BWW Recap: GREY'S ANATOMY Avoids Catastrophe, but Hasn't Yet Found the Cure

"Catastrophe And The Cure"-The second episode of season 13 of GREY'S ANATOMY aired last night, and the show continues to move each plot forward in interesting ways-Alex continues to face the repercussions of his assault on Deluca-personally, professionally, and legally; Both Jo and Deluca also have to face the emotional and professional fallout of Alex's actions; the Meredith/Maggie/Riggs love triangle continues its slow and awkward burn toward inevitable hurt feelings-even though Meredith somehow seems to think that this is avoidable; Jackson and April work to figure out the whole parenting-while-divorced-and-while-mom-is-recovering-from-surgery thing; and Owen and Amelia adapt to being married and therefore kind of needing to communicate with each other-a skill at which this couple has always fluctuated from being awful to amazing. Those fluctuations continued last night.

The Alex/Deluca/Jo storyline appropriately takes center stage. For some unknown reason, Alex is not suspended from work while out on bail facing assault charges-despite the fact that the victim is his workplace inferior and is also back at work. I really don't think that this would happen. Like honestly, in what world would this happen? Can this even happen? It does look like Alex will be getting a demotion though (to the Denny Duquette clinic-well that must just add salt to the wound, but great Denny shout-out!). This demotion comes more as a result of him being distracted and making mistakes at work though...as opposed to it being because he is currently on trial for felony assault...but you know, tomato tomato (that never makes sense in print but I choose to do it anyways). Speaking of Alex's felony assault charge-it is absolutely the right charge, but I really don't think there would ever be a situation where he would be entering the courtroom, prepared to enter the plea, and not knowing what the charge was until he got there. I have no problem suspending my disbelief for this show (and then getting a little snarky about it in this recap), but this was a bit much. Alex pled not guilty to the felony, so we will revisit this case in trial form another day. That is unless Meredith convinces Deluca to drop the charges and forgive Alex...you know, for the good of his career. Eek. There is overstepping, and then there is taking a Neil Armstrong level leap over the line. Meredith does something somewhere in the middle and accidentally makes Deluca think she is threatening him (which is not unreasonable of him, considering, as she said last week, she and Alex are the 'bad guys' in Deluca's story). Is Meredith actually trying to threaten Deluca? Probably not. But is anything she saying to him actually about helping Deluca at all? Nope. It was all for Alex-even her trying to relate to him with regards to being attacked. Her goal was to help get Alex off the hook, and Deluca picked up on that right away. At any rate, now Alex may have to face testimony in court stating that Meredith threatened Deluca on his behalf. Thanks Meredith. She does redeem herself a little bit. She eventually realizes that she and Alex "are not in control" and she even invites Deluca onto her service for a surgery. Did anyone else notice how she looks at Deluca expectantly after they witness Alex having one of his adorable bonding moments with a child? Alex and the kiddo recite their mantra that 'there is nothing worse than broccoli" and it appears that Meredith assumes Deluca is thinking that perhaps Alex is a good guy after all. I personally assume Deluca is thinking that he absolutely would have preferred broccoli.

Meanwhile, Jo is struggling too. She is conflicted as she sits at the back of the courtroom and she feels like everyone in the hospital is gossiping about her...and let's face it, in that hospital, they probably are. Another character that has dealt with whispers and gossip in that hospital is Amelia. After Edwards convinces Amelia to take Jo on her service for the day, Jo surprisingly opens up to her a little, and Amelia invites her to her and Owen's housewarming party to, "give [her] a break from [her] life". Note to friends: if you ever want to help me de-stress, please do not invite me to GREY'S ANATOMY dinner party! Alex attends the dinner party as Jo is leaving and they have a tense conversation outside the house. Jo tells Alex that he was impulsive and scary and that afterwards, he "so easily" called her 'trash'. She says that he wanted to hurt her and he did and that he cannot simply apologize for the things that he did and expect all to be forgiven. I look forward to delving more into Jo's psyche as this story progresses. Her experiences in an abusive relationship are absolutely influencing her current decisions, and that is absolutely appropriate in this situation. Hopefully she will eventually be able to open up to the people around her.

Speaking of the dinner party...it is certainly not warm and cozy and without incident...but it goes much better than the dinner party of last year. Amelia has invited Riggs over in an attempt to help him and Owen rebuild the brother-like bond that they once had. Owen, in turn invites Meredith and an all-too-eager Maggie over to play the role of "buffer" so he doesn't have to interact with Riggs. Meredith only comes in order to tell Riggs to say no when Maggie asks him out. You see, Maggie shares with Meredith that she has been having hot dreams about Riggs. Dreams that creepily resemble Meredith's actual hookup with Riggs. This can't end well.

At the party, Riggs and Meredith continue to get their flirt on and Maggie continues to be oblivious. Maggie does eventually ask Riggs out and he tells her no, just like Meredith asked him too. Maggie heads home to sulk as Meredith and Alex awkwardly listen to her.

Amelia eventually lets Owen "off the hook" in terms of bonding with Riggs, but encourages him to at least try to rebuild this relationship, citing the fact that he and Riggs are basically brothers and that "you don't get a lot of those in your life" (tear). These two are cute, and so far, any newlywed conflict has been more of less comedic. I'm sure the drama is coming, but it would be nice to see more of this at least for a little while.

Elsewhere, in the hospital, Webber offers to be a mole in the hospital for Bailey a la war hero Hercules Mulligan ("who needs no introduction"...oh HAMILTON references...you never get old). Webber also offers some advice to Jackson as he and April are preparing to take baby Harriet home from the hospital (and into Grey's baby oblivion). The catch? April doesn't actually get to go home herself. Her incision re-opened and she needs wound therapy. April is devastated and terrified (in a hilarious April Kepner-meltdown kind of way) that she will miss key opportunities for Harriet to bond with her. The solution: Singing a George Michael song as a lullaby to her baby via skype and moving in with her ex husband until she heals up. Yep. Solid decision making all around. The singing was beautiful though. Kudos to Sarah Drew.

At the end of the day, everyone seems a little more able to accept their current realities, albeit hopeful for a happier future. Catastrophe has been avoided for now, but I'm sure it is right around the corner.

Photo Credit: Byron Cohen/ABC

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