‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Recap: Good News, Bad News
Warning: This recap for the “Both Sides Now” episode of Grey’s Anatomy contains spoilers.
As Meredith notes at the beginning of this week’s Grey’s Anatomy, doctors are notorious for saying, “There’s good news, and there’s bad news.”
And the cases of the week, as well as the doctors’ ongoing storylines, prove that one person’s good news can be another person’s bad news. That’s what happens when there are two worthy patients who need a liver — but there’s only one to give. Or the situation is not always black and white — like in Amelia’s case, where the idea of being pregnant is a source of both joy and terror.
In their professional lives and their personal ones, the doctors of Grey Sloan realize that you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have … the facts of life.
Here’s a rundown of this week’s episode:
Hot and bothered
A heat wave hits Seattle, and Meredith’s air conditioner is broken. Everyone is pretty miserable … well, except for Bailey. Bailey is all sunshine and sugar, as she handpicks DeLuca for a very special case that will bring them both joy.
Bailey introduces DeLuca to Granny June and her big, warm, loving family. Granny June knit a hat for Bailey and gives DeLuca a batch of cookies. She’s just the cuddliest, cutest patient ever! And she’s finally getting a liver transplant after waiting three long years.
Meanwhile, Maggie chooses Stephanie for difficult cardiac surgery on a man named Andy, and Amelia is very annoyed that her sister is stealing “her” resident. But Amelia has other stuff on her mind — her period is late and she might be pregnant!
She searches the storage room for a pregnancy test when Meredith pops in. But you know Mer — she’ll be happy for Amelia after she pees on the stick. “Tell me when it’s real,” she says, then advises her to talk to Owen.
Amelia tries, catching Owen at the elevator. But the doors open to reveal Jackson with a squalling baby Harriet. He’s late for surgery, so Owen offers to take Harriet up to the nursery. Seeing the baby in Owen’s arms seems to freak Amelia out and she runs away.
Down in the ER, Richard and Meredith treat a woman named Chelsea, who is suffering from heat stroke. But when her twin sister, Chandler, arrives, they give her bad news: Chelsea’s liver is failing and she needs a transplant. And in a very on-the-nose case of “good news/bad news,” Chandler isn’t a match because she’s pregnant!
Bun in the oven
By this point, it seems like half the hospital knows Amelia is pregnant. Mer spills the beans to Maggie (as Stephanie overhears), then Amelia spills the beans to April. Everyone counsels her to tell Owen immediately. But something is still holding her back. She asks Meredith how she told Derek about her pregnancies, and Mer — being so very Mer — dryly replies that she never got to tell him about Ellis because he had died. Womp womp.
Mer and Richard realize that Chelsea needs a liver transplant immediately or she will die. Luckily, there’s a liver on the way to the hospital that’s a perfect match. But it’s earmarked for Granny June! Bailey is devastated, and reminds them that the only way the liver can be switched to Chelsea is if June agrees to it.
Bailey basically gives up on her transplant, because she assumes cuddly Granny June will give up the liver. But … NOPE! She flatly refuses to cede her place on the transplant list, even to a 25-year-old woman. “Screw her!” she says. Granny’s family and Bailey are shocked. A bitter Meredith calls her an “organ hog.”
Maggie and Steph start their surgery on heart patient Andy, who wants Steph to tell him a joke before he goes under anesthesia. And it is a not a good joke, at all. Coincidentally (or is it?), he starts crashing on the table.
Oh, baby
Back in the Amelia/Owen saga, Owen has been hoarding little Harriet all day. First, it was because she was crying. But really, he’s just baby mad. He even bonds with Riggs — Riggs!! — over Harriet as they change her diaper. Meanwhile, Amelia sadly notes to Maggie that the one other time she was pregnant, she never got to tell the father — because he had died. Like Derek.
Bailey and DeLuca finish up June’s transplant, but Bailey notes sourly that Meredith stole all the joy of the day with her disappointed face.
Andy does not recover from the surgery and is declared brain dead. Steph is sad that it was all for nothing, but Maggie realizes it wasn’t. He’s a donor — and there’s a young woman in the hospital who needs a liver. So, Chelsea gets her liver, and Bailey watches the surgery, because they should all get as much joy as they can, when they can. Andy died, yes, but two women both got livers and will survive.
Amelia overhears Chelsea’s twin, Chandler, on the phone, telling her partner about being pregnant, and realizes that there’s no perfect way to tell Owen. So, she leaves out an unused pregnancy test in their living room, which he finds when he gets home.
She takes the test and they wait for the results. It turns out to be negative. But that’s OK, he assures her — they just started trying. Her reaction is one of sadness, but also tinged with a little relief. Perhaps she needs a little more time to get used to the idea of motherhood.
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. Watch clips and full episodes of Grey’s for free on Yahoo View.
