We have another surprise return in Grey’s Anatomy season 22 episode 4. At the same time, Owen needs to face and accept his decision about Teddy.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from Grey’s Anatomy season 22 episode 4.
As usual, we catch up with where everyone is after the events of the previous episode of Grey’s Anatomy. That includes Teddy and Cass together, Bailey trying to get ready to tell Katie about her cancer, and the second-year residents discussing events in their life.
Link is being discharged from the hospital with Owen helping him outside, which is when Teddy and Cass turn up for work. Owen is naturally suspicious, and so is Link.
Jackson returns to Meredith’s disapproval in Grey's Anatomy season 22 episode 4
As Meredith and Weber go through surgeries and teachings, Meredith’s phone goes off. We all know that this is linked to Koracick’s paper, but I guess we’ll have to wait for that.
Meanwhile, there’s an emergency in the ED, where there are two young horse riders in with injuries. Well, not quite horse riders. I’m sure you can guess the type that they “fell” off.
Blue continues to work with Mohanty, with tensions still high. Of course, this is why Jackson is really at the hospital. There’s a major surgery, but Mohanty finds out that her position is a detriment. She’s needed elsewhere, so she doesn’t get to spend time in surgery. Blue gets to stay, along with Warren, and a few other interns. They’re working with a firefighter trainer, who is in remission, but needs breast reconstruction.
This is when we find out exactly why Meredith is so bothered by the text message. It turns out that Meredith has done Koracick’s same study with female mice, which proves the opposite of what Koracick has proven. Jackson makes it clear that Meredith should be back at her lab to help show why female mice given antibiotics with the Alzheimer’s treatment show no improvement. And it’s true!
Link is back
Things in the ER take a turn when Vincent, who isn’t the actual patient with the head wound, has chest pains. He collapses, making us all wonder what they were actually doing.
Meanwhile, Bailey has to break the news to Katie. Katie is ready to fight the cancer, which will mean a new chemo regimen after recovering from her splenectomy. There are some clinical trials to consider, and Katie is ready to take on all of that. One thing that Bailey notices is that nobody is coming to visit Katie, and she notes that she just needs to focus on the fight. Once they know more, Katie will tell her mom, but as a mom, I can totally see Bailey’s point of view. A mom wants to be there to help.
Bailey decides to make sure that Lucas and his intern keep an eye on Katie. Of course, Lucas wants to watch the major surgery happening, but Bailey isn’t taking that as an answer.
As for that surgery, Ben and Blue discuss it. There is a brilliant callback to the “plastics posse,” but then the news that there could be an issue with the surgery. There’s a hernia, and that means a general surgeon is needed. Jackson needs Meredith to help, but she isn’t initially willing to listen. Of course, Meredith can’t actually leave a patient without her treatment, so she asks for the scans.
Back in the ER, the focus is on Vincent. Link turns up since Jo is still working, but he’s not exactly cleared to work. Despite that, he can’t help but give his opinion, and since he’s worked with pro athletes, Vincent wants to hear Link’s opinion. Guess he’s back.
Why doesn’t Jules want to live with Simone?
Teddy has an interesting patient to deal with. It turns out Nora is back, and of course, this is going to be awkward for Nora. She’s woken up with chest pain that hasn’t gone away, and now she’s freaked out. Teddy puts her feelings aside to treat her patient.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s patient is facing a setback. The reconstruction surgery is off for Meredith to do the hernia surgery. It’s a struggle for the patient, though, who is struggling to with how she has to look in the mirror and see herself. Meredith can empathize, and while Jackson doesn’t like the idea, she will go through the full surgery.
Meanwhile, Simone turns to Blue to find out why Jules doesn’t want to live with her. At first, Blue is a little annoyed that Simone didn’t talk to him first, but he points out that maybe Simone and Jules aren’t as close as Simone thought. Why is it that Jules doesn’t want to live with Simone?
Lucas continues to search for clinical trials, which Katie doesn’t really like. She doesn’t really like the idea of Lucas doing the research for her, and it makes sense. She doesn’t know him, but she needs to trust Bailey to put the research in good hands.
As for the emerge patient, Winston is now pulled into the situation. Vincent has broken ribs at the very least. Of course, the doctors judge him for his hobby horse hobby, but Vincent starts to defend it. However, during this, Vincent starts to pass out. There’s a much bigger issue going on.
Things aren't looking good for Katie
Jackson tries to defend his own decisions when it comes to surgery, but Meredith calls him out. What doe she really understand about women? That’s a major issue in the whole of medical care.
As for Teddy, she’s focused on her patient. Cass comes in while Nora is in the MRI scan, but Teddy doesn’t want to mix personal and work. She also doesn’t want to bring up the fact that Nora slept with Owen while they were trialling their open marriage while she couldn’t sleep with Cass. Will it cause problems.
With Vincent now passed out, everyone is working on his surgery. There remains a lot of judgment about his hobby, but Owen makes it clear that this is not the place for judgment. Let people enjoy what they do!
As Mohanty gets the chance to observe the surgery, Blue asks to be excused. He makes up an excuse, but it’s clear that he wants to make it possible for Mohanty to scrub in.
It turns out elsewhere that Katie is researching clinical trials while Lucas also is, and she comes up with a lot of the downsides to them. However, there is a more concerning problem. It looks like she may be struggling from a blood clot in her leg, and that means they need to act fast.
Did we just get confirmation of Lucas’s mom?
It’s finally time to find out the type of injury Vincent has. His friend shows a video of the hobby horse practice and sport. There is a high bar that they need to jump over, and this could explain the health issues. Just as it seems like the friend is worried about Vincent, he’s more concerned about taking part in the competition.
As for Nora, she’s going to be okay, The pain could be just something as simple as indigestion, but considering everything that happened with her life, it’s not that surprising she worried. Teddy and Nora are able to connect over divorce, as Teddy opens up about what’s going on with her and Owen. Nora is naturally concerned that it was her who caused the problem, but I love how mature Teddy is being about this.
We find out that Lucas found Katie’s blood clot early, and it’s a rather minor surgery to solve it. This is when Katie explains that most of her friends have no idea that she’s even in the hospital. There’s a lot that Katie wants to do, and it’s only now that she realizes that it may not be possible. Also, did we just get another confirmation of who Lucas’s mom is by him saying that he’s from New York?
Back in Jackson’s surgery, there’s a problem. A flap is turning blue, and now Jackson, Mohanty, and Ben need to figure out how to fix it. This is about blame, but about solutions.
Things aren’t so great with Owen? He lets his personal life take over his bonding with Link, but what else is new?
Meredith is heading back to Boston
The end of the episode sees Jackson share that the surgery went well in the end. He even admits that Meredith was right to push for the surgery. This is when Meredith points out that estrogen is causing the differentials in the studies, and she needs to test it to prove it. In fact, she’s willing to go back to Boston to prove it.
Vincent gets good and bad news. He will recover, but he needs to give up hobby horsing for a while. This isn’t the bad thing that it seems at first, as Vincent shares that he’s exited about something new. Maybe ultimate frisbee isn’t it, though. Owen hears something that he needs to take personally: it’s good to try something new.
Lucas realizes that he does want to see Katie’s case through, especially when he sees that there may be a clinical study for Katie. He wants experience in clinical oncology, and he may have just found his field.
As for the new member of the Plastics Posse, she turns to Blue while he sits in the clinical studies lab. She calls him out on his statement about needing to step out from surgery. She knows exactly what he did, and it looks like Blue may also have found his specialty.
What about Jules and Simone? Simone decides to ask why Jules doesn’t want to live with her. It’s got nothing to do with Simone. It’s everything to do with how Jules sleeps and has to wake up! She’s one of those who needs a lot of alarms and has been kicked out by other roommates. Simone is certainly happy with that, and maybe, just maybe, they will end up being roommates.
Teddy and Cass have a moment at the end of Grey’s Anatomy season 22 episode 4. Teddy is finally able to open up a little to Cass, sharing just how much of a mess her life is. I do like Cass’s reaction to it. While Teddy’s mess could affect her and Cass, it could also offer Teddy the freedom that she needs. Cass is still in it for now, and I’m all for Sophia Bush being in Grey’s Anatomy for a little longer.
On a personal level for Bailey and Ben, she has seen just how much Ben lights up in plastics. She’s also seen how good he is, and she thinks he should go into the plastics specialty. It means three more years of study and of Bailey doing the lion’s share of the work at home, but she wants him to be happy. This is the marriage we all need to strive for.
Grey’s Anatomy season 22 episode 4 ends with Owen apologizing to Link and then seeing Nora at the hospital. As Owen asks if they should go for coffee, she turns him down, but only because coffee is a bad idea at the time of night. Dinner? It seems it.
And yes, Meredith needed to see Webber. It’s time for her to go back to Boston, and Webber knew it all along. As soon as he read Koracick’s article, he knew that Meredith had to go back. This relationship is back on track as it always should have been.
Grey’s Anatomy airs on Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.