Grey’s Anatomy 14×23: “Cold As Ice” Review

Jo and Alex’s wedding invitations, designed by April, are sent out via email. They’re beautiful and Jo jokes that the wedding may be too fancy for her to attend.

Betty comes home to Owen’s. He gives her a blanket to wrap up in because, despite it being May, it’s apparently very cold out. Betty tells Amelia that she is six days sober, and she hates it, but she misses Leo. Amelia takes Betty to work with her, unwilling to let Betty out of her sight again.

Arizona gives Bailey notice that she’ll be quitting and moving to New York. Bailey tells Arizona that she used to think that Arizona was a ‘pixie stick’ who skated around the hospital. She says that knowing and working with Arizona has been one of the biggest privileges of her life. Arizona, who sucks at goodbyes and emotions, says that she can’t do this, and walks out.

Jackson and Harriet greet Maggie at the coffee cart (shoutout to Maggie for not dropping her coffee this time!). Jackson and Maggie decide that Alex and Jo’s wedding will be their first outing as a couple.

Amelia and Arizona are both freaking out about a checkup. They speak ominously about the patient, and then we see it’s Dr. Nicole Herman. If you don’t remember Herman (played by Geena Davis), she was the fetal surgeon who trained Arizona. She had a massive brain tumor. Amelia operated on her and saved her life, but took away her sight. Herman greets them by complimenting the way the two of them look. Arizona asks if Herman can see them, but Herman was just kidding.

An ambulance brings Matthew to the hospital after he rolled his car. He’s in bad shape. Owen asks someone to tell April that Matthew is here. Matthew hears someone say April’s name, and he asks if she’s okay. They are confused, and start looking for April around the hospital. Roy gets April’s voicemail seven times when he tried calling. Meredith decides to ask Jackson.

Herman came in because she’s been having headaches. She had thought it was due to the flu she had a few weeks ago, but the headaches are still there. Since Amelia spent so long studying Herman’s brain, she figured she should have Amelia check it out. She mentions that Arizona has had 76 fetal procedures since she last saw her, which is very impressive.

Jo tells Alex to meet with April at 11 for a cake testing. She says he can pick anything other than carrot cake.

Owen goes with the ambulance to look at the scene of Matthew’s crash. Once there, he finds her unconscious, partly in the river.

There was an apartment fire, and Jackson has a lot of burn victims to work on. Meredith asks if he knows where April is, but he hasn’t seen her since before the weekend. Owen texts Mer to say that he found April and that she’s in bad condition. Meredith decides to wait until after Jackson’s surgeries, as to not distract him.

The ambulance brings April back to Grey Sloan. She has no pulse, and her body is only 68°F. They need to raise her temperature to at least 86°F before they can try to restart her heart. Maggie is horrified to see April and asks if Jackson knows yet. Maggie instructs Schmidt and Helm to both perform CPR compressions on April. One in the regular location, and one on her stomach, to help her circulation.

Herman fills Arizona in on her life. She tells her about the ‘blind school’ she attended, where she learned braille and attended group therapy. Now, Herman has a faculty position at UCSF, and she’s been traveling to teach more people. Arizona says that she’s moving back to New York and will be leaving the fetal field and returning to peds. There are already three fetal surgeons in NY, which leaves her with no job opportunities.

Amelia looks at Herman’s scans, worried that her tumor is back. She says that if Herman’s tumor has returned, she has to tell Herman that she operated on her while she unknowingly had a brain tumor of her own.

Bailey updates Webber (who is operating on Matthew) on April’s status. He’s not exactly pleased to hear that April has no vitals and is in terrible condition. Bailey assures him that they know what they’re doing and have all had to do things like this before.

Meredith and Maggie have to take over compressions from Schmidt and Helm who are tired out. They’ve been doing compressions for an hour already. Meredith goes to find people to help and runs into Alex. Alex asks if Meredith has seen April because he’s supposed to be meeting her for the cake testing. Meredith starts crying and has him come with her.

Alex says she hated April at first because he wished he could be more like her. She’s always prepared, always excited, and she cares.

Arizona shows Herman her maternity ward crash cart, and Herman thinks it’s brilliant. Arizona can’t just take the compliment because she’s still upset over Herman just disappearing and never getting back in touch. Herman says that after blind school, she hit a rough patch coping with her inability to operate. She says that following Arizona’s incredible career in fetal surgery, she realized that she’s still able to teach, and she can save more babies by teaching and creating more fetal surgeons than she could have saved all by herself. Herman said that she couldn’t reach out to Arizona because she didn’t know how to thank her.

Amelia isn’t able to find a tumor in Herman’s brain, and she thinks it’s because she isn’t a good doctor. She thinks the tumor is back, and she just is missing it. DeLuca suggests that they do a spinal tap in case it’s just a buildup of CSF. Amelia still feels like she needs to tell Herman about her tumor. DeLuca and Betty think it’s unnecessary to tell Herman, but Amelia doesn’t do secrets and lies, for the sake of her own sobriety.

Jo and Jackson are walking out of surgery when they hear Parker disputing with someone as he takes bloodbags from an OR. He says that they are trying to save Dr. Kepner’s life. Obviously Jackson is taken aback overhearing this.

Jackson walks into April’s OR and asks how long she’s been here. She’s been out for over three hours. Maggie set April up on bypass, and they’re waiting for a rhythm. Owen tells everyone to pray, because that’s what April would want them to do. After a minute, Maggie says she sees a rhythm on the monitor. No one else notices the rhythm, but Maggie uses the defibrillator several times until finally April’s heart is beating steadily.

DeLuca does the spinal tap and a bunch of spinal fluid squirts out. He says this is a good thing, because her symptoms have been caused by this buildup, and she doesn’t have a tumor.

 

Matthew wakes up after surgery, and Bailey tells him that he was in an accident but that he’s okay. He asks about April, and Bailey hesitates.

April’s brain waves are slow and irregular, and Amelia isn’t sure when she will wake up. Webber and Arizona join the doctors, who try to fill Arizona in about April. Owen says that Matthew and April were doing volunteer work together, but Arizona says that the two have been dating for months and fell back in love through knowing each other’s pains.

Jackson prays to God, bargaining. He says he’ll do anything if God saves April. Kind of a vague promise, but okay. Unconscious April squeezes Jackson’s hand and slowly wakes up.

The doctors ask April about her experience. If she saw loved ones who have passed, or a bright light. She says she just felt warmer and safer until she lost consciousness. She reminds them that she didn’t die, and that’s why she didn’t see any of that or meet Jesus. April makes a comment to Owen about him always bringing her back.

Jackson goes to the hospital to hug Harriet tightly.

Amelia suggests a simple shunt to help with Herman’s problem. Herman is ready to go, and says they should just do it tonight. Amelia says she is referring her to Koracick. Herman asks how Amelia has been doing after her huge brain tumor. Amelia is surprised to find out that Koracick told Herman about that, but Herman says she overheard him on the phone. Koracick had said that Amelia’s tumor is what made her crazy enough to take on Herman’s tumor, which inevitably saved Herman’s life. Later, Herman admits that she came to Grey Sloan to check in with Arizona. She tells Arizona that she just got a grant, and she wants to start The Robbins/Herman Center for Women’s Health. Herman will teach fetal surgery, and Arizona will perform it. Together, they will launch Arizona’s maternal mortality prevention program. Arizona asks if they can do it in New York, and when Herman agrees, Arizona hug attacks her.

April thanks Maggie, and Bailey wheels Matthew into April’s hospital room.

Amelia brings Betty a coat from the lost and found. Betty admits that she isn’t six days sober, and she only came back because she was cold. Amelia says she knows, and the two leave for a meeting.

Jackson, leaving work, passes the chapel with Harriet and decides to go in, which is a change for Jackson.

This week is the season finale, and it’s Jo and Alex’s wedding! According to Camilla Luddington (the actress who plays Jo Wilson), the wedding is going to be a MESS. Tune into ABC Thursday at 8/7c!