"Grey's Anatomy" Recap: Ben Operates During a Hospital Lockdown
When I was gloomily recapping last week's extra-slow episode of Grey's Anatomy, I should have remembered that usually, when there's a less than engrossing episode, it means the show is just spinning its wheels for a second because something big is coming our way. And last night? Last night, shit got real.
It was a little strange to watch two full episodes almost completely devoted to Ben, because even though he's been a part of the show for more than six seasons now, he's never been much more than Bailey's Nice Husband. And it was equally strange to watch him go from Bailey's Nice Husband to Doctor Holding Up a Bloody Baby in a Hallway within the first six minutes of the episode. Here's what happens: Alex calls for a Code Pink (a full lockdown) after a little boy gets scared about a tonsillectomy and runs off, leaving every doctor locked where he or she is. Ben and Douchebeard are in the process of transporting a pregnant woman, and when she crashes, Ben has "no choice" but to cut her open for a C-section right there in the corridor, with no attending to supervise. It's properly harrowing to watch - there's blood everywhere, and three wide-eyed kids who just want to know if their mom will be OK - and very much in keeping with Grey's Anatomy's 12 years of reminding us that BIRTH KILLS.
It's the "no choice" bit that everyone spends the next two hours fretting over, especially after the mother and baby both die, and after surveillance footage reveals that the elevator doors opened just before Ben cut into the mother. Ben swears he didn't notice because he was too focused on his patient, but the panel Bailey convenes, along with Bailey herself, eventually, concludes that he must have noticed and decided to proceed anyway. What he calls a mistake, everyone else deems an intentional choice, one that came as a result of disregard for the rules or belief that he was above them. I chatted with Jason George about this episode earlier in the week, and pointed out that some of that "above the law" feeling comes not from being the Chief of Surgery's husband, but from the fact that Ben's practiced medicine for years now. He was an anesthesiologist for a long time, and going from having Owen and Meredith as colleagues to working alongside Stephanie and Jo has to be rough. But regardless of the reason: He's suspended from the hospital for six months, effectively tanking his residency.
Meanwhile, Jackson and April are friends again, or maybe getting back together, or at least not actively suing each other this week, so there's some real progress there! April even lets him feel the baby kick, which feels like at least a symbolic lifting of the restraining order, if not an official one. But then (I guess so the show didn't waste all the money they spent on custody lawyers' offices), Callie announces she's going to move to New York with Penny, since Penny won that fancy grant last week, and Arizona freaks out, especially when Callie is all, "Well, you'll visit!" and not, "Let's have a serious meeting to discuss the custody of the child who is legally both of ours!" Even though it's pretty clear how this story will unfold - none of the three women in this weird love/custody triangle are slated to leave the show - it does really put a strain on my denial around Callie and Arizona being "actually" broken up. I know it's been more than a year, but I've spent that entire year being convinced they'd get back together any second. And reconciliation right now would be great timing; with Ben's suspension putting serious stress on his relationship with Bailey, the show is seriously lacking in stable couples. That aside, though, I find it really, really hard to believe that Arizona wouldn't just ask Callie to talk before lawyering up.
Throughout the episode, as she's trying to figure out what happened with Ben, Bailey's also caring for the husband of the newly deceased woman Ben performed the C-section on. There's a particularly heartbreaking exchange when the oldest of their three children asks Bailey for Tooth Fairy money because her little brother lost a tooth while at the hospital. When the father flat-lines and a DNR is put in place, Bailey decides to violate it after he crashes and defibrillate him anyway. He then has what Amelia describes as a "one in a million" resurrection, waking up and functioning.
It's … strange. I can't quite tell if the show is trying to make the point that Ben would've been treated as a hero if his C-section had been successful, as Bailey sort of is after her patient wakes up, but it never points that out explicitly, and violating a DNR is no joke. Ben, in particular, doesn't seem all that impressed - as Bailey goes in to finally inform the man that his wife has died, he just stands in the shadows, glowering at her. Maybe he could just glower in the background for the full six-month suspension? He's very good at it.
Related: Grey's Anatomy Star Jason George on Ben and Miranda's Uncertain Future
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