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Thursday, March 31, 2022

The Flash 8x08 Review: "The Fire Next Time" (Paternal Parallels) [Contributor: Deborah M]


“The Fire Next Time”
Original Airdate: March 23, 2022

This week, The Flash delivers a metahuman of the week story with a slightly more pensive undercurrent to set it apart from the usual. “The Fire Next Time” explores father-son relationships and failures of the justice system and, while not spectacular by any means, has a certain something that makes it more compelling than the average “procedural” episode. Maybe it’s the lingering grief that surrounds Barry consistently throughout, maybe it’s just the clear-cut parallels. Either way, a decent watch.

FATHERS AND SONS — MORE LIKE SUNS! GET IT? BECAUSE HEAT?

At O'Shaughnessy's, the only bar in Central City, a man named Stan is menaced by an unseen force before being devoured by the camera, Evil Dead-style. His char-broiled corpse is later examined by Barry and Chester, who both agree it was a meta attack based on the fact that the guy was roasted without any damage to his surroundings. While Stan’s death scene in the cold open was slightly over the top and nothing special, the vibe starting from this point and running across the episode is pretty good. Not a note of what my closed captioning would call “irreverent pizzicato music” to be heard, and though I do love when The Flash gets irreverent and pizzicato, it’s good to have a change of pace. Plus, Barry Allen doing his day job is a rare and wonderful thing to see.

A waitress at the bar identifies someone Stan had been fighting with shortly before his death as Jaco Birch, a fire-based meta also known as “The Hotness” (not some of Cisco’s best work). Jaco is currently employed as part of the security for an arena and is working a L.I.P.S rock concert, trying to impress his teenage son with promises of the show to come. It’s some absolute precision “sympathize with this person!” writing and I fall for it thoroughly from the moment Birch awkwardly and self-deprecatingly agrees with his kid, Harold’s, insult toward him. Yeesh. To pile on top of that, CCPD shows up to arrest him and when Birch’s anger causes his flame powers to erupt, Barry has to throw him into a fountain.

As Birch begs the police not to take his son away from him and insists he’s innocent, Barry flashes back to watching his own father’s arrest for his mother’s murder. This is a significant through-line for the episode — not only the parallels to fathers and sons and the falsely accused, but also the grief Barry still feels over the loss of his father. The episode is happening around February 1st, which is Henry Allen’s birthday, and it seems like Barry is reminded of his father every step of the way. I’m surprised at how long it’s taken The Flash to dive into a story like this, actually. We get mentions of Barry’s mom all the time, but mentions of his dad are a lot less frequent.

It becomes Barry’s mission to clear Birch’s name, based entirely on Barry’s gut feeling that he recognizes the same elements in Birch as he did in his father. As Barry puts it later on in the episode, both Birch and Henry had the look of “an innocent man, desperate not to lose his son, begging for someone to believe him.” Well, Barry’s the believer in Birch’s case, even when everyone tells him the guy is guilty.

A consultation with Cecile doesn’t get Barry very far. He has a good argument in Birch’s favor, but nothing concrete enough to release him and circumstantial evidence against an ex-con has a lot more weight than a lack of physical evidence. Barry asks Cecile to use her powers to get a read on Birch’s innocence, but if that were to happen we wouldn’t have an episode. So instead, she claims it’s an ethical line she can’t cross. Really? Because I swear she’s used her powers to determine who to fight for in the past.

Cecile’s meeting with Birch doesn’t help matters, since he did indeed fight with Stan over money and made vague threats before leaving the previous night, and he doesn’t have anyone who can confirm he was at home instead of setting a man on fire. Thankfully for Birch, our main protagonist believes in him so he’s probably going to be fine. 

He’s certainly not helping his own case when we find out that he’s escaped police custody during transport after his interview with Cecile, though. It’s great for drama but a really dumb move for a guy who’s desperate to stay out of jail, because even if he’s innocent of the initial crime he could still be charged with resisting arrest and that could potentially lead to — you guessed it! Jail time. To add to matters, the waitress who ID'd him ends up as another extra crispy corpse for CCPD to find.

Things should be looking especially bad for Birch right now, but Barry finally has some evidence that Birch isn’t their fiery killer: the burns on both bodies are too identical to be caused by a pyro-meta like Birch. Still, everyone disagrees with Barry based on how the case appears. Shouldn’t Frost at least be a little more on Birch’s side, here? She’s also been framed for crimes and unfairly judged because of her history. Sometimes I wish the show didn’t need so much for Barry to be a lone voice of reason in episodes like this, because it makes his team look unusually closed-minded just for the sake of internal Team Flash drama. Presenting a slightly more unified front of Team Flash vs. The System (or whatever the antagonist might be) could generate just as much narrative friction as pitting literally everyone against Barry.

Barry admits he’s so wrapped up in this Birch thing because this case reminds him of his father’s case. Every scene of Barry discussing his feelings about his father, his father’s arrest, and how much not having him around hurt is effective in this episode, by the way. Like I said, the parallels here might have been unsubtle, but emotion makes up for it.

After a talk with Joe, Barry gets a text from Chester. As Barry suspected, the cause of death for both burn victims is the key to proving Birch’s innocence. An anomalous signature indicates the meta who set the victims on fire did it via cold fusion, not heat absorption like Birch. They hope that Birch doesn’t do anything stupid in the time it takes for them to clear his name with CCPD, but then we cut to Birch doing something stupid — namely, he’s trying to get Harold back from Social Services and feels like setting things on fire is the best way to go about it.

Barry and Frost interrupt Birch before he can hurt anyone in his anger, but all that heat he’s been drawing on has disturbed the Earth’s core and now there’s a lava channel under Central City that’s bubbling up through the street. Barry has a plan, though: he’ll phase through the earth to the water table and release it into the lava, then allow the resulting heat to be absorbed by Birch. It works. Birch has saved thousands of lives, which is just enough that his son thinks he’s cool again. The father and son hug, and we get a flashback to early-series Barry hugging his dad after he’s been released from prison.

Later, Birch thanks Barry and Cecile for their help and gets officially reunited with his kid. It all works out well, but they still don’t know who the nuclear meta who killed those people and framed Birch in the first place actually is. There’s a chance Central City has a metahuman serial killer on the loose.

Tying up the father-son, Henry-Birch parallels that have been the foundation of this episode, Barry and the Wests are celebrating Henry’s birthday by toasting to his memory with light beer and funny stories. It’s a sweet, sad little scene.

Other Things:

  • Of course I paused to read the events on Barry and Iris’s calendar. Iris gets acupuncture?
  • There was also a storyline with Iris, Allegra, and a Central City Citizen reporter named Taylor which barely tied into the A-plot’s themes of unfair treatment for ex-convicts but otherwise seemed too disconnected to include in the review. Allegra’s apparently making enemies at work, though.
  • Nitpick: the scene of Birch confronting the waitress shouldn’t have happened. The audience wasn’t ever going to believe Birch was guilty, so having him confront the waitress was pointless and it raises questions on the logistics of how Birch didn’t see the actual killer.
  • Barry’s really gotta hand-deliver evidence via flash drive? He can’t shoot that off in an email?
  • Shout out to Barry’s love of Hawaiian dinner rolls. A love which I share. Mmm, Hawaiian dinner rolls...

The Resident 5x16 Review: “6 Volts” (Grief and Love Observed) [Contributor: Justine]


“6 Volts”
Original Airdate: March 29, 2022

The Resident returned this week with an episode that in many ways was a return to the series’ roots. And that's a good thing. Characters were given a chance to step back and reflect. The doctors were also given the opportunity to really advocate for their patients; they didn’t let those chances go to waste. 

In a continuation of episode 15, Bell (Bruce Greenwood) continued his crusade for patient justice in his new role on Georgia’s State Medical Board. Before that though, we got a delightful shot of him and Kit Voss (Jane Leeves) in the throes of domestic bliss; it was exactly what the doctor ordered. Back to Bell’s crusade, it never ceases to amaze that this man now advocates for patients who were the victims of medical errors by physicians was once known by his own hospital as HODAD (Hands of Death and Destruction). He also empowers these same patients to advocate for themselves, as we saw this week with patient Emily’s powerful testimony in front of the Georgia’s State Medical Board. You know what that is? Growth.

In another continuation of Bell’s story, he was forced to deal with an MS flair-up. This story was such an effective commentary on ableism within the medical profession. Bell was such an emblem of this when he refused to accept that he needed a cane during this most recent symptom recurrence. Seeing Conrad (Matt Czuchry) and A.J. (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) show their support for Bell was a tribute to both of these characters. Hopefully, if the show continues to depict the progression of Bell’s MS, it will keep doing so compassionately and authentically. 

A.J. came through as a fierce medical advocate for the hospital’s chaplain Pastor Aaron. After discovering that the beloved clergyman had been subjected to unnecessary testing and a procedure botched by a surgeon, A.J. took it upon himself to seek justice as only he could. This and Bell’s patient advocacy was a return to the show’s source material, Unaccountable by Marty Makary. The book was written by a physician who saw the glaring problems with the healthcare industry in the United States. A.J. and Bell were tasked this episode by addressing medical errors and incompetence, and they delivered. 

The medical drama of this episode centered around a patient, Eliza, with treatment-resistent depression. After a season of trying mostly trying to prove otherwise, Devon (Manish Dayal) showed that he does in fact have his bedside manner intact. Christina Brucato did such a masterful job of portraying a patient in such profound pain. When this show gets it right when portraying mental illness, it gets it really right. 

The medical storyline also paved the way for Billie’s (Jessica Lucas) return. The story slipped slightly into science fiction when she was demonstrating the modeling of the procedure she suggested, but it worked well enough. Trevor (Miles Fowler) also made a brief, alarming appearance initially in what looked like welding gear in a warehouse. No doubt we’ll return to that story before the season is finished. The two shared such a beautiful moment at the end of the episode, and it’s clear whatever else is happening that they’ll be able to support each other.

Finally, one of the most poignant aspects of this episode was its meditation on the non-linear nature of grief. Conrad admitting how much he still misses Nic (Emily VanCamp) was both devastating and incredibly touching. Even though three years have passed, grief is always present. A.J. was also given the opportunity to voice his anticipatory grief ahead of losing his mother. This is a type of grief that’s less discussed and understood, but it’s no less valid. 

This was one of the strongest episodes of The Resident so far this season. When the show is at its best, this is the type of captivating storytelling it’s capable of telling. Hopefully this bodes well for the upcoming episodes, which are sure to have many more stories to explore. The Resident shines when it maintains its focus on these complex and enthralling characters fans have grown to love so deeply.

Other Things:

  • Kit watching an entire video of a dog unable to eat his treat and being adorable is an entire mood
  • Devon and Irving (Tasso Feldman), it’s too bad we don’t get to see more of them on screen together, especially since Devon’s focus is now more on research.
  • Now that we know Cade’s backstory, are we basically done with this character? If she was only meant to be a potential love interest for Conrad, I’m more than okay with this. 
  • “My reservoir of hope is empty.”
  • “If 100 good doctors do nothing about one bad one, we have 101 bad doctors.”
  • “You know, this whole moral crusader thing looks good on you. It's very superhero-y.” “You should see me in spandex.”

Grey’s Anatomy 18x13 Recap: “Put the Squeeze on Me” (Constricted) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“Put the Squeeze on Me”
Original Airdate: March 24, 2022

The latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy features one of the most original, captivating medical cases in the show’s history: a giant python latched onto its owner’s arm while also squeezing the life out of him. While it might sound absurd, the central case of the episode is very entertaining and we should all send a round of applause to whoever devised this plot. Even better is the fact that while one person is literally being constricted to death, the rest of the characters find themselves being squeezed to the max at that same time.

WHAT A WAY TO START THE DAY

The hour opens with Bailey taking care of baby Pru at home, whom Ben and Bailey officially got custody of in the Station 19 episode that aired right before this. Also in that episode, Bailey told Ben that Wright kissed her, and Ben constantly makes jokes about it and razzes his wife. Ben gets home later from work than Bailey expected, but Bailey tells him that Pru slept through the night. Ben makes another joke about Wright, which prompts Bailey to say that Wright has apologized twice and isn’t allowed on her service. Ben tells Pru they should bring Bailey lunch today and strut around in uniform around Wright, but Bailey isn’t into the fun and games.

We then see Jo getting piles of stuff together to go to work. She can’t find her keys and eventually finds them under the sofa. Jo sees that Luna has Scout’s toy in her stroller and tells her daughter that they need to give it back. Luna looks a little annoyed, so Jo says she misses Link and Scout too who have moved out. Elsewhere, Richard leaves a voicemail for Schmitt, who won’t answer his calls. Catherine asks why he keeps trying, and Richard reveals he calls Schmitt every morning and will continue to do so until Schmitt answers and/or comes back to work. She thinks not everyone belongs in the OR, which upsets Richard. It’s nice to see that Richard isn’t giving up on Schmitt, but his efforts may be in vain. 

Over at the Hunt house, Farouk is packing a bag. Owen is finally home and is doing physical therapy exercises in his wheelchair. Farouk tries to give Owen a pep talk about not giving up and uses himself as an example of the wonders physical therapy can do because he’s doing much better now. Megan walks in to tell Owen that they have finished converting the dining room into a PT gym so Owen can do exercises and get weight bearing again. Megan seems to have thrown herself into being Owen’s physical therapist and is hardcore on top of him about doing the exercise that he stubbornly refuses to do.

Meredith is in Minnesota to lead a meeting, along with Kai, about how Hamilton has been doing post-op. Hamilton tells the audience, including Nick, he is doing incredibly well and has no swelling in his brain. He is proud to say that he played chess with his wife last night without his hand shaking. Hamilton thanks Mer and gives her an on-the-spot offer to join their hospital full time as director of the Grey Center and chief of general surgery. Mer doesn’t respond and instead smiles while processing the surprise. 

Back at the hospital Amelia has just arrived in Seattle with her suitcase in tow and finds Link. She wants to get Scout on the waiting list for pre-schools, and Link keeps it short by saying he will look at them before walking away to check on a patient. Bailey walks out of a different patient’s room and asks a nurse if she has a resident on her service today. Wright walks up, apologizes for being late, and says he’s on her service today. Bailey asks the nurse to get her another resident, but is interrupted when a man walks up to them and says his boyfriend is hurt and is in his car outside. Needless to say, Bailey and Wright are beyond surprised to find Gigi the python wrapped around a man named Ivan, who is bleeding a lot.

WHAT'S THE PROTOCOL?

In Minnesota, Nick and Mer have left the morning meeting, and Nick says he didn’t know about the offer, but she should have seen it coming. Mer asks what she should do if she wants to go home and be with her kids and Nick replies that she should. Hamilton and Kai interrupt their discussion, and Mer quickly asks Hamilton what made him think it would go well springing an offer on her like that in front of an audience. Hamilton is sorry Mer felt ambushed and explains that he got the approved budget right before the meeting and was excited to share the news. He also tells Mer that the offer will allow her to study anything she wants within the Grey Center, which is a nice perk. Hamilton also cryptically mentions that he knows Nick will benefit from it too, so it’s a win-win situation.

At Grey Sloan Memorial, Richard and Helm go outside to help Bailey and Wright, and a crowd has gathered around the car. Richard goes up to the car, looks inside, and instantly backs up when he spots Gigi. Helm says no several times and walks away, as she refuses to get involved with the python. Ivan explains to the doctors that Gigi bit him through his upper left arm and has pain in his arm, chest, and abdomen. He explains that Gigi is giving him a hug and why he has the snake in the first place: Ivan is a second grade teacher and thought a pet for his class would be good. However, the snake grew much more than anticipated. Ivan insists Gigi never did this before and bit his arm instead of her food that morning. The catch is that once a python bites, they don’t let go. Richard wants to page cardio, neuro, and ortho, while Bailey says, “Page everyone!”

Inside, Jo finds Link to tell him Luna found Scout’s toy and she left it in the lounge for him. Jo is surprised to see he’s looking at pre-schools, so Link asks what her plan is for Luna. Her plan is to send Luna to the same pre-school as Scout. Jo then blurts out that she misses him, and Link misses her too. He blames Amelia, as he’s decided that it is Amelia’s fault for everything since she ruins everything good in his life. Jo quips that she likes petty Link, but Link hates that Amelia has turned him into his father. Jo is a little too optimistic as she reminds her friend that he is wrong and will be okay.

Winston and Maggie are working together to split up cardio patient care, when Helm runs through the hallway and tells Maggie they need help outside with a giant snake wrapped around a man. Maggie says no, but Winston is excited and goes with Helm. Maggie didn’t know her husband is really into snakes, and it’s becoming clearer that Maggie and Winston don’t really know each other very well. Amelia and Link also arrive outside after being paged and are shocked at the sight of Gigi. They instantly take a step back, and Link grabs Amelia’s arm involuntarily. Winston seems to be the only one who loves this situation. He nerds out over the python and says they can swallow their prey whole. Helm continues to stay inside and refuses to come out even when Richard yells for her to join them. 

Since she didn’t want to help Ivan, Maggie goes to check on her pregnant patient, Laura, who has a heart valve defect that needs to be surgically fixed.  Jo is the OB on the case and is there too. At the same time, we are introduced to Laura’s brother, Todd, played by the wonderful Skylar Astin. He is super concerned about his sister, loves data and spreadsheets, and has a Ph.D. in environmental science. Jo mistakes Todd as Laura’s husband, while Maggie tells Laura she will need an echo before her surgery.

Over at the Hunt house, Megan and Farouk are getting ready to leave Seattle. Megan gives Teddy Owen’s PT routine. Owen complains that he doesn’t want so much oversight, but Megan is adamant that her brother needs strict care if he wants to walk and operate again. After Farouk goes out to the car, Megan tells Teddy and Owen that she gave them a pass previously because they have had a full house, but now that she and Farouk are leaving and their kids are at Owen’s mom’s house, they need to talk to fix whatever is going on. Megan gives a memorable line when she says that Teddy and Owen are easier to read than Leo’s Dr. Seuss books, and she is not wrong. Megan hugs her brother and leaves. It is sad to see Megan and Farouk go, but it has been great having them for a full thirteen-episode arc this season.

BRAVERY FEELS GOOD

It’s time for a snake update! Winston tells the other doctors that they need to spread some rubbing alcohol around Gigi’s mouth to annoy her, which will loosen her grip. Once she loosens her hold on Ivan, they need to uncoil her. No one wants to help remove the snake, and Amelia forces Link to be a man and help. Richard is chosen to spray the snake with alcohol, but he chickens out and Bailey steps in to do it. Gigi lets go of Ivan as soon as the rubbing alcohol is sprayed and hisses and lunges at Bailey. She jumps back, and Wright catches her. I’m pretty sure the sound my rolling eyes made was audible when that happened. Winston jumps into the car and grabs Gigi’s head and instructs Link and Wright to uncoil the snake. They get Gigi off Ivan, remove Ivan from the car, and lock Gigi inside. The boys are very pleased with themselves, which is very amusing.

Maggie and Jo check in on Laura, and Jo says her labs look reassuring. Todd is grabbing coffee, and Laura launches into a story about how everyone warned her about getting pregnant and raising a kid alone and how Todd is the only one who supports her. He goes to all of Laura’s appointments with her and is letting his sister stay with him. Jo tells Laura that she too is a single mom and that good help is hard to find. Laura doesn’t know how Jo juggles being a single mom and a doctor, and Jo says she only can since the hospital has daycare to help. To add more entertainment to this episode, Laura tries to set Jo up with Todd, and Maggie quickly interrupts to get the doctors out of the room. Jo leaves and happens upon Todd stuck in a chair in the lobby while trying to plug his phone in. She updates him that Laura’s surgery will take a few hours if he wants to leave and come back, but Todd insists he will stay because he cares. He came prepared with a sandwich and several episodes of a TV show downloaded to watch. Jo likes the same show he’s watching and accidentally spoils something that he didn’t get to yet. She says she will leave before giving anything else away and tells him the second floor vending machine has good potato chips if he needs a snack. Maybe Laura doesn’t need to play matchmaker after all, as Jo and Todd seem to be hitting it off on their own.

Richard, Bailey, and Helm have brought Ivan inside to a trauma room. Bailey thinks he may have lung damage because his oxygen levels are low. Helm quips under her breath that she hates today, while Richard thinks Ivan’s chest x-ray could show a punctured lung. Bailey sees some markings that make her think that might not be the case. She overrules Richard and wants to get a CT scan before inserting a chest tube since she’s not sure what’s happening. Winton joins them in the scanning room to see the extent of Ivan’s injuries. He explains that python’s still act hungry after they eat, which causes their owners to overfeed them and make them obsess. The scan shows that the pressure ruptured Ivan’s diaphragm, causing his abdominal organs to be pushed into his chest cavity. Bailey is glad she stopped Richard’s idea because a chest tube would have killed Ivan. 

In the OR and operating on Laura, another resident asks Jo if every patient hits on her. Jo laughs and says no, and Maggie tells a story about the time when a fifteen-year-old hit on her. Out of nowhere, Laura starts crashing, and her baby is in distress too. They start CPR, and Jo calls for an OB attending. Jo thinks on her feet and instructs Maggie to turn Laura on her side when they can’t get her out of cardiac arrest. Jo’s suggestion works, and Laura’s heart rhythm goes back to normal. 

In another OR, Bailey, Winston, Wright, and Helm are operating on Ivan. Bailey says she has never seen anything like this and doesn’t want to see it again. Winston tells Wright and Helm that they are lucky to be in this surgery. He goes on to tell the story of how he picked cardio as his specialty because he was attracted to Maggie and then wound up marrying her. This is definitely the wrong time for this story, as it may put bad ideas in Wright’s head. The doctors then find themselves in a tricky situation when there is a lot of bleeding in Ivan’s abdomen that they can’t control.

SQUEEZING TIGHTER

Back at the Hunt’s house, Owen is trying to do PT again and is being a bad patient. Teddy tries to force him to do more, as she feels Owen is not pushing himself. Teddy wants him to be able to walk and operate again, but Owen doesn’t seem to be motivated. Owen doesn’t want Teddy to tiptoe around the house anymore and not look him in the eyes. He also says he can’t do more PT exercises because it hurts too much and he is in pain. Teddy yells back, “So am I!” and tells Owen that she can’t look at him because she doesn’t recognize him anymore. 

In Minnesota, Nick and Mer sit in the lab and talk. Nick says he read about the Grey Center’s robot arm in the hospital newsletter. Mer asks what Nick would do with the money if he got some of the funding she was offered. He replies he would keep studying regeneration stem cell therapies and expand a xenotransplantation study. Mer didn’t know he was doing research currently. Nick explains that he wants to save more patients, but it’s difficult because it takes time and money. He sort of rudely says that everyone doesn’t get surprised with millions in research funding. Mer says it’s not that she’s not grateful for the offer, but she has a life and kids in Seattle. She feels the situation just got more complicated with the admission of Nick’s research. Nick wants to meet Mer’s kids and tells her she could have a life in Minnesota. Mer says Hamilton implied the money could help Nick, and she’s assessing how complicated this decision is. He wants to know if she thinks he’s in a relationship with her to get grant funding. Mer replies, “I told you I had trust issues.” Nick assures her that he is in the relationship for her and didn’t mention his research because that’s not why he’s with her. He continues to say, “It seems like you take things that are pretty great and start looking for the problems,” which is an incredibly accurate statement. Mer asks if he wants her to take the offer, and Nick wants her to do what she wants to do. He concludes that he wants to share her life with her, but it’s her choice and walks away.

Back in Seattle, Ivan is still bleeding profusely. Bailey says they need to pack him, get him to the ICU, and stabilize him. If he stabilizes, they will try to operate again tomorrow. She wants someone to tell Ivan’s boyfriend to meet them in the ICU, and they try to stop Ivan from bleeding out. Laura has survived her surgery, so Jo finds Todd to let him know what happened. They have to reschedule the procedure, but Laura and the baby are fine. Jo asks if Todd wants to see Laura, but he thinks it would be weird if she’s sleeping. Jo changes the subject by asking how far he got in the show and the vending machine, since there’s a pile of snacks on the table. Todd couldn’t decide what to get, so he bought one of everything. Jo asks him out for a drink, then tries to backpedal thinking it is weird to ask him out. Todd surprises her by saying he would love a drink. Jo gets excited and says she has to finish her shift. Todd has to wait for his sister anyway, then they will meet at Joe’s Bar.

Teddy and Owen then finally have the conversation that they shouldn’t have waited this long to have, but better late than never. Owen starts by saying Teddy has supported death with dignity for twenty years. She says that isn’t the point, rather Owen put their family at risk without consulting her. Owen insists he was careful, but Teddy counters that they don’t know if Heather or the other soldiers were. She asks if Owen even knows the other soldiers he gave drugs to and wants to know how he knows they or their families won’t go after him. Owen admits he can’t know if anyone will retaliate, so Teddy tells him that it will follow them forever. She thought they were a family, Owen thought he was protecting her by not telling her what he planned on doing. Teddy says she doesn’t need protection, but she does need her husband and the father of their kids to not be in prison. She tries to walk away, and Owen gets out of his wheelchair and walks a few steps to stop her. They are both shocked and happy that Owen walked for the first time since the accident.

Back in Minnesota, Mer is sitting alone in a room, and Kai finds her to talk. Kai apologizes to Mer for Hamilton’s behavior and hopes he didn’t scare her away. Mer says it’s unnecessary for Kai to apologize for Hamilton and asks if they are seeing Amelia. Kai sheepishly says they are getting close, but that’s not the only reason why they want Mer to stay. Mer says Hamilton is too much like her mother, and Kai understands that can be triggering. Kai explains Hamilton is the opposite of triggering to them because they knew him before they changed their pronouns and name. Hamilton was immediately accepting when even their parents weren’t. Kai says they did change the world with the Parkinson’s project, which is what Hamilton promised, and finishes by saying Hamilton has a good track record of keeping promises.

THE START OF SOMETHING NEW

In Seattle, Ivan codes in the hall on the way to the ICU. Winston pushes the bed while Bailey performs CPR. Ivan’s boyfriend sees what is happening, and Wright gets him out of the ICU room as they bring Ivan in. They pull back the curtain as they start shocking Ivan, but it does not appear to be working. 

Elsewhere in the hospital, Amelia finds Link. She saw that Ivan has a displaced humerus fracture and wants to join the surgery with him, so I guess Ivan survived his scare. Link says okay, and Amelia says she doesn’t know how they didn’t know they had a mutual fear of snakes. Link stops her by saying he can’t do small talk with her anymore. Amelia reminds Link that he always said he didn’t want them to end up like his parents. She doesn’t want that for Scout and asks if they can just not hate each other. Link informs her that he needs to hate her for a little while even if it’s wrong because if he doesn’t hate her, he loves her, and they can’t have that. She understandingly nods and walks away.

Bailey checks in on Ivan’s boyfriend, who is standing outside Ivan’s ICU room. He asks if Ivan will live, and Bailey says they will do everything they can. She asks if he has a ride home to get some rest, but he doesn’t think rest will help him get over what happened. He thinks he needs to reassess his life, so Bailey recommends holding Ivan’s hand to remind himself why he loves him. The boyfriend goes into the room, and Wright walks up to tell Bailey that they sent Gigi to a rescue organization. He then says what Bailey did today was an education on so many levels. She thanks him for his vote of confidence, but doesn’t want this to grow into a larger problem. Wright assures her that it won’t and apologizes again. He goes on to say the kiss wasn’t appropriate, but she sent him a signal, which Bailey denies. Wright says she might not have done it on purpose, but he sees her that way and noted it and is sorry. He once again says it won’t happen again before leaving for the night. 

Jo is ready to leave the hospital, when Link finds her in the lobby and proclaims Jo is who he needs to see. He asks if she wants to go to Joe’s before she picks up Luna. Before she can answer, Todd walks up and apologizes for being late. Link is a bit surprised she has plans, and Jo apologizes. Link says it’s fine, and Jo leaves with Todd. I feel genuinely bad for Link, who can’t seem to catch a break with any of the women in his life. Though, I am excited to see if Jo and Todd become a thing since he will be a recurring character. Todd may just be exactly what Jo needs right now.

We then get a few scenes of the doctors at home before the episode ends. Teddy gives Owen an ice pack for his leg while he sits on the couch. She grabs a beer for herself and sits down next to her husband. Teddy exclaims that she is exhausted from their current situation. She tells Owen that she loves him and won’t leave him, but she needs to know that family comes first. She understands his principles, heart, and why he did it. However, she doesn’t want him to do anything big without telling her first. Teddy wants Owen to trust that she will be there for him or talk him out of something stupid, but needs him to come to her. Owen simply says he loves her too. They kiss and cuddle on the couch, and Owen really should have acknowledged that Teddy isn’t asking for anything unreasonable. 

Bailey gets home right as Ben has put Pru to bed. He complains about reading one book five times at bed time. Bailey tops the complaint by telling him about the python, which Ben says is dramatic. Bailey turns the conversation to a more serious manner by asking if they have been ignoring a snake in their relationship because they have been sending mixed signals to other people. Ben doesn’t think that is true, so Bailey brings up Ingrid, who thought Ben invited her to Thanksgiving dinner on a previous episode of Station 19. Ben realizes she has a fair point, so Bailey continues that she’s worried they are feeding a life that might be squeezing their marriage to death. She doesn’t want to do that because he’s too important to her. Bailey also doesn’t want others to think they are available. Ben assures his wife that he’s only available to her. He wants to spend more time together and says she will never get rid of him. They hug and kiss, and Bailey asks him to not let go. We can all take a collective sigh of relief now that Ben and Bailey have ironed out their problems!

We then see Richard at home with Catherine. He tells her that he made a bad call today that could have killed a man. Richard also realized that he created a teaching method and pressured Catherine and Bailey to implement it, which might have killed a resident’s career and might be bringing the whole resident class down too. He has decided that he wants a whole review of his skills and health to determine if he is still fit to operate. Catherine is surprised, but Richard wants to know.

At Mer’s house, the Grey/Shepherd kids are in the kitchen with Maggie when Mer walks in with her suitcase and leaves door open. The kids run to give her a group hug, which is very sweet. Maggie tells Mer she is going to the gym because Winston saw a two-for-one special, and now they are gym members. Maggie seems less than thrilled, and mark this as one more thing no one knew about Winston. Zola thought Maggie was staying for dinner because they set table for five. Mer tells her kids that she brought a friend from Minnesota, and Nick walks in. Zola asks if they worked on the Parkinson’s project together, so Nick tells her he is a transplant surgeon. Zola immediately asks how they met then, and Nick says, “Your mom saved my life.” With that, the kids invite him in, and Ellis gives him some of the chocolate pudding surprise she made. Nick tells her he loves it, which makes Mer laugh. The episode ends with them sitting down to eat pizza together, and it’s easy to see how this could become a permanent family dynamic. However, whether that family remains in Seattle or moves to Minnesota remains a massive question mark. Here’s to hoping the writers are smart enough to realize that the show never works as well when Mer isn’t living in Seattle.

Monday, March 21, 2022

The Flash 8x07 Review: “Lockdown” (Cooperation is Golden) [Contributor: Deborah M]


“Lockdown”
Original Airdate: March 16, 2022

The Flash is back to more typical storytelling this week after five episodes of crossover event and one episode in which Barry barely appears. Now it’s just one metahuman villain, a little bit of Team Flash personal drama, explosions... You know. Normal stuff. “Lockdown” brings us the return of Goldface (awful name; pretty funny dude) and the first real chance for Barry and new-Chief Kristen Kramer to truly bond as all vigilantes and law officers eventually must. It’s the only way for the superhero brand of legally questionable codependency to survive.

CHAINS OF GOLD (AND COMMUNICATION)

We begin with Chester P. Runk and Allegra’s awkward flirting being interrupted by Team Flash’s alert system. Three crimes are happening simultaneously. Luckily, Central City’s primary superhero is a speedster, so Barry gets the criminals cuffed and delivered to CCPD in a matter of moments.

Barry — now in the role of his CSI day job — is proud of a job well done, but Chief Kramer complains about the Flash’s methods. She has no information on the suspects or the crimes they committed, so she can’t actually press charges. Barry has been superheroing for almost ten years and he’s only now catching on to the problem of simply throwing random criminals into the CCPD lobby without context or evidence? Kramer ropes Barry in on doing legwork for the cases while lamenting the lack of connection between the cops and the superheroes in the city. Wait, so Team Flash’s hyper-intelligent surveillance system that was able to identify a mugging, a car break-in, and a coffee shop robbery in seconds is just... privately owned? No link to the legal system whatsoever? Jeez, that’s terrifying. And realistic!

After Barry brings up Kramer’s desire to have a direct connection to the Flash to Joe and Cecile, Joe agrees with Kramer. He makes a point that it was just the luck of being in Barry’s family circle that gave him a direct line to the Flash (still unsure how they handled that vis-à-vis court admissibility) when he was on the force. With Joe retired, Kramer is working with a handicap no other Chief has had to deal with since metas became a thing.

Barry argues that he’s super good at his job now, though, and implies that him not needing CCPD as much as he used to means that Kramer doesn’t deserve a direct line to the Flash. That’s some weird logic, Barry. It’s not about quid pro quo, it’s about things falling through the cracks and getting a bunch of cases dismissed on technicalities because all the judges and jurors have to go on is the word of a masked vigilante who can’t even be summoned to court. Weirdly, neither Joe nor Cecile argue that point. Instead, Joe says Kramer’s a good cop and if she wants a line to the Flash it’s “for a good reason.” Yeah, and the good reason should be a fair legal system.

Later at CCPD, Barry has done loads of extra work to make up for dropping those three suspects on Kramer without having to give her any actual contact with the Flash. Kramer just wonders about what they’ll do for the next suspects they gain via the Flash. As she and Barry are about to step onto an elevator, they notice a blinking device that spits out a fog that knocks out everyone in the building.

When all of CCPD comes to, it’s to find Goldface and his crew have taken over the building and cuffed everyone with power-dampening bracelets. Kramer tries to do the responsible leader thing and negotiate a release for everyone, but Goldface isn’t having it and demonstrates via a dummy the bracelets are also rigged as explosive devices in case anyone steps out of line. Then Goldace recognizes Barry from the events of his introductory episode, “Goldfaced,” in which Barry pretended to be a hardcore criminal named The Chemist and foiled plans to steal an organ printer. Barry glosses over that by saying he was undercover and asks what Goldface wants. 

Turns out, Goldface wants something in the CCPD armory: the meta-bullets Kramer had made for her task force back when she was a worse character. Unfortunately for everyone, those bullets are missing and Goldface is quite unhappy about it. He’s clearly holding a grudge against Barry for the Chemist thing, so he’s targeted him and Kramer in most of his threats and orders the two down to the armory to explain where the bullets went. 

Kramer makes a big speech about how the bullets are only for the most severe emergencies and she’d die for the metas of the city now and blah, blah, blah. Why doesn’t she just say she had a change of heart and the bullets were destroyed? Goldface uses his chain to strangle Barry as an incentive for Kramer telling him where the bullets are. Before Kramer can give up the info, Barry tells Goldface he can adjust his dark matter scanner to find the bullets instead.

While Barry works on his scanner, Goldface shows himself to be the most emotionally intelligent gold-themed villain this show has ever seen. Wait, not just emotionally intelligent: he’s also very well-read! Goldface mocks his minion’s literary knowledge and quotes Moby Dick, trying to help him along by using lines quoted in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He bought that minion a first edition for his birthday! Goldface has a B.A. in Literature from Yale! Has this guy suddenly become my favorite The Flash villain? Anyway, Barry’s been tinkering with his scanner this whole time but he was actually switching it from infrared to infrasonic so it would emit a painful, high-pitched screech. Barry and Kramer block out the noise with earplugs and use the distraction to escape.

Hiding in a storage room, Barry and Kramer start looking for anything that could help them. Barry notices that Kramer’s power-dampening bracelet is no longer glowing. He theorizes that her mimic powers mean fluctuating genes, which the bracelet wasn’t equipped to handle and shorted out. Barry thinks it’s great because now Kramer can mimic Goldface’s powers and help, but Kramer says she’s “not ready” for that and we learn that Kramer has no control over her powers. It’s part of the reason why she wanted direct contact with the Flash — she wants him to teach her. Of all the metas, the Flash seems least likely to be helpful in the “dangerous, uncontrollable powers” department that Kramer needs help in, but okay.

Over the intercom, Goldface announces he’s going to start strangling officers unless Kramer comes out and tells him where the meta-bullets are. Kramer is still struggling, but you know what that means? It’s time for a The Flash pep talk! Oooh, a rare one delivered by Barry instead of given to Barry this time. He tells Kramer that trust in her own instincts is all she needs to control her powers and asks her to stall for long enough to get his own bracelet off. Kramer is suspicious as to why mild-mannered CSI Barry Allen needs to take his bracelet off, but if Barry talks fast enough and uses enough go-getter lingo he can distract anyone into doing anything.

After a The Flash pep talk Kramer can do anything, so she successfully mimics Goldface’s powers and takes control of his chain long enough to rescue the officer he was strangling. Barry has finally figured out how to get his bracelet off and uses an unnecessary flashback of Caitlin telling him he’s “leveled up” to outrun the ensuing explosion. Said explosion distracts Kramer and she loses control of Goldface’s power. He retrieves his chain, but the Flash is zipping through the office collecting all the criminals so it doesn’t matter. CCPD is back in control of the officers and the day is saved. Hurrah! Sure hope there was nothing important in that storage room Barry blew up!

When all is said and done, Barry realizes Kramer really does deserve a line to the Flash and tries to do her one better by revealing his secret identity, but she already knows. I love collecting these moments of Barry being comically bad at having a secret identity.

Other Things:

  • I paused to read the livestream chat on Chester’s screen. Shout out to “Techluver5897” and their repeated commentary about cats.
  • Caitlin is finally ready to go “all in” on another relationship after her dead fiancé died! Wow, just in time for that dead fiancé to show up again for two episodes later in the season.
  • Goldface and Amunet are hilariously lovey-dovey, even long distance. He calls her “Ammy Wammy.”
  • Last scene: After dinner with Joe, Iris experiences some blips in time and memory and more suspicious green glowing. Intriguing!

Grey’s Anatomy 18x12 Recap: “The Makings of You” (Sisters’ Trilogy) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“The Makings of You”
Original Airdate: March 17, 2022

Ready for a pseudo-bottle episode of Grey’s Anatomy featuring the Grey/Shepherd/Pierce sisters? I didn’t expect there to be an episode fully dedicated to their relationships, but it does feature some solid character development. You’ll have to wait another week to find out what is going on in the lives of your other favorite TV doctors, but for now, enjoy the tales of Maggie, Meredith, and Amelia.

MAGGIE

Maggie’s storyline is easily the most significant part of this episode and focuses on a different relationship than you might expect. Maggie and Winston are watching Meredith’s kids while she is visiting Nick for the weekend. They have their hands full with a curious Zola, Bailey, and Ellis running around playing hide and seek, and Maggie feels under the weather. Bailey pops into the kitchen to announce that he has lost Ellis, so Winston and Zola spring into action to find the youngest Grey/Shepherd kid.

Winston, Zola, and Bailey check all of Ellis’ usual hiding places and still can’t find her. Exasperatedly, Maggie says she doesn’t know how to tell Mer she lost one of her kids. A few minutes later, Zola finds Ellis hiding in an old cabinet located somewhere in the house. She also finds a box of her grandmother Ellis’ old stuff. Zola wants to keep a desk plate and then pulls out a letter with “Margaret” written on the envelope. Maggie is just as surprised as the rest of us that her birth mother left something behind for her.

They move to the family room, and Maggie sits on the couch, staring at the letter in disbelief. Zola wants to know if she will open it, but Maggie isn’t sure if the letter is for her or another Margaret. Winston talks about how his house burned down when he was a kid. He lost a lot of his belongings and was devastated to lose the last birthday card his late mother gave him. Winston gently tells Maggie that she doesn’t have to read the letter, but it is nice to have it regardless.

Maggie decides to go read the letter in private in her bedroom. She opens it up and finds it is in fact a handwritten letter from Ellis Grey. As Maggie starts to read it, Kate Burton returns to voice Ellis and read the letter aloud to the audience. Maggie turns her head and miraculously sees Ellis appear on her bed reading the letter to her. She’s shocked of course. 

Ellis’ letter begins with her saying that she wanted to tell Maggie some things after getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and thinking about her past, mortality, and mistakes. Ellis explains how she didn’t have an easy childhood, as her mother wanted her to be perfect and her father cheated on her mother many times. She grew up knowing that she didn’t want to be a doormat like her mother, and Maggie tells Ellis that she doesn’t think she is that type of person. Ellis stops reading and actually answers Maggie by blisteringly asking who Maggie is. The Ellis illusion is unaware that Maggie is her daughter, and she continues to say that she wound up as Richard’s doormat. Maggie gets closer to Ellis, and Ellis yells at her to stop hovering because she is being distracting. Maggie asks Ellis to keep reading, as she is now interested in what comes next. It’s great to see that Ellis is still the crotchety mother we all know and love, even in Maggie’s mind.

Downstairs, Bailey and Ellis are running around the house while Winston tries and fails to get them to settle down and play a game of Connect Four with him. Zola asks Winston if he was scared when his mom died, and Winston truthfully says he was. Zola states that she was scared when she thought Mer was dying. Winston tells her that he was too and is happy that Mer is here. Zola is still scared of losing Mer, so Winston wisely says that all they can do is take advantage of the time they have now with those they love. Winston clearly is going to be a great father one day. 

Then Bailey trips and cuts his leg. While Winston looks at the wound, Bailey complains that Ellis pushed him into the fireplace. Winston asks the kids to be quieter so Maggie doesn’t wake up and see the blood. It does make more sense that Maggie is dreaming of Ellis. Winston tells the kids that they will play “emergency room,” which gets them excited. He makes Bailey the patient and Zola the resident that gets to assist with the “surgery.” Zola immediately starts assisting Winston with wound care and lists all the proper steps to treat a wound. Mer is training her little doctor well and would be so proud of seeing Zola in action.

Upstairs, Maggie is still sleeping and Ellis is now sitting in a rocking chair, singing a lullaby. Maggie asks if she ever thought about her, tried to contact her, or even wanted to contact her. Ellis ignores Maggie and continues to read her letter. Ellis admits that she never listened to the voice inside of her and always wanted to go into cardiothoracic surgery. Maggie is thrilled to learn that she might have inherited her passion from Ellis and tells her that she went into cardio and is an extraordinary surgeon. Ellis continues by saying regrets make a person weak, and she didn’t let inconsequential things get in her way. Maggie keeps trying to get Ellis to interact with her, so Ellis asks Maggie to stop interrupting. Winston cracks open the door and finds Maggie fast asleep.

Ellis gets to the real meaty part of the letter when she discusses how she stopped doing what was expected of her and instead did what was best for her. Maggie starts to think that Ellis is ashamed of her for no reason at all. Ellis says the first time she met Maggie’s adoptive parents, she thought they would judge her and was happily surprised that they didn’t. They were her first choice for the adoption, and Ellis declined to have any updates on Maggie even though the Pierces offered. Maggie goes from being super happy to very upset instantly upon learning that Ellis didn’t want to know anything about her. She is disappointed that Ellis wasn’t curious about her or if she fit the bill. Maggie directly says that Ellis doesn’t get to avoid her, which causes Ellis to go off the rails about how they couldn’t be a family. Maggie shouts about how she lives every day in the shadow of Ellis since she is the one who wasn’t approved. Ellis says it was hard for her to move on, but Maggie trumps her by saying she feels she isn’t worthy on a daily basis.

Ellis goes on to say that she doesn’t regret her decision and is proud of herself, which causes Maggie to wake up screaming. Winston comes up to see what’s wrong, and Maggie starts talking about how Ellis was an awful person and exactly how Mer described her. She doesn’t want to finish the letter, so Winston says she doesn’t have to. He knows that whatever the letter says doesn’t change the amazing person Maggie is. Maggie knows this and starts crying. She wishes she didn’t need Ellis to know that too.

Maggie eventually falls back asleep, so Winston tucks her in and goes back downstairs. Ellis reappears and flips through the pages of the letter. She gets to the end of the letter and says that she has one regret: she wishes Maggie and Mer could have met. Ellis feels Mer could have used a sister because Mer was too much like her. She thinks Maggie would have been a good influence on Mer and could have been true sisters. Maggie smiles and simply says, “We are.” Ellis goes on to say she wasn’t the best mother to Mer and had high expectations that her daughter couldn’t always reach. She did her best with Maggie by giving her away because she would be better off without Ellis. Maggie agrees that she was better off without Ellis and then is woken up by her adopted mom and hugs her fiercely. 

Maggie wakes up and finishes reading the letter. Downstairs, Winston gets Zola some ice cream and asks if she is okay. Zola asks if her birth mother thinks about her. She wonders about it sometimes, but feels bad about it because she doesn’t want to make Mer sad. Winston says it’s okay to want to know where you came from. He also talks about how he didn’t like being around his dad due to him making bad decisions, but his mom was his hero. Zola says, “So is mine” in a very sweet moment.

MEREDITH

Mer is in Minnesota to spend the weekend with Nick at his cabin. Nick announces the property has a no phone policy. Mer is emailing Amelia about the FDA and the Parkinson’s study, and Nick is impatient. Mer looks at the cabin and says it’s more amazing than Nick described. They go inside, and Nick gets two glasses of wine while Mer looks out the window. She keeps rewriting the report on the study in her head and is stuck on the part where they broke up the surgical injections into four parts. Nick knows how that can invade all thoughts since it happened to him about 15 years ago after working on a study about HIV in liver transplant patients. He bought the cabin then to help clear his mind and has used it as his safe place since then. 

The couple is eventually interrupted during an intimate moment when Nick’s niece, Charlotte, and her boyfriend walk in unexpectedly. Charlotte quips that they had the same idea for the weekend. After going upstairs to make themselves decent, Nick introduces Mer to Charlotte. Mer tells her that Nick talks about her all the time. Charlotte knows that Mer saved Nick’s life. She introduces her boyfriend, Silver, who Nick instantly dislikes. Nick gets even more upset when Silver declares that he and Charlotte are soulmates. Silver wants to make food, and Mer knows it’s going to be an awkward weekend.

In the kitchen, Nick is still surprised that his plans were ruined. He starts talking to Silver, who is a bit out there in personality. He explains that his name was Oak and is now it is Silver because he likes to change his name as he evolves. Nick asks if that happens often as he tries to not have his head explode. Silver says he met Charlotte in the woods during one of his micro-dosing experiences. Nick angrily says the drugs are not for what Silver is using it for. He wants Mer to weigh in, but she doesn’t want to give her thoughts since she isn’t an expert. Silver continues to say that he is a student of life and reveals that he and Charlotte are going to Costa Rica soon for a few months. Charlotte didn’t tell Nick about her travel plans or that she was planning on leaving school, and furious isn’t a strong enough word for how Nick feels when he hears all that.

Charlotte tries to explain that she was going to tell Nick and that she’s not dropping out of school. She wants to travel, but Nick reminds her that she has two years of college left and should do that after she finishes school. He wants Mer to help him out and gets even more infuriated that his girlfriend won’t back him up. Nick thinks their plans are ridiculous and hates that Charlotte and Silver’s plan is to make money with Silver’s “workshops.” Nick wants to know what they will do when things go wrong and he’s the only one they can call, and Charlotte angrily declares she doesn’t want to talk to him if things get bad.

Later that evening, Mer goes out to talk to Nick, who is chopping wood to blow off some steam. Mer says she used to be Charlotte: she had pink hair, traveled all over Europe, and had soulmates that were fun. She says things worked out for her in the end but Nick doesn’t find those details helpful. He brings up how when he was dying, he asked Mer to make sure Charlotte got a great education. Mer explains that if he tries to control Charlotte, he will lose her. Nick needs to find a way to let Charlotte be herself. Nick doesn’t think Mer understands fully because Charlotte is genetically predetermined to make big mistakes based on who her mother is. Mer walks away without another word to avoid an argument.

Mer is cleaning up from dinner, and Charlotte comes into the kitchen looking for Silver. Mer says Silver went outside, so Charlotte asks Mer to talk to Nick for her since she currently has sway with him. Mer tells Charlotte that she reminds her of herself, but Charlotte is braver. Mer thought she was rebelling, but it turned out that’s exactly what her mother wanted. Charlotte says she wants something different and new because the last two years weren’t what she expected. She wants to live differently. Mer replies that Nick doesn’t see who Charlotte is actually becoming and that it’s hard to live outside the shadow of parents. Charlotte complains that it’s always Nick’s way or the highway, and Mer nicely says that Charlotte needs to talk to him right as Nick walks in. 

Nick tells Charlotte that going to college will give her more options, especially since her mom made so many bad choices. Charlotte declares that she is not her mother. Nick only wants what’s best for her based on his own life experience while Charlotte counters that not everyone is like him, and she wants to figure things out on her own. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, and Nick says he doesn’t want her to have to struggle through life. Charlotte reminds him that she never went to jail, took pills, or had to have Nick pick her up on the side of the road; he did a good job raising her. She says she is okay because of him and promises to go back to school eventually. Charlotte will make sure she has options, but first, she needs to mess up and change her mind a few times. Nick begrudgingly agrees that his niece can make her own decisions.

Later, Charlotte and Silver get ready to leave. Charlotte is happy to have met Mer and promises to come back the following week week to give Nick all the details on her trip to Costa Rica. After they leave, Nick apologizes to Mer that their weekend got ruined. Mer doesn’t want him to apologize for their lives. Nick says he’s not used to getting help and taking others’ opinions. Mer quips, “If you know anything about me, you better get used to it.” Nick knows they are both going to have to get used to it since Mer is the same way. Mer changes the topic by saying that Charlotte is a great girl and he did a great job. Nick doesn’t want Charlotte to wind up rigid like him either. He’s not sure what he wants anymore and is possibly contemplating quitting his job. Mer reveals to him that Hamilton thinks she only took the Parkinson’s trial because she wants to cure Alzheimer’s. She doesn’t know if that is true, but she isn’t sure she can go back to Grey Sloan Memorial and just be the chief of general surgery either.

They decide to take a walk outside, and Nick says that Mer learned he isn’t the most patient person. Mer replies that she isn’t when it comes to family and that she also has a temper. Nick recalls the time when he threw a retractor eight years ago after losing a patient and thinks about it every day. Mer says she has a hard time trusting people and jokingly says, “If you sell insurance or don’t like dogs, you are dead to me.” Nick reveals that when he’s falling in love, it scares him because he has done it rarely in his life. He doesn’t like losing control, and Mer is happy to hear he is falling in love, which leads to a kiss.

AMELIA

Amelia shows up at the lab in Minnesota and finds things are different than her last visit. Kai explains that they now have more money, more people, and more equipment because they succeeded. I’m not sure how they know the trial is a success yet when there hasn’t been enough time to see the effects it had on Hamilton, but I guess we will learn more about that in future episodes. Kai tells Amelia that Mer said the two of them can finish off the report and submit it to the FDA. Kai wants to fix the part of the report that details Hamilton’s bowel obstruction because it reads too much like Hamilton hid it from the team. Amelia reminds Kai that Hamilton did hide it and doesn’t feel they should lie about it. Kai thinks if they don’t hide the truth a bit, it will discredit Hamilton and the project. Amelia suggests they add that they need to get a more complete patient history and complete vigorous testing before doing the surgery in the future. Kai likes that addition, and they send the historic report.

Amelia tells Kai that her flight leaves the next morning, or she could change it to that day. Kai tells her to stay, which is exactly what Amelia was looking for. The two go to a local bar and both order sodas. Amelia talks about how she lived in bars when she was younger, which Kai wants to know more about. Amelia really likes this version of herself: the one who helped one million people get one step closer to a cure for Parkinson’s. Later on, Kai gets up on stage, picks up a guitar, and starts playing and singing with the band. Amelia had no idea Kai was a musician or was in a band. She enjoys the performance then goes back to Kai’s apartment afterward. They make out and sleep together.

That night, Amelia sees a photo of Kai’s sister’s kids and asks if Kai ever felt the pressure of starting a family. Kai says they love kids so much that they don’t want any. They feel being a parent is hard and don’t want that life. Instead, they have plants and named them. Amelia says there’s a lot of love to balance the difficulties of parenting, but Kai is content with plants. When Kai plays their guitar at the apartment, Amelia asks when they got into music. Kai states they started playing a few years ago on a dare to help fix their fear of public speaking. Now, Kai likes performing and Amelia says they are carefree on stage. Kai states Amelia pretends she isn’t a rock star herself and is too self-deprecating. Amelia doesn’t know why she’s like that, but knows she uses it as a shield or armor for protection. She also believes if she loves every part of herself, she will deserve a love of the same caliber. Kai reveals they did the same thing.  Amelia doesn’t think she knows all of who she is yet, and Kai is excited to get to know all of who Amelia is.

In the morning, Kai wakes up to find Amelia getting changed. Kai says she doesn’t have to leave, but Amelia can’t stay because she’s a mom. She reveals that when she is in Minnesota, she misses Scout with every cell in her body. Amelia hopes that doesn’t scare Kai away because that’s a part of herself that she deeply loves. They kiss, and Amelia goes back to Seattle.

We see a plane land and find out that Amelia and Mer have made it back to Mer’s house. Maggie is pacing around while Mer reads Ellis’ letter on the couch with Zola, Amelia, and Scout sitting around her. Mer can’t believe that Ellis wrote the letter because it’s out of character for her. She wonders if Ellis forgot she wrote it. Maggie sits down between her sisters and says she isn’t sure if she’s happy she read the letter. However, she feels something isn’t missing now. Maggie decides to burn the letter with a candle that’s sitting on the table and throws the burning letter in a nearby bowl. They watch it burn as a family as the episode ends and they put the past behind them.

Sunday, March 13, 2022

The Flash 8x06 Review: “Impulsive Excessive Disorder” (More Time Trouble) [Contributor: Deborah M]


“Impulsive Excessive Disorder”
Original Airdate: March 9, 2022

Welcome back from the long hiatus, The Flash fans! The show’s on a new night, we’re in a new year, but the speedster hijinks remain the same. Well... mostly the same. We’ve got some second-generation speedster hijinks this week, but in a show where people regularly travel through time despite established reasons why traveling through time is a bad idea, second-generation speedstering isn’t exactly new.

SERIOUSLY, PLEASE STOP WITH THE TIME TRAVEL

The episode opens with a flashback to Barry and Iris’s vow renewal at the end of last season. Bart and Nora apparently stuck around to chat with their parents a bit and make jokes about accidentally changing the timeline via the Allen family curse of never learning that time travel has consequences. Barry assures them that he checked with Gideon and the timeline’s fine, but I’ve read the plot synopsis on this episode so I know that is false.

Bart and Nora also learn that that is false when they return to 2049 and are hit with a temporal wave that changes various things around them, including bringing their “Uncle Jay” back from the dead. Instead of being a dead inspiration for Bart’s journey as a hero, Jay Garrick happily wanders into their apartment carrying cheeseburgers.

Jay is understandably confused as to why Bart and Nora are acting so weird and asking about stuff they should already know, but then he undercuts that by clumsily recapping even more events they should already know. He gets a message from “Aunt Rose,” and — rather than learning and playing along — Bart and Nora question him, since their original timeline had an “Aunt Joan” instead.

The speedster siblings visit the Flash Museum and Nora theorizes some technobabble about tachyons and the cosmic treadmill as an explanation for how they ended up changing their timeline. I guess the Flash Museum just has personal data about everyone tangentially related to the Flash, because Nora clicks a couple things at a console in the middle of the museum and learns that their Uncle Jay never married Joan — as a matter of fact, she no longer exists. I’m sure I would be very sad if I could remember who Joan was.

Nora methodically goes through the archives to figure out where the timeline split and decides it was Joe getting shot in a jewelry store robbery in 2013. Naturally, this means going back to 2013. You know, because the solution to time travel consequences is to time travel even harder. Duh-doy.

Landing in 2013 CCPD, they’re approached by Eddie Thawne. Hey, I remember that guy! They pretend to be interns, so Eddie tells them to get him and the rest of the bullpen some coffee and just hands over his credit card to two complete strangers. He also doesn’t tell them how many coffees to buy, or what varieties of coffee to buy. This is not the best way to get coffee, bud.

While gesturing wildly in the line for coffee, Bart knocks some papers out of the hands of the person behind him and, as he’s helping pick them up, notices the documents are all about quantum theory. Bart and the woman — Avery (probably Avery Ho, another DC speedster) — make brief googly eyes at each other before getting into a conversation about time travel. Then Nora’s gauntlet beeps that it’s time for Joe to get shot, so they say goodbye to Avery and run off to save their grandpa.

I guess Nora and Bart are a lot faster than Barry, because they have time to get into an argument about how to save Joe after the bullet is accidentally fired by the inept jewelry store robber. Bart gets impatient again and just nudges Joe slightly out of the path of the bullet, which seems smart to me but for some reason it causes more temporal fluctuations or whatever because he should’ve moved the bullet instead. How? Why? Will time travel in this show ever make sense, or will it continue to throw more ludicrous plot contrivances at us?

When Bart suggests going back fifteen minutes to stop the mistake he made while saving Joe, Nora mocks the idea of traveling back in time to solve their time travel screw-ups like that isn’t literally what they’ve just done. I desperately need this show to stop with the time travel plots if they’re not going to establish how things work and stick to it. At this point, the writers are basically that kid on the playground who changes the rules of the game according to whatever will allow him to win. Hey, writers: everyone hated that kid!

Nora and Bart run into Eddie again and try to get the flash drive with surveillance footage of the robbery incident so they can figure out where they went wrong, only to be rebuffed and told to make another coffee run because Eddie isn’t currently holding his “decaf cappuccino.” Okay, one: you never told them your coffee order in the first place, Eddie, and two: what cop orders decaf? Be a better cop stereotype, Eddie Thawne.

Using the coffee she’s finally gotten everyone at CCPD as a distraction, Nora swipes the flash drive off Joe’s desk and reviews it on a computer in Barry’s lab. She and Bart spot Mona Taylor/”Queen” of the Royal Flush Gang in the background and surmise that the RFG has been established ahead of schedule. Then they realize Mona got the idea to form the RFG early because she overheard the two of them at the scene of the robbery, and now the gang’s early debut casino heist will lead to 30 people dying. Bart is panicking, saying that “[Barry] would’ve gotten it right the first time,” and oh. Oh, no, no, my child. He would not have. Your papa’s inept.

Bart feels dejected about screwing up and has a bit of a cry before running off to talk to his comatose dad. Nora tries comforting her sad brother with a pep talk and, once he feels better, they go to chat with Avery since she’s a time travel expert. I wouldn’t call someone who still believes time travel is purely theoretical an expert, but you do you. They want Avery to give them advice on how to change things without actually affecting the timeline.

When Nora shows Avery the future news article about the casino heist, the death toll keeps changing. Avery explains via technobabble that this is because the casino heist is a fixed point in time, but the deaths are not — so while Bart and Nora can’t stop the heist, they can stop people from dying.

The Royal Flushes arrive at the casino and perform some boring posturing. The RFG has planted a bomb that’ll go off at midnight. While Nora looks for the bomb, Bart starts super-speeding people out of the casino, which seems like it should be a lot more conspicuous and timeline-altering than anything these two have done so far. “King” notices the missing people and Bart is forced to think on his feet, impersonating the casino manager to convince the gang to let hostages go. Mona tries reading Bart’s mind to see if he’s a cop (why would it matter?) but Bart clouds the reading with thoughts about his crush on Avery.

Nora finds the bomb, but it’s too small to be the only one. It has about 30 seconds left, but Nora still stops to fully explain why it took her so long to find the bomb, which is slightly infuriating. Nora eventually finds all the bombs and runs them out of the building as Bart counts down to midnight, then she tosses them into the air and they explode into fireworks. I guess the Royal Flush Gang wanted their mass murder to be pretty?

After the heist, Joe and Eddie are going over the events and the witness testimony that they were “streaked” out of the building. Again, this seems like it should cause a lot more issues with the timeline. Iris and Eddie meet, beginning their early-seasons romance right here in season eight. Cecile and Joe have a nice interaction to usher in their eventual romance, too. Also, we get the CCPD photo with Bart and Nora in it that was teased at the end of the last episode.

Before returning to the future, Bart shares a kiss with Avery and promises to see her again. This is questionable, Bart, since she’d be around your parents’ ages if you stayed in the correct timeline. Then again, Avery is a time travel expert so maybe she’ll just move to the future. When Bart and Nora return to 2049, Jay is still alive but so is Joan so I guess the timeline is fixed. I’m going to stop trying to understand it.

Aaaand back in the present, the extended Team Flash family is going to brunch. We learn Frost is still dating the horribly-named Chillblaine, Caitlin is dating someone named Marcus, and their brunch reservation is actually in Paris. Barry can zip that many people to Paris? How? Like, physically how? The man might have super speed, but he only has two hands.

Final shot: the brush Iris was using and left on the couch disappears in green sparkles. Dun dun dun!

Other Things:

  • The writers are starting to get so clever with episode titles that it leaves me nothing for my jokey parenthetical subtitles.
  • “This is why dad has time travel rules!” Nora exclaims, as if Barry Allen has ever followed any rules regarding time travel.
  • I don’t remember Eddie being so charmingly awkward in the first couple seasons, but he’s pretty charmingly awkward in this episode.
  • It’s really weird Avery calls Nora’s gauntlet a “gauntlet.” Anyone who had no idea what it was would probably just call it a wristband.

Grey’s Anatomy 18x10 Recap: “Living in a House Divided” (Order in the Court) [Contributor: Julia Siegel]


“Living in a House Divided”
Original Airdate: March 3, 2022

Are you ready for some drama? Grey’s Anatomy ramps up the tension to create one of the most dialogue and situation-dense episodes in recent memory. One of the season’s biggest storylines reaches a head in perfect play-like style. Sadly, we also see the departure of Cormac Hayes who will be sorely missed by the characters and viewers alike. 

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

The episode begins by setting up the general plotlines of the hour in quick bites. First, Bailey works on rearranging the surgical board’s schedule at Grey Sloan Memorial, which proves difficult with taking Hayes off and delegating surgeries to other doctors. At a nearby hotel, Nick is packing to go back home when Meredith knocks on his door with two cups of coffee. She announces that she dropped her kids off at school five minutes early and the rest of her day will consist of following up with Hamilton then watching Schmitt’s Morbidity & Mortality Conference. Nick has to leave for the airport and Mer wants him to stay.

Jo and Link have presumably been sleeping together non-stop based on his out-of-breath “wow” exclamation. Jo is having just as much fun apparently too. Back at Grey Sloan Memorial, Teddy is watching over Owen in his hospital room while Maggie and Winston head to the M&M. Maggie isn’t looking forward to it and is upset that she didn’t get to talk to Richard in advance. Mer is about to go into the M&M room when she is ambushed by Bailey, who pawns off a hernia surgery because no one else is available. Mer prefers to go to the M&M, but Bailey has to be there as the chief of surgery, leaving only Mer available to operate. She begrudgingly agrees, so Bailey walks into the conference room. 

Half the room is filled with residents and the other half is attendings, including Richard, Catherine, Nico, Maggie, Winston, and Lin. Even though Schmitt has yet to arrive, Bailey gets started by informing the crowd that they must ask questions as they arise since that is a requirement of an M&M. Schmitt shuffles in and looks as if he hasn’t slept in days. His hair is a mess, he’s got a shabby beard, and he’s wearing his glasses for the first time in a long time. He brushes past Bailey on his way to the podium at the front of the room and presents the case. Once he gets to the point where things went wrong, Bailey stops him and forces Wright to ask a question. Schmitt freezes while talking, as he starts to relive what happened. Bailey forces him to continue. Helm stands up to help her best friend by saying that there was no indication of issues with the patient’s anatomy or anything visibly wrong that would have made Schmitt predict what would eventually happen. 

Talking about the patient triggers Schmitt, which overwhelms him. Schmitt quietly says he killed the patient and runs out, ignoring Bailey in the process. Nico goes after him, and Bailey asks Richard to step in and take questions in Schmitt’s place. Wright asks who was in charge in the surgery because he doesn’t understand the chain of command for the Webber Method. Lin asks for clarity on how things work too and feels the method sets up the senior residents as attendings. Maggie stands up to ask if there was a meeting of department heads to decide whether they should adopt the Webber Method prior to it being put in effect. 

Things get more contentious when Maggie then asks Catherine if other Fox hospitals are using this method. Catherine argues that it’s a teaching tool, not a cure for cancer. Lin replies that it’s a tool that cost a patient his life before telling everyone that Bailey had reservations about the program to begin with. Winston chimes in to ask if the M&M is on the Webber Method or the surgery because the Webber Method didn’t hold the scalpel. Lin doesn’t think all the residents are ready for this program and asks if the program has been sanctioned by the board of surgery.

We get a bit of a reprieve from the barrage of questions when we shift to Teddy helping Owen in his room. He claims his pain isn’t terrible but he still looks like he is in rough shape. Teddy knows that he went through something terrible, but it has been two days and now she wants to know what’s going on. She wants the truth because Noah’s wife Heather has been calling the house looking for Owen. Teddy knows something happened in the car if Heather is calling and Hayes quit. Owen tells her she is right but wants her to trust him when he says that he can’t tell her what’s going on. She says trust goes both ways, but Owen remains strong. He tells her to sit there as long as she wants but he can’t and won’t tell her. Teddy is annoyed, but it’s sweet that Owen is trying to protect her.

AS THE DUST SETTLES

As they walk through the hallway after the M&M, Catherine tells Bailey that legal hasn’t heard anything from the family of Schmitt’s deceased patient. Catherine informs Bailey that she has decisions to make about whether the method continues or not and it will entirely be Bailey’s decision. Catherine walks away, so Mer comes over to ask Bailey how the M&M went. Mer wants to check in on Richard but Bailey tells her he needs space. Bailey instead begs Mer to do another surgery since they are down a three surgeons and a resident. The rest of the residents are so traumatized from Schmitt’s debacle that they aren’t in the right mindset to work. Mer will take one of the unclaimed surgeries and says she knows someone who can help with another and calls Nick.

Winston finds Maggie and asks if she is okay after going after Richard. She asks if he can still stand by the method after what has happened. Winston feels the Webber Method does work and knows Maggie hasn’t been around to see it work. Maggie knows that and says that it still got someone killed. Maggie wants to tell Richard the truth because she loves him and no one is being honest with him.

Link finds Nico in the ER, and Nico asks if he saw Schmitt. Apparently, no one has seen him since the M&M, and I’m not sure how no one knows where he is. Link hasn’t seen Schmitt, but has a big surgery that Nico can scrub in on. Link is peppy so Nico asks if things are better with Amelia. He says no, but he feels great. Link doesn’t elaborate and goes to help Perez with a patient who is a second grade science teacher. Her leg is numb, which has happened before with her history of knee problems that she usually gets treated with cortisone shots. Link wants Perez to do a workup on the knee and might give her a cortisone shot depending on the findings.

Elsewhere, Amelia goes to examine a patient, Francesca, she has been treating for several weeks with lower back pain and degenerative discs. Francesca’s pain came back a few weeks after an epidural and she doesn’t know why. She felt good for the first week post-treatment, but she has noticed her pain gets worse when she’s on her period. Amelia decides to get an OB/GYN consult based on Francesca’s symptoms. 

Hayes shows up at the hospital and immediately runs into Mer, who has been looking for him. She heard he quit, and Hayes decides to be short with her and says yes. Mer tries to convince him to stay by saying Bailey can’t lose him right now. Hayes knows, and Mer wants to know why he hasn’t returned her calls. Hayes says it has been chaotic trying to pack his boys up for their impending move to Ireland. Mer asks if his life flashed before his eyes and he realized he’s unhappy here and needed to quit. He replies, “Something like that,” because he too doesn’t want to get someone else involved. Mer asks if he was going leave without saying goodbye, and she is surprised when he replies with a yes. Hayes explains that if he said goodbye to Mer, he might not leave. He gives one last, nice speech and tells Mer that she was the first person that truly understood him in all the years since his wife died. She made him feel less alone and made him realize that there might be a life after his wife. Hayes thanks Mer for that and tells her to take care. Mer smiles and says, “You too” as Hayes walks away.

DISTRACTED

Carina and Jo show up to consult on Francesca’s case. Jo is surprised to see Amelia and has a shocked look on her face, but gets it under control before Amelia sees it. Amelia explains she was treating the patient for back pain and minor degenerative disc disease, but her pain coincides with her period and has pain during sex, so she has called for a consult. Jo examines Francesca and asks questions. Carina asks if she has been checked for endometriosis, which could explain her back pain too. Francesca doesn’t believe so, and the doctors decide to do an exploratory surgery today to check if that is what’s going on.

Nick arrives at Grey Sloan Memorial and gets privileges. Mer thanks him for coming back and saving her sanity. She gives him a patient who needs a hernia repaired, while she takes a more fun surgery. Mer tells Nick to go to OR 3 and runs off to her own operation. Nick looks terribly lost and is thrilled when Wright passes by to tell him to get some scrubs and join him in the OR. 

Bailey goes down to the ER after being paged by Helm, who has a patient in a trauma room with a power tool injury to her hand. Bailey is annoyed that Helm hasn’t debrided the wound or cleaned it, but Helm thought Bailey would want to examine the patient before she did anything. Bailey is surprised with Helm, but Helm wants Bailey to observe the exam, that way Helm knows she’s doing things right. Bailey instructs her to get a laceration tray, clean the hand, and get an X-ray, and leaves Helm to treat the patient.

Link finds Perez and asks why his patient is still here. Perez thinks she may need an MRI, but Link won’t listen to him. He goes to talk to the patient and asks where the pain is. She points to an area, and Link says the cortisone will help a little, but a permanent solution might be to lose a little weight. Perez and the patient are appalled at his bluntness. The patient explains she exercises every day and has dieted for most of her life and can’t go for long walks like Link suggests with shooting joint pain. Link says losing 10-15 pounds could make a world of difference. Perez is shaking his head and can’t believe Link is brushing off the symptoms. The patient goes to leave and says she’s giving him a zero star rating. Link asks her to wait, as he notices foot drop when she starts to walk away. Perez says that can’t be fixed by losing weight and asks if he can order the MRI now. Link agrees and knows he looks like a fool.

Outside, Teddy catches Hayes in the parking lot with a box of his stuff. He isn’t returning her calls either. Teddy is pissed and wants to know what’s going on with Owen and why he is lying to her. Teddy has a horrible feeling because of the lies. She wants to know what happened in the car. Hayes thinks about what to say for a second and tells her that Owen told him to get out first and to think about his kids. He will always be in Owen’s debt and is thankful to get the chance to build a new life with his kids. Teddy doesn’t understand what Owen did or said because Hayes isn’t the type of person to randomly quit and leave. She is so sorry that whatever happened is causing him to uproot his life. Hayes says Owen is alive and wants Teddy to hold onto that. He says goodbye and gets in his car, and with that, Hayes’ time at Grey Sloan Memorial comes to an end. 

TENSIONS RISE AGAIN

Richard is in the M&M room sulking, and Maggie walks in to talk to him. He wants to be alone, but she won’t take no for an answer. She knows Richard knows how traumatizing it is for a surgeon to lose a patient to an honest mistake. He coldly asks if she remembers what happened to his niece. Maggie understands why Schmitt is so distraught, especially when it could have been prevented. Richard isn’t happy that Maggie humiliated him in front of the whole hospital, where he has worked for thirty years. She didn’t mean to do that, and Richard argues that it wasn’t his fault that Schmitt chose to disobey orders and go ahead with the surgery. Maggie retorts that she believes in scientific data and doing things over and over to make sure it will work before putting a new method in place. Richard reminds Maggie that she hasn’t been around for most of the program, so she doesn’t get an opinion. He asks her to leave him alone before he says something he will regret.

Next, Carina and Jo operate on Francesca, and Jo gets frazzled again when Amelia pops in to see how things are going. They find lots of endometriosis lesions which explains the pain and why epidurals didn’t work. Jo continues to act weird and isn’t as subtle this time around. Next door, Mer has finished her surgery and is scrubbing out when Maggie comes in to tell her sister that she is worried about Richard. Maggie asks Mer if she thought the Webber Method was a good idea. Mer thought it was a good idea for lap colis, but then the program was expanded to more difficult surgeries. She acknowledges that she wasn’t around to see the method in action, but knows that Richard must have thought the residents could handle it. Maggie says that’s what Richard said and that he also said Maggie and Mer don’t get a say since they weren’t there. Mer doesn’t want to be dragged into this battle and isn’t sure how she did in the first place. 

Upstairs, Teddy brings Megan some coffee to check in on Farouk and complain about Owen. Megan knows Owen is the worst patient and reports that Farouk is doing well and is tolerating the anti-rejection meds. Teddy asks Megan if Owen or Hayes said anything about what happened in the car. Megan knows nothing, and Hayes only said goodbye to her. Teddy needs to know what Owen is hiding and knows he confessed something big to Hayes when he thought he was going to die, which scared Hayes away. She also knows if it’s so big that he can’t tell her, then he did something bad. Megan knows he’s rash and continues to say that Owen always believes he’s making the right decisions and must believe staying quiet is his only option. 

Back in the OR, Bailey checks in on Link and Perez’s surgery. Bailey needs Perez in another OR when he’s free. Link tells Bailey that Perez did well today and caught a foot drop that he missed. Bailey is pleased to hear that Perez seems to be the only resident who isn’t useless after Schmitt’s mistake. Perez says he caught it because he did a thorough exam. Link responds that excessive weight can cause those symptoms too, and Perez counters that Link looked at her and assumed she was just fat. Perez reminds Link that obesity is disease and that he doesn’t need to tell a fat person that they are fat. Link apologizes for making a snap judgement based on weight and BMI, which leads Bailey to say BMI is useless and doesn’t account for differences or distribution in individual bodies. Link asks why the metric is still on the charts, and Bailey quips that it’s there so insurance companies can rob patients by charging them more money. Link allows Perez to finish the discectomy himself, which makes Perez feel better.

Upstairs, Jo runs into Amelia again and gives her an update on Francesca in a weird high-pitched tone. Amelia knows things with her and Link aren’t great and can tell by the way Jo’s voice goes up an octave each time she enters a room that he’s talking to her about their situation, which Amelia is fine with since Jo is his best friend. Amelia is grateful Link has someone to talk to, but needs to know if that means they can’t work together because things are awkward. She continues to point out that it was awkward with their patient today and patients are their first responsibility. Amelia thanks Jo for helping out on her case and walks away without Jo telling her the real reason why she has been acting weird all day. Amelia has been extra observant over the past two episodes, and I hope that’s a quality the writers continue to play with. Carina overheard the whole conversation between Jo and Amelia and asks Jo if she wants to go talk over coffee. Jo instead wants to talk about it in the hallway and asks Carina if casual sex is a good idea even with friends. Carina says that can be the best kind and immediately realizes the situation is not casual for Jo based on her reaction. She tells Jo to tell the guy she loves him or stop sleeping with him since those are the only two options.

In another part of the hospital, Bailey finds Helm hiding in the stairwell and is now worried about missing that Helm isn’t okay and was in that OR too. Helm gives a very relatable anecdote about how she used to not answer questions in school even though she knew answers because she was afraid of other kid’s opinions of her. She thought she outgrew that bad quality, but hasn’t. She feels she should have said something to Schmitt and stopped him before he accidentally killed his patient. Bailey says it’s hard to speak up to someone who is so sure of himself and in that OR, Schmitt wasn’t just her best friend, but her boss as the lead surgeon, making the situation even harder. Bailey tells Helm she was also a know-it-all, which seems to motivate Helm to get back to work. It’s a nice moment of connection between the two surgeons who typically seem to be worlds apart.

Back in the M&M room, Richard and Amelia look like they are having an impromptu AA meeting when Maggie and Mer walk in to talk. Maggie knows Richard’s intent with the Webber Method was good, and Mer says lines can blur and sometimes good intentions can cloud good judgement. Richard chokes up and basically says the three of them are the closest thing he has to kids (though he stops himself from completing the sentence) and the thought of disappointing them is unbearable. I’m pretty sure he stopped himself from saying “kids” because he realized his biological child was actually standing in front of him. Maggie isn’t disappointed, but was enraged at herself because the incident put her right back where Schmitt was and she has spent years trying to deal with the accountability for Richard’s niece’s death. She still doesn’t know how the surgeon is supposed to recover and move forward when there are others to hold accountable too. Maggie believes the Webber Method deserves to be scrutinized from every angle. Richard knows the world has changed and evolved, so he wanted to give the students something to feel excited about when practicing medicine. Mer says he is what is exciting about them practicing medicine. She assures him that they don’t need a method, they just need him. 

MOVING FORWARD

Nick finds Mer in the hospital lobby and proclaims his surgery was a breeze. He wants to go get dinner to celebrate, and before Mer can answer, Amelia and Maggie chime in to say hello.  Mer apologizes to a confused Nick because she didn’t know Amelia and Maggie were behind them, and then introduces her sisters to him. Mer says he’s from Minnesota, so Maggie asks if he works on the secret project. Amelia quips that she would have noticed if he did, and Mer gives Nick an out to go check on his patient to avoid the awkwardness. Maggie and Amelia give Mer a look as Nick hurriedly walks away, and Mer leaves, saying she “has a thing to go do” without explaining who he is to her. Maggie jokes that she likes Minnesota, and Amelia replies that it’s full of surprises. She too walks away before having to explain the meaning of her cryptic sentence, ending the most lighthearted scene of the episode.

After work, Link arrives home with Scout and is greeted by Jo. He wants to talk about how he misdiagnosed a patient, but Jo blurts out that she wants to talk at the same time. Like the gentleman he is, Link tells Jo to go first. It appears that Jo is going to finally confess her feelings to Link, but she chickens out at the last minute and tells him that they can’t sleep together anymore. Link semi-surprisingly asks if she is sure, and Jo says she is. Link is fine with her decision and Luna cries, which allows Jo to escape before anything else can be said.

Back at Grey Sloan Memorial, Bailey finally goes to Richard’s office to talk. She feels that she let him down and should have brought up more of her concerns before the Webber Method started. She doesn’t think she was vocal enough and trusted him because it’s him. Richard assures her it’s okay and that she can say what she has come to say. Bailey informs him that despite the doctor shortage and backup of surgeries, she wants to permanently suspend the Webber Method. Richard reminds her that she did say something ahead of time and he had Catherine overrule her. He knows it wasn’t right or fair and he’s sorry he did it. Richard walks out after saying goodnight, and I hope he’s okay with Bailey’s ruling and doesn’t fall into another depressed funk.

Elsewhere, Nico shows up at Schmitt’s house and finds his boyfriend in the basement playing video games. Schmitt wants Nico to leave, but Nico has come to say that he wants Schmitt to come back to work. Nico reminds Schmitt that everyone loses patients, which is part of the job. Schmitt says he won’t go back to the hospital, which shocks Nico. He is worried Schmitt will lose his residency spot, but Schmitt doesn’t care at the moment. Schmitt rudely tells Nico to go away and not come back and that they are done. Nico leaves, heart broken.

Mer meets Nick in Grey Sloan Memorial’s parking lot and apologizes for her bad timing with her sisters, which he didn’t mind. She doesn’t want him to leave, and Nick very candidly tells her that he doesn’t want to leave or ever be apart. He doesn’t like leaving her and wants Mer to come to Minnesota with him for a few days and then he’ll come back to Seattle with her. Mer says she would, but she has the kids and used to know everything going on at Grey Sloan Memorial and now knows nothing. She is feeling disconnected to people she’s close to, which is something Mer has never really experienced. With Hamilton recovering, Mer knows she can stay put for a while and make things right in Seattle. Mer tells Nick that if he doesn’t have to leave tonight, her kids are asleep and he can come back to her house. Nick decides he doesn’t have to leave and goes home with her. It’s a touching moment for the couple, and I hope Nick will be in Seattle more often for Mer’s sake and sanity. 

The episode ends with Teddy seeing Heather in Owen’s hospital room. She sees Owen giving Heather his car keys. Heather quickly walks out when she notices Teddy, so Teddy grabs her coat to go after her. Owen begs her to leave it alone, but Teddy tells him she can’t. Teddy finds Heather taking something out of the glovebox of Owen’s truck and asks her what she took out of her husband’s car. The tense moment closes out the episode, and it’s easy to imagine that Heather is going to tell Teddy the truth. Until the next episode, we will all be wondering how Teddy will react.