S14.E12: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

[Biggie B]

I liked the dialogue between Richard and Maggie at the dance studio. She really is a dork, socially, and she was so completely aware of it, that for once, I actually found it endearing. However, that good will was quickly destroyed when she was out to dinner with Clive ("Chive," as per Jackson), and had to bolt. Could she not even string together one sentence to him to say, "OMG - I signed up for dancing lessons with my friend, to help him surprise his wife on their anniversary, and I'm supposed to be there right now! I am sooooo sorry - I screwed up the timing, but I need to get over there now!" Clive seems like a good egg and would have understood, I think. Instead, she offers no explanation at all - not even that it was work-related (which would've been a very believable excuse). Again, I get that Maggie is very socially inept, but come on! How can she be so utterly self-aware one moment, with Richard, and then be rendered speechless the next? I know it's a different relationship between her and Richard and her and Clive, of course - but still. It sort of bugged me. 

Agree with those who mentioned the oddness of Miranda's bed rest post-heart attack. I had a heart attack at age 44, and had an angioplasty and two stents put in. I was instructed to walk every single day (albeit very short distances, and easy on going up and down stairs). At no time ever was it recommended that I lie in bed all day. Even while still in the hospital, I was encouraged to walk the hallways.

Glasses the intern is annoying and merely a silly caricature to me. Can't stand him. 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Biggie B

[candall]

I skimmed the first 30 or so comments and I guess I'm in the minority.  I thought the writers did a pretty good job coming up with half a dozen "new methodologies" for the contest.  It must've been tempting to save up those little acorns and spin each one into a three-episode arc.  Okay, well, maybe not Bailey's colon irrigator.

In other thoughts:

April looked very sexy in her boy shorts, but I'd automatically punch anyone in the throat who woke me up by screaming directly into my ear.  Later, though, I liked short-tempered hangover April more than I've ever liked wide-eyed stammering "sweet" April.

I laughed when there were no full-body long camera shots on Richard's salsa dance at the end.  Salsa's hard!

[Scatterbrained]

I read somewhere that the singing girl patient has an 8 episode arc. That's a lot of singing!

[statsgirl]

I ran across a study done from Rotterdam that looked at masked blood pressure and related it to per-eclampsia.  By measuring the blood pressure at home too  they caught almost twice as much high blood pressure as just measuring it at the doctor's office. 

That's the sort of thing Arizona should be looking at.  (I wish I could get paid $100K for a literature review.  I always have to do it for free.)

[JNM5505]

I don't know who does all the medical research, but they don't seem to do a very good job.

@statsgirl well done!

[Scatterbrained]

Something I found interesting in this episode is Jackson's decision.  This is a character who has spent nearly all the time we've known him feeling yoked by a larger than life family legacy.  

 

He anonymously donates millions so that he can compete in a contest and so he can basically "be his own man" and then he ultimately decides to partner with his mother?

 

Then I thought about his choices, repairing burnt skin (flesh) or reworking and repurposing innards (guts).  I also thought about his previous episodes.  He works with burn victims in episodes 11:22 (She's Leaving Home) and 12:11 (Unbreak My Heart, aka "Japril the Movie).  In these episodes, he is mostly dealing with personal loss in his life. His work with Tatiana in JTM starts when Mark is on the fateful plane to Idaho and ends on the day of his divorce to April.  In She's Leaving Home, his work with the burn victims occurs throughout his time apart from April because she is in the army and refuses to return home.  In episode 13:16 (Who is He? And What is He to You? aka "Japril the Sequel) he works with April to repurpose a girls guts (part of intestine and appendix) into a new organ (larynx).  In this episode (14:12, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger), he chooses a similar type of surgery (repurposing guts), but we don't see WHY he ultimately made that choice.  

 

Is flesh vs. guts symbolic of his desire to dig deep vs. focus on surface issues/ shallow things?  Is it indicative to choose family and teamwork over "being his own man" and solitude?  Perhaps we will find out more in future episodes.

[Nozycat]

Just watched this ep and am confused.  Spray on skin was developed in Australia many years ago.  Why is this an innovative thing on Grey's?

[statsgirl]

16 hours ago, Nozycat said:

Why is this an innovative thing on Grey's?

Because the writers really didn't do their homework for this competition.  Bailey's thing is nothing special, Meredith's is anatomically impossible and Arizona's requires nothing more than a literature search.  I don't know enough to evaluate Maggie's or Richard's ideas.