Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please Read with Caution.

This hugely emotional episode had a lot of the main cast missing from the action in order to focus on these five core characters: Richard, Meredith, Maggie, Catherine, and Jackson. It was grounded enough to have all of their storylines be separate from each other and it took until the end of the episode to find them looking for each other in comfort.

At Grey-Sloan, Richard had to deal with Nurse Frankie having difficulties with her pregnancy. This side character has been appearing on-and-off since the season premiere, so we knew this would get addressed at some point in the season. She starts having pains, and literally every nurse comes to her aid.

This heartbreaking situation drives Richard over the edge because he still hadn’t gotten over his sponsor Ollie’s death. He’s been struggling, which Nurse Frankie notices and understands, but she does not want to risk losing her baby either. Her Little Pancake.

Then he puts his foot down after the problem persists… Richard gets Nurse Frankie to the OR and calls for Alex to save the baby. Alex wants to save the baby first, but Richard wants to try to save Nurse Frankie first, knowing she wants to keep her child inside for the long-term.

However, Richard relents after she begins to crash. Alex manages to save the baby in time, but Nurse Frankie doesn’t make it. SHE DIES ON THE TABLE AND EVEN BOKHEE LOSES IT. Then Richard has a hard time saying “time of death” and immediately goes to a meeting to deal with the loss.

He ends up going to a “chips for shots” bar and destroys the place for messing with alcoholics who are barely hanging on. Richard takes a baseball bat from the bartender and threatens him with all his anger and everything he’s lost. He even screams out of anger and grief.

Somebody needs to call his wife.

Speaking of Catherine, she has called on Tom Koracick and Meredith Grey to Los Angeles to help her with a VIP Patient. After watching this show for the past couple years, I figured out fairly quickly that this “VIP” is Catherine Fox herself. They check out the biopsy of the tumor on her spine and afterwards, all of them go to the bar for some neat tequila.

They talk about the worst case scenario… which is that she will be paralyzed from having this tumor. It doesn’t respond to chemo and the size of it is massive. Meredith thinks it’s time they call Richard and Jackson, who have no idea about this. Catherine agrees and calls her husband first, but Richard does not pick up the phone. He’s too busy getting arrested…

Jackson and Maggie are having serious relationship problems. Maggie finds out that Jackson has been texting other women: Kate and April. Kate is a “friend” woman he met and bonded with during his God Quest. Maggie is getting tired of his lies because no woman in the history of ever sends “three heart emojis” to someone they don’t want to sleep with.

It’s a sad truth and a devastating conversation that is relatable on both sides. Maggie doesn’t talk about her feelings, which is why Jackson talks to these “other women” who get what he’s going through and want to talk him through it.

Maggie is unable to comprehend because she was always getting ahead in life and didn’t learn how to love her friends or fight for them. She honestly thinks she can’t understand or does not have the current ability to do so… which is the best we get out of her.

Then Jackson confides how he’s grieving the lost of April and their marriage because of “bad timing”. They didn’t work out mainly because he didn’t believe in God, and now that he does, he is devastated that he lost any chance to make it right with April and the child they have together.

THIS IS WHERE APRIL COULD EASILY JOIN THE STORY LINE. It was a real mistake to “fire” April off this show. I don’t know if she was fired or not, but it’s starting to look that way after this crushing hour of television. April Kepner needs to find her way back to this show.

Anyways, Maggie proves Jackson’s words right when she leaves the apartment and is unable to deal with his complicated and messy feelings. Jackson’s beautiful blue or green(?) eyes brim with tears watching her go. He is a gorgeous man when he cries.

So much heartache on all three counts. Nurse Frankie is dead, Catherine has cancer, and the Jackson-Maggie Romance might be over for good. I think this episode worked in a lot of ways by focusing on only a handful of characters and making them all go through hell.

Anybody Have A Map? According to the end of this episode, no. Nobody does.

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