 |  |
Season 12 of Grey’s Anatomy was brought to a close with an episode penned by William Harper. He titled it ‘Family Affair’ and it was definitely that – an hour about the inter-connectedness of all of the current characters with a definite dose of remembering those who are no longer present each week – primarily Cristina and Derek. Even as a couple of new beginnings occurred – i.e. Owen and Amelia’s wedding and the birth of April and Jackson’s daughter – we also said goodbye to Callie who left town in pursuit of a life with Penny at Arizona’s urging.
Of course, no wedding is straightforward on this show and this episode provided no exception to that Grey’s rule. The rainy day started for Amelia with a sob-fest of a conversation with her mother in which she was forced to defend the up and down nature of her relationship with Owen, while her mom ultimately declined to attend the wedding she thought was a potentially impetuous mistake.
Next Owen, the show’s white knight, showed up to carry on a sweet, if one-sided, conversation with Amelia through the bathroom door. He assured her that he was ready to stand by his decision to marry her no matter who did or did not show up at the church to wish them well. It worked, as she stepped out into the hall to assure him she would also show up to marry him. But this is Grey’s, could it really be that easy? Of course not.
Meredith, who continued to be in conflict with Amelia, also took seriously her duty to protect Owen, at Cristina’s urging, and Amelia, as a responsibility to Derek – her beloved husband and Amelia’s brother. While Meredith checked in with Owen about his certainty about marrying Amelia in light of his great love with Cristina, a conversation that Amelia was able to overhear, the stage was set for the next round of wedding chaos.
Freak-out mode was the next stop for Amelia and it sent her into an angry spewing of words at Meredith about missing Derek, who walked each of their sisters down the aisle, as well as her own doubts about her decision-making process in marrying Owen. Meredith took that freak-out in stride and spit back a few words of her own in which she admitted that Amelia’s feeling-laden self reminded Meredith of her own pattern pre-Derek. Meredith then offered to kick Amelia’s butt down the aisle, call mom-Shepherd to read her the riot act, or to drive the getaway car. This is Grey’s so guess which option Amelia picked?
Yup, the next scene showed us Amelia, Meredith and Maggie – sisters, bride, and bridesmaids – on the lam in Meredith’s mini-van. (At this point I was flashing back to Bailey’s Season 9 wedding jitters that involved her riding around in a limousine while Richard talked her down.) While Maggie wondered aloud what was wrong with Owen, we waited for Amelia to give us the answer.
Of course, no wedding is straightforward on this show and this episode provided no exception to that Grey’s rule. The rainy day started for Amelia with a sob-fest of a conversation with her mother in which she was forced to defend the up and down nature of her relationship with Owen, while her mom ultimately declined to attend the wedding she thought was a potentially impetuous mistake.
Next Owen, the show’s white knight, showed up to carry on a sweet, if one-sided, conversation with Amelia through the bathroom door. He assured her that he was ready to stand by his decision to marry her no matter who did or did not show up at the church to wish them well. It worked, as she stepped out into the hall to assure him she would also show up to marry him. But this is Grey’s, could it really be that easy? Of course not.
Meredith, who continued to be in conflict with Amelia, also took seriously her duty to protect Owen, at Cristina’s urging, and Amelia, as a responsibility to Derek – her beloved husband and Amelia’s brother. While Meredith checked in with Owen about his certainty about marrying Amelia in light of his great love with Cristina, a conversation that Amelia was able to overhear, the stage was set for the next round of wedding chaos.
Freak-out mode was the next stop for Amelia and it sent her into an angry spewing of words at Meredith about missing Derek, who walked each of their sisters down the aisle, as well as her own doubts about her decision-making process in marrying Owen. Meredith took that freak-out in stride and spit back a few words of her own in which she admitted that Amelia’s feeling-laden self reminded Meredith of her own pattern pre-Derek. Meredith then offered to kick Amelia’s butt down the aisle, call mom-Shepherd to read her the riot act, or to drive the getaway car. This is Grey’s so guess which option Amelia picked?
Yup, the next scene showed us Amelia, Meredith and Maggie – sisters, bride, and bridesmaids – on the lam in Meredith’s mini-van. (At this point I was flashing back to Bailey’s Season 9 wedding jitters that involved her riding around in a limousine while Richard talked her down.) While Maggie wondered aloud what was wrong with Owen, we waited for Amelia to give us the answer.
Meanwhile, back at the church, Richard haltingly explained to Owen that he witnessed the three sisters’ getaway. Owen appeared confused and more than a bit heartbroken that they’d left without providing him any explanation for their actions. The hi-jinx amped up once Owen asked to talk to April, his best-man, whom Richard had to tell him was now also missing in action. Cut to a scene of April in labor at Meredith’s with only Ben, who drove her there to find the wedding rings, by her side.
While we waited for news on both the wedding and the impending arrival of April and Jackson’s baby, we got some sisterly bonding and some panic on the baby-front. We learned that the Grey / Shepherd sisters seek out convenience-store food when they’re trying to figure things out and that April’s baby was breach and had no pulse because something was wrong with the cord too. The rainy weather likely precluded the ambulance Ben called from arriving in time and that would mean he would have to perform a C-section with absolutely no support, again, and with even higher stakes this time.
Back at the convenience store, while munching on what looked like something fried, Amelia pondered out loud whether her mother was right and she’s made yet another in a long line of impulsive decisions, whether Owen was her new drug of choice, or whether one could actually have love again once each party has already experienced love on the level of love of your life as she had with Ryan and Owen had with Cristina.
As news of April’s labor reached the hospital, we saw Richard and Alex asking Owen what he wanted to do while they waited on news of Amelia’s whereabouts. He maintained that she deserved some time, some trust, and the benefit of the doubt as to her actions that showed us Owen wasn’t quite ready to give up on his impending nuptials. Owen’s words reached a frustrated Alex who seemed to decide he wanted to give Jo another chance to explain declining his proposal, which set them up for another major misunderstanding by the end of the hour. (Come on, you saw that coming too, right?)
And back in the mini-van we saw Meredith trying to deliver a pep-talk while Amelia tried to decide whether she could take the risk and marry Owen. At the same time we saw Bailey, Arizona, and Jackson trying to talk Ben through delivering April’s baby on Meredith’s dining-room table. Oy, for the drama as the scenes went into slow motion as April and her daughter arrived at the hospital and Nathan delivered the wedding rings to Owen back at the church. There was just enough time before the hour ended for these two former friends to begin to mend their friendship before Amelia arrived and the wedding went forward.
Elsewhere in the hospital: Jackson and April became the proud parents of a daughter, delivered at Meredith’s house by Ben who made up with Bailey; turns out Jo declined to marry Alex because she’s already married to an abusive ex of whom she continues to be afraid, and Alex was too hurt by her actions to let Jo explain; Callie and Jackson treated a dementia patient and her son as an under-staffed surgical service prepared to attend the wedding; Arizona and Callie made peace with each other and their custody arrangements before Callie went to New York and Grey’s said farewell to Sara Ramirez; Meredith and Nathan danced around their dalliance with each other and talked over a bit of their histories with Derek and Megan; Alex and Meredith remained each others’ person in Cristina’s absence; Maggie told Meredith she thought there was a romantic possibility for her with Nathan which left Meredith speechless; and Stephanie entrusted a drunk Jo to Andrew which Alex misconstrued, naturally enough, causing him to move back into Casa Grey, for what was now the third time.
While we waited for news on both the wedding and the impending arrival of April and Jackson’s baby, we got some sisterly bonding and some panic on the baby-front. We learned that the Grey / Shepherd sisters seek out convenience-store food when they’re trying to figure things out and that April’s baby was breach and had no pulse because something was wrong with the cord too. The rainy weather likely precluded the ambulance Ben called from arriving in time and that would mean he would have to perform a C-section with absolutely no support, again, and with even higher stakes this time.
Back at the convenience store, while munching on what looked like something fried, Amelia pondered out loud whether her mother was right and she’s made yet another in a long line of impulsive decisions, whether Owen was her new drug of choice, or whether one could actually have love again once each party has already experienced love on the level of love of your life as she had with Ryan and Owen had with Cristina.
As news of April’s labor reached the hospital, we saw Richard and Alex asking Owen what he wanted to do while they waited on news of Amelia’s whereabouts. He maintained that she deserved some time, some trust, and the benefit of the doubt as to her actions that showed us Owen wasn’t quite ready to give up on his impending nuptials. Owen’s words reached a frustrated Alex who seemed to decide he wanted to give Jo another chance to explain declining his proposal, which set them up for another major misunderstanding by the end of the hour. (Come on, you saw that coming too, right?)
And back in the mini-van we saw Meredith trying to deliver a pep-talk while Amelia tried to decide whether she could take the risk and marry Owen. At the same time we saw Bailey, Arizona, and Jackson trying to talk Ben through delivering April’s baby on Meredith’s dining-room table. Oy, for the drama as the scenes went into slow motion as April and her daughter arrived at the hospital and Nathan delivered the wedding rings to Owen back at the church. There was just enough time before the hour ended for these two former friends to begin to mend their friendship before Amelia arrived and the wedding went forward.
Elsewhere in the hospital: Jackson and April became the proud parents of a daughter, delivered at Meredith’s house by Ben who made up with Bailey; turns out Jo declined to marry Alex because she’s already married to an abusive ex of whom she continues to be afraid, and Alex was too hurt by her actions to let Jo explain; Callie and Jackson treated a dementia patient and her son as an under-staffed surgical service prepared to attend the wedding; Arizona and Callie made peace with each other and their custody arrangements before Callie went to New York and Grey’s said farewell to Sara Ramirez; Meredith and Nathan danced around their dalliance with each other and talked over a bit of their histories with Derek and Megan; Alex and Meredith remained each others’ person in Cristina’s absence; Maggie told Meredith she thought there was a romantic possibility for her with Nathan which left Meredith speechless; and Stephanie entrusted a drunk Jo to Andrew which Alex misconstrued, naturally enough, causing him to move back into Casa Grey, for what was now the third time.
