The Center Won’t Hold
Episode 2 of Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 starts with Meredith taking a much-needed small break and has a chat with Jackson and Hayes while Maggie meets with her father. The moment soon becomes awkward though when Catherine arrives in the hospital. In the aftermath of the fight between the two fathers, Bailey is taken to have x-rays done for her foot. We then cut to Amelia and Link who are living together with their child, but also looking after Meredith’s kids. In a flashback, we see the new parents struggling to find a name for their baby. In the hospital, Teddy speaks to Owen about how worried she is as people are afraid to come in for things like stroke and heart attacks. In another flashback, Teddy finds out that Owen hasn’t cancelled their wedding but just postponed it. After operating, Teddy asks Owen what is wrong with him as she knows something is up. He gives her one more chance to tell him but she stays quiet. He then takes his phone out and plays the recording of her and Koracick. In a flashback, Webber watches the video of himself at the conference and is upset about what it will do to his reputation. He speaks to Jackson about it as he believes that not everything he did was due to the cobalt poisoning. Jackson later tries to talk him into calling his mother as he knows he is not over her yet. Back in the present, Jackson tends to the burned victim, Kayden, and realizes that it has gone through to his lungs. He calls Teddy to get him operated on but interrupts her talking to Owen about their future relationship. As we cut back to Bailey, Nico brings her x-ray results back. Thankfully, nothing is broken. She is also frustrated as she is living in a hotel and not able to see her son or husband. Hayes brings some happiness to Meredith though as he needs her help operating on the son of one of the fathers, Frankie, who has been impaled by a tree branch. His father is worried about him since he had his kidney transplanted while Jackson, Jo, Maggie and Teddy are struggling to keep Kayden alive. Afterward, Hayes relays to Frankie’s father that the surgery went well but they had to take some of his kidney out. Unfortunately, the other doctors were not able to save Kayden and have to break the bad news to his father. Frankie’s father then walks over and comforts him as he collapses on the floor crying. In the staff room, Jo confronts Teddy who is feeling sorry for herself. Teddy tries to defend herself as she knows she made a mistake and is suffering for it. Jo then gives her some advice and tells her she should try talking to Owen about how she feels. After receiving some home truths from Maggie and Bailey, Catherine calls Koracick and Webber into a meeting room. She tells Koracick that he can stay on as the head of neurology but she will accept his resignation as chief. After he storms out, Catherine offers the position to Webber and apologises for the way she has treated him. Meredith is struggling to stay awake so DeLuca offers his help. She finally accepts it and heads outside while Nico offers stress relief to Schmitt while he is in the supply room. As the episode comes to an end, we learn that Amelia and link have named their son Derek. Teddy waits for Owen and apologises as she wants to make it work. She tells him it was a mistake so Owen confronts her because he heard Koracick asked her to run away and she didn’t say no. Teddy insists that she wants to be with him but Owen drives away. Unfortunately, Hayes finds Meredith in the parking lot, collapsed and unconscious. We then cut to the beach as Meredith looks at the sea and suddenly hears her name. Derek Shepherd is waving and calling her over.
The Episode Review
What a great surprise guest appearance! After all these years, we got to see Derek – McDreamy – back for a new scene with Meredith and I am sure fans of MerDer (me included) were excited by it, even if it was a dream. It looks like poor Meredith has been pushing herself too hard or could she have caught the virus herself? I am sure we will find out in the next episode and it promises to be very dramatic, in true Grey’s Anatomy fashion. This second episode concentrated on other characters as we catch up on their stories too. I am glad to see that Amelia has finally found happiness while Teddy is struggling to live with her mistakes. You can’t really blame Owen for not forgiving her, especially after the way he found out about her affair. Jo was right to confront her and gave her some home truths about how she should be thinking about Owen and not herself. The best moment of the episode has got to be Catherine offering Koracick’s job to Webber. No one really deserves this more than him and I am looking forward to seeing what changes he will bring to the hospital. All in all, the second part of this season premiere was better than the first and gave me a glimmer of hope that we may have a better year at Grey Sloan than we did during season 16!
