No one is okay, except maybe Amelia, Mer, and Nick.
Most of Grey’s Anatomy Season 18 Episode 17 was emotional, messy, and certainly dramatic. Relationships were tested, and in other cases, amends were made.
And by the end of the hour, we got the shocking news that Catherine’s cancer had progressed.
It’s safe to say that they’ve made amends as upset as both Webber and Bailey were with Mer.
Families fight, and they say some ugly things to each other, but when they have a solid foundation, it works out in the end. We saw it with Bailey, Mer, and Webber, but ironically, it doesn’t apply to Winston and Wendall.
If the hospital is falling apart around them, this sinking ship with too many holes, there’s not going to be one specific thing that can save it.
The pandemic and factors go far beyond the Webber Method, and GSM is facing what many medical facilities are. And it’s stressful for everyone.
Bailey has often been insufferable with how she’s handled some of it, but when she finally got to talk to Meredith about it, you could sympathize with her more.
Some of the issues affecting GSM now are things that were a long time coming, and she just so happens to be the chief when it all comes to a head. But there is so much pressure on her as the first female chief of the hospital.
Who is Nick Marsh?
Levi
Everyone scrutinizes her harder, and when things go wrong, she’s judged much harder, and it impacts how people view all women.
And she’s let that get the better of her. She’s overwhelmed and doesn’t know what to do or what she wants, and it’s caused her to lash out at Mer and others. She apologized in her Bailey way and even acknowledged how great a teacher and doctor Nick is after giving him the cold shoulder and turning her nose up at his help.
But there’s still a lot to be desired here when discussing things like the mass effects of burnout, but she is working Jo to her maximum capacity.
Jo is juggling General Surgery, O.B., and she was manning the floor for some reason. What good is discussing the strain on overworked doctors that lead to them leaving if you’re putting all that pressure on one of the remaining doctors?
Nick’s addition to the staff should ease some of the burdens, and he was able to step in for Mer as she spent the day with Webber. And Nick is a damn fine doctor.
He’s a fantastic mentor, and hearing some of his background, like how he got rejected from GSM, just further rounds the character out. Nick at GSM suits him well. Ironically, it feels like he’s found more purpose there than he’s had in some time, so that could factor into Mer’s decision down the road.
And he has a different technique for teaching. With a confident, gentle way of guiding Levi through surgery proved effective and got the desired results. It’s a simple but arguably better way of handling residents because the old ways aren’t working as well anymore.
Webber waxed poetic about how they’ve been breeding doctors who don’t care as much about patients these days, and sympathy and compassion probably correlate to how they’re taught and treated coming up.
Webber had some great moments amid his stoned stage. I can forgive the series rehashing the accidental high storyline because James Pickens is hilarious and pulled it off well enough.
The father-daughter vibes between him and Mer during that time were strong. Amelia was also a great shoulder to lean on. She remained for the rest of the hour, reassuring him that this accidental incident didn’t affect his sobriety unless he allowed it.
And we got that special moment where Mer admitted that part of her leaving Seattle is because of the ghosts there, like Derek. Damn those ferry boats.
But of course, the humor of the storyline was short-lived when we learned that the reason Catherine had that cannabis drink was because of her cancer progressing.
The series revisiting this long-abandoned arc was quite unexpected, and now there’s reason to worry about her. Is this why Jackson and April are appearing in the series soon?
Family isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, and Winston hit that point home with Maggie. We have never seen him behave the way he was toward the patient and to her.
He was unleashing all of his frustrations and projecting his personal drama onto Margot, and it wasn’t fair. As her doctor, his job was to save and help her, not berate her for not calling her wife or getting checked out sooner.
The tension between Maggie and Winston grew thicker by the second because of his behavior, and eventually, she kicked him out of the surgery, which was warranted.
Mer: The Ferryboats might me why I need to.. Seattle is just …
Richard: Haunted.
It was easy to get incredibly upset with Winston’s display and even fear that the series was starting to do to him what they’ve sadly done to Link all season.
However, once he expressed himself, it added another layer to this character we haven’t gotten the opportunity to know as well. When he spoke about his experience with Wendell where his brother stole and he got pulled over and caught a case, it added more context to the friction between the brothers.
It also made that traffic stop Winston experienced that had him damn near sobbing at the side of the road after a horrible, terrifying experience with the police all the more upsetting and complex.
Maggie has been very insistent about Winston forgiving Wendall and giving him a chance, mending fences. However, she didn’t know their relationship well enough to encourage these things. Winston didn’t need to make amends with his brother; he needed to establish boundaries and maybe even cut ties for his benefit.
Not everyone can be like the Sister Trio. Families are complicated.
Interestingly, the familial vibe that Owen, Amelia, and Teddy manage is a fascinating one, and it was endearing that Teddy confided in Amelia about what was happening with Leo.
Their therapy session proved fruitful, but Teddy struggles with living in the ambiguity. Owen is rather zen about the whole thing and willing to follow Leo’s lead on all of it.
While the series explores these two parents navigating how to raise a child exploring their gender identity at such a young age is compelling, and they’re trying to do right by it for Leo, the story centers on Teddy.
Things and people don’t need to constantly be defined to be loved unconditionally.
Amelia
She’s an ambiguous person who can’t manage that in her life. It makes her a bit of an oxymoron.
Teddy’s issues with her own sexual identity and accepting that without shame have always been unresolved, and so much of this with Leo feels like it’s this personal hurdle she needs to get over for herself.
Amelia’s talk with her was necessary because while revealing that she’s dating Kai and happy, she addressed how much better her world is now that she’s freed herself from binary thinking and just lives and loves.
Her quote about accepting that some things don’t have to be defined to be loved unconditionally was truly beautiful. And it seemed to resonate with Teddy. By the end of the hour, she was far more at ease with playing things by ear with Leo.
She also seemed to read Link well enough not to press the issue when he asked to take Scout despite it being her night. It was a brief but lovely moment of the two co-parenting well, and it was refreshing considering how tense things have been between them.
Link had a rough go of it in his personal and professional life, and it kept bleeding into each other.
Like Winston, he did a frustrating amount of projecting from the moment the Clarks stepped into the hospital.
It’s such a tragic arc already, and the emotions ran high when we learned that Simon, who is already battling cancer and chemo, has another tumor, and he’s dying much faster.
All he wants is to make it long enough to see his baby born, but that may not be the case. Kristen’s desperate plea to deliver the baby now was heartbreaking, and it was concerning when Link gave her a little bit of hope that didn’t exist.
Link was probably responding to this as someone who has grown attached to this couple and a father himself. He wants a happy ending for them, but it may not exist.
We know that this couple will stick around for the remainder of the season, and I am not prepared for the emotional rollercoaster they’re about to take us on with this loving couple.
Link took his attachment too far. It caused him to lash out at Jo and unleash some things with her that he’s been holding in for some time.
Link: I know it’s your night, but I could really use some Scout time tonight.
Amelia: Is everything alright?
Link: Not really.
Maggie: Can I crash at your place tonight?
Amelia: Is everything alright?
Maggie: Not really.
His outburst about how he felt used by her felt a bit childish, but it also felt warranted, considering the raw state he’s been in.
Fortunately, it prompted her to tell him the truth about her feelings for him and how he didn’t seem to love her back, so she moved on and did what she felt was best to preserve their friendship.
They fought like two people who have known each other for years, so while there was some frustration with the argument’s existence, it was also long overdue and felt right for these two. Luddington and Carmack were great in those moments.
The genie is out of the bottle, and there’s no going back now.
After this argument, we didn’t get to revisit where they are with their relationship. We don’t know where either of them stands.
Jo seems happy with Todd, but there’s always the possibility that he’s been this placeholder for who she really wants, and while Todd is a good guy, Jo acknowledges that she always is drawn to more complicated men.
And Link is still figuring things out. We opened with him having sex with a random woman who seemed like a hybrid of Amelia and Jo.
In some ways, Jo’s confession is a bigger game-changer in their relationship than the two of them having casual sex with each other. But where do they go from here?
Over to you, Grey’s Fanatics. Sound off below with all of your thoughts.
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And check out our interview with Bianca Santos, who guest-starred as Kristen Clark!
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.