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This week we saw the follow up to Owen and Amelia's recent decision to start the process of having a family and hints of how each of them was processing that choice. Show-runners were playing a bit of dirty pool by giving fans an episode in which Owen played babysitter to his protege April's daughter Harriet. My in-box and Twitter feed quickly grew full of cooing messages from fans who more than appreciated the cute factor of this plot line, however it wasn't that simple for the characters at the heart of this story.
While the hour was full of scenes that pressed on fans' heartstrings, we also saw maybe some foreshadowing of more of the emotional impulsiveness that had Amelia proposing to Owen and the two of them walking down the aisle two weeks later in their decision to step as quickly as possible into having a family. The question became, was this a sign they will learn from their behavior and add some tools to their tool kit, i.e. will they talk this concept over together rather than with others, or are they deepening their adherence to the emotional impulsiveness they're both known for already? Since we're only five episodes into the season, I think we have lengthy wait for the answer to that question.
Early in the hour we got our first hint that Owen's storyline might get a bit more complicated really soon. Amelia's seeming befuddlement over the date quickly morphed into her assertion to Meredith that she was pregnant because her cycle was late and she's never late, the opening salvo in the verbal diarrhea for which she's known. We soon learned that only a sister (in-law), and Bailey, of course, will tell you what's up when Meredith made it clear that Amelia should probably take the test to confirm it before she started telling people she's pregnant. Unexpectedly running into Owen in the hall shifted Amelia's mood a bit, causing her to shiftily slide the pregnancy test into her lab coat pocket before sidling up to Owen. As soon as Amelia opened her mouth to speak, Jackson captured Owen's attention by stepping out of the elevator with a squalling baby Harriet in his arms and an emergency surgery on his mind. Owen's gallant offer to take Harriet to daycare broke the mood while also making Amelia even more shifty as she walked away rather than share the news she'd been baldly asserting to Meredith just minutes before.
We were reminded yet again how personal blurs into, sometimes overtaking, professional at Grey Sloan Memorial as we next saw Amelia fighting with Maggie over wanting to work with Stephanie. The conversation rapidly shifted to Amelia's assumed pregnancy which earned her hugs from Maggie and more hairy eyeball from Meredith as she again firmly suggested she might want to confirm a pregnancy before announcing it to the whole hospital. This fan was left wondering how quickly this process could go wrong, given that this is Grey's Anatomy. Turns out, it didn't take very long at all, as Owen was having his own confusing baby-related storyline in this episode. Harriet's continued crying sent him to Alex to assess whether the fussy baby was sick and it turned out she was, as Alex postulated, maybe responding to Owen's own tense reaction to her. The cute factor amped up as Owen got his own case of verbal diarrhea as he assured both himself and Harriet that he was a baby person, no matter what Alex had to say. (FYI - this was where my timeline began heating up.)
The missed connections for Owen and Amelia continued as the next person on Amelia's poorly-aimed list of people to tell about her pregnancy was April, Owen's protege and a known blabbermouth. We quickly transitioned to Owen calling Ben via an emergency page to help him calm a still fussing baby Harriet. One wondered why Amelia hadn't yet taken the test or why Owen wouldn't page his bride with whom he'd recently agreed to try for a family. We soon learned why as Owen expressed his stress about how to take care of a baby to Ben in a continuation of his own verbal processing. Meanwhile, Amelia continued to work her own verbal processing into yet another work conversation with Maggie and Meredith in asserting that she should get dibs on Stephanie since she's pregnant. Meredith reminded her, with an expanded level of snark, that she shouldn't use a pretend pregnancy as a bargaining chip if she's not willing to take the test to confirm it.
In a cute, but unbelievable, plot line it seemed Owen indeed had nothing to do all day except carry baby Harriet around as we next saw him shush Jackson as he'd finally gotten the baby to sleep. Jackson, bless his heart, rather than claiming his daughter simply backed out of the room so that Owen could continue napping with the baby. Cue another uptick in my timeline as fans cooed once again at the cuteness of it all, even if this episode made Owen the most expensive babysitter ever. Given that this is Grey's, we had to know the downer was on its way, right? We got our gut-punch via Amelia's admission to April that she's not sure how to tell Owen she may be pregnant as the last time she had such news the father was dead by the time she found out.
Surprisingly, we got another bit of good news via Owen and Nathan bonding pretty hilariously over what to do with baby Harriet once her diaper was full. Amidst those hi-jinx we got further evidence, maybe, that these two once close friends were figuring out how to work with each other again. Small bits of their family history were unfurled in their short scene. We learned that Owen had always wanted kids and that Nathan did too, though both men stumbled a bit on memories of Owen's sister Megan with whom Nathan had been planning a life. We may have to wait a while to see if this reminiscing amounts to anything for their friendship or the hoped for return of Owen's presumed dead sister Megan. In the meantime, at least Owen regained his baby-wrangling confidence by the end of the day.
So it seemed had Amelia, as Owen was met upon his return home by an unopened pregnancy test on a tray surrounded by candles. Leave it to Grey's writers to make peeing on a pregnancy test romantic. Both Owen and Amelia waited on the expected pins and needles, neither ready to believe the answer would be negative. Until, of course, it was just that. It was unclear if we were meant to see a look of relief on Amelia's face at the results as Owen hugged her tight and said they could keep trying. Maybe this starting a family thing wasn't as easy as either of them thought it would be, huh?
Elsewhere in the hospital: Miranda and Meredith butted heads over two patients needing liver transplants; we learned Bailey's a poor winner; Jo and Andrew continued to bond; Stephanie got her surgical jones on while, not surprisingly, Jo whined about it; Meredith, Alex, and Maggie bonded as roommates; April returned to work which left her and Jackson juggling childcare; Meredith ended up operating on an emergency patient along with Richard and Nathan; Nathan continued to flirt with Meredith and she continued to rebuff him; Maggie's patient died but she still did some good teaching with Stephanie; Richard was disappointed in his wingman Arizona; Alex talked Meredith down in more original cast member focused bonding; and everyone who needed a liver transplant got one.
While the hour was full of scenes that pressed on fans' heartstrings, we also saw maybe some foreshadowing of more of the emotional impulsiveness that had Amelia proposing to Owen and the two of them walking down the aisle two weeks later in their decision to step as quickly as possible into having a family. The question became, was this a sign they will learn from their behavior and add some tools to their tool kit, i.e. will they talk this concept over together rather than with others, or are they deepening their adherence to the emotional impulsiveness they're both known for already? Since we're only five episodes into the season, I think we have lengthy wait for the answer to that question.
Early in the hour we got our first hint that Owen's storyline might get a bit more complicated really soon. Amelia's seeming befuddlement over the date quickly morphed into her assertion to Meredith that she was pregnant because her cycle was late and she's never late, the opening salvo in the verbal diarrhea for which she's known. We soon learned that only a sister (in-law), and Bailey, of course, will tell you what's up when Meredith made it clear that Amelia should probably take the test to confirm it before she started telling people she's pregnant. Unexpectedly running into Owen in the hall shifted Amelia's mood a bit, causing her to shiftily slide the pregnancy test into her lab coat pocket before sidling up to Owen. As soon as Amelia opened her mouth to speak, Jackson captured Owen's attention by stepping out of the elevator with a squalling baby Harriet in his arms and an emergency surgery on his mind. Owen's gallant offer to take Harriet to daycare broke the mood while also making Amelia even more shifty as she walked away rather than share the news she'd been baldly asserting to Meredith just minutes before.
We were reminded yet again how personal blurs into, sometimes overtaking, professional at Grey Sloan Memorial as we next saw Amelia fighting with Maggie over wanting to work with Stephanie. The conversation rapidly shifted to Amelia's assumed pregnancy which earned her hugs from Maggie and more hairy eyeball from Meredith as she again firmly suggested she might want to confirm a pregnancy before announcing it to the whole hospital. This fan was left wondering how quickly this process could go wrong, given that this is Grey's Anatomy. Turns out, it didn't take very long at all, as Owen was having his own confusing baby-related storyline in this episode. Harriet's continued crying sent him to Alex to assess whether the fussy baby was sick and it turned out she was, as Alex postulated, maybe responding to Owen's own tense reaction to her. The cute factor amped up as Owen got his own case of verbal diarrhea as he assured both himself and Harriet that he was a baby person, no matter what Alex had to say. (FYI - this was where my timeline began heating up.)
The missed connections for Owen and Amelia continued as the next person on Amelia's poorly-aimed list of people to tell about her pregnancy was April, Owen's protege and a known blabbermouth. We quickly transitioned to Owen calling Ben via an emergency page to help him calm a still fussing baby Harriet. One wondered why Amelia hadn't yet taken the test or why Owen wouldn't page his bride with whom he'd recently agreed to try for a family. We soon learned why as Owen expressed his stress about how to take care of a baby to Ben in a continuation of his own verbal processing. Meanwhile, Amelia continued to work her own verbal processing into yet another work conversation with Maggie and Meredith in asserting that she should get dibs on Stephanie since she's pregnant. Meredith reminded her, with an expanded level of snark, that she shouldn't use a pretend pregnancy as a bargaining chip if she's not willing to take the test to confirm it.
In a cute, but unbelievable, plot line it seemed Owen indeed had nothing to do all day except carry baby Harriet around as we next saw him shush Jackson as he'd finally gotten the baby to sleep. Jackson, bless his heart, rather than claiming his daughter simply backed out of the room so that Owen could continue napping with the baby. Cue another uptick in my timeline as fans cooed once again at the cuteness of it all, even if this episode made Owen the most expensive babysitter ever. Given that this is Grey's, we had to know the downer was on its way, right? We got our gut-punch via Amelia's admission to April that she's not sure how to tell Owen she may be pregnant as the last time she had such news the father was dead by the time she found out.
Surprisingly, we got another bit of good news via Owen and Nathan bonding pretty hilariously over what to do with baby Harriet once her diaper was full. Amidst those hi-jinx we got further evidence, maybe, that these two once close friends were figuring out how to work with each other again. Small bits of their family history were unfurled in their short scene. We learned that Owen had always wanted kids and that Nathan did too, though both men stumbled a bit on memories of Owen's sister Megan with whom Nathan had been planning a life. We may have to wait a while to see if this reminiscing amounts to anything for their friendship or the hoped for return of Owen's presumed dead sister Megan. In the meantime, at least Owen regained his baby-wrangling confidence by the end of the day.
So it seemed had Amelia, as Owen was met upon his return home by an unopened pregnancy test on a tray surrounded by candles. Leave it to Grey's writers to make peeing on a pregnancy test romantic. Both Owen and Amelia waited on the expected pins and needles, neither ready to believe the answer would be negative. Until, of course, it was just that. It was unclear if we were meant to see a look of relief on Amelia's face at the results as Owen hugged her tight and said they could keep trying. Maybe this starting a family thing wasn't as easy as either of them thought it would be, huh?
Elsewhere in the hospital: Miranda and Meredith butted heads over two patients needing liver transplants; we learned Bailey's a poor winner; Jo and Andrew continued to bond; Stephanie got her surgical jones on while, not surprisingly, Jo whined about it; Meredith, Alex, and Maggie bonded as roommates; April returned to work which left her and Jackson juggling childcare; Meredith ended up operating on an emergency patient along with Richard and Nathan; Nathan continued to flirt with Meredith and she continued to rebuff him; Maggie's patient died but she still did some good teaching with Stephanie; Richard was disappointed in his wingman Arizona; Alex talked Meredith down in more original cast member focused bonding; and everyone who needed a liver transplant got one.
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