Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | October 7, 2024
It’s the High Holidays in my home, which meant family visited last week, including Aunt H., one of the smartest people I know. She’s also seen all 21 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, so she could help fill me in on who some of these characters are. There are some nepo characters, like the intern Dr. Lucas Adams, whose uncle was Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. Shepherd — who is also the brother of Amelia Shepherd, whom I’ve just discovered has the nickname “Girl Shepherd.” Ouch.
I also made my kids watch the episode. They’ve never seen a single episode of a hospital drama, much less Grey’s. They were confused but also intrigued. Unfortunately, hospital dramas are unexpectedly hazardous to my mental health. Since watching was supposed to be a fun experience, I had to low-key repress my tears when a teenager with Li-Fraumeni syndrome was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer and cried, “But I don’t want to die,” echoing my own son’s reaction to his cancer diagnosis. Ouch.
Feeling absolutely certain that Debbie Allen’s Catherine Fox would likely die soon, given all her medical issues, Aunt H. informed me that Dr. Fox has been “dying” for years. Sure enough, this episode — which reveals cancerous tumors on her liver, seemingly a certain death sentence — also left the door open to the possibility they’re benign. Which means they are definitely benign, and Debbie Allen is not going anywhere anytime soon.
There were other subplots, too. Kim Raver’s Dr. Teddy Altman returned; she wasn’t the chief at the beginning of the episode, but she was by the end. Kevin McKidd’s Dr. Hunt is married to Dr. Altman, which was news to me. Also, I’m learning that Dr. Altman used to be married to a character played by Scott Foley (who died), meaning both Scotts from Felicity have appeared on Grey’s. But where is Speedman this season?
Other things happened, like Richard playing golf and Mika and Jules continuing to make out. But the only thing I really want to talk about is the mystery storyline we’d been following since last season’s finale. Dr. Benson Kwan — who goes by Blue — attended to a patient, Molly, who was his fiancée, though she didn’t recognize him. And he didn’t tell her he was her fiancé. Why?
Some of our readers — who aren’t regular viewers — guessed that Molly didn’t recognize Blue because of an arranged marriage storyline! Well, you know what they say about people who assume Asian characters are in arranged marriages… that they’ve probably seen too many soap operas.
In reality, they were engaged, but Blue was so upset that his mother wouldn’t be at the wedding that — in a moment of weakness — he cheated. Molly broke off the engagement, and after a fight, she left crying and got into a car accident, giving her amnesia. He didn’t want to talk to her because he was ashamed and felt guilty. She had moved on, was happy, and basically forgave him, giving him permission to reset. But not before that knucklehead Blue misread the signals and kissed her.
Oh, Blue! Every man in every soap opera thinks that because a woman says something sincere and heartfelt, they want to have sex with them. Also, now that I know that’s Harry Shum Jr.’s character’s nickname, all I think when I see him is, “You’re my boy, Blue!”
