Grey’s Anatomy 14×17: “One Day Like This” Review

A bartender wakes April up after she fell asleep on the bar, drunk. He says she has to leave now as he cleans up.

In the hall outside of the OR, Meredith sees a transplant doctor, Dr. Marsh, looking faint. She asks if he’s okay, and he said he’s fine. He says he just had a kidney transplant, and Meredith assumes he means he just performed a kidney transplant. What he really means, however, is that he himself is five weeks post-op with a new kidney. He does faint and she calls for a gurney.

April sees a rabbi in the ER. His charts indicate that he has been in three times and has been prescribed antibiotics each time. She asks why Bailey didn’t suggest surgery, but he wanted the less invasive option. He shows April the rash that brought him in today. He unbuttons his shirt, and there are some boils. April pokes it, and some of his skin seems to slide off. April whispers to a nurse to page Jackson and tell the burn unit that they are on their way.

Owen knocks on Teddy’s door in Germany. After hugging and inviting him in, Teddy asks what’s so important that he couldn’t just send an email. She asks if it’s about Amelia’s brain tumor or if they are expecting. He says he and Amelia are done, and there’s nothing standing between he and Teddy now. Instead of responding, Teddy kisses Owen.

Dr. Marsh says that he knows Meredith must want to ask him why he returned to work so soon post-op. She says it’s none of her business, but the thought did cross her mind. As if Meredith wouldn’t do the same thing. He’s sure his symptoms mean he’s rejecting the kidney or has a blood clot. He asks Meredith if she thinks he’s going to reject the kidney. She wants to wait for the lab results.

Jackson tends to Rabbi Eli’s arm. April tells him that he has toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), as a side effect of the antibiotics. It’s causing his skin to separate from itself. Jackson tells him that they are going to try to prevent this from spreading further. Outside of his room, Bailey tells April and Jackson that Eli had had diverticulitis. April bitterly and sarcastically asks why Bailey didn’t try something different instead of prescribing antibiotics for the third time. Jackson defends Bailey, saying people can take antibiotics dozens of times without having side effects. This was random. As unfair and random as it is, April doesn’t believe Eli will make it through the night.

Meredith and Dr. Marsh look at his ultrasound together. Things are looking okay. She asks about his pain, and he says he’s fine. She reminds him that pretending to be fine didn’t work out so well for him last time. He admits that his pain is at a 3.5, but that he doesn’t want to develop an opioid addiction, so he’d rather just say he’s fine. Meredith tries to leave to check on other patients, but Marsh asks her about those patients. They laugh and bond over Meredith’s upcoming operations. Getting more personal, Meredith learns that Marsh takes care of his 16 year old niece. He, in turn, learns that Meredith has three kids who ‘used to have a dad.’ He asks Mer her Plan B for if she could ever not be a doctor.

Teddy can’t get over the fact that Owen is in her bed in Germany, and that he’s dreamt about this moment too. The two reminisce about times gone by. Teddy says that Owen is the best at grand gestures, and then can’t help but ask why he’s here. If he leaves for Seattle tomorrow, then none of this was real. They can’t make a relationship work from across the globe, and Teddy has too big of a life to drop everything to follow him. He suggests that he moves to Germany with her, but Teddy reminds him about his sister and his mother back home. He drops the words “I am in love with you,” and says they’ll figure the rest out later.

Owen lets it slip that Owen being in love with Teddy was Amelia’s idea. Teddy puts the pieces together and realizes that Owen was still sleeping with Amelia. She asks when Amelia had told him that they should be together, and he admits it was just last night.

Marsh’s labs come back inconclusive, so Meredith and Marsh go over the individual results so see if they can figure it out. She gives him another ultrasound abruptly and sees that he has a clot in his renal vein. Marsh panics and tells Meredith all of the advice he needs his niece to know.

April tells Eli that his wife is on the way. She tries to come up with ways to make him more comfortable, but he’s warm enough and he doesn’t want any morphine. He notices Bailey hovering outside, and tells April that Bailey can come in. Her reaction gives away everything she’s feeling toward Bailey right now. She says that she disagreed with Bailey’s decision to re-prescribe antibiotics. Eli wants to help April with whatever she’s going through. He knows he is dying, and he just wants to be able to lessen some of April’s pain before he passes. She says she’s taking care of herself for once. He speculates that if you face enough hardship, you start to believe you did something to deserve it. She says she’s done everything she was supposed to be. Eli asks her where she read that there would be a guarantee that her life would be great. He gives many examples of biblical figures who had rough lives. He says you have to have faith in God during the bad times, not just the good. “Faith wouldn’t be real faith.” He thinks she sounds like a child, demanding to know why things happen. He’s dying from a medication that’s supposed to save lives, and he doesn’t get to know why this had to happen to him either. April starts to cry. He tells her that God is not indifferent to our pain, and teaches her a saying: “Tikkun olam” which means that “the world is full of brokenness, and it’s our job to put it back together again.” His final request is just for April to tell Bailey that he forgives her. He becomes disoriented and thinks April is his wife. He tells ‘his wife’ that he loves her, and loses consciousness.

Meredith jokes to Marsh about not needing a Plan B now because she saved his kidney and life.

Teddy’s mood has drastically changed, and she says Owen is only here because he’s terrified of being alone. He’s always leaving one woman for another, never taking a moment to be single. Owen counters that Teddy is afraid of being happy, including marrying ‘the dying guy.’ Owen says she’d rather burn a relationship down than risk being hurt. Teddy points out that all Owen has ever done is hurt her. “You string me along for years with these half-baked declarations, and then you marry other women.” She says she is done being his fallback and consolation prize. She opens the door for him and hands him his coat. Once he’s out of the door, she cries.

Bailey tries to light a candle in the hospital chapel for the rabbi, but she’s having trouble lighting the match. April comes in and helps. She takes Bailey’s hand and tells her that Eli forgave her. She repeats his words that some things just happen and we don’t get to know why.

Alex finds Meredith at the bar, and she tells him about Marsh. She says he’s smart and funny and hot. Alex asks what the problem is, but Marsh was her patient, which would be against the rules. Mer says she likes her life the way it is, but that he made her feel something she hasn’t felt since Derek.

I’m happy to see Meredith happy again, but the rest of the episode crushed me. With Eli’s words, hopefully April has been set back on her spiritual path. Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays on ABC!