Admittedly, it was hard to watch this episode and focus on anything other than the foot-to-knee surgery. A necessary round of applause for Glenda Braganza who played the terrified but brave mother who found out last minute that her son was getting the surgery but had known about it for three months and kept it from her. No TV parent this year is likely to have so much chill. Everywhere else, there was babies on the brain. Babies in bags. Hypothetical grand-babies wearing fluid hues of green and purple and yellow. Babies getting adopted. Babies!
One person without babies on the brain is Meredith who has a strange dream of her mother alive, interacting with Maggie and Zola (those two sweetly bond over being adopted), which gives her inspiration for her research. Besides her research project, Meredith is a little occupied with DeLuca concerns. He told her his father had some major issues in his past. Carina and DeLuca both refer to their dad's problematic symptoms, in that he might be bipolar. As previously revealed, DeLuca has had almost no interactions with his father since childhood. Possibly even jumping an ocean AND crossing a continent to get away from him. It appears a little inconsistent that he suddenly wants his father's approval and partnership.
Dr. Vincenzo DeLuca has come to Grey's to pitch a project: an artificial womb to help premature babies survive. He claims to have had success with a lamb. Alex takes one look at the adorable woolly baby (and one offscreen look at the US maternal mortality rates) and decides to back the project. Meredith hints, in one of two delightful chats with her best friend, that Alex should be cautious. However, Alex doesn't uncover any dissatisfaction among the elder Dr. DeLuca's colleagues and employees. If it weren't for Carina's very worried face and Andrew's elevator confession to Meredith, there would be no red flags. There's something a little manipulative about how Vincenzo tells Andrew that working on this project would basically help elevate him to Meredith's level. This could actually be good news, as DeLuca is long overdue for a deeper storyline.
Babies are also on Helen Karev's mind. In the previous episode, she gifted Alex and Jo some lovely knitted scarves. In this episode, Jo finds out that Helen has already finished knitting a baby hat. She slightly freaks out at the thought of "little humans with giant heads" and beseeches Link and Jackson to let her tag in with them and Nico on the foot-becoming-a-knee surgery. Before the operation, Jo talks with the boy's mother who expresses her mixed emotions about the situation. Jo brings this up in surgery, wondering why someone would wreck their life with a kid. She apologizes to Jackson who doesn't take it personally. After the surgery, he tells Jo that, yes, a kid will turn her world inside out and upside down but "when they lay their head on your shoulder" it's more than worth it. This prompts Jo to bring up the future baby elephant in the room when she next talks to Alex. It turns out he was worried she was having second thoughts about kids because of his mother's history. (That was heartbreaking.) But actually Jo is worried about what her family's medical history might be. (Still heartbreaking.) She decides to check out her DNA with a test since she has no interest in meeting her birth family.
Speaking of birth families, Maggie is starting her own fires and setting the record straight about Kiki's surgery. This starts with a podcast, during which she unintentionally spills the beans to the world about being Richard and Ellis's child. That moment when she asks the podcasters if they can just cut that part out, you can feel her heart drop to her stomach. Richard's reaction to this news is just as if Maggie had literally opened a can of worms. He berates her, saying that Catherine doesn't need this story out there right now, referring to the affair as a part of his life that he's ashamed of. Maggie looks at him with eyes that could turn blood to ice and reminds him that was the part of his life that created her. Needless to say, Richard eventually apologizes. And Maggie immediately starts to worry what her adoptive father will think when he hears her give her biological parents so much credit in the podcast. Sometimes you just can't win.
A patient faced their own dilemma about adoptive vs. biological parents. Bailey and Schmitt helped a poor man who was seemingly coughing up his lungs. (It was just blood clots molded to the shape of lung parts, so no sweat.) They discovered he had a genetic condition, which meant his daughter needed to be tested for it too. The downside of this was his daughter didn't want to know which of her dads was her biological father. However, when it's a matter of life and death, it's a matter of life and death. She did have the same genetic condition but assured both her dads she still loves them both the same. This was poignant. It inspired Schmitt to admit to Nico that he does love him and does plan to introduce him to his mom, but his mom likes to overreact about every little thing. And Schmitt wants to keep Nico to himself for a while. (I'll never understand why TV love interests are so eager "to meet the parents." Shudder.)
As a last word on adoption and partnership, Amelia and Owen might finally permanently be done. They were unable to make it through Leo's custody arrangements without dissolving into a fight. Owen lashed out at Amelia that "there's just some fundamental part of you that can't love or be loved." (Or perhaps there's just some fundamental part of Owen that can't love Amelia the way she needs/deserves to be loved.) She cedes full custody to him, although she will still honor Betty's wishes and be in Leo's life. Amelia returns to Meredith's and gets some sisterly support and dinner from Jackson who is staying there until his apartment is repaired. Hopefully, this will mark the beginning of Amelia rediscovering herself and her independence. Even though this episode couldn't hope to be as entertaining as "We Didn't Start the Fire," it kicked off multiple stories that will be important to the rest of the season.
Now let's hear all your expectations for Jo's family's introduction, the DeLucas' family's fallout, and whether or not the show will actually let Amelia and Owen go their separate ways.
