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“Grey’s Anatomy” recap (12.23): Goodbye to You

It’s that time of year again. That time where our beloved shows start cramming all their unfinished storylines together to make room for their season finales. Last night’s Grey’s Anatomy was unusually disjointed, especially if you compare it to last week’s rather excellent Callie and Arizona-centric episode. So what happened on the penultimate episode? Let’s break it down.

It’s time to let go

Grey’s is a show full of deaths and goodbyes, yet for some reason, it’s the exit of Derek’s beloved Airstream trailer that feels oh so heavy. That trailer now belongs to Owen, where he’s lived since his break-up with Cristina. Now that he and Amelia have been getting closer, he’s decided to sell it and buy his own house without wheels. Meredith watches it drive away, and she’s hit with a pain she didn’t anticipate. It opens up old wounds, in a way that Meredith doesn’t quite know how to articulate to her friends.

Richard, excited that his wife will soon be in town, invites Jackson, Bailey and Ben over for a dinner party. The tension in the elevator is thick, since Ben and Bailey are barely talking, and only Bailey holds the recipe to the famous spinach and artichoke dip.

In surgery, Amelia can’t wait to share the news of Owen’s big new purchase with Maggie. A conversation about Amelia helping Owen pick out furniture escalates quickly to hypothetical weddings and kids. Damn, that was fast. What a bunch of lezzes. Amelia’s all smiles and giggles when she sees Meredith afterwards. Meredith is still feeling the weight of the trailer pulling on her heart, so she’s in no mood.

Oh Alex, my dear, cranky but loveable Alex. This season hasn’t given you much of a storyline has it. Well, here you go! You’ve got 50 minutes. The grandmother of one of Alex’s patients is taken by his bedside manner and good doctoring, and can’t believe he’s not already married or even engaged. She tells him to call her unmarried daughter, just in case. He tells Meredith, and she informs him about the Amelia/Owen marriage talk, but they are interrupted by an a man carrying an unconscious teen. He passed out while in the middle of Driver’s Training, though luckily he wasn’t the teen driving.

Kyle is still in the hospital, recovering from an infection in his brain, and Steph continues to not-so-stealthily stalk him. Jo lets her see his chart, but as Steph peruses it, she hears a loud clanking. She runs to Kyle’s room to find that he’s taken a spill in the way to the bathroom. He’s all dizzy and weak, and not happy to see Steph, especially when he starts to vomit. He doesn’t want her there, but she tells him that he will need a support system there, even if it’s not her.

The kids who passed out in Driver’s Ed tells Meredith that he’s had strep throat, but he’s fine. Mer’s worried since strep usually doesn’t cause people to black out. She looks in his throat and finds his tonsils have abscesses. His driving teacher is also his mom’s boyfriend, and the kid lets it slip that his mom was planning on dumping him anyway. Things get awkward fast when the mom arrives, and the teen would rather get those abscesses drained than listen to those two fight.

Steph is concerned about Kyle’s course of treatment, but Amelia is getting pretty tired of having to defend herself. She once again reminds Steph that she is to have nothing to do with Kyle’s case, and it’s time to back off. In Kyle’s room, his sister and mother have arrived. At first, the mood is good, until Steph interrupts Amelia and decides to caution them all about Kyle’s condition. As soon as they find out that she’s the one who broke Kyle’s heart, they banish her from the room.

Maggie and Riggs have been working together quite well lately, especially now that Riggs has learned what surgeries Maggie doesn’t like, and defers to her authority. Well, that and he carries around a box of bacon with him.

Alex and Mer watch the Driver’s Ed teacher and the kid’s mom argue about their relationship, and Mer commends Alex and Jo on not rushing into anything. Alex is like, haven’t we been together for five seasons now? It’s been an eternity! They are interrupted by DeLuca, who shows them scans of the teen patient. They show some areas of concern, so Meredith wants to bring him in for a CT.

Since Jo is working with Amelia, Steph finds her in the elevator to grill her about Kyle’s treatment. Jo reluctantly gives her some info, and it’s not good. When Steph finds out the route of treatment (a ventricular washout), she panics. It’s a dangerous procedure, usually reserved for extreme cases.

After banging in the on-call room, a naked Amelia and Owen plan their fantasy wedding and hypothetical children. (There will be no screenshot of this.) It starts to drift into reality, but Amelia gets a page and has to prep for Kyle’s surgery.

When Jackson runs into Ben, he offers his friend a space on his couch. He figures since Ben and Bailey are miserable right now, perhaps Ben could use a place to crash. He politely declines, because he’s got a will of steel and he plans to wait out this cold spell in his marriage. He’s waiting on an apology from Bailey, and once he gets it, all will be fine. On the other side of the hospital, Bailey and Richard have a similar chat. Bailey’s waiting for an apology too. Guess this will take a long ass time.

In CT, Meredith gets to complain about Amelia and Owen with Alex. She was hoping Amelia would pick up a hobby, not her best friend’s ex-husband. She is also dreading future wedding planning talk, because let’s face it, it really is the worst. She also begs Alex to elope if Jo ever decides to accept his proposal. Just then, the teen’s scans come back, and he is full of necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating bacteria). They have to act quickly, or the kid won’t have a prayer. Maggie and Riggs both rush to the scrub room, and both are interested in the case, but once Meredith starts barking orders, Riggs offers to step aside. However, Maggie uses her authority to have him take the spot. She didn’t really want the surgery after all. Have fun, Riggs.

Steph once again oversteps and confronts Amelia about Kyle’s surgery. Amelia explains that not only has Steph been excluded from the case by Kyle and his family, but Amelia is the neuro-chief, something that Steph seems to have forgotten.

Steph walks into Kyle’s room and surprisingly, they are able to make up. They both really do care for one another, and Kyle wants Steph to run away with him after he heals. They even kiss. It’s a sweet moment.

Not having such a sweet time are Meredith, Riggs, Alex and Jackson, who are having to cut out a tremendous amount of tissue from the teen with necrotizing fasciitis. Meredith is more intense than usual, and Riggs tries to crack a joke to lighten the mood. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work. He then assures Meredith that everyone there wants to save this kid and they are all dedicated to surgical success. She’s not the only doc who cares about her patients. Afterwards, Meredith runs into Amelia, and comments on how “last ditch” Amelia’s surgery sounds. This shakes Amelia a bit, who has been feeling particularly invincible lately. This naturally devolves into an argument, where Meredith calls Amelia on the carpet. Meredith thinks that Amelia has been taking bits and pieces from other people’s lives, rather than carving out her own destiny.

While the teen’s mom and boyfriend start to argue again, Meredith and Alex stop by to deliver the good news that they got all the dead tissue out. It was thanks to the Driver’s Ed teacher that they were able to catch it in time. This causes the mom and teacher to have a quick and passionate reconciliation. Alex sees this as a sign that happy endings can happen, but Mer thinks that’s just bs. He encourages her to put herself out there again and stop raining on everyone else’s parade.

Remember how Steph was all concerned about Kyle’s surgery? Well, she was right because this operation is going to shit. Amelia sees Steph in the theatre above and knowing Kyle is dying, sends Jo to pull her out of there. Jo runs through the hospital and once she gets to Steph, they are pulling Kyle’s breathing tube. He’s gone and Steph witnessed it.

Steph watches from a distance as Kyle’s family reacts to the news, and Amelia chases her down. She tries to explain what happened, that Kyle’s infection was too far gone, but Steph just stands there with tears in her eyes. The bond between these two has been broken.

As Richard prepares to leave for the day, he watches the other couples, in various states of heartache and togetherness. His heart is feeling heavy until the elevator doors open, and there stands Katherine, surprising him a week early with a visit. He’s thrilled to see her and have a soft place to land himself.

At Jo and Alex’s loft, Jo is burning dinner when Alex comes home. Alex, inspired by the happy endings happening around him, decides to confront Jo about their future. He asks her to marry him once again, but she says no. I’m at a bit of a loss here, because I thought these two had a fighting chance. They pulled a Calzona on Jolex! Angst, it’s not just for same-sex couples anymore. I can practically hear Alex’s heart-breaking from here.

At Owen’s new pad, he and Amelia take a huge step. They assure each other that what they have is legit, so Amelia proposes to him. The big lug says yes. (This is probably a terrible idea.)

Riggs runs into Meredith as she’s leaving for the night, and he’s mere presence manages to tick her off. They tear into each other about dead husbands and missing girlfriends, and then, in true Grey’s fashion, they start making out. Now, I totally thought Riggs was going to hook up with Maggie, so this came as a bit of a surprise. What about you?

Goodbye, Penny?

Penny has worked really hard this season to earn the audience’s respect, if not love. After that disastrous dinner party, and all that drama with Meredith and Amelia, she’s proven herself to be a decent person. Loving, a good doctor, fair. Unfortunately for Penny, no good deed goes unpunished.

Callie is looking over some scans when Penny tentatively pops her head in. She’s there to tell Callie she was able to get her new landlord to rent her a smaller place, so now she can save money to make trips to visit Callie. Yay. Callie reacts with the zeal of someone who was just told she needs to have a toenail removed. She’s cold and distant, and Penny is starting to panic. She doesn’t want to leave for New York like this, but once Callie sets her mind to something, it’s not easily swayed. It’s obvious that she blames Penny for losing custody of Sofia, which is probably easier than looking inside herself.

April and Arizona are hanging out, drinking juice, like you do, when they see Callie coming down the hall. Arizona visibly stiffens, but April tells her to take a breath and be nice. Callie asks if Arizona would be willing to let her switch the night she has Sofia that week since she’s had a surgery come up. Arizona, a smile plastered to her face, agrees but makes sure she lets Callie know she holds all the cards.

Callie is still hiding away when Penny drops in on her again. Penny offers to postpone her departure so she and Callie can work things through before she leaves. Oh honey, we’ve seen Callie like this before. That’s not going to work. It’s hard not to feel for Penny at this moment. She was just about to have it all. The job, the girl, the opportunities. Now, without Callie, it feels so much more empty. Callie has already made up her mind. Long distance isn’t going to work for them. That, plus the resentment Callie feels about losing Sofia would just eat them alive. So she does what feels inevitable-she breaks up with Penny.

Arizona is smiling and working with teeny tiny baybays in the NICU when Callie comes in to talk. Arizona’s mood instantly sours and without April as a buffer, we can see how truly angry and hurt she really is. Upset about her break-up with Penny, Callie asks Arizona if she can have Sofia that night, but Arizona isn’t feeling so generous. Callie tries to walk away, but Arizona has some angst to get off her chest. She tells Callie that she’s ruined everything, and when it comes to her, Arizona has no more to give. Ouch. This is painful.

Meredith finds Penny in the locker room, tears spilling down her face. She’s packing to leave right away for NYC and tells Meredith that Callie dumped her. Meredith feels for the woman and actually sits down to comfort her. She tells Penny that she’ll get through it and to go out there and be the doctor she can be.

So, is this it for Penny? I admit, if so I’d be sad to see her go. I’ve grown to like the plucky doc and having three queer women on a major television series is a pretty big deal. With Sara Ramirez‘s contract on the show up in the air, could we be looking at only one queer lady at Grey Sloan? What are your thoughts on Penny and Callie’s break up and the growing distance between Callie and Arizona?

Here are some of our favorite #greysgays tweets from “At Last.”

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