Grey’s Anatomy – Season 17 Episode 3 Recap and Review

My Happy Ending

Episode 3 of Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 starts with Webber giving a speech about difficult times on TV and telling people to take care of each other. He announces that they have managed to get enough tests for all their staff. This means that until they procure a positive test, they will not be able to go to tend to the Covid patients. He also introduces a new team of interns who have agreed to start early.

Teddy tends to Meredith who has tested positive for the virus. She wants to be released as they are almost at full capacity but Teddy wants to run more tests first. Maggie meanwhile is becoming frustrated after losing her seventh patient of the week. She then heads over to find out how Meredith is doing and after talking to DeLuca, notices that she has collapsed from her bed.

In a dream, Meredith sees Derek again, waving at her from a distance. She walks towards him, smiling while back in the hospital, Maggie and Deluca tend to her.

Meanwhile, Link arrives in the hospital with hand trauma. He is greeted by Jo who has been covering for Meredith. His patient is a sex therapist who needs surgery on his hand.

During her CT scan, DeLuca suggests trying a new treatment on Meredith. Teddy and Maggie are a little reluctant as nothing has been proven to work yet. Maggie is worried about the state of her lungs too, so she asks Teddy if she really is ready to take care of her, knowing full well how difficult her personal life is at the moment. Teddy of course promises that she is.

Webber has chosen Koracick to teach the new interns while Jo and Schmitt tend to a pregnant woman whose baby is attached to her liver. She is 26 weeks gestation and her case is rare as babies in abdominal pregnancies don’t normally survive that long.

Jo and Carina deliver the news to the patient and ask her if she wants to keep the baby. After a tearful recollection of her past love life, the patient decides to keep her and calls her Luna.

Back in the beach dream, Meredith asks Derek why she can’t get to him. He replies that it is because she is worried about the kids but also that the sand is not real. She tells him she misses him before we cut back to the hospital.

Bailey visits Meredith and tries convincing her to have someone other than Karev be her POA. She then heads to the OR to operate on the pregnant woman with the help of Jo, Hayes and Carina. They deliver the baby but are having trouble as the mother starts bleeding. Unfortunately, they are losing the liver and have to put her on the transplant list.

Later on, Hayes speaks to Greys from behind her window and catches her up on the liver baby. She tells him she is scared of falling asleep in case she doesn’t wake up. Hayes then gives her words of encouragement as he knows how strong and fierce she is.

After some difficult run-ins with his interns, Koracick heads to Webber’s new office and throws in the towel. He claims that he is not made to teach kids how to walk through a pandemic but he is.

At the end of the day, Teddy asks Koracick to share a coffee with her. He tells her it is a bad idea as she broke him again and he has had enough bad news. Hunt arrives soon after and unfortunately reveals that Koracick has been tested positive and therefore has to go into quarantine.

Maggie calls Winston and breaks down in tears; she’s close to giving up after losing so many patients. Winston does his best to comfort her while Jo and Bailey visit Luna. Bailey congratulates Jo on how hard and well she has been working in the last few days.

Meredith chooses Webber to be her POA. She tells him she doesn’t want to be put on a vent as there is a shortage. He then takes the remaining new interns to the OR and gives them a speech about the current situation and how he will still do his best to teach them.

The episode ends on the beach as Meredith runs towards Derek and falls face-first in the sand. He tells her he will be right there, waiting for her when she is ready.

The Episode Review

Grey’s Anatomy returns as we watch how Meredith faces yet another danger. While it is of course very factual with what is happening in the world at the moment, I can’t help but not feel worried about our main character’s wellbeing after she has survived so many dire situations in the past. Still, it was the perfect excuse to bring back Derek.

Watching the two together was a fun and a really nice touch to the episode too. Going by next episode’s preview, it looks like we are also going to get another blast from the past. My money is either on Lexie or George.

This episode brought the return of some interesting surgeries too, which was very welcome. It is good to see that the hospital still carries on with these unusual cases in the midst of fighting off the pandemic.

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Koracick though who, after losing his job and the woman he loves, now has the virus and has to quarantine. I feel that the doctor’s days are numbered in Grey Sloan as his character’s story hasn’t got many places left to go to now.

Grey’s Anatomy is still not back to his past glory days but it continues to deliver some decent episodes, full of tense and entertaining moments.