Grey’s Anatomy – Back Where You Belong

By: Jamie Steinberg

The episode begins with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) explaining that she doesn’t like attending parties because she doesn’t “need to make superficial conversation with people I barely remember.” We see the Meredith, Karev (Justin Chambers), Maggie (Kelly McCreary) and Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) gathered in the kitchen and we’re all glad to see “the band is back together again!” We then hear Meredith in a voice over explaining, “If I want to keep someone in my life, I keep them in my life. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t know how to get rid of them.”

At the hospital we see that Minnick (Marika Dominczyk) has another kid case. She and Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) have a child in need of a kidney transplant (guest star Robbie Kay) – one he is receiving from his mother (Christie Lynn Smith). We cut to April (Sarah Drew) is still trying to defend her new job. “All Minnick did was take a job she was offered.” Jackson is quick to correct her noting, “No, she stole it.” Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is on the way out of the hospital and tells everyone she is headed to a “summit meeting” and won’t be there today. Jackson snarks at April, “While she’s gone, maybe you can steal her job, too.”

Jo (Camilla Luddington) is working on Minnick’s patient when drama begins to hit a little too close to home for her. The patient’s father (Josh Daugherty) shows up and it seems the parents are going through a contentious divorce and he isn’t welcome at the hospital. The mother explains that the father stalked his way to finding them – something that makes Jo have flashes of panic.

A woman (Samaire Armstrong) comes into the ER babbling and looking dirty and dingy. She appears to be homeless and having a manic episode when she collapses. Maggie and Owen (Kevin McKidd) look after her when Maggie wonders “Why are we not better at taking care of the homeless?” Preach! Back with the kidney transplant we learn that the mother’s kidney is actually not a viable organ for transplant. Unfortunately, the replacement organ has already been harvested so they must decide if the mother or the son will receive it.

At Meredith’s home the door rings and it is Bailey. It seems her “summit” was actually a Meredith meeting to clear the air. Over at the hospital, Edwards is still trying to decide who gets the kidney. Plus, the homeless patient appears to not actually be homeless. Owen and Maggie had to operate on her heart and find a pacemaker that they are able to trace back and identify the owner. When the “homeless” woman’s mother arrives she expects to be told her daughter has died and she is there to identify the body. She is surprised to learn that her daughter is alive after going missing at age twenty.

Back at Meredith’s home Bailey is explaining herself. She tries to offer up, “Dr. Webber built this place, but I have to keep building it.” Meredith is not trying to hear that, but Bailey wants her to keep in mind through this whole situation “what would Bailey do.” Meredith is taking a stand though – No Richards means no Meredith.

Jo had asked Owen to have the kidney patient’s father removed from the hospital, but it seems the man never left. He overhears Jo trying to locate a new kidney and explaining the circumstances to someone on a phone and figures out it is his kid she is talking about. He volunteers to give up one of his kidneys if it will save either life. The father is tested and he is a match. It seems he will give his kidney to the wife and the son will get the previously harvested kidney. Jo is outside of the OR, awash with emotion over the situation wen Hunt comes to talk to her. He thinks that the father giving his kidney might be “his way of coming out of it, of being a better person.” Inside the OR, before the father goes in for surgery Jo takes a moment to say her piece. “You’re not the hero here. You don’t get to take this as a win. This is the least you can do.” She also tells him that if he wants to truly do this for the right reasons he won’t even tell either the wife or the son that he gave them the kidney.

Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) speaks with Minnick post kidney transplant. She and Minnick are secret friends it seems when they chat together and the minute Webber (James Pickens Jr.) Arizona makes a snarky remark about Minnick. Webber runs into Bailey in the halls and again tries to plead Meredith’s case for removing her suspension. He warns Bailey that she is costing Meredith time and money, but Bailey responds, “Oh no, not me! She chose you,” referring to Meredith’s refusal to return without him.

Outside of the “homeless” girl’s room Riggs (Martin Henderson) speaks to Maggie, explaining parental guilt as they watch the girl’s parents slink into her room. He says they gave up looking for her and buried and empty casket so they feel guilty now that she has returned. “They’ll never forgive themselves for that. And they shouldn’t.”

Richard stops by Meredith’s home to have a talk. Meredith tries to explain why she has his back as, “I hear my mother saying, ‘Meredith, it’s Richard.” While Webber is grateful for her having his back he explains, “We both know your mother wouldn’t put me before her career. Meredith picks up the phone and calls Bailey.

At their home, Jackson looks over at April with annoyance. In the hospital parking lot Arizona is not enjoying her fake friendship with Minnick and begins to babble. Minnick puts a stop to it saying, “Arizona, I need you to stop so I can kiss you.”

In the homeless girl’s room the parents are by her side. At the age of nineteen to twenty is when people with schizophrenia begin to notice symptoms so Riggs presumes that one day she had a manic episode and just walked off. While the girl rambles, she suddenly recognizes her mother. “It looks like they’re getting their little girl back,” remarks Riggs.

We hear Meredith in a voiceover say, “I don’t like reunions, but I can see why people do. They can make you feel like you haven’t in a long time. It’s comfy, it’s familiar. It’s kind of like coming home. You see how people turned out. Maybe you see that they have found what we all should find, brand new hopes and dreams.