Grey's Recap: Dinner and a Show

It didn’t matter what was on the menu in Thursday’s Grey’s Anatomy. We all knew that when Nick attended a dinner party at Meredith’s, he’d be the main course. Did her new boo survive the grilling from her friends and family? Read on…

‘I DON’T REMEMBER GETTING A WELCOME PARTY’ | As “Stronger Than Hate” began, Maggie and Winston were busy preparing Mer’s house for the big getting-to-know-you dinner. Amelia was helping, too. enjoying some sexytime with Kai. Leaving Grey Sloan, Nick told Mer how much he was relishing being in the same city as her. Nearby, Richard told Catherine that he wasn’t going to the soiree, he was staying at the hospital while she underwent chemo. No sooner had Amelia and Kai made it to Mer’s than Nick arrived with not nearly enough wine in hand. Next in the door were Owen and Teddy unfashionably on time. As Mer was leaving, a woman named Alice was wheeled into the ER after being assaulted by a man hurling racial slurs. Looked like Nick was gonna be on his own for a while.

As expected, Mer’s boyfriend got a good grilling. And to his credit, he was as open as a book. When Link arrived, he politely acknowledged Kai — progress. Once Bailey arrived, Teddy beseeched her to play Boggle. “Couldn’t Maggie have put out some crackers?” Miranda asked. Or showed up? And still guests kept arriving. Next up — uninvited — was Wendell, with flowers. (Funnily, right after Maggie had told Nick that wine was always the better gift, as it didn’t make the hostess scramble to find a vase.) Winston wanted to ask Wendell to go, but Maggie said that wasn’t necessary — even though her brother-in-law was “a walking sales pitch.” Outside, Nick made awkward small talk with Link that only got more awkward when Marsh admitted what a Kai fan he is.

‘I COULD BE THE CLOSER; I’M PRETTY BORING’ | In the kitchen, Winston asked Wendell how bad his situation really was. Before the schemer could answer, though, Nick interrupted. Seeing Wendell and Nick talk, Maggie wondered if Mer was dating a con man, too, because he was the only person she knew who had charmed her as much as her brother-in-law. Finally, Nick made some progress with Bailey when it turned out that they were on the same page about Scrabble — it was about the math, not the vocabulary. Shortly, Wendell admitted that the people he owed money to were not good people; that was why he had to disappear for a while. Wait, Winston yelled, Wendell was going into hiding from these people, and he’d come to Mer’s, with freaking children there?!? Leave Seattle now, Winston ordered his brother. And with that, Winston left the house, leaving Wendell behind?!? WTH?

Alone with Owen, Kai shared that they didn’t want kids. “My career is my baby. Why? Are you trying to unload one of yours?” Kai sounded to him like Amelia before she had Scout. Outside, Link was surprised to learn that Jo had told Teddy that they’d slept together. Did Link have feelings for Jo? “Sometimes… maybe… a little.” Should he tell her? That he had occasional, small feelings? Uh, no, Teddy said. In the kitchen, Maggie and Nick bonded over his ne’er-do-well sister and her no-good brother-in-law. When finally Amelia rejoined Kai, they expressed anew that they didn’t want kids. They didn’t want to put aside their personal and professional plans for a family and weren’t going to ever change their mind. “I thought this was going really well,” Amelia said. So had Kai. But they didn’t want to lead on Amelia. As Owen and Teddy left the party, they climbed into their SUV for a quickie but were interrupted by Bailey. When Winston returned, Maggie revealed that she’d given Wendell the money to pay off his lenders. “Maggie,” her husband said, “I gave him the money, too.” Ooo — that stung.

‘NOBODY WANTS TO BE ALONE’ | While Catherine underwent chemo, she introduced her oncologist Richard to Simon and Kristen. “Please tell me everything” about the baby, Catherine told the couple. “I need a distraction” since all her husband wanted to do was discuss trials and treatment options. Soon, Catherine got more of a distraction than she’d even wanted when Kristen doubled over in pain. It was too early for contractions, so what was it? Braxton Hicks, Jo soon reported. Alone with Richard, Kristen shared that she had been sure that Simon would beat cancer. If she got pregnant, he had to live, she’d thought. She hadn’t realized that by not letting him deal with the possibility that he wouldn’t survive, she’d left him alone with that fact.

As Mer and Levi treated Alice, Nico was called in for an ortho consult and immediately deduced that what had happened to the patient had been a hate crime. Understandably, the case deeply affected Grey Sloan’s Asian doctors as well as BokHee. “Do you think we’ll ever stop being seen as foreign?” asked Nico. “We are American,” BokHee told Nico. “Your faces are American.” (I didn’t watch Grey’s in the early days; was that BokHee’s first line ever?) Later, Levi approached Nico to ask if he was OK. “I’m fine,” he said… despite the fact that his hand was so red, it looked like he’d punched a wall. Later, Alice crashed, and Mer leapt into action to save her.

‘I WANT HER LIFE TO BE FULL OF LOVE AND JOY’ | As the episode rounded the corner toward the finish line, Mer worked feverishly to keep Alice alive and at last was able to report to her family that she had pulled through. Off his conversation with Kristen, Richard told Catherine that if she was going through chemo just for him, she didn’t need to. She did want to do it, she insisted. She just wanted to be in the moment sometimes, and he was always so serious. “I have cancer, and that sucks,” she said, “but I still want to live. I still want to laugh.” Sweetly, he offered to come up with a good joke. Finally, Amelia shared a moment alone with Nick and admitted what he already knew: that everyone had been vetting him. “I think you make her happy, and she deserves to be happy,” she said, adding he wanted him to want that, too. When at last Mer arrived, Nick had set up dinner by candlelight for her. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love you, too,” he replied.

So, what did you think of “Stronger Than Hate”? Hit the comments.

 

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