BWW Recap: GREY'S ANATOMY Delivers some 'Crushing' Developments

The midseason finale of GREY'S ANATOMY aired last night, and while it was a good episode with lots of drama and some pretty interesting cliffhangers...I'm just a tad distracted by what happened on my television a few ours later in its Shondaland cousin show HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER!!! Whaaaaaat???? Now THAT was a midseason finale!

Ok. Back to GREY'S! The episode opened with Meredith, Alex and Maggie carpooling to work and Alex pessimistically discussing the likely outcomes of his trial tomorrow. I'm still confused about this trial. Alex doesn't seem to be planning to deny that he assaulted Deluca and all the focus seems to be on emphasizing what a good guy he is and that he made a mistake. So...wouldn't that make this a sentencing hearing (which is not the same thing as a trial)? At any rate, it is tomorrow and he is not confident. As Meredith tries to convince him that the world is not in fact ending...an entire apartment building collapses right in front of them. Those days are the WORST!

The hospital is understandably in chaos as the surgeons attend to the victims of the building collapse. One man asks for a Priest and somehow ends up with Ben Warren. He admits to Ben that he is the landlord and he knew there were problems with the foundation of the building since "the earthquake last year" (Side note: I'm glad they had a throwback to the earthquake from season 11 that at the time really didn't amount to anything. I am just so confused about THE TIMELINE on this show because based on previously established timelines...that would certainly have been more than a year ago! Oh well. Maybe this was a different earthquake). Anyways, now Ben and the other residents are discussing what to do with the landlord's confession and surprise! Building residents (and the parents of a seriously injured 12 year old no less) overhear them. As the episode progresses, the distraught parents incite an almost-riot amongst the other tenants. Their daughter sadly does not survive and then the mother attempts to flat out murder the landlord...landing her in handcuffs. Well isn't this a feel good story.

On to other feel good stories...Jo is freaking out. She has been called to testify at the "trial" (which will now forever be in quotation marks). Strange that she found out about this the day before and that she does not know which side called on her to testify...but again..."trial". Jo is concerned that the fact that Jo Wilson is a fake identity will be discovered and that her testimony will be a matter of public record. This could lead her dangerous ex-husband right to her. She is understandably shaken up. She tells Deluca this, and although he is sympathetic, his lawyers have nothing to do with Jo being called to testify. He's also busy with the, you know...building collapse situation. After a tender moment in which Alex apologizes to Jo for the things he had said, and tries to say goodbye to her in case the "trial" doesn't go well, Jo finally opens up to Alex about her ex husband and her fears about testifying. Alex takes it well and even acknowledges the irony that the reason she had not previously told him was because she was afraid he would go after her ex and either get hurt or get himself in jail...amazing how these things end up happening anyways! As well as Alex reacts to this situation, I don't think it is fair to say that everything would have been avoided had Jo just told him everything the first time he proposed to her. I do think that the lessons Alex has learned throughout this experience, allowed him to have the kind, measured reaction that he did. That said, it now appears that he plans to take a plea deal in order to avoid Jo having to testify. Again...this logic does not completely make sense but I guess for the point of story, we are going with it!

Alex tells Meredith that he plans to take the plea deal in order to protect Jo. Meredith is upset with him and tries desperately to talk him out of it. Alex keeps reassuring her that she will be ok and she keeps insisting that this isn't about her...but I think Alex might be on to something. Meredith is of course worried for Alex's future...but Meredith is also terrified of losing her person.

Meanwhile, Webber finds out that Eliza Minnick has been hired to replace him and he confronts Bailey about it. Bailey says that she had to make sure her decision wasn't personal and Webber says that as surgeons, their decisions need to always be personal (harkening back to his "lesson" from last week's episode). So let me get this straight...The two possible teaching styles are: 1.) A cutting edge but well researched approach from Minnick to focus on teaching skills and letting residents have more hands on experience VS 2) Richard's approach to focus primarily on the Attending surgeons who Richard has personal connections to...and the occasional incorporation of a surgeon's personal trauma and loss into a case. I'm actually not sure I'm on team Webber on this one. I think a surgeon can be invested in their case without making it about themselves and without sacrificing the opportunity to teach. That said, surgeons don't like change, and these surgeons (and fans) love Richard Webber. So they are going to fight! The fact that the fight is going to be led by Maggie and Jackson is interesting...you know...given who their parents are. It is very nice to see Maggie and Richard do some father/daughter bonding. I look forward to more!

Speaking of Eliza Minnick...she and Arizona get their flirt on and agree to go out for drinks. This budding romance should be interesting since Arizona is most definitely on Team Webber!

Also in this episode, Owen and Nathan bond when they discover that their patient is cheating on his wife. They share their personal experiences with cheating and even talk about getting drinks together after work. Looks like this bromance might be on its way back! Owen asks for a rain check on the drinks because reflecting on his relationship with Cristina makes him realize that he really needs to talk with Amelia about the current speed bump in their relationship. Turns out Amelia sees this more of a road block than a speed bump as she has apparently left him...leaving only a note. She should really ask Stephanie how that worked out for her when she did that to Kyle! This is, in all likelihood to accommodate actress Caterina Scorsone's maternity leave. I can only hope that Amelia has just headed over to LA to visit with Addison and the gang and that she will be back soon and that everything will work out and be wonderful. Somehow...I'm not so sure.

We will now be GREYS-less until January 19th, 2017. With the cliffhangers involving Alex, Webber and Amelia, that date can't come soon enough!

Photo Credit: ABC/Richard Cartwright

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