Grey's Anatomy Fall Finale Recap: 'Blow'-Out — Plus, Did Meredith Make Her Sexy DeLuca Dream Come True?
The windstorm that hit Seattle in Thursday’s fall finale of Grey’s Anatomy didn’t just send flying anything and everything that wasn’t nailed down, it also blew forward a bunch of relationships that weren’t even sure they were relationships yet (Meredith/DeLuca, Levi/Nico) or anymore (Owen/Teddy, Jackson/Maggie). Where did things stand when the hour was up? Read on and find out.
‘WHERE THE HELL IS ALEX KAREV?!?’
| As “Blowin’ in the Wind” — and the storm — began, Mer picked up Richard after his arrest and, knowing before him what Catherine was up against, gently but firmly advised that he get his s— together. Or at least “get your head in a place where you can take care of the people who depend on you.” Across town, Ben showed up at what until recently had been his home to board up the windows for Bailey and Tuck… but was unsure of whether he was allowed to use his key while he and his wife were separated. “We are not separated,” Miranda insisted. “We are taking time apart” so that she can bring down her stress levels. The morning after, as Maggie arrived at Grey Sloan at the same time as Jackson, she made the mistake of remarking on the storm. “So are we talking about the weather?” he asked. “Is that our new thing?” Two words of advice for Mr. I’m Talking to Other Women: Lighten. Up. When Maggie crossed paths with Teddy, who’d decided to scrub in rather than twiddle her thumbs in her hotel room, she was displeased to hear that Owen’s babymama had yet to come clean — despite the fact that she’d have been dropping her bombshell on him the same day that Betty disappeared. Two words for you, too, Maggie: Lighten. Up.
Meanwhile, Richard reported to Alex’s office to inform the interim chief that he’d been arrested. But since Bailey was there, not Karev, Webber confided in the temporarily-former chief, who benched him for the day and made arrangements to fill in the board. And where was Alex? He and Jo had overslept. Big time. And by the time they realized it, the storm was too dangerous for them to risk an attempt to get to Grey Sloan. Influx of patients or not, Jo argued, “we can’t help if we’re dead.” Before Alex could travel too far down the road that led to him feeling like a crappy leader, Jo suggested that they make the unexpected day off their second honeymoon. After all, they had each other, jelly, bread, beer and expired mac-and-cheese… what else did they need? Right on cue, their power went out. And if they’d ever known how to use their gas oven, they didn’t anymore. Thank goodness the bride managed to find the “Bubbe” that she’d used to cook herself hot meals while living out of her car. Hey, wait a minute… what’s this? She also found her and Alex’s marriage license — it had never been mailed in! “Is that my job?” he asked. “Kinda!” she replied.
‘WINDSTORMS ARE MY FAVORITE!’
| Back at the hospital, though Cece’s condition continued to worsen, she was still matchmaking like she was in peak condition. She even broke her no-pictures rule to show Mer a photo of the guy she’d decided was right for her: Link. “He has distinctly kind eyes,” Cece told Grey… as DeLuca tried not to audibly groan. In Alex’s absence, Bailey retook charge, announced that Grey Sloan was a brick house that wasn’t shutting down over a stiff breeze, and told the interns that they were gonna love working through a windstorm. And some of them did. Upon getting a gander of a patient who’d been impaled by a candy cane decoration, Taryn and Dahlia’s eyes widened, the former exclaiming, “Impalement-palooza!” Some of them reacted… less enthusiastically. “We’re supposed to love this?!?” Levi cried. Since he was too freaked out by the woman whose brain had been punctured by a selfie stick to treat her, Bailey ordered him to clear patients at the clinic with Nico. Suddenly, he wasn’t so freaked out by selfie-stick woman anymore. But it was too late — he was stuck with the hottie who’d rejected him.
While Amelia was treating selfie-stick woman with Taryn, and Owen was treating candy-cane guy with Jackson and Teddy, they spotted Betty entering the ER. Excusing themselves, the former marrieds learned from Amelia’s foster daughter that yes, she’d gotten a scratch, but it was nothing, and yes, she was high, and that was something. But, she pointed out to Amelia, “I came back because of you and Owen and Leo.” And that was something, too. Shortly, selfie-stick woman passed away during surgery, and amid a discussion of whether she’d been an organ donor, Taryn realized that the patient had been the same blood type as Cece — so she could potentially provide the organs to save the matchmaker’s life! While Helm rushed off to tell Mer, selfie-stick girl’s mom called her cell, and Amelia had to break to her the bad news. Afterwards, she raced to Betty’s bedside, gave her a big hug and thanked her for coming back. “Please,” she added, “always come back.” (Now that was a moment that couldn’t have been spelled without M-O-M!)
‘I CAN’T GUIDE YOU OUT OF THE CLOSET LIKE SOME KIND OF GAY SHERPA!’
| While scrubbing in for surgery on candy-cane guy, Teddy informed Owen that she needed to tell him something — but not right then, later. Way to distract a guy who’d in a few seconds be yanking a lawn ornament out of a patient’s abdomen! Though Teddy implored Owen to drop his interrogation during the procedure, he couldn’t. “Is this why you came back to Seattle in the first place?” he wondered. When the former lovers and Jackson discovered that candy-cane guy had miraculously come through his ordeal unscathed, Teddy at last blurted out that she was expecting — then, before Owen could pick his jaw up off the floor, got called away to the ER. “Congratulations?” said/asked Jackson. At the clinic, tensions ran high between Levi and Nico, and reached a fever pitch when Glasses said that he’d be riding out the storm at the clinic. “This is exactly what I didn’t want,” Nico said. “I don’t need the drama.” So, despite Levi’s warning that it was unsafe to return to Grey Sloan, out into the storm went Nico… who was promptly slammed against an ambulance!
After Levi helped his crush into the vehicle, he insisted that, regardless of what the worldlier doc thought, he wasn’t at risk of going into any kind of shame spiral from coming out. A shame spiral was more or less out of the question for a nerd like him, seeing as he used to play D&D in the same basement in which he still resided. As for sex, that was always “like the sun sword. It’s a magical weapon in the game that’s really hard to find,” he explained. “It’s basically like a talking light saber.” (And if you hadn’t already thought Levi was adorkable, that speech had to have pushed you over the edge!) He’d always known he’d had feelings for other guys, he just hadn’t understood them, not until Nico had kissed him. And in that moment, he added, he’d felt anything but ashamed. Moved, Nico kissed him anew. “Are you just kissing me to get me to stop talking?” asked Levi. “No,” Nico replied. And with that, Nevi (Leco?) was officially happening!
‘WHAT IS SO WRONG IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU CAN’T LISTEN TO MY PROBLEMS?’
| While in the O.R. with Mer, Maggie complained that Jackson said she didn’t talk enough about her feelings. “He should do more surgeries with you,” cracked Grey, stinging her half sis. Afterwards, Maggie challenged Mer on her attitude, prompting her to drop a truth bomb. “You and Jackson, it sucks,” she said, “but no one’s gonna die.” Catherine, on the other hand, had chondrosarcoma and just might. So Maggie oughta make up with her boyfriend or at least be a friend to him, because he was about to need her in a big way. “You broke HIPAA to me with Teddy,” Mer added, “so we’re even.” While all that was going on, Richard noticed during a check-in on Lil Pancake that he had three missed calls from his wife. When he returned one, he was taken aback: Koracick picked up!
When Cece learned that, since the storm was preventing UNOS from sending selfie-stick woman’s organs anywhere else, they were hers for the taking, she was stunned. Her own failing organs could be replaced that day! But — and this was a big “but” — there was an unfortunately great chance that she wouldn’t leave the operating table alive, DeLuca told her. So, Mer chimed in, Cece didn’t have to accept the organs. No, she wanted them. “If I die today, I died fighting,” Cece said, adding that Grey had damn well better fight, too. “If you don’t squeeze all the light and love and joy you can out of this one life you’ve been given, I’m gonna haunt you from my grave!” Her words clearly resonated with DeLuca, and a moment later, we learned how profound an impact they’d had on Grey, too. Assuming the invitation was still open, “yes to drinks,” she told Link as DeLuca stood nearby radiating jealousy.
‘I KNOW YOU HAVE OPTIONS, BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I’M ONE OF THEM’
| Shortly, Mer praised DeLuca for having been brave enough to give it to Cece straight. In return, holy crap! Out it all came spilling, magnificently, romantically, sexily! “While I’m feeling brave,” he replied, inching closer to Grey, “I’m not sorry I kissed you at the wedding ’cause it’s all I’ve been able to think about ever since.” It wasn’t an issue that she was an attending, he insisted, and it definitely wasn’t an issue that he’d dated Maggie. There was something between him and Mer. “I think you feel it, too,” he suggested. (Pretty sure everyone watching felt it.) While we — at least some of us — yelled inside our heads, “Kiss, kiss, kiss!” Mer told Andrew, “I’m having such a week, I don’t trust my thinking, so I’m gonna walk out of here. But I’m gonna think about what you said when I’m able to think.” How could she not?!?
Back at Jolex’s, Alex’s suggestion that he and his bride return all their wedding gifts and buy a bigger TV started them doing what most honeymooners do. Afterwards, he declared that he didn’t really care about the marriage license. “I feel married.” Yeah, Jo responded. All the same, “we should still mail it in.” At Grey Sloan, Richard reassured Bailey that he was ready to get a new AA sponsor — and he feared he’d really need one, too, since he suspected that Catherine was carrying on with Koracick. When Miranda balked at that notion, he shot back that not everyone could be her and Ben… thus paving the way for her to reveal that she was taking a sabbatical from her marriage so that she could stop worrying about the firefighter and lower her stress levels. “And all that stopped just because you asked him to leave?” said Webber in disbelief. “You gave up your job and your husband. What’s next, Tuck?” As far as he could see, she was trying to fix her insides from the outside.
‘DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?’ | As the hour drew to a close, Jackson approached Maggie to try to kiss and make up after their fight. And they got as far as kissing before she worked up the nerve to speak. Was she going to open up a little more, as he’d demanded? Yeah, no. “It’s your mom,” she said. She was going to reveal Catherine’s condition! (I love a lot — a lot — on Grey’s these days, but what are they doing with Maggie?!? She used to be so goofy and brilliant and fun!) Elsewhere in Grey Sloan, DeLuca wound up in the same elevator as Mer. But he wasn’t following her, he was going to her O.R. for Cece’s surgery. And if Grey wanted, he’d just stand apart from her and be quiet and not even look at her. Owen chased Teddy into an elevator, too, with a patient headed for the O.R. Before he could get any more information out of her, Amelia got on and made an announcement: She wanted to apply to become Betty’s official foster mom. “We love her, right?” And that, they did. But she could tell that something was up.
Outside, just as Levi and Nico were working on getting the ambulance rocking, a utility pole fell. Quicker than you could say “cliffhangers,” the hospital was plunged into darkness, trapping Mer in an elevator with DeLuca, Amelia in an elevator with Owen, Teddy and a patient, Jackson and Maggie in the middle of a life-or-death convo, and Cece on a gurney with a buncha healthy organs waiting to be harvested for her! So… what did you think of Grey’s fall finale? Is anyone not Team MerLuca at this point? Is it possible for Levi and Nico to be any cuter a couple? Can Maggie keep any secrets? Grade the episode below, then hit the comments.
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