'Grey's Anatomy' recap: Meredith wakes up from her COVID-19-induced coma
Rejoice, Grey's Anatomy fans! Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has left her in-between beach and returned to consciousness.
The 11th episode ("Sorry Doesn't Always Make It Right") of the longest-running primetime medical drama's 17th season aired Thursday night, and while the predominant storyline centered on Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) and Atticus "Link" Lincoln's (Chris Carmack) relationship, Meredith awakening from her COVID coma was the moment everybody has been waiting for.
Meredith—who was taken off her ventilator last week and began breathing on her own after the beloved deceased doctors Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) visited her in the subconscious beach space—wakes up and talks briefly with Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). "I'm sorry," she says. "You had to put me on a vent. You had to make that call."
After Richard absolves her guilt, Meredith shows that she has been more receptive while unconscious than her friends at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital had thought. She knows that Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) has made the decision to switch her specialty from general surgery to obstetrics and gynecology.
Meredith's state is still not totally certain, as Richard points out that she's "still mostly sleeping," but he is cautiously optimistic: "She's listening, even when you think maybe she's not. She's—."
"Extraordinary," Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) interjects.
"Unstoppable," Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) adds.
"Always has been, always will be," Bailey says.
And then, if this isn't foreshadowing from Richard: "I pray to God you're both right."
The episode—Giacomo Gianniotti's directorial debut after his character Andrew DeLuca was tragically and shockingly killed off earlier this season—begins with Link's parents showing up out of nowhere in an RV and offering to take the kids (Meredith's three children, plus Amelia and Link's newborn son named after the late Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd)—off their hands for the day.
The time alone gives the couple time to evaluate their relationship, sparked by Link's mom "accidentally" referring to Amelia as her daughter-in-law. Amelia admits that the reason she hasn't agreed to marry Link is because she was "a terrible wife" to Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and is "wired for self-destruction." As a recovering heroin addict, she still struggles with wanting to get high. Link forges on, though, and he proposes again—saying "I would marry you in a hot minute," so excuse me while I swoon—but Amelia turns him down again.
Later (swoon again), Amelia and Link are laying by the fireplace and fantasizing about their hypothetical wedding. "Link, I love you so much, sometimes I feel like I'm gonna have a panic attack," Amelia says, "so marriage seems so obvious." Link assures Amelia that he wants her to do "whatever she needs to do" to stay sober, and he'll wait. "Why don't we just do a check-in?" Link suggests in the final minutes. "Every two weeks, no judgment."
The hour can't end before another romantic reconciliation. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) and Owen, whose relationship has been a few levels above rocky since Teddy had an affair and lied to Owen about the woman they named their daughter, Allison, after actually being the love of her life, found some common ground. Owen apologizes for being "terrible" to her when she tried to tell him the truth about Allison.
"We're friends first," Owen says. "We've been friends for years, and you've never been anything but there for me, so when you did this thing that was so out of character, I should've known that you were going through something bigger than me. That's just being a friend. I can be friend. I wanna be your friend. And I don't know if I have more than that in me, but I can be your friend."
They agree to have tea and talk about everything Allison.
Watch the promo clip for next week's episode below.
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