S15.E14: I Want a New Drug

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

While Meredith breaks a hospital record, the rest of the doctors are sent scrambling in the wake of a massive overdose within the community. Meanwhile, Jackson wants to take a reluctant Maggie camping, and Levi and Nico's relationship continues to develop.

Promo:

Original Canadian air date: 2/20/19
Original U.S. air date: 2/21/19

[funnygirl]

Massive eye roll at Meredith breaking the record for longest surgery. In season 6, Derek had a revolving door of surgeons coming in and out to assist him on Isaac's spinal tumor, and Lexie wore a diaper! They've really taken this "sun" thing to heart.  

Are we done with the Betty/Britney show now? 

At least Alex had a decent amount of screen time. 

[DEL901]

And what about the various transplants?  And am I misremembering, but wasn't there a separation of conjoined twins?  (Or maybe that was another medical show... it's hard to keep them straight sometimes.)

What's wrong with Alex's hair?  I know he's been wearing a rug for a lot of years, but this new one is terrible.

Happy ever after (maybe) for non-Betty and her family means time for Owen to start obsessing about Teddy's baby again.

And I think Amelia and Linc have the makings of a couple.  I liked their scene together when he was trying to comfort her after the boy OD'd

Edited February 21, 2019 by DEL901

[GSMHvisitor]

The writing for Alex and Jo is really off this season. For one, they barely are in most episodes and haven't had a single story arc, be it together or individually. Often their dialogue is weird ("Thanks for marrying me." - "You're welcome." ????) and their scenes are pointless or make no sense (the entire 2nd honeymoon - what the hell was that?).

And they've become generally so mellow as a couple it's not interesting to watch. Sadly tonight's episode highlighted that even more. I'm glad they had more screentime in this episode and had actually something real going on for the first time in ages, but it turned out to be very "meh".

I've always liked that Jo understands Alex so well and just accepts him the way he is, but seriously, I don't need her to be the perfect Alex whisperer all the freaking time and know his every thought and feeling right away. To me it's becoming a case of "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing". I thought they would make Jo defend the woman to Alex and create a bit of friction for once. But no such luck. It's great that Jo understands Alex's history so well, but she could have acknowledged that and still pointed out that Alex's reaction was harsh. Everything always gets wrapped up so neatly with those two. Maybe I should find it sweet, but I just find it boring. I just want to see some real emotions again.

Plus Jo has become waaay too upbeat and bubbly for my liking. Some may say it's development, because she's finally free, but it's too much for me. She used to have a bit of an edge in the earlier seasons. I miss that.

Justin seems just tired and it feels like he's phoning it in. I guess I can't blame him, considering the writers barely give him anything to do, but it creates such an imbalance in the Jolex scenes, when one of the actors isn't fully invested. It always looks to me like Jo is much more in love with Alex than he is with her, even with ILYs being tossed around.

I don't have much to say about the rest of the episode. I don't care about Amelia, Owen, Teddy or Betty and any of their drama. I am endlessly annoyed with Contacts and his Ortho fellow boyfriend. I hate that they are being shoved down our throat so much. They have no connection to any of the established characters and are just unnecessary screentime hoarders to me.

Surprisingly, I found myself really missing Link last week, so I was glad to see him back this week. He can stay. I like his character. I still hate the idea of Meredith & DeLuca, but - Lord help me - that last scene with Meredith sleeping on the gurney was sweet. Still hoping for this story to end asap, though. I liked the hobo patient and that's it.

Edited February 22, 2019 by GSMHvisitor
forgot to add a few things

[statsgirl]

Why did no one tell Hellmouth about diapers for surgery?   Keeping that form her seems just wrong.

That said, a super-long surgery by one person don't impress me much. I'd rather have my surgeons rotate than keep one group and have them be exhausted as they're operating on me.

Glasses and HAOG is a sweet romance and I'm glad for them. I'm completely bored by them on my screen though.

Jackson, if you really want to help the homeless situation, with your money there is a lot more that you can do other than give this one guy your camping equipment.

Is this the end of the Betty-Brittany story?  Because that seemed to fall completely flat. It went from Owen saying "you can't take Leo, I'm his foster parent" last week to packing up the kid at the start of this episode. Brittany's parents are nice people and they love her and they are going to take her and Leo home with them. All that build-up for little pay-off.  (We'll either get a Koracik-Teddy-Owen triangle or Amelia will suddenly decide to have a baby this season or next.)

I'm glad that there was a mass casualty without the hospital itself being threatened by a bomb or a shooter or fire. I'm curious though why there was no PSA about safe injections sites.  Even on the news today there is an item that British Columbia wants to give out free herion to end overdoses from bad drugs. Ask anyone who works with drug addicts, safe injection sites work.

Edited February 21, 2019 by statsgirl

[dmc]

This episode was iffy.  

Do people really do opioids in the park in groups?

Is it just me or did Linc seem like a little snappy at the beginning of the episode.  Also please please do not toss him in Amelia’s direction...I am really not feeling his character.  Also I don’t like his new haircut. 

Also I am happy Alex told that guy to put his kid first over his wife because it’s realistic.  The real deal on addiction is most people without one are unsympathetic and don’t fully understand it.  They have been showing Amelia’s perspective for weeks which I appreciate.   However Alex is how most non-addicts respond to addiction.  I know we are in Grey’s world but it’s nice to see the real response of people just not getting it or basically thinking of only how someone else’s addiction adversely affected them.  

Glasses annoys me.  It’s mostly they way that he speaks at the speed of  Gilmore girl.  

Does Amelia have a sponsor what does her sponsor think of this situation?  

It’s typical of Meredith to play it cool when she does anything noteworthy.  It makes me miss Christina who would legit be rubbing in everyone’s face like a normal person. 

Jo and Alex are written so poorly and Maggie and Jackson have zero chemistry.  

3 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Why did no one tell Hellmouth about diapers for surgery?   Keeping that form her seems just wrong.

That said, a super-long surgery by one person don't impress me much. I'd rather have my surgeons rotate than keep one group and have them be exhausted as they're operating on me.

Glasses and HAOG is a sweet romance and I'm glad for them. I'm completely bored by them on my screen though.

Jackson, if you really want to help the homeless situation, with your money there is a lot more that you can do other than give this one guy your camping equipment.

Is this the end of the Betty-Brittany story?  Because that seemed to fall completely flat. It went from Owen saying "you can't take Leo, I'm his foster parent" last week to packing up the kid at the start of this episode. Brittany's parents are nice people and they love her and they are going to take her and Leo home with them. All that build-up for little pay-off.  (We'll either get a Koracik-Teddy-Owen triangle or Amelia will suddenly decide to have a baby this season or next.)

I'm glad that there was a mass casualty without the hospital itself being threatened by a bomb or a shooter or fire. I'm curious though why there was no PSA about safe injections sites.  Even on the news today there is an item that British Columbia wants to give out free herion to end overdoses from bad drugs. Ask anyone who works with drug addicts, safe injection sites work.

This...a rich person giving a homeless person camping equipment

Edited February 22, 2019 by dmc

[Dee]

As corny as it is I still love the relationship between the Grey/Pierce/Shepherd sisters.

[Shellie]

39 minutes ago, dmc said:

This...a rich person giving a homeless person camping equipment

I thought that was seriously inadequate.  Jackson could've straight up bought a building and turned it into a homeless shelter.  In the meantime, perhaps he could have set this older gentleman up in respite care.

Edited February 22, 2019 by Shellie
typo

[dmc]

1 minute ago, Shellie said:

I thought that was seriously inadequate.  Jackson could've straight up bought a building and turned it into a homeless shelter.  In the meantime, perhaps he could have set this older gentleman up in respite care.

Agreed.  Painful to watch 

[Ohwell]

I was so disappointed in Jackson.  With his money, he had so many options for helping the homeless guy instead of just giving him his camping crap.

[preeya]

22 hours ago, funnygirl said:

Are we done with the Betty/Britney show now? 

I sure hope so. And I call total bullshit on the way she "woke up" after her life saving surgery.

ENOUGH OF THIS HABITUAL JUNKIE!

[shantown]

I assumed Meredith breaking the “longest surgery” record was a reference to the show breaking the “longest prime time medical show” record. 

I hope Linc and Amelia become friends and stay friends. This show needs more friendship. 

Agreed that Jackson can and should do more with his money than just giving out some of his excess camping equipment.

[DEL901]

58 minutes ago, dmc said:

This...a rich person giving a homeless person camping equipment

Yeah, what’s he supposed to do, pitch the tent in the public park?    And how does he carry it around during the day, not to mention that it would quickly be stolen.

[dmc]

Just now, DEL901 said:

Yeah, what’s he supposed to do, pitch the tent in the public park?    And how does he carry it around during the day, not to mention that it would quickly be stolen.

All of this 

[Lady Calypso]

9 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I was so disappointed in Jackson.  With his money, he had so many options for helping the homeless guy instead of just giving him his camping crap.

And then he had the audacity to look like it was a pain to give his camping equipment away in front of the guy. I thought that maybe he was going to offer him a place to stay while he healed up. 

Contacts needs to STFU. He just kept rambling and rambling and, from what I gathered, it was pretty pointless. Ok, so he needs to find his specialty. I still don't care. 

Qadri is the only intern, besides Casey, that seems to actually be learning something. And surprisingly, Jackson is the first one from my recollection to teach one of the new interns something about medicine and actually not make it about themselves. 

I hope this is the end of Betty/Britney. I'm over her storyline. Plus, time to move Owen on to his one true endgame: caring for his own bio child, and hopefully move Amelia on to someone else. Sure, I'll take her and Link. They had a good scene together. Plus, Amelia deserves better than Owen. 

Still meh on Meredith/Deluca and their last scene felt more platonic when he was putting her in another room to get sleep. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I was absolutely disappointed with giving the homeless man camping equipment.    I really thought someone would give him a room to stay in until he could get a permanent home.     And how long would it be before someone rips off the camping equipment?     

[jschoolgirl]

Are Owen and Amelia living in The Dream House?

Edited February 22, 2019 by jschoolgirl

[Bringonthedrama]

I have watched sporadically since the show killed off Derek, so this is a serious question - what is the deal with Teddy telling Maggie not to be in the Betty surgery because if Betty dies, Amelia is "going to need her sister"? And in a previous episode, Maggie was referred to as Amelia's sister/ the 3 are spoken about like they are sisters (i.e grew up together with same parents)? Umm, Amelia as Derek's brother is legit as Meredith's sister-in-law. Amelia and Meredith had a relationship for years while Derek was alive and obviously continue to have a relationship in the years since he died. However, Maggie just met Meredith a few years ago, and it was established that she was the secret bio child of Meredith's mom and Richard. Was Maggie supposed to magically take Christina's place in Mer's life?

 Amelia and Maggie are not sisters in any way. Realistically, they should see each other from time to time in the hospital since they are both doctors, and also possibly at events for Meredith or her kids, since they are both aunts. Amelia and Maggie don't appear to have any reasons to have a loving sisterly relationship, so I am perplexed. Or is this all about giving Meredith the appearance of a new family unit because Derek, Christina, and Izzy are gone? 

Also, I hope for Amelia's sake that she's smart enough to dump Owen now. His character does not appear to have improved since he first got involved with Christina. The doctor you all call Linc seems like he has potential to be good for her. 

[jschoolgirl]

1 minute ago, Bringonthedrama said:

And in a previous episode, Maggie was referred to as Amelia's sister/ the 3 are spoken about like they are sisters Was Maggie supposed to magically take Christina's place in Mer's life?

They're trying to sell it that way.

 Amelia and Maggie are not sisters in any way. Realistically, they should see each other from time to time in the hospital since they are both doctors, and also possibly at events for Meredith or her kids, since they are both aunts. Amelia and Maggie don't appear to have any reasons to have a loving sisterly relationship, so I am perplexed. Or is this all about giving Meredith the appearance of a new family unit because Derek, Christina, and Izzy are gone? 

Yes!

[chitowngirl]

2 minutes ago, Bringonthedrama said:

Amelia and Maggie are not sisters in any way.

Sometimes family is what you make with the people around you.

[jschoolgirl]

9 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Sometimes family is what you make with the people around you.

Very true!

[jschoolgirl]

Also, this is only the second episode in which I've heard Bokhee speak!

The other one was when OR nurses were told to call a doctor, and Bokhee said, "Who?"

[statsgirl]

21 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Sometimes family is what you make with the people around you.

Both Maggie and Amelia are mourning the loss of a family member and emotionally, they're more like each other than either is like Meredith. Meredith is all Ellis while Maggie has quite a bit of Richard in her.

Christina was a better match for Meredith than either Maggie or Amelia.

That said, Teddy saying that she would do the surgery because Amelia needed Maggie was stupid. It was an aeortic dissention (I think) and while Teddy is a good trauma surgeon, Maggie is the cardio-thoracic surgeon.  We also didn't see Maggie once with Amelia supporting her.

By the way, while Meredith was doing her marathon-long surgery, who was taking care of her three children?  I hope that nanny gets hazard pay.

[LexieLily]

3 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Christina was a better match for Meredith than either Maggie or Amelia.

That said, Teddy saying that she would do the surgery because Amelia needed Maggie was stupid. It was an aeortic dissension (I think) and while Teddy is a good trauma surgeon, Maggie is the cardio-thoracic surgeon.  We also didn't see Maggie once with Amelia supporting her.

Did the show go ahead and give Teddy Owen's job or did they just never bother to fill April's job and they gave Teddy that? Teddy was running the pit, before the surgery on Betty, but Owen was running the outside triage, or the traffic holdup.

[doLLish]

Didn’t decide to give up most of his fortune to repay the women from the sexual harassment lawsuits against Harper Avery? He even gave up his boat and kept just enough for Harriet’s trust fund. Did I miss something that happened after that?

Yes he could have done more but things like buying a whole building? With what?

Edited February 22, 2019 by doLLish

[statsgirl]

I think Jackson gave most of his fortune to that stupid competition that Bailey was running.

But even if he didn't have his inherited money any more, with his family name and connections, he could be lobbying the government and setting up foundations to help house the homeless. And volunteering his medical services to people who can't afford them as my periodontist does.

16 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

Did the show go ahead and give Teddy Owen's job or did they just never bother to fill April's job and they gave Teddy that? Teddy was running the pit, before the surgery on Betty, but Owen was running the outside triage, or the traffic holdup.

Owen said that they hadn't replaced April yet and then offered Teddy his own job of chief of emergency department. I take it that Owen gave Teddy his job (instead of hiring a real emergency physician) and he took April's.

[KaveDweller]

9 minutes ago, doLLish said:

Didn’t decide to give up most of his fortune to repay the women from the sexual harassment lawsuits against Harper Avery? He even gave up his boat and kept just enough for Harriet’s trust fund. Did I miss something that happened after that?

Yes, Jackson did give up a bunch of money for the sexual harassment suits. I didn't totally get why, but he did.

But that being said, he is probably richer than most people and could do more to help the homeless if he wanted.

[anna0852]

Teddy is a cardiothoracic surgeon. Cristina was practically orgasming about learning from her back in the day. I thought it was a mature gesture on Teddy's part, both acknowledging the relationship between Maggie and Amelia while at the same time keeping their relationship good. Teddy knew that if Brittany died then Amelia was going to need to blame someone and better her than Maggie. 

[Bringonthedrama]

10 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

Both Maggie and Amelia are mourning the loss of a family member and emotionally, they're more like each other than either is like Meredith. Meredith is all Ellis while Maggie has quite a bit of Richard in her.

I know that Maggie's mother died; did Amelia lose someone aside from Derek? 

Amelia has struggled with addiction and something of an inferiority complex (re: her being the second Dr. Shepherd), whereas Maggie comes off like a teenager who happens to be a brilliant surgeon. How are she and Amelia emotionally alike?

I understand Meredith referring to A&M as her sisters, and the show has established that she created a family over time that includes both women, Alex & Jo, etc. But I just find it really strange that colleagues refer to Meredith's half-sister as her SIL's sister. They don't say "Maggie is like a sister to Amelia"  They say "is" her sister. 

[statsgirl]

1 minute ago, Bringonthedrama said:

I know that Maggie's mother died; did Amelia lose someone aside from Derek?

When Amelia was a child, she saw her father murdered in front of her which presumably triggered a life-long trauma (or neediness for those who don't like her). Derek stepped into the father role for her so it was even more traumatic when she lost him.

She's also estranged from her family for some reason. There was a subplot when she married Owen that no one from her family bothered to show up so Maggie and to a lesser extent Meredith were her supports.

Maggie came to Seattle looking to connect to her family there. I don't think Meredith ever cared about connecting to Thatcher or any of his family unless she was forced to.

Amelia is doing better this season but she and Maggie were emotionally immature for their age and position. On the other hand, who on this show isn't?

[izabella]

Amelia lost her fiancee - that was the story she told Betty's parents.  That he died in bed next to her - he od'd.  She also lost a baby.

[Bringonthedrama]

6 minutes ago, izabella said:

Amelia lost her fiancee - that was the story she told Betty's parents.  That he died in bed next to her - he od'd.  She also lost a baby.

I knew that, but it was so long ago I think that may have been when she was still on PP.  I recall that her baby was born without a brain, and died. 

The wording of a previous post had me thinking that Amelia lost a family member soon before or after Maggie's mother died.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oh, Jackson. At the beginning of the episode, I was like dude, learn to read the room. It was clear that Maggie did not want to go camping and dig a literal shithole while squatting over rocks. Later it was clear that he knew she didn't want to go but that he thought she would love it if he took her. I hate to break this to you, Jackson, but your good looks are not enough to make someone enjoy shitting in a dirt hole. There is nothing wrong with couples enjoying different things. You do NOT have to do everything together. Bailey has the right attitude about it.

Later when Jackson was going on and on about how camping shows you that you don't need all that stuff, I was just rolling my eyes. This coming from a guy who bought a boat on a whim.

Yes, it was nice of him to give the homeless guy all the camping equipment he ended up not using but hello, you are LOADED and that was the best you could do?

I don't dislike Jackson but he just came off as very tone deaf in this episode.

I understood in theory why Betty/Brittany's dad was afraid that telling her that her boyfriend died might be too much for her to handle and push her into ODing, but what was the alternative? Letting her think that her boyfriend just ditched her? Then she would spend all her time obsessing about where he was and wandering around looking for him.

[NUguy514]

4 hours ago, dmc said:

Do people really do opioids in the park in groups?

Yes.

Going directly from Owen's screaming at notBetty's parents to his calmly giving Leo to them without any scenes in between to explain that transition gave me whiplash.

Amelia and Linc had more of an honest connection in their brief scenes together than she and Owen have had ever.

Teddy was much more tolerable this episode, and it was good to be reminded that she's a cardio god herself.

Shut up, Glasses (can't make the transition to Contacts, sorrynotsorry).

[Layne]

3 hours ago, statsgirl said:

Teddy saying that she would do the surgery because Amelia needed Maggie was stupid. It was an aeortic dissention (I think) and while Teddy is a good trauma surgeon, Maggie is the cardio-thoracic surgeon. 

You do realize Teddy is a cardio thoracic surgeon, right? She used to be Head of Cardio and she trained Cristina Yang. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Obligatory:

[RedbirdNelly]

* I liked Bailey this episode. She didn't do that much but she had some cute scenes where she was a real, sharp-witted person and not a bumbling person. The scene with her and Maggie was cute, and the scene with her and Ben at the end seemed real.

* I appear to be a party of one on this but I was touched by the "please decide to live" scene and Betty waking up. That likely is due to me being the parent of 2 teens who thankfully now are ok but you can't help but worry about what might happen should they try drugs. So, I teared up. I will be just fine if Betty leaves the show though. So flat.

* agree with everyone that I was surprised Jackson's solution was to give the guy a bunch of camping equipment that he is somehow supposed to carry around--the same stuff Jackson was using a vehicle to haul. I know he no longer has the money to buy a building and open a shelter but he's not poor and I kind of expected him to get the guy a hotel room for a few nights at least or find some solution of using some part of the hospital we'd never scene as a transition shelter, leading to a story arc about the new hospital transition shelter (like the Denny clinic).

* it always bugs me that they have this clinic that opens to the ER bay area but apparently does not connect to the hospital. People have to run from clinic, outside and into the ER. No internal hallway apparently. Just weird.

* the marathon surgery seemed silly to me. Are we to believe Meredith went over 27 hours without using the bathroom? or that she's wearing a diaper? ick. I found it odd when they burst into applause when she passed the current record. The surgery wasn't over. Applause before it's done seemed weird--how would it feel to pass the record and the patient die 15 minutes later? Applause after it was done made more sense.

* glasses/contacts and Asian guy storylines are just bad. I'm not buying chemistry at all. If they had slow walked some of this--shown friendship develop etc maybe I would get it.

* I expected something more from Alex and Jo besides a simple ok, you were left; I love you; awesome. Just a storyline going to no where. I also find it odd that 2 times Alex mentions how great things are for him (he doesn't need awards or records, etc) because he's chief. Maybe the show will make it permanent but for the character in that moment---he's about half way through a 6 month gig. How much satisfaction to you get from "I'm chief for 6 months"? Are we really supposed to believe he's that non-competitive, non-interested in his own career? For Alex, 6 months of chief are the equivalent of getting a Harper Avery? Just weird to me.

[dmc]

16 minutes ago, RedbirdNelly said:

* I liked Bailey this episode. She didn't do that much but she had some cute scenes where she was a real, sharp-witted person and not a bumbling person. The scene with her and Maggie was cute, and the scene with her and Ben at the end seemed real.

* I appear to be a party of one on this but I was touched by the "please decide to live" scene and Betty waking up. That likely is due to me being the parent of 2 teens who thankfully now are ok but you can't help but worry about what might happen should they try drugs. So, I teared up. I will be just fine if Betty leaves the show though. So flat.

* agree with everyone that I was surprised Jackson's solution was to give the guy a bunch of camping equipment that he is somehow supposed to carry around--the same stuff Jackson was using a vehicle to haul. I know he no longer has the money to buy a building and open a shelter but he's not poor and I kind of expected him to get the guy a hotel room for a few nights at least or find some solution of using some part of the hospital we'd never scene as a transition shelter, leading to a story arc about the new hospital transition shelter (like the Denny clinic).

* it always bugs me that they have this clinic that opens to the ER bay area but apparently does not connect to the hospital. People have to run from clinic, outside and into the ER. No internal hallway apparently. Just weird.

* the marathon surgery seemed silly to me. Are we to believe Meredith went over 27 hours without using the bathroom? or that she's wearing a diaper? ick. I found it odd when they burst into applause when she passed the current record. The surgery wasn't over. Applause before it's done seemed weird--how would it feel to pass the record and the patient die 15 minutes later? Applause after it was done made more sense.

* glasses/contacts and Asian guy storylines are just bad. I'm not buying chemistry at all. If they had slow walked some of this--shown friendship develop etc maybe I would get it.

* I expected something more from Alex and Jo besides a simple ok, you were left; I love you; awesome. Just a storyline going to no where. I also find it odd that 2 times Alex mentions how great things are for him (he doesn't need awards or records, etc) because he's chief. Maybe the show will make it permanent but for the character in that moment---he's about half way through a 6 month gig. How much satisfaction to you get from "I'm chief for 6 months"? Are we really supposed to believe he's that non-competitive, non-interested in his own career? For Alex, 6 months of chief are the equivalent of getting a Harper Avery? Just weird to me.

I feel the same about Alex.  Interim chief isn’t a goal, get back into game Alex. 

Theoretically you you can go 27 hours without going to bathroom.  But it means cutting off fluids in preparation 

[Racj82]

20 hours ago, GSMHvisitor said:

The writing for Alex and Jo is really off this season. For one, they barely are in most episodes and haven't had a single story arc, be it together or individually. Often their dialogue is weird ("Thanks for marrying me." - "You're welcome." ????) and their scenes are pointless or make no sense (the entire 2nd honeymoon - what the hell was that?).

And they've become generally so mellow as a couple it's not interesting to watch. Sadly tonight's episode highlighted that even more. I'm glad they had more screentime in this episode and had actually something real going on for the first time in ages, but it turned out to be very "meh".

I've always liked that Jo understands Alex so well and just accepts him the way he is, but seriously, I don't need her to be the perfect Alex whisperer all the freaking time and know his every thought and feeling right away. To me it's becoming a case of "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing". I thought they would make Jo defend the woman to Alex and create a bit of friction for once. But no such luck. It's great that Jo understands Alex's history so well, but she could have acknowledged that and still pointed out that Alex's reaction was harsh. Everything always gets wrapped up so neatly with those two. Maybe I should find it sweet, but I just find it boring. I just want to see some real emotions again.

Plus Jo has become waaay too upbeat and bubbly for my liking. Some may say it's development, because she's finally free, but it's too much for me. She used to have a bit of an edge in the earlier seasons. I miss that.

Justin seems just tired and it feels like he's phoning it in. I guess I can't blame him, considering the writers barely give him anything to do, but it creates such an imbalance in the Jolex scenes, when one of the actors isn't fully invested. It always looks to me like Jo is much more in love with Alex than he is with her, even with ILYs being tossed around.

I don't have much to say about the rest of the episode. I don't care about Amelia, Owen, Teddy or Betty and any of their drama. I am endlessly annoyed with Contacts and his Ortho fellow boyfriend. I hate that they are being shoved down our throat so much. They have no connection to any of the established characters and are just unnecessary screentime hoarders to me.

Surprisingly, I found myself really missing Link last week, so I was glad to see him back this week. He can stay. I like his character. I still hate the idea of Meredith & DeLuca, but - Lord help me - that last scene with Meredith sleeping on the gurney was sweet. Still hoping for this story to end asap, though. I liked the hobo patient and that's it.

I can't say I share any of your feelings on the Jo and Alex stuff.

For me, it's nice to have a couple just be. I don't need anything to make them more interesting. I don't need the angst from them. They have both been suffering for so long. I'm happy to just let them be.

I also don't and have not cared about how much screentime Alex and Meredith or any of the OG's get for a long time. They've been doing this show for nearly 20 years. Although I do love them, they are coasting and making that money. Their stories have been explored for fifteen years. They don't actually need the spotlight anymore. It's shocking enough that they are still there.

[Shellie]

11 hours ago, doLLish said:

Didn’t decide to give up most of his fortune to repay the women from the sexual harassment lawsuits against Harper Avery? He even gave up his boat and kept just enough for Harriet’s trust fund. Did I miss something that happened after that?

Yes he could have done more but things like buying a whole building? With what?

Heh, I totally forgot that storyline, although I'm always reminded of it when Catherine is called Catherine Fox. The whole thing seems ludicrous and cooked up out of thing air, so I guess I block it from my mind!

I do think, especially with his salary, he could do what many people do when wanting to start a homeless shelter . . . get permission from the municipality, and then buy a large, older, low-priced home that needs some work, and hire a contractor to fix it up.  Just a possibility.

[Lady Calypso]

I mean, Jackson also could have at least paid for a hotel for the guy for a week or two if he was that concerned. He could have done anything else but nooooooooo. The show HAD to have Jackson make this "big" sacrifice to give up his camping gear, something he only took up recently during his Gotta Find Jesus trip (I think that was him going outdoors). 

Also, another quip that bothered me: why was Homeless Guy so stunned that Jackson had camping gear in his car? He was literally RIGHT THERE when Maggie and Jackson were arguing about the camping stuff. Homeless Guy would have known that Jackson was going camping with Maggie that night. Why was he surprised that Jackson had the camping gear with him? 

[proserpina65]

21 hours ago, GSMHvisitor said:

I thought they would make Jo defend the woman to Alex and create a bit of friction for once. But no such luck. It's great that Jo understands Alex's history so well, but she could have acknowledged that and still pointed out that Alex's reaction was harsh.

I don't think his reaction was harsh at all.  That man should keep his son as far from his wife as possible.

21 hours ago, GSMHvisitor said:

I don't have much to say about the rest of the episode. I don't care about Amelia, Owen, Teddy or Betty and any of their drama. I am endlessly annoyed with Contacts and his Ortho fellow boyfriend.

I was kind of psyched for a real male/male relationship on this show, but these two has absolutely zero chemistry and I don't buy their relationship at all.

12 hours ago, statsgirl said:

That said, Teddy saying that she would do the surgery because Amelia needed Maggie was stupid. It was an aeortic dissention (I think) and while Teddy is a good trauma surgeon, Maggie is the cardio-thoracic surgeon.  We also didn't see Maggie once with Amelia supporting her.

I thought Teddy was a cardio god - wasn't that why Owen convinced her to come to Seattle, to be Cristina's cardio mentor?  Eh, it's been so long ago that I don't really remember.

[Ohwell]

Even though NotBetty's father was first shown as being rather harsh, I never jumped to the conclusion that he was an abuser (just because he was a man), so I was glad to see that he wasn't.   I hope the story stays that way.  

[GSMHvisitor]

1 hour ago, Racj82 said:

I also don't and have not cared about how much screentime Alex and Meredith or any of the OG's get for a long time. They've been doing this show for nearly 20 years. Although I do love them, they are coasting and making that money. Their stories have been explored for fifteen years. They don't actually need the spotlight anymore. It's shocking enough that they are still there.

I don't care about the other OGs screentime (or lack thereof) either. Hell, make that 75% of all the characters actually.

But Alex is literally the only character I still care about. He's the sole reason I still watch this show. So of course I want him to have screentime.

There might be several characters who have no more stories left to explore, but I strongly disagree that Alex is one of them. There are several things I want to see for him.

How about a real professional story? Some people upthread have already pointed out that he should be more ambitious than being satisfied with a temporary chief position while others are getting awards and breaking records. No to mention that they barely do anything with the chief thing besides mentioning the fact that he is. Last year they had this long medical inovation story and Alex wasn't even part of it. He just spent several episodes coddling a dying kid, which turned out to be a completely pointless story as the kid left without a goodbye and died off-screen.

I also would like to have his relationship with his mother be further explored. Hopefully we will get that in the upcoming episodes.

They could bring in his sister Amber as a new intern/resident. Apparently everybody's sister can appear as a doctor on this show, but with Alex's they act like she doesn't even exist. I've been complaining about this for years, but it still bothers me. And it would be such a great opportunity to explore Alex's character from a different angle. We've been hearing the sad stories about his difficult childhood and how he got screwed over in the parent department for years. If they brought in his sister, whom he left when she was only 10 years old and then left again as a teenager after she was attacked by her other brother, they could do a story about how Alex hurt his family too, not just the other way around. I would find that  interesting, anyways.

And then there's the usual. They could show us how he and Jo build a family and have them become parents. Throw in something that creates drama like a post partem depression and it would surely make for an interesting story.

[Evie]

5 minutes ago, GSMHvisitor said:

How about a real professional story? Some people upthread have already pointed out that he should be more ambitious than being satisfied with a temporary chief position while others are getting awards and breaking records. No to mention that they barely do anything with the chief thing besides mentioning the fact that he is. Last year they had this long medical inovation story and Alex wasn't even part of it. He just spent several episodes coddling a dying kid, which turned out to be a completely pointless story as the kid left without a goodbye and died off-screen.

This I've been wanting to see for a long time. I thought the Chief story might be a good professional story but like you said, they've barely done anything with it. The last time I even remember Alex doing anything semi note-worthy as a surgeon was WAY back during his residency days. 

[DEL901]

6 minutes ago, Evie said:

This I've been wanting to see for a long time. I thought the Chief story might be a good professional story but like you said, they've barely done anything with it. The last time I even remember Alex doing anything semi note-worthy as a surgeon was WAY back during his residency days. 

What about that project he did... I forget the details, but didn't Zola get brought to the US as a part of it?

[dmc]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I don't think his reaction was harsh at all.  That man should keep his son as far from his wife as possible.

I was kind of psyched for a real male/male relationship on this show, but these two has absolutely zero chemistry and I don't buy their relationship at all.

I thought Teddy was a cardio god - wasn't that why Owen convinced her to come to Seattle, to be Cristina's cardio mentor?  Eh, it's been so long ago that I don't really remember.

Agreed parent>spouse 

You have an obligation to keep your kid safe even if it’s from their other parent.  He could still get the wife help though.  

[RedheadZombie]

On 2/21/2019 at 7:06 AM, DEL901 said:

And what about the various transplants?  And am I misremembering, but wasn't there a separation of conjoined twins?  (Or maybe that was another medical show... it's hard to keep them straight sometimes.)

What's wrong with Alex's hair?  I know he's been wearing a rug for a lot of years, but this new one is terrible.

Happy ever after (maybe) for non-Betty and her family means time for Owen to start obsessing about Teddy's baby again.

And I think Amelia and Linc have the makings of a couple.  I liked their scene together when he was trying to comfort her after the boy OD'd

I was thinking it showed that Betty is not capable of caring for a baby, and since her parents can't even handle her, they are in no place to care for the baby either.

 

17 hours ago, Shellie said:

I thought that was seriously inadequate.  Jackson could've straight up bought a building and turned it into a homeless shelter.  In the meantime, perhaps he could have set this older gentleman up in respite care.

And everything would be stolen from the man the first time he had to leave the tent.

 

16 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Teddy is a cardiothoracic surgeon. Cristina was practically orgasming about learning from her back in the day. I thought it was a mature gesture on Teddy's part, both acknowledging the relationship between Maggie and Amelia while at the same time keeping their relationship good. Teddy knew that if Brittany died then Amelia was going to need to blame someone and better her than Maggie. 

Maybe a call back to when Cristina unsuccessfully operated on Teddy's husband, and how hard Teddy was on Cristina after the fact?

[anna0852]

@RedheadZombie that is exactly what I was thinking! Plus it's a big turnaround from when Teddy was insistent that they *weren't* sisters earlier in the season. 

[Racj82]

2 hours ago, GSMHvisitor said:

I don't care about the other OGs screentime (or lack thereof) either. Hell, make that 75% of all the characters actually.

But Alex is literally the only character I still care about. He's the sole reason I still watch this show. So of course I want him to have screentime.

There might be several characters who have no more stories left to explore, but I strongly disagree that Alex is one of them. There are several things I want to see for him.

How about a real professional story? Some people upthread have already pointed out that he should be more ambitious than being satisfied with a temporary chief position while others are getting awards and breaking records. No to mention that they barely do anything with the chief thing besides mentioning the fact that he is. Last year they had this long medical inovation story and Alex wasn't even part of it. He just spent several episodes coddling a dying kid, which turned out to be a completely pointless story as the kid left without a goodbye and died off-screen.

I also would like to have his relationship with his mother be further explored. Hopefully we will get that in the upcoming episodes.

They could bring in his sister Amber as a new intern/resident. Apparently everybody's sister can appear as a doctor on this show, but with Alex's they act like she doesn't even exist. I've been complaining about this for years, but it still bothers me. And it would be such a great opportunity to explore Alex's character from a different angle. We've been hearing the sad stories about his difficult childhood and how he got screwed over in the parent department for years. If they brought in his sister, whom he left when she was only 10 years old and then left again as a teenager after she was attacked by her other brother, they could do a story about how Alex hurt his family too, not just the other way around. I would find that  interesting, anyways.

And then there's the usual. They could show us how he and Jo build a family and have them become parents. Throw in something that creates drama like a post partem depression and it would surely make for an interesting story.

I don't mean to imply that Alex or any of the OG's stories are done. Just that it's been so long that them staying on the sidelines for a while is alright with me.

But, I get it. You want to see your favorites do SOMETHING. Whatever that may be. 

I would also scrub all of this makeshift family stuff with Owen and Amelia for an OG's plot. Don't get me wrong. 

Also, I'm all for more professional storylines. 

Latter season ER gets slagged on a lot but upon rewatch, I was hit with how much I enjoyed the focus on the different fields the residents and interns were studying. The focus on trying to make them better doctors. The difficulty of the grind in a more beat by beat type of way. 

But, this show will always be high school in hospital in many ways. I don't think it will change.