Grey’s Anatomy – Mama Tried

By: Jamie Steinberg

Solomon came up with a plan. He proposed a 50/50 split. Literally, he offered to cut the child in half. It all ends if one mom relinquishes her custody…Or else, they both stand their ground. And the kid gets torn apart. – Meredith Grey

And so begins this week’s dramatic episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.” We start with Callie (Sara Ramirez) saying goodbye to Sophia…a little too tight and a little too long. She is clearly projecting, worried that this will be the last time she has sole custody.

At the hospital, Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) is suiting up for the day. She is telling Jo (Camilla Luddington) that she broke up with Kyle (Wilmer Valderrama) in favor of being a doctor over a girlfriend. Interestingly, she went old school with her dumping him by letter.

Alex (Justin Chambers) and April (Sarah Drews) have their hands full again with former patient Jenny. Remember she was the pregnant teen a few weeks ago who was afraid to tell her mother she was pregnant? She is back and in trouble. Her mother went off to work that day, but got a strange feeling and came back home to find Jenny lying in a pool of blood. She immediately brought her to the hospital and it seems like it’s time to give birth. Unfortunately, the baby is too premature and they need to do whatever they can to stop the baby being born early. Double bad news is that Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) is not around to lend help as she is busy with her custody hearing.

So begins the trial that will determine if Sophia gets to stay in Seattle with Arizona or will travel across country to be with Callie. First on the stand is DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) who talks about renting a room for Robbins and living with a young child. “We see so much dark stuff it’s really nice to come home to a happy kid,” he says.

Next on the stand is Penny (Samantha Sloyen) and the gloves come off. She is grilled about her relationship with Callie and her life with Sophia. They ask what she wore that morning, what her favorite color is and what grade she is in. When Penny stutters on Sophia’s current school grade, this leaves the door wide open for Arizona’s lawyer to move in.

Bailey takes the stand and she is clearly divided in her support. She was there to stand by Callie, but when tough questions about surgery numbers and doctor hours she won’t put up with anyone diminishing a woman’s role as a doctor. When the attorney starts to grill her about Arizona putting in too much time, Bailey makes her own objection to the line of questioning and lets it be known, “I would never put a woman’s success in the ‘con’ column.” YES!

Edwards and Jo head to a bar to drink away the end of the Guitar Hero relationship. Edwards wants to finally enter the 21^st Century and text Kyle to say she is sorry and really doesn’t want to break up, but instead she stands her ground. A good friend would have told Edwards to follow her heart. Just saying…

April and Avery (Jesse Williams) sit down for a heart-to-heart. In a moment of #Japril fandom pride, the two have an adult conversation about raising their child. They rationally discuss the days that are important to them to have the child and seem to really take a mature approach to the future of their kid. Finally!

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) takes the stand and does her best to support Callie. She says that Sophia is even at her house right now being looked after by Maggie (Kelly McCreary). Her testimony turns sour though when Meredith explains that Sophia has an extended family that supports her and Robbins’ attorney counters with the fact that this family resides only in Seattle.

At the hospital, Jenny’s substitute doctor is pushing for her to have the baby. They waited for as long as they could, but the baby wants out. Alex and April disagree on this course of action, but they know the baby might die if they don’t listen to the doctor. They are torn between letting him operate and reaching out to Arizona, who they know is dealing with her own crisis.

Arizona takes the stand and must defend herself. They’ve discovered her evenings out with Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) and it comes to light that she has frequently traded days of custody with Callie. Combine that with her work hours and Callie’s lawyer makes it abundantly clear that she thinks Arizona cares less about parenting and more about her career and having fun.

The trial gets interrupted when Arizona’s phone keeps ringing, but her attorney keeps sending it to voice mail. This is a defining moment when Arizona explains that she’s a doctor so she can’t just ignore patients and people in need. In fact, when the attorney asks Robbins if she has somewhere better to be she replies, “Yes.” This does not sit well with the judge, but Robbins explains that while she knows that her child will be fine no matter what parent gets custody that someone else’s child is fighting for their life. She gets off the stand and explains to the judge that she has to leave because she has to save the life of a baby.

Checking the patient boards, Edwards notices a familiar name. She heads into a patient room and sees Kyle has come back to the ER. He is shaking visibly and orders Edwards out of the room. He clearly got her letter and is making it clear that she is no longer his girlfriend or his doctor.

Arizona arrives just in time to stop the baby from being born via C-Section. The other doctor has started the procedure, but Arizona assures them that she will be able to put the baby back in and with the proper course she can save this baby so that it has more time to grow. Jenny agrees and the baby is safe and sound back inside its mother.

Everyone waits patiently for the judge to make her ruling. As they walk the hospital halls, a page comes in to everyone letting them know who got custody of Sophia. At Meredith’s home, Arizona arrives to pick up her daughter. We have a winner…Meredith tries consoling a deeply saddened Callie who sobs, “I shouldn’t have to choose between the person I love and the person I love.” But when Penny goes to join in on the comfort, she gets pushed away by her lady love. Ouch!

Arizona leaves Meredith’s and Sophia says, “Can we go home now?” The answer is yes.

What happens when there are two true mothers? That’s a no win situation. That is an entirely different story. – Meredith Grey