We’re still cooking with gas, and it was a fun hour from start to finish.
The interns continue to be the saving grace of the series, and Meredith and Nick making up was also a highlight of Grey’s Anatomy Season 19 Episode 2.
It was another solid hour, from crazy medical mysteries to snarky characters and relationship drama.
They’re striking the right balance with the new and old characters, and everything blends together well, showing that even with a cast this big, one that has grown, it’s possible to even things out in exciting ways.
Every character and dynamic within the hour was essential in some way or another and utilized well. Even the more questionable ones fit in with the storytelling in some capacity.
For example, Owen and Teddy are a mess. If you had to cut anything out thus far, all fingers point to them with the aftermath of Owen’s actions.
It’s downright silly where they are now, with the constant bickering and how we’ve glossed over so much of Owen’s storyline only to land him here. However, as ludicrous as their presence is these days, one cannot deny that Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver have great comedic chops.
Owen: I can’t work with Teddy.
Mer: Its been a day.
Owen: It’s been a week!
So many of their scenes were silly and even annoying, but both of their deliveries were so damn funny that I found myself begrudgingly laughing anyway.
Teddy was a ride-or-die for Owen when they first went on the run, but now she’s bitter, angry, resentful, and hitting the liquor too much from the sounds of it. Understandably, Owen doesn’t care for the constant badgering and reminders of how he screwed up their lives.
And Teddy cannot stand what her husband did and how it affected them or how they’re basically broke right now. And she won’t let him forget it for a second.
Things only got worse when Teddy was the one who had to monitor Owen for the day, and she’s taken over as Chief of Trauma because he couldn’t run it anymore.
They were a headache together, and my heart went out to Mika, who only wanted to learn and do things without feeling like a child watching her parents fight nonstop.
But when she did get to do things, it was fantastic, and Owen really is a great mentor. He was in his element, guiding her through saving Harold. If we had to put up with some bickering to get us to Owen working alongside Nick and helping to mentor the interns, so be it.
By the end of the hour, I wanted Teddy and Winston to meet up at Joe’s for drinks, served up by a very enlightened Helm, and bitch about their spouses. They deserved it.
Winston was catching it at work with Maggie, and he had every right to be annoyed by her. She had this way of undermining him and subconsciously leaning into their power dynamic and exploiting the hierarchy.
I don’t have time to pee, and you just said so many words.
Levi
Winston took it one step further when he reminded Maggie that he’s only good because of mentors like her and that instead of banking on him to do everything she desired since she trusted him, she needed to actually focus on mentoring and teaching new doctors to be great too.
It was a mic-drop moment for Winston. While it felt like they got over their tiff too easily, given how genuinely annoyed he was, at least there’s evidence that these two aren’t annoyingly perfect as a pairing and can have some conflict or something of interest.
At least in the romance department, things have thawed between Mer and Nick, and they may actually be on track with one another now that they have talked, and Mer bared her heart to this handsome man with perfect hair.
It’s amazing how easy it is to fall back in love with this pairing. I don’t know what they did to them to bring it back to that appeal they had when they first met, but it’s so good.
Blue: Why is everyone married to each other?
Mika: Because doctors have no lives and no time to meet normal people.
Nick was working wonders with the program but wasn’t letting Meredith off the hook. And you can’t blame him since she went six months without calling or talking to him. He makes her put herself out there and get out of her own way, and that’s good for her.
My heart swelled a bit when she told him she was still in love with him. And it was all he needed to put things aside. The two of them choosing to support Zola at her presentation for their first day out again was suitable since Zola is another person who genuinely wanted her mother happy and knew Nick gave that to her.
But now that it seems Mer and Nick are good, and Webber has apologized to Nick, and so forth, Mer can direct her attention to Zola.
It was utterly heartbreaking that she couldn’t even make it through her presentation about Ellis without getting into Alzheimer’s and concluding that one day she’ll lose Mer and Maggie to it as well.
Maggie: I’m sorry I messed up your schedule.
Winston: Today or the last six months?
It’s a genuine fear for an intelligent girl who loves medicine to have about her family. Now, it makes you wonder how long Zola’s had that type of anxiety. We already know how hard a time she had when Mer was in her coma.
If this sets things up for Mer to focus more on her family, then it would be good storytelling for her character, especially in her remaining installments of the season.
And on the family front, Amelia is directing much of her focus to Lucas, and she doesn’t see how it could affect how others perceive him at work.
Understandably, he already knows that the others have viewed him as a screwup, so he doesn’t need to deal with them knowing about his connection to Amelia and Mer, too. Although, something tells me that it’ll come out sooner rather than later, especially with Addison returning to the series.
Surprising to no one, a couple interns have some questionable living arrangements, so hopefully, we’ll get a nice setup of them moving in together.
As it stands, we can expect Lucas, Mika, and Simone as potential roommates. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Amelia tried her best to convince Luca to move into the Casa de Grey, and I wondered if there was room for the guy. That house stays filled to the brim with people and is super busy.
The gesture is sweet, and the kids would likely appreciate a fun cousin around, but it’s probably not in Lucas’ best interest to make that a regular thing.
Harold, did you stick my phone up your ass?
Sharon
Unfortunately, Amelia staying on Lucas’ case now has Blue thinking that Lucas and Amelia are sleeping together. Such a classic Grey’s misunderstanding!
Blue is so funny, and outside of Levi, who is a Sass King, he had the best and funniest lines of the hour, to my utter delight. But we still really need to see Blue in action. So far, he’s excellent for arrogant, witty lines, but we haven’t seen him with all hands on deck in the thick of it.
But the girls have been slaying it with their cases. Mika did exceptionally well with Owen and Howard, the guy who shoved his wife’s phone up his ass.
And Simone, that girl is a runner; she’s a track star! Every time you turn around, she’s running around somewhere, but she’s always the one who comes through with the saves.
It’s good that Mer reminded her that she would mess up at some point, and as much as I love to see Simone win, I can’t wait for that humbling experience for her.
She and Jules growing closer was sweet, too. It’s endearing that Mer is pushing them to lean onto each other because she knows from experience how invaluable her relationships were with the other members of M.A.G.I.C. she was in the trenches with while coming up.
Simone and Jules had their hands full with that medical mystery case, and it was riveting until the end. I was afraid that something terrible happened because of that leftover food, and I wasn’t prepared to learn what it was while currently eating leftovers.
Meningococcal made sense for a college kid stuck in close quarters who didn’t have a vaccination. It’s just sad that he had to get his leg amputated.
I have to go find an attending who can supervise my attending so they can supervise me learning nothing.
Mika
But Grey’s medical mysteries are so much fun to watch unfold, and this was no exception. They have really brought the fun back into Grey’s, and it’s thrilling.
Additional Notes:
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Poor Link was not flirting with Jules, but she had him all tongue-tied. I don’t hate whatever is happening with those two.
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Scandal’s Artemis Pendabi, Modern Family’s Nolan Gould, the Marla Gibbs — they were hitting the guest-star jackpot.
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Teddy’s ranty monologue to Webber, while she dragged Owen by every last auburn follicle on his head had me screeching.
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Shoutout to Chase for being his roommate’s emotional support white boy. Their friendship sounded absolutely precious.
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Why didn’t Harold just throw his wife’s phone out the window? Why did he shove it up his own ass? How did he even do that? Hopefully, with lots of lube. And we thought the Gungina incident was bad!
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Levi is so damn sassy and fun this season; he has the best lines and is a forever mood.
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Helm finally getting over Meredith is growth. Good for her. Bailey and Jo hanging out on mommy dates are the cutest; they make great friends.
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The resident program and the teaching — all of it sounds so healthy now.
Over to you, Grey’s Fanatics. Are you happy Mer and Nick made up? What are your thoughts on that final scene with Zola? Sound off below.
You can watch Grey’s Anatomy online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.