This week’s Grey’s Anatomy was a twofer, but the first episode was pretty much focused on Ben Warren. Did Ben act with negligence while operating on a pregnant woman, or not? That’s the question Bailey must answer, and it’s not going to be easy considering Ben is her husband. The second episode continues Ben’s story but also brings us important moments for Callie and Penny, Callie and Arizona and April and Jackson. Grab your scalpels, friends.
Ben there, done that
If you recall, it wasn’t too long ago that Dr. Ben Warren opened a man’s chest with part of a clipboard. So he’s already feeling some heat. When Bailey calls a Code Pink to search for a missing child, Ben finds himself making a similar kind of decision. See, a Code Pink shuts every door and elevator in the hospital down. Everyone is trapped where they are. That’s where our story really starts.
The patient in question is Gretchen, a pregnant woman who was in a car accident with her husband and three children. Her husband Omar got the worst of it, but Gretchen needs medical attention too. (FYI, their three kids are OK.) Gretchen gets checked out, and all seems fine, but Arizona sends Ben and DeLuca to take her for a scan to make sure. It’s during the transfer from the scan to the OB department where the shit hits the fan, and the hospital goes into lockdown. Gretchen becomes hypertensive while Ben and DeLuca are stuck in a hallway right before the elevator bank. Ben decides to perform an emergency C-Section right then and there, and when the Code Pink is called off seconds later, Bailey finds a bloody scene and Ben holding a baby.
Gretchen is rushed into surgery, and Bailey rushes to find out what really happened. Gretchen and her baby don’t survive, which makes the stakes even higher. She’s desperate to find anyone or anything to deflect the incident on, but the more she looks into it, the more she realizes that Ben made the wrong call.
Jasmine, Omar and Gretchen’s oldest child and all of 12 years old, is the real heartbreak of the show. When Bailey goes to check on the kids, Jasmine pulls her aside and asks Bailey to tell her the truth about her mom. Jasmine is far more stoic than any tween should have to be, and that continues when Omar suffers a massive seizure, and his mother arrives to make a major decision about his care. It’s likely that Omar will never wake up, and Jasmine convinces her grandmother to sign a DNR for him, knowing her full of life father wouldn’t want to spend his life in a vegetative state.
Because Bailey can’t be impartial with the Ben situation, she asks Maggie, Meredith and Owen to form their own advisory committee to look into the matter. When they finally confront Ben about the elevator opening before he made his first cut into Gretchen, Ben explains that he was so focused that he could only see his patient and the task at hand. The docs agree as they’ve been there before, and ultimately the decision lies with Bailey. She decides to suspend Ben from the residency program for six months, which will considerably derail his progress, but it could have been much worse. If he weren’t her husband, she would have fired him. It’s a major crossroads for their relationship, which up until now has escaped most of the slings and arrows that the other couples on Grey’s have been through. Can they survive it?
When Omar starts to fade while his family is in the cafeteria, Amelia calls for Bailey. Despite the DNR, Bailey decides to resuscitate him. Is she doing it for Ben, Omar’s family, herself? Who knows? However, it saves Omar’s life, who miraculously bounces back and regains consciousness and cognitive abilities. It’s the only bright spot in this painfully tragic situation, and Bailey delivers the heartbreaking news about his wife and child as Ben watches from the sidelines.
Restrain yourself
Fearing that Jackson would try to get full custody of their unborn child, April takes out a restraining order on her ex. It’s painfully awkward, because neither of them really want this, but Mama Avery’s meddling hasn’t helped their situation.
Back to being best friends, Arizona accompanies a distraught April to the lawyer’s office. April wants to drop the restraining order, which she realizes was a mistake, but her lawyer advises her not to. This has become a giant mess, and it’s the last thing that April wanted. She just wants a healthy baby and a break from all the pain of the last few years.
Strangely enough, it’s a young man’s enormous hernia that forces April and Jackson to face each other. Because of the restraining order, they can’t be within a certain amount of feet from each other, which makes operating on the same person awfully challenging. Jackson ends up pulling seniority and taking the case, with Richard’s help. Actually, he’s just tired of all the bitching.
Arizona is getting Sofia ready to leave the house, when a hysterical April shows up at her door, thinking there is something wrong with the baby. They all rush to the hospital, where April laments not having Arizona run tests on the baby before. However, after Arizona gives her an ultrasound, they discover that April’s baby is perfectly healthy and super active. This is a new feeling for April because her first baby never moved. She cries with joy, and so do I.
As Jackson goes through all the paperwork that his own lawyer has requested, he finds the original agreement he and April signed. He confronts April in the parking lot and reminds her that at one point, they loved each other very much. He wants to get back to that, even if they remain apart romantically. A relieved April agrees and lets Jackson feel their very active baby kicking around.
NYC Bound?
Now that Penny has won the Preminger Grant, she and Callie have to discuss what happens next for their relationship. At first, both Penny and Callie dance around it. Callie doesn’t want to discourage Penny from the opportunity, but she’s afraid of what the distance will do to their relationship. God knows she’s been there before. Callie later confronts Penny in the supply room. She tells Penny that she missed an opportunity to ask Callie to come with her. Penny is surprised because Callie has a life and a child in Seattle, and she wouldn’t have dreamed of asking Callie to uproot herself. Callie wants to hear the words, though. Penny tells her that of course she wants Callie with her, but she knows that it can’t happen. She pulls Callie close to her to tease about phone sex and weekend trips, and the two start kissing. (It’s a kind of weird, bird pecking kind of kissing. Am I the only one who thought this?)
As they start tearing off lab coats, Arizona accidentally stumbles on the scene. It’s awkward for everyone, especially us. Thankfully, Arizona is super classy about it and enough time has passed that she doesn’t want to claw her eyes out. A little later, Callie apologizes to Arizona for the weirdness, but Arizona takes it in stride. Almost immediately, Callie starts to share her worries about Penny leaving and their relationship falling apart. Wow, this exchange is gayer than that shower sex scene a few seasons ago. Arizona tries to assuage Callie’s fears and tells her that if she wants to make it work, she will. It’s Seattle to New York, not another dimension after all.
At home, after some particularly vigorous sex, Penny and Callie do some processing. They also high five. Anyway, back to the processing. Penny brings up the fact that Callie didn’t ask her to stay, and Callie admits that she wants her to, but wouldn’t dream of interfering with such an amazing and life changing opportunity. She then says she loves Penny for the first time, which makes Penny cry bittersweet tears. Callie wipes away her own tears and tells Penny to ask her to come with her to New York.
I want to talk about Callie for a moment here. As much as I adore Callie, and I truly do, I can’t help but watch her makes different versions of the same mistakes over and over again. Callie is a die-hard romantic, and she not only wants to believe in love, she desperately needs to. Here she is again, acting with the shortsighted ferocity of a lovesick teenager, when she has so many other factors to consider-including what happens next. The overjoyed Callie finds Arizona to thank her for her advice. At first, Arizona is glad she was able to help, but that’s until Callie announces (not asks) that she and Sofia are moving to New York with Penny. Arizona is gobsmacked. Callie didn’t even think to ask her co-parent if moving their child across the country was OK with her.
We see April’s lawyer advising someone about custody, and it should come as no surprise that Arizona is the one sitting across from her. Arizona may be easy going, but there are certain things she will fight like hell for. Her child is one of those things. This is about to bring a whole lot of chaos to the harmony these two have worked hard to achieve. Why didn’t Arizona go directly to Callie? Well, why didn’t Callie ask Arizona if they could figure something out? These two, still breaking our hearts after all these years.
In other news, remember Kyle, the guitarist from last week’s episode? Well, he and Steph have been sexting up a storm. Get it, Steph. Maggie and Riggs also had a moment, where he admitted to being a real cad with Owen’s sister, but that he loved her very much. I am betting $5 that this is the next relationship on the show.
The #GreysGays tag was super active last night so here are some of our favs.
Wow, a Calzona custody case, that’s such a surprise (said with deadpan inflection like Daria). Said no one EVER. #GreysGays
– Lady Liberty (@CindyLMarshall) April 15, 2016
Not convinced that Callie & Pennie love each other! Where is the chemistry? #Greysgays
– DC (@femmef8ale) April 15, 2016
Africa with Arizona wasn’t an adventure but New York is. I call jump the shark #GreysGays
– Sam Adams (@mrssfadams) April 15, 2016
Sofia is #ArizonaRobbins child too! She always will be. #GreysAnatomy #TGIT #LGBT #Greysgays @JessicaCapshaw pic.twitter.com/x0NThXxmmC
– Sandra Pickering (@SandraPickering) April 15, 2016
Queer ladies had sex? Queer ladies are ALIVE? Why am I two episodes behind on #GreysAnatomy? #GreysGays https://t.co/4wBE64IdoI
– Nicole Duguay (@nicoleduguay) April 15, 2016
Lesbian nekkidness! #greysgays #finally
– Dulcie Holtz (@DulcieHoltz) April 15, 2016
Every time I see an ad for The Catch I think… How the hell did Penny’s sister get her own fucking show? #TGIT #greysgays
– trippinonsunshine (@madaboutagirl) April 15, 2016
