Sunday, November 25, 2018

Grey’s Anatomy 15x08 Review: “Blowin’ in the Wind” (The Perfect Storm) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“Blowin’ in the Wind”
Original Airdate: November 15, 2018

We have sadly made it to the midseason finale of Grey’s Anatomy, even though it’s still early in the season. The one thing that Grey’s Anatomy has always delivered is a real solid finale (whether midseason or end of season). This time around, every main character is forced to face the demons that have been haunting them this season, which culminates in the last minute for almost all of them. And because this is a midseason finale, you know you will be quietly seething for the next several months until the show returns and we learn what exactly happens after those massive cliffhangers!

Unfortunately, no midseason premiere date or month was announced at the end of the episode, so it looks like we might be in for a long winter.

CRY FOR HELP


The midseason finale picks up where we left off, with Meredith bailing Richard out of jail in the beginning of the big windstorm. Richard goes into the hospital the next morning to talk to Alex about what happened, but has to talk to Bailey instead when Alex is nowhere to be found. Bailey is surprised by Richard’s outburst and arrest and decides to bench him from patient duty for the day. Both Meredith and Bailey tell Richard that he needs to find a new sponsor and straighten out his life. Richard tries to call Catherine to tell her what happened, but Tom Koracick picks up her cell. A very shocked Richard thinks that his wife is cheating on him and doesn’t know the truth of why Catherine would be with Tom.

Meanwhile, when she realizes that Alex isn’t in the hospital, Bailey decides that she can still perform her chief duties and starts by taking command of Richard’s situation. With the storm in full swing, the hospital becomes overrun with trauma patients. Only a third of the regular staff made it in to work, so Grey Sloan is running on fumes. Bailey makes her way to the ER to assess the situation and gives everyone a pep talk. She wants to keep the hospital open since all the others in the area have closed due to the influx of patients.

Bailey is proud of herself for handling things so smoothly and keeping the hospital afloat, but gets a good dose of reality when she talks with Richard at the end of the episode. Bailey reveals that she and Ben are taking a break. Richard insists that Bailey is in worse shape than he is and that she needs help getting her life back in order; she is pushing everyone and everything that she loves away. Both characters are in dire need for help and are quickly falling apart. Let’s hope they heed each other’s advice when the show returns.

SECOND HONEYMOON


Alex and Jo spend the episode at home after sleeping in and missing work. They realize that they haven’t spent much time together since getting married and take the day to enjoy their “second honeymoon.” While going through some boxes, Jo finds their marriage license and realizes that it was never sent to the courthouse. Even though Alex and Jo find out they aren’t legally married at the moment, they still feel married and decide to keep things the way they are. Why they won’t send in their marriage license is beyond me though.

SPILLING SECRETS


This season has played around with one big secret long enough, and now Catherine’s diagnosis throws another huge wrench in the mix! After milking Teddy’s pregnancy non-reveal since last season’s finale, it’s about time that Owen finds out he is going to be a father. Teddy shows up at the hospital to see if she can help with the influx of patients and to finally tell Owen the truth about why she came back to Seattle. She waits until they are ready to scrub in to surgery together to ask him if they can grab a coffee and talk when they are finished working. Owen skeptically agrees and wants to know what’s going on. Teddy has never had good timing, and it just gets worse as the surgery commences.

Jackson, Teddy, and Owen work to remove a giant candy cane decoration that has impaled an older man. They work carefully to try and not cause extra bleeds and are surprised to see that the man didn’t sustain much damage. Since their patient will live, the doctors enjoy a brief moment of happiness. Of course, this is when Teddy decides to blurt out that she is pregnant with Owen’s baby. Naturally, no one in the OR knows how to react, and the varying levels of shock on their faces are pretty funny.

Teddy gets called away for another consult and leaves Owen in the OR. Owen runs after her to discuss why she kept the news from him for so long and finds Teddy as she is getting into an elevator. The doors open on the next floor and in walks Amelia, who has news of her own to share. Amelia has an emotional arc throughout the episode, as she deals with the return of Betty and the loss of a patient. The patient’s last phone call to her mom before surgery has a profound effect on Amelia. Amelia realizes that she wants to protect Betty and wants to become her official foster mother. She runs into the elevator and tells Owen and Teddy her plan, but she doesn’t know their big news yet. Then, the power suddenly goes out, and the three docs are stuck in the elevator with a presumably dying patient and one huge secret hanging in the air. This was the moment we all were waiting for, but it does make for a nice cliffhanger.

Meredith, meanwhile, spends the day weighed down by Catherine’s secret diagnosis. She doesn’t want to tell Richard — or anyone else — what happened in L.A. because she feels it’s not her place. Poor Meredith has to bear everyone’s secrets lately. Her day gets worse when Maggie won’t stop hounding her about coming back early from her trip and is upset Meredith won’t listen to her complaints about Jackson. Meredith eventually snaps and tells her about Catherine. Since Maggie is immature, she tells Jackson about his mother’s diagnosis instead of letting him find out from Catherine. We don’t get to see Jackson’s reaction to the news, but it seems that Maggie is finally committed to him if she wanted to be the one to tell him.

LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN


No big episode of Grey’s Anatomy would feel complete without the steamy factor. Schmitt is assigned to work with Nico to help move the patients in the clinic to safety. Since he isn’t happy to be working with Nico, Schmitt takes the opportunity to act like a pouty teenager because Nico doesn’t want to be part of his coming out story. After they are done helping the patients, Nico decides he is going to try and make it back to the main hospital building. Schmitt advises him not to do that because the wind between the two buildings could be much worse than he thinks. Nico should have taken Schmitt’s advice — as soon as he tries to take a step outside, Nico is blown away by the wind. Schmitt runs after him and finds Nico against an ambulance. Once they are both inside, Schmitt reveals his true feelings for Nico, which turns into a steamy reunion. Their story ends with uncertainty, as a sparking power line falls toward the ambulance before the scene cuts away. It’s likely that one of these characters, or both, may be in some serious trouble.

Schmitt isn’t the only person to take a chance on love in this episode. Cece the matchmaker is back and wants to set Meredith up with Link, whose new shorter haircut looks very good. DeLuca, who is checking Cece’s vitals, doesn’t understand what is going on. Meredith says she has too much on her plate and doesn’t want to get involved with anyone. However, she has a quick change of heart and asks Link if the invitation for drinks is still open. Link is very happy to accept a date with Meredith, much to the chagrin of the onlooking DeLuca.

Later in the episode, we find out that Amelia’s brain dead patient is an organ donor and a match for Cece. DeLuca explains to Cece that she is only getting the organs because UNOS can’t pick them up in the wind storm and that she might die on the table from her health complications. Cece decides to take the organs — she would rather die trying to save herself and know she did everything she could. Her words inspire DeLuca to come clean to Meredith about his feelings; he lays his cards on the table. Meredith is a little flustered by DeLuca’s declaration of love and leaves the room they are in because she doesn’t want to do something she will regret while her mind isn’t in the right place (and probably because she is thinking about seeing Link that night for drinks).

Meredith doesn’t exactly turn down DeLuca — she tells him that she'll think about what he said. DeLuca is proud of himself for finally telling Meredith the truth and potentially having a chance. Soon after, Meredith goes to catch an elevator to the OR for Cece’s transplants. Right as she gets in, DeLuca strolls into the same elevator and is accused of stalking by Meredith, who is not happy to be in a small box with a guy she may or may not have feelings for. As Cece and the brain dead patient are being prepped in the OR for surgery, the power goes off. Not only are the two surgeries in limbo, but Meredith and DeLuca are trapped like Teddy, Owen, and Amelia.

And since the episode ends right there, I’m betting there will be some elevator shenanigans in our future. Now that there are almost certainly two love triangles in play, Grey’s Anatomy fans have a lot to look forward to whenever the show returns.

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