Grey’s Anatomy: ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’ Recap & Review

On last night’s new episode of Grey’s Anatomy, Richard launches a new resident program, despite Bailey’s reservations. Meanwhile, Addison gets Amelia’s help as her transplant patient suffers post-op complications.

Full Recap

To start, Richard decides it’s time for the residents to operate on their own. But only lap choles, a simple surgical procedure. Meredith’s fully on board but Bailey’s hesitant. She doesn’t think they’re ready to operate without an attending present throughout the procedure. But she ultimately allows it to happen. But she still isn’t happy about it. Overall, Richard’s idea proves to be a success with only one slight hiccup. Helm’s patient starts bleeding so she converts the operation to a more difficult one. But the important thing is that she calls an attending for help, which is exactly what they’re trained to do. Only after Meredith and Richard point that out to her does Bailey realize they’re right.

Meanwhile, Owen continues helping his military patient, Noah. Even though his condition is terminal, he still wants to help prevent soldiers from entering burn pits. Especially considering the fact that VA won’t pay for treatment, even though Noah’s illness, pulmonary fibrosis, is common among veterans. In fact, it’s so common that a military buddy of his, Roy, suffers from the same condition. Only it’s much more advanced. In a VA meeting, Owen rushes Roy to the hospital after he coughs up blood and with Winston’s help, they discover he has lung cancer. In addition to his advanced pulmonary fibrosis. They end up operating on the mass on Roy’s lung but after some post-op complications, Roy doesn’t make it.

Jo Delivers a Baby

In this episode, we finally get to see Jo in action as an OB resident. When she arrives with Luna, a laboring mom and her boyfriend surprise her in the parking lot. But it’s not long until she realizes that her boyfriend isn’t the father because they’ve only been together for a month. Plus, he didn’t even know she was pregnant. Considering everything, the boyfriend leaves her. Even after Jo tries to convince him to stay, just long enough for her to deliver her baby.

Understandably, her patient freaks. Apparently, she’s having a stranger’s baby and now feels crazier. So, Jo tries to comfort her by holding her hand. The only problem is that now, she can’t deliver the baby so she pages Carina for help. After talking to her, Jo realizes her job isn’t to hold her patient’s hand, it’s to deliver her baby. So she and Carina switch places and she delivers the patient’s baby. There’s even a slight complication but Carina coaches her through it and a healthy baby boy is born.

Addison’s Clinical Trial

In the meantime, Addison’s patient seizes, causing Addison to come back. Apparently, she was already on her way to the airport when she heard. So, she pages Amelia for her help to figure out what’s going on with her patient. This uterine transplant is already risky, as we learned in last week’s episode so it’s not a surprise. But Tovah’s complications start to worry Addison. And Amelia’s surprised by how much it’s affecting her.

As Addison and Amelia wait for scan results, they have a sweet heart-to-heart. Addison asks about why Amelia’s no longer with Link and we finally learn why. Because before, we didn’t really know why she didn’t want to marry him. During the pandemic, Amelia and Link watched all the kids and while Link loved it, Amelia didn’t. Instead, her sobriety started to falter and she realized she didn’t want the domestic life that Link does. And that’s when Addison catches us all up on what she’s been up to lately. The pandemic really tested Addison’s mental state and as she put it, got real dark. As much as Addison loves her family, she really hated staying home. So much so that she even drove off until realizing the weight of what she was doing.

Final Thoughts

First off, I love that the writers are finally giving Owen a plot that doesn’t involve his love life. I’ve never been a big fan of his character but that might just change with this new storyline. As for Jo’s change to OB, I love it for her. I just wish their patient had more complications that would justify paging Addison. She is, after all, an OB. Plus, I think all fans alike just wanted to see the three of them work together as the “vagina squad” as fans have been calling it. While Addison’s return to Grey Sloan was short, it was sweet. I wish she could stay for longer but I also get why she isn’t. Hearing about how Addison suffered during the pandemic was interesting. But I don’t think it was the right storyline for her.

When Private Practice ended, Addison finally got her happy ending. And after years of almost not allowing herself to want everything she wanted, she deserved that happiness. This plotline seemed to stir that up just to generalize the mental health struggles many have had during the pandemic. Furthermore, I’m glad that Amelia finally gave us a clearer answer as to why she didn’t want to marry Link. And that Addison was the person she finally opened up to. More than that, I’m satisfied with Amelia’s answer as it makes a lot of sense for her character. Plus, seeing more of Addison and Amelia’s sister relationship always makes me happy. I just wish it lasted longer.