Ever wondered if the actors who play your favorite doctors on TV could actually save your life? You can find out for yourself at Vulture Festival in Los Angeles when Grey’s Anatomy cast members Camilla Luddington, Jake Borelli, Alexis Floyd, Adelaide Kane, Midori Francis, and Niko Terho compete in our medical-trivia competition on November 13 — tickets are on sale now!
The house? The house? Grey’s Anatomy couldn’t just let Meredith leave Seattle without making her suffer one last trauma. They had to go and fuck around with the house. Meredith’s house is too iconic to touch. Meredith’s house has seen things. All the things! People have had sex on the floor in that house and danced on the couch in that house and performed C-sections on that house’s kitchen table. And now a lightning storm is going to come around and burn it to the ground? Grow up, Grey’s Anatomy! Get a life! Leave that house alone.
Alas, Grey’s Anatomy cannot grow up or get a life or leave that house alone. By the end of the fall finale, Meredith Grey’s house — which used to be Ellis Grey’s house — is up in flames thanks to a lightning storm that has Seattle by the throat. Everyone is safe, and we still don’t know the full extent of the damage, but it looks pretty significant. Meredith doesn’t seem like one to believe in signs, but this does happen the very same day she makes her announcement that she and her kids are moving to Boston. Do with that what you will! On a positive note, Maggie and Winston, who were in the house watching the kids, packing for Meredith, and bickering over the state of their marriage, do save perhaps the most valuable piece of Grey’s history: Meredith and Derek’s framed Post-it note. How distressing it would be to lose that baby. So we’ll have to wait until the show returns in February (outrageous!) to see what becomes of the illustrious House of Grey.
We’ll also have to wait and see what becomes of Maggie and Winston. They don’t get much screen time in “Thunderstruck,†yet the way their story line ends feels like the biggest cliffhanger as we head into this winter hiatus. They’re still fighting about Winston’s declaration that he thinks he should switch specialties from cardio to vascular surgery because working this closely together is killing their marriage. Okay, it’s less fighting and more Maggie avoiding her husband until Winston refuses to stop bothering her about it. There’s just something about packing, even if it isn’t your house, that ratchets up the tension in any room, so it’s not surprising that their bickering builds until they get into the meat of the problem: Winston has no problem giving up cardio because it’s not his end-all, be-all passion, Maggie is. Maggie thinks that’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. She would never give up her career for their marriage, and she doesn’t respect Winston’s decision. She says those words! “I don’t think I respect that!†To the man’s face! That’s a tough one to come back from. It’s giving me some real Cristina-and-Owen vibes, and look what happened to them.
Maggie and Winston aren’t the only Grey’s couple dealing with a rough patch at the moment. We don’t get to see Meredith tell her friends and family about her decision to move to Boston, but we do learn that Nick isn’t handling the decision well. He understands Meredith has to put her kids first, but he’s upset she didn’t even think to talk to him before making the decision official. Just, like, a little heads-up that she is taking a job across the country. Not that he would’ve had any input in the decision, but he does feel a little blindsided. And now he’s in a tough spot: If he stays in Seattle, he feels like an ass, and it would surely end things with Meredith. If he follows her to Boston, that means he’d be ditching his interns and this fledgling residency program that he really cares about. Not for nothing, but Nick is great at this job! He’s incredibly patient and encouraging with the interns and also wildly handsome and — oh, whoops, this just turned into an entry in my diary, my bad!
The tension between Meredith and Nick spills over into a complicated Whipple surgery they’re doing on children’s-book author Tessa Hobbes. Lucas and Simone have scrubbed in for the surgery, and Nick is trying to really support Lucas, who, it’s clear, has some confidence issues when it comes to believing he has the talent to be a surgeon. He’s very hard on himself! It’s been extra hard today since Amelia made him come out as a Shepherd in front of everyone at the skills lab (Nick was kept in the dark about this, too, another thing he adds to the list of information Meredith doesn’t feel the need to loop him in on). Lucas has a major complex about not living up to his last name, and it is raging at the moment. While Nick tries to boost that confidence — he tells Lucas he’s “good enough to make his own name†(God, he’s dreamy … oh, how’d my diary get back in here) — the moment Lucas hesitates in the OR, Meredith is all over him. She eventually makes him step back and subs Simone in. It’s obviously less about Lucas and more about her issues with Nick, but still, that stings!
I’m sure, in the end, Nick will be sucking down Dunkaccinos with his best girl in Boston, leaving the residency program to Owen or something (Owen’s also a surprisingly great teacher), but for now, the guy seems pretty hurt. Yes, Meredith has every right to decide what’s best for her and her children, but talking to Nick before officially accepting the job is just common courtesy. He’s given up and taken on so much for Meredith. Don’t ruin this, Mer! You know, this whole thing is very conflicting because if my 14-year-old self could see me defending the Ben Covington like this, she would be appalled! But here we are.
And how’s Lucas faring after that less-than-ideal surgery (less than ideal for him — everything works out for Tessa, the actual person being operated on)? Wow, this guy is really a head case when it comes to proving himself. He’s spiraling in the locker room over feeling like a complete fool and failure. It’s bad! Simone tries to walk him off the ledge, but he doesn’t want her pity. He doesn’t want her to be nice to him. They start arguing until they start kissing, which is the best kind of kissing! Simone backs away quickly, telling Lucas she just “can’t do this†but offering no additional explanation before running off. My man is having a rough day!
What can I say? I’m getting attached to this new group of interns. Lucas and Simone have some heat, and I’m into that — may we be blessed with more kissing from them in the new year. Meanwhile, Jules and Benson are bonding down in the pit as they work with a family who were all struck by lightning. Benson gets to show off his lightning knowledge, which I guess is a thing now, but Jules gets a moment to impress as well. Thus far, their relationship has mostly been about one-upping the other, but later they begin to bond over tragedies in the skills lab. The alternate title for this series could be Bonding Over Tragedy, so this plays well. Jules opens up more about her terrible parents and how their drug problems affected her childhood. Benson gets vulnerable, too: He tells Jules he got his medical degree from a school in St. Kitts because his once-stellar grades tanked when his mother got sick and died, and no school in the U.S. would take him. Mika is the most underserved of the five newbies, and her new role as Teddy Altman’s No. 1 fangirl is alarming. Sure, Teddy was masterful in surgery that day, but Mika, sweetie, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. Hopefully, she gets equal screen time as her peers as we move forward.
This big break certainly isn’t a positive when it comes to momentum, but six episodes in and it feels as if this season-19 refresh might actually be working.
The OR Board
• The show has been hyperfocused on embedding these five new characters into the story, but that means some of our old characters have been left to tread water. Not that I need more Jo Wilson in my life, but what is she even doing here this season? In this episode, she’s mean to a clearly overworked Schmitt and partakes in an uncomfortably long hug with Link. Once Meredith’s gone, let’s hope Link professes his love and these two get into it. Let them do something interesting!
• Bailey, Carina, and Jo open their reproductive-health-care clinic named after Bailey’s mother Elena. I guess Denny Duquette is really, officially dead to everyone at Grey Sloan. I know, I know, only three people there even know who he is, but listen, you can never be too sure with that guy. He could pop up anywhere
• With Meredith leaving, the hunt for a new chief of surgery is on. Owen suggests himself, which is objectively hilarious. Later, he tells Teddy that she should think about applying for the gig. The stuff of nightmares!