Grey’s Anatomy – Season 17 Episode 6 Recap & Review

No Time For Despair

Episode 6 of Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 starts with Meredith narrating what a virus does to the human body. We then cut to Meredith in her room just as she finally wakes up. The doctors come to see her and give her the good news that she will be able to come out in one week.

Meanwhile, two young black girls arrive in the emergency ward after being in a fire. One of them started it on purpose in a man’s house after they were being kept against their will. The doctors also learn that one of the girls’ mother has been arrested and that the alleged kidnapper is being brought to the hospital too.

Just before going home, Webber receives some bad news and relays it to his staff. The hospital has to activate surge capacity protocol as they are about to receive twice the amount of patients per day after Seattle Pres has reached capacity. He tells everyone that they will all be attending to Covid patients. Bailey refuses to though as she doesn’t want to expose her kids to the virus after their grandma died.

Deluca catches Meredith on the status of her patients while Teddy becomes stressed out with the current situation and takes it out on Helm over how she set up one of the medical rooms.

Back in trauma, the kidnapper is being brought in with burns, which angers Jackson as he doesn’t want to tend to him. The criminal claims that the girls broke into his house and set fire to it. After Hunt berates the man for his behaviour and tends to his wound, he suddenly notices that the kidnapper has gone quiet and suspects a stroke.

After the patient in his room dies, Koracick decides to visit Meredith as he wants to be in a room where no one is dying. DeLuca tells Bailey to go home or go in her office as she needs to have time to grieve.

Hunt takes the kidnapper to get a CT Scan and Amelia arrives to diagnose a stroke. They both take him to surgery and while they operate, talk about how difficult the current situation is for them and their children.

Webber speaks to Teddy as he is worried she is burning the candle at both ends and thinks she should take a break. She gets angry and tells him that she has no time to take a break considering the situation, plus she has nowhere to go. Webber gives her some home truths and tells her it is her choice. She needs to take the time to sort out the mess she has done with her life.

Schmitt tends to a woman who stumbled into trauma and arrived at the same time as the kidnapper. She explains that she has been mugged but also suspiciously asks about the kidnapper. She later calls someone on the phone and mentions that she doesn’t think he will talk but she will find a way to get close to him. In a flashback, we see that she is the woman who brought Erin, who was a victim of human trafficking.

Later on, Amelia talks to Maggie about how difficult her day has been as she had to save the life of a sex trafficker. Maggie the gives her an outraged speech about how black girls are victimised and abused more than white girls and how Covid is killing black people more.

Schmitt meets with Jo and they speak about her decision to quit surgery and join the OB department. Bailey talks to DeLuca about planning her mother’s funeral and gives her some suggestions before heading off for some rest.

Meanwhile, Meredith hears the patient in the room next door crashing. She scrambles out of bed to perform CPR despite protesting from the nurses. Helm quickly arrives and escorts her back to her room but she faints on the way.

Hunt meets with Teddy outside and tells her it is time to talk about what they are going to do as he doesn’t want to punish her anymore. Teddy decides to reveal her biggest secret which is Alison. She tells her how in love they were and how she wanted to come clean about everything. She thinks this might all be connected but she is not sure. Hunt isn’t happy though as he realizes that she has never changed. He storms off as he thinks they named their daughter after a lie.

Webber tells Bailey that he is worried about what Covid is going to do to their own staff and how they will be affected. Suddenly, Meredith takes a turn for the worst. Teddy thinks she may have been on a Covid high when she got up. She explains that the drugs will help but not reverse the damage already done to her lungs. She tells them she needs to be on a ventilator but they know she only wanted to be on it as a last resort. Webber agrees to it as her lungs are at breaking point.

Outside, DeLuca recognises the woman who brought Erin. He tells his sister and they decide to follow her while Maggie is relieved when Winston turns up at her door with a big bouquet of flowers.

The Episode Review

Just as the last episode, Grey’s Anatomy gives us another dramatic chapter, full of shoe-horned political messages. It is starting to feel very repetitive now and while I understand that this is implemented to raise awareness, one can’t help but feel there are better ways of doing it. Maggie mentions that more black girls are at risk of being kidnapped but it was a white girl, Erin, that we first saw as a victim of that same sex trafficking group which does raise some concerns over plot continuity.

Grey’s Anatomy is a far cry from what the show used to be and needs to find the right balance between delivering important messages and giving us a good and enjoyable story to get behind. After all, if Asian cinema can get this balance right there’s no reason why Western productions can’t. The writing of this season and the last has been really poor compared to the previous ones and I am still hoping the second part will improve.

It was quite predictable that the episode was going to end with a big shocking cliffhanger and perhaps it would have been more dramatic if it had been anyone else but Meredith. As I mentioned before, she has been close to death so many times and always pulled through so the tension is not there; we know she will eventually pull through.

Also, I’m wondering if the writers have decided to send her back to her Covid coma to bring us more characters from the past. This feels a little like a way to appease the fans and give them what they want and also to hide the fact that the show has now lost its original appeal.

There are still some glimmers of interesting stories deep down as the human trafficking plot comes back to the forefront. The dilemma Amelia faces was quite the controversial one too, as doctors have to save even the most despicable of criminals. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of these morally conflicting moments and the show runs the risk of losing a lot of fans after a very shaky first half of season.