two interns go running off, so Amelia catches up with Mer and Maggie in the halls. Mer is discussing Nick’s email with his ideas of how to change up the residency program now that he is the director. She complains that he hasn’t called, seen her, or talked to her at all. Mer seems to refuse to make a move, so it’s really her own fault. Mer asks her sisters if they will be at Zola’s presentation for a paper she wrote on Ellis for a scholarship later that evening.
In the interns’ locker room, Nick greets the group and introduces them to their chief resident, Schmitt, who will be in charge of scheduling. Blue tries to find any way to scrub into a surgery, but gets shut down by Nick. Schmitt gives Luke, Mika, and Blue individual doctors to work with and assigns Jules and Simone to the same case in the ER. They complain that they don’t get to work on their own, so Schmitt quips that two interns make one whole doctor. He tells the group to not embarrass him or drop anything inside a patient (or as the audience knows, don’t be like Schmitt was when he started). Schmitt’s whole demeanor has changed since he took on his new position and it’s a good look for the usually timid character.
Blue meets up with Winston to be on his service, and Winston’s day is quickly ruined by Maggie coming over to change up his schedule. Maggie moved his surgeries to allow Winston to do the work that the residents typically would, and it’s clear he is over being treated lowly by his wife/boss. Luke is on Maggie’s service and is given scut work since he isn’t to be given special favors. We now know that at least Mer, Amelia, and Maggie are aware of the truth about Luke, so it’ll be interesting to see who else may or may not know.
Mika arrives in the ER to work with Owen and finds him arguing with his wife. Teddy laughs that Owen has an intern when he can’t do anything on his own. She is now the chief of trauma since Owen doesn’t fully have his medical license and gives Mika a list of things that Owen needs supervision to do. She warns her husband that if he does anything on his own, he will lose his license again. We also see Jules and Simone meeting their patients in the ER. They are looking after two young men who are vomiting from supposed food poisoning. Jules reveals she plays video games when talking to the guys about their college lifestyle. The one patient starts having trouble breathing; the interns find an odd rash on his abdomen and instantly panic.
NEW ROLES
After getting slightly more acquainted with the interns, we get a look at the new roles the returning characters are in this season. Jo and Luna meet Bailey and Pru at the park for a mom and baby group. Jo is thrilled that Bailey called her and that she gets to do something other than working and watching Link bring home half the women in Seattle. Back at the hospital, Mer and Richard are paged to the ER by Jules and Simone respectively. The newbies didn’t consult each other before reaching out for help, which is slightly comical. They explain how their patient presented with food poisoning symptoms, then had a rash and shortness of breath. He is continuing to deteriorate, so Mer wants him brought to the ICU and orders a battery of tests. His roommate doesn’t have any non-food poisoning symptoms yet, which is the only bright spot.
Owen and Mika consult on a patient named Harold who presents with abdominal discomfort. Harold’s wife comes into the room and immediately starts nagging. Owen needs to do an ultrasound, so Teddy has to come supervise. The instant hostility they have toward one another almost borders on comical when they start having a personal argument while attempting to treat the patient. Harold wonders aloud why he needs three doctors in the room. Mika spots Schmitt in the hall and runs out to catch him. She states she can’t work for Owen or Teddy because they are velociraptors and requests to be on Schmitt’s service instead. The overworked Schmitt snaps that he doesn’t want to be interrupted and shuts down her help.
Maggie and Luke are waiting for MRI images on their patient when Amelia arrives to ask if she can borrow Winston to assist on one of her upcoming surgeries. Amelia kicks Luke out of the room when Maggie tries to refuse and asks if her marriage is okay. Maggie knows Winston is mad at her, but she needs Winston to be perfect and help her. She knows this annoys him, and Amelia really doesn’t know what to say about that. Over in the ICU, the college student is crashing, so Jules and Simone page Mer. The chief of surgery arrives and declares that they need to intubate their patient. Mer does the intubation and has Jules and Simone watch her technique. As the patient stabilizes and Mer thinks she can leave, the interns notice that he is bleeding out of his chest tube site, which causes further confusion as to what the diagnosis is.
Schmitt takes a break from his busy schedule to go across the street to Joe’s Bar. It seems like a surprising move until the real surprise that Helm is working there as a bartender is revealed. Schmitt asks his best friend to come back to Grey Sloan Memorial, but she is enjoying her less stressful life. She seems to be a completely different person now and has a certain confidence about her. Schmitt tells her that he is now chief resident of general surgery and that he needs her help. Helm remarks that he is only chief resident because she isn’t coming back. Schmitt tries a different tactic and tells her that Mer wants her back. Helm knows that she can’t chase after Mer and knows she isn’t interested in her. Schmitt gets paged by Maggie and leaves Helm in her new life. Whether Helm decides to stay where she is in life is still up in the air. I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of her though.
UNNECESSARY INFORMATION
Mer, Richard, Teddy, Jules, and Simone work together to run a differential diagnosis on their patient, who is now in septic shock. Time is running out, and they can’t figure out what is wrong with him. Mer suggests that the interns band together to research possibilities and find the right disease before it’s too late. The patient needs reinforcements, so Jules and Simone go find their colleagues.
Richard catches up with Teddy afterwards and says he is glad to see her and Owen back. The very mention of Owen triggers Teddy to go into an epic rant. She immediately suspects that Owen told Richard that she is drinking too much and asked him to check on her. Teddy is mad that she’s had to work incredibly hard to only have no money and a bad life for the past six months. She vents about how she hates Owen for it, but she doesn’t want to leave him because deep down, she still loves him. Wine helps her remember her true feelings, so she has a few glasses every night to unwind. Richard can only be silently stunned and watch as Teddy completely unravels in front of him. He lets her walk away into an elevator, whose doors close before Teddy is done with her thoughts.
Amelia finds Luke and Blue and asks to speak with Luke alone about a patient. It would be a totally normal thing to ask of another doctor, if she didn’t say it so awkwardly. Amelia found some apartments for Luke to look at, and the best one is close to Mer’s house. She suggests it that way her nephew can come over whenever he wants and visit the kids and have dinner with his aunts. Luke is appreciative, but asks Amelia not to hover. He doesn’t want anyone to know that they are related because it will only make things harder for him.
The group of five interns meet up somewhere in the hospital to research potential diagnoses together. They run through several possibilities and shoot each one down. Mika gets paged to find an attending to supervise Owen, which she believes means she will never learn anything. She leaves and joins Owen in Harold’s room. They tell the patient that he needs a CT scan since the ultrasound didn’t show the problem. Harold’s wife can’t find her missing phone, so she takes Harold’s phone to call hers. It starts vibrating loudly, and they all learn that Harold stuck his wife’s phone up his butt because she is always glued to social media and he couldn’t stand it anymore. It is nice to have a lighter story mixed in with the tenser ones, and this is a particularly funny case.
Back at the park, Bailey asks Jo how things are at Grey Sloan Memorial. Instead of answering, Jo asks Bailey how she isn’t throwing fits and screaming when she looks around at the world Pru is living in. Bailey says she constantly reminds herself that if she did and got arrested, Pru would lose another parent, which isn’t fair to the little girl. Satisfied by the response, Jo answers Bailey’s question and talks about how she and Carina have extended their OB clinic hours. Bailey asks if Jo is doing fewer hours in surgery now that there are interns again, and Jo realizes that Bailey only wants to get hospital information out of her instead of being a mom friend. Jo is a bit offended, but she shouldn’t be surprised by Bailey’s classic behavior.
CONTENTIOUS WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT
The workplace environment doesn’t get any better when Owen and Mika remove the phone from Harold with Teddy watching in the corner. Harold’s wife sneaks a peek through the blinds from outside of the room, while Owen and Teddy quibble the whole time until the phone is removed. In the ER, Simone takes great initiative by checking on the other college student, who is very worried about his friend. Simone asks him to tell her anything he can about his roommate’s health and lifestyle. He brings up that his friend once had syphilis, and Simone tries to get as much of a comprehensive history as possible.
Nick finds Mer and comes up behind her to say hello. Mer jumps and tries to compose herself by asking how the program is going. Nick says things are on par and that he likes his new position. There’s an awkward tension between the two made worse by Mer asking where Nick is staying. Nick actually says that she is acting weird, and they are interrupted by Jules running up to get Mer’s help with their patient. They arrive in the ICU to find Link announcing that the patient’s foot is cold and that he has no blood flow below his knee. Link says they need to amputate the leg, and he is going to let a nervous and surprised Jules do the surgery. They need to act quickly if they want to save the patient, who is continually getting worse.
In the cath lab, Schmitt helps Maggie with a procedure. Winston charges into the room and yells at Schmitt for not being in the OR with him. Schmitt was supposed to scrub in with Winston and had done a lot of research and practice for the big surgery, but he followed hierarchy and picked Maggie’s surgery when she asked for help. Winston is really mad that he has to reschedule his surgery yet again because he doesn’t have any help and storms out.
Nick walks past Richard in the hallway, only to be stopped for questioning. Richard asks what mini grand rounds are and why he was invited to participate. Nick explains that it was something they did in Minnesota and had interns present cases. He wants Richard to be involved to give the interns feedback. Nick wants to know if he will be questioned every time he makes a change and seems a little over it already. Richard explains that he tried to save the program and did the best he could, but he did blame Mer and Nick’s relationship for causing it to come crashing down. He already apologized to Mer for the misguided blame and apologizes to Nick as well. Nick appreciates it, but feels like there is more to the conversation. Richard says Mer is worth taking this new job for, if that’s even the reason why he took it. He also says he will join the mini grand rounds for feedback and declares that the program is Nick’s now.
In the OR, Link and Jules scrub in to amputate their patient’s leg while Blue and Mika watch from the gallery. Blue is mad that he didn’t get to scrub in on a surgery thanks to Maggie and Winston’s marital problems. Mika is having the same problem with Owen and Teddy, and Blue wonders aloud why everyone in the hospital is married to each other. The outsider point of view is funny, and Mika explains, in the same fashion that a fan of the show would, that doctors have no lives and no time for regular people. It’s almost a comment on what avid viewers versus first-time watchers might talk about. Before they start the surgery, Jules notices writing on the patient’s legs about which leg to cut off and which to not touch. She thinks Link is flirting with her with the writing, but he explains that it’s encouragement to not cut off the wrong leg. It’s also standard practice in the real world, not just on TV. Jules starts the amputation while Link observes.
END THE DAY BETTER THAN IT STARTED
Elsewhere, Owen finds Mika performing CPR on Harold, who has gone into cardiac arrest. Owen knows they need to intubate him, but there isn’t time to call for Teddy. He decides to walk Mika through the steps of intubation and takes over CPR. Owen does a great job teaching, and Mika rises to the occasion to save their patient.
Simone is still talking to her patient’s roommate. He mentions that they are good friends, have had all the same illnesses together, and live in a cluttered dorm. The mention of a dorm triggers Simone to ask if the dying patient has had all his childhood vaccinations. The roommate didn’t know, so Simone goes running off to check an idea. When she arrives in the OR, she announces that the patient has meningococcus. She checked his records and found that he wasn’t vaccinated for it. The leg starts bleeding too much and won’t clot, which causes Jules to panic. Link jumps in to take over and attempt to stop the patient from bleeding out.
At the park, Jo talks about the rumors and new perks of the residency program. Bailey doesn’t get all the nice stuff the interns are getting. She thinks the program is heading in the right direction, but she’s mad because she had previously tried to implement similar changes and was faced with resistance. Jo tells her that she can come back, so Bailey tells her that she isn’t quite ready yet. Bailey also says that she does count Jo as a mom friend, making Jo smile.
Richard is paged to a room where Owen needs supervision to place a central line, and Owen takes the opportunity to rant like his wife did. Owen explains how he was miserable for the past six months. He is wired to work and surfed to distract himself. He entertained his kids with sand castles and chose the most expensive attorney he could find to get his career back. He listened to Teddy when she said they should run, which he might resent. He doesn’t like that Teddy keeps reminding him of how broke they are by highlighting their credit card balances and putting it on the fridge. He feels resented at home and work, so Richard suggests he finds some physical space. Owen asks for suggestions, but the scene is cut short before we hear the answer.
Maggie goes to Winston to apologize for messing up his schedule. She explains that she has leaned on him because he is incredibly talented and she needs to trust the person standing next to her. They only have interns and no residents to help her out. Winston wants to know why she keeps treating him like a resident and says that he is only talented because she was a good teacher. He states that no one can be good surgeons like them without being taught. He can’t teach if he keeps getting pulled off cases. Maggie agrees and is full of herself for being a good teacher.
Mer and Simone bring their patient’s friend to the ICU to see him. He is still alive and survived the amputation. They can now treat the disease since Simone figured out what it was. Mer explains to the young doctor that everyone on the case will need to take four days of antibiotics due to the exposure. She notices that Jules is struggling and tells Simone to be there for her because when she eventually makes a mistake, the other interns will be the only people who understand. Simone says she won’t make a mistake, and Mer calmly says that she will and advises the intern to not go numb. Simone takes Jules to the gift shop, as it is the only place in the hospital that smells good.
Nick is paged to Mer’s office, and she wants to go over his budget request for lunch. He explains that he wants rotating attendings to lecture at lunches once a week for the interns. Nick asks Mer why she is mad at him, so Mer says that he hasn’t said two words to her since he took the job. Owen walks in declaring that he can’t work for Teddy. He wants to be a teacher for the next six months to be helpful. He will teach anything because he can’t work in the ER with his wife. He begs Nick to save him and his marriage, so Nick and Mer agree to let Owen be the interns’ newest mentor. After Owen leaves, Nick tells Mer to let him know if she disagrees with any of his changes and goes to leave himself.
Mer stops Nick by saying that she went numb after things took a turn for the worst at GSM and he didn’t have her back. She’s lost too many people and thought she had lost him too. So, she went numb and didn’t call him for six months. When she saw him in the surgical hallway in the previous episode, Mer says she could feel again. She reveals that she is still in love with Nick and knows that her life is crazy. She says that if he needs to hear her say that she loves him, she will say it as many times as he needs to hear it. Nick immediately warms up and asks if he can take her to dinner. Mer says no, but he can take her to Zola’s presentation instead. Nick agrees, and it appears the former couple may have a second chance, or third chance if you count their initial meeting as the first chance.
Jules and Simone join the other three interns in the basement where they are hanging out on the gurneys again. Jules bought each of them a stuffed animal to help with anxiety, which was a sweet gesture. Blue thinks that Luke is sleeping with Amelia because he saw them come out of an on-call room together and whispering in the hallway. He asks for another explanation, but Luke doesn’t say a word and is frozen. Jules asks everyone for $12 each for the stuffed animals, and Mika trades her cat with Blue because she isn’t a cat person, which gives off major Cristina vibes.
The episode ends with Mer, Nick, Maggie, Winston, and Amelia watching Zola’s speech. Zola talks about her grandma Ellis’ battle with early onset Alzheimer’s and freezes up a few lines into the speech. She starts crying on stage and says that she thinks Mer and Maggie will get the disease too, die from it, and she will have no one. Mer runs up on stage to comfort her daughter. It’s a rather odd ending to what was an otherwise nicely wrapped up episode. It makes me wonder whether this is a heaping bowl of foreshadowing, which would be the exact opposite route fans would want to see the show go down.
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