“Good as Hell” started with happy tears and ended with ugly tears.
The episode started with one of the nurses being discharged from the hospital and all the staff applauding her exit. Dr. Miranda Baiely (Chandra Wilson) said that was their 10th discharge that week. Things seemed to be looking up, but there was a new complication with Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo).
But that gave us just enough time for one more Merder episode with them on the beach. We needed them to say goodbye. And who knew we were going to get the wedding we never had. Elis is upset they never had a wedding, so she drew a picture of it, and it’s on their fridge.
And suddenly, in Meredith’s head, she and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) were having a beach wedding. And there was kind of a Merder kiss. I’m sure safety protocols are why it was from a distance, so they didn’t really kiss, but it was still so magically.
Through all of the brutal covid storylines, Meredith on the beach and old characters coming back has been such a gift. I’m grateful for all the old faces we’ve seen. And Meredith needed that time with Derek. And we needed that time too.
All of her visitors have had such great words of wisdom. Derek even misses the pain. And told her it wasn’t her time.
Dr. Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) is truly ingenious. Even after he and Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) fixed the clot, Meredith wasn’t waking up. So he came up with the idea to bring Zola (Aniela Gumbs) in. It took some time, but with Zola talking to Meredith, she finally opened her eyes.
Dr. Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary), Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone), Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), Teddy, Winston and Bailey were watching on when suddenly Meredith was awake, and everyone was so happy. This is the moment we were waiting for, and it was beautiful.
While we were enjoying the Merder scenes and waiting for Meredith to wake up, we got two sides of the pandemic. The good and the bad.
The bad was when Dr. Atticus Lincoln (Chris Carmack) and Dr. Tom Koracick (Greg Germann) watched as Amelia took a tumor out of a kid. Tom admitted that he avoids the covid wing because he can’t handle it. It’s all too much, and it must be all some kind of a sick joke. Link responded with the same sentiment with not believing kids can still get cancer through all of this.
The actors do amazing jobs in these scenes showing their grief. It’s a stark reminder of what we’ve gone through. We saw the same raw emotion from Amelia, so worried about her sister she couldn’t even breathe. We cry because the characters feel so much we can’t help but cry with them.
Teddy was breaking down when she couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Meredith. She went right back to her old go-to by kissing Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), but he pulled away and made her feel the emotions and let it out. She’s been through so much. I get why she would want to bury that pain. At least Meredith finally woke up. Maybe she can take it easy on herself now.
On the otherside of that, a patient came in after a skating accident. She was injured, but she had found her joy by quitting her job, living her life and starting a peanut brittle business. It dawned on Bailey that the pandemic could be a time of reinvention. When the woman got out of surgery, she almost went back to the job she hated, but Bailey convinced her to do what brings her joy.
Which brought us back to Dr. Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington). Earlier, Bailey had said no to her switching specialties, but now she gets it. Of course, there would be a patient that convinced Bailey. She told Jo to love it completely. Isn’t that the dream to truly love what you are doing?
Amalia truly loves what’s she’s doing. She overheard the conversation with Link and his patient and jumped in not just because she knew it could be related to his brain but because that could mean she could cut again, and she was itching to get back into an OR.
I loved seeing that light bulb go on in her head and how excited she got. We haven’t seen that for a while. It was nice to see her happy.
Last but not least, we had a little complication with Dr. Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli) and Dr. Nico Kim (Alex Landi). Nico didn’t want to give Schmitt some space in his apartment, but Schmitt has grown a lot and really just said there’s nothing wrong with giving him some space. They’re not getting married. I was so proud of him for standing up for what he wanted in this relationship. Then, Nico asked him to move in with him. Not what Schmitt was expecting or apparently wanting. He ran off to Jo as an excuse that she needed him and didn’t even answer the question. I think Schmitt honestly did just want a draw or two. Even though he had asked to stay with him before. This relationship is a rollercoaster. You never know what end you’ll end up on.
What did you think of the last Merder episode? Tweet me @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
