Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the Grey’s Anatomy episode “Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right.”
The promos for this week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right," hyped another crossover event with Station 19 and didn’t pull any punches raising viewers’ expectations for drama. We were promised “huge surprises” (plural!) and “the moment we’ve all been waiting for.” So upon finishing the two-hour “event,” I’d like to ask, where were the surprises? Did I miss something?
I’ve become accustomed this season to seeing fan favorites on Meredith Grey’s beach, crying for Andrew DeLuca and an entire episode devoted to Teddy Altman’s PTSD. All of these things seemed more dramatic and surprising than this most recent episode. So let me break down “Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right” and try to figure out which of these plot points was the huge surprise.
Link’s Non-Proposal To Amelia
In the promo, a shirtless Link is shown getting down on one knee and asking Amelia if she wants to marry him. Even in the promo, you can surmise that this is a spur-of-the-moment decision. (If you want to see a proposal done right, see Station 19.) The look Amelia gives Link in that moment is all we need to know about the answer. The episode confirmed this, as Amelia takes the absence of all the children in the house as an opportunity to cry her feelings out, confessing to Link that she still thinks about getting high. It was great episode for Link and Amelia, to connect on this level, but definitely not surprising.
Meredith Wakes Up
The “moment we’ve all been waiting for” — Meredith regaining consciousness — was shown in the promo. Nothing surprising follows. After reassuring Richard that he’s the right one to be handling her medical decisions, Meredith tells him, “We need to talk about Wilson,” regarding her decision to change specialities. This clues Richard in that Meredith has been listening while she’s unconscious. But for we, the lucky viewers, this is not news. We saw Bailey and Richard on the beach with Meredith, having the conversation that they were actually having in her hospital room. The same goes for Cormac Hayes. Meredith isn’t out of the woods, as Richard warns, but nothing surprising was revealed this week.
Crossover Couple Breaks Up
The subject of the crossover event was a newlywed couple who got their COVID vaccinations on the Station 19 episode “Save Yourself” before getting into a car accident. During the firefighters’ rescue, the wife begs the first responders to “Save me first!” saying her life is more important than her husband’s. Woof. On “Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right,” the Grey-Sloan doctors pontificate on if people ever change, leading the husband to tell his wife (remotely!) that he’s getting an annulment. I’m really hoping that the “huge surprise” wasn’t this newlywed couple who we don’t know breaking up by the end of the two hours. It was funny in an ironic way, sure, but not surprising.
Owen Kinda Sorta Apologizes To Teddy
Amid the “people never change” discussion, Owen realizes that despite Teddy’s admission of Allison being the love of her life, she has always been his friend first. So he gives a half-apology for not being able to listen to her truth and asks if he can be her friend — but definitely he’s not okay with being more — if she still wants his friendship. I suppose the most surprising thing could have been Owen saying some of the right things to a woman who deserves them. Unfortunately it was not surprising that she accepted him for who he is.
For my money, the huge surprise could have been the return of Cristina Yang, and I’m not giving up hope on that yet. As Meredith continues to struggle, I am praying to the OR gods that Yang is coming to the aid of her person. It’s been a wild season, with more excitement surely to come; it just didn’t happen as billed this time around. Grey’s Anatomy airs at 9 p.m. ET Thursdays on ABC, following its crossover buddy Station 19 at 8 p.m. ET.
