Grey's Anatomy recap: Is Meredith in love with Nick?
Every once in a while, Shondaland likes to take her show on the road. It's important to experience our favorite doctors outside the walls of Grey Sloan Memorial. These are the instances when we learn about the characters' hopes, dreams, and eventually what's bothering them enough to take a few vacation days for themselves.
Thank goodness Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) has a willing sister to raise her children while exploring Dr. Nick's (Scott Speedman) cabin in the woods. Although her droopy pants make me sad, I'm thrilled when she allows her new boyfriend to distract her from thinking about Parkinson's Disease twenty-four-seven. Just when things get steamy, Charlotte barges into the cabin with a guy on her arm.
Nick's niece is embarrassed, but her boy toy Silver takes the unfortunate turn of events in stride. Yes, his name is Silver, which is way better than his former name, Oak. Charlotte and Silver are soulmates who often get in touch with their "shadow selves" by shrooming in the woods.
Everyone calm down. This is totally normal.
Cut to Nick, who displays the facial expressions and body language of someone who is neither calm nor assuming any of this is normal. Especially when Silver casually notes that he and Charlotte will be headed to Costa Rica in the next couple of weeks to survey life in Central America. Spoiler: Charlotte has dropped out of school.
As Nick works to understand what Charlotte will do when "Silver turns bronze," Maggie (Kelly McCreary) addresses her own problems. First of all, she's sick with the flu. Second, Ellis has taken a game of hide and seek a little too earnestly, and no one can find her. Eventually, Zoe, the all-star of the entire Grey-Shepherd clan, locates her sister in a dark corner of the laundry room. She also discovers an old, unopened letter with "Margaret" on the back.
Liliane Lathan/abc
Winston (Anthony Hill) is on hand to help out with the kiddos and immediately sends Maggie upstairs to rest. Bonus, she has some quiet time to read the letter and reflect. Unfortunately, she falls into a dream state, and it's Meredith's COVID beachfront property all over again. So, naturally, we see dead people.
Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) is there, reading Maggie's letter. At first, Maggie is elated to "see" Ellis. Then things turn a bit sour when Ellis admits giving Maggie up was the best thing she ever did. No regrets. Maggie screams, and Winston leaves his exhilarating game of pretend ER to check on his wife. He encourages her not to read the rest of the letter.
Meanwhile, Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) is with Dr. Kai (E.R. Fightmaster) in Minnesota, writing a critical document for the FDA. Thanks to a successful surgery, the Grey wing of Hamilton's lab is buzzing with activity. Since Amelia's flight leaves in the morning, Kai invites her to a bar to hear this great band.
Guess what? Kai is in the band. Not only do they sing, but they also play the guitar. And as the song plays on, we see Kai and Amelia take their relationship to new levels. And places. Both horizontal and vertical.
Back outside the cabin, Nick works out his frustrations by chopping wood. Meredith tries to appease him by telling a fun story. She used to be Charlotte! She had "soulmates" and traveled Europe with pink hair. Look how good she turned out! Also, if Nick keeps trying to control her, he will lose Charlotte forever.
Nick snaps at Meredith. She had a surgical genius mother. Charlotte's mom was genetically programmed to make mistakes. Meredith lets Nick cool off outside and eventually talks with Charlotte. She encourages the girl to have a challenging conversation with her uncle. When the opportunity arises, Charlotte takes it. She explains to Nick that she is not her mother. Look around! He did a pretty good job of raising her. No jail time. No pills were removed from her clenched hands. All drug use has been plant-based. Nick pretty much nailed it!
And so has Amelia. Well, so far, so good with Scout. When Kai mentions their love for children and their desire never to have any of their own, Amelia understands. When Kai claims being a parent is hard because you're responsible for another person's everything, Amelia flinches. When Kai tells her they are excited to get to know every bit of who Amelia is, Amelia deflates.
Because Amelia loves her kid more than anything in the world, and when she's away from her child, she misses her son with every part of her being. She hopes this reality doesn't scare Kai away because it's a part of herself that she deeply loves.
Speaking of love, dreamscape Maggie is forced to listen to Ellis again, but she's much gentler this time. Ellis wishes that Maggie could have met Meredith. She thinks they would have been good for each other. Ellis also admits that the best mom she could have been to Maggie was one who gave her to a family who loved her so much. Maggie is suddenly in her mother's arms, and we all cry because Diane was so sweet.
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Before Meredith heads back to Seattle, she does have a moment with Nick where they eventually land on the same page. He's not used to someone else's opinion. Neither is Meredith. Nick questions every decision he makes. So does Meredith. She doesn't know if she can go back to be Chief of General Surgery after her Parkinson's success.
Nick claims he's not patient. Meredith agrees and reminds him that no one is patient. He has a hard time trusting people. Ditto. And, when he's falling in love, it scares him because it happens so rarely. He doesn't like losing control.
Meredith is left speechless on this one. Finally, she thanks him with a romantic kiss on an enchanted wooden bridge that Nick probably built with his own two muscular hands.
The next thing we know, Amelia, Maggie, Zoe, and Meredith all gather around an iron bowl. Maggie lights a candle, places the edge of Ellis' letter in the open flame, and watches as her birth mother's letter goes up in flames.
Should we be worried that Zoe was watching Maggie burn away the last memory and only correspondence from her birth mom? Winston did a great job navigating her through all of this, but I still worry for her. Additionally, will Amelia and Meredith move to Minnesota to be closer to their lovers and a side job of curing Parkinson's? Surely that won't work, right?
I'm sure Grey Sloan has room for Kai and Nick. Kai can bring their plants and stick them in that green room! Plus, livers can be transplanted anywhere. Finally, do we need to come up with a name for Nick? McRugged? McHotness? I'm open to suggestions.
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