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Be sure to check the website for articles & other news about this episode that Kevin directed.
Be sure to check the website for articles & other news about this episode that Kevin directed.
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This week's episode of Grey's Anatomy took place not in Seattle, but in Montana and got us some pretty heavy duty backstory on Jackson Avery. He traveled to one of the Avery Foundation hospitals to treat a patient along with April, a last minute substitute for Meredith. What followed was Grey's ubiquitous tense medical case filled with anvils aplenty. As usual in these sort of stunt episodes, very few other characters were seen which meant lots of stories didn't move forward this week. However, we did get more capable directing from Kevin McKidd.
The bickering between Jackson and April continued as they stepped into the Avery family plane and were offered champagne by a flight attendant. While Jackson put his nose into patient files and acted unimpressed by the luxury around him, April teased him while also sticking up for Catherine, pressing Jackson's buttons all the way. The mood shifted rapidly when they arrived at the Montana hospital to do a throat transplant from one child to another when they realized the dying child's father still held out hope his son would wake up. Jackson shared his own heartbreak at losing the son they both still mourn, shocking April into silence, and convincing the father to authorize surgery.
When Jackson next used his experience as a father to charm the mothers of their transplant patient, April confronted him. His response was to stalk away to a diner in which we later find him soused as April picked up the pieces of their exploded surgery when the donor was found to no longer be an option. In some stunt casting we found Eric Roberts tending bar and acting all sorts of folksy, offering Jackson a standard free beer for new customers. The plot thickened when April sought out a now drunken Jackson only for him to storm moodily out of the bar. A brief introduction to the bartender gave us the next plot cannonball - he's none other than Robert Avery, a former surgeon and, wait for it, Jackson's missing in action father. Now all Jackson's talk of fatherly concerns slipped eerily into place.
Once a less optimal surgery option was all they had to offer, their patient's mothers decided to take her out of state which was risky given her deteriorating condition. Jackson, headstrong and self-assured, promised them an idea to fix their daughter's condition which he later admitted to April he made up on the spot to give himself time to think. She accused him of only being in Montana to see his father, a quest she told him was putting their patient at risk. Our normally eloquent Jackson found himself at a decided loss for words before he stalked away from her once again. This at least temporarily put a halt to their bickering as April patiently heard Jackson's amalgam of feelings around being face to face with a father who didn't recognize him.
With April's encouragement Jackson once again approached his father, but found his bumbling description of how the status and expectations of the Avery name just wasn't 'his thing' to be less than what he'd hoped for in a response. The clueless look on his father's face paired alongside the heartbreak on Jackson's face was mesmerizing. Once again Jackson stalked away from the encounter rather than face his pain in front of April, which made this week yet another episode in which the patient's story was almost beside the point to the resulting impact on the doctors' personal lives. And boy was it ever personal as Jackson and April's bickering turned to empathizing which turned to surgical breakthrough, oh yeah, and turned to smut as we saw Jackson and April, high on surgical adrenaline, back in each other's arms. The culmination of the story came when Jackson found it in himself to make peace with his biological father's absence from his life which allowed him to also seemingly make peace with his force of nature mother Catherine. Be ready for the next stop on the rollercoaster Japril fans, will this detente stick for them or not?
While we missed seeing most of our favorite make believe Seattle surgical team in this episode, based on the preview for next week the shipper rollercoaster will arrive at the station for two more groups of fans very, very soon. Hold onto your hats!
The bickering between Jackson and April continued as they stepped into the Avery family plane and were offered champagne by a flight attendant. While Jackson put his nose into patient files and acted unimpressed by the luxury around him, April teased him while also sticking up for Catherine, pressing Jackson's buttons all the way. The mood shifted rapidly when they arrived at the Montana hospital to do a throat transplant from one child to another when they realized the dying child's father still held out hope his son would wake up. Jackson shared his own heartbreak at losing the son they both still mourn, shocking April into silence, and convincing the father to authorize surgery.
When Jackson next used his experience as a father to charm the mothers of their transplant patient, April confronted him. His response was to stalk away to a diner in which we later find him soused as April picked up the pieces of their exploded surgery when the donor was found to no longer be an option. In some stunt casting we found Eric Roberts tending bar and acting all sorts of folksy, offering Jackson a standard free beer for new customers. The plot thickened when April sought out a now drunken Jackson only for him to storm moodily out of the bar. A brief introduction to the bartender gave us the next plot cannonball - he's none other than Robert Avery, a former surgeon and, wait for it, Jackson's missing in action father. Now all Jackson's talk of fatherly concerns slipped eerily into place.
Once a less optimal surgery option was all they had to offer, their patient's mothers decided to take her out of state which was risky given her deteriorating condition. Jackson, headstrong and self-assured, promised them an idea to fix their daughter's condition which he later admitted to April he made up on the spot to give himself time to think. She accused him of only being in Montana to see his father, a quest she told him was putting their patient at risk. Our normally eloquent Jackson found himself at a decided loss for words before he stalked away from her once again. This at least temporarily put a halt to their bickering as April patiently heard Jackson's amalgam of feelings around being face to face with a father who didn't recognize him.
With April's encouragement Jackson once again approached his father, but found his bumbling description of how the status and expectations of the Avery name just wasn't 'his thing' to be less than what he'd hoped for in a response. The clueless look on his father's face paired alongside the heartbreak on Jackson's face was mesmerizing. Once again Jackson stalked away from the encounter rather than face his pain in front of April, which made this week yet another episode in which the patient's story was almost beside the point to the resulting impact on the doctors' personal lives. And boy was it ever personal as Jackson and April's bickering turned to empathizing which turned to surgical breakthrough, oh yeah, and turned to smut as we saw Jackson and April, high on surgical adrenaline, back in each other's arms. The culmination of the story came when Jackson found it in himself to make peace with his biological father's absence from his life which allowed him to also seemingly make peace with his force of nature mother Catherine. Be ready for the next stop on the rollercoaster Japril fans, will this detente stick for them or not?
While we missed seeing most of our favorite make believe Seattle surgical team in this episode, based on the preview for next week the shipper rollercoaster will arrive at the station for two more groups of fans very, very soon. Hold onto your hats!
