BWW Recap: GREY'S ANATOMY Continues To Excel At Nuanced Relationships

Season 13, Episode 4 of GREY'S ANATOMY is titled "Falling Slowly"-All episodes are named after songs and this song happens to be from Tony Award Winning musical, ONCE. Considering I am a recapper for Broadway World, you can probably imagine that this pleased me! This is not the first time that the writer of this episode, Jen Klein borrowed a title from a Broadway song! She also penned last season's "There's a Fine Fine Line"! Klein, Director Victoria Mahoney, and the ever-talented ensemble cast have created yet another episode that does what GREY'S does best...It tugs at your heart strings while simultaneously making you laugh.

The episode opens with Alex at the clinic, doing all the grunt work and preparing to open for the day as Meredith watches on and (in her Meredith way) tries to cheer him up. In comes Tamir (Ravi Kapoor), the nurse who runs the clinic. Tamir does not care about Alex's problems and Tamir shows Alex who's boss. When Alex asks to leave early to attending a strategy meeting with his legal team, Tamir says "nope". Alex does try to storm out anyways after having enough lecturing from his new boss, but, ever the hero (except when he is beating people up) he promptly returns when he has a 'Gregory House' moment on the city bus (does he not drive?) and diagnoses his teenage clinic patient with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. As much as the knee jerk reaction is for the audience to resent Tamir, from an employer standpoint, he really isn't unreasonable in expecting Alex to do his job (rather than take secret lunches with his friends or leave in the middle of the day to meet with his lawyers). That being said, at some point, Alex does need to catch a break. He doesn't necessarily deserve it, but he's not a horrible person, and I can't handle his sad, resigned-to-going-to-jail face much longer. It was nice to see him get a win with his patient though, even though he can't take credit for the diagnosis for fear of undermining Tamir. Instead, resident "good cop" Richard Webber helps out and gives the client the news. Alex and Richard need to have more scenes together. I have decided this just now. PS How fun were his scenes with Meredith, Maggie and Amelia during their clinic lunch session? It felt like classic GREY'S!.

Meredith and Riggs continue to do whatever it is they are doing...and Maggie continues to be oblivious. Maggie has now concluded that she has a full on Riggs addiction and asks actual-addict Amelia for strategies to avoid her 'craving' when she finds herself working with Riggs. Amelia says her strategy is to count to 5 and remove herself from the situation. In a comedic yet face-palmy kind of moment, Maggie actually employs this strategy when caught alone in a room with Riggs. At this point it almost feels like Maggie is living out her strange little misadventure while everyone else is in the real world dealing with higher stakes stuff.

Meredith gets scared when a patient almost dies and ends up sustaining a spinal cord injury during surgery after she and Riggs out-voted Owen on how to proceed with that patient. She worries that Riggs only sided with her because of his attraction to her. She confronts Riggs about this and he promptly and swiftly shuts her down in that train of thought. It was so nice that this dramatic device was not dragged out...you know...unlike the love triangle to nowhere that can only ever lead to tears and distrust. Said triangle actually takes corporeal form on the steps to the hospital at the end of the episode. There is actually a shot of Meredith, Maggie and Riggs sitting/standing in the shape of a triangle. Imagery is so fun, guys! Meredith and Riggs agree to just be colleagues. That won't last.

Going back to the patient story mentioned above, married couple Daniel and Polly are injured in a hang-gliding accident. Initially Meredith thinks Daniel has sustained a spinal cord injury, but, Daniel informs her that yes he has...but it was 3 years ago. "I can't feel my legs...no I haven't felt them for three years. I'm a paraplegic" he says...as Meredith awkwardly cancels the order for a spinal x-ray. When Polly ends up sustaining a spinal cord injury, Daniel feels guilty because he's the one who made her go hang-gliding. Meredith reminds him that she is alive and breathing and that there is no better person to tell her that this isn't the end of the world than Daniel himself. I like Daniel and Polly. They should get a spin-off. As a side note, kudos to the casting department for casting an actor with a disability to play a person with a disability (Actor Christopher Thornton plays Daniel). Although the fight for minority representation in theatre, film and TV is still an ongoing battle on all fronts, disability is very much the final frontier and it is unfortunately quite uncommon for characters with disabilities to be portrayed by people with disabilities. The handling of story lines involving characters with physical and mental disabilities on GREY'S ANATOMY has raised some eyebrows (at least my eyebrows) over the years...but this is a step in the right direction. Representation is important.

Starting as more of a comic relief storyline, and ending with incredibly moving and powerful performances by Kevin McKidd and Caterina Scorsone, is the Owen/Amelia story of the week. The honeymoon may be over for the newlyweds as Amelia is freaking out over the fact that she barely knows Owen at all. Owen isn't quite sure why she is so concerned about this at first, but she eventually lets on that she is in actuality more concerned about the things about her that Owen doesn't know. She's worried that he won't accept the dark parts of her past. Owen is inspired when he overhears Meredith tell Daniel that he and his wife love each other, therefore he can say anything. Owen realizes that this is what Amelia needs to hear as well. She tells him about her fiancé Ryan overdosing and dying (back in her PRIVATE PRACTICE days) and he tells her about his PTSD incident when he choked Cristina. Amelia also asks Owen for reassurance that they are ok and that their kids will be ok-very clearly thinking about her child who was born with no brain. This intimate conversation brings them closer together and they decide to not wait any longer to start a family. I really hope this works out for these two. They both want children so badly and have for a long time!

Deluca and Jo bond over the fact that they are not allowed to talk about the legal case in the hospital. They both feel alienated and have perhaps found a buddy in one another. Deluca even offers Jo a cheeseburger. It is very convenient that he happens to be holding onto two cheeseburgers when she approaches him...you know...just in case! As nice as it is that they each have someone to talk to...aren't they the two key witnesses in this trial? Aren't they basically the two people who really shouldn't be comparing notes?

Jackson and April are trying to find their new normal as they raise baby Harriet while living together as exes. This can only go well, right??? April feels like a guest in Jackson's home, and so she feels the need to never let him get up alone when Harriet wakes up in the middle of the night. She also wakes up at the crack of dawn to grind and make coffee. Jackson on the other hand, feels guilty that April keeps waking up on his shift, so he keeps doing the same. He also feels obligated to drink the coffee. This leads to them both walking on eggshells and not getting any sleep. They finally actually have a conversation though, and decide that even though April's incision is healed, they want to continue living together for the time being. This couple is far more functional divorced than they ever were when they were married!

All in all this episode had some beautifully nuanced dramatic performances as well as some hilarious comedy..as usual! The only disappointment is that no one bought anyone a piano at the end (Broadway spoiler!).

Check out a sneak peek at next week's episode below:

Photo Credit: ABX/Richard Cartwright

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