'Grey's Anatomy' confronts racial injustice in Thursday's episode

We begin with Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) out for a jog as the opposite street corner is occupied by protestors peacefully chanting, "No peace, no justice" and holding signs referring to Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Jackson keeps jogging, but we're taken to Cormac Hayes's (Richard Flood) house. His biracial sons are painting their own "I Can't Breathe" and "My Life Matters" signs.

Maggie (Kelly McCreary) is struggling to get out of bed, obsessively texting her now-fiance Winston (Anthony Hill) while getting safety and travel alerts related to the protests. She's nervous because Winston is due to drive from Boston to Seattle so they can finally start their life together.

 
At the hospital, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is preparing for even more trauma. "We just barely got our bearings on this pandemic, now this," she says. Webber (James Pickens Jr.) counters: "Well, revolutions don't schedule appointments." (Phew, a word!)

 
Webber has decided to go out to protest, refusing to miss out on his opportunity to do something important, while Jackson is struggling with his decision to come to work rather than participate in the protests. Cormac casually walks up with his sons and reveals a bloody head injury suffered at a protest, further complicating Jackson's internal dilemma. (Later in the episode, Webber absolves Jackson of any guilt: "I try not to judge the way that anyone handles the traumas that come with living here.")

"Cops did this?" Jackson asks while giving him stitches.

"Neo-Nazis did this," Cormac says. "Counter-protestors, I think they're called. Came at my boy with a billy club. I jumped in between them just in time."

Webber is already back by the time they're done. A woman named Nell (Phylicia Rashad) is bloodied and injured severely by a tear gas canister. Shortly after her arrival, a young man suffering from a rubber bullet wound.

And oh yeah, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo)! She's still off of her ventilator and stable, though she mostly just sleeps. Schmitt (Jake Borelli) is assigned to give her hyperbaric treatment for the day, and he dotes on her to a new intern: "Every win I've had, any time I do something right, I hear her voice in my head. She's the most influential teacher I've ever had, even when she's asleep." 

Meanwhile, Winston calls Maggie from the road. A casual conversation about where they're going to live takes a dark turn when police pull him over. Winston asks to keep Maggie on the phone, but the cop bullishly tells him to turn it off. "Are you failing to comply?" he asks, triggering panic in Winston. He hangs up the phone, triggering even more panic in Maggie. She obsessively calls over and over again to no avail. Finally, he calls to tell her he's fine and the police let him go—but it wasn't nearly that simple. The only reason he was pulled over in the first place was because his bike rack obscured his license plate, highlighting the country's ugly relationship with racial profiling.

"They had me get out of the car and take my mask off," he says from the side of the road with his belongings all strewn out, "and then they had to do a DUI test, and then they checked the trunk, and then they checked the car. They had me unpack all my stuff, and the police dog sniffed it over. Then the dog sniffed me, and they let me go. That's what took so long."

Winston is rightfully shaken up. Maggie coaches him through it. Once he finally arrives, they 

COVID is still around, too. Bailey welcomes a man named Mr. Anderson who refuses to believe in the coronavirus nor her diagnosis that he has "COVID toe" and other clotting. He calls COVID the "biggeest moneymaker since cryptocurrency" and asks her how much she gets in kickbacks per patient. Bailey, rightfully, freezes up and steps into the stairwell. "What?!" she screams to nobody, collecting herself before going back in to try and treat him. It doesn't work, as he discharges himself and dies in the parking lot.

Luckily, the much more likable Nell—snaps for Phylicia Rashad, who is working her way toward taking over primetime television considering her recurring role on NBC's This Is Us—made it through surgery and isn't phased. She's proud of her scars and shows Cormac, Jackson and Avery everything she's physically endured in the name of justice. Webber shows his, too, and Jackson is inspired and reassess his role (or lack thereof) in the movement.

Cormac was similarly affected, telling his sons that they should fight and protest as much as they want to so long as it's during daylight and Cormac is with them. Webber leaves work at the same time as Jackson, who says he's going to walk home. "Sounds like they're still marching somewhere," he says.

"Sign O' the Times," directed by Michael Medico and written by Jase Miles-Perez, ends with Schmitt telling Jo (Camilla Luddington) that he'd been asking himself all day, "What would Meredith Grey do?" Maggie and Winston are finally reunited and embrace like close isn't close enough, then Jackson conversely gets in the car and sets off somewhere on a mysterious 11-hour drive.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays beginning at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.