The eighth episode of the season and winter finale started with a new trauma in which the doctors at Grey Sloan had to treat numerous burn victims after a fire somewhere in Seattle. The doctors’ lives are also in shambles, as usual. Things are still incredibly tense between Owen and newcomer Riggs, especially after Owen’s mom shows up at the hospital and hugs Riggs like a long-lost son. Owen is not happy about this at all, and he pulls Riggs aside and punches him, yelling, “You are not my family!” Amelia is confused and worried about Owen, so she goes to find him to try and help him, but Owen tells her to back off.
Meredith goes to talk to Owen’s mom to try and find out what’s wrong with him, and when Amelia asks Meredith to tell her, Meredith gets mad at her. Amelia accuses Meredith of only being loyal to Cristina, who’s not even there. Meredith yells at Amelia and tells her that Cristina is her sister, and that Amelia is not her sister, and she kicks her out of the house. Amelia, who is extremely hurt, goes to the bar, where Riggs buys her a drink. This scene is really painful to watch, since Amelia, who is a recovering alcoholic, broke her sobriety after years. Later on, Meredith approaches Owen and tells him, “I didn’t know you had a sister” leaving us viewers more confused than ever.
Jo and Alex have also been having lots of problems this episode. Jo, who is fed up with Alex choosing Meredith over her all the time, decides to break up with Alex. When Jo breaks up with him, Alex pulls out a ring and tells her he’s being acting secretive because he’s been trying to propose to her for a while. Jo stares at him in shock and the scene fades, leaving the viewers with yet another cliffhanger.
It seems like no one is actually happy on this episode, since things are also tense between Jackson and April. Jackson tells April that them having sex was really confusing, which disappointed April since she thought it meant something. She finally has enough of Jackson beating around the bush, and yells at him to make up his mind: either they break up for good or get back together. The scene ends with Jackson smiling about to respond but then it fades to black before we get to hear what he says.
Overall, this episode was pretty dramatic and had some h̶o̶r̶r̶i̶b̶l̶e̶ great cliffhangers to keep everyone waiting for the next two months until the next episode. In my opinion, the most heartbreaking part of the episode was the fight between Amelia and Meredith, and Amelia drinking for the first time in years. Let’s hope these two can resolve their issues on February 11th when the next episode airs. I’m also hoping that Penny doesn’t appear anymore, since not having her around on this episode was great.
Here’s the promo for the next episode: