Grey’s Recap: Ben There, Done That — Plus, [Spoiler]’s Secret Ages Like Milk

In Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy , retired firefighter Ben sought to return to Grey Sloan and pick up his surgical residency where he left off. But, given that Sydney is now in charge of the program, not Ben’s wife Bailey, things didn’t go quite according to plan. Did he manage to get in? Read on, and we’ll discuss not only that, but the opportunity that knocks on Amelia’s door, Simone and Lucas’ stab at achieving work/love balance and more.

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‘WHEN YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO DO SOMETHING JUST THE TWO OF US, I EXPECTED SOMETHING ELSE’ | As “I Can See Clearly Now” began, Link challenged Jo on her decision to keep her pregnancy a secret from their colleagues at Grey Sloan; if he was pregnant, he’d want Carina on the case! Teddy offered Amelia the chance to help Ms. Fletcher, a patient who was 20 weeks pregnant but didn’t want to terminate in order to have a life-threatening tumor removed; the kid was going to her brother and his husband. Simone was miffed that Nick had requested Lucas, not her, on the kidney transplant for which she’d prepared beyond thoroughly. And Mer floundered when Richard wondered what she was doing at Grey Sloan. Immediately after that exchange, she told Catherine that she wished Dr. Fox had told her husband that she was getting biopsied. Oh, hush, the boss said. “The only enemy in here,” Bailey pointed out, “is cancer.”

Nick’s reluctance notwithstanding — he knew that Richard didn’t want to pick up a scalpel — he invited Webber to join him on the kind of kidney transplant that had only been done once before: the awake kind. For “reasons,” Richard not only agreed, he brought in Simone on the case — right after she’d poked Lucas about being the Shepherd who’d been asked to scrub in first. (Cue the issues… ) Maybe they’d all just been excited because the patient was Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock . At any rate, things went mostly but not entirely according to plan. “Are you whispering ?” asked the patient, panicking. Whew — the docs found the pad that had gone missing. Underfoot, no less!

‘I’M MORE A DANCE WITH THE ONE WHO BRUNG YA TYPE’ | In his meeting with Sydney, Ben found that his commitment came into question. “I’m not sure you have what it takes,” she said. He made a passionate case for himself, but in the end huffed that if Grey Sloan didn’t want him back, that was fine with him. Though Catherine’s biopsy was supposed to be a simple procedure, it didn’t turn out to be one. She started hemorrhaging; there was a chance that she could go into liver failure and never wake up. They needed to fill in Richard, Meredith told Bailey. Unfortunately, at that very moment, Webber was elbows deep in surgery with Nick. Thankfully, Marsh insisted that Catherine’s husband scrub out. Needless to say, he was horrified to discover what his wife was going through — and that he’d been kept out of the loop.

Upon coming to, Catherine understood why Mer and Bailey had told Richard what was going on. “You are a big part of what makes this hospital great,” Dr. Fox added, rehiring Miranda. “Don’t make me say it twice.” Off his interview from hell, Ben approached Richard for a pep talk — to give one, to be clear, not to receive one. “Was there a point to that story?” Webber asked. “Not really,” Ben replied. Well, he tried, anyway. Richard wasn’t nearly so nice with Mer. “I think Catherine was scared,” she told him. “And that’s exactly why you should’ve told me,” he barked back. “Shame on you!”

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‘CHEST COMPRESSIONS ON AN OCTOGENIARIAN WITH BONES LIKE TOOTHPICKS… IT COULD KILL HER’ | Despite the fact that Ms. Fletcher was willing to roll the dice, even her brother wanted her to end her/their pregnancy to ensure her own well-being. Finally, knowing that the patient wasn’t about to back down after all of their efforts to make her her brother’s surrogate, Amelia scrubbed in with Teddy, Jo and Mika. When troubles arose, Yasuda passionately advocated on behalf of taking a moment and remembering that the patient on the table was someone’s daughter, someone’s sister… a person. “I’ll show myself out,” she added after her outburst had bought enough time for Ms. Fletcher to bounce back and pull through.

In other developments, Blue was delighted to be working with Owen; anything to distract him from his memories of amnesiac fiancée Molly. Besides that, Kwan was interested in specializing in trauma. Levi, Winston and Jules struggled with a patient named Donna who didn’t have an advance directive — and didn’t want one, thank you very much. Desperate, Schmitt decided to call in reinforcements: James. “I refuse to die before my bastard ex-husband,” Donna told him. What’s the opposite of progress? At last, being informed that her ex had croaked inspired Donna to tearfully sign her DNR.

‘YOUR OUTBURST WAS INAPPROPRIATE, BUT YOU WEREN’T WRONG’ | As the hour drew to a close, Nick suggested to Lucas that repeating his intern year wasn’t a punishment — it could make him as good as Simone. Teddy revealed that a number of other impossible cases were petitioning to get Amelia to see them. Freshly canned, Sydney informed Bailey that she had hired Ben. She figured that Miranda didn’t need whispers of nepotism following her around. “By the way,” Dr. Heron added, “I promised the interns a retreat.” Jo revealed to Link that, off the events of the day, she’d changed her mind about going elsewhere for care during her pregnancy. Levi and James bonded big time — sparks galore. And, sadly, Mika revealed to Jules that her little sister had been diagnosed with cancer. “As great as whatever this thing between us was beginning to be,” Yasuda added, “I don’t think I can start anything new right now.” Damn it!

Your thoughts on “I Can See Clearly Now”? Drop ’em in a comment below.

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