In this episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Go Big or Go Home,” Amelia takes center stage as news of her brain tumor emerges. Meanwhile, an old friend of Meredith weighs in on her relationship with Nathan and Miranda has her hands full when Harper Avery visits the hospital.
Amelia
A week has passed since Amelia discovered that she has a 10 centimeter tumor in her frontal lobe. Andrew implores her to get some help but she forbids him to speak of her condition to anyone, citing HIPPA laws. Soon, however, Amelia introduces Andrew to Dr. Tom Koracick. He’s her former teacher and the head of neurology at Johns Hopkins. Koracick is cocky but sure-handed and wonderfully played by Greg Germann (Ally McBeal, Once Upon A Time). He is, simply put, “the best” and he is astounded that it’s taken so long to discover this tumor. Didn’t anyone notice that Amelia’s been acting erratic? Odd? Bizarre? Um, nope. They thought that was just how Amelia rolls. Their bad. Bygones!
Koracick will perform Amelia’s surgery and take care of her patients on the condition that she cease caring for patients immediately until he personally clears her to return to work. His diagnosis leaves Amelia shaken to the core. “You are not of sound mind now and you haven’t been for years,” he insists. Her planning, her impulses, her decisions have been compromised for likely the last decade, give or take. Another symptom is obsessive-compulsive behavior and Amelia pours over the records of patients she believes she has killed or damaged (Nicole Herman shout out!). Richard, who learns of the tumor when Miranda was unavailable to take the meeting, is supportive in every way. He even figures out that Amelia’s patient mortality rate is only 0.9 percent. Derek’s was 1.3 percent and he never had a brain tumor! Speaking of having a brain tumor, Richard reminds the audience mentions that he once had one himself and that Derek removed it, but it was so tiny in comparison to hers that Amelia mocks him relentlessly.
Richard encourages Amelia to tell the people who love her (Owen, Maggie, Meredith) about her condition so they can support her. She starts with Maggie, who is understandably crushed but supportive. At Amelia’s request, Maggie is there when she tells Owen who, despite everything that’s happened between them, goes immediately to her side after learning the news. Finally, Amelia asks Maggie to be the one to tell Meredith. Meredith’s been calling Amelia’s behavior “crazy” for years and Amelia can’t stand the thought that she was right. We don’t see the scene when Maggie tells Meredith. Instead, we see Meredith come to Amelia’s hospital room (where Owen is sitting in a chair) and climbs into the bed with her. Amelia’s tribe is gathered.
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Meredith
Zola! That’s right. We actually saw one of Meredith’s children this episode. That’s like spotting a unicorn! Meredith’s life house is a mess and she is all kinds of grumpy. In a mood to end all moods. She could really use someone who understands her and who should show up as a patient? It’s Dr. Walter Carr, the psychiatrist from season 12’s “All I Want Is You,” who has a massive blot clot, which nearly kills him, but doesn’t. Whatever. The important part is that Nathan is one of his doctors and Carr doesn’t miss a trick, so he quickly connects the dots about MerThan and before we know it Meredith is confiding all sorts of things to her former shrink. Together they work out that she is angry and Meredith finally realizes why, which leads to a confrontation with Nathan.
Nathan is at his wit’s end. Neither Megan nor Meredith seem to want to have anything to do with him, so he’s planning to use his considerable accumulation of personal days to take a break and sort out his life. Meredith isn’t having it. She’s mad because Nathan’s been given the chance they both dreamed of: to have their dead loves back again. As Carr so aptly said earlier in the episode, there’s a big difference between “presumed dead and dead-dead”. Nathan is wasting his chance! Meredith implores him to show Megan how much he loves her and remind her why she fell for him in the first place. “Don’t blow this!”
Will he take Meredith’s advice? Nathan’s caught between the two women, both of whom he loves. That said, Meredith’s not a fan of love triangles. “I don’t do love triangle. I was raised in one. I fell in love with my husband in one. I am done with triangles.” But are the writers done with triangles?
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Miranda
Harper Avery (he of the Harper Avery Award and the Harper Avery Foundation) is visting Grey Sloan Memorial and is none-too-pleased with the $15.8 million that’s been spent to repair and renovate. Even though Catherine insists that insurance will cover most of that cost, Avery announces that he’s pulling the funding for the hospital immediately, which would shut it down. Miranda talks him out of the idea by reminding him of the PR nightmare that would ensue from such an action (given that the fire started because Stephanie was saving a child who was about to be kidnapped) and Avery promptly fires her! Miranda and Catherine disagree on how to fix the problem and go back into the conference to talk to Harper only to find him dead! There’s no love lost between Harper and Catherine and Jackson, so Miranda, Catherine, and Jackson put on a public front of admiration for Harper and sadness at his loss. Miranda is no longer fired.
Odds and Ends
*There’s a Jaggie moment (ugh) when Maggie straightens Jackson’s lab coat.
* April counsels a teenage girl to accept the Homecoming Proposal a boy from school offered to her. After all, he did end up in a hot air balloon accident in the process. And if one’s not careful, one ends up “in a new apartment all alone without your kid half the time.” Yikes! Is there hope for Japril? Or is it time for April to make a fresh start?
*Jo and Alex kiss in the elevator and work on the hot air balloon kid. By episode’s end, Jo has a Homecoming Proposal of her own for Alex. She wants him to come home to their loft.
*Megan and Owen’s conversations indicate that she’s not nearly as okay as we were lead to believe.
*Arizona and Carina are embroiled in a torrid affair. On the side, Carina gives Arizona advice on how sexual stimulation will cause Robbins’ patient to deliver her baby.
*Andrew and Maggie have a cute scene in which he is trying to alert her to Amelia’s condition without breaking any laws. WHY did these two ever break up? They were/are adorable. Why? WHY?
So that’s it! Will Amelia survive? Is it over for good between Meredith and Nathan? Hit the comments!
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(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
