"Researchers and patient safety experts are still trying to answer this important question... How many people die every year from medical mistakes? Mistakes include misdiagnoses, hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, patient falls and discharging patients too early. As terrifying as it can be for patients to think they might die from a medical error, it's also terrifying for doctors. Even if our mistakes are innocent, they become etched onto our souls like tombstones. And if you never do anything to process these memories, they will come back to haunt you when you least expect them."
The episode starts with a brief scene with Owen and Teddy in bed, being together, and switches to the hospital where we see Bailey embracing the whole Halloween spirit while Schmidt almost drowns in all the things he has to do. The baby interns are becoming more and more of a group and we see them at the bar, watching a video of someone throwing stuff in an OR, having a total mental breakdown, while Griffith arrives and comments their privacy was stolen. (remember that for future reference…) While they comment on this video, Richard comes to them with pumpkins, saying they should learn to carve them to exercise their hands with a scalpel. Nick, Meredith, and Owen’s ideas are different though, they’re gonna teach them how to treat patients on…cadavers.
Link and Jo discuss what to do on Halloween and he proposes a dinner, between them. And when she refuses he says he’s gonna have a tinder-date. Are they still pushing for a Jo/Link relationship? I mean…I’m not against it, but it’s getting confusing… a lot.
As I previously said, Nick, Meredith, Owen, and Winston work with the baby interns on cadavers. It’s a chance for the interns to actually practice advanced first aid AND some surgery skills. The problem is…they’re not a team yet, they fight a lot, and they think more about who’s doing what first than about the actual patient (or cadaver).
In Grey’s house, we see the kids coming back home from trick-or-treating with Amelia and Mer, while Nick meets them at the door, dressed as a ghost. We learn Zola has to go to a sleepover, while Mer and Nick are gonna go to a hotel to relax–– although we see Mer is kinda worried because it’s the first time Zola goes to sleepovers since she started having panic attacks.
While the other interns work on that, Griffith works with Maggie on a case of two 16 years old who took LSD to have fun. One of them, after being treated by Teddy, sneaked out of the hospital, jumped off an ambulance, and fell on Jo and her patient. Jo banged her wrist on the ground and had to get medicated by Link, who was clearly worried about her.
While the interns are still working on the cadaver, Owen and Winston start talking about Maggie and Winston says being married to her while she’s his chief at the hospital is becoming difficult because she does not only make comments on his surgical skills but on every other aspect of his life.
In the next scene, we see Schmidt having another mental breakdown about the many things he has to do because he’s the only old resident and he can’t do it anymore. Thankfully, Richard sees him and intervenes.
During the trauma exercise, we saw the interns failing and making their patient/cadaver die. Owen and Winston explain to them that in real life they wouldn't have a do-over, but during practice they do…and they show them another cadaver to work on. The interns start asking questions about the stab on this other patient and Jules realizes Owen was actually the one to stab the dead man and starts ranting about how disrespectful it is. On her rant, she actually talks a bit about her past and how her uncle is often in jail, that her parents and her uncle got high, and the fact her family is not known for doing beautiful or generous things. This is not the first time she mentions drugs in her past, especially in her family. I expect her past to be really really dark. Not the type of dark we’re used to in this show…maybe even worse. I have great expectations for this character, she’s extremely empathetic and sweet.
As the exercise proceeds, the interns team up to “save” this other cadaver…they don’t understand what’s going on and why he’s hypotensive until Adams notices a hole in the pericardium, and they all team up to fix it.
In the OR we see Griffith and Maggie discuss what’s going on with Griffith, and why is she distracted and worried. And Maggie also says she knows Griffith is a good resident, but that she thinks something must have happened if she was asked to leave her previous residency program. Maggie doesn’t blame her, she just wants to understand, and that’s what a great teacher would do. I totally loved her in this scene. Griffith explains she was always the perfect resident, even when she used to make a diagnosis and she wasn’t even considered until a white person said the same thing and they were told they were right, or when a faculty member kept telling racists comments about patients of color in front of her, or when she raised concern about how a black patient was being treated. She was perceived as an aggressive and angry person. When they told her to leave she had a mental breakdown and destroyed an OR. And the video of it was shared online (it was the video the other interns were watching at the beginning of the episode)
Richard goes to Joe’s bar to find Helm and asks her to come back to the hospital. And she says she won’t come back because her life is peaceful now, and she makes a lot more money while working decent hours, totally different from the residency hours. And I really can’t blame her at all.
In the next scene, Nick and Mer are at the hotel, and they talk about how Zola has to skip two grades or go to another school made for gifted kids. Nick starts talking about how his dad abandoned him when he was just 12 years old, and how his world totally fell apart…until his mother took him on a trip to the Gran Canyon and he realized the rest of the world didn’t see him as a kid who was abandoned by his father, that that loss didn’t identify him at all, and that it wouldn’t have happened if his mother didn’t take him to that trip. While they talk about Nick’s life, Zola calls while having a panic attack, asking them to pick her up and bring her home.
After this, we see Teddy and Link talk about life, and he confesses he’s actually crazy about Jo, and that he didn’t come forward to her because he doesn’t wanna ruin the friendship. I honestly think she feels the same so I’m curious to see how this is gonna evolve, this time for real. I hope.
The interns discuss with Owen and Winston how their patient/cadaver is doing, and Owen asks who is gonna scrub in with Winston on his next surgery. Every intern starts saying what they did to save the patient, while Adams says he found the hole in the pericardium thanks to his friends, and that he wouldn’t have seen that if they didn’t help. Hearing his answer, Owen tells him he’s gonna be the one scrubbing in for the surgery, and Adams asks if they could all scrub in with him. He’s such a good kid- I love him.
In the next scene, we see Griffith showing the mental breakdown video to Maggie, and Maggie tells her she doesn’t blame her and she doesn’t have to worry because the GSMH program is great and they know she’s a great doctor. Let’s hope to see more of this duo!!!!
When Maggie goes into the locker room, she meets with Winston to go home and he tells her he wants to change specialty because, despite the fact he loves her very much, he can’t be both her husband and her colleague. And I support this decision…maybe it’s the only way we can see this couple rise, like I wanted, finally?
Next, we see Simone showing the mental breakdown video to the other residents and they support her totally, telling her they would have done even worse. THAT’S a great time. I’m not saying I’m seeing the Magic 5 again, but they’re making this season great.
In the last scene, we see Zola explaining everything was going fine at the sleepover until she started thinking about her mom, Maggie, and Alzheimer, and she started having a panic attack. Meredith tells her it’s gonna get better and they’re gonna find her the right school, even if they have to go away from Seattle. I think this is the definitive hint for the main reason Meredith is gonna go away from Seattle…and honestly, for me, it’s a good enough reason. Sadly, we won’t see her much but, in the terms of storytelling and character growth…that’s what a good mother would do.
Did you like this episode? Let me know in the comments!
