Grey’s Anatomy: 11X22, She’s Leaving Home

Good evening, Grey’s Anatomy fans! Your normal recapper Christa is on Holiday with family this week, so I am stepping in for her. I hope I can do her justice during what is sure to be a very intense two-hour episode. 

I won’t insult you all by recapping last week’s episode, as I’m pretty sure the entire world knows what happened, Grey’s fans and otherwise. So let’s just get started with this week, yeah? Everyone have their tissues handy? 

Don’t get it twisted, Shonda loves to torture us. We start this week off by watching Derek’s life support being deactivated again, because apparently she hadn’t sufficiently destroyed us emotionally by making us watch him die once. Also, not to be insensitive, but I hope this whole carousel plotline dies after this season. I know everything Mer does ultimately ties back to Ellis, but I’m over it. 

She’s back at Grey Sloan Memorial and is watching her friends function normally while her world is falling apart. She doesn’t know what to say or do, so she blurts out “Derek is dead,” and passes out on the floor.

Amelia doesn’t know yet because she’s been in surgery, so Owen goes down to break the news. She knows something is wrong right away and asks, “Who died?” When Owen starts to question her, she says, “I know that face.” She tries to blow it off saying she’s done this before and “It’s not a big deal,” but we all know better. Her relationship with Derek has always been strained, but that doesn’t diminish the adoration they had for each other. 

This whole first segment has been incredibly strange. They have all but completely glossed over the funeral and there was a weird exchange with Ben and Bailey about extraordinary measures and weird montages. Now Meredith is waking her kids and running out of their house of painful memories and fleeing somewhere. Maybe to see Aunt Cristina? (Hey, a girl can dream, right?).

The doctors are all gathered together trying to figure out where Meredith is, who fled without telling any of them and left nothing but a note that said “The kids and I are safe.” Alex said he spoke to Cristina and she hasn’t heard from Meredith in weeks. Callie suggests hiring an investigator to track her down and Richard tells them that she just may be gone. Her mother did the same thing, left Seattle and never looked back. But Meredith isn’t an irresponsible person and he’s sure she and the kids are safe. 

Looks like we’ve jumped ahead a little and now Owen is off on some mission, leaving Richard as interim Chief. Avery has a burn patient and Callie is working on the EMT she dated a long time ago (also known as Jesus from True Blood) and he’s giving her shit for not going out with him again. He says he knows that she didn’t go out with him because she thought he was boring. He’s not giving up though. I like them together. I see the potential here.

Kepner is gazing heartbreakingly at a nursery filled with babies and then we shoot to her and Jackson fighting because she’s decided to go with Owen for three months to be a field medic. He tells her it’s the same as what Meredith is doing, but she sticks to her guns and goes on her way.  

Another jump in time brings us to Ben and Bailey. She still can’t understand why he would want to be resuscitated and whatnot if he’s badly injured. She tells him she would let Jesus take the wheel at that point and he tells her Jesus should have taken the wheel before he was injured and that science was around to circumvent what Jesus can’t do. 

Now Arizona is going OFF on a doctor bitching about the fact that Derek hasn’t been replaced yet. Clearly everyone is still raw about it all (understandably so). Wilson is working on the burn victim and everyone is just going about their merry way. Because after all, even after death, life goes on. 

Richard and Katherine are having a fancy dinner, and she shuts his marriage proposal down, telling him he should never ask a question unless he knows the answer. Okay hold up.

Soooooo, nothing has happened this episode except a living diorama about how life goes on after devastation. If this is just supposed to be one, long lesson about perseverance I’m going to be livid. How are you going to MURDER your star and then disappear his wife and not mention anything about it for an entire hour’s worth of television?

Okay so another timehop and we’re back with Ben and Bailey who are STILL on about the extraordinary fecking measures. Oh, never mind; now we’re onto Amelia who is still deflecting all of her dead brother emotions. She’s making some seriously inappropriate dead brother jokes and Edwards suggests grief counseling. Amelia shoots her down and moves along. Oh and Jackson and April aren’t speaking, apparently, because she has decided to extend her tour.

Karev is still trying to reach Meredith on Thanksgiving and she finally picks up! She answers his facetime just long enough to tell him that she’s fine, the kids are fine and she wants him to just stop calling, before hanging up. Cold, Meredith. Too cood.

Anyone else see this tweet from Shonda today?

How can Ellen Pompeo “bring it beautifully” if she’s only been on for like, two freaking minutes? I  mean I have (almost) absolute faith in Shonda so I gotta imagine something good is going to happen eventually, but why even have a two-hour finale just to fill an hour with pointless drivel? 

Callie did have to amputate cute EMT’s (Dan) leg and they’re clearly adorable together. He is sweet and endearing and I officially ship them.

Bailey and Ben are still on about this extraordinary measures thing, and Bailey wants to know what happens if he’s a vegetable and she’s still married and comes across a ready and willing Idris Elba? She’s not a cheater, so she would have to miss her chance with Idris Elba because her husband is alive but brain dead. I mean, she raises a fine point. I wouldn’t want to miss out on Idris Elba, either. 

Now it’s Christmas and everyone is together but there’s a definite shadow over the group. Jackson and April are facetiming and he’s devastated that they’re not together. Then something happens in the field and they’re cut off, effectively freaking him out. 

Honestly it’s weird to have a Christmas segment in April. The whole timeline feels off and strange with all this hopping around. Oh hey, Meredith! She’s telling Zola that she has to go to bed if she wants Santa to come, and Zola asks if he’ll be bringing her baby sister. Meredith says, “Not tonight,” and stands up, giving us a glimpse of her big, pregnant belly. Jesus. So Derek got the third baby he wanted after all. Gaaaawwwwdddd.

Meredith is back and on the beach, flashing back again, but instead of focusing on just the carousel, she’s flashing back to Derek. She’s clearly far from okay, but she’s Meredith Grey, and she will push on.

Jackson is having trouble tracking April down and Arizona tries to calm him down by telling him that she needed to get away after everything that happened this year with the baby, that she “lost a leg.” Jackson makes a good point by saying that, if April lost a leg then so did he. Fathers really get overlooked in the whole grieving process when it comes to lost children and infants. But here he is, getting out of bed every morning and living. 

Meredith is flashing back to when her mom tried to kill herself after the love of her life (Richard) left her. Meredith has always been stronger than her mom, so I don’t think she would really kill herself. Especially since she’s A) pregnant and B) already a mother to two little kids. But she’s also human, and I don’t know how you go on after you lose the love of your life. I suppose having children is the best motivator anyone could possibly have. When you have three little lives counting on you for everything, you make your feet hit that floor each morning. 

Callie is helping EMT Dan test out his new bionic leg and they have several “moments.” She’s so thrilled that his leg works, but it also brings back memories of Derek, who helped her to develop this sensational new technology. Definitely something he should have seen come to fruition. 

Jackson is working when he hears a familiar voice. He turns around to April in the lobby, and when she thinks he may be unhappy to see her, he pulls her into a bear hug and the relief on his face is palpable.

Amelia is finally breaking down, which gives me relief because she was just a bundle grief and tension and I feel so bad for her. Honestly, at this point I’m kind of certain that Seattle is a cursed town because all of these people have lives that are just shit. It’s truly a wonder ANY of them can get out of bed in the morning! 

Unfortunately for Amelia, Owen witnessed her breakdown. He comes to check on her and she tells him that he needs to talk her out of taking drugs. Then she utters the saddest phrase I’ve ever heard, “Every single man I’ve ever loved has died, including my baby.” Her dad, lover, son and brother… all dead. Who could blame her for taking a little oxy? No, I’m not condoning her relapsing into drug use, but again… she’s human. It’s normal for us to want to escape painful emotional devastation. I can’t judge her for wanting the same. 

Ultimately, though, Owen talks her into FEELING the pain, instead of drowning it, and is there for her when she falls apart. 

We’re back to Mer, flashing back to Ellis and having contractions. In this segment we find out that Ellis signed away her rights to Meredith when she was hospitalized and that Meredith is now hemorrhaging blood. Zola calls 911 and the whole Shephard/Grey clan are rushed to the hospital. 

Meredith comes to in the hospital to a nurse telling her that her husband is here, and in walks Alex, who is apparently still her emergency contact. Meredith meets her baby daughter for the first time, whom she has named Ellis. 

Ben and Bailey are back and I’m honestly just bored at this point. They’re cute and perfect for each other and yeah, yeah, yeah. We already know all of this. 

Katherine has turned the tables… she’s the one pulling off the grand romantic gesture, with an adorable proposal in the atrium of the hospital. Richard says yes, or, more specifically, “About damn time,” and they’re just adorable. 

Karev has retrieved Meredith and the kids and brings them back home. She walks into her house filled with ghosts and memories of Derek. Amelia is at the house holding Ellis and seems very, very happy to have her family back around her. 

This is the first part of this entire two hours that have made me tear up… Meredith puts on McDreamy’s scrub cap. He’s really and truly gone. And the season ends with with Meredith back in an OR.

I honestly can’t believe I just wasted two hours of my life on that episode. It absolutely should have only been one hour. Everything outside of that 40 minutes was gratuitous and unnecessary. They could have easily portrayed the circle of life and everyone continuing with their lives, as well as all the “important” shit with Meredith. Though, honestly, all that crap with her mom is just so overplayed right. There was no need for us to hear Ellie Grey say, “The carousel never stops turning,” twenty separate times. 

Okay, I’m going to cut off my bitter diatribe now, I’ve already taken up way too much of your time. Stay tuned next week when Christa takes her rightful place in the Grey’s Anatomy recapping chair! 

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