Hey, remember how last week I was all, Wow, Grey’s did some cool OR scenes, and we love Grey’s getting back to OR scenes? Well, in this week’s episode, there are zero OR scenes. Really, zero medical scenes, unless you want to count Winston and Zola cleaning up Boy Bailey’s cut, which I don’t. I don’t want to count that. This season of Grey’s Anatomy feels so aimless, and it is only getting more lost in the weeds with episodes that (checks notes) devote a major chunk of time to a new character’s niece whom we’ve never met before? Or have one full story line that is just a dream sequence that came out of nowhere? It all felt a little pointless.
It’s a shame because, in theory, I’m here for an episode devoted to Meredith and her sisters. Sure, why not? Those three women have a complicated relationship and a lot of history, and, like, remember when Meredith drove Amelia to get Slurpees on her wedding day because she didn’t really care whether or not Amelia went through with it? They have stuff they could get into. But this episode is not that episode. Instead, “The Makings of You†sets each sister off in their own story line.
Meredith heads to Nick’s cabin in Minnesota. Listen, as you know, this is a pro-Nick recap space, and I love him and how giggly and happy he and Meredith are together, but serious question here: Does Meredith hate her own children? She is never with them! Instead she’s with Nick! And Nick’s niece! And a person named Silver! I’m all for Mer getting laid for an entire weekend, but we have Zola back at home talking to Winston about how she’s still scared after her mom’s whole COVID coma thing. Shouldn’t Meredith tend to her own garden for a little?
Not right now, I guess. Instead we get a whole story line about Nick’s 20-year-old niece, Charlotte, showing up with her truly dumb-as-a-rock boyfriend named Silver (not his real name, just the name that fully describes him at this moment; don’t you want to send him for a long walk off a short plank?) and revealing that she has decided to drop out of college and travel to Costa Rica for a few months and then see what happens. Nick is livid. We know this because he has to go outside and chop wood (not a euphemism, definitely still hot). Meredith tries to side with Charlotte because she knows what it’s like to be a 20-year-old girl, but Nick snaps at her. He is scared of Charlotte going down the same path as her mother, Nick’s sister. When is Meredith pro sending young women off to Costa Rica with men named Silver who unironically use the phrase sick full moon ceremony? Season 18 of Grey’s Anatomy has no rules.
Now Nick’s ironic use of the phrase sick full moon ceremony? — that is perfect. Scott Speedman’s comedic timing on Grey’s is a thing of beauty.
Eventually, Nick and Charlotte (these people don’t even go here) have a heart-to-heart where she tells him she needs to figure out her own path, but also he did a great job raising her, and somehow he gets on board with sending her away with that Silver dude. I don’t think it matters? The important part to us is that after this conversation, Nick admits to Meredith that he snapped at her because he’s not used to having help. He has been on his own, making these decisions alone for so long. He also admits that he has been thinking about quitting his job. Meredith is, apparently, also contemplating a different future for herself. She has wondered if she can really go back to being chief of general surgery at Grey Sloan. That’s a surprising statement. It seems hard to believe that Meredith would quit Grey Sloan, especially since we already know this show was renewed for season 19, but I did just say that season 18 has no rules, so who knows. For now, she and Nick are just going to take a nice stroll on a cute bridge, and he’s going to admit that he’s falling in love with her, and they’re going to make out for a while. This feels good and right.
Let’s talk about Maggie. Maggie gets the flu, and she, Winston, and Meredith’s kids, who I guess Maggie is raising now, find a box of Ellis Grey’s things, including an old letter addressed to “Margaret.†Maggie proceeds to have a fever dream in which Ellis visits her and reads the letter to her — Grey’s Anatomy has asked Kate Burton to do some truly wild stuff. The letter is all about how Ellis doesn’t regret giving Maggie up, nor does she regret never trying to get to know her. The one good thing she did was find Maggie’s adoptive parents because Maggie was better off with them. That final part is true, but the whole thing is cold and heartless and pretty soul crushing to Maggie. Also, Maggie’s dead adoptive mother shows up in the dream to hug her. I don’t know; I’m just reporting the facts, people.
Now, Maggie dealing with abandonment issues and feeling like she wasn’t enough for Ellis and is a disappointment even as an adult are interesting things to really dive into. The problem is that there was no buildup to this fever dream or these epiphanies about Ellis. Sure, the Ellis factor is a major part of who Maggie is, and she arrived at Grey Sloan wanting to know more about her birth parents, but she hasn’t talked about her feelings regarding Ellis in so long. There’s no plot development or catalyst for any of this. Maybe if she had brought up that whole thing about “feeling like something was missing†that she mentions at the end of the episode in at least one prior episode, or if she was the one whom Zola had the conversation with about wanting to know her birth mother. If there were just some hints that these feelings had been brewing, it would have given the entire dream sequence a much bigger emotional punch. In the end, Maggie shows Meredith and Amelia the letter and then burns it, telling them that whatever she thought was missing, it wasn’t her Ellis. Everyone is feeling so dissatisfied these days, huh?
And then there is Amelia. Amelia is in Minnesota with Kai, finishing up the report on Hamilton’s surgery. Did anyone else yelp when Amelia and Kai wrote that new section of the report, and then Amelia was just like, okay, I think it’s done, and hits submit … without even a final once-over? This is a report about an experiment that could cure Parkinson’s! You don’t just want to check it for typos real quick? That’s monster behavior.
Amelia seems fine with it. She and Kai head out to the bar where Kai pulls a little “surprise, I’m in a band!†action. Amelia is super into it, because then they head back to Kai’s for a very steamy sex scene. They celebrate with peanut butter and jellies; Kai introduces Amelia to their plants; and Amelia talks about how she is still getting to know and love parts of herself. The next morning, before Amelia heads back to Seattle, she reminds Kai that she’s a mom, her kid is her priority, and she hopes that doesn’t scare Kai off. Kai doesn’t really respond to this? It will be interesting to see where this goes since Kai only seems interested in being a parent to plant babies not human ones. It’s all … fine?
Hey, at least in the promo for next week, it looks like a patient comes in with a giant python wrapped around their body. After everything else, bring on the giant snakes, please!