BWW Recap: Good Grief and Good Laughs on this Week's GREY'S ANATOMY

GREY'S ANATOMY was in top form on Thursday night. The episode was called WHAT'S INSIDE and newcomer, Nzingha Stewart, was the director. This episode had a little bit of everything...a fascinating medical case, moments of laughter, moments of tears, callbacks to some significant past storylines on the show, new friendships forming, etc. It also provided a beautiful commentary on grief and on how there is no normal way to grieve (though there are certainly some ways that are healthier than others).

The episode picks up a week or two after Maggie's mother Diane has passed away. Diane has been buried in Seattle so that Maggie can visit her gravesite-something that sisters, Meredith and Amelia support and even join Maggie for, but something that they really don't understand at all. This is nothing like how either of them grieves. Meredith states, "Maybe this is what grief looks like when you've lived a whole healthy life...you know, before anything terrible happens". She and Amelia then acknowledge that perhaps the two of them are more similar than they care to admit. FINALLY.

Meredith and Amelia ask Maggie is she is ready for her first day back at work. She says she sure is...and then decides to prove it by taking on a very rare, risky surgery on the heart of an unborn baby. Maggie thinks this is an excellent idea, but the people around her are just a tad bit concerned that she may not be up for the task just yet. The patient and her husband also happen to be friends of Owen's from the VA hospital, so he in particular is quite concerned about Maggie's readiness to take on the case. Maggie convinces the patient to let her do the surgery, because she is the best. Several other colleagues, including her sisters, echo Owen's concerns and Meredith and Amelia try to tenderly "check-in" with Maggie prior to the surgery. This only leads Maggie to start freaking out a little bit. I can't imagine she feels any better when half the hospital turns up in the gallery to watch and see if she chokes-even though no one will actually admit that's why they're there. This is interesting because everyone is genuinely concerned, and they have reason to be, but I can also see Maggie's point that having all those people hovering over her and expressing doubt isn't really going to be helpful. The surgery ends up going well. There is a brief moment when everyone is led to believe that Maggie has frozen, but it turns out that she is just giving the baby's heart some time to learn to beat now that it is 'missing something huge' (the tumour that was attached to it). The Shondaland metaphor hammer has struck again...but it's a good one! Maggie too needs to learn how to continue now that a huge piece of her heart is missing. It is very convenient that Maggie was able to find a medical case that allows for such an apt and meaningful metaphor on her first day back!

After the surgery, Owen is sad to learn that Amelia has no intention to visit their mutual friends, Leo and Jenna (her name might actually be Janet. I couldn't tell). Amelia tells him that they are his friends, not hers. They are his friends from "before". Does she mean before the marriage? Before the separation? Before breakfast? I guess it doesn't really matter. Regardless, this sounds like bad news for this relationship. Side Note: When did Amelia ever have time to meet Owen's friends? Weren't she and Owen always too busy repeatedly breaking up and getting back together and breaking up again? Don't get me wrong, I love that they have mutual friends. I love this pairing...but I am legitimately asking this question!

The other patient of the week is intern Isaac Cross. He has a stomachache and is convinced it is something horrible. Steph is assigned to his case and is convinced he has 'intern-itis' from learning about all the possible illnesses that he could have. He is initially diagnosed with Diverticulitis but during surgery, it is discovered he has Tuberculosis and that parts of the hospital now need to be quarantined. This storyline allows for April to be a total badass and operate on him solo because she's the only one who isn't afraid of the TB. This is my favourite version of April Kepner. At the end of the day, Steph feels guilty for not listening to Cross when he was trying to advocate for himself. Webber swoops in with his wise teacher ways and lets her know that she is hardly the first doctor to make that mistake and that the most important thing is that she can admit she is wrong and learn from it.

Someone who Webber believes does not know how to admit a mistake, is Bailey. This becomes a point of contention. Bailey and Webber continue to mend fences, but Bailey is bothered by how Webber seems to see himself as her wise mentor and see her as a chief with much to learn. As mentioned above, Webber is frustrated that Bailey won't admit when she is wrong. Ben points out that maybe at the root of everything, Richard is a bit lonely and just wants to be helpful (and he can be helpful...he's apparently the only person who knows the hospital TB protocol!). They agree to go to dinner to (maybe) admit some mistakes and bury the hatchet.

An unexpected new friendship develops in this episode between Nathan and Arizona. I like it...but this forced, awkward 'did we just become best friends' thing seems to be how Arizona makes all her friends (See Andrew Deluca and Richard Webber). I do like that they bond over their secret relationships though. Arizona appears to "spook" Nathan just a tad when she expresses utter shock that Meredith Grey would ever consider dating again after losing her "epic" love story with Derek. It doesn't stop him from pursuing the dinner date though...not that it happens. Initially, Nathan's secret relationship looks like it may actually be finally getting off the ground (this is in part, a reference to next week's episode), but Meredith abruptly ends their plans when Maggie comes home crying and struggling with her grief. Meredith ditches Nathan and 'dances it out' with her sisters. Sisters before Misters, Nathan!

There is a sweet scene at the end of the episode between Maggie and Jackson. Initially, things aren't going too well between them. In a moment of grief, Maggie lashes out and blames him for not saving her mother. He visits her at the house and shares her mother's medical records, showing that Diane had known she was sick for quite a while. He also shows her pictures that Diane had entrusted to him. They show her travelling, sky-diving and generally living it up. This most certainly allows for some closure for Maggie. There is an interesting parallel between this moment between these sort-of step-siblings (seriously, they are step-siblings) and the end of season 11 when Amelia expresses anger at Meredith for not calling her when Derek was in hospital, and Meredith helping to provide her with some closure with Derek's voicemail. Closure is a powerful thing...and so are the relationships we have with sort-of siblings. There is some speculation that the Maggie and Jackson relationship could be romantic, but I'm just feeling a brother/sister sort of vibe here. I guess time will tell.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable episode. It explored how there is no "normal" way to grieve and that one doesn't need to necessarily have to understand how someone is grieving in order to be supportive. It allowed for some delightful humour, some thoughtful metaphor, and an overall entertaining hour of television...as always.

GREY'S ANATOMY airs Thursdays at 7pm on CTV and 8pm on ABC.

Photo Credit: ABC/Richard Cartwright

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