Since Grey’s is well into the season, we need to catch up in order to be on track! So I decided to split this into two parts so that it wouldn’t be too long. We’ll be completely caught up next week, but for now, here is what happened in episodes 1-8 of season 18 of Grey’s Anatomy.
18.01- Here Comes the Sun
This episode title seems extra fitting as the season kicks off in a fictional post-pandemic world. Maggie and Winston are celebrating their honeymoon, Teddy and Owen are finally ready to tie the knot, the Phoenix fair is going on, and Meredith is back to being a surgeon. With Meredith back in the OR and finally recovering from an almost fatal battle with Covid-19, she feels the pressure to do something extraordinary, like cure Parkinson’s. So, when a former colleague of her mother’s, David Hamilton, calls and says they’re opening up a library named after her mother, she goes and visits. However, she soon finds out that he wants to give her a research lab. He has Parkinson’s and wants Meredith to be the one to cure him. While David continues to try and wow her with dinner, Meredith runs into Nick Marsh, played by Scott Speedman, a former transplant patient of hers who is also a surgeon.
Grey-Sloan is still dealing with a staff shortage, so Miranda, Maggie, and Hayes spend their day interviewing potential candidates. During this time, Hayes connects with Bailey and explains that his youngest started having panic attacks when Hayes started trying to date again. Bailey invites Hayes and his sons over to dinner with her, Ben, and her own sons.
Meanwhile, Teddy and Owen plan to get married with just their family in attendance. Evelyn, Farouk, and Megan Hunt all make a reappearance. We learn that Megan and Nathan Riggs are no longer together. However, this wedding gets ruined when an out-of-control bicycle runs over the priest, who passes away later in the episode. Teddy and Owen end up getting married by Megan at Joe’s.
Amelia and Link’s relationship falls apart even further as he, once again, asks her to marry him. She declines again.
18.02- Some Kind of Tomorrow
Meredith is still on the fence about whether or not she wants the job in Minnesota, so she flies Amelia out to get a second opinion. Amelia is all about it, and she reminds Meredith that she once wanted to get into neurosurgery, and this could be her chance. Meredith and Nick go on their first date, where Meredith tells him that she’s afraid of failing, but she eventually agrees to take the job with conditions. Meredith gets to pick her own team, the trial results will be accessible to the public, and she can work out of both Seattle and Michigan.
Back at Grey-Sloan, Bailey and Richard are doing their best to bring back classic Grey’s Anatomy. They have noticed that the residents seem a little burned out. So they start a game of surgical Olympics to try and motivate them, which Levi wins and gets to scrub in on Jo’s surgery.
Winston treats a woman who is suffering from kidney failure, but she’s not on the transplant list. After researching, Winston learns that the woman is not on the transplant list because of her race, and he decides to do something about it.
A father and a son come in from a car accident. Owen notices that the father is from the Army and has pulmonary fibrosis. However, the dad doesn’t want to waste his time on treatments. He just wants to spend time with his son. So he signs an AMA and leaves, which bothers Owen.
18.03- Hotter than Hell
Seattle is hit by a heatwave, and an old guest comes back to visit. This old guest is none other than Addison Montgomery, who is performing a uterus transplant with Levi assisting her. Due to the heatwave, the air conditioning unit breaks, and Addison asks for Meredith’s help. After the surgery, Meredith and Addison share a moment in the elevator. Addison talks about how she thought she would feel more of Derek there. Meredith reminds her that he is there and that he’s in his children if Addison would like to meet them. Addison agrees to dinner later.
Meredith tells Richard that she’s planning to split her time between Seattle and Minnesota, and he agrees to take over as Residency Director.
Winston finds a kidney for his patient and utilizes the PRT, Ben, and Owen to perform the surgery without Bailey knowing. The transplant is a success.
Teddy and Link decided to take a crack at fixing the air conditioning while Link expressed his frustrations. He just wants to fix something, and he doesn’t want what’s happening between him and Amelia for Scout. Of course, they don’t figure it out, but they do vent to each other.
At the end of the day, Addison and Amelia share a long-awaited hug and head home to Meredith’s together. Addison meets Zola, Ellis, and Bailey, and she says that she was a friend of their dad’s and that he called her Addie.
18.04- With a Little Help From My Friends
Richard is finally back as residency director, and he has a new fun idea for the residents. He wants each of them to perform a lap chole start to finish by themselves. He tells them they are attendings for the day. This is the Webber Method. It allows the residents to be lead surgeons while the attendings rotate in and out. Since the critical part of the surgery is only ten minutes long, the attendings will be there for that. Levi does extremely well, and while Helm does have a mishap, she calls for an attending, and all turns out okay. Bailey, Richard, Meredith, and Catherine all toast to the Webber Method.
Addison is back at Grey-Sloan since Tovah started seizing while Addison was on her way to the airport. She asks for Amelia’s help, who orders an MRI, EEG, and labs. While they wait for the MRI, Addison and Amelia share a deep heart-to-heart. Later, Amelia realizes how much better she feels now that she has let Link go, and she realizes it was best for the both of them no matter how bad it hurts. Finally, Addison makes a comment about Amelia Shepherd being all grown up.
The veteran dad from earlier, Noah, meets Owen at a meeting with veterans, where the leader, Roy, coughs up blood and collapses. After taking him to the hospital, the scans come up and reveal that Roy has lung cancer along with already existing pulmonary fibrosis. Winston mentions the risky choice of performing a segmentectomy, which Roy wants. Owen is desperate to hold the people ignoring the veterans accountable. Roy sadly passes away, and Noah blames Owen.
Meanwhile, Megan comes up to Hayes and asks for a consult on a 14-year-old boy who was extra winded after playing soccer the other day and that his ankles were swollen. Hayes says that he needs to examine the boy. Megan comes back and says the boy is in exam room 4. The boy is Farouk, her son. After tests, Hayes confirms that Farouk has constrictive pericarditis and will most likely have to have a pericardiectomy. Megan decides not to tell Owen.
At the end of the episode, Meredith makes it back to Minnesota, where she runs into Nick. They agree to have dinner.
18.05- Bottle Up and Explode!
In this crossover with Station 19, we see one of their own firefighters, Dean Miller, passed away. Ben was obviously close with Dean, and it’s evident with the way he is carrying himself. It becomes even more apparent when Ben realizes he had agreed to take Pru in if anything ever happened to Dean. Bailey is at first hesitant about the idea, and she doesn’t want to get attached and then lose her. However, she comes around by the end of the episode.
This episode also explores PTSD. The pipeline explosion that took Dean’s life caused a shake across Seattle. It triggers Owen, who is currently trying to help veterans. He struggles, but with the help he’s received in the past, and with Teddy beside him, he manages to pull himself back together.
Farouk’s pericardiectomy is being performed today. This, combined with the bomb, obviously stirs up a lot of emotions in Megan. She stays with Farouk in the OR and sings to him while Hayes and Winston operate. After complications, she has a breakdown, and Hayes stays with her.
Over in Minnesota, Meredith and Amelia are working in the clinic where they bring in Tom Koracick to help. This creates tension since Dr. Hamilton and Koracick don’t have the best history, but Meredith lays down rules fairly quickly, reminding Hamilton that they need him. Chemistry is obviously occurring between Kai and Amelia, and the foundation for a relationship is definitely being put down.
18.06- Every day is a Holiday (With You)
It’s turkey day in the Grey’s universe! Unfortunately, Meredith isn’t able to spend Thanksgiving with her family after her flight gets delayed, and Nick has unfortunately already left to go up to his family’s cabin. However, to nobody’s surprise, Nick turns his car around to come back and be with Meredith.
Back at Meredith’s house, Amelia and Link are doing their best to cook Thanksgiving dinner, even if it’s not going well. After dinner, they wind up resuming old habits. After closure, it almost seems to leave the door to Amelia, and Link cracked.
In the walls of Grey-Sloan, Richard is itching at the chance to perform a Thanksgiving Day surgery, which he winds up getting to do. On a more somber note, Farouk declines rapidly, and so does Noah, the veteran that Owen has been fighting so hard for. Unfortunately, Noah will not recover from this.
Levi’s mom brings in Thanksgiving dinner, trying to eat a dinner with her son and Nico. With the leftovers from that, Miranda, Richard, Jo, Levi, and Nico are able to have a little Thanksgiving dinner in the hospital.
18.07- Today Was a Fairytale
Maggie is back in town, and there’s a new resident, a very tricky love situation, a stressed-out Bailey, and of course, new medical breakthroughs all happening within the hour in this episode of Greys!
Maggie is finally back from visiting with her father, so Winston and Maggie take the day to celebrate in the on-call room. This is all good and fun, but by doing this, Winston is blowing off a prior obligation to Bailey. He isn’t the only one, though. Meredith is hung in Minnesota due to an angry Dr. Hamilton. However, Dr. Michelle Lin ends up joining Bailey at the convention. The convention isn’t going so well, and Bailey is realizing that. The other hospitals are using gifts to wow their residents, and Bailey is realizing that they can no longer get by on who works there.
Jo and Link decide to take their babies to a play in the park in hopes of cheering Link up. However, the play turns into a mess when it turns into a medical emergency. Everyone turns out okay, but the actors involved in the play rose up some old memories for Link, who mentions that he used to have a crush on Jo. This prompts Jo to realize her own feelings for Link. Later at dinner, she mentions fairytales and love, obviously alluding to their own relationship. However, Link thinks she’s talking about Amelia. He realizes that he doesn’t need marriage to be happy. He only needs her. This obviously leaves Jo feeling sad even as she tells him to go after her.
Back in Minnesota, Dr. Hamilton is becoming impatient and frustrated. This leaves Meredith also feeling frustrated, so Amelia tells her to take some time away. This is a situation where everyone wins. Amelia and Kai get to know each other better, and Meredith and Nick scrub in on a surgery together. After finally making a breakthrough, Amelia goes back home to Seattle with a lengthy will they-won’t they type of farewell with Kai.
Meredith and Nick argue in the OR over Nick’s closeness with the patient. Eventually, Meredith kicks him out and performs the surgery with resident Jordan Wright who is in awe of Miranda Bailey. Nick and Meredith work everything out after the surgery.
The episode ends with Meredith finally making it back home to Seattle, and she brings Jordan with her to introduce him to Bailey.
18.08- It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
It wouldn’t be a Grey’s Anatomy finale without a cliffhanger, and I mean, a literal cliffhanger. It’s the holiday season, and Owen is feeling quite distraught over Noah’s death. Hayes is worried that Megan is in a deep depression. They find a donor heart for Farouk, and Teddy, Hayes, and Owen all go to get it. However, on the way back to the hospital, the driver has a stroke, and they end up on the edge of a cliff. Teddy climbs out first and goes to try and get help. Owen tells his secret about giving Noah the medication to die and the promise he made to the other terminal veterans. After that, Hayes gets out, and the car slides down the cliffside.
Back at Seattle-Grace, Meredith and Amelia have flown out Kai and David for David’s procedure. However, it gets delayed when David falls sick. The new resident Jordan specifically requests to work with Bailey, and Link finally thinks he is ready to love Amelia without needing the marriage part. However, when he does find her, she is in the middle of sharing a kiss with Kai.
Levi messes up during his surgery and refuses to wait for an attending’s help which leads to a patient dying on his table. This comes after Maggie had raised concerns about the Webber Method.
