BWW Recap: A Compelling Episode of GREY'S ANATOMY...And There Are Also Bagpipes!

If you're a fan of fun cameos, you'll be a fan of this week's Grey's Anatomy! We get 'Baby' from 'Dirty Dancing' AND we get a Hobbit! More than that though, we also get a really compelling episode that explores complicated family matters, gun violence, and having to operate on someone you hate.

The episode, entitled I WALK THE LINE was written by Tameson Duffy and directed by Kevin McKidd. It opens with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) telling Deluca (Giacomo Gianniotti) that she can't officially go on a date with him until she gets the all-clear from Maggie (Kelly McCreary). She tries to do this throughout the episode, but Maggie is a tad bit distracted. Kiki (Jenica Bergere), her nemesis (bully, really) from med school has come to Grey Sloan Memorial to see if Maggie will take on a heart surgery that no one else will touch. Maggie is struggling to even know if her judgment about whether or not she should attempt the surgery is sound because of her overwhelming hatred for Kiki. "There are rules about surgeons operating on people they love. There should be rules about operating on people they hate." Eventually, Maggie and Kiki have a heart to heart in which Kiki admits that she was horrible to her classmates and shares that she fears that if she dies now, she will go to hell. Maggie still isn't sure if there is a chance for the surgery to be a success, but luckily, Meredith has been following her around all day to ask about Deluca, and so the two of them end up finding a joint approach that just might work! Yay sisters! Jo (Camilla Luddington) comments that this means there are no consequences to Kiki's actions, but Maggie points out that the 'emergency contact' section of Kiki's paperwork was left blank. She has no one. There are consequences. Once Maggie has moved on from the Kiki drama, she is finally able to process Meredith's news that she wants to date Deluca. She's surprised, but fine with it, and even tells Meredith that she's got her back if Deluca is ever anything but a good guy to her. Meredith tells Deluca they can go out, but she's driving. She is a single mom of 3 and has no interest in his motorcycle. Fair.

After the big Betty/Britney reveal last week, we knew it wouldn't be too long before Britney's parents turned up. Apparently, Britney (Peyton Kennedy) did heed Amelia's (Caterina Scorsone) advice and called her parents. Unfortunately, she then ran away from the rehab before they showed up. They were given Amelia's contact information and so their next stop was the hospital where they found Amelia right before she headed out to try and find a missing Betty. Owen (Kevin McKidd) struggles while watching John and Carol Dickinson (yep, Betty didn't even tell them her real surname) bond with baby Leo. Just as he feared, they didn't know about him and now that they do, they want him. The tricky thing here is that objectively thinking, this isn't something to fear. This is a good thing. Leo has a family who can care for him. Of course, it is devastating for Owen and Amelia because they have become Leo's family too...but really...when you think about it, this is kind of the ideal outcome for a child that enters foster care.

Before John and Carol make clear what their intentions with Leo are, Amelia and Carol (Jennifer freaking Grey) share a touching moment in which Carol expresses her guilt over her daughter being missing for so long, and her grief about losing Britney to drugs even before she actually lost her. She figures Amelia is judging her as a mother. Amelia, who has commented several times this season that she now has a better understanding of what she put her own mother through, tells Carol that she did the same things Britney did and when she got sober, her mom was the last person she wanted to see because the shame was just too great. This was such a lovely moment because Amelia broke her sobriety and shared her experience with Carol for all the right reasons. Even as she did it, I was worried that the decision to do so could be used against her, but at the same time, it was evident that Carol really needed this and you aren't going to find a character with more empathy or compassion than Amelia Shepherd. Just as a side note, I love that the writers named Britney's mom Carol, considering that Amelia's mom's name is Carol-yn. It is very clear that Amelia was seeing parallels between her mom and Britney's mom. Their names are even almost the same!

Unfortunately, Carol tells John what Amelia told her and he is now determined to take Leo back to the hotel with them that same night and claims it is because he doesn't want Leo to be with "another drug addict". Owen rightfully reminds John that he and Amelia are Leo's family and that he, as his foster parent swore to protect him so Leo isn't going anywhere without a court order. Once the Dickinsons are gone, Owen turns on a Amelia. He is furious that she disclosed to Carol that she is an addict. Amelia, who is still reeling from Carol's betrayal (seriously, that's brutal), says she was trying to help and reminds Owen "Everyone in this situation is in pain." She then tries to console him by reminding him that they aren't married, so if Owen wants to fight to keep Leo, Amelia does not have to be in the way of that. Owen is incensed by the word "if" and Amelia reminds him that he is Leo's foster parent and that he had said from the beginning that he wanted Leo to have his mom in his life. . She also comments that he doesn't seem concerned by the fact that Betty is missing at all, to which he replies that her name is Britney and she has never been much of a mother. This whole storyline is so devastating for these two. Owen is scared he will lose Leo, but Amelia, who has lost a baby, maybe has a different perspective because in this case, Leo would live and thrive and so as devastating as losing him would be, it is a very different kind of loss. Amelia is also empathetic to Betty and her parents in a way that Owen very clearly isn't. Owen's views on addiction are very different from Amelia's and if anything is going to break up this couple, I predict it will be this fundamental difference between them.

Fun Fact: Kyle Secor, the actor who is playing Britney's dad John, played Pete's brother Adam on "Private Practice", which is supposed to exist in the same universe as "Grey's Anatomy." This is hardly the first time this has happened (the most notable being Sarah Drew's guest appearance on PP before she became April Kepner on Grey's) but this is notable because at the time he was on the show, the character of Amelia Shepherd was too!

The main patient storyline of the week was a memorable one. A man accidentally fires a gun into a parade as a Scottish pipe band is going by, shooting a young man named Colin. As Owen, Jackson and Karev try to save Colin, his father Seamus (Billy Boyd) refuses to leave his side, and the rest of the band stands vigil outside playing their bagpipes. Seamus comments that 20 years ago in Scotland there was a school shooting. He is referencing the Dunblane school massacre of 1996. After it happened, Scotland changed their gun laws and there hasn't been another one since. He expresses frustration with the fact that nothing will change in America after Colin got shot. The fact that this message was shared exactly 1 year after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida made it all the more powerful. Happily, the doctors are able to save Colin and tell the band that he will be ok.

Lastly, let's talk about Tom (Greg Germann) and Teddy (Kim Raver). They are treating a patient who has come in with her husband and her best friend. The whole situation is obviously a reminder to Teddy of the dynamic she is trying to sort out with Owen and Amelia, but Tom sees the triangle from his own perspective. He has really taken a liking to Teddy but he worries that the torch she is carrying for Owen means he doesn't stand a chance. She eventually shows up at his hotel room to tell him that her friendship with Owen is deep and meaningful, but it should only ever be a friendship (we'll see....). Then they kiss. As a big fan of both Tom and Amelia, I am really stressed out by this storyline because as Owen and Amelia's family falls apart, I feel like it is only a matter of time before Owen reconsiders what he could have with Teddy. This is frustrating because, I am really starting to like Teddy and Tom as a couple.

Next week's episode looks intense and I think every PRIVATE PRACTICE fan threw their remote and their TV at the sight of it! The drama surrounding who will get to keep Leo will have to take a back seat because Betty/Britney turns up in a very bad way and there is a risk that Amelia is going to lose (as in actually LOSE) another kid. My heart just can't take it. Is it Thursday yet?

Photo Credit: Disney/ABC

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