Although Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy was titled “Take Me to Church,” it was looking more and more like Catherine didn’t have a prayer of surviving Season 21. Would Meredith find a miracle up her lab-coat sleeve? Read on, and we’ll discuss not only how she handles Grey Sloan’s most contentious patient but how Owen and Teddy navigate their returns to work, how Bailey fares in attempting to get her job back and how Richard takes a swing at R&R.
‘I KNOW WE’VE HAD OUR DIFFERENCES, BUT… ’ | As the episode began, Lucas and Simone were still getting busy — and annoying Mika in the process! — and Molly was sleeping in Blue’s bed. (He was on the couch.) The morning after, the amnesiac tagged along with her ex-fiancé to Grey Sloan in hopes of getting him to tell her about their past. When Teddy, Owen and Amelia reported back to work, the rude awakenings began. First Amelia learned that her lab was no longer her lab. Then Teddy found out from Richard that she was no longer chief; she was basically on probation as a surgeon till she proved that she could do the job without thievery or rule-breaking. Though Bailey was waiting in Catherine’s office to ask to reclaim her post as residency director, the boss lady blew her off to discuss her hush-hush condition with Meredith.
Later, unaware of whose scans she was seeing, Amelia eyeballed Catherine’s and immediately clocked all the tumors on her liver. “So this is it,” Catherine sighed to Mer. “This is how I die.” Despite her certainty that her days were numbered, Dr. Fox refused to fill in Richard and have him panic 24/7 for whatever amount of time she had left. Determined to save her frenemy, Mer approached Bailey for a consult and, always having been a terrible secret-keeper, disclosed the identity of the patient. Bailey advised Catherine that her tumors might well be benign, so they should do a biopsy, stat. Catherine was mid-protest when she received a text from Richard saying that he’d swing by her office soon. Suddenly, she wanted to get moving. Hiding out at Joe’s, Catherine told Mer and Bailey that she didn’t know whether her body had enough fight left for the battle that it was facing. Again, she had to be urged to get the biopsy and finally relented.
‘THIS IS GONNA SOUND WEIRD, BUT I FEEL LIKE A MOVIE STAR’ | Knowing that he wasn’t getting the peds fellowship, Levi took a stab at professional detachment. But that was going to be tricky to pull off as he and Monica treated a boy named Cal with a genetic disorder that predisposed him to cancer. Schmitt also clashed with the hospital’s new chaplain, James (Michael Thomas Grant), who wasn’t nearly as reluctant as the co-chief resident to discuss death with the patient. (The reverend was even willing to give the boy a casket catalog.) Their conflict escalated further as Levi demonstrated his God complex in doing his job. “Screw your job,” James suggested. “Be a person.” After Monica and Amelia successfully performed surgery on Cal, he… started shaking and coding. His prognosis was as grim as could be. He had weeks to live, months at best, Levi had to tell Cal and his father. But “we can cram a lot into a few months,” Schmitt said. Then, taking a page from James’ book, he invited Cal to make a list of the things he wanted to do before he died. At the end of the hour, Levi admitted to James, “I thought that if I walled off the pain, it wouldn’t hurt, but I was wrong.”
When Nora, an old friend of Owen and Megan’s (played by Floriana Lima), was wheeled into the hospital, the busy mom wound up kind of enjoying the break from her hectic day-to-day. But that was before she started throwing up blood — never a good sign, that. Desperately, Teddy tried to find someone to operate with her on Nora’s esophagus, and what were the odds? Owen volunteered. Thankfully, Nora pulled through the surgery and shared what seemed like a telling memory of Owen’s dad. (It wasn’t just me, right? That felt like… something.)
IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS… | Eventually, Molly wore down Blue, who recalled for her the night they met at a Halloween party. Why’d they break up? “It was complicated,” he said just before they were interrupted. When she later pressed the issue, he explained that he had cheated on her. “A stupid, drunk mistake that I have regretted every day since.” Off the ensuing fight that they’d had, she’d gotten in the car wreck that had erased her memory. She wasn’t angry, though. “I got to start over,” she said. Later, she admitted that she could see why she had liked him, right down to his sparkly eyes. “I wish I remembered you,” she said, and just like that, Blue planted a kiss on her. Awkward. But the door seemed to be left open for them to stay in contact… or get back in touch. (Let’s hope; they were sweet together.)
Off their kiss in the season premiere, Jules and Mika kept right on kissing — and were spotted by Amelia. Winston invited Lucas to join him and Richard in the skills lab… which quickly turned into a day on the golf course. Potentially a very valuable day for Adams: Webber recommended a friend of his Uncle Derek’s who might be willing to help with his remediation. For his part, Winston seized the opportunity to point out to his former father-in-law that his focus on the links suggested that he was also still sharp in the O.R. At day’s end, Teddy told Richard she wanted to be chief again, and he was like, “OK. Whatevs.” Immediately, she was recruited by Mer and Bailey to perform Catherine’s biopsy. After Sydney made fun of Lucas for thinking he’d gone golfing with his higher-ups because he was such a good doctor, not because he was so well-connected, he changed his mind about trying to get out of redoing the past year.