Grey’s Anatomy – Season 17 Episode 8 Recap & Review

Goodbye DeLuca

Episode 8 of Grey’s Anatomy Season 17 starts in the aftermath of DeLuca’s death as the doctors try to come to terms with the tragedy. Hunt packs Deluca’s things away while Teddy tells Meredith that she is on the mend; she has now tested negative for Covid. Unfortunately, she is still unconscious. We then cut to the beach as Meredith sees Derek fishing.

Jo wakes up after another night with Jackson, who has slept on the sofa. She tells him she needs some joy in her life after what happened and mentions her change of specialty.

In Meredith’s house, Maggie is struggling to keep a happy face in front of the children. In the hospital, Bailey tells Teddy, Hunt and Webber that she has asked for DeLuca’s autopsy results. She is struggling to come to terms with his death and wants to know if she could have done more.

In the ER, a man is admitted with heart problems after being found unconscious. When he wakes up, he becomes agitated and wants to leave, claiming everyone has COVID.

Back in Meredith’s house, Amelia finds a bottle of whisky and asks Link about it. He admits that he has been having a drink in the evening as he has been feeling stressed.

She tells him he can talk to her as she is the best person to do so. Link then becomes defensive and storms out as he doesn’t want to say something he’ll regret.

Meanwhile, Teddy decides to reduce the oxygen level on Meredith’s ventilator. On the beach, Meredith tells Derek that she feels this is torture as she wants to go to him but is unable to do so. She then mentions their children, prompting Derek to mention all the little things he knows about them.

Maggie and Winston take their patient to do an MRI scan but it is Winston who finds out the root cause of his heart problems – a gum infection.

At the same time. Catherine gives some good news to a depressed Webber – her latest scan shows that her cancer hasn’t grown. She tells her husband to keep faith and believe that miracles can still happen.

In the OR, the heart patient wakes up before starting the surgery and becoming unstable. He runs away naked as he doesn’t want anyone touching him.

Maggie and Winston eventually find him hiding in a corner, shaking. He talks to them about his healthy friend who died of COVID and how scared he is. Maggie tries her best to reassure him, convincing him to come with her.

In her office, Bailey reads the results to Webber. He tells her that it was what he said originally and asks her to stop obsessing as everyone needs to grieve. DeLuca was the victim of an unfortunate incident but she is now harming the other doctors.

After another moment on the beach with Meredith trying to get closer to Derek, Teddy decides not to remove Meredith from ventilation as there is no improvement.

Link visits Jo and Jackson as the trio decide to drink together. They talk about what has been happening and when they reach the end of the bottle, play a game to see who deserves the last drink: the one with the saddest story.

On the beach, Hayes visits Meredith to talk about her children and what they have been doing. He tells they need her to fight for them and everyone else. She replies that she is so warm and relaxed with him.

As Meredith looks at Derek again, she keeps hearing Hayes in the distance. Derek tells her that it is fine and that he will be there.

Webber messages everyone as he has set up a memorial for DeLuca. Schmitt finds Bailey in the viewing room and gives her some kind words of advice about grieving.

The doctors all gather outside for the memorial while adhering to social distancing. Bailey tells Webber that she needs to take some time for herself and goes to hug Ben. Webber then gives a heartfelt speech about DeLuca before playing the video recordings of everyone honoring DeLuca’s life. The footage ends with a video of DeLuca’s application to work in Seattle Grace.

Link returns home to Amelia, who asks him not to keep any more secrets as they have a baby together. They make up and hug, while at the hospital Hunt finds Teddy sitting down on the floor. She helps her up and takes her home.

The Episode Review

As expected, this episode of Grey’s Anatomy concentrates on how the doctors are coping after the tragic loss of their friend and fellow surgeon.

While it was of course necessary, the series is still seriously lacking any interesting stories. The focus still remains on COVID and as I have mentioned before, this series really needs to lean into showing more surgical cases.

The drama seems to be stuck in spring 2020 and while we don’t want to forget that awful period of time, I feel the story should eventually jump in time a little to give the audience a bit of respite from this pandemic.

I still believe that watching tv shows help people escape but Grey’s Anatomy does just the opposite for now.

The moments on the beach were always going to please the fans, especially as we get to see Derek again. Still, the narrative is not really moving forward and we know that Meredith will be waking up soon.

I don’t think Grey’s Anatomy will ever go back to its early glory days unfortunately, and this season has been mediocre at best. At its worst, it’s been stuck in a rut and I am sure the audience is growing tired of the poor stories and writing. Hopefully this improves soon!