After last week's tragedies, it's time to give our eyes and hearts a break. Absolutely kidding. Towards the end of "Add it Up," Amelia leans against a blue light, lost in very solemn reflections, and that perfectly captured how I felt as the ending credits started to roll. Aching heart aside, this episode brought out some great performances, while also moving key relationships forward.
“I will not lie down, and I will not walk away. I will fight for her.”
Yes, this is ultimately Teddy's choice, once she survives childbirth, but it's nice to see that someone values her as she deserves.
Elsewhere, Maggie is busy making more spaces for couples to get it on with a new research project. She introduces a plant room, a blue light room, and a game room. Her intention is to see if these de-stressing tools can be more helpful than more invasive medical treatments and drugs. The residents are excited to volunteer, but Bailey hogs the game couch for the entire episode. Maggie winds up spinning chairs in the blue light room with Amelia, who is giddy, which comes as quite the surprise for Maggie since she last saw Amelia in tears. Of course Amelia spills that she recently had an extra pleasant time at the conference in San Diego. On cue, Link pokes his head in and, unknowingly, reveals himself to have been party to aforementioned pleasantries. There's a wonderful amount of awkward smiling going on. Naturally, Amelia berates Link for spilling their secret.
However, DeLuca tells Eileen she should make Nora have the surgery or else any number of awful things could happen. He mentions death while he's at it. Alex orders him to stay away from Eileen and Nora or else Alex will fire him. Not to fear, DeLuca comes back later to have a positive conversation with Nora about how he too was bullied at school but she will be okay. Who needs friends when you can just be the best at everything?! Okay, he also says that she will find more amazing people like herself once she's not trapped in the hospital. Alex doesn't fire DeLuca but he does kick him out of the operating room. He scolds DeLuca for letting his father take over his head.
“You told her about the sex, but I’m in trouble for telling her about the location.”
The Ortho God has a point. Amelia and Link set their cheeky unspoken-but-very-much-acted-on thing to the side to help with two snowmobile accident victims. The mother Cara is in danger of losing feeling in her limbs, while her child Toby has their own set of injuries. Amelia and Link make a formidable team, but they ultimately can't prevent Cara from coming out of surgery completely paralyzed because of her injuries. No point trying to hold back the tears as Toby wails when they learn what happened to their mom. Toby asks to be there when Cara wakes up from surgery. After delivering the news, Amelia heads back to the blue light room, where Link joins her. They share a quiet moment clasping hands before Amelia locks the door. Beautiful brokenhearted babies. Owen who? Meredith who?
Meredith actually hides out in the plant room to work on her project and avoid DeLuca. After terrible things happened with lambs and certain dads, he's in something of a sulk. Alex asks him to help out with Nora, an 11 year old girl with pancreatitis who is about to get a surgery that will majorly improve her quality of life. Nora is also something of a math whiz, as Dahlia discovers. (She enlists multiple people to compete against the budding genius.) Nora's mother Eileen is really excited that her daughter will be able to go back to school. Nora is not. This leads to Nora drinking a juice box on purpose to raise her own glucose levels, so she won't be able to have the surgery. Dahlia discovers this, and Nora confesses she doesn't want to go back to school because she has no friends there.
“You let it mess with your job today and with my patient’s really excellent mom. And with your relationship.”
Yes, I smiled at Alex looking out for Meredith in the middle of all that. DeLuca can take a hint. He invites Meredith over for a home-cooked dinner and an apology. Alex himself has been trying to reach Jo all day but she wasn't responding. He's happy to see that she's back at home, although seemingly asleep. He kisses her and tells her he missed her. It's so sweet, however Jo's not actually asleep. She's crying. Her trip to find her mother doesn't appear to have come without a cost. And so the spectre of heartbreak lurks over the episode.
Now what did you all think?
1. Plant room, blue light room, or game room?
2. Are you feeling Amelia and Link? (It's okay to say no...I will get over it...someday)
3. Could Teddy possibly still choose Owen? And what further pregnancy scares will the show throw out at her?
