Monday, May 22, 2023

Grey’s Anatomy 19x18 Recap: “Ready to Run” (Vulnerability) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“Ready to Run”
Original Airdate: May 11, 2023

Catherine Fox Award nominees, family injuries, and love struggles are the highlights of this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy. This episode is a mixed bag of emotions to set up what should be a big last bang after stalling on many storylines during the second half of the season. With only a two-hour season finale left, Grey’s Anatomy is queueing up a collision course for several characters as we rush toward the finish line.

GREAT NEWS

The episode begins with good news all around. The hour opens with Simone trying on her wedding dress at the intern house while Mika helps her with alterations. Lucas walks into the room and is stunned at how beautiful Simone looks. He asks his friends if they saw that Richard has a big announcement to make and wonders what it could be. Mika tells him to go shower since they have to leave for work in five minutes. Outside the hospital, Schmitt and Helm meet at the coffee cart before work. Schmitt wants Helm to come back to Grey Sloan Memorial and tries to convince her using some weak attempts at making his job look appealing.

Inside, Richard and Teddy tell a lobby full of doctors that the hospital hasn’t had a Catherine Fox Award nominee in a while, but this year, they have two doctors nominated: Nick, for his xenotransplantation, and Winston, along with Maggie, for the partial heart transplant. The award ceremony will be in Boston, which immediately upsets Nick. Richard congratulates both men for the nominations. Amelia congratulates Winston, but he still won’t talk to her even after her apology at the end of last episode. Richard approaches Nick to tell him they will have the final travel plans later that day. However, Nick tells Richard that he doesn’t want to go to the ceremony.

Owen, Link, and Mika then go check on Sam Sutton, the military veteran who sustained over 90 fractures from a wind suit flight gone wrong last episode. Mika presents the case and tells the attendings that Sam’s nerve signals are strong and he has no signs of infection two days after the miracle surgery Link pulled off. Owen and Link tell their patient that they are planning to write an article on him for a medical journal to help other doctors with similar cases. Sam asks them where Jo is, and Link gets very upset when he learns Jo told Sam that she is single. Sam makes it clear that he intends to continue flirting with Jo and is interested in her.

Bailey and Blue are on their way to see Max in the ICU when Jules approaches them and asks to be on the case. Bailey thinks Jules is too close to Max to be involved, but Blue volunteers to switch with Jules and be on Amelia’s service for the day. It is surprising that Bailey doesn’t stick to her gut and allows the interns to switch services. Jules and Bailey go into Max’s ICU room and are happy to find out that the delirium has gone away and Max is feeling a lot better. The patient wants to tell Jules a few things about her wishes in case she gets delirious again. Max asks Jules to feed her cat, cremate her and sprinkle her ashes over the Grand Canyon, and let her go and not resuscitate if she codes. Jules assures Max that she will be able to go home in a day or two and isn’t dying. They are downgrading her to a regular room, but Max wants Jules to hear her out anyway. Bailey assures Max that her wishes are noted and she will get the official DNR paperwork for her, much to Jules’ chagrin.

Lucas and Simone are on Teddy’s service for the day and walk quickly down the hall with her. Teddy has a patient named Ray with an abdominal aortic aneurysm that could rupture at any second, but won’t consent to life-saving surgery. Ray is panicking about the procedure and rushes out of the room, so Teddy tells the interns to run after him.

DOING THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU SAY

Jo finds Link and tells him how Scout had an annoyed face like his father when Luna got a hedgehog toy that he wanted in daycare. A nurse comes up and tells Jo that Sam is looking for her. Link gives Jo the annoyed face she was just talking about and says that it was inappropriate of her to tell a patient she is single. Jo thinks Link’s disapproval is misplaced chivalry and assures him that she can handle herself.

Teddy and the interns run after Ray and catch up to him. Ray is worried about the potential surgical complications mentioned on the consent forms, so he doesn’t want the surgery anymore. Teddy tries to explain what will happen if the aneurysm bursts and says he has a 10% chance of it rupturing at any moment. Ray knows the forms say he could die a dozen different ways if he has the operation, so he would rather take his chances without it. He doesn’t want to be forced into it and leaves. Teddy turns to Simone and Lucas and says they can’t force a patient to consent, so they should go to the skills lab and wait for a page if anything comes up.

Jo goes to see Sam, who lies about paging her to ask a question about a plate in his arm. He actually wanted to thank her for saving his life and was bored and wanted to flirt with her. Jo says she doesn’t have a boring day and tells him about her dual specialties. She asks Sam what he does now, and he replies that he is still a pilot and is a simple guy. Jo stalked Sam’s social media to find out what wing suiting was after he took a clear interest in her. Mika comes into the room, and Jo uses her presence as an excuse to go back to OB.

Lucas finds Ray signing a form that he is leaving the hospital against medical advice and asks to talk to him about the surgery. He tells Ray that it is his decision, but he wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing Ray was fully informed about the procedure. Lucas asks to walk out with him, and Ray agrees to the company.

Jules excitedly wheels Max into her new hospital room and is happy to announce the room has a window. As they go into the room, Max’s two best friends jump out from behind the door to surprise her with a visit. Jules will only let them stay for an hour, and Max is glad they brought her crochet bag and toiletries. Max walks to the bathroom on her own and winds up falling and hitting her head. Jules rushes to her side and is shaken by seeing Max’s head bleeding.

Richard finds Winston and Nick and asks the former if it will be awkward seeing Maggie in Boston. Winston says yes and will still go to the ceremony since so few Black men have been nominated for the award. Richard is proud of Winston and his mindset and turns to Nick to tell him that the award means something and if Winston can rise up and see Maggie, then Nick can see Meredith. Nick still doesn’t feel the need to go to Boston for a dinner and turns down Richard’s request for his attendance at the event. Richard says that it will be a smear against Grey Sloan Memorial if Nick doesn’t go to the ceremony and, in not so many words, he highly suggests Nick attends.

A NEW APPROACH

Back in Max’s room, the elderly patient isn’t sure how she fell. Bailey and Jules find that Max has a broken rib and order a CT scan and neuro consult. Jules tells Max she will stay with her and will call her friends with updates after Max tells them to leave. Meanwhile, Mika and Simone get work done in their new skills lab. Simone is doing wedding planning in between research, and Mika tells her that she does not have a plus one and that Lucas will not be going to the wedding. She asks why the wedding was moved up, and Simone replies that her grandma is getting worse, so they moved it up for her sake. Simone reveals her grandma gets excited by wedding conversations and is herself when they talk about it. Helm pops in to take a look around the new space. Mika is mad at Helm for causing the surgical chiefs to have a meeting about her. She tells Helm that she needs to be mad for a minute, so Helm leaves. Simone thinks Mika and Helm have chemistry, but Mika refuses to make the first move after past embarrassments. 

As they walk outside the hospital, Lucas talks to Ray about the latter’s job as an illustrator for graphic novels. Ray tells Lucas about how he had a very vivid dream when he was little where his grandpa, who had died before Ray was born, told him they would be together when he turns 30. Ray doesn’t want to die and has been really careful his whole life because of the dream. Lucas doesn’t want Ray to die either. He knows statistics freak Ray out, so Lucas suggests they draw the surgery. Lucas explains the procedures through some bad drawings and promises that it has been tested over and over. He assures Ray that they can address any potential problem in the OR, but they can’t be with him if the aneurysm ruptures at home.

Back inside, Max gets a brain CT scan with Bailey, Amelia, Jules, and Blue waiting for the results. Amelia asks Max if she got dizzy before she fell, and Max doesn’t think so. Max talks about how it might be her time to die, and the scans reveal she has a brain bleed. Jules asks to scrub in, but Bailey turns down the request because Jules and Blue traded services. Bailey also thinks Jules is too close to Max and essentially gets Jules to confirm that she considers Max family. Bailey kicks Jules off the case even though Blue offers to switch spots again, which is very unlike him. It seems like he might be finding those emotions he so desperately has been trying to avoid all season.

Elsewhere, Lucas finds Teddy and tells her that he got Ray to consent to the surgery and sign the forms. His different approach worked and convinced the patient that the surgery is the best way to go. Teddy is glad Lucas got through to Ray and tells him to get the patient to radiology for new scans before he bolts again.

Jo goes back to Sam’s room to see how he is faring when she gets a break in her schedule. Sam needs help with an itch, so Jo sticks a tongue depressor down his right hand’s cast. They flirt and bond before Jo gets paged to deliver twins. Jo is obviously playing with fire because Link told her not to and neither is capable of telling the other about their repressed feelings for one another.

A LITTLE LATE

In the OR wing, a group of hospital workers applaud Winston for his Catherine Fox Award nomination. Owen and Amelia see the commotion and complain about not getting recognition for their work. Bailey tells them to stop complaining before she complains herself. It’s pretty funny as she goes on about her own accomplishments and why she should get a nomination. Owen and Amelia stare at her in disbelief.

Blue has a nice conversation with Max as he brings her to the OR for brain surgery. He tells Max that Jules loves living with her. Max talks about how she rarely sees her son Pete and that she thinks she raised him to be too independent. She is happy to have adopted Jules as her honorary child and give her lots of attention and care because Jules didn’t have that as a child and needs it now. Blue thinks Jules is lucky to have Max, but Max believes she is the lucky one.

While Ray gets a CT scan, Teddy asks Lucas how he convinced the patient to change his mind. Nick pops his head into the room to thank Teddy for helping the residents out. Before they can chit chat, Ray’s aneurysm bursts, which throws the doctors into immediate action. They call a code blue, activate massive transfusion protocol, and realize that they can’t get to the OR in a matter of seconds. Teddy tells Nick, Lucas, and Simone that they will need to open Ray up on the CT table. Nick and Teddy start operating while Lucas and Simone trade off chest compression duty. 

We then get a montage of Amelia and Blue operating on Max’s brain mixed with Ray’s impromptu surgery. Ray is heavily bleeding in his abdominal cavity. They try to shock him after repairing the aorta, but there is no response. After another round of compressions, Nick tells Teddy that they need to stop. Teddy doesn’t want to stop because Ray is only 29 years old. Nick knows they did everything they could and that Ray can’t be revived. Teddy stops compressions and calls time of death as Lucas stands still in shock.

Schmitt finds Richard in the hallway and wants to know how his conversation with Helm went. He is hoping Helm will come back and asks what her demands were. Richard reveals that Helm’s requests weren’t unreasonable, so Schmitt talks about how Helm is a proven asset since Richard trained her and that they need her back. Schmitt tells Richard that the hospital needs more senior residents and begs him to give Helm whatever she wants.

Lucas has the tough task of calling Ray’s mother and giving her the bad news. Nick watches and tells Lucas that it is never easy to make that call. He goes on to say that people with ADHD feel losses harder and that it matters that they fought for Ray. Lucas says that Ray knew he was dying, which upsets him. He also reveals that he always felt he was different and not lazy like everyone always said. Lucas went down a rabbit hole online after Nick mentioned he thought the intern had ADHD, and now Lucas feels he has every symptom. He doesn’t get why his family of doctors didn’t see the signs. Nick feels Lucas’ family didn’t think to look for anything wrong they were blinded by wanting him to reach their high standards. Lucas tells Nick that he wants him to win the award, but Nick says the award doesn’t mean anything... which was the wrong thing to say when the kid that looks up to you is trying to tell you that you matter to him.

STEPPING UP

We then check back in with Sam, who asks Mika how long a delivery takes. Mika tells him to take it easy and not be so aggressive with his flirting. Jo waltzes back in and says the twins weren’t ready to come out yet. The two doctors check the nerve impulses in Sam’s right leg, which turn out to be weak. Jo opens up the bandages around Sam’s knee and finds a lot of fluid in the repaired flap. She tells Mika and Sam that they have to fix it then and there if he wants to keep his leg. Without morphine and with him awake, Jo slices into Sam’s leg to relieve the pressure, while Sam tries not to scream from the intense level of pain he is experiencing. 

Elsewhere, Blue finds Jules in an on-call room and brings her the flowers she got for Max so she can take care of them while Max can’t. He tells her that the surgery went well and Max is in the ICU now. He hopes Max won’t be there long so she and Jules can both go home. Blue tells Jules that he also knows the fear, anger, and grief of sitting next to the hospital bed of someone you aren’t sure will make it. He wants Jules to know it is okay to have those feelings and that he is there for her. Jules coolly says that she is fine, so Blue leaves. As soon as the door shuts, Jules breaks down and cries as the emotions from Max’s situation finally overwhelm her. 

Back in Sam’s room, the patient thinks it is cool that Jo sliced into his leg and saved it. Mika makes a comment about being the third wheel in the room, which annoys Jo. A page comes in that the twins are finally ready to be delivered, so Sam tells Jo that she is his hero and would like her to sign his cast before she goes. They continue to flirt as Jo signs his cast and leaves the room. After Jo leaves, Sam tells Mika he was right about asking Jo to come to his room all day.

Downstairs, Richard finds Nick to tell him he cares deeply about the residency program and feels that a Catherine Fox Award nomination for the hospital’s residency director is a big deal. Nick says he wanted to find Richard too in order to ask for a seat on the plane to Boston. He has decided to put aside his feelings if there is still room for him to go. Richard is happy to arrange it and gets what he wanted.

Schmitt goes to Joe’s Bar after work and thinks it is funny that he is now a regular there. Helm tells him that she gave notice and is coming back to Grey Sloan Memorial. She tells her friend that resident wellness is important to her and wants to help her fellow residents with burn out and mentorship. She agreed to come back only if Richard made her co-chief resident with Schmitt, which she is surprised he agreed to. Schmitt gives Helm a big hug and is very excited to have her back and as his co-chief resident. He feels the job is too much for one person and is happy to have help. Helm also reveals that she will be getting eight weeks of vacation, which shocks Schmitt. Mika walks into the bar and right up to Helm to ask her to be her plus one to Simone’s wedding. Mika reveals her feelings to Helm and says it is okay if she is not interested, but at least she asked. She wants the wedding to be a date. Helm tells Mika that she is about to become her boss, and Mika understands that it would be inappropriate for them to go on a date. However, Helm says since the wedding would pre-date her employment at Grey Sloan Memorial, she will go to the wedding with Mika.

Jo checks in on Sam again to see how his knee is doing. Sam is doing better and asks Jo to scratch an itch on his neck. Link comes by and isn’t happy to see them flirting. He very pointedly tells Jo that he will pick up food for them on his way home. Sam asks if they live together, and Link says they do at the same time Jo says they are roommates. Link isn’t happy with the difference in answers, and Jo tells him she will see him later and stays with Sam.

The episode ends with Simone working on wedding favors at home. Lucas walks in the door and asks if Mika is home, but Simone tells him she is at the bar. She apologizes for the loss of Ray, but Lucas doesn’t want to talk about it. Lucas tells Simone about how he probably has ADHD and overthinks things because he can’t get out of his head due to thinking of all the possible complications of every thought. Out of nowhere, Lucas asks Simone to not get married. He knows he might be too late, but he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t say something while she could change her mind. He tells her that he sees her and that Trey doesn’t. Lucas ends with, “I love every single thing I see.” Simone doesn’t know what to say and is stunned into silence as a tear rolls out of the corner of her eye. Will Simone actually tie the knot with Trey in the season finale? I personally don’t think she will go through with it and leave her fiancé at the altar next week.

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