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“Grey’s Anatomy” recap (12.4): Honest Abe

Well, we should have know what was to come when the official emoji for this week’s show was a box of tissues. Oh, Grey’s, you never fail to pull our hearts in every direction. Last week was all about babies, but this week focuses on the elderly. What the hospital staff calls a “Silver Flood.”

Arizona learns about love

The LadyDocs, Maggie, Amelia and Meredith are throwing a dinner party at their place, and April and Arizona are nervous that Jackson and Callie’s new lady Penny might be there, so they agree to ask for each other. Callie doesn’t know about Jackson, but she gets all squirrely when April asks about Penny. Arizona assures Callie that she’s TOTALLY FINE WITH IT, so Callie says she’ll ask if Penny is busy. Arizona wants to badly to be cool with it.

Okay, so a silver flood is when there’s an accident or incident that brings a lot of elderly patients into the ER. This time, it was a bus accident on the way to a senior citizen cruise. There’s many injured, and some critically, but our focus is on two patients. Love birds and nonagenarians, Gabby and Abe. They’ve been a couple for five years, but they aren’t married. Geez, can’t two people in their ’90s just mess around without the shackles of traditional marriage? They joke that they are just shacking up but they are madly in love and much more concerned about each other’s well being than their own. They leave Abe in the corridor while Gabby gets a CT. It’s also where he meets Arizona, or Dr. Sweetheart. He asks about Gabby and thanks to her handy tablet she can tell him that Gabby is still getting a CT. He then inquires about jello, which makes Arizona smile ear to ear.

Over delicious jello, Abe tells Arizona about the day he met Gabby and it was love at first sight. He whips out an engagement ring, which Arizona adorably pretends he’s presenting to her. I love seeing this side of Arizona; so open and fun. It’s like the old Arizona we loved so much, but yet new at the same time. Abe was planning to propose on the cruise, but before he can tell her all about how he and Gabby met, she gets a page and has to go. She promises to come back to hear the rest and bring more jello.

Is your heart full? Are you smiling? Well, this is Grey’s, so buckle up. When Arizona returns, she finds that Abe has passed in his sleep, just minutes before. She’s devastated in a way that surprises her. She heads to the supply room and breaks down into tears. April finds her sobbing and tries to comfort her. Arizona admits that she never thought she would find love after Callie, but after listening to Abe and Gabby’s story, it gave her a hope she hadn’t dared to have. It actually makes her tears of sadness turn to joy. Of course, April starts to cry because of Jackson but Arizona gently reminds her that this isn’t about her. Ha!

When it comes time for the party and Callie and Penny show up, Arizona finds that she needs more liquid courage to deal. I feel that, girl. You should never have to make it through an episode of Grey’s without a glass of wine.

Well, it looks like Arizona’s nerves are actually the least of the problems concerning Callie and Penny. When Meredith answers the door, Callie’s date, the woman who is making her all butterflies and smiley faces, is one of the doctors who worked on Derek after the accident. They instantly recognize each other, and it’s not good. Callie is totally unaware, and my heart hurts a little for her in this moment. This is going to be hella awkward.

The ladytown express

Maggie, after a many month-ed dry spell, wakes up very naked to find Not-Sloan creeping out of bed. They had a wild night but in the light of day, Maggie is horrified and begs him to sneak out of the house without being noticed. So, of course, he runs right into a smirking Amelia. Smirking Amelia is the best Amelia.

In the carpool, Maggie does not want to discuss the intern boinking, even though everyone has had their fair share of inappropriate hospital relationships. Amelia wants to make sure that Not-Sloan visited “Ladytown,” which is very important to determine if there will be future sexytimes. Meredith agrees and Maggie looks like she wants to crawl under a rock and die. Alex kindly reminds them about the dinner party they are throwing which they all forgot about. Sounds about right.

While Maggie and Meredith give Gabby her CT, Maggie has sex flashbacks but is upset about the fact that Not-Sloan is an intern. Meredith reminds her that she met Derek when she was an intern and look how that turned out. All this sex talk makes Meredith realize that she hasn’t even thought about sex since Derek passed. “I’m closed for business. Vagina City’s a ghost town. Orgasm train doesn’t roll through here anymore,” she tells Maggie very matter-of-factly. Gabby overhears all this and tells them that they should never accept a life without sexual fulfillment. She’s been having orgasms since the Roosevelt administration-the first one! Poor Gabby needs surgery, though, so the docs get to work.

After Abe passes, Not-Sloan is sent up to tell Gabby about his death, something that pisses Meredith right off. Maggie takes the opportunity to freak out about protocols and whatnot, instead of telling him that she’s feeling conflicted about what they did. Before she heads home, Maggie actually apologizes to Not-Sloan but tells him that they can’t have sex again. So 30 seconds later, they do.

Stephanie has secrets

Finally, Steph gets a juicy storyline. After telling Jo that she needs to go to the dinner party and start to befriend the LadyChiefs, she heads off to work on Amelia’s service. Amelia is instilling a new protocol where she is making patients who have just undergone brain surgery to try and walk. Stephanie finds this very unsettling, but when she expresses her concerns to Amelia, she is shut down.

During the first treatment, the patient Rachel is very upset and even vomits from the exertion. Steph is shaken and uncomfortable about it, but Amelia assures her that this is the best course for recovery. Once Steph and an intern (who I hope we get to know better) are alone with Rachel, Steph can’t bring herself to force the woman to do it.

Jo, who is having a bad career day, ends up taking over for Steph with Rachel. Amelia sees and is not happy. She hauls both of the docs into a room to yell at them. Steph explains that when she was young, she was part of a sickle cell anemia trial and it was pretty awful. This thing with Rachel gives her flashbacks. Amelia is touched by the story, and excuses Steph’s involvement. Jo however, thinks the story is a lie and that Steph is gaming the system. When she confronts Steph about it, Steph doesn’t say anything, leading Jo to believe she’s right.

When Jo works with Amelia, she tells her that Steph is lying about being sick. This, of course, infuriates Amelia, who wants Richard to discipline Steph for lying and abandoning a patient. Richard is actually the only one who knows about Steph’s past, and says it’s all true. In fact, the study Steph was a part of was a hugely important one. Jo didn’t know about Steph’s past because she only shares that with people she trusts. Amelia feel like an ass, which she should. Steph leaves and Richard questions why Amelia would chose to believe Jo, a person she barely knows, over Steph, who has busted her ass on Amelia’s service. It makes Amelia take a long look at herself.

Steph goes back and works with Rachel and gets the woman to walk, even though it’s incredibly hard for them both. Afterward, Amelia finds Steph and they hug as Steph cries. Amelia apologizes for not believing her, and Steph accepts it. Maybe this mentor/mentee relationship will really grow this season.

The interns learn about death

After learning about brains in their lab (which, p.s., liquefy after we die), the interns are all sent to the ER to deal with the silver flood. There have been casualties, including an older man who died of a heart attack. When the man’s son arrives, he finds Toehead Intern, and asks about his father. Toehead reluctantly tells him that his father died, and gets knocked to the floor when he tells the man that his father wasn’t truthful about the medicine he was one. Owen steps in and decides to give everyone a crash course in Death 101. Owen isn’t exactly the warmest or fuzziest, so the interns learn the basics and that’s all.

When Owen sends Not-Sloan to tell Gabby about Abe, Meredith confronts him. He reminds her that this is a teaching hospital and this is something they all need to learn. Meredith gives them a new lesson, one that goes much further into the very important part they play. She’s been there not too long ago, having to hear from a strange doctor that her husband was dead. She gives them the heart of the matter, and tells them that this is a role to never take lightly. They get it, well at least I think they do. When Meredith Grey talks, you listen.

What did you think about “Old Time Rock and Roll?”

Here are some of our favorite #greysgays tweet’s from last night.

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