After a few weeks away from Grey Sloan, Grey’s Anatomy season 21 episode 10 welcomed Ellen Pompeo back as Meredith Grey and, while fans might have been excited to see her back, her return to the hospital wasn’t exactly met with a warm welcome.
As the episode opens, Meredith and Nick head back to Seattle and it’s clear things are still tense between Mer and Richard after she kept him in the dark about Catherine’s diagnosis. Mer and Nick arrive at the hospital where they meet Catherine and their patient Tasha, who is in need of a liver transplant, as well as her wife, Evynn, a fellow surgeon. As they’re discussing the diagnosis, Richard comes in and you can cut the tension between him and Meredith from the moment he enters the room.
Following their meeting with Tasha and Evynn, Richard gets short with Meredith and begins to walk away which is when Catherine lays into him. As Catherine notes, Tasha and Evynn have already been turned away from two hospitals and made to feel lesser, and they’re going to make sure they get the treatment they deserve which requires a top-notch team.
When reviewing the scans, Richard joins Meredith and she begins talking through her plan but he’s still giving her the silent treatment. Nick comes in and informs the duo he has to pass on the liver as the donor one is too big as Richard undercuts Mer and it’s again made clear they have a lot to work through.
Nick goes to tell Evynn that the liver isn’t a good fit, but she makes it clear they need to proceed with the liver and pushes him to do better. The push convinces him to push ahead with the planned transplant so more scans are ordered.
Mer pages Richard and tries to apologize to him again about keeping Catherine’s diagnosis secret telling him that she only kept it as she couldn’t break her medical oath to which he points out she’s had no issue breaking that oath before. Nick arrives once again and breaks the tension by reviewing scans of the liver which prompts the trio to wonder if they got the initial diagnosis wrong and that something could be wrong with her brain. Meredith wants to proceed without consulting Evynn, but Richard isn’t having it as he storms off. Mer asks him to stop walking out on her, to which he coldly quips, “Stop giving me reasons to.”
Between things, Meredith checks up on Catherine who is doing well following her treatment and the conversation shifts to the tension between Richard and Meredith. Catherine recalls meeting Evynn and tells Meredith she’s like family, and that when you mentor family the lines can become blurred which can end up resulting in it taking longer to patch things up when the student uses their taught skills against them.
Evynn comes to ask Catherine where the liver is and she informs her that Winston was delayed on the way, as Nick then comes in to let them know the liver is almost there which leaves Evynn elated.
Meredith scanned Tasha’s brain and she believes it’s dementia. Richard tells Meredith that he pulled some records after an earlier conversation with Evynn which reminded him of Meredith’s mom. In looking at the records, he found that Tasha was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two months ago which wouldn’t make her a candidate for a transplant and is likely why the other hospitals turned her away. Meredith questions whether Catherine is aware which Richard points out is likely the case.
Following the chat, Richard and Meredith come to confront Catherine about hiding Tasha’s Alziehmer’s from them. Much to their surprise, Evynn played all of them by withholding the information about the Alzheimer’s diagnosis and Meredith rushes into the OR just as Nick is about to begin the surgery.
Elsewhere in the episode...
Bailey hosts an intern retreat which pushes Jules to a breaking point
Our other key storyline in the episode comes as Bailey hosts a retreat for the interns at her home with the hope being to bring them together in a new way via a series of team-building exercises.
Tensions are high right out of the gate between Jules and Simone, with Simone still waiting for an apology and Jules reeling from Yasuda’s sudden departure. The retreat begins with an icebreaker and Jules quickly finds a way to avoid being partnered with Simone, but fate has other plans as the duo are eventually teamed up for another activity later in the retreat.
During a building activity, the teams are tasked with working together to build the tallest structure with spaghetti and marshmallows and communication breaks down again between Jules and Simone. The next activity is a moment of reflection and finding silver linings which serves as a tipping point for Jules who points out that lost a classmate and everyone is acting like nothing changed. She lashes out against everyone and says what is the point in team bonding when they don’t have a team as she storms out of the room.
Later, Bailey finds Jules and offers to be the punching bag she so desperately needs. Bailey tells Jules that she scheduled the retreat to give them a day away from the hospital to try to do something because she’s feeling the same frustration Jules is feeling. She tells Jules that she is right that her team is broken and she wants to help fix it as she asks Jules to reflect on whether she truly wants the same.
After Danny leaves early, it seems the retreat is going to reach an early end which is when Jules re-emerges and tells Bailey she thought they were going to make a meal together. The action moves to the kitchen and the moment gives Simone and Jules the chance to work through things as Jules opens up to Simone about trying to plan a visit with Yasuha only to be pushed away.
While they have a long way to go in repairing their relationship, Jules and Simone finally begin to make some real progress with the episode ending as Jules arrives with an olive branch of her own in the form of some wine to be shared together.
Link proposes to Jo
Elsewhere in the episode, Link teams up with Amelia to treat a young woman brought into the E.D. after injuring herself when jumping off a bridge to try to save the wedding ring she had thrown into the water during a divorce celebration.
The surgery goes well and the Seattle Fire Department is able to find her ring, which prompts a conversation that really resonates with Link.
He returns from the hospital and begins a speech that ends with him asking Jo to marry him. Link gives a really sweet speech about the best relationships beginning with friendship. Much to our excitement, Jo accepts the proposal as the episode comes to a close!