Finally! Finally some big time drama on Grey’s Anatomy this season! It’s a Christmas miracle! I mean, the show is giving us A LITERAL CLIFFHANGER. And also several metaphorical cliffhangers. Of course we’re getting this drama and this energy from the show as it goes on extended hiatus until the end of February, but let’s not fixate on that. Instead, let’s fixate on the car that is hanging off a cliff for most of the episode.
The Megan and Farouk situation is bleak. Farouk is still on ECMO and waiting for a heart transplant while Megan is spiraling out in an alarming way. She hasn’t left the hospital, she isn’t sleeping, and when Cormac walks into Farouk’s room at one point, she tells him that if Farouk dies, she dies too. She’s survived enough pain in her life and isn’t “willing to survive this.†She isn’t able to say that to Owen or her mother and so Cormac becomes the one bearing the brunt of that dark confession. Do you think Cormac is ever like, why the fuck did I come to Seattle?
Then there’s a heart for Farouk. And it’s in Tacoma! They can drive and pick it up and young Farouk will be saved. Owen and Teddy are still reeling a bit from the loss of Noah, the vet with pulmonary fibrosis, and they decide to be the ones to physically procure the heart so that they can ensure it gets to Farouk safely — they are not going to lose their nephew. Cormac insists on joining them since he’s Farouk’s doctor and also it’ll give him a chance to talk to them about Megan. It seems wild that they’d let three attendings head off to Tacoma to get a heart, but we already know Grey Sloan has some oversight problems.
They get the heart. Farouk is getting prepped for surgery. This is great! On the return trip, Cormac tries to talk to Owen and Teddy about Megan needing serious help and being deeply depressed, but those two don’t want to hear about it. Megan already goes to therapy, she is fine, and she will be even more fine now that Farouk will get his transplant. Could these two be any more frustrating? They’ve been surrounded by people (including themselves) with severe PTSD and depression and have seen the state Megan is in. Also, Cormac isn’t prone to overdramatizing situations, so you think they’d take him a little more seriously.
The conversation gets cut short anyway because in true Grey’s fashion, the driver of their little organ-mobile has a stroke. It’s like, have a stroke on your own time, dude. The car swerves and ends up tumbling off the road until it lands on its side, teetering on the edge of a cliff like a see-saw. If they make any movement in the wrong direction, the whole thing could go over. Plus they are in a remote area and no one knows where they are! Plus they have no cell service! It’s all got a very “Derek gets hit by a truck in the middle of nowhere†feel to it. And not to add any additional pressure but, that heart (which survived the crash) is only going to be viable for so long.
Cormac is able to smash his window, which is basically a sunroof at this point, so they can crawl out. Of course, any time someone moves, the car slides further and further down. They need to get out of this car and get this heart to Grey Sloan! This is a bad situation, people! I mean, it’s not a “dog eats a heart meant for transplant in the middle of the hospital waiting room†situation, but what is, really? Anyway, the only option here is to have Teddy crawl out the window — the car will tip if too many people move — with the transplant cooler and flag down help. Leaving people behind in that car is not ideal and there are arguments about who should be the first to climb out since there’s a high probability the others will die. I get that Teddy doesn’t want Cormac’s kids to lose another parent, but if Cormac goes and both Teddy and Owen stay in the car and die, uhhh, their kids will lose both their parents. What I’m saying is, there is no good solution and Teddy, the heart surgeon, should just get out of the car with the heart already!!
She does and she flags someone down to take her to the hospital and I guess also call for help. Meanwhile, the car is tipping fast. There are only a few seconds left for someone else to get out of there and Cormac is closest to the window. Owen tells him to get the hell out of here!! He also tells him to tell Teddy and his kids that he loves them and oh yeah, by the way, he secretly gave Noah the drugs to help him die and promised to give those drugs to three other dying soldiers and those drugs are in his car, so if Cormac could be a dear and follow up on that, that would be great. Cormac has zero time to process this news before he has to crawl out of the car. As soon as he makes it out, the whole car goes over the cliff. Will Owen Hunt survive this? Probably, I think. Right? Also, I’m very into Owen right now, I don’t know what’s happening.
Okay, while that storyline is thrilling and very in-your-face, the storyline that might have the biggest ramifications for people going forward is the one happening back at Grey Sloan. Friends, this twist to the whole Webber Method thing is so, so good. I mean, it’s awful and there is so much blood involved, but as far as plot goes, it is good. Webber spends the episode introducing Maggie to the Webber Method, which she, like every other attending, finds appalling. You’ll recall that the Webber Method basically lets residents perform major surgery on their own, stopping only for the most difficult sections of the surgery to call in an attending. It’s efficient and helps with the dearth of surgeons these days. It’s been going well and the morale amongst the residents has never been higher. Webber is proud of himself. Maggie is still dubious.
You just know something is going to go wrong here. Schmitt and Helm are assigned a surgery on a nature podcast guy named Devon. Devon seems nice! His podcast is soothing! Schmitt has been the star resident of the Webber Method thus far. But, you see, the Webber Method has made Schmitt cocky. As they approach the most difficult section of Devon’s surgery, Schmitt does the right thing and has Webber paged to come in and assist. But instead of waiting for Webber to arrive, like he’s supposed to, Schmitt thinks he has the whole thing handled and proceeds with the surgery. It quickly turns into a bloodbath (anyone else reminded of Shane killing Alex’s dad??). By the time Maggie, Bailey, and Webber burst into the room, Devon is dead and Schmitt and Helm are standing in a pool of the guy’s blood.
Schmitt can’t speak. Bailey looks like she might punch a hole in the wall. She forces him to call time of death because this is his doing. As she storms out of the OR, she turns to Webber and says, “this is on you.†GUYS. It is so scathing. Webber gave the baby surgeons too much power and now he is going to pay for it.
The OR Board
• There is so much drama in this episode that Meredith’s would-be groundbreaking surgery takes a backseat! The whole Parkinson’s team arrives at Grey Sloan for David’s big surgery (to keep it under wraps). Meredith even barfs about it. She is feeling the pressure of changing the course of medicine. Unfortunately, they learn David isn’t feeling well and they need to do an emergent bowel surgery. That’s bad news because the FDA gave them a finite window to perform the Parkinson’s surgery and it will take a while to get a new one. It’s also bad news because during that surgery, things go south and we leave the episode with Meredith trying to save David’s life.
• David has some pretty interesting insight into why Meredith would want to take his case on in the first place: Not because she wants to cure Parkinson’s (although, a real bonus) but because she wants to cure another neurodegenerative disease: Alzheimer’s. It always goes back to Alzheimer’s.
• Amelia and Kai finally kiss! It is steamy. Of course it happens at the exact moment Link rolls up to make a big speech about how he is so in love with Amelia and doesn’t need to get married. He is heartbroken. He is also the biggest dope.
• Jo gets all hot and bothered when Link practices his speech to Amelia on her but honestly, in the grand scheme of romantic Grey’s Anatomy speeches, it isn’t even that good. Cool it, Jo.
• Dr. Wright begins his residency at Grey Sloan and he is truly obsessed with Bailey. Where is this going?
• There’s still some real sexual tension between Meredith and Cormac. He didn’t even slowly back out of the room when she went on and on about the Derek Death Beach stuff. Maybe Meredith should reconsider him.
• “Prince was from Minnesota.â€