Good Sam throws us something new every week. This week was no exception in “Keep Talking.” Dr. Sam Griffth’s world has been shook, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
In the last episode, Sam (Sophia Bush) dropped out of the running for chief. I’m still a little upset about that. I loved her being a badass chief. Technically, she’s still the badass chief, at least until a new one is chosen. Unfortunately, right after Sam dropped out of the race, her father, Dr. Griff Griffith (Jason Isaacs), had symptoms that made it difficult to do his job. This week he got his test results back, and thankfully, it isn’t a brain tumor. Sam and Griff then took it to the residents to run a differential, and when all of that didn’t lead to a diagnosis, Dr. Lex Trulie (Skye P. Marshall) then informed Sam that her father had been having nightmares. Sam looked into studies and discovered it could be PTSD.
There is something so pleasing about Griff having PTSD and needing therapy. He doesn’t believe in therapy, and now that could be the only way to let him operate again. His health is no laughing matter, but this is pretty funny. And it got even better when they went to Asher Pyne (Sendhil Ramamurthy) for help. The family dynamics make this show so much fun and bring a lot of drama too. It was too funny when Vivian Katz found out about what was going on. “My husband is treating my ex-husband.” Yeah, that seems a little unusual, but I’m here for it.
It got even better when Vivian and Sam joined Griff for a therapy session with Pyne. It’s incredible how Pyne can professionally handle this entire situation. He also figured out what was wrong with Griff, and it wasn’t the shooting. In Sam and Griff’s first therapy session, Pyne discovered that Griff was still holding on to guilt from Sam’s accident when she was a kid. Griff and Sam were in a car accident, and Sam got hurt and needed heart surgery.
We knew about the accident and that surgery led to Sam becoming a heart surgeon, but we didn’t know much else. So I’m glad we got the flashbacks to see what happened. We also knew that Griff and Vivian were hiding something from Sam. So much is going on I had briefly forgotten about that. But Vivian and Griff fought about it, and Viv realized that that secret was what triggered Griff’s PTSD.
Let’s now circle back around to the family therapy session. Vivian pushed Griff to tell Sam, and it was devastating. He was drunk when they were in a car accident. Vivian made him go home so no one would know he was drunk and had the paramedics change their report. Viv covered it up. It’s a lot to take in. Both of her parents have hidden this secret from her for a long time. The knife dug deeper when Vivian told Sam that her father would have taken the consequences to be there for her. But Viv chose to protect Griff’s career.
This leads me to wonder if Griff became the cold person he is after the crash. And interestingly, Sam dated an alcoholic while not realizing her dad once had a problem. This is a fascinating twist. It’s devastated Sam’s relationship with her parents and also opened the door to so much more.
Where do all the characters go from here? How does Sam move forward with this knowledge? What does this mean for Griff? Did he have a problem back then? Most people don’t drive drunk with their kids, especially when they are a doctor. There are just so many avenues to explore.
And not to mention that explosive ending. Sam went to Dr. Caleb Tucker (Michael Stahl-David) to clear her head. She wanted sex, no feelings attached. After he confessed his feeling, this could be a little emotionally abusive, but at least she’s finding a way to cope.
What did you think of the twist? Tweet me @PrimetimeDrama or @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
P.S I didn’t forget the One Tree Hill reunion. I just have an entire article talking about it.
