RECAP: "Grey’s Anatomy" Season 20, Episode 4
Hi fellow McGranatomy Friends (I’ll keep brainstorming on the nickname)! We’re back for the fourth episode of this 20th season. This episode brings us a beloved return, a couple scenes of my new favorite doctor at GSM, and a surprise family member. Find out which intern finishes their procedure log first, who Owen kicks out of his OR, and whether Adams is still an ass (hint: he is) right here.
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“Can you evict family?”
Answering the question from the end of last week’s episode, we open to see boxes all over Amelia’s apartment and see that Lucas has moved in with his Aunt Amy. And this little shit has left his boxes open, strewn all over, he’s finished the vital caffeine-pumping items, and now he’s running off with her car keys without telling her. Could I hate Lucas any more? Yes. Yes I can, because the next time we see him he’s in his investigation being an entitled, smart-ass shit to the lawyers.
“Could you see the giant orange DNI sticker on her chart?”
Sarcastic lawyers are at SGM to investigate the death of Sam and revival of Max. The interns are mostly being defensive, with the exception of Griffith, who is here to finally tell the truth: she would NEVER have opened up Sam without an attending present. Good job on finally throwing that entitled little, absent-minded brat, Adams, under the bus.
A quick “did you know?” about Sam: The actor’s name is Sam Page (born Sam Elliott but that two-first-names name was taken by this guy). He played Sam Sutton on “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 19. He played the older, wiser, sexier Richard on “The Bold Type,” who fell in love with and married Meghann Fahy’s Sutton. He’s played characters named Sam in several other roles (including in his very first TV role on MTV’s “Undressed“). A Sam typecast as a Sam! But don’t worry he’s also played Brads and Gregs and Craigs. He’s a regular in the Hallmark Christmas Movie stable of hot white actors and may always be remembered for his dark turn as Greg on “Mad Men.”
Later on, Griffith admits what she told the lawyers and Adams is SO disappointed. Sucks to suck, Adams. Millin is NOT talking to Kwan, because saving Max’s life means her son no longer wants her as Max’s proxy. I can’t keep track of these two at all. And this makes zero sense.
“Take a seat and learn something.”
Bailey bumps into Warren (…her husband) at SGM to find out Link has given him the greenlight to get back to work. Hopefully that’ll bring some joy back to the “Station 19” episodes that have been a bummer with Warren being sad all the time. Bailey, quite obviously, feigns joy, which the man misses (TV trope alert). But why?
The next time we see Bailey, the interns are nearly finished with their logs, but not quite yet, and they’re questioning Bailey, yet again. Bailey is leading them into the presentation room for a very good reason, but they’re distracted by investigations and logs and don’t have their head in the game to appreciate a very special opportunity.
“Whatever happens, Dr. Robbins, don’t leave.”
That special visit is none other than the “Phoenix Rising” I alluded to in the episode 1 recap. Dr. Arizona Robbins is here with her 1000 watt smile to do a never-been-done-before surgery (“Grey’s” trope alert). Robbins is now, of course, a world-renowned fetal surgeon (having taken the mantle from Geena Davis’s Dr. Herman back in Season 11, when a different legendary surgery performed by Amelia Shepherd left the legendary fetal surgeon blind).
She wants to do an in utero brain surgery on Bailey’s visually impaired patient (Vida) with help from Wilson and Shepherd. Bailey didn’t realize this has never been attempted and doesn’t like the risk. And the patient is in agreement, she cancels the surgery and asks to go home. Robbins is on her way home when the husband stops her and asks her to stay. He thinks his wife may change her mind.
Over in the planning room, Robbins, Bailey, Wilson, and Shepherd along with Adams and Griffith are brainstorming on a surgery that may not even happen. And apparently this is the moment Adams little-shit energy actually helps the process. They realize they need to do more for Vida to show and help visualize the surgery, and how prepared they are. Robbins makes a promising case and Vida changes her mind.
“It’s like I told the doc in my DM…”
Apparently Millin has a brother, Doug, and he’s some sort of fake internet wellness influencer. Love a good lesson moment. Today’s lesson: internet wellness influencers are not doctors (many of them anyway) and you should not take advice that is not supported by a doctor who knows your medical history. This should be really obvious, but “Joshy” seems to only trust the man in chinos pretending to be a doctor inside a hospital. This HAS to be illegal.
Throughout the episode, Millin tries to shut her brother down and send him away. She threatens to ruin him by hiring “a bot farm to drag you on every message board on the internet.” He ultimately makes himself the patient by passing out in the hallway. Yasuda clocks him as “spoiled, infuriating” and Millin cannot keep it together where her brother is concerned. He pages her out of the amazing surgery she’s been given the opportunity to watch and that leads to bickering in the pit. And we all know what happens when people are creating chaos in the pit. Enter Hunt to shut it down. He recommends that Doug find other ways to “influence people.”
“You’re no BokHee”
Meanwhile around the hospital, Teddy is still itching to get back into the OR and Ndugu won’t clear her. It’s all about stamina! So, Webber and Link devise a plan to test out Teddy’s stamina. Link will be her OR staff and Teddy will perform surgeries all day on a mannequin. At one point, Link can’t keep up, and Webber reminds him that BokHee is the very best person in the OR (this is very true and I look forward to bringing you all a deep dive into one of my very favorite recurring characters in the future). Some vague drama with Webber occurs as he struggles with confidence in Teddy’s first real surgery, but I wasn’t really following it with all the Robbins smiles and intern drama this episode.
“Dorian is awake”
Kwan continues to have internal conflict that’s pretty hard to follow. He’s confident, he has no confidence. He has great bedside manner, he has no bedside manner. He’s proud of saving Max, he’s terrified of another Max. His drama is boring, and today, on Schmitt’s service, he takes zero initiative. Dorian, the guy whose life he accidentally saved, has woken up, but now he’s at risk again, because Kwan is too afraid to do his job.
“Calm down, Baby Girl, calm down.”
Before we can jump into Robbins’ amazing surgery, first, we need a Robbins and Bailey pep talk. A classic Arizona moment, she talks about “tiny surgeons” and appreciating the magic and worries that Bailey is taking the learning away from the interns. Meredith expressed this, Ndugu expressed this. What if Bailey’s still right? Everyone needs to trust the boss!
The surgery is a gripping every-second-counts event and all hands are vital. The three lead surgeons are amazing women and I do love these “Grey’s Anatomy” moments. There’s a moment when Robbins calmly halts the surgery to give the baby more paralytics. Shepherd quickly performs her magic and “Oh my god, it’s gone!” “It’s not gone, it’s repaired.” Surgery Magic, everyone!
“They didn’t even appreciate the magic!”
Bailey decided Robbins was right, and she gave the interns an opportunity to see this surgery live in the OR. One by one each surgeon except for Yasuda left or lost attention, so that by the end they barely noticed the surgery was done, let alone an incredible history-making success.
Bailey noticed, and was so disappointed. She told Robbins why the interns are on procedure log probation. Robbins, with her patience of a saint, reminds Bailey that logs won’t prevent mistakes. Bailey then explains her fears over Warren going back to work. And we’re meant to connect trusting Warren and trusting interns is the same challenge for Bailey. Will Bailey give the interns a break and let them back into the OR… of course not. They didn’t appreciate the magic!
“I beat all you people!”
Speaking of the messy interns. They’re in the locker room, winding down their day and Yasuda is celebrating the completion of her logs. Stupid petty fighting and cranky baby doctors ruin the moment. Enter Bailey to steal Yasuda’s sunshine again. *TWIST* Bailey thinks the next level of this procedure log probation is turning it into a cooperative game. Everyone must succeed together. Yasuda can’t get back into the OR until the other 4 finish their logs. Help each other, figure it out. Easier said than done when Adams and Grifiths hate each other, Kwan and Millin are on thin ice, and Yasuda hates everyone. Good luck, tiny surgeons!
We end the episode with Amelia finding compassion for her absent-minded nephew. A quick chat with my new favorite will they/won’t they couple, Amelia and Monica, confirms what we all know: Adams sucks. But she reminds him he’s in the shadow of legends. “His aunt just performed ground-breaking surgery and he can’t even enter labs correctly.” Aunt Amy tells Lucas all about how difficult it was to live in the shadow of his Uncle Derek. “You have no idea what it’s like to work with that pressure.” Who knows, maybe this pep talk will take the bored and cranky look off his face… doubtful, but I’ll keep the hope alive.