‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Jackson Finally Tells April The Bad News
Never a dull moment at Grey-Sloane Memorial Hospital, huh?
At the beginning of the Jan. 29 episode, we’re reminded of Derek’s heartbreaking decision to leave Meredith and their children behind in Seattle while he — finally — takes a job for the President in Washington, D.C.
As Derek is packing his bags, Amelia and Arizona are reviewing Dr. Herman’s charts and brain scans, while Jackson is delivering some terrible news to his wife, April, about the baby she’s carrying — it has a rare, fatal disease.
To make matters even worse, we’re seeing flashbacks of Meredith and Derek’s post-it wedding. Once that ends, Meredith takes the framed post-it off the wall and tosses it in the trash. Uh oh.
Of course, the hospital staff can’t go through their own trauma without a horrific intake coming through the ER doors: a other who intentionally drove off of a bridge with her children in the car.
Dr. Herman Finds Out Arizona Stole Her Charts
Arizona is worried about Dr. Herman (Geena Davis), but Amelia has assured her — maybe even fully convinced her — that she can save her from her once fatal brain tumor. Unfortunately, before Arizona is able to tell Dr. Herman about the life-saving surgery, she discovers that Arizona and Amelia were examining her charts by mistake. Needless to say, she’s not happy about it.
Her anger doesn’t last very long though, because Amelia interjects her yelling at Arizona to tell her that she can beat the tumor. Without responding to this claim, Dr. Herman walks out on them.
In other news, Jackson tells Dr. Hunt that April won’t be in today because she received some not-so-good news. That’s when Hunt tells him that April is at work and, in fact, she’s elbow deep in a surgery right now. Um, not good.
Jackson begs Hunt to take her out, and Hunt obliges — clearly he realizes something is wrong.
However, when Hunt tries to tap April out of surgery she refuses. This makes things very awkward in the operating room, especially as a very confused Meredith doesn’t understand why Hunt is pulling April out of surgery without any rhyme or reason.
Then, April decides to blame Jackson for Hunt’s interference, and she’s immediately upset because she thinks Jackson told Hunt about their baby’s fate. That’s when Hunt pulls the boss card and orders her out of the operating room. I guess he never learned to piss a pregnant woman off, huh?
Thankfully, Hunt keeps April’s secret when Meredith starts questioning his decision. The catch? She can’t keep her own, and she reveals that Derek left last night without warning. Hunt is confused, but it’s Edwards who reveals the truth: it’s about their baby. And, just like she said, it’s bad. Really bad.
April Can’t Contain Her Emotions
In the emergency room, April completely loses it. She pulls Jackson aside and reams him for allowing a police officer to question a little boy about his mother almost killing him by driving off of a bridge. She tells him that they are in shock and should be protected, but the truth is it’s April who needs those things — and Jackson knows it.
Jackson gets a moment alone after their argument in the supply room, and that’s when Dr. Webber confronts him and asks if everything is okay. Finally, Jackson loses it, and as tears stream down his face he tells the former chief that nothing is okay. At all.
April’s wrath hasn’t ended yet, though. Moments later she’s attacking Edwards about her baby’s fate, clearly upset that she told Jackson the news before telling her. Just like April said, she was in the room when she realized something was wrong on the ultrasound, so why didn’t Edwards tell her? You might remember that she needed to get a second opinion to confirm the devastating news, but still — someone should have told April.
In a random moment of honestly, Meredith tells Hunt that she hasn’t spoken to Christina in weeks. They used to have weekly phone dates, but since Christina ended up being right about their marriage’s demise, Meredith is avoiding admitting that she was right. Man, does anyone miss Christina as much as I do? Ugh.
Surprisingly, Hunt understands Meredith’s situation more than anyone else. He reminds her that he told Christina to go, because he knew it was the right thing to do. He knew if she stayed, things would get worse, and he’s right.
Meredith Needs A New Person
Meredith has a brutally heartfelt moment after that while telling an agent what she needs in a nanny. She admits that she needs a person, because she has no one. Christina is gone, Derek is gone, and now it’s just Meredith and her hospital. Watching Meredith cry over those she’s lost is heartbreaking. You know things are bad when stubborn Meredith has broken her tear ducts open.
Arizona tries again to get Dr. Herman to consider Amelia’s offer for tumor removal, but she is not interested. Instead, Arizona gets a long speech about how “hope” is the worst symptom of fatal cancer — and she doesn’t want it to come back.
But, that’s not all. It’s Callie who feels April’s wrath again, as the expectant mom’s emotions overcome her. Now, April’s upset because she’s thinking about people who can’t have a baby, who try and try but it doesn’t work out, and meanwhile the woman in surgery had two and nearly killed them. It’s not fair, April knows it’s not fair, Callie knows it’s not fair, but April’s mood swings are off the charts and Callie is left stunned as her pregnant friend storms off.
Finally, Jackson begs Arizona to tell him what’s going on. What do he and April need to know? What can they do? Is there anything they can do?
Dr. Herman Agrees To Amelia’s Risky Surgery
In happier news, Arizona finally gets through to Dr. Herman about trying to remove her tumor. She discusses the possible options and decides that she can either die, become a vegetable, or live — but she wants to wait. Against Amelia’s medical advice, she wants to wait so that she lives her life as long as she can. Just in case.
After burying herself in emergency room patients all day, April is finally forced to confront Jackson about what’s happening to their baby. He tells her that they are going to sit with Arizona and get an explanation, but April tells him that she spent all night looking at case studies and their worst case is that their baby will live for only minutes after birth. Best case? Numerous surgeries for the rest of it’s life.
In typical April fashion, she questions how her God could do this to them. How he could let a woman have children, and then get a tumor that causes her to nearly kill her family.
That’s when April decides to tell Jackson they are having a boy just as she finally breaks down emotionally in his arms.
Meredith & Derek Keep Trying
Once Meredith gets home, she calls Derek and tells him she doesn’t want to fight anymore. He agrees, and reveals he’s been stuck at the airport all day. When he asks if she wants him to come home, Meredith realizes she can’t let him do that. He has to go, it’s for the best, and she tells him that — and they agree to figure it out together.
But, I would be lying if I said something doesn’t feel right about this. It’s uneasy, it’s dangerous, and there doesn’t really seem to be a happy ending in sight, does there?
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — Do you think April and Jackson’s baby is going to make it? What about Meredith and Derek, do you think they’ll be okay? Comment below with your thoughts.
— Lauren Cox
Follow @Iaurencox